Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/67

Rh country, and elephantiasis is frequently met with on the coast. Small-pox, dysentery, and fevers are the usual epidemics ; and ophthalmia sometimes attacks whole tribes. About a sixth of the native population in some quarters suffer from a kind of ringworm, called kurab, which is identified with herpes farinosus. Consumption is not uncommon.

The mineral wealth of Borneo is great and varied, including diamonds, gold, platina, quicksilver, cinnabar, copper, iron, tin, antimony, petroleum, sulphur, rock-salt, marble, and coal. Landak and Pontianak are the best diamond districts, and Sambas, Landak, Montrado, and Borneo Proper furnish the greatest quantity of gold. The annual amount of gold collected in the island cannot be ascertained; but the amount exported from Bruni in 1870 was 5789 dollars. Coal of excellent quality is found in the valleys of the Banjermassin, the Kuti, the Gunong-Tebur, and the Melawi, as well as in Sarawak, and in the island of Labuan. The Kuti deposit was discovered in 1845 or 184G above Samarinda, and has since been struck in a number of places along the main river and several of the tributaries. A mine was opened at Pelarang, but does not seem to be at present worked. Another, however, at Pengaron, on the lliam Kiva, yields annually about 9000 or 10,000 tons. The coal-fields in Borneo Proper were conceded to Sir James Brooke in 184G, and since 18G8 have been in the hands of the Oriental Coal Com pany, which has as yet taken no advantage of its rights. Antimony was discovered to be a Bornean product by Mr J. Craufurd, the well known geographer, who, in 1825, learned that a quantity had been brought to Singapore by a native trader as ballast. The supply is practically unlimited, and the chief mine is at Bidi in Sarawak.

The fauna of Borneo comprises a large variety of species, many of which are numerically of great importance. Among the Quadrumana, which are very well represented, the most remarkable is the orang-outan (or mias, as it is called by the natives), an animal only to be found elsewhere in the Island of Sumatra. It frequents the low-lying districts, especially in the neighbourhood of the Dyak plantations. The wawah, a kind of gibbon, several Semnopitheci (as the longnosed ape and the golden-black or chrysomelas), and the large-eyed titenops tardiyradus are also worthy of mention. The larger beasts of prey seem to be altogether wanting, so that little check is put on the natural fecundity of the graminivorous species. A small panther and the Fdis macrocelis are the largest animals of the cat-kind known ; for though the tiger has sometimes been reported to occur in the mountains, its presence has never been verified. The Malay or honey bear is very common. The rhinoceros is found on the north-west coast, and the elephant, introduced by the Chinese or Portuguese, in the neighbour hood of Cape Unsang. Wild oxen of the Sunda race are not uncommon ; and the whole island swarms with droves of wild pigs, which are distinguished by a curious protuberance of hair on each side of the head. These furnish food not only to the Dyaks, who are very fond of the flesh, but also to the crocodiles that abound in the principal rivers. Three or four species of deer are enumerated, one of which, the pelandok of the Malays, is remarkable for its smallness and beauty. Squirrels, porcupines, civet-cats, rats, bats, and lizards are well represented, and snakes of various kinds, from the boa constrictor downwards, are abundant, while the marshy districts swarm with frogs and leeches. The latter attach themselves in a most troublesome manner to the passing traveller. A remarkable flying-frog was discovered by Mi- Wallace. Birds are comparatively rare in many quarters ; the most important being eagles, vultures, falcons, owls, horn-bills, cranes, pheasants, notably the Argus-pheasant, partridges, ravens, crows, parrots,woodpeckers, doves, and swallows. The Gypselus esculentus, or edible-nest swallow, is very common. Mosquitoes and sandflies are the chief insect pests, and in some districts are very troublesome. There is also a kind of ant called the sumpit-api or fire-ant, the sting of which is very painful. The lepidopterous insects are remarkable for their number, variety, beauty, and size. In one favourable situation Mr Wallace caught 120 different species of moths in one night. The Coleoptera are no less numerously represented, as, indeed, might be expected in so richly-wooded a region. The lakes and rivers, as well as the surrounding sea, abound with fish. Dr Bleeker in his &quot; Bijdragen tot de Kennis der lehthyologische Fauna van Borneo,&quot; in the NatuurTcundig Tijdschrift van Nederl. Ind., describes 176 species which he obtained during his residence in the island. The domestic animals of Borneo are few both in number of species and for the most part in number of individuals. The character of the country has prevented the development of pastoral modes of life. In some districts, as in the neighbourhood of Ambong, there are bullocks of the Brahmin breed, about thirteen hands high ; the buffalo is sometimes employed in agriculture ; and sheep and goats occur. The cat and dog are both domesticated. A few horses, introduced by Europeans, and only possessed by the wealthier classes, are found in Banjermassin and Sarawak.

The flora of Borneo is very rich, the whole surface of the island being clothed in luxuriant vegetation. The king of the forest is the tappan, which, rising to a great height with a single branchless stem, is crowned with a splendid dome of foliage. From the wood of this tree the chiefs construct their official seats. The iron-wood, so remarkable for the durability of its timber, is abundant ; it is used by the natives for the pillars of their houses, and forms an article of export to China. It is almost rivalled by the kayu temesu in hardness. In all about sixty kinds of timber are furnished in more or less profusion. Palm-trees are abundant in great variety, including the nipa, cabbage, fan, cocoa-nut, and sago palms ; the two last afford large supplies of food to the natives. Gutta-percha, camphor, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, gambir, and betel-nuts are all produced in the island ; most of the tropical fruits flourish, such as the mangosteen, the lansat, rambutan, jack, jambon, and blimbang ; nor must the wonderful durian be forgotten, of which Mr Wallace enthusiastically declares that it is worth a voyage from Europe to taste it. It is a large fruit with an exceedingly strong spiked outer covering, and not unfrequently inflicts severe wounds by falling on the passers by. Yams, potatoes (an indigenous sort), melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, pine-apples, and bananas, sugar, pepper, cotton, and tobacco are cultivated, though not as yet on a very extensive scale. In the south-eastern division of the Dutch territory the export of cotton was in 1854 1795 picols. The product of the wild plant is very good, and is exported from Borneo Proper. Among the more beautiful of the flowering plants are rhododendrons, orchids, and pitcher-plants, the last reaching a most extraordinary development, especially in the northern districts about Kini- balu. Epiphytous plants are very common, many that are usually independent assuming here the parasitic character. The Vanda Loivii, for example, &quot;grows on the lower branches of trees, and its strange pendent flower-stalks often hang down so as almost to reach the ground.&quot; Ferns are abundant, but are not so varied as in Java ; Mr Wallace collected fifty species.

The population of Borneo consists of a considerable variety of races, of very different origin, and of different degrees of civilization. The most important numerically are the Dyaks, the Malays, the Chinese, and the Buginese ; 