80 BRITISH BORNEO. 
quinine being that in most demand. If, owing to sickness, or 
other cause, the cooly has required assistance in his field, the 
cost thereof 1s deducted in his final account. 
The men live in well constructed ‘ barracks,’ erected by 
the owner of the estate, and it is one of the duties of the 
Chinese “tindals,” or overseers acting under the Europeans 
to see that they are kept in a cleanly, sanitary condition. 
The European overseers are under the orders of the head 
manager, and an estate is divided in sucha way that each 
overseer shall have under his direct control and be responsible 
for the proper cultivation of about 100 fields. He receives 
a fixed salary, but his interest in his division is augmented 
by the fact that he will receive a commission on the value 
of the crop it produces. His work is onerous and, during 
the season, he has little time to himself, but should be here, 
there, and everywhere in his division, seeing that the coolies 
come out to work at the stated times, that no field is allowed to 
get in a backward state, and that worms are carefully removed, 
and, as a large proportion of the men are probably szxkehs, 
that is, new arrivals who have never been on a tobacco estate 
before, he has, with the assistance of the tindals, to instruct 
them in their work. When the crop is brought in, he has to 
examine each cooly’s contribution, carefully inspecting each 
leaf, and keeping an account of the value and quantity of each. 
Physical strength, intelligence and an innate desire of amas- 
ing dollars, are three essential qualifications for a good to- 
bacco cooly, and, so far, they have only been found united in 
the Chinaman, the European being out of the question asa 
field-labourer in the tropics. 
The coolies are, as a rule, procured through Chinese cooly 
brokers in Penang or Singapore, but as regards North Borneo, 
the charges for commission, transport and the advances— 
many of which, owing to death, sickness and desertion, are 
never repaid—have become so heavy as to be almost prohibi- 
tive, and my energetic friend, Count GELOES, has set the exam- 
ple of procuring his coolies direct from China, instead of by 
the old fashioned, roundabout way of the extortionate labour- 
brokers of the Straits Settlements. North Borneo, it will be 
remembered, is situated midway between Hongkong and Sin- 
