Through Central Borneo An Account Of Two Years' Travel In The Land Of The Head-Hunters Between The Years 1913 And 1917 By Carl Lumholtz
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BORNEO - CLIMATIC AND BIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS - NATURAL RESOURCES - POPULATION -
HISTORY - GOVERNMENT OF THE NATIVES - RACIAL PROBLEMS
Leaving Greenland out of consideration, Borneo is the second largest
island on the globe, the greater part of it, southern and eastern,
belonging to Holland. In a recent geological period this island as well as
Java and Sumatra formed part of Asia. A glance at the map shows that
Borneo is drained by rivers which originate in the central region near
each other, the greater by far being in Dutch territory, some of them
navigable to large steam launches for 500 or 600 kilometres. The principal
chain of mountains runs, roughly speaking, from northeast to southwest,
the average height being perhaps 1,000-1,500 metres, with higher peaks now
and then. There are also ranges from east and west. The remainder is
irregular hilly country, with low swampy coasts. The highest mountain is
Kinabalu, in the north, about 4,500 metres above the sea and composed of
"porphyritic granite and igneous rocks." There are no active volcanoes.
The whole island is covered with forest vegetation from the coasts to the
tops of the hills and ranges.
The climate is humid and warm and remarkably even, the thermometer in the
inland rarely reaching above 85 F. in the shade. Rain is copious most of
the year; at night it sometimes rains continuously; but a day of
uninterrupted downpour did not occur during my two years of travel. It
comes in showers, usually lasting an hour or two, when it clears as
suddenly as it began, and within half an hour all is dry again.
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