Collingwood^s Rambles in the China Seas 



371 



series, which he thinks is probably of recent origin. Over them 

 lies a bed of coal, which is worked for economic purposes, and 

 which would be of immense value were it all equal to our British 

 coal. But although tolerably good for domestic purposes, it does 

 not answer for steam vessels. In fact, it would appear that it is 

 almost as cheap to take out coal from England as to buy this 

 coal on the spot, the quantity required to produce^the same heat 

 being so much greater of this Formosan coal. 



Dr Collingwood visited another bed of coal in Borneo, which 

 cropped out from beneath a thick layer of vegetable mould. He 

 speaks of it as indifferent looking, and it would rather appear that 

 although plenty of coal is to be found in that region, it is probably 

 all tertiary, and although useful for domestic purposes not likely 

 to be of much value to our shipping. 



T^'^^^ 



Fig- 3- 



While in Borneo he passed some time at Sarawak. The accom- 

 panying cut (fig. 3) shews the picturesque character of the Malay 

 houses there. He also took a trip up one of the rivers among the 

 Dyaks, and visited one of the stalactitic caverns which are known 

 to exist there. It is known that some of these caves are ossiferous, 

 and probably in no part of the world is there a more interesting 

 field for palaeontological discovery than in them. It might help 

 to clear up the curious problem, why such an extensive country 

 as Borneo should be almost entirely destitute of larger mammals. 

 Dr Collingwood puts it thus : — 



" It has been remarked that large quadrupeds bear no proportion to the 

 luxuriance of vegetation of the tropics, and the greatest herbivorous animals 



