THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[JUL^ 



1886. 



you call at any hour of the day or night and 

 when friends take a walk for a couple of miles 

 or so, they almost invariably carry the everlast- 

 ing tea-kettle. I should think 10 lb. per caput per 

 annum would scarely suffice here. The Chinese 

 have the trade simply because they take the trouble 

 to get the tea up in nice little boxes to suit the 

 market. The Ceylon chests were all said to be 

 95 lb. though really 92 was the weight of the 

 one I purchased. Few families care to take 90 lb. 

 at once and to break up and divide, costs money. 

 Mind you, labour is labour in a colony where the 

 poorest creaturs^will rather go to the invalid hospital 

 than take less than 6s 6d for 8 hours' dawdling. 



BRITISH NOKTH BOENEO. 



The British North Borneo Herald for 1st May 

 has reached us, and proves an interesting number 

 as our extracts show. The chief paper is on "the 

 Climate of British North Borneo," a Beport by J. H. 

 Walker, Esq., m.d., Principal Medical Officer. This is 

 an instrvictive and business-like account, though with 

 the comparatively short experience and insufficient 

 meteorological and other data, the conclusions 

 drawn can only be provisional. We read :— 



The climate of British North Borneo is noticeable 

 for nothing more than for its equability and the 

 absence of extremes. The Temperature, Rainfall, 

 Winds, Natural Phenomena generally and the 

 diseases arc, for a tropical country, of the most 

 mild and temperate types. 



Monsoons and Winds. — The Monsoons are the 

 North-East and the South-West. The North-East 

 Monsoon commences about the middle of October 

 and continues till about the middle of April. The 

 South-West Monsoon lasts from about the middle 

 of April till the middle of October. 



Rainfall, etc.— The Amiual Rainfall near the 

 coast, according to the records kept has during 

 the last seven years ranged from 156'9 to 10126 

 inches and has averaged 124 34. The true Wet 

 season occurs in the North-East Monsoon and in- 

 cludes the months of November, December and 

 January, and generally part of either October or 

 February or both. The true Dry season immediately 

 follows this true wet season and includes March 

 and April and generally the whole of May and 

 part of February. 



Temperature. — The temperature recorded at the 

 coast has ranged between the extremes of 67'5 and 

 94'5. Until within the last few months however 

 these records have been taken from thermometers 

 kept m the shade of a verandah — with the excep- 

 tion of Kudat where there was a thermometer shade 

 two years since, and little or no inferences can be 

 drawn from the records there as the meteorological 

 station is on a sandy plain, the temperature of 

 which is several degrees above that of the 

 country generally. Judging from the results of 

 the observations at Bandakan since the proper 

 shade was erectf d I think the minimum record.s fairly 

 wftll represetit the truth, while the maximum records 

 are from two to three degrees over the true "temperature 

 in the shade," 



The ahpence of Ternadoes, Cyclones, and Earth- 

 quakes is to be noted. The only indication 

 of the existence at the present day of volcanic action 

 is the report of a hot spring- in au island near the 

 Coast. In i-ome individual parts the South-west mon- 

 soon is by far the most uuhealthj', and this is e.s- 

 peeially noticable at Kudat and Silara, where during 

 the South-west monsoon fever is prevalent and rather 

 severe, while during the North-east it is mild and at 

 Kudat now almost absent. At these stations the evil 

 influence in the South-west monsoon is undoubtedly 

 the stronger winds which, blowing over the whole of 

 Borneo, reach these places laden with the impurities 

 collected from swamps, &;c., in their passage; while 

 Sandakan is protected from this influence by the 

 purifying effects of the bay, over which the South 

 VWi wiods h»ye toeirpep ioi a distance of come Sfteeo 



miles before reaching the town, and consequently at 

 that station there are no clearly defined healthy and 

 unh'^althy seasons as at the two others mentioned. 



The CHiEi" DISEASES to be considered undor this head arc 

 Fever, Beriberi and Dysentery. In addition to these s, 

 few lines will be given to Anaemia and Sunstroke. Bei-i- 

 bcri occupies a far more important position in the list 

 of diseases of Borneo than would be gathered from 

 the small proportion it forms in the table in the 

 appendix (only 1-75 per cent of the diseases treated) ; 

 partly on account of the high rate of mortahty it 

 gives and partly on account of the extent to which 

 it has already interfered with planting. It has broken out 

 in each of the plantations opened in the rivers in Sanda- 

 kan Bay and has claimed its quota of victims not 

 only ill these — Sigaliud, Domoondong, Suanlamba and 

 to a less extent SapHgaya — but also in the native village 

 of Malapi, at the Birds-nest caves at Gomantou, among 

 some of the parties of Dyaks collecting produce on 

 the upper waters of the Segama and to some extent on 

 the island of Banguey. This disease generally appears al- 

 most in the form of an epidemic and is generally 

 closely restricted both to the locality and the race 

 among whom it first appears. The cases enum- 

 erated in the appendix were chieHy drawn from 

 the various rivers in the bay (patients sent to 

 Sandakan for treatment,) but include also a few 

 sporadic cases that appeared in the low-lying ground 

 in Sandakan, and a few cases in the commence- 

 ment of the recent outbreak in the old gaol here. 

 The cause of this obscure disease is as yet un- 

 certain ; some ascribe it to the food, more especi- 

 ally to bad rice and lish, and there is no doubt 

 that a generous diet has a strong curative iniiuencc 

 on the disease ; but on the whole, from its many 

 analogies with Malarial fever and the strict localis- 

 ation of the disease, I am more inclined to the view 

 that is due to a specific maisma or exhalation 

 from the soil. There are two distinct forms of 

 the disease, and I think it not improbable that 

 these may ultimately prove to be distinct diseases. 



The Indian races on the whole stand the climate 

 well. The Sikhs and Bengalees have attacks of fever, 

 colic, constipation and ocoasioually shght dysentery, 

 but there have been but few deaths among them ; 

 one or two from fever, one from heart disease, one 

 from opium smoking, one from chronic neglected 

 dysentery and one sudden death, cause unknown. The 

 Klings are also fairly healthy here but like others 

 have occasional attacks of fever and in two cases 

 Beri-beri. The Sinhalese who were brought here for 

 the survey department suffered severely from fever 

 and its results. The Chinese are the only race that can 

 be said to be decidedly unhealthy in this climate and even 

 of them this can be said only of those fresh from 

 China and sent to work in the Jungle before they 

 arc acclimatized. Men such as those contribute more 

 than half of all the deaths registered in Sandakan, 

 succumbing chiefly to Fever, Beri-beri and Anteumia with 

 ulcers. The Dyaks from Sarawak have excellent health 

 in British North Borneo. 



Sanitaria.— In the future when the country gets 

 opeued up there will bo compariitively little diffic- 

 ulty in forming Sanitary stations on the hills near 

 the West ('oast. Probably the best site will be 

 found on some of the spurs of Kinabalu, such as 

 that described by St. John on the West-North-West 

 spur, where, at an elevation of some r),000 to 6,000 

 feet, on a good site to which a road could 

 easily be made, is be found good water and an average 

 temperature of 75° at midday, 03° at sunset, and 

 56 ° at sunrise. At Bode Silam also on the East 

 Coast it IS possible that a site may be found at an 

 elevation of some 2,000 feet, but this would probably 

 prove much less satisfactory, not only on account 

 of the smaller elevation, but also because from the 

 isolated nature of the hill there would probably be 

 dilticulties about road, water-supply and shelter from 

 the wind. 2. — At present, in default of such sani- 

 taria, 1 find the short sea voyage from this to Singa- 

 pore and back has a most powerful recuperative effect 

 in convalescence from sickness. The voyage to Hong- 

 kong is not found so satisfactory iu such cases, as 

 (be trau^iticu of climate is 69 i'»pid, aud, though 



