118 LABUAN AXD BRUNEI. [chap. 



we had no idea until our arrival. We had pictured to ourselves 

 an English society of not more than a hundred perhaps, but 

 still large enough for a dance, a picnic, or some such form of 

 entertainment, and had misgivings as to the state of our ward- 

 robe. "VVe might have spared ourselves our anxiety : to the best 

 of my recollection there were but four Englishmen in the whole 

 colony. 



Labuan is the home of pluralism. Anchoring in the harbour, 

 one is of course boarded by the Captain of the Port, with whom 

 the latest news is discussed before proceeding ashore to make the 

 customary calls. At the bungalow of the Colonial Treasurer we 

 meet him again, and discover, to our surprise, that he is the master 

 of the house. Eeferred to the Postmaster General on a question 

 anent the mails, we once more find our friend in a new capacity. 

 He is like the public building in the famous story of Theodore 

 Hook, and, were the office of Lord High Executioner existent on 

 the island, he would doubtless fill it as efficiently as his other 

 posts. No one, I feel sure, could object to being ushered out of the 

 world by such a pleasant and interesting companion. The revenue 

 having for some years fallen short of the expenditure, a considerable 

 reduction in the staff was made. It is, in fact, a rcductio oxl 

 absurdum. 



Next day we made an excursion to the farther end of the island. 

 Here, at the extreme northern point, are the now deserted coal- 

 mines, wliich were the chief inducement to the English occupation. 

 Horses not being obtainable, we were reduced to walking, and 

 though nine miles in such a clunate, with no forest to keep off the 

 sun's rays, is somewhat of an undertaking, we were well repaid for 

 our trouble. Labuan is so un-Bornean that that reason alone 

 wovild make it interesting for a change. But at the same time it 

 is decidedly attractive. Beliind the level plain by the sea-beach 

 the road, thickly overgrown with grass, leads for nearly a mile 

 through an avenue of shady trees to the church. In spite of 

 Labuan having been once an Episcopal see, there is not a single 



