58
situated towards its northern extremity, and consequently in the vicinity of rude and
predatory tribes, and remote from civilised intercourse. Such a form of the coast of
Borneo, although inconvenient, is, no doubt, less so in temperate seas, beyond the
reach of storms and typhoons, the last never coming within three degrees of it.
The geological formation of Borneo, as far as it is known, may generally be described
as composed of plutonic and sedimentary rocks,—.granites, sienites, sandstones,
schists, and limestones. The great volcanic band is distant from it at least 200 miles,
the nearest points of it being Java and Bali; and no volcano, active or quiescent, is
known to exist in it. Its mineral deposits, as far as they have been ascertained,
consist of iron, gold, antimony, coal, and the diamond. Tin, copper, and zinc have
not, as yet, been found ; nor silver, except alloyed with gold, which is always the
case. Gold has not hitherto been found in situ, and only in alluvial deposits, and
these confined to the parts of the island south of the second degree of north latitude.
Antimony has been found only in two localities, both on the north-western coast,_
Sarawak between the first and second degree of north latitude, and Bintulu between
the third and fourth. Coal has been found cropping out in various places on the
north-western side of the island, between the north latitudes 3° and 5°, and longitudes
113 and 115 ; and again on the southern side of the island, between the 3rd and 4th
degrees of south latitude. If these, as is probable, are the extremes of the same
carboniferous formation, the coal-fields of Borneo extend over about 8° of latitude
and 2 of longitude, and must be the largest in the world, except those of North
America. Borneo is the only country of the Malay or Philippine Archipelago,
indeed, the only country of Asia, except Southern India, in which the diamond is’
found, and even in Borneo, it is confined to the western and southern sides of the
island, south of the first degree of north latitude, and from the 109° to the 114° of
east longitude, corresponding, generally, with the region of the gold deposits.
Borneo, as far as it has been explored, is a mountainous country, having, generally,
an alluvial band of from 30 to 50 miles broad round its coast. Its mountains, however,
do not consist, as in the Peninsula, Sumatra, and Java, of one or two regular
continuous chains, but of many small and irregular ones, with probably two of greater
regularity and continuity than the rest. Mr. Bums, who penetrated the northwestern
Bide of the island, between the 3° and 4° of north latitude, and the 113° and
114° of longitude, gives the following account of the country he visited : “ Thirty
miles inland from the coast, the greater portion of the country is low and densely
covered with forests, but generally not swampy. After this, it becomes very mountainous,
and rises most irregularly in ridges to the centre of the island.” The
mountains of Borneo are of no remarkable elevation compared with those of Sumatra
and Java, with the single exception of Kinibalu towards the northern extremity of
the island, and in north latitude 6“ 5', an isolated mountain of granite and sienite,
estimated to be 11,500 feet high, but which an English traveller, Mr. Lowe, who
visited it in 1851, does not consider to exceed 10,000. In the Dutch maps of Borneo,
two distinct ranges are laid down running in a direction from south-west to northeast,
the highest point of the most southerly of which is 6000 feet, and of the most
northerly 3500. The mountains on the western side, corresponding with the most
productive part of the gold region, do not exceed 2000 and 2250 feet in height.
Mr. Bums mentions a mountain in the centre of the island of great height, which he
calls Tibang, but he did not see it. Prom it and its neighbourhood he considers to
proceed most of the principal rivers of the southern side of the island, and one or
two of those of the north-western. This probably forms one of the mountains of
the southerly chain of the Dutch maps, named in them Kaminting.
No doubt, a country of such vast extent as Borneo will be found to contain lakes
of considerable extent, but as yet we have authentic accounts only of one, and this
visited for the first time as late as 1823. I t is called Danu-malayu, or “ the Malay
lake; ’’and is in north latitude 1° 5', and east longitude 114°20', about 45 leagues from
the western coast. I t has a length of 8 leagues and a breadth of 4, with a depth in
some places of 18 feet. Four other lakes of smaller extent are laid down in recent
Dutch maps on the southern side of the island, and in the territory of Banjarmasin
between latitudes 1° 30' and 2° 30' south. I t is singular that the existence of a great
lake supposed to lie at the western foot of the mountain Kinibalu, has not even
been verified ; for the English traveller, Mr. Lowe, who ascended the mountain itself
in 1851, could hear nothing of it.
The largest rivers of Borneo are those which fall into the Sea of Java, and the
straits whioh part the island from Celebes, and these, according to the Dutch maps,
have their source in the range of Kaminting towards the centre of the island. Thé
BORNEO 59 BORNEO
largest are those of Kuti, Banjarmasin, and Pontianak. The most considerable rivers
that disembogue in the China Sea are those of Sambas, the Bajang, the Bmtulu, the
Baram, and the river of Brunai. All of these have bars at their mouths, making them
inaccessible to vessels of considerable burthen, the last excepted, which is navigable
for large shipping for 15 miles up, and which, therefore, notwithstanding the apparent
shortness of its course, must be considered the most useful river of the island.
The vegetation of Borneo is as luxuriant as that of any of the other islands of the
ArchiDelago. The whole island is, indeed, covered with a rank verdure, or a primeval
forest of gigantic trees; the cleared and reclaimed spots forming but exceptional
specks in this wild and unvaried landscape. The existence, however, of this rich
vegetation, is neither here, nor anywhere else, a reliable proof of real fertility; tor the
largest timber trees will grow among rocks with a few inches of mould, or in the arid
sand, or even in the salt mud of the shore, according to their natures,—localities in
which nothing useful to man, or to the animals domesticated by him for tood or
labour will thrive. The indigenous exchangeable vegetable products of Borneo are
benzoin, eagle-wood, native camphor, the sago-palm, and ratans; and it may be
remarked of the last, being the produce of Banjarmasin on the southern side ot the
island, that in the general markets of the Archipelago they are more valuable by
70 per cent, than those of any other country.
Among the larger animals of the forests of Borneo, are several species of monkeys,
the most remarkable of which is the orang-utan, the Simia satyrus, possessed only by
this island and Sumatra. The only animal of the feline family found m it is a species
of leopard, Felis macrocelis, less powerful and less ferocious than the common
leopard of Java and Sumatra. No canine animal exists except in the domestic state ;
the dog, the jackal, fox, and wolf being all absent. Of the Viverra, Borneo has one
species peculiar to itself, Yiverra Boiei; and a singular-looking animal, intermediate
between the polecat and otter, to which the indefatigable Dutch naturalists have
given the of Patamophilus barbatus. In common with Sumatra, Borneo has
one small bear, the Ursus Malayanus, or bruwang of the Malays. Of the gnawers, it
has the same species of porcupine as Sumatra and Java, the landak of the Malays,
and several squirrels (tupai) peculiar to itself. No indication of the elephant and
rhinoceros has been detected on the western and southern sides of the island, but
there is now no doubt of the existence of the last on the north-western side; and of
the first in the peninsula of Unsang, forming the north-eastern angle of the island.
The hog seems to be found all over the island, a peculiar species which naturalists
have called Sus barbatus, from its having a tuft of hair on each side of the face, which
gives it a hideous and grotesque appearance. The ox, called by the Javanese banteng,
the Bos sondaicus, is a denizen of the forests of Borneo, as well as of those of Java.
Besides the pigmy deer of Java and Sumatra the two last islands and their two larger
ones, it has a deer peculiar to itself, the Cervus equinus. Among reptiles, there are three
crocodiles, two of which are peculiar to the island, one of them being intermediate
between the common crocodile and the gavial of the Ganges. The birds of Borneo,
although among them there are many new species, present none that are striking
for size, use, or beauty. The peacock, the Argus pheasant, and the jungle fowl of
Sumatra and the peninsula, seem to be all wanting.
The aboriginal man of Borneo, the Dayak or wild man of the Malays, is m race
identically the same as the inhabitants of Java and Sumatra,—culture making the whole
difference between them. The complexion is a yellowish-brown, the hair is black and
lank the eyes small and obliquely set, the nose Bhort and small, the cheek-bonea high,
the mouth wide, and the average stature much below that of the Chinese or European.
The aborigines of Borneo are thinly spread over the interior of the island, rarely
reaching the sea-coast, which is in the occupation of foreign settlers. They are divided
among themselves into many independent tribes or nations, each speaking its own distinct
language. Fifty such tribeB or nations may be easily counted, and this is probably
below their actual number. These are in very various social states. A few of them
are wandering savages, without fixed dwellings,—without more clothing than what is
sufficient to cover their nakedness and this consisting of the bark of trees, subsisting
precariously on the animal and vegetable products of the forest. The majority,
however, have advanced far beyond this condition, for they have fixed and substantial
dwellings, cultivate, although rudely, farinaceous roots—the sago-palm, rice,
cotton, tobacco, the banana, the sugar-cane, and even the pine-apple. They moreover
understand the fabrication of malleable iron and the art of spinning and weaving
cotton, while they have domesticated the dog, the hog, and the common fowl, but
no animal for labour; the ox, the buffalo, and the horse being unknown to them.