700 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



me to the place. For I wished to see whether I could not, 

 in the neighbourhood of the equator itself, collect valuable 

 contributions towards ascertaining the nature of the former 

 equatorial chmate. 



We at first made rapid progress, thanks to a fresh and 

 favourable monsoon wind. But when we reached the so-called 

 belt of calms, the wind ceased completely, and we had now to 

 avail ourselves of steam, which, in consequence of the low 

 power of the Veyas engine and a stroDg counter current, carried 

 us forward so slowly that it was not until the l7th November 

 that we could anchor in the harbour of Labuan. 



The largest of the islands belonging to the colony has, with 

 a pretty considerable breadth, a length of 10' from N.E. to S.W. 

 It is inhabited by some thousands (3,300 in 1863) of Chinese 

 and Malays, together with a few Englishmen, who are either 

 crowTi officials or employed at the coal mine. The north part 

 of the island has a height of 140 metres above the sea, but 

 towards the south the land sinks to an extensive sandy plain, 

 closely overgrown with bushy thickets and traversed by low 

 marshes. Most of the inhabitants live along the shore of the 

 harbour which bears the now, or perhaps only for the present, 

 indispensable name for English colonies (which on that account 

 conveys little information) of Victoria. The Governor's fine 

 residence lies at a little distance from the harbour town in the 

 interior of the island, the coal mine on its north side. At the 

 time of our visit the coal company had recently gone into 

 liquidation, and work had therefore been stopped at the mine, 

 but it was hoped that it would soon be resumed. The sandy 

 plain is of little fertility in comparison with the neighbouring 

 tropical lands. It had recently been burned, and was therefore 

 for the most part covered only with bushes, among which stems 

 of high, dried-up, half-burned trees raised themselves, giving to 

 the landscape a resemblance to a northern forest devastated by 

 an accidental fire. In consequence of the fire which had thus 

 passed over the island the plain which, when looked at from a 

 distance appeared to be completely even, was seen everywhere 

 to be studded with crater-formed depressions in the sand, quite 

 similar to the os-pits in the osar of Scandinavia.^ On the north 

 side there was sandstone rock rising from the sea with a steep 

 slope six to fifteen metres high. Here tropical nature appeared 

 in all its luxuriance, principally in the valleys which the small 

 streams had excavated in the sandstone strata. 



The coal mine is sunk on coal-seams, which come to the surface 

 on the north side of the island. The seams, according to the 

 information I received on the spot, are four in number, with a 



^ Concerning their fomiation and origin see a paper liy K. Nordenskiold 

 in dfcersir/t af Vet.-ahad. Fork. 1870, p. 29. 



