GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 25 



natives being ignorant of their use or preparation, there 

 being well-authentic instances of the same kind at the 

 present day where the natives wonder what is done with 

 the berries when hulled and cleaned, whether it is eaten 

 or for what purpose intended. It was first introduced 

 into the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius by the 

 French through Du Fougerais Grenier in 1717, from 

 Arabia and from Mozambique to Madagascar by natives 

 about the same period. 



The island of Borneo grows good Coffee, and since 

 the country has been opened up to settlers some 

 200,000 acres of forest lands have been selected by Can- 

 tonese, European and Australian planters for this pur- 

 pose, the gardens around Silam particularly being very 

 encouraging as regards the new product With the 

 splendid and well-proportioned rain-fall Coffee grows 

 extremely well, especially Liberian Coffee, for which the 

 soil and climate of that island seems well adapted. Coffee 

 cultivation is carried on there in the gardens of the Euro- 

 peans and thrives remarkably well, while the Malays 

 state that it is grown extensively by the Dyaks of the Pon- 

 tianak river for the use of that settlement, but its culti- 

 vation on an extensive or systematic scale has not been 

 encouraged, the government not wishing to create a com- 

 petition with Java. The hills on the mainland opposite 

 Lubuhan are well adapted for its successful cultivation, 

 since there Coffee can be grown without the trouble and 

 expense of raising trees amongst the plantations to pro- 

 tect the plants from the sun, as has to be done in so 

 many other countries. It is also systematically cultivated 

 in the islands of Guinea, Fiji, the Friendly and Hawaiian 

 Islands, as well as in many others of the South Pacific 

 ocean. The Coffee plant having been in existence in 

 Samoa and other islands of that group for some years 



