EXPLORATION OF THE CAVES OF BORNEO. 281 



this day, but they can give no account of their origin. 



No tradition is extant among the natives with regard to these 

 relics. No tribes in Borneo make habitual use of caves either as 

 domiciles, or as places of sepulture, or for any other purpose. 

 The character of the earthenware, however, and the use of iron and 

 gold point to a very modern date indeed for the people who left 

 these signs of their presence and hence the subject, though curious 

 to a local geologist, docs not call for any detailed remarks here. 

 It is very possible that the remains date no farther back than the 

 Hindu-Javanese occupation of Borneo, when this part of the island 

 with Pontianak and Banjar were tributary to ITajapahit, or they 

 may be of Chinese origin — in either case quite recent. 



4. Concluding MemarJcs. 



The general result of the exploration may be summed up as 

 follows : — 



The existence of ossiferous caves in Borneo has been proved, 

 and at the same time the existence of man in the island with the 

 Fauna, whose remains are entombed in these caves. But, both 

 from the recent nature of this Fauna, and from the fact that the 

 race of men whose remains are associated with it had already 

 reached an advanced stage of civilisation, the discovery has in no 

 way aided the solution of those problems for the unravelling of 

 which it was orginally promoted. No light has been thrown on 

 the orgin of the human race — the history of the development of 

 the Eauna characterising the Indo-Malayain subregion has not been 

 advanced — nor, virtually, has any evidence been obtained towards 

 showing what races of men inhabited Borneo previously to the 

 immigration of the various tribes of Malayan stock which now 

 people the island. Furthermore, the presumption that the north- 

 west portion of Borneo has too recently emerged above the waters 

 of the sea to render it probable that future discoveries will be 

 made of cave deposits of greatly higher antiquity than those al- 

 ready examined, has been strengthened. Under these circum- 

 stances it seems advisable that cavern research in north-west 

 Borneo should now be left to private enterprise, and that no 

 further expense should be hazarded, at any rate, until the higher 

 parts of the inland in the north-east may be conveniently examined. 



