Nov. 10, 1856.] DE CRESPIGNY ON BORNEO. 205 



great favour whether they may have them. In other moral qualities 

 they are also above most uncivilized, and perhaps also above most 

 civilized, nations. They are temperate in food and drink, and the 

 gross sensuality of the Chinese and Malays is unknown among them. 

 They have but one fault — a fault common to all nations in a half- 

 savage state, except perhaps the African races — an apathy and 

 dilatoriness, which, however annoying to the Europeans who come 

 into contact with them, cannot be considered a very grave oifence, 

 or be held to outbalance the many excellent qualities they possess. 



Few subjects are of greater interest, or of more vital importance to 

 the welfare of a people, than the state of the population, its increase 

 or decrease, and the causes by which it is affected. In my visits to 

 the Hill Dyaks, I was much struck by the apparent absence of those 

 causes, which are generally supposed to check the increase of popu- 

 lation, coupled with the evidence of a population almost stationary 

 or very slightly increasing. The conditions generally supposed 

 most favourable for the increase of population, are an abundance of 

 food, the absence of polygamy, and .early marriages. Here these 

 conditions all exist. The people produce far more food than they 

 consume, and exchange the surplus for ornaments, gongs, and small 

 cannon, which constitute their wealth. On the whole, they appear 

 remarkably free from disease ; marriages take place early, though 

 not too early, and old bachelors and old maids are alike unknown. 

 The number of births is, however, below the usual ratio, and a suffi- 

 cient cause may be found in the fatiguing occupations to which the 

 women are subjected. 



3. Proposed Exploration of Borneo. By Lieut. C. A. C. De Ceespigny, 



R.N., F.R.G.S. 



Lieut. De Crespigny, r.n., submitted his proposition for the more 

 thorough exploration of Borneo. He reasoned that Borneo ought 

 to be better known, on account of its riches, its fertility, and above 

 all, its position, situated as it is, in the direct route between China 

 and Australia, between which two countries, it is not difficult to 

 foresee, that there will be as great a trade as now exists between 

 Europe and Australia. In addition to this, Lieut. De Crespigny was 

 anxious to discover the ruins of a large stone city said to exist in 

 Koti, in the east of Borneo, and the truth of a rumour of a tribe of 

 fair people, living in the mountainous region of Kinibalu, with 

 light hair and blue eyes. In reply to a question Lieut. De Cres- 

 pigny said he had been employed in the survey of the north-west 

 coast in 1848, and had taken that opportunity to learn the Malay 

 language, and to gain infoimation of the manners of the people. 



