At the mouths of most of the rivers on the east coast of Borneo, and also on the north and north east coasts, the Orass(j /Juju are found. They dwell in boats of eight or ten tons burden, which are covered, when in harbour, with a roof of mat ting. Each boat contains about fifteen inhabit ants, men, women, and children, who employ them selves chiefly in catching and curing fish and trepang, and iu making salt from seaweed. The latter they dispose of to the Dyaks. The women are equally skilful with the men, both in fishing and in the management of the boats. During the south-east monsoon, when the weather is fine in the southern parts of tho island, they cruise about Pass's and Pub Lath, ; but when the monsoon changes, they sail on the northern parts of the island. In addition to these, living in prelims, and wander ing about the shores of the island, are the Lan au from Magindauo, and the Grassy Tidong, country unknown. Brazen images, ruins of temples, and other remains of Hindu civilisation, are still to be seen on the southern coast. The coasts of the island are inhabited byseveral nations,t.ota lly unconnected with each other, governed by their own laws, and ! adopting their own peculiar manners and customs. The west coast is occupied by Malays and Chinese, the north-west coast by the half-caste descendants of the MoOrs of Western India, the north part by the Cochin-Chinese, the north-east coast by the and the east and south coasts by the Bugis .
tribes of Celebes. The greater part of the coast of Borneo is rather dotted than peopled by Malay settlements, according to the Malaya themselves. the result of migrations from Sumatra dating as far back as thirty generations. A small portion of the eastern coast is occupied by settlements of tho Bugis of the Celebes of more recent date. The aboriginal inhabitants are thus in a great measure locked up in the interior, and precluded from access to that commerce with strangers which might civilise them. The Malays and natives of Celebes, by their superior civilisation and power, domineer over the rude aborigines, without, how ever, being able to penetrate into the interior, or to dispossess them of their land. The Malays build their houses 18 or 20 feet high, to avoid the Dyak spears. All the houses in a kampoug are erected on posts 10 or 12 feet high, and are all under one roof, with only a slight partition separating the families.
Borneo, as a mineral country, is very rich, producing gold, coal, antimony, and iron, while caoutchouc and gutta-percha are amongst its vegetable products. From the river Baram coal
is traced to the upper parts of the Bintulu, and thence southward to the Rajang river, on the left bank of which, at Tujol Nang, there is a seam exposed, upwards of thirteen feet in thickness. At different other parts of the river, and also in several of its branches, coal is in abundance. From Tujol Nang the strike of the coal is south ward across Dragon's plain. It is again found in the river Lang-Tha (a distance from the former place of about fifty miles), where it remained in a state of ignition for several years. Iron ore, yield i ng from 60 to 80 per cent. of iron, abounds in the Baluwi or Rajang district, over nearly one-half of the extreme breadth' of the island. The iron is preferred to that of Europe.
The varieties of animal life are great. Some species of Actinia of enormous size occur in the China seas and on the coasts of Borneo, and fish live within them. Of 29 species of birds in Borneo and 21 in Sumatra, 20 are common to both islands. Of 29 in Borneo and 27 in Java, 20 are common to both islands. Of 21 of Sumatra and 27 of Java, 11 are common to both islands. The remarkable coleoptera beetles found in Borneo by Mr. Wallace, were the Neocerambyx aenea.s, Cladognathus tar andus, Diurus furcellatus, Ectatorrhinus Wallacei, Megacriodes Saundersii, Cyriopalus Wallacei. He collected about 2000 distinct kinds of beetles.
On every mountain-top is the pitcher plant, climbing over trees or running along the ground. The finest are on the summit of Kinibaloa ; and the pitcher of the broad sort, Nepenthes raja, will hold two quarts of water. Another, the Nepenthes Edwardsiana, has a narrow pitcher twenty inches long, and grows to a length of 20 feet. Ferns are abundant. The Vanda Lowii, one of the Orchidaceat, grows on the lower branches of trees. Its flower-spikes, 6 or 8 feet long, hang down to the ground, bearing large handsome flowers, 3 inches across, colours varying orange to red. The Polyalthea or tree-fern rises from a pyramid of roots, which descend for 70 or 80 feet to the ground below.— Wallace, i. 37, 161 ; Journ. Ind. Arch. 1845, 1849 ; John's Ind. Arch. ii. p. 265 ; Quarterly Review, No. 222 ; Marryat's Ind. Arch. p. 10 ; Earl's Ind. Arch. p. 270 ; Voyage of the nder in J. I. Arch. 1853 ; Carl Bock's Head hunters of Borneo ; Regering's Almanac; Low's Sarawak, p. 59 ; Pritchard's Researches.