Chapter II: Part 2

BORLASE, WILLIAM (1695-1772), English antiquary and naturalist, was born at Pendeen in Cornwall, of an ancient family, on the 2nd of February 1695. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, and in 1719 was ordained. In 1722 he was presented to the rectory of Ludgvan, and in 1732 he obtained in addition the vicarage of St Just, his native parish. In the parish of Ludgvan were rich copper works, abounding with mineral and metallic fossils, of which he made a collection, and thus was led to study somewhat minutely the natural history of the county. In 1750 he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society; and in 1754 he published, at Oxford, his _Antiquities of Cornwall_ (2nd ed., London, 1769). His next publication was _Observations on the Ancient and Present State of the Islands of Scilly, and their Importance to the Trade of Great Britain_ (Oxford, 1756). In 1758 appeared his _Natural History of Cornwall_. He presented to the Ashmolean museum, Oxford, a variety of fossils and antiquities, which he had described in his works, and received the thanks of the university and the degree of LL.D. He died on the 31st of August 1772. Borlase was well acquainted with most of the leading literary men of the time, particularly with Alexander Pope, with whom he kept up a long correspondence, and for whose grotto at Twickenham he furnished the greater part of the fossils and minerals.

Borlase's letters to Pope, St Aubyn and others, with answers, fill
several volumes of MS. There are also MS. notes on Cornwall, and a
complete unpublished treatise _Concerning the Creation and Deluge_.
Some account of these MSS., with extracts from them, was given in the
_Quarterly Review_, October 1875. Borlase's memoirs of his own life
were published in Nichol's _Literary Anecdotes_, vol. v.

BORMIO (Ger. _Worms_), a town of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Sondrio, 41-1/2 m. N.E. of the town of Sondrio. Pop. (1901) 1814. It is situated in the Valtellina (the valley of the Adda), 4020 ft. above sea-level, at the foot of the Stelvio pass, and, owing to its position, was of some military importance in the middle ages. It contains interesting churches and picturesque towers. A cemetery of pre-Roman date was discovered at Bormio in 1820.

The baths of Bormio, 2 m. farther up the valley, are mentioned by Pliny and Cassiodorus, the secretary of Theodoric, and are much frequented.

BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742-1791), Austrian mineralogist and metallurgist, was born of a noble family at Karlsburg, in Transylvania, on the 26th of December 1742. Educated in a Jesuit college in Vienna, he was for sixteen months a member of the order, but left it and studied law at Prague. Then he travelled extensively in Germany, Holland and France, studying mineralogy, and on his return to Prague in 1770 entered the department of mines and the mint. In 1776 he was appointed by Maria Theresa to arrange the imperial museum at Vienna, where he was nominated to the council of mines and the mint, and continued to reside until his death on the 24th of July 1791. He introduced a method of extracting metals by amalgamation (_Uber das Anquicken der Erze_, 1786), and other improvements in mining and other technical processes. His publications also include _Lithophylacium Bornianum_ (1772-1775) and _Bergbaukunde_ (1789), besides several museum catalogues. Von Born attempted satire with no great success. _Die Staatsperucke_, a tale published without his knowledge in 1772, and an attack on Father Hell, the Jesuit, and king's astronomer at Vienna, are two of his satirical works. Part of a satire, entitled _Monachologia_, in which the monks are described in the technical language of natural history, is also ascribed to him. Von Born was well acquainted with Latin and the principal modern languages of Europe, and with many branches of science not immediately connected with metallurgy and mineralogy. He took an active part in the political changes in Hungary. After the death of the emperor Joseph II., the diet of the states of Hungary rescinded many innovations of that ruler, and conferred the rights of denizen on several persons who had been favourable to the cause of the Hungarians, and, amongst others, on von Born. At the time of his death in 1791, he was employed in writing a work entitled _Fasti Leopoldini_, probably relating to the prudent conduct of Leopold II., the successor of Joseph, towards the Hungarians.

BORNA, a town of Germany in the kingdom of Saxony, on the Wyhra at its junction with the Pleisse, 17 m. S. by E. of Leipzig by rail. Pop. (1905) 9176. The industries include peat-cutting, iron foundries, organ, pianoforte, felt and shoe factories.

BORNE, KARL LUDWIG (1786-1837), German political writer and satirist, was born on the 6th of May 1786 at Frankfort-On-Main, where his father, Jakob Baruch, carried on the business of a banker. He received his early education at Giessen, but as Jews were ineligible at that time for public appointments in Frankfort, young Baruch was sent to study medicine at Berlin under a physician, Markus Herz, in whose house he resided. Young Baruch became deeply enamoured of his patron's wife, the talented and beautiful Henriette Herz (1764-1847), and gave vent to his adoration in a series of remarkable letters. Tiring of medical science, which he had subsequently pursued at Halle, he studied constitutional law and political science at Heidelberg and Giessen, and in 1811 took his doctor's degree at the latter university. On his return to Frankfort, now constituted as a grand duchy under the sovereignty of the prince bishop Karl von Dalberg, he received (1811) the appointment of police actuary in that city. The old conditions, however, returned in 1814 and he was obliged to resign his office. Embittered by the oppression under which the Jews suffered in Germany, he engaged in journalism, and edited the Frankfort liberal newspapers, _Staatsristretto_ and _Die Zeitschwingen_. In 1818 he became a convert to Lutheran protestantism, changing his name from Lob Baruch to Ludwig Borne. This step was taken less out of religious conviction than, as in the case of so many of his descent, in order to improve his social standing. From 1818 to 1821 he edited _Die Wage_, a paper distinguished by its lively political articles and its powerful but sarcastic theatrical criticisms. This paper was suppressed by the police authorities, and in 1821 Borne quitted for a while the field of publicist writing and led a retired life in Paris, Hamburg and Frankfort. After the July Revolution (1830), he hurried to Paris, expecting to find the newly-constituted state of society somewhat in accordance with his own ideas of freedom. Although to some extent disappointed in his hopes, he was not disposed to look any more kindly on the political condition of Germany; this lent additional zest to the brilliant satirical letters (_Briefe aus Paris_, 1830-1833, published Paris, 1834), which he began to publish in his last literary venture, _La Balance_, a revival under its French name of _Die Wage_. The _Briefe aus Paris_ was Borne's most important publication, and a landmark in the history of German journalism. Its appearance led him to be regarded as one of the leaders of the new literary party of "Young Germany." He died at Paris on the 12th of February 1837.

Borne's works are remarkable for brilliancy of style and for a thorough French vein of satire. His best criticism is to be found in his _Denkrede auf Jean Paul_ (1826), a writer for whom he had warm sympathy and admiration, in his _Dramaturgische Blatter_ (1829-1834), and the witty satire, _Menzel der Franzosenfresser_ (1837). He also wrote a number of short stories and sketches, of which the best known are the _Monographie der deutschen Postschnecke_ (1829) and _Der Esskunstler_ (1822).

The first edition of his _Gesammelte Schriften_ appeared at Hamburg
(1829-1834) in 14 volumes, followed by 6 volumes of _Nachgelassene
Schriften_ (Mannheim, 1844-1850); more complete is the edition in 12
volumes (Hamburg, 1862-1863), reprinted in 1868 and subsequently. The
latest complete edition is that edited by A. Klaar (8 vols., Leipzig,
1900). For further biographical matter see K. Gutzkow, _Bornes Leben_
(Hamburg, 1840), and M. Holzmann, _L. Borne, sein Leben und sein
Wirken_ (Berlin, 1888). _Bornes Briefe an Henriette Herz_ (1802-1807),
first published in 1861, have been re-edited by L. Geiger (Oldenburg,
1905), who has also published Borne's _Berliner Briefe_ (1828)
(Berlin, 1905). See also Heine's witty attack on Borne (_Werke_, ed.
Elster, vii.), G. Gervinus' essay in his _Historiche Schriften_
(Darmstadt, 1838), and the chapters in G. Brandes, _Hovedstromninger i
det 19 de Aarhundredes Litteratur_ vol. vi. (Copenhagen, 1890, German
trans. 1891; English trans. 1905), and in J. Proelss, _Das junge
Deutschland_ (Stuttgart, 1892).

BORNEO, a great island of the Malay Archipelago, extending from 7 deg. N. to 4 deg. 20' S., and from 108 deg. 53' to 119 deg. 22' E. It is 830 m. long from N.E. to S.W., by 600 m. in maximum breadth. Its area according to the calculations of the Topographical Bureau of Batavia (1894) comprises 293,496 sq. m. These figures are admittedly approximate, and Meyer, who is generally accurate, gives the area of Borneo at 289,860 sq. m. It is roughly, however, five times as large as England and Wales. Politically Borneo is divided into four portions: (1) British North Borneo, the territory exploited and administered by the Chartered British North Borneo Company, to which a separate section of this article is devoted; (2) Brunei (q.v.), a Malayan sultanate under British protection; (3) Sarawak (q.v.), the large territory ruled by raja Brooke, and under British protection in so far as its foreign relations are concerned; and (4) Dutch Borneo, which comprises the remainder and by far the largest and most valuable portion of the island.

_Physical Features_.--The general character of the country is mountainous, though none of the ranges attains to any great elevation, and Kinabalu, the highest peak in the island, which is situated near its north-western extremity, is only 13,698 ft. above sea-level. There is no proper nucleus of mountains whence chains ramify in different directions. The central and west central parts of the island, however, are occupied by three mountain chains and a plateau. These chains are: (1) the folded chain of the upper Kapuas, which divides the western division of Dutch Borneo from Sarawak, extends west to east, and attains near the sources of the Kapuas river a height of 5000 to 6000 ft.; (2) the Schwaner chain, south of the Kapuas, whose summits range from 3000 to 7500 ft., the latter being the height of Bukit Raja, a plateau which divides the waters of the Kapuas from the rivers of southern Borneo; and (3) the Muller chain, between the eastern parts of the Madi plateau (presently to be mentioned) and the Kapuas chain, a volcanic region presenting heights, such as Bukit Terata (4700 ft.), which were once active but are now long extinct volcanos. The Madi plateau lies between the Kapuas and the Schwaner chains. Its height is from 3000 to 4000 ft., and it is clothed with tropical high fens. These mountain systems are homologous in structure with those, not of Celebes or of Halmahera, but of Malacca, Banka and Billiton. From the eastern end of the Kapuas mountains there are further to be observed: (1) A chain running north-north-east, which forms the boundary between Sarawak and Dutch Borneo, the highest peak of which, Gunong Tebang, approaches 10,000 ft. This chain can hardly be said to extend continuously to the extreme north of the island, but it carries on the line of elevation towards the mountains of Sarawak to the west, and those of British North Borneo to the north, of which latter Kinabalu is the most remarkable. The mountains of North Borneo are more particularly referred to in the portion of this article which deals with that territory. (2) A chain which runs eastward from the central mountains and terminates in the great promontory of the east coast, known variously as Cape Kanior or Kaniungan. (3) A well-marked chain running in a south-easterly direction among the congeries of hills that extend south-eastward from the central mountains, and attaining, near the southern part of the east coast, heights up to and exceeding 6000 ft.

_Coasts._--Resting on a submarine plateau of no great depth, the coasts of Borneo are for the most part rimmed round by low alluvial lands, of a marshy, sandy and sometimes swampy character. In places the sands are fringed by long lines of _Casuarina_, trees; in others, and more especially in the neighbourhood of some of the river mouths, there are deep banks of black mud covered with mangroves; in others the coast presents to the sea bold headlands, cliffs, mostly of a reddish hue, sparsely clad with greenery, or rolling hills covered by a growth of rank grass. The depth of the sea around the shore rarely exceeds a maximum depth of 1 to 3 fathoms, and the coast as a whole offers few accessible ports. The towns and seaports are to be found as a rule at or near the mouths of those rivers which are not barricaded too efficiently by bars formed of mud or sand. All round the long coast-line of Dutch Borneo there are only seven ports of call, which are habitually made use of by the ships of the Dutch Packet Company. They are Pontianak, Banjermasin, Kota Bharu, Pasir, Samarinda, Beru and Bulungan. The islands off the coast are not numerous. Excluding some of alluvial formation at the mouths of many of the rivers, and others along the shore which owe their existence to volcanic upheaval, the principal islands are Banguey and Balambangan at the northern extremity, Labuan (q.v.), a British colony off the west coast of the territory of North Borneo, and the Karimata Islands off the south-west coast. On Great Karimata is situated the village of Palembang with a population of about 500 souls employed in fishing, mining for iron, and trading in forest produce.

_Rivers_.--The rivers play a very important part in the economy of Borneo, both as highways and as lines along which run the main arteries of population. Hydrographically the island may be divided into five principal versants. Of these the shortest embraces the north-western slope, north of the Kapuas range, and discharges its waters into the China Sea. The most important of its rivers are the Sarawak, the Batang-Lupar, the Sarebas, the Rejang (navigable for more than 100 m.), the Baram, the Limbang or Brunei river, and the Padas. The rivers of British North Borneo to the north of the Padas are of no importance and of scant practical utility, owing to the fact that the mountain range here approaches very closely to the coast with which it runs parallel. In the south-western versant the largest river is the Kapuas, which, rising near the centre of the island, falls into the sea between Mampawa and Sukadana after a long and winding course. This river, of volume varying with the tide and the amount of rainfall, is normally navigable by small steamers and native prahus, of a draught of 4 to 5 ft., for 300 to 400 m., that is to say, from Pontianak up to Sintang, and thence as far as Benut. The middle part of this river, wider and more shallow than the lower reaches, gives rise to a region of inundation and lakes which extend as far as the northern mountain chain. Among its considerable tributaries may be mentioned the southern Melawi with its affluent the Penuh. It reaches the sea through several channels in a wide marshy delta. The Sambas, north of the Kapuas, is navigable in its lower course for vessels drawing 25 ft. Rivers lying to the south of the Kapuas, but of less importance in the way of size, commerce and navigation, are the Simpang, Pawanand Kandawangan, in the neighbourhood of whose mouths, or upon the adjacent coast, the principal native villages are situated in each case. The Barito, which is the principal river of the southern versant, takes its rise in the Kuti Lama Lake, and falls into the Java Sea in 114 deg. 30' E. Its upper reaches are greatly impeded by rocks, rapids and waterfalls, but the lower part of its course is wide, and traverses a rich, alluvial district, much of which is marshy. Cross branches unite it with two rivers of considerable size towards the west, the Kapuas Murung or Little Dyak, and the Kahayan or Great Dyak. The Katingan or Mendawei, the Sampit, Pembuang or Surian and the Kota Waringin are rivers that fall into the sea farther to the west. The rivers of the southern versant are waters of capacious drainage, the basin of the Kahayan having, for instance, an area of 16,000 sq. m., and the Barito one of 38,000 sq. m. These rivers are navigable for two-thirds of their course by steamers of a fair size, but in many cases the bars at their mouths present considerable difficulties to ships drawing anything over 8 or 9 ft. Most of the larger affluents of the Barito are also navigable throughout the greater part of their courses. The south-eastern like the north-western corner of the island is watered by a considerable number of short mountain streams. The one great river of the eastern versant is the Kutei or Mahakan, which, rising in the central mountains, flows east with a sinuous course and falls by numerous mounts into the Straits of Madassar. At a great distance from its mouth it has still a depth of three fathoms, and in all its physical features it is comparable to the Kapuas and Barito. The Kayan or Bulungan river is the only other in the eastern versant that calls for mention. Most of the rivers of the northern versant are comparatively small, as the island narrows into a kind of promontory. Of these the Kinabatangan in the territory of British North Borneo is the most important. Lakes are neither numerous nor very large. In most cases they are more fittingly described as swamps. In the flood area of the upper Kapuas, of which mention has already been made, there occurs Lake Luar, and there are several lake expanses of a similar character in the basins of the Barito and Kutei rivers. The only really fine natural harbour in the island of which any use has been made is that of Sandakan, the principal settlement of the North Borneo Company on the north coast.

_Geology._--The geology of Borneo is very imperfectly known. The
mountain range which lies between Sarawak and the Dutch possessions,
and may be looked upon as the backbone of the island, consists chiefly
of crystalline schists, together with slates, sandstones and
limestones. All these beds are much disturbed and folded. The
sedimentary deposits were formerly believed to be Palaeozoic, but
Jurassic fossils have since been found in them, and it is probable
that several different formations are represented. Somewhat similar
rocks appear to form the axis of the range in south-east Borneo, and
possibly of the Tampatung Mountains. But the Muller range, the Madi
plateau, and the Schwaner Mountains of west Borneo, consist chiefly of
almost undisturbed sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Tertiary age. The
low-lying country between the mountain ranges is covered for the most
part by Tertiary and Quaternary deposits, but Cretaceous beds occur at
several localities. Some of the older rocks of the mountain regions
have been referred to the Devonian, but the evidence cannot be
considered conclusive. _Vertebraria_ and _Phyllotheca_, plants
characteristic of the Indian Gondwana series, have been recorded in
Sarawak; and marine forms, similar to those of the lower part of the
Australian Carboniferous system, are stated to occur in the limestone
of north Borneo. _Pseudomonotis salinaria_, a Triassic form, has been
noted from the schists of the west of Borneo. In the Kapoewas district
radiolarian cherts supposed to be of Jurassic age are met with.
Undoubted Jurassic fossils, belonging to several horizons, have been
described from west Borneo and Sarawak. The Cretaceous beds, which
have long been known in west Borneo, are comparatively little
disturbed. They consist for the most part of marls with _Orbitolina
concava_, and are referred to the Cenomanian. Cretaceous beds of
somewhat later date are found in the Marpapura district in south-east
Borneo. The Tertiary system includes conglomerates, sandstones,
limestones and marls, which appear to be of Eocene, Oligocene and
Miocene age. They contain numerous seams of coal. The Tertiary beds
generally lie nearly horizontal and form the lower hills, but in the
Madi plateau and the Schwaner range they rise to a height of several
thousand feet. Volcanic rocks of Tertiary and late Cretaceous age are
extensively developed, especially in the Muller Mountains. The whole
of this consists of tuffs and lavas, andesites prevailing in the west
and rhyolites and dacites in the east.

_Minerals._--The mineral wealth of Borneo is great and varied. It includes diamonds, the majority of which, however, are of a somewhat yellow colour, gold, quicksilver, cinnabar, copper, iron, tin, antimony, mineral oils, sulphur, rock-salt, marble and coal. The exploitation of the mines suffers in many cases from the difficulties and expense of transport, the high duties payable in Dutch Borneo to the native princes, the competition among the rival companies, and often the limited quantities of the minerals found in the mines. The districts of Sambas and Landak in the west, the Kahayan river, the mountain valleys of the extreme south-east and parts of Sarawak furnish the largest quantities of gold, which is obtained for the most part from alluvial washings. The Borneo Company is engaged in working gold-mines in the upper part of the Sarawak valley, and the prospects of the enterprise, which is conducted on a fairly extensive scale, are known to be encouraging. Diamonds are also found widely distributed and mainly in the same regions as the gold. The Kapuas valley has so far yielded the largest quantity, and Pontianak is, for diamonds, the principal port of export. Considerable progress has been made in the development of the oil-fields in Dutch Borneo, and the _Nederlandsch Indische Industrie en Handel Maatschappij_, the Dutch business of the Shell Transport and Trading Company, increased its output from 123,592 tons in 1901 to 285,720 tons in 1904, and showed further satisfactory increase thereafter. This company owns extensive oil-fields at Balik Papan and Sanga-Sanga. The quality of the oil varies in a remarkable way according to the depth. The upper stratum is struck at a depth of 600 to 700 ft., and yields a natural liquid fuel of heavy specific gravity. The next source is met with at about 1200 ft., yielding an oil which is much lighter in weight and, as such, more suitable for treatment in the refinery. The former oil is almost invariably of an asphalte basis, whereas the latter sometimes is found to contain a considerable percentage of paraffin wax. The average daily production is very high, owing to a large number of the wells flowing under the natural pressure of the gas. There is every reason to believe that the oil-fields of Dutch Borneo have a great future. Coal mines have, in many instances, been opened and abandoned, failure being due to the difficulty of production. Coal of good quality has been found in Pengaron and elsewhere in the Banjermasin district, but most Borneo coal is considerably below this average of excellence. It has also been found in fair quantities at various places in the Kutei valley and in Sarawak. The coalmines of Labuan have been worked spasmodically, but success has never attended the venture. Sadong yields something under 130 tons a day, and the Brooketown mine, the property of the raja of Sarawak, yields some 50 tons a day of rather indifferent coal. The discovery that Borneo produced antimony was made in 1825 by John Crawfurd, the orientalist, who learned in that year that a quantity had been brought to Singapore by a native trader as ballast. The supply is practically unlimited and widely distributed. The principal mine is at Bidi in Sarawak.

_Climate and Health_.--As is to be anticipated, having regard to its insular position and to the fact that the equator passes through the very middle of the island, the climate is at once hot and very damp. In the hills and in the interior regions are found which may almost be described as temperate, but on the coasts the atmosphere is dense, humid and oppressive. Throughout the average temperature is from 78 deg. to 80 deg. F., but the thermometer rarely falls below 70 deg., except in the hills, and occasionally on exceptional days mounts as high as 96 deg. in the shade. The rainy westerly winds (S.W. and N.W.) prevail at all the meteorological stations, not the comparatively dry south-east wind. Even at Banjermasin, near the south coast, the north-west wind brings annually a rainfall of 60 in., as against 33 in. of rain carried by the south-east wind. The difference between the seasons is not rigidly marked. The climate is practically unchanging all the year round, the atmosphere being uniformly moist, and though days of continuous downpour are rare, comparatively few days pass without a shower. Most rain falls between November and May, and at this season the torrents are tremendous while they last, and squalls of wind are frequent and violent, almost invariably preceding a downpour. Over such an extensive area there is, of course, great variety in the climatic character of different districts, especially when viewed in relation to health. Some places, such as Bidi in Sarawak, for instance, are notoriously unhealthy; but from the statistics of the Dutch government, and the records of Sarawak and British North Borneo, it would appear that the European in Borneo has in general not appreciably more to fear than his fellow in Java, or in the Federated Malay States of the Malayan Peninsula. Among the native races the prevailing diseases, apart from those of a malarial origin, are chiefly such as arise from bad and insufficient food, from intemperance, and from want of cleanliness. The habit of allowing their meat to putrefy before regarding it as fit for food, and of encouraging children of tender age to drink to intoxication, accounts for absence of old folk and the heavy mortality which are to be observed among the Muruts of British North Borneo and some of the other more debased tribes of the interior of the island. Scrofula and various forms of lupus are common among the natives throughout the country and especially in the interior; elephantiasis is frequently met with on the coast. Smallpox, dysentery and fevers, frequently of a bilious character, are endemic and occasionally epidemic. Cholera breaks out from time to time and works great havoc, as was the case in 1903 when one of the raja of Sarawak's punitive expeditions was stricken while ascending the Limbang river by boat, and lost many hundreds of its numbers before the coast could be regained. Ophthalmia is common and sometimes will attack whole tribes. About one sixth of the native population of the interior, and a smaller proportion of those living on the coast, suffer from a kind of ringworm called _kurap_, which also prevails almost universally among the Sakai and Semang, the aboriginal hill tribes of the Malayan Peninsula. The disease is believed to be aggravated by chronic anaemia. Consumption is not uncommon.

_Fauna_.--The fauna of Borneo comprises a large variety of species, many of which are numerically of great importance. Among the quadrupeds the most remarkable is the orang-utan (Malay, _orang utan_, i.e. jungle man), as the huge ape, called _mias_ or _mayas_ by the natives, is named by Europeans. Numerous species of monkey are found in Borneo, including the wahwah, a kind of gibbon, a creature far more human in appearance and habits than the orang-utan, and several _Semnopitheci_, such as the long-nosed ape and the golden-black or _chrysomelas_. The large-eyed _Stenops tardigradus_ also deserves mention. The larger beasts of prey are not met with, and little check is therefore put on the natural fecundity of the graminivorous species. A small panther and the clouded tiger (so called)--_Felis macroscelis_--are the largest animals of the cat kind that occur in Borneo. The Bengal tiger is not found. The Malay or honey-bear is very common. The rhinoceros and the elephant both occur in the northern part of the island, though both are somewhat rare, and in this connexion it should be noted that the distribution of quadrupeds as between Borneo, Sumatra and the Malayan Peninsula is somewhat peculiar and seemingly somewhat capricious. Many quadrupeds, such as the honey-bear and the rhinoceros, are common to all, but while the tiger is common both in the Malayan Peninsula and in Sumatra, it does not occur in Borneo; the elephant, so common in the peninsula, and found in Borneo, is unknown in Sumatra; and the orang-utan, so plentiful in parts of Borneo and parts of Sumatra, has never been discovered in the Malay Peninsula. It has been suggested, but with very scant measure of probability, that the existence of elephants in Borneo, whose confinement to a single district is remarkable and unexplained, is due to importation; and the fact is on record that when Magellan's ships visited Brunei in 1522 tame elephants were in use at the court of the sultan of Brunei. Wild oxen of the Sunda race, not to be in any way confounded with the Malayan _seladang_ or gaur, are rare, but the whole country swarms with wild swine, and the _babirusa_, a pig with curious horn-like tusks, is not uncommon. Alligators are found in most of the rivers, and the gavial is less frequently met with. Three or four species of deer are common, including the mouse-deer, or _plandok_, an animal of remarkable grace and beauty, about the size of a hare but considerably less heavy. Squirrels, flying-squirrels, porcupines, civet-cats, rats, bats, flying-foxes and lizards are found in great variety; snakes of various kinds, from the boa-constrictor downward, are abundant, while the forests swarm with tree-leeches, and the marshes with horse-leeches and frogs. A remarkable flying-frog was discovered by Professor A.R. Wallace. Birds are somewhat rare in some quarters. The most important are eagles, kites, vultures, falcons, owls, horn-bills, cranes, pheasants (notably the argus, fire-back and peacock-pheasants), partridges, ravens, crows, parrots, pigeons, woodpeckers, doves, snipe, quail and swallows. Of most of these birds several varieties are met with. The _Cypselus esculentus_, or edible-nest swift, is very common, and the nests, which are built mostly in limestone caves, are esteemed the best in the archipelago. Mosquitoes and sand-flies are the chief insect pests, and in some districts are very troublesome. Several kinds of parasitic jungle ticks cause much annoyance to men and to beasts. There are also two kinds of ants, the semut api ("fire ant") and the _semut lada_ ("pepper ant"), whose bites are peculiarly painful. Hornets, bees and wasps of many varieties abound. The honey and the wax of the wild bee are collected by the natives. Butterflies and moths are remarkable for their number, size, variety and beauty. Beetles are no less numerously represented, as is to be expected in a country so richly wooded as Borneo. The swamps and rivers, as well as the surrounding seas, swarm with fish. The _siawan_ is a species of fish found in the rivers and valued for its spawn, which is salted. The natives are expert and ingenious fishermen. Turtles, trepang and pearl-shell are of some commercial importance.

The dog, the cat, the pig, the domestic fowl (which is not very obviously related to the bantam of the woods), the buffalo, a smaller breed than that met with in the Malayan Peninsula, and in some districts bullocks of the Brahmin breed and small horses, are the principal domestic animals. The character of the country and the nomadic habits of many of the natives of the interior, who rarely occupy their villages for more than a few years in succession, have not proved favourable to pastoral modes of life. The buffaloes are used not only in agriculture, but also as beasts of burden, as draught-animals and for the saddle. Horses, introduced by Europeans and owned only by the wealthier classes, are found in Banjermasin and in Sarawak. In British North Borneo, and especially in the district of Tempasuk on the north-west coast, Borneo ponies, bred originally, it is supposed, from the stock which is indigenous to the Sulu archipelago, are common.

_Flora_.--The flora of Borneo is very rich, the greater portion of the surface of the island being clothed in luxuriant vegetation. The king of the forest is the _tapan_, which, rising to a great height without fork or branch, culminates in a splendid dome of foliage. The official seats of some of the chiefs are constructed from the wood of this tree. Iron-wood, remarkable for the durability of its timber, is abundant; it is used by the natives for the pillars of their homes and forms an article of export, chiefly to Hong-Kong. It is rivalled in hardness by the _kayu tembesu_. In all, about sixty kinds of timber of marketable quality are furnished in more or less profusion, but the difficulty of extraction, even in the regions situated in close proximity to the large waterways, renders it improbable that the timber trade of Borneo will attain to any very great dimensions until other and easier sources of supply have become exhausted. Palm-trees are abundant in great variety, including the _nipah_, which is much used for thatching, the cabbage, fan, sugar, coco and sago palms. The last two furnish large supplies of food to the natives, some copra is exported, and sago factories, mostly in the hands of Chinese, prepare sago for the Dutch and British markets. Gutta-percha (_getah percha_ in the vernacular), camphor, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, gambir and betel, or areca-nuts, are all produced in the island; most of the tropical fruits flourish, including the much-admired but, to the uninitiated, most evil-smelling durian, a large fruit with an exceedingly strong outer covering composed of stout pyramidal spikes, which grows upon the branches of a tall tree and occasionally in falling inflicts considerable injuries upon passers-by. Yams, several kinds of sweet potatoes, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, pineapples, bananas and mangosteens are cultivated, as also are a large number of other fruits. Rice is grown in irrigated lands near the rivers and in the swamps, and also in rude clearings in the interior; sugar-cane of superior quality in Sambas and Montrado; cotton, sometimes exported in small quantities, on the banks of the Negara, a tributary of the Barito; tobacco, used very largely now in the production of cigars, in various parts of northern Borneo; and tobacco for native consumption, which is of small commercial importance, is cultivated in most parts of the island. Indigo, coffee and pepper have been cultivated since 1855 in the western division of Dutch Borneo. Among the more beautiful of the flowering plants are rhododendrons, orchids and pitcher-plants--the latter reaching extraordinary development, especially in the northern districts about Kinabalu. Epiphytous plants are very common, many that are usually independent assuming here the parasitic character; the _Vanda lowii_, for example, grows on the lower branches of trees, and its strange pendent flower-stalks often hang down so as almost to reach the ground. Ferns are abundant, but not so varied as in Java.

_Population._--The population of Borneo is not known with any approach to accuracy, but according to the political divisions of the island it is estimated as follows:--

Dutch Borneo 1,130,000
British North Borneo 200,000
Sarawak 500,000
Brunei 20,000

No effective census of the population has ever been taken, and vast areas in Dutch Borneo and in British North Borneo remain unexplored, and free from any practical authority or control. In Sarawak, owing to the high administrative genius of the first raja and his successor, the natives have been brought far more completely under control, but the raja has never found occasion to utilize the machinery of his government for the accurate enumeration of his subjects.

Dutch Borneo is divided for administrative purposes into two divisions, the western and the south and eastern respectively. Of the two, the former is under the more complete and effective control. The estimated population in the western division is 413,000 and in the south and eastern 717,000. Europeans number barely 1000; Arabs about 3000, and Chinese, mainly in the western division, over 40,000. In both divisions there is an average density of little more than 1 to every 2 sq. m. The sparseness of the population throughout the Dutch territory is due to a variety of causes--to the physical character of the country, which for the most part restricts the area of population to the near neighbourhood of the rivers; to the low standard of civilization to which the majority of the natives have attained and the consequent disregard of sanitation and hygiene; to wars, piracy and head-hunting, the last of which has not even yet been effectually checked among some of the tribes of the interior; and to the aggression and oppressions in earlier times of Malayan, Arab and Bugis settlers. Among the natives, more especially of the interior, an innate restlessness which leads to a life of spasmodic nomadism, poverty, insufficient nourishment, an incredible improvidence which induces them to convert into intoxicating liquor a large portion of their annual crops, feasts of a semi-religious character which are invariably accompanied by prolonged drunken orgies, and certain superstitions which necessitate the frequent procuration of abortion, have contributed to check the growth of population. In Sambas, Montrado and some parts of Pontianak, the greater density of the population is due to the greater fertility of the soil, the opening of mines, the navigation and trade plied on the larger rivers, and the concentration of the population at the junctions of rivers, the mouths of rivers and the seats of government. Of the chief place in the western division, Pontianak has about 9000 inhabitants; Sambas about 8000; Montrado, Mampawa and Landak between 2000 and 4000 each; and in the south and eastern division there are Banjermasin with nearly 50,000 inhabitants; Marabahan, Amuntai, Negara, Samarinda and Tengarung with populations of from 5000 to 10,000 inhabitants each. In Amuntai and Martapura early Hindu colonization, of which the traces and the influence still are manifest, the fertile soil, trade and industry aided by navigable rivers, have co-operated towards the growth of population to a degree which presents a marked contrast to the conditions in the interior parts of the Upper Barito and of the more westerly rivers. Only a very small proportion of the Europeans in Dutch Borneo live by agriculture and industry, the great majority of them being officials. The Arabs and Chinese are engaged in trading, mining, fishing and agriculture. Of the natives fully 90% live by agriculture, which, however, is for the most part of a somewhat primitive description. The industries of the natives are confined to such crafts as spinning and weaving and dyeing, the manufacture of iron weapons and implements, boat- and shipbuilding, &c. More particularly in the south-eastern division, and especially in the districts of Negara, Banjermasin, Amuntai and Martapura, shipbuilding, iron forging, gold- and silversmith's work, and the polishing of diamonds, are industries of high development in the larger centres of population.

_Races._--The peoples of Borneo belong to a considerable variety of races, of different origin and degrees of civilization. The most important numerically are the Dyaks, the Dusuns and Muruts of the interior, the Malays, among whom must be counted such Malayan tribes as the Bajaus, Ilanuns, &c., the Bugis, who were originally immigrants from Celebes, and the Chinese. The Dutch, and to a minor extent the Arabs, are of importance on account of their political influence in Dutch Borneo, while the British communities have a similar importance in Sarawak and in British North Borneo. Accounts of the Malays, Dyaks and Bugis are given under their several headings, and some information concerning the Dusuns and Muruts will be found in the section below, which deals with British North Borneo. The connexion of the Chinese with Borneo calls for notice here. They seem to have been the first civilized people who had dealings with Borneo, if the colonization of a portion of the south-eastern corner of the island by Hindus be excepted. The Chinese annals speak of tribute paid to the empire by Pha-la on the north-east coast of the island as early as the 7th century, and later documents mention a Chinese colonization in the 15th century. The traditions of the Malays and Dyaks seem to confirm the statements, and many of the leading families of Brunei in north-west Borneo claim to have Chinese blood in their veins, while the annals of Sulu record an extensive Chinese immigration about 1575. However this may be, it is certain that the flourishing condition of Borneo in the 16th and 17th centuries was largely due to the energy of Chinese settlers and to trade with China. In the 18th century there was a considerable Chinese population settled in Brunei, engaged for the most part in planting and exporting pepper, but the consistent oppression of the native rajas destroyed their industry and led eventually to the practical extirpation of the Chinese. The Malay chiefs of other districts encouraged immigration from China with a view to developing the mineral resources of their territories, and before long Chinese settlers were to be found in considerable numbers in Sambas, Montrado, Pontianak and elsewhere. They were at first forbidden to engage in commerce or agriculture, to carry firearms, to possess or manufacture gunpowder. About 1779 the Dutch acquired immediate authority over all strangers, and thus assumed responsibility for the control of the Chinese, who presently proved themselves somewhat troublesome. Their numbers constantly increased and were reinforced by new immigrants, and pushing inland in search of fresh mineral-bearing areas, they contracted frequent intermarriages with the Dyaks and other non-Mahommedan natives. They brought with them from China their aptitude for the organization of secret societies which, almost from the first, assumed the guise of political associations. These secret societies furnished them with a machinery whereby collective action was rendered easy, and under astute leaders they offered a formidable opposition to the Dutch government. Later, when driven into the interior and eventually out of Dutch territory, they cost the first raja of Sarawak some severe contests before they were at last reduced to obedience. Serious disturbances among the Chinese are now in Borneo matters of ancient history, and to-day the Chinaman forms perhaps the most valuable element in the civilization and development of the island, just as does his fellow in the mining states of the Malayan Peninsula. They are industrious, frugal and intelligent; the richer among them are excellent men of business and are peculiarly equitable in their dealings; the majority of all classes can read and write their own script, and the second generation acquires an education of an European type with great facility. The bulk of the shopkeeping, trading and mining industries, so long as the mining is of an alluvial character, is in Chinese hands. The greater part of the Chinese on the west coast are originally drawn from the boundaries of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si. They are called Kehs by the Malays, and are of the same tribes as those which furnish the bulk of the workers to the tin mines of the Malay Peninsula. They are a rough and hardy people, and are apt at times to be turbulent. The shopkeeping class comes mostly from Fuh-kien and the coast districts of Amoy. They are known to the Borneans as Ollohs.

_History._--As far as is known, Borneo never formed a political unity, and even its geographical unity as an island is a fact unappreciated by the vast majority of its native inhabitants. The name of Kalamantan has been given by some Europeans (on what original authority it is not possible now to ascertain) as the native name for the island of Borneo considered as a whole; but it is safe to aver that among the natives of the island itself Borneo has never borne any general designation. To this day, among the natives of the Malayan Archipelago, men speak of going to Pontianak, to Sambas or to Brunei, as the case may be, but make use of no term which recognizes that these localities are part of a single whole. The only archaeological remains are a few Hindu temples, and it is probable that the early settlement of the south-eastern portion of the island by Hindus dates from some time during the first six centuries of our era. There exist, however, no data, not even any trustworthy tradition, from which to reconstruct the early history of Borneo. Borneo began to be known to Europeans after the fall of Malacca in 1511, when Alphonso d'Albuquerque despatched Antonio d'Abreu with three ships in search of the Molucca or Spice Islands with instructions to establish friendly relations with all the native states that he might encounter on his way. D'Abreu, sailing in a south-easterly direction from the Straits of Malacca, skirted the southern coast of Borneo and laid up his ships at Amboyna, a small island near the south-western extremity of Ceram. He returned to Malacca in 1514, leaving one of his captains, Francisco Serrano, at Ternate, where Magellan's followers found him in 1521. After Magellan's death, his comrades sailed from the Moluccas across the Celebes into the Sulu Sea, and were the first white men who are known to have visited Brunei on the north-west coast of Borneo, where they arrived in 1522. Pigafetta gives an interesting account of the place and of the reception of the adventurers by the sultan. The Molucca Islands being, at that time, the principal objective of European traders, and the route followed by Magellan's ships being frequently used, Borneo was often touched at during the remainder of the 16th century, and trade relations with Brunei were successfully established by the Portuguese. In 1573 the Spaniards tried somewhat unsuccessfully to obtain a share of this commerce, but it was not until 1580, when a dethroned sultan appealed to them for assistance and by their agency was restored to his own, that they attained their object. Thereafter the Spaniards maintained a fitful intercourse with Brunei, varied by not infrequent hostilities, and in 1645 a punitive expedition on a larger scale than heretofore was sent to chastise Brunei for persistent acts of piracy. No attempt at annexation followed upon this action, commerce rather than territory being at this period the prime object of both the Spaniards and the Portuguese, whose influence upon the natives was accordingly proportionately small. The only effort at proselytizing of which we have record came to an untimely end in the death of the Theatine monk, Antonio Ventimiglia, who had been its originator. Meanwhile the Dutch and British East India Companies had been formed, had destroyed the monopoly so long enjoyed by the Portuguese, and to a less extent the Spaniards, in the trade of the Malayan Archipelago, and had gained a footing in Borneo. The establishment of Dutch trading-posts on the west coast of Borneo dates from 1604, nine years after the first Dutch fleet, under Houtman, sailed from the Texel to dispute with the Portuguese the possession of the Eastern trade, and in 1608 Samuel Blommaert was appointed Dutch resident, or head factor, in Landak and Sukedana. The first appearance of the British in Borneo dates from 1609, and by 1698 they had an important settlement at Banjermasin, whence they were subsequently expelled by the influence of the Dutch, who about 1733 obtained from the sultan a trading monopoly. The Dutch, in fact, speedily became the predominant European race throughout the Malay Archipelago, defeating the British by superior energy and enterprise, and the trading-posts all along the western and southern coasts of Borneo were presently their exclusive possessions, the sultan of Bantam, who was the overlord of these districts, ceding his rights to the Dutch. The British meanwhile had turned their attention to the north of the island, over which the sultan of Sulu exercised the rights of suzerain, and from him, in 1759, Alexander Dalrymple obtained possession of the island of Balambangan, and the whole of the north-eastern promontory. A military post was established, but it was destroyed in 1775 by the natives under the _dato'_, or vassal chiefs, who resented the cession of their territory. This mishap rendered a treaty, which had been concluded in 1774 with the sultan of Brunei, practically a dead letter, and by the end of the century British influence in Borneo was to all intents and purposes at an end. The Dutch also mismanaged their affairs in Borneo and suffered from a series of misfortunes which led Marshal Daendels in 1809 to order the abandonment of all their posts. The natives of the coasts of Borneo, assisted and stimulated by immigrants from the neighbouring islands to the north, devoted themselves more and more to organized piracy, and putting to sea in great fleets manned by two and three thousand men on cruises that lasted for two and even three years, they terrorized the neighbouring seas and rendered the trade of civilized nations almost impossible for a prolonged period. During the occupation of Java by the British an embassy was despatched to Sir Stamford Raffles by the sultan of Banjermasin asking for assistance, and in 1811 Alexander Hare was despatched thither as commissioner and resident. He not only obtained for his government an advantageous treaty, but secured for himself a grant of a district which he proceeded to colonize and cultivate. About the same time a British expedition was also sent against Sambas and a post established at Pontianak. On the restoration of Java to the Dutch in 1816, all these arrangements were cancelled, and the Dutch government was left in undisputed possession of the field. An energetic policy was soon after adopted, and about half the kingdom of Banjermasin was surrendered to the Dutch by its sultan in 1823, further concessions being made two years later. Meanwhile, George Muller, while exploring the east coast, obtained from the sultan of Kutei an acknowledgment of Dutch authority, a concession speedily repented by its donor, since the enterprising traveller was shortly afterwards killed. The outbreak of war in Java caused Borneo to be more or less neglected by the Dutch for a considerable period, and no effective check was imposed upon the natives with a view to stopping piracy, which was annually becoming more and more unendurable. On the rise of Singapore direct trade had been established with Sarawak and Brunei, and it became a matter of moment to British merchants that this traffic should be safe. In 1838 Sir James Brooke, an Englishman, whose attention had been turned to the state of affairs in the Eastern Archipelago, set out for Borneo, determined, if possible, to remedy the evil. By 1841 he had obtained from the sultan of Brunei the grant of supreme authority over Sarawak, in which state, on the sultan's behalf, he had waged a successful war, and before many years had elapsed he had, with the aid of the British government, succeeded in suppressing piracy (see BROOKE, SIR JAMES; and SARAWAK). In 1847 the sultan of Brunei agreed to make no cession of territory to any nation or individual without the consent of Great Britain. Since then more and more territory has been ceded by the sultans of Brunei to the raja of Sarawak and to British North Borneo, and to-day the merest remnant of his once extensive state is left within the jurisdiction of the sultan. The treaty in 1847 put an end once for all to the hopes which the Dutch had cherished of including the whole island in their dominions, but it served also to stimulate their efforts to consolidate their power within the sphere already subjected to their influence. Gunong Tebur, Tanjong, and Bulungan had made nominal submission to them in 1834, and in 1844 the sultan of Kutei acknowledged their protectorate, a treaty of a similar character being concluded about the same time with Pasir. The boundaries of British and Dutch Borneo were finally defined by a treaty concluded on the 20th of June 1891. In spite of this, however, large areas in the interior, both in Dutch Borneo and in the territory owned by the British North Borneo Company, are still only nominally under European control, and have experienced few direct effects of European administration.

BRITISH NORTH BORNEO OR SABAH

Sabah is the name applied by the natives to certain portions of the territory situated on the north-western coast of the island, and originally in no way included the remainder of the country now owned by the British North Borneo Company. It has become customary, however, for the name to be used by Europeans in Borneo to denote the whole of the company's territory, and little by little the more educated natives are insensibly adopting the practice.