84 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. [chap. 



like, and there was certainly no lack of room for them to exercise 

 their proper functions. The British North Borneo Company's 

 steamship Leila, 276 tons (Thames measurement), formed the 

 nucleus of a future navy. Cannon were imported, and Sikh 

 policemen to discharge them. More peaceful avocations were not 

 discouraged. The Sabah Mutual Supply Association was formed, 

 upon whose premises various intoxicating liquors were permitted 

 to be consumed, and the presence of billiard-tables soon rendered 

 civilisation altogether complete. 



With all these, and many other advantages, it was not to be 

 supposed that British North Borneo, or Sabah, as it is more tersely 

 called, would be content to remain unseen and unknown. The 

 Company hen had laid its egg, and was wisely determined that 

 the world at large should become fully aware of the fact. A book 

 was produced which set forth the many advantages of the country. 

 Various contributors to the journals of Hongkong and the treaty 

 ports of China visited the new territory, and were astonished to 

 discover that the soil, as well as could be judged from the samples 

 submitted to their examination in biscuit -tins, appeared to be 

 peculiarly adapted for the growth of every kind of tropical produce. 

 The dangers of the return voyage over, they wrote in glowing 

 terms of the " New Eldorado," and spoke of the great future that 

 lay before it. Their exertions were not without result. A stream 

 of Chinese immigration set in, wliich rapidly increased in volume. 

 The value of land in the settlements rose enormously. At the 

 beginning of 1883, urban lots in Sandakan which, but a couple of 

 years before, were dense jungle where a white man had never 

 set foot, fetched as much as £896 per acre, and in April of the 

 same year the Chinese were pou.rmg in in shoals, and land- 

 speculation had reached its height. 



Before enlarging further upon the achievements and vicissitudes 

 of the Company, and describing our experiences of the new 

 territory, a few words on the history of its foundation are necessary. 

 In bygone days the whole of Borneo was, nominally at least. 



