May i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



849 



them to a European or Chinese Company, or allow indivi- 

 dual Chinese and Malay miners to work on the fields, as 

 in Sarawak. 



It appears to us, that if the fields prove sufficiently rich, 

 the Government could not do better than adopt, with 

 necessary modifications, the Queensland Gold Fields Act of 

 of 1884, and the Mineral Lands act of 1882, in force in 

 the same colony, which are fully described iu Mr. C. S. 

 Dickson's paper on " The Mineral Wealth of Queensland" 

 read before the .Royal Colonial Institute in March last. 



One thing is certain, we think, and that is, that the 

 probabilities are that the mineral wealth of this country 

 will be best developed by Chinese labour and oven by 

 Chinese capital. The experience of the protected Malay 

 States as regards tin tends to prove, so far at least, that, 

 where Chinese companies can make fortunes, European com- 

 panies may prove complete failures. For the ordinary 

 Australian digger there is no field here— the tropical climate 

 with its consequent fever, when much exposure to 

 sun and weather has to be borne, is altogether- against 

 him, and this should be thoroughly understood. It 

 is melancholy to reflect that the late Mr. Frank Hatton 

 was on the eve of discovering the Segama gold fields 

 when he met his death by accident on the banks of that 

 river. 



On the West Coast, at Bauguey, chromium, copper and 

 arsenic have been found ; in the neighbourhood of Tam- 

 boyukam, near Kinabalu, a silver ore and pyrites ; a 

 sample of native copper brought in by the late Mr. With 

 is now id the Loudon Office and it is said also to exist 

 in the Paugalau river district a branch of the Padas. A 

 rich sample of galena and silver, yielding on assay 116 

 ounces of silver to the ton, has been picked up by a 

 native near Mumpakul, now in our territory, and a similar 

 samplo has been seen atSuyam Lawass, alsoiu our territ- 

 ory, tho natives averring that quantities oan bo obtained 

 up the Bukaw river. Samples of plumbago were years 

 ago brought by natives to Labuan, but it is not remem- 

 bered from what district, though Putatau is supposed to 

 have been its source. 



The minerals ascertained to exist in Northern Borneo 

 are gold, silver, copper, chromium, tin, plumbago, lead 

 and coal. Antimony and cinnabar are reported. What 

 is now wanted is a thorough examination of the known 

 mineral districts by apractical geologist. Mr. A. H. Everett 

 has an agreement with the Company authorising him to 

 prospect a certain portion of the territory and perhaps no 

 better man could be found for the work, but his time is 

 not at his disposal and his own Provisional Brunei Min- 

 ing Association has the first claim on him. If only the 

 Company could engage the services for six months, dur- 

 ing the dry season, of a gentleman with the experience of 

 Mr. Robert Jack, the Queensland Government Geologist, 

 all doubts would quickly be set at rest, and wo should 

 then at last be able probably to say the final word on 

 North Borneo minerals. Is it beyond the bounds of poss- 

 ibility that the Queensland Government should consent 

 and Mr. Jack be willing to lend us his services for a short 

 period ? The matter is one of great importance to the 

 country for, as has been said with regard to Australia— 

 what was South Australia but m a state of insolvency 

 before the discovery of copper ? — what was Victoria 

 before the development of the gold fields ? what was 

 New South Wales even before gold era ? How wonder- 

 fully these colonies have been awakened under the 

 influence of such discoveries. The mining question is 

 of the utmost importance. Minos develop commerce ; they 

 bring population and a demand for farms ; they originate 

 towns, with all the high civilization attending them. 



IN SEARCH OF GOLD. 

 (Extract from Report in "North Borneo Herald" of 

 the 31st December by Mr. Henry Walker.) 

 "Gold has been found" was the news I received one morn- 

 ing last October when I arrived at the offices in Elopura 

 It appeared that a party of Sarawak traders. five in num- 

 ber, had returned from the river Segama and had brought 

 a sample of gold. There was not. much, but it appealed to 

 the imagination. It v. as gold, and the excitement grew 

 while future possibilities were suggested. The result was 

 ! hat I was requested to visit the place in company with 



107 



the Sarawak traders aud verify their discovery. They ha<* 

 been assisted therein by a headman on the river who ha^ 

 shown them where to work, but it was Mr. Fryer, th e 

 Resident, who first suggested to them to visit the river and 

 discover whether gold existed or not— the inducement being 

 the Government reward of S500 on the discovery of a 

 mineral, one hundred of which is due on discovery and 

 four hundred when the mineral is worked. Their first 

 visit was in February but the rains prevented them work. 

 ing iu the river bed ; they returned in July and obtained 

 the sample brought on 11th November. There is little 

 chance of getting gold if the water does not fall. The 

 Sungei Billing is sixty feet wide: the jungle nearly meets 

 overhead, sometimes does, and without the sun it is a gloomy 

 spot. The Sarawak men are in the hut they made before, 

 which only required new kajangs. They are now putting 

 handles to their tools. My men are busy on their own 

 huts, or on mine which is to be nine feet by six. 



The water is very cold, aoid it was 10 o'clock before the 

 men got to work. They said it was impossible to work at 

 the old spot, there was too much water; so they tried up tho 

 stream on a bed of single. They removed the big stones col- 

 lecting any grit that adhere to them, which they say is often 

 rich in gold, and the top stones once away they collected 

 everythiug and placed it in their pans — large wooden dishes, 

 thirty inches in diameter with a pit in the centre, very good 

 for the purpose. The result of every pan was a small quant- 

 ity of black dust, which I am preserving, and almost always 

 iu the black gleamed a speck of gold. Where does it come 

 from ? One piece is of appreciable size, as large as a grain 

 of rice, but thin and water-worn. There were five men 

 washing, and each was equally successful in findiug gold, 

 not in dust, but in small pieces. They washed for two hours, 

 aud I was glad they gave up as I could see they were very 

 cold. 



I went up the Segama this afternoon to see if there were 

 any hills aud came across limestone on the true left bank 

 but nothing further of note. Searching for orchids I raised 

 a little mouse deer, which scuttled away from its lair at 

 the root of a big tree. This is first game I have seen. 

 The wet weather renders it unnecessary for game to come 

 to the river to drink, and my men say a flooded river 

 frightens game away. We have seen nothing but a few 

 alligators and the one rhinoceros mentioned 12th November. 

 We went up the Sungei Bilang : unfortunately it rained 

 a good deal in the night and the river is pretty full, too 

 much so for midstream working, and we have to content 

 ourselves with working the sides. The stuff is too new for 

 any good results. Still at each place we found gold in specks, 

 brilliantly discornable against the black metal accompany- 

 ing it. No dust — where does that go? A fine day aud pleas- 

 ant working : we did not get back till 4 o'clock, very tired. 

 The jungle is full of a tree, called Ankaug, whoso nut 

 yields soil and which the Resident asked me to look for. 

 The nil used in place of coconut oil and is much more 

 valuable. I have given orders to collect a quantity. On 

 the right bank of the Sungei Bilang I saw a tree called 

 Tappang by the Sarawak men, a bee tree, ten feet iu 

 diameter at twenty feet above the ground. I believe this 

 would be a big tree in any part of the world. The timber 

 on this river, Segama, runs very large and increases in 

 size as we progress inland. 



13th Nov. — The river is much lower and the men set to 

 work near their old spot, and found gold again. They 

 say the river was lower on the former occasion, which I 

 can well imagine as when they stoop to fill the scoop with 

 dirt they buried their shoulders in water. I got my 

 specimens of stone 'together : they include water-worn 

 granite, like grey Aberdeen, gneiss, slate, crystalline 

 sandstones, jasper, porphyries, serpentine basaltic lime- 

 stone (water-worn) and coral limestone. As I write their 

 names I cannot help speculating on the possibilities of 

 the future. 



14th Nov. — Got away early and found the river fuller 

 than when we came up. At the big fall, Tabauat, we 

 got out to lighten the boats, but did not remove the 

 baggage. Going down the falls was exciting work at first, 

 but there are so many of them they are becoming 1 

 bi Bides which, as we progress, the waters are becoming 

 quieter. The country we have passed through has been 

 fairly flat, much occupied by natives in days gone by. 

 I feel thankful we started, aud that we have had a line 



