Alia: 1, 1892.] 
^PHE EEITISH NORTH BORNEO HERALD. 
259 
A boy child and liealthy Like you and me. With 
likely to die as so many watermelons eat Because 
respectfully < Leap and cooling, but in Hospital with 
kind European nurse and Inflammation of the vowels. 
Only 12 Rsi a montlL asking which I always pray most 
Damnably for Your honour’s ladyship and Me so Poor 
man with no milk for young Child. 
I have heard ere now of a relapse in the aspirates, 
but this is the first cg;^ of inflammation of the Towels 
that has come under liiy notice, I am now anxiously 
looking: forward for a case of an individual beaten to 
death with dipthongs. 
Those incredulous infidels who hug unto themselves 
the delusion that Borneo is a busted community, and j 
that no produce can ever leave her shores, received a start- I 
ling check to their “wish-l)eing-father*to-the-thought ” ! 
prophecies when the good ship Rauce left the Sandakan | 
wharf for Singapore on Sunday July 17th last. Having j 
visited the flourishing station of Simporna and the ports 
of Darvel Bay this stanch cli 2 :)per returned to Sandakan 
and loaded up to the hatches with fragrant bales of the 
soothing weed which the Marienberg Estate was shipjung 
t(j the European Markets. So full was the gallant ! 
vessel that she was reluctantly compelled to refuse a 
very valuable addition to her cargo; valuable and most 
important as well. Much to the disappointment of 
many iSandakanites she at the last moment was con- 
strained to shut out a regular and important item of 
Borneo exports. Dwing to her being full up from stem 
to stern, from trucks to deck, and bursting open at all 
the hatchways, she actually refused to carry off to 
►Singapore some two or three hundred dozen of empty 
soda water bottles. However it is an ill wind, or a bad 
bottle of soda water that does no one any good so the 
Xonnanhi/ will delightedly pick up what the Ranee was 
most reluctantly compelled to refuse. 
BAITAL. 
-—0- 
AuruniltHial Outlook. 
\ 0 . 2 . 
Tiik PRoj5AJiiLi'nj:s of Borneo rwoming a i.arge 
eoNTRim TOR TO 'I'HE FOOD SUF 'LIES OF THE 
WORLD. 
Tins vast and fertile island may be said to be almost 
uninhabited. The reason of this was undoubtedly the 
bloodthirsty habits of the people ; to read the' records 
of events in Borneo about the beginning of this century 
by Dalton, Eorrest, and other travellers is simply to 
Avade through a recital of continuous massacre. The 
imligenes of Borneo are not naturally a bloodthirsty 
race and various causes may be assigned as the 
reason for these customs, but such matters are outside 
the regions of this paper and it therefore only remains 
to be stated tliat over a very considerable part of the 
country matters are much altered, although there are 
still not Avanting parts AAdicre things are bad enough ; but 
the time has now arrived wEen Borneo’s destiny as the 
supporter of a large population and the producer of food 
for multitudes in other countries is about to. begin. 
Amongst the plants that thrive in Borneo are rice, 
sugar-cane, Manila-hemp, sago, gambier, pepper, cocoa- 
nuts, cocoa, tapioca, nutmegs, millet, tobacco, tea, rat¬ 
tans, India-rubber, gutta-percha, Indian-corn, cotton, 
betel-nuts, kapok, and fruits of Amrions )%inds. Tliis 
may seem a long list and it may he asked wliy inoi'e has 
not been heard of most of these things by people Avilling 
to be interested in the future of North Borneo in parti¬ 
cular, but all of them do grow in the island, many of 
them flguring in export returns, and thei‘e is no doubt 
most of them will give a good profit Avlion tlieir culti¬ 
vation is taken in hand in a proper manner. 
Commencing from a not remote future, it seems 
probable that Borneo will export foodstuffs moi’e and 
more largely. Already she contributes some 15,000 
tons of sago yearly to the food supplies of the Avoifd 
Avbilc rice, sugar-caiio, tapioca, cocoanuts and Indian 
corn may be seen anywhere, Avhere tliere is any cultiva¬ 
tion going on at all, growing in areas up to as much 
occasionally as 50 acres or more. These are tliino’s 
* O 
which are kiiOAVn to groAV in the country Avithout doubt, 
Ayhieh are always in demand all over the Avorld, Avliose 
cultivation can bo undertaken at small cost and with 
certainty, Avhicli recent movements in shipping and in 
the price of siLer will enable the grower to put doAvn on 
the Loudon market at prices far beloAv Avhat could have 
been done some few years ago, Avhich there is every in¬ 
dication of steady rises in price of, and wliicli are to he 
commended to the notice of the capitalist in preference to 
the risky, expensive, delicate, and uncertain cultiAmtions 
Avhieh hitherto have received almost exclusive attention. 
Of the products Avhich are not liabitually grown in 
native gardens though sometimes they are to be seen 
there arc coffee, cocoa, cotton, pepper, millet, Manila- 
hemp and other things, there is at all events no (Question 
about tlieir doing Avell in the country. 
Leaving out reference to other jiarts of Borneo the 
amount of land adapted to these Amrious cultivations in 
North Borneo is enormous. The flat sAvarnpy and la- 
goony land of the lower Kiiiabatangan, 8agama, Sugut, 
and other rivers is particularly suitable for sage, the 
higher parts of these rivers for Avet paddy, the flatter 
land round Sandakan Bay raises sugar-cane of superior 
size and quality, the more iiiidulatiug land in the same 
district has been pronounced as perfection for Liberian 
Coffee, millet grows everywhere, and the same may be 
said of Indian corn and tapioca while there are thou¬ 
sands of acres adapted to cocoanuts. 
All the elements necessary for the making of a large 
supplying country are present in North Borneo. The 
climate is particularly healthy; the Aveather is found by 
most people to he very pleasant, no such ATcather as 
occurs over the greater part of India in the hot season 
is knoAVii in British ( i. e. Sarawak or North ) Borneo ; 
Seasons are but little marked there being no spell of drv 
weather such as occurs in most tropical countries so that 
planting can usually be carried on all the year round; 
splendid harbours are found at intervals all round the 
coast; and there is a remarkable river system Avhich will 
obAuate for many years the necessity of making many 
roads. 
With the demand for tropical products always 
increasing, and Avith a rise in price of foodstuffs in par¬ 
ticular impending and likely to increase in force year 
after year, the time is not far off AAdien the advantages 
presented by North Borneo must attract attention, and 
in a very fcAv years time Ave may look,forAvard to seeing 
the numerous products AAdiicli North Borneo can groAv so 
easily, pouring out of its ports. 
