BRITISH BORNEO. ae 
Trade, however, is still, to a great extent, carried on by a 
system of barter with the Natives. The primitive currency 
medium in vogue under the native regime has been described 
in the Chapters on Brunai. 
The silver currency is the Mexican and Spanish Dollar 
and the Japanese Yen, supplemented by the small silver coin- 
age of the Straits Settlements. The Company has not yet 
minted any silver coinage, as the profit thereon is small, but 
in the absence of a bank, the Treasury, for the convenience of 
traders and planters, carries on banking business to a 
certain extent, and issues bank notes of the values of $1, $5 
and $25, cash reserves equal to one-third of the value of the 
notes in circulation being maintained.* 
Sir ALFRED DENT is taking steps to form a Banking Com- 
pany at Sandakan, the establishment of which would materi- 
ally assist in the development of the resources of the ter- 
ritory. 
British North Borneo is not in telegraphic communication 
with any part of the world, except of course through Singa- ~ 
pore, nor are there any local telegraphs. ‘The question, how- 
ever, of supplementing the existing cable between the Straits 
Settlements and China by another touching at British terri- 
tory in Borneo has more than once been mooted, and may yet 
become a fart accompli. \he Spanish Government appear 
to have decided to unite Sulu by telegraphic communication 
with the rest of the world, vd Manila, and this will bring San- 
dakan within 180 miles of the telegraphic station. 
CHAPTER IX. 
In the eyes of the European planter, British North Borneo 
is chiefly interesting as a held for the cultivation of tobacco, 
in rivalry to Sumatra, and my readers may judge of the im- 
portance of this question from a glance at the following 
figures, which shew the dividends declared of late years by 
three of the principal Tobacco Planting Companies in the 
latter island :— 
* Agencies of Singapore Banks have since been established at Sandakan. 
