British Borneo Part 11

A brief reply to this question would include the following points. The Company has paved the way to the ultimate extinction of the practice of slavery; it has dealt the final blow to the piracy and kidnapping which still lingered on its coasts; it has subst.i.tuted one strong and just Government for numerous weak, cruel and unjust ones; it has opened Courts of Justice which know no distinction between races and creeds, between rich and poor, between master and slave; it is rapidly adjusting ancient blood feuds between the tribes and putting a stop to the old custom of head-hunting; it has broken down the barrier erected by the coast Malays to prevent the aborigines having access to the outer world and is thus enabling trade and its accompanying civilisation to reach the interior races; and it is attracting European and Chinese capital to the country and opening a market for British traders.

These are some, and not inconsiderable ones, of the achievements of the British North Borneo Company, which, in its humble way, affords another example of the fact that the "expansion of Britain" has been in the main due not to the exertions of its Government so much as to the energy and enterprise of individual citizens, and Sir ALFRED DENT the the founder, and Sir RUTHERFORD ALc.o.c.k the guide and supporter of the British North Borneo Company, cannot but feel a proud satisfaction in the reflection that their energy and patient perseverance have resulted in conferring upon so considerable a portion of the island of Borneo the benefits above enumerated and in adding another Colony to the long list of the Dependencies of the British Crown.

In the matter of geographical exploration, too, the Company and its officers have not been idle, as the map brought out by the Company sufficiently shews, for previous maps of North Borneo will be found very barren and uninteresting, the interior being almost a complete blank, though possessing one natural feature which is conspicuous by its absence in the more recent and trustworthy one, and that is the large lake of Kinabalu, which the explorations of the late Mr. F. K. WITTI have proved to be non-existent. Two explanations are given of the origin of the myth of the Kinabalu Lake--one is that in the district, where it was supposed to exist, extensive floods do take place in very wet seasons, giving it the appearance of a lake, and, I believe there are many similar instances in Dutch Borneo, where a tract of country liable to be heavily flooded has been dignified with the name of _Danau_, which is Malay for _lake_, so that the mistake of the European cartographers is a pardonable one. The other explanation is that the district in question is known to the aboriginal inhabitants as _Danau_, a word which, in their language, has no particular meaning, but which, as above stated, signifies, in Malay, a lake. The first European visitors would have gained all their information from the Malay coast tribes, and the reason for their mistaken supposition of the existence of a large lake can be readily understood. The two princ.i.p.al pioneer explorers of British North Borneo were WITTI and FRANK HATTON, both of whom met with violent deaths. WITTI'S services as one of the first officers stationed in the country, before the British North Borneo Company was formed, have already been referred to, and I have drawn on his able report for a short account of the slave system which formerly prevailed. He had served in the Austrian Navy and was a very energetic, courageous and accomplished man. Besides minor journeys, he had traversed the country from West to East and from North to South, and it was on his last journey from Pappar, on the West Coast, inland to the headwaters of the Kinabatangan and Sambakong Rivers, that he was murdered by a tribe, whose language none of his party understood, but whose confidence he had endeavoured to win by reposing confidence in them, to the extent even of letting them carry his carbine. He and his men had slept in the village one night, and on the following day some of the tribe joined the party as guides, but led them into the ambuscade, where the gallant WITTI and many of his men were killed by _sumpitans_.[28] So far as we have been able to ascertain the sole reason for the attack was the fact that WITTI had come to the district from a tribe with whom these people were at war, and he was, therefore, according to native custom, deemed also to be an enemy. FRANK HATTON joined the Company's service with the object of investigating the mineral resources of the country and in the course of his work travelled over a great portion of the Territory, prosecuting his journeys from both the West and the East coasts, and undergoing the hards.h.i.+ps incidental to travel in a roadless, tropical country with such ability, pluck and success as surprised me in one so young and slight and previously untrained and inexperienced in rough pioneering work.

He more than once found himself in critical positions with inland tribes, who had never seen or heard of a white man, but his calmness and intrepidity carried him safely through such difficulties, and with several chiefs he became a sworn brother, going through the peculiar ceremonies customary on such occasions. In 1883, he was ascending the Segama River to endeavour to verify the native reports of the existence of gold in the district when, landing on the bank, he shot at and wounded an elephant, and while following it up through the jungle, his repeating rifle caught in a rattan and went off, the bullet pa.s.sing through his chest, causing almost immediate death. HATTON, before leaving England, had given promise of a distinguished scientific career, and his untimely fate was deeply mourned by his brother officers and a large circle of friends. An interesting memoir of him has been published by his father, Mr. JOSEPH HATTON, and a summary of his journeys and those of WITTI, and other explorers in British North Borneo, appeared in the "Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography" for March, 1888, being the substance of a paper read before the Society by Admiral R. C. MAYNE, C.B., M.P. A memorial cross has been erected at Sandakan, by their brother officers, to the memory of WITTI, HATTON, DE FONTAINE and Sikh officers and privates who have lost their lives in the service of the Government.

To return for a moment to the matter of fault-finding, it would be ridiculous to maintain that no mistakes have been made in launching British North Borneo on its career as a British Dependency, but then I do not suppose that any single Colony of the Crown has been, or will be inaugurated without similar mistakes occurring, such, for instance, as the withholding money where money was needed and could have been profitably expended, and a too lavish expenditure in other and less important directions. Examples will occur to every reader who has studied our Colonial history. If we take the case of the Colony of the Straits Settlements, now one of our most prosperous Crown Colonies and which was founded by the East India Company, it will be seen that in 1826-7 the "mistakes" of the administration were on such a scale that there was an annual deficit of 100,000, and the presence of the Governor-General of India was called for to abolish useless offices and effect retrenchments throughout the service.

The British North Borneo Company possesses a valuable property, and one which is daily increasing in value, and if they continue to manage it with the care hitherto exhibited, and if, remembering that they are not yet quite out of the wood, they are careful to avoid, on the one hand, a too lavish expenditure and, on the other, an unwise parsimony, there cannot, I should say, be a doubt that a fair return will, at no very distant date, be made to them on the capital they have expended.

As for the country _per se_, I consider that its success is now a.s.sured, whether it remains under the rule of the Company or is received into the fellows.h.i.+p of _bona fide_ Colonies of the Empire.

In bringing to a conclusion my brief account of the Territory, some notice of its suitability as a residence for Europeans may not be out of place, as bearing on the question of "what are we to do with our boys?"

I have my own experience of seventeen years' service in Northern Borneo, and the authority of Dr. WALKER, the able Medical Officer of the Government, for saying that in its general effect on the health of Europeans, the climate of British North Borneo, as a whole, compares not unfavourably with that of other tropical countries.

There is no particular "unhealthy season," and Europeans who lead a temperate and active life have little to complain of, except the total absence of any cold season, to relieve the monotony of eternal summer.

On the hills of the interior, no doubt, an almost perfect climate could be obtained.

One great drawback to life for Europeans in all tropical places is the fact that it is unwise to keep children out after they have attained the age of seven or eight years, but up to that age the climate appears to agree very well with them and they enjoy an immunity from measles, whooping cough and other infantile diseases. This enforced separation from wife and family is one of the greatest disadvantages in a career in the tropics.

We have not, unfortunately, had much experience as to how the climate of British North Borneo affects English ladies, but, judging from surrounding Colonies, I fear it will be found that they cannot stand it quite so well as the men, owing, no doubt, to their not being able to lead such an active life and to their not having official and business matter to occupy their attention during the greater part of the day, as is the case with their husbands.

Of course, if sufficient care is taken to select a swampy spot, charged with all the elements of fever and miasma, splendidly unhealthy localities can be found in North Borneo, a residence in which would prove fatal to the strongest const.i.tution, and I have also pointed out that on clearing new ground for plantations fever almost inevitably occurs, but, as Dr. WALKER has remarked, the sickness of the newly opened clearings does not last long when ordinary sanitary precautions are duly observed.

At present the only employers of Europeans are the Governing Company, who have a long list of applicants for appointments, the Tobacco Companies, and two Timber Companies. Nearly all the Tobacco Companies at present at work are of foreign nationality and, doubtless, would give the preference to Dutch and German managers and a.s.sistants. Until more English Companies are formed, I fear there will be no opening in British North Borneo for many young Englishmen not possessed of capital sufficient to start planting on their own account. It will be remembered that the trade in the natural products of the country is practically in the hands of the Chinese.

Among the other advantages of North Borneo is its entire freedom from the presence of the larger carnivora--the tiger or the panther. Ash.o.r.e, with the exception of a few poisonous snakes--and during seventeen years' residence I have never heard of a fatal result from a bite--there is no animal which will attack man, but this is far from being the case with the rivers and seas, which, in many places, abound in crocodiles and sharks. The crocodiles are the most dreaded animals, and are found in both fresh and salt water. Cases are not unknown of whole villages being compelled to remove to a distance, owing to the presence of a number of man-eating crocodiles in a particular bend of a river; this happened to the village of Sebongan on the Kinabatangan River, which has been quite abandoned.

Crocodiles in time become very bold and will carry off people bathing on the steps of their houses over the water, and even take them bodily out of their canoes.

At an estate on the island of Daat, I had two men thus carried off out of their boats, at sea, after sunset, in both cases the mutilated bodies being subsequently recovered. The largest crocodile I have seen was one which was washed ash.o.r.e on an island, dead, and which I found to measure within an inch of twenty feet.

Some natives entertain the theory that a crocodile will not touch you if you are swimming or floating in the water and not holding on to any thing, but this is a theory which I should not care to put practically to the test myself.

There is a native superst.i.tion in some parts of the West Coast, to the effect that the was.h.i.+ng of a mosquito curtain in a stream is sure to excite the anger of the crocodiles and cause them to become dangerous.

So implicit was the belief in this superst.i.tion, that the Brunai Government proclaimed it a punishable crime for any person to wash a mosquito curtain in a running stream.

When that Government was succeeded by the Company, this proclamation fell into abeyance, but it unfortunately happened that a woman at Mempakul, availing herself of the laxity of the law in this matter, did actually wash her curtain in a creek, and that very night her husband was seized and carried off by a crocodile while on the steps of his house. Fortunately, an alarm was raised in time, and his friends managed to rescue him, though badly wounded; but the belief in the superst.i.tion cannot but have been strengthened by the incident.

Some of the aboriginal natives on the West Coast are keen sportsmen and, in the pursuit of deer and wild pig, employ a curious small dog, which they call _asu_, not making use of the Malay word for dog--_anjing_. The term _asu_ is that generally employed by the Javanese, from whose country possibly the dog may have been introduced into Borneo. In Brunai, dogs are called _kuyok_, a term said to be of Sumatran origin.

On the North and East there are large herds of wild cattle said to belong to two species, _Bos Banteng_ and _Bos Gaurus_ or _Bos Sondaicus_. In the vicinity of Kudat they afford excellent sport, a description of which has been given, in a number of the "Borneo Herald,"

by Resident G. L. DAVIES, who, in addition to being a skilful manager of the aborigines, is a keen sportsman. The native name for them on the East Coast is _Lissang_ or _Seladang_, and on the North, _Tambadau_. In some districts the water buffalo, _Bubalus Buffelus_, has run wild and affords sport.

The deer are of three kinds--the _Rusa_ or _Sambur_ (_Rusa Aristotelis_), the _Kijang_ or roe, and the _Plandok_, or mousedeer, the latter a delicately shaped little animal, smaller and lighter than the European hare. With the natives it is an emblem of cunning, and there are many short stories ill.u.s.trating its supposed more than human intelligence. Wild pig, the _Sus barbatus_, a kind distinct from the Indian animal, and, I should say, less ferocious, is a pest all over Borneo, breaking down fences and destroying crops. The jungle is too universal and too thick to allow of pig-sticking from horseback, but good sport can be had, with a spear, on foot, if a good pack of native dogs is got together.

It is on the East Coast only that elephants and rhinoceros, called _Gajah_ and _Badak_ respectively, are found. The elephant is the same as the Indian one and is fairly abundant; the rhinoceros is _Rhinoceros sumatra.n.u.s_, and is not so frequently met with.

The elephant in Borneo is a timid animal and, therefore, difficult to come up with in the thick jungle. None have been shot by Europeans so far, but the natives, who can walk through the forest so much more quietly, sometimes shoot them, and dead tusks are also often brought in for sale.

The natives in the East Coast are very few in numbers and on neither coast is there any tribe of professional hunters, or _s.h.i.+karis_, as in India and Ceylon, so that, although game abounds, there are not, at present, such facilities for Europeans desirous of engaging in sport as in the countries named.[29]

A little Malay bear occurs in Borneo, but is not often met with, and is not a formidable animal.

My readers all know that Borneo is the home of the _Orang-utan_ or _Mias_, as it is called by the natives. No better description of the animal could be desired than that given by WALLACE in his "Malay Archipelago." There is an excellent picture of a young one in the second volume of Dr. GUILLEMARD'S "Cruise of the Marchesa." Another curious monkey, common in mangrove swamps, is the long-nosed ape, or _Pakatan_, which possesses a fleshy probosis some three inches long. It is difficult to tame, and does not live long in captivity.

As in Sumatra, which Borneo much resembles in its fauna and flora, the peac.o.c.k is absent, and its place taken by the _Argus_ pheasant. Other handsome pheasants are the _Fireback_ and the _Bulwer_ pheasants, the latter so named after Governor Sir HENRY BULWER who took the first specimen home in 1874. These pheasants do not rise in the jungle and are, therefore, uninteresting to the Borneo sportsman. They are frequently trapped by the natives. There are many kinds of pigeons, which afford good sport. Snipe occur, but not plentifully. Curlew are numerous in some localities, but very wild. The small China quail are abundant on cleared s.p.a.ces, as also is the painted plover, but cleared s.p.a.ces in Borneo are somewhat few and far between. So much for sport in the new Colony.

Let me conclude my paper by quoting the motto of the British North Borneo Company--_Pergo et perago_--I under take a thing and go through with it. Dogged persistence has, so far, given the Territory a fair start on its way to prosperity, and the same perseverance will, in time, be a.s.suredly rewarded by complete success.[30]

W. H. TREACHER.

P.S.--I cannot close this article without expressing my great obligations to Mr. C. V. CREAGH, the present Governor of North Borneo, and to Mr. KINDERSLEY, the Secretary to the Company in London, for information which has been incorporated in these notes.

Footnotes:

[Footnote 23: Now accomplished.]

[Footnote 24: In 1888, $246,457.]

[Footnote 25: In 1888, $22,755 were realized, and the Estimate for 1890 is $70,000 for the Opium Farm.]

[Footnote 26: In 1888, $22,755.]

[Footnote 27: Revenue in 1888, $148,286, with addition of Land Sales, $246,457, a total of $394,743.

Expenditure in 1888, including Padas war expenses, $210,985, and expenditure on Capital Account, $25,283--total $236,268.]

[Footnote 28: The _sumpitan_, or native blow-pipe, has been frequently described by writers on Borneo. It is a tube 6-1/2 feet long, carefully perforated lengthwise and through which is fired a poisoned dart, which has an extreme range of about 80 to 90 yards, but is effective at about 20 to 30 yards. It takes the place in Borneo of the bow and arrow of savage tribes, and is used only by the aborigines and not by the Muhammadan natives.]

[Footnote 29: Dr. GUILLEMARD in his fascinating book, "The Cruise of the Marchesa," states, that two English officers, both of them well-known sportsmen, devoted four months to big game shooting in British North Borneo and returned to Hongkong entirely unsuccessful.

Dr. GUILLEMARD was misinformed. The officers were not more than a week in the country on their way to Hongkong from Singapore and Sarawak, and did not devote their time to sport. Some other of the author's remarks concerning British North Borneo are somewhat incorrect and appear to have been based on information derived from a prejudiced source.]

[Footnote 30: In 1889, the Company declared their first Dividend.]