122 LABUAN AND BRUNEI. [chap. 



the Postmaster General. There has been no garrison on the 

 island since 1871. 



To the ornitholooist Labiian is interestino; as beinc: the western 

 limit of the Megapodes or Mound -builders,^ a genus that is 

 peculiarly Australian. The bird {Mcgapodius loioi) seems to be 

 chiefly confined to the Kuraman Islands, at the south-west end of 

 Labuan, although its nests are occasionally found on the main 

 island. We were unable to \isit the breeding localities, but the 

 nests were described to me as large mounds, ten or twelve feet in 

 diameter, built at the junction of the forest with the beach, just as 

 in the case of many other species of this genus. The eggs are 

 hatched by the heat of the soil. The Labuan Megapode is very 

 closely allied to the Philippine species {M. cumingi), and has also 

 been found on Balabac and Mindanao. A further investigation 

 would probably reveal its existence in the little-known islands at 

 the north of Borneo. 



The history of the occupation of Labuan by the English is to 

 a great extent mixed up with that of Borneo in Eajah Brooke's 

 time, which is too lengthy for recapitulation. The main facts, 

 however, are these. The Sultan of Brunei — Omar Ali — had been 

 guilty of endless acts of piracy, and of an attempt to murder an 

 English naval officer, and in consequence the town of Brunei was 

 bombarded by the English. In a treaty subsequently signed the 

 Sultan engaged to put an end to piracy, and to cede the island of 

 Labuan to the British. On the 24th of December, 1846,— H.M.S. 

 Iris and Wolf lying in Victoria Harbour, — the ceremony of annexa- 

 tion was performed, and a stone was placed at the foot of the 

 flagstaff on the plain to commemorate the event. It still remains, 

 and bears the following inscription : — 



"Oil tlie 24tli December, 1846, this island -was taken possession of, in 

 the name of Victoria, Qiieen, hj order of Sir Thomas Cochrane and Captain 

 E. Mundy of H.M.S. Irisr 



^ The Megapode of the Nicobar Islands is considered by Mr. Wallace to have 

 been introduced by man. That this is not impossible must be evident to every 

 traveller in the Malay Archipelago, for birds of this genus are often seen in captivity. 



