BRITISH BORNEO. Aq 
Her Majesty’s Navy, and is at the same time Harbour Master, 
Postmaster, Coroner, Police Magistrate, hkewise a Judge of 
the Supreme Court, Superintendent of Convicts, Surveyor-Ge- 
neral, and Clerk to the Legislative Council, and occasionally 
has, [ believe, to write official letters of reprimand or en- 
couragement from himself in one capacity to himself in 
another. . 
The best thing about Labuan is, perhaps, the excel- 
lence of its fruit, notably of its pumeloes, oranges and 
mangoes, for which the Colony is indebted to the present 
Sir HUGH Low, who was one of the first officials under Sir 
JAMES BROOKE, and a man who left no stone unturned in his 
efforts to promote the prosperity of the island. His name 
was known far and wide in Northern Borneo and in the Sulu 
Archipelago. As an instance, I was once proceeding up a 
river in the island of Basilan, to the North of Sulu, with Cap- 
tain C. E. BUCKLE,. R.N., in two boats: of H. M.S. Frolic, 
when the natives, whom we could not see, opened fire on us 
from the banks. I at once jumped up and shouted out that 
we were Mr. Low’s friends from Labuan, and in a very short 
time we were on friendly terms with the natives, who con- 
ducted us to their village. They had thought we might be 
Spaniards, and did not think it worth while to enquire before 
firing. The mention of the /ro/zc reminds me that on the 
termination of a somewhat lengthy cruise amongst the Sulu 
Islands, then nominally undergoing blockade by Spanish crui- 
sers, we were returning to Labuan through the difficult and 
then only partially surveyed Malawalli Channel, and after 
dinner we were congratulating oneanother on having been 
so safely piloted through so many dangers, when before the 
words were out of our mouths, we felt a shock and found 
ourselves fast on an unmarked rock which has since had the 
honour of bearing the name of our good little vessel. 
Besides Mr. Low’s fruit garden, the only other European 
attempt at planting was made by my Cousin, Dr. TREACHER, 
Colonial Surgeon, who purchased an outlying island and 
opened a coco-nut plantation. I regret to say that in neither 
case, owing to the decline of the Colony, was the enterprise 
of the pioneers adequately rewarded. 
