120 AUSTRALASIA. 



same geological formation as its neighbour, and, like it, possesses tin-bearing 

 alluvial deposits. Its culminating point, tbe twin- crested Taj em, bas an altitude 

 of 3,100 feet. 



Owino- to the numerous corsairs infesting the surrounding waters, Billiton was 

 till recently destitute of trade, and almost of inhabitants ; even in 1856 the popula- 

 tion still numbered less than twelve thousand, or scarcely six persons to the square 

 mile. But since the development of its tin mines, this number has been tripled, 

 and the port of Tanjong Pandang, converging point of all the main routes, is now 

 the centre of a considerable local trade, largely in the hands of the Chinese, who 

 form about a fourth of the whole population. The output of tin, which in 1853 

 scarcely exceeded forty tons, has since then increased a hundredfold, and yields 

 enormous profits to the chartered company. As in Bangka, the miners work on their 

 own account ; but they are obliged to sell the tin at a price fixed beforehand, and 

 to purchase their supplies in the company's stores. Owing to this oppressive 

 truck system, most of them are burdened with heavy debts to the end of their days. 

 Since the formation of this company, Billiton has been an administrative province 

 independent of Bangka, with an "assistant resident" stationed at Tanjong 

 Pandang. 



ISLA>"DS IN THE BoRNEO SeA. 



The Sea of Borneo, communicating northwards with the China Sea, is studded 

 with small archipelagoes, each comprising numerous islets, for the most part 

 uninhabited. Such are Tamhelan, midway between Lingga and Borneo ; Anambas, 

 off the Malay peninsula; Nafuna, in more open waters, equidistant from the Malay 

 peninsula and Borneo ; Serasan, west of the principality of Sarawak, in Borneo. 

 This last group is also known as the Pirates' Archipelago, although the people of 

 the only inhabited island are now exclusively occupied with the preparation of 

 cocoauut oil. 



Of all these islands the largest is Bioujuren, called also Great Natuna, which 

 has an area of 640 square miles, and in Mount Ranay attains an altitude of 3,380 

 feet. The inhabitants of the cultivated islands, estimated by Hollander in 1878 

 at twelve thousand souls, are exclusively Malays, who trade with Singapore and 

 Riouw, taking rice, hardware, and European textiles in exchange for their fish, 

 sago, and cocoanut oil. The people of Great Natuna build praus described by 

 Laplace as of admirable workmanship. This group depends politically on Riouw 

 and is administered by members of the sultan's family, vassals of Holland. 



Borneo. 



The formerly powerful kingdom of Brunei gives its name in a somewhat 

 modified form to the great island of which it occupies the north-west coast. 

 Kalamantin, or Kleraatan, is a native term current in some districts, and 

 occasionally applied to the whole island. But Borneo is of such vast extent 

 compared with all the surrounding lands, that to its inhabitants it seemed almost 

 boundless, and far too large to be designated by any special name. Hence they 



