BOTANIZING EXCURSIONS IN BORNEO 193 



BOTANIZING EXCUESIONS IN" BOENEO 



Bx Professor D. H. CAMPBELL 



STANFORD CNIVERSITT 



WITH ships plying to the remotest lands, it is now a comparatively 

 simple matter for the traveler to visit almost any part of the 

 tropics. Indeed, these fascinating regions are now so easily reached 

 that it is becoming difficult to find any country that has not been ex- 

 ploited to such an extent that much of the original vegetation, and with 

 it the rarer animal forms, have been exterminated. 



The planter of tea and coffee, of rubber and bananas, sweeps away 

 the jungle in all the more accessible regions, and the traveler often must 

 make long and arduous Journeys before he can see the country in its 

 pristine state. 



However, there are still many places of comparatively easy access 

 which richly repay the scientific traveler for any slight inconveniences 

 to which he may be subjected. 



No part of the world is richer in interesting forms of life, both ani- 

 mal and vegetable, than portions of the East Indies, especially the 

 great Malayan Archipelago. Java with its unrivaled luxuriance of veg- 

 etation and magnificent scenery, is now on the regular tourist route, and 

 is familiar to many travelers, scientific and otherwise. The larger 

 sister islands, Borneo and Sumatra, are not so often visited by the 

 tourist, and still contain large tracts of unexplored country. When as 

 a small boy I first read Wallace's wonderful book on the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, I determined that some day I should see for myself the wonders 

 of these far-ofE islands in the Eastern Seas. In 1905-06 a sabbatical 

 year gave me my first experience of this beautiful region, and, so satis- 

 factory was that visit, that I looked forward to my next sabbatical leave 

 to renew my acquaintance with the East Indies and to extend my ex- 

 plorations to Sumatra and Borneo which I had not visited on my first 

 trip. 



Much the greater part of the huge island of Borneo is still an un- 

 known wilderness whose wild inhabitants render it a perilous region for 

 the explorer. The coastal region is fairly accessible and there is no 

 great difficulty in reaching the main ports. Dutch Borneo, comprising 

 the major part of the island, has been but little exploited when com- 

 pared with the extraordinary development of Java. 



The rest of the island, except the small native state of Bruni, is 

 under British influence, although not strictly British territory. A re- 

 cent visit to Sarawak proved to be full of novelty and interest, as in 

 some respects the country is unique. 



