Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra13141884roya).pdf/371

 cannot be overrated, and it follows, that it is of the highest importance that they should not be in the hands of any foreign and possibly hostile power.

The value of these harbours, in addition to their strategical importance, is enhanced by the rich country lying at their back. This is especially the case with regard to Sandakan, into which flow some fifteen rivers, taking their courses, for the most part, through a country which is without doubt a field for large sugar and tobacco plantations, and containing a supply of timber which, from its easy access, should be a great source of revenue to the Government.

The principal rivers in the territory are the Kimanis, Papar, Putatan, Abai, and Tampasuk, on the West Coast, Paitan and Sugut on the North, and Sibueo and Kinabatangan on the East. Most of these rivers are navigable for steam launches of light draught, for although, as a rule, deep water is found inside the entrance, all the rivers are more or less barred. The Kinabatangan is navigable for some 200 miles. Rising in the ranges south of Kina Balu, it takes its course to the sea, emerging some twenty miles south of Sandakan harbour, after passing through a very thinly populated country covered for the most part with virgin forest, varied by occasional native plantations, or patches of secondary jungle denoting where former clearings have been. The quantity of floating timber met with, in the rivers, renders careful navigation necessary.

North Borneo as a new field for the crowded-out planters of Ceylon and Sumatra, is not to be surpassed, for in its bills and valleys will be found soil suitable to almost every tropical product. in the New Ceylon writes as follows, and his remarks are confirmed by experts from personal observations:—"The spurs and slopes of Kina Balu are peculiarly fitted for growing coffee, tea and cinchona, while the rich plains that