some of the
mountains seems to be an absolute impossibility. Many of them consist
almost wholly of huge blocks of basalt, soft, moist, and too slippery to
walk upon. I would rather attempt to cross the continent of Africa than
the island of Borneo. The explorer must carry with him provisions enough
to last both going and returning. The jungle affords nothing fit for
human sustenance, and there are no inhabitants to supply the explorer
with food. Fame awaits the man who will thoroughly explore the interior
of the island."[11]

[Footnote 11: Mr. Hornaday's lecture before the Young Men's
Christian Association.]

Sir Spencer St. John, who has had more experience of Borneo jungles than
any other Englishman hitherto, says, "As I have now made many journeys
in Borneo, and seen much of forest walking, I can speak of it with
something like certainty. I have ever found, in recording progress, that
we can seldom allow more than a mile an hour under ordinary
circumstances. Sometimes, when extremely difficult or winding, we do not
make half a mile an hour. On certain occasions, when very hard pressed,
I have seen the men manage a mile and a half; but, with all our
exertions, I have never yet recorded more than ten miles' progress in a
day, through thick pathless forests, and that was after ten hours of
hard work. It requires great experience not to judge distance by the
fatigue we feel."[12]

[Footnote 12: St. John's Limbong Journal.]

It seems that the Sultan of Bruni has found out that the best way he can
govern his subjects and gain a revenue without trouble, is by ceding
parts of his territory to others. He has given over the whole of the
north of the island to an English company, on condition they pay twelve
thousand five hundred dollars for it annually. This country, embracing
an area of twenty thousand square miles, has fine harbours on its
coasts very suitable for a commercial settlement. The great mountain of
Kini Balu, nearly fourteen thousand feet high, with its range of lesser
mountains, stands on the north-west, and between it and the sea lies a
very fertile country, thus described some years ago by Sir Spencer St.
John, in his "Forests of the Far East": "We rode over towards Pandusan
in search of plants. From the summit of the first low hill we had a
beautiful view of the lovely plain of Tampusak, extending from the sea
far into the interior. Groves of cocoanuts were interspersed among the
rice-grounds