58 BORNEO A PRODUCTIVE COUNTRY. 



merce in them were removed by the government. 

 Vanilla, should the climate not prove too damp, is a 

 valuable spice, and of easy cultivation. The cocoa-tree 

 of Manilla (Theobroma cacao) has been proved to be 

 in every way suited to the soil and climate, producing 

 fruit of excellent quality. Cotton, it has been already 

 said, might be cultivated with advantage ; as also the 

 plantain, (Musa textilis), of which the fine Manilla 

 cordage is made. Ginger grows well in all the native 

 gardens, and turmeric is found wild in abundance. 

 Many kinds of oils might be produced in perfection, 

 and most of the valuable vegetable productions of India 

 and the tropics, it is supposed, might be here success- 

 fully grown, and profitably exported. Now that the 

 British settler will be cared for and protected by his 

 own government, the national enterprise will soon 

 develope some of these immense vegetable resources. 



While treating of the vegetable productions, the 

 many valuable kinds of wood produced by the vast 

 and magnificent forests of the island must be noticed. 

 The botanical characters of but few of these are yet 

 ascertained, so that I am unable at present to furnish 

 their scientific names. The wood most esteemed 

 amongst the natives, on account of its hardness and 

 durability, is called by them * balean ' or ' kyuh balean,' 

 the term kayu, meaning wood, being always appended 

 to the names of timber trees. 



The balean is a tree of the largest size, and although 

 its wood is so hard as to be almost incorruptible, the 

 tree is of quick and vigorous growth : it is found 

 most abundantly in the low damp forests in the neigh- 



