CHAPTER VI. 



LABUAN AXD BRUXEI. 



Victoria Harbour — The home of phiralism — -A walk across the island — Retrogression 

 of the Colony — A deserted town — The coal mines — Mine at Moaro — Facts about 

 Labuan — Historj' of the occupation — Visit to Brunei — The Venice of the East — 

 John Chinaman — Native manufactures — Brunei market — The Sultan's palace — 

 Interview with the Sultan — " Crabbed age and youth " — Departure for Sarawak. 



We entered A'^ictoria Harl;)Oui" Labuan, in the swelterinfr heat of 

 an afternoon sun on the 7 th of June, and were delighted to find 

 our old friends of the China station — H.M.S, Champion and Magpie 

 — at anchor. Two days later the Sheldrake arrived, and an 

 unwonted air of business pervaded the little settlement, for it was 

 a long time since four ships had been seen together in the port. 

 Laljuan is a small colony and a modest ; it has but little com- 

 munication with the outer world, and to the globe-trotter it is as 

 yet an undiscovered country. 



Looking from the sea, the leading idea impressed upon the 

 mind is one of heat. Broad stretches of white sand, rows of white 

 huts, and a few low, white bungalows meet the eye. Everything 

 seems flat and white and hot, and the view is rather African than 

 Bornean. To the right a level plain of short turf, dotted with 

 casuarina trees, stretches away from the beach for nearly a mile. 

 Forest there is none, but below and on either side of the little 

 church some cool-looking dark greenery, on which the eye is glad 

 to rest, betokens the houses of the few Europeans who inhabit the 

 island. How few of these unfortunate individuals there were 



