Let us turn from Borneo of the past to Borneo of the future. We are going to make a voyage round the territory of the British North Borneo Company. Our trip will be limited to the coast districts, as much of the interior is difficult to reach and indeed not yet explored. First let us see what the map can tell us about the country as a whole.
The Company’s territory is in the form of a rough quadrilateral, 50 with a coastline irregular and deeply indented by the sea. Inland, but nearer to the west coast than the east, stretches a long backbone of mountains; so that the rivers on the east side are longer and the lowlands broader and flatter than on the west. The Equator cuts Borneo almost in the middle, and the whole island is truly tropical, though there are great differences between the highlands and the lowlands. The lowlands are hot all the year round, though the temperature is modified by the rain and dense vegetation and the nearness of the sea; so that the climate does not show the extremes of heat and the great variation which we find in the dry region of Northwest India, much further away from the Equator. Again, there are not two strongly marked wet and dry seasons; rain falls more or less in every month of the year, though spring and autumn are as a rule the wettest seasons. A total annual fall of from ninety to two hundred inches reminds us of the wetter parts of India and the Malay Peninsula, and combined with unvarying heat does not suggest a climate particularly adapted to occupation by the white man. In spite of this drawback the country is in course of development by British capital and under British direction. As an estate it is increasing in value every year. We will now try to see something of its products and people.
Seventy or eighty miles north of Labuan we enter another great bay, with a small island at the entrance; the bay and island of Gaya. On the south side of this bay is the town of Jesselton, the western capital of the Territory and the terminus of the only existing railway. Behind the town is hilly country, and as we approach we may see in the distance, so far as clouds permit, the great bulk of Mount Kinabalu, the highest part of the long mountain chain of the interior. At Jesselton we find European sports in progress and a mixed crowd is gathered: natives of the coast region, largely of Malay blood, Sikhs and Pathans of the Constabulary, with a few Chinese and the white officials. In the town are the Malay houses built over the water, and near them a row of Chinese shops; on the slopes above we see the 51 barracks, with the Constabulary at drill, and a few European residences, with Government House overlooking all. At Jesselton we have a picture in little of the conditions of the coast districts.