Products and Trade.—The capabilities of the company’s territory are only dimly known. Coal has been found in the neighbourhood of Cowie Harbour and elsewhere, but though its quality is believed to be as good as that exported from Dutch Borneo, it is not yet known whether it exists in payable quantities. Gold has been found in alluvial deposits on the banks of some of the rivers of the east coast, but here again the quantity available is still in serious doubt. The territory as a whole has been very imperfectly examined by geologists, and no opinion can at present be hazarded as to the mineral wealth or poverty of the company’s property. Traces of mineral oil, iron ores, copper, zinc and antimony have been found, but the wealth of North Borneo still lies mainly in its jungle produce. It possesses a great profusion of excellent timber, but the difficulty of extraction has so far restricted the lumber industry within somewhat modest limits. Gutta, rubber, rattans, mangrove-bark, edible nuts, guano, edible birds’-nests, &c., are all valuable articles of export. The principal cultivated produce is tobacco, sago, cocoanuts, coffee, pepper, gambier and sugar-canes. Of these the tobacco and the sago are the most important. Between 1886 and 1900 the value of the tobacco crop increased from £471 to £200,000.
As is common throughout Malayan lands, the trade of North Borneo is largely in the hands of Chinese shopkeepers who send their agents inland to attend the Tamus (Malay, těmu, to meet) or fairs, which are the recognized scenes of barter between the natives of the interior and those of the coast. At Sandakan there is a Chinese population of over 2000.
Administration.—For administrative purposes the territory is divided into nine provinces: Alcock and Dewhurst in the north; Keppel on the west; Martin in the centre; Myburgh, Mayne and Elphinstone on the east coast; and Dent and Cunliffe in the south. The boundaries of these provinces, however, are purely arbitrary and not accurately defined. The form of government is modelled roughly upon the system adopted in the Malay States of the peninsula during the early days of their administration by British residents. The government is vested primarily in the court of directors appointed under the company’s charter, which may be compared to the colonial office in its relation to a British colony, though the court of directors interests itself far more closely than does the colonial department in the smaller details of local administration. The supreme authority on the spot is represented by the governor, under whom are the residents of Kudat, Darvel Bay and Keppel, officers who occupy much the same position as that usually known by the title of magistrate and collector. The less important districts are administered by district magistrates, who also collect the taxes. The principal departments, whose chiefs reside at the capital, are the treasury, the land and survey, the public works, the constabulary, the medical and the judicial. The secretariat is under the charge of a government secretary who ranks next in precedence to the governor. Legislation is by the proclamation of the governor, but there is a council, meeting at irregular intervals, upon which the principal heads of departments and one unofficial member have seats. The public service is recruited by nomination by the court of directors. The governor is the chief judge of the court of appeal, but a judge who is subordinate to him takes all ordinary supreme court cases. The laws are the Indian Penal and Civil Procedure Codes and Evidence Acts, supplemented by a few local laws promulgated by proclamation. There is an Imam’s court for the trial of cases affecting Mahommedan law of marriage, succession, &c. The native chiefs are responsible to the government for the preservation of law and order in their districts. They have restricted judicial powers. The constabulary numbers some 600 men and consists of a mixed force of Sikhs, Pathans, Punjabi Mahommedans, Dyaks and Malays, officered by a few Europeans. There is a Protestant mission which supports a church—the only stone building in the territory—and a school at Sandakan, with branches at Kudat, Kaningau and Tambunan. The Roman Catholic mission maintains an orphanage, a church and school at Sandakan, and has missions among the Dusuns at several points on the west coast and in the Tambunan country. Its headquarters are at Kuching in Sarawak. The Chinese have their joss-houses and the Mahommedans a few small mosques, but the vast majority of the native inhabitants are pagans who have no buildings set apart for religious purposes.
Finance and Money.—The principal sources of revenue are the licences granted for the importation and retailing of opium, wine and spirits, which are in the hands of Chinese; a customs duty of 5% on imports; an export tax of 5% on jungle produce; a poll-tax sanctioned by ancient native custom; and a stamp duty. A land revenue is derived from the sale of government lands, from quit rents and fees of transfer, &c. Judicial fees bring in a small amount, and the issue and sale of postage and revenue stamps have proved a fruitful source of income. The people of the country are by no means heavily taxed, a large number of the natives of the interior escaping all payment of dues to the company, the revenue being for the most part contributed by the more civilized members of the community residing in the neighbourhood of the company’s stations. There are bank agencies in Sandakan, and the company does banking business when required. The state, which has adopted the penny postage, is in the Postal Union, and money orders on North Borneo are issued in the United Kingdom and in most British colonies and vice versa. Notes issued by the principal banks in Singapore were made current in North Borneo in 1900. There is also a government note issue issued by the company for use within the territory only. The currency is the Mexican and British dollar, the company issuing its own copper coin—viz. cents and half cents. It is proposed to adopt the coinage of the Straits Settlements, and measures have been taken with a view to the accomplishment of this. In the interior the principal medium of exchange among the natives is the large earthenware jars, imported originally, it is believed, from China, which form the chief wealth both of tribes and individuals.
(H. Cl.)
Authorities.—Among early works may be mentioned, S. Blommaert, Discours ende ghelegentheyt van het eylandt Borneo int Jear 1609; Hachelyke reystogt van Jacob Jansz. de Roy na Borneo en Atchin in het jaar 1691; Beeckman, Visit to Borneo, 1718, in J. Pinkerton’s General Collections (1808-1814); F. Valentijn in Ond en Nieuw Oost Indiën (Dordrecht, 1724-1726). See also H. Keppel, Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. “Dido” (London, 1846); R. Mundy, Narrative of Events in Borneo and Celebes (London, 1848); F.S. Marryat, Borneo, &c. (1848); P.J. Veth, Borneo’s Westerafdeeling (Zalt-Bommel, 1854 and 1856); S. Müller, Reizen en onderzoekingen in den Indischen Archipel (Amsterdam, 1857); C. Bock, Head-hunters of Borneo (London, 1881), and Reis in Oost en Zuid-Borneo (The Hague, 1887); J. Hatton, The New Ceylon, a Sketch of British North Borneo (London, 1882); F. Hatton, North Borneo (London, 1885); T. Posewitz, Borneo ... Verbreitung der nutzbaren Mineralien (Berlin, 1889), Eng. trans., Borneo; its Geology and Mineral Resources (London, 1892); J. Whitehead, Exploration of Mount Kini Balu (London, 1893); Mrs W.B. Pryor, A Decade in Borneo (London, 1894); H. Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and North Borneo (London, 1896); G.A.F. Molengraaf, Geologische Verkinningstochten in Centraal Borneo (Leiden, 1900, Eng. trans. 1902); A.W. Niewenhuis, In Centraal Borneo (Leiden, 1901), and Quer durch Borneo (Leiden, 1904), &c.; W.H. Furness, Home Life of Borneo Head-hunters (London, 1902); O. Beccari, Nelle Foreste di Borneo (Florence, 1902), Eng. trans., Wanderings in the Great Forests of Borneo (London, 1904); D. Cator, Everyday Life among the Head-hunters (London, 1905). For geology, besides the works of Posewitz and Molengraaf already cited, see R.B. Newton in Geol. Mag., 1897, pp. 407-415, and Proc. Malac. Soc., London, vol. v. (1902-1903), pp. 403-409. A series of papers on the palaeontology of the island will be found in the several volumes of the Samml. Geol. R. Mus., Leiden.
BORNHOLM, an island in the Baltic Sea, 22 m. S.E. of the Swedish coast, belonging to Denmark, lying on 15° E., and between 55° and 55° 18′ N., and measuring 24 m. from S.E. to N.W. and 19 (extreme) from E. to W. Pop. (1901) 40,889. The surface is generally hilly; the scenery is fine in the north, where the cliffs reach a height of 135 ft., and the granite hill of Helligdomsklipper dominates the island. Besides freestone, exported for building, limestone, blue marble, and porcelain-clay are worked. A little coal is found and used locally, but it is not of good quality. Oats, flax and hemp are cultivated. The inhabitants are employed in agriculture, fishing, brewing, distillation and the manufacture of earthenware. Weaving and clock-making are also carried on to some extent. The capital is Rönne (115 m. by sea from Copenhagen), and there are five other small towns on the island—Svanike, Neksö, Hasle, Allinge, and Sandvig. A railway connects Rönne with Neksö (22 m. E. by S.), where a bust commemorates J.N. Madvig, the philologist, who was born there in 1804 (d. 1886). Blanch’s Hotel, 10 m. N. of Rönne, is the most favoured resort on the island, which attracts many visitors. On the north-west coast are the ruins of the castle of Hammershus, which was built in 1158, and long served as a state prison; while another old castle, erected by Christian V. in 1684, and important as commanding the entrance to the Baltic, is situated on Christiansö, one of a small group of islands 15 m. E. by N. The island of Bornholm has had an eventful history. In early times it was long the independent seat of marauding Vikings. In the 12th century it became a fief of the archbishop of Lund. In 1510 it was captured by the Hanseatic League, in 1522 it came under Danish sway, and in 1526 it was made directly subject to the city of Lübeck. In 1645 the Swedes took it by storm, and their possession of it was confirmed by the peace of Roskilde in 1658; but the sympathies of the people were with Denmark, and a popular insurrection succeeded in expelling the Swedish forces, the island coming finally into the possession of Denmark in 1660.
BORNIER, HENRI, Vicomte de (1825-1901) French poet and dramatist, was born at Lunel (Hérault) on the 25th of December 1825. He came to Paris in 1845 With the object of studying law, but in that year he published a volume of verse, Les Premières Feuilles, and the Comédie Francaise accepted a play of his entitled Le Mariage de Luther. He was given a post in the library of the Arsenal, where he served for half a century, becoming director in 1889. In 1875 was produced at the Théâtre Français his heroic drama in verse, La Fille de Roland. The action of the play turns on the love of Gérald, son of the traitor Ganelon, for the daughter of Roland. The patriotic subject and the nobility of the character of Gérald, who renounces Berthe when he learns his real origin, procured for the piece a great success. The conflict between honour and love and the grandiose sentiment of the play inevitably provoked comparison with Corneille. The piece would indeed be a masterpiece if, as its critics were not slow to point out, the verse had been quite equal to the subject. Among the numerous other works of M. de Bornier should be mentioned: Dimitri (1876), libretto of an opera by M.V. de Jonciêres; and the dramas, Les Noces d’Allila (1880) and Mahomet (1888). The production of this last piece was forbidden in deference to the representations of the Turkish ambassador. Henri de Bornier was critic of the Nouvelle Revue from 1879 to 1887. His Poésies complètes were published in 1894. He died in January 1901.