BORNEO IMPRESSION

Evening Star, Issue 22954, 11 May 1938, Page 2

BORNEO IMPRESSION

The first impression the visitor to Borneo gets from the air is of the absence of habitation and cultivation (writes Captain M. M. Corpening from Dutch East Indies to the ‘ Chicago Tribune’). The Dutch control about threefourths of the island (208,294 square miles) and the British the north-west quarter (about 81,000 square miles, including the protectorate of Sarawak). The total population is about 2,913,000, with over 2,000,000 in the Dutch section. Borneo has many mountains inland. Lack of roads and farming activities and the fact that it straddles the Equator makes Borneo much less attractive than other Indies islands. Outside of truck farming, raising of vegetables and some rice, there is no agriculture. ' Thhre are no railroads in Borneo «nd no dirt roads beyond a few miles radius from the larger cities (a total of only 1,400 miles on the island). (There are only two towns of ajiy prominence in the Dutch area—Balik Papan on the north-east const and Bandjermasin in the south. The latter has a population of 60,000, while Balik Papan has about 30,000. Balik Papan is practically an adjunct of a large British oil refinery. Bandjermaain is supported by three foreign trading companies and a diamond finishing plant. Precious stones are found frequently, hut the island’s principal wealth lies in rubber, rattan, and coconuts. An American manufacturer has a rubber plant near Bandjermasin. The natural products grow wild and little attention is paid to their perpetuation. The natives gather their forest harvest, pile it in canoes, and bring it down the river to market.

Bandjermasin is nicely laid out with wide streets and modern homes, schools, and churches. There are no horses in Borneo and very few cattle and carabaos (water buffaloes). The _ cattle are imported from Java for milk and beef, and the carabaos for work in truck patches. Game, too, is scarce—outside of crocodiles and monkeys. Asked about the ferocity of the socalled head hunters back in the mountains, an English-speaking native laughs and says they don’t fight any more than they do in the mountains of other countries.

The people seem to he particularly peaceful and neighbourly—several cowing, smiling, and sneaking to a stranger on the streets. Their language is Bandjerese. a Malay dialect.