invariably of an asphalte basis,
whereas the latter sometimes is found to contain a considerable
percentage of paraffin wax. The average daily production is very high,
owing to a large number of the wells flowing under the natural pressure
of the gas. There is every reason to believe that the oil-fields of
Dutch Borneo have a great future. Coal mines have, in many instances,
been opened and abandoned, failure being due to the difficulty of
production. Coal of good quality has been found in Pengaron and
elsewhere in the Banjermasin district, but most Borneo coal is
considerably below this average of excellence. It has also been found in
fair quantities at various places in the Kutei valley and in Sarawak.
The coalmines of Labuan have been worked spasmodically, but success has
never attended the venture. Sadong yields something under 130 tons a
day, and the Brooketown mine, the property of the raja of Sarawak,
yields some 50 tons a day of rather indifferent coal. The discovery that
Borneo produced antimony was made in 1825 by John Crawfurd, the
orientalist, who learned in that year that a quantity had been brought
to Singapore by a native trader as ballast. The supply is practically
unlimited and widely distributed. The principal mine is at Bidi in
Sarawak.

_Climate and Health_.--As is to be anticipated, having regard to its
insular position and to the fact that the equator passes through the
very middle of the island, the climate is at once hot and very damp. In
the hills and in the interior regions are found which may almost be
described as temperate, but on the coasts the atmosphere is dense, humid
and oppressive. Throughout the average temperature is from 78 deg. to 80
deg. F., but the thermometer rarely falls below 70 deg., except in the
hills, and occasionally on exceptional days mounts as high as 96 deg. in
the shade. The rainy westerly winds (S.W. and N.W.) prevail at all the
meteorological stations, not the comparatively dry south-east wind. Even
at Banjermasin, near the south coast, the north-west wind brings
annually a rainfall of 60 in., as against 33 in. of rain carried by the
south-east wind. The difference between the seasons is not rigidly
marked. The climate is practically unchanging all the year round, the
atmosphere being uniformly moist, and though days of continuous downpour
are rare, comparatively few days pass without a shower. Most rain falls
between November and May, and at this season the torren