314 Messrs. A. H. Everett, J. Evans, and G. Busk. [Apr. 15, 



I think, from the slight amount of differentiation which the present 

 Fauna of the island has undergone since its last connexion with con- 

 tinental Asia, coupled with the rapid rate at which the Sarawak coast 

 is even now advancing seaward, which argues that the tract of land 

 now intervening between the sea and the limestone hills cannot be 

 of much antiquity. The absence of any heavy floors of crystalline 

 stalagmite in the caves seems to add confirmatory testimony in this 

 direction, as does, perhaps, the absence of the large mammals of Borneo 

 (elephant, rhinoceros, tapir, and wild ox), from the north-west dis- 

 tricts. It may be worth remarking, that all the tribes of Land Dyaks 

 have most circumstantial traditions current among them on the sub- 

 ject of a great subsidence of the land. 



With regard to the rate of accumulation of the cave-deposits in 

 Sarawak, it seems probable that it would be in excess of that generally 

 observable in the case of other countries, for the rocks are of an ex- 

 tremely decomposable class, and, as I have noted above, the rainfall is 

 prodigious. 



With respect to the possible future discovery of ossiferous deposits 

 other than those mentioned above, I think it probable that such will 

 be found. They cannot, however, be very numerous in proportion to 

 the number of caves. The natives have been in the habit for many 

 years past of excavating the contents of the caves and fissures for the 

 purpose of washing out the alluvial gold they afford. The caves 

 examined in this way are situated at all elevations up to 100 feet. 

 Both Malays and Chinese set a value on fossil teeth, which they pre- 

 serve as charms or use for medicinal purposes ; nevertheless, they have 

 never met with a regular ossiferous deposit in the course of their ex- 

 plorations. Had they done so, it would have been certain to attract 

 their attention. Bones and teeth have, however, been found from time 

 to time, and of these I forwarded a sample to Mr. Evans, but many 

 of them were evidently quite recent. 



In the event of other bone-beds being ultimately discovered in any 

 part of Borneo, they will doubtless resemble generally the accumula- 

 tion of fluviatile debris described in caves Y and XIII. At present no 

 animals habitually use caves in this island in the same way as the 

 caves of Europe were used by the large Carnivora as retreats to 

 which to carry their prey, so that the rich assemblage of mammalian 

 remains which characterises the old hyaena dens of England cannot 

 be looked for in Borneo. On the other hand, the fissures which 

 abound like natural pitfalls over the limestone country, and which in 

 Europe have furnished deposits of bones, are in Borneo barren or nearly 

 so, so far as my experience has gone. The reason is to be found, I 

 suspect, in the remarkably rugged and precipitous nature of the lime- 

 stone hills, which makes them practically inaccessible to the larger 

 mammals, and in their dense coating of jungle, the matted roots of 



