E^SUM^. 383 



equally impossible to conceive the ignorance we must 

 have shown in the matter ; and stUl more impossible to 

 take in what object we had in giving them up. 



It can only be a matter of time, and no great length 

 of time either, when all the East not yet taken under 

 the wing of some Western power, will be absorbed by 

 one or other of the higher civilised nations. The being 

 we call the savage must go down before the other we 

 call civilised. No sooner do the two meet, than the one 

 gives way, is absorbed, gradually disappears, and is 

 heard of no more. It is the inevitable hand of fate. 

 Therefore it appears infinitely more wise on our part to 

 forestall other Western claws. This certainly should be 

 done with regard to the northern part of Borneo and 

 eastern half of New Guinea. The importance of the 

 north end of that wonderfully productive island Borneo, 

 situated as it is half way up the China Sea, and possess- 

 ing good harbours and coal, cannot be over-estimated. 

 It is in about the same parallel as Ceylon, and as it has 

 high mountain ranges and low undulating hills, besides 

 fine plains, and is well watered by both large and 

 small rivers; probably no more prolific spot exists. 

 Its climate, of course, varies from the great heat of the 

 lower tropical latitudes to the temperate and cold, 

 even to a greater extent than is found in Ceylon, 



