Encouragement afforded hy him to Natural History. 39^1 



by the approval of the Governor-General in Council. But on the 

 arrival in India of the late Marquis of Hastings, then Earl of Moira, 

 a different view of this subject, it would appear, was taken by the 

 Supreme Government, and Mr. Raffles was directed to confine the 

 jurisdiction of the Colonial Government to the island of Java and 

 its immediate dependencies. The order was of course obeyed, but 

 with the regret of the Governor of Java, who foresaw that many in- 

 jurious consequences might result from it to the existing weight and 

 dignity of the British Government in these seas, and to any influ- 

 ence or commercial connexion in them, which it might be con- 

 sidered advisable to retain, or to establish in them at a future 

 period.* 



The happy results to the progress of Natural History of Mr. 

 Raffles's government in Java, on account especially of their influ- 

 ence on the renewed vigour with which zoological science had 

 within these few years been cultivated in our own country, now 

 claim our attention and review. From the expiration of the first 

 century after the Indian islands had become known to Europeans, 

 down to the beginning of the present century, few additions had 

 been made in them to any branch of Natural History, if even we 

 include those contained in the earlier transactions of the Batavian 

 Society. But the investigation of these interesting countries has 

 since furnished some of the most important contributions which 

 the sciences of Botany and Zoology have ever received. This in- 

 vestigation appears to have been commenced, and it was pursued 

 with great ardour and success, by that meritorious naturalist Dr. 

 Horsfield, who is still engaged in giving to the public the results 



* At this critical juncture of affairs among the European powers, as welt as 

 in their foreign dependencies, the entire sway over tlie Indian isles, with all 

 the commercial advantages derivable from it, appears to have been within the 

 just and honourable attainment of Great Britain. Vv^ith Borneo, for example, 

 " The Dutch, previous to the conquest of Java, had relinquished all title to 

 interfere ; and had it been an object with the British Government, the command 

 of the whole of that great island was placed entirely at our disposal. By recent 

 accounts, it appears that the Dutch, fully appreciating the vast and productive 

 field which Borneo presents, have established themselves throughout that 

 island." « Statement, &c." p. 17. 



