116 T/ie Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vi. 



operations were the enormous rainfall and its effects on 

 the workings, and the inefficiency of native labour. Chinese 

 coolies have now, however, been to a great extent substi- 

 tuted for the Malays previously emplo} r ed. The ships of 

 H.M. Navy have a prior claim to coal at £1 Os. 6d. per 

 ton, ordinary trading vessels pay a trifle more. The 

 revenues of the Colony are derived from various monopo- 

 lies, such as the sale of opium, tobacco, spirits, fish, 

 arms, and ammunition, the rental or sale of lands, and a 

 per centage on all timber cut in the Colony. 



In 1876 the opium farmer paid £2,687 10s. for the 

 exclusive right of importing, preparing, selling, or export- 

 ing opium in the island. Tobacco produced £750; spirits, 

 £300 ; fishmarket, £550 ; pawnbroking, £112 10s. ; 

 licences to sell arms and ammunition, £65. A duty of ten 

 per cent, is payable on the value of all timber cut on 

 crown lands, except by the Coal Company, ayIio, as already 

 stated, have the right, free. The estimated acreage of 

 the colony is 19,350 acres, of which 1,738 acres are sup- 

 posed to be cultivatable, and 17,612 uncultivatable. 

 Field labour, the felling of timber, &c, is carried on by 

 Chinese and Malays, who receive 25 to 30 cents per day; 

 carpenters, 50 cents ; blacksmiths, 60 cents. The land 

 under padi (rice) cultivation is about 11,000 acres, and 

 consists of well watered alluvial plains near the centre of 

 the island. Cocoanut palms and other fruit trees, 550 

 acres ; sugarcane and vegetable gardens, about 50 acres. 

 The Chinese here, as elsewhere eastward, monopolize 

 the vegetable-growing industry. The largest cocoanut 

 plantation and oil factoiy is on Pulu Daat, a large 

 islet hying between Labuan and the Bornean coast. 

 The total number of cocoanut trees in the colony is 

 estimated at 200,000. The nuts, retail, either green or 

 ripe, fetch two or three cents each, and the oil obtained 



