Borneo

Borneo, the third largest island on the globe, is situated in the Malay Archipelago, being bounded N. and W. by the China Sea and Gulf of Siam, S. by the Sea of Java, and E. by the Celebes Sea. It is divided into two almost equal portions by the equator, and covers an area of 283,000 square miles. The coast line is little broken by bays and inlets, and the interior is only partially explored. The centre appears to be a plateau from which spread out various mountain chains, the chief running from S.W. to N.E. along the longest axis of the island. The island is plentifully supplied with rivers, some of which, though navigable, are yet shut off from the sea by the bars at their mouths. There are also a few lakes, the largest being Kinabalu. The climate is humid, and, notwithstanding the tropical position of the island, is in many places temperate. The vegetation is rich and varied, and its forests yield teak, dye-woods, ebony, guttapercha, gums, resins, etc. Its mineral products embrace gold, antimony, diamonds, quicksilver, zinc, coal, copper, marble, etc. - for the most part very abundantly. Among its animals are the elephant, the panther, the rhinoceros, the bear, deer, monkeys, crocodiles, and a great variety of smaller animals. The inhabitants are chiefly Dyaks, the aborigines, Malays, Chinese, and Buginese. The western, south-eastern, and part of the eastern coasts are Dutch possessions, and are ruled, for the most part, by native chiefs under the Dutch. Of the other political divisions of the island, the principal is the Malay kingdom, Borneo proper or Bruni, whose chief town Brunei is on the river of that name, and which is under the supremacy of the Sultan of Borneo, but, with Sarawak and British North Borneo, is under a British protectorate. - On the west coast is the principality of Sarawak, made independent of the Sultan by Sir James Brooke, the noted rajah, and practically under English administration; while the island of Labuan off the N.W. coast is an English colony. In 1881 the British Government granted a charter to an English commercial company, which thereby exercises sovereign rights over the north of the island, now known as British North Borneo, and covering an area of over 30,000 square miles. Besides Brunei, other leading towns in Borneo are Banjermassin, Kuching, Pontianak, and Sambas. In British North Borneo the chief settlement is Sandakan or Elopura, the capital.