230 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
as those of Western Africa, are often of a severe type. 
Beri-beri, the scourge of the native races in the Malay 
Archipelago and Eastern Asia, is a common disorder 
among the plantation coolies, and cholera, which appears, 
at all events in Northern Borneo, to be a disease of 
recent introduction, has upon more than one occasion 
caused great mortality in the coast towns. In August, 
1882, the village of Kimanis numbered just under 300 
souls, of whom 177 were attacked and 144 died. About 
the year 1870, smallpox ravaged Northern Borneo and 
carried off vast numbers of the natives ; so many, indeed, 
that it is said that more than one-half of the population 
perished. Lately, vaccination has been largely carried 
on, and the recurrence of any such epidemic rendered 
impossible. With regard to the prevalence of malaria, it 
may be said that the position of the European settle¬ 
ments, though at present unavoidable, is to a great 
extent responsible for it. They are situated for the most 
part either upon the sea-coast, often in close proximity 
to mangrove swamps, or upon rivers in the low country, 
and in this respect, therefore, it is not possible to make 
comparisons with a country such as Java, where the land 
has been for centuries cleared and settled. 
5. Flora and Fauna. 
The vegetation of Borneo is exceedingly luxuriant, the 
whole island being, with few exceptions, one vast forest. 
It is especially rich in palms and forest trees, many of 
which have not yet been botanically described. The 
vegetation is, of course, thoroughly Malayan, but the 
lofty mountain of Kinabalu contains a curious mixture 
of Indian, Malayan, and Australian plants. Here are 
