44 BRITISH BORNEO. 
betel or areca nut), tea (little used by the natives) and earth- 
nut and coco-nut oil. There are no Municipal rates and taxes, 
the tidal river acting as a self cleansing street and sewer at 
the same time; neither are there any demands from a Poor 
Law Board. 
On the other hand, there being no Army, Navy, Police, nor 
public buildings to keep up, the expenses of Government are 
wonderfully light also. 
Other Government receipts, in addition to the above, are 
rent of Chinese house-boats or rather shop-boats, pawn- 
broking and gambling licenses, a “farm”? of the export of 
hides, royalties on sago and gutta percha, tonnage dues on 
European vessels visiting the port, and others. The salaries 
and expenses of the Government Departments are defrayed 
from the revenues of the rivers, or districts attached to them. 
Considerable annual payments are now made by Sarawak 
and British North Borneo for the territorial cessions obtained 
by them. The annual contribution by Sarawak is about 
$16,000, and by the British North Borneo $11,800. These 
sums are apportioned amongst the Sultan and nobles who 
had interests in the ceded districts. I may say here that the 
payment by British North Borneo to the Sultan of the State, 
under the arrangement made by Mr. DENT already referred 
to, is one of $5,000 per annum. 2 
An annual payment is also made by Mr. W. C. COWIE for 
the sole right* of working coal in the Sultanate, which he holds 
for a period of several years. Coal occurs throughout the 
island of Borneo, and its existence has long been known. It 
is worked ona small scale in Sarawak and in some portions 
of Dutch Borneo, and the unsuccessful attempts to develope 
the coal resources of the Colony of Labuan will be referred 
to later on. 
In the Brunai Sultanate, with which we are at present 
concerned, coal occurs abundantly in the Brunai river and 
elsewhere, but it is only at present worked by Mr. COWIE 
and his partners at Muara, at the mouth of the Brunai river— 
* This right was transferred by Mr. Cowie to Raja BRooKe in 1888. 
