DISTRIBUTION OF MINERALS IN SARAWAK. 29 



indubitably large deposits of this mineral in Sarawak, will short- 

 ly be re-opened on a scale not heretofore attempted in connexion 

 with mining* operations in this part of the East. 



As the evidence stands, therefore, Sarawak cannot be looked 

 upon as a mineral-producing- country. What discoveries may be 

 made in the future it is of course impossible to foretell ; but it 

 is not unreasonable to anticipate fresh discoveries of Antimony 

 and Cinnabar ; and, judging 1 from the geological analogies 

 existing- between the N. W. Coast of Borneo, Banka, and the 

 Malay Peninsula, of ores of tin and lead also. Such discoveries 

 would be of much importance to the material welfare of Sarawak, 

 and if made in any of the Sea-Dyak districts would be doubly 

 beneficial. It is a regrettable circumstance that the Borneo 

 Company — who hold a monopoly of all minerals in Sarawak, 

 with the exceptions I believe, of coal, gold, and precious stones — 

 have never instituted any system of prospecting the country 

 beyond the limits of Sarawak Proper. It is true that their 

 officers have now and again been despatched to look up traces of 

 minerals, and have spent a few days in so doing, when weeks 

 would have been insufficient for the fulfilment of the object, .in 

 view. A superficial examination of a district in which strong 

 traces of a mineral have been observed is, if unsucessful, worse 

 than no examination at all, for it operates as a preventive against 

 more thorough search being undertaken at a future day. The 

 exploration for minerals in an open country is a sufficiently 

 protracted and laborious affair — how much more so in a land 

 like Borneo, densely clothed with a luxuriant A r egetation. 



In conclusion, whatever minerals may be awaiting discovery in 

 the Territory, their importance can only be relative in comparison 

 with that of the coal fields of N. W. Borneo. If these coal 

 seams are available as a source of good average steaming fuel — 

 and the partial statement of evidence which I have given above 

 is most favourable to the idea that they are so available, — the 

 probability is that they will be worked in Sarawak ; and in that 

 case their proximity to the great commercial emporium, and 

 perhaps future naval arsenal of Singapore, will invest with a new 

 interest this country, which, although playing a useful part in 

 the gradual civilization of Borneo, and in the protection of 

 trade on its coasts, has not otherwise any strong claims at pre- 

 sent on the attention of the outside world. 



