Sara'wak, a state on the north-west of the island of Borneo, in the East Indies, placed by its ruler, Rajah Brooke, in 1888 under the protection of Britain. The Chinese Sea washes its north-west side; on the north-east is the protected state of Brunei; and on every other side it is surrounded by Dutch Borneo. The boundaries next Dutch Borneo were fixed by an Anglo-Dutch commission appointed in 1891. The area of Sarawak is estimated to be 41,000 to 45,000 sq. m., and its pop. 300,000. The coast belt is in many parts low, the interior hilly, rising to close upon 8000 feet near the frontiers. The country is drained by a number of short streams, several of which have wide estuaries; the longest, the Rajang, has a sinuous course of 350 miles, and is easily navigable for 150 miles up. The state contains some valuable minerals: antimony, quicksilver, gold, and coal are mined to some extent, and copper, diamonds, and manganese exist, though hardly in paying quantities. The most important products are sago, pepper, gambier, gutta-percha, india-rubber, birds' nests, rattans, tea, coffee, and timber, all of which are exported. Trade is carried on principally with Singapore. The exports average £234,800, the imports £202,700 a year. The people consist principally of Malays, Chinese, and Dyaks. Chief town, Kuching, with a pop. of 25,000, standing 20 miles up the Sarawak River. Dying in 1868, Sir
James Brooke (q.v.) was succeeded by his nephew, Sir C. J. Brooke, who, after greatly extending his territory northwards after 1881, put it in 1888 under the protection of Britain. The English bishop of Singapore is also bishop of Sarawak.
See Spencer St John, Life in the Forests of the Far East (1862); Charles Brooke, Ten Years in Sarawak (1866); N. Denison, Tour amongst the Land Dyaks of Upper Borneo (Singapore, 1879); Helms, Pioneering in the Far East (1882); and books quoted at BROOKE.