Nov. 10, 1856.] WALLACE ON BORNEO. 193 



observations in the despatch of Mr. Gregory, and portions of a letter he had 

 received from Mr. Wilson, the gentleman selected as geologist of the expedition, 

 which w^ould at a future meeting, be brought before the Society. The success 

 which had already attended the expedition was highly gratifying to him, for 

 he was one of its earliest advocates when the Duke of Newcastle was in office ; 

 and it was that statesman who first gave attention to the representations of the 

 Geographical Society on the subject. What had fallen from Captain Stokes 

 explained very clearly that object of the expedition which was considered of 

 the greatest importance, i. e. not merely to discover the extent of the great 

 interior saline desert, or whether there might or might not be a practicable route 

 from Northern to Southern Australia ; but to determine first the true water- 

 parting, and having ascertained the source of the Victoria, then without further 

 delay to travel along that high-land, and proceed at once to the Gulf of Car- 

 pentaria before the resources of the expedition were exhausted. He should, 

 therefore, exceedingly regret, in conjunction with Captain Stokes, if through 

 the exhaustion of their resources the leading objects of the expedition were not 

 attained, by opening out that great line of intercourse which he hoped to see 

 established between Sydney on the south and the Gulf of Carpentaria on the 

 north. He hoped, however, that Mr. Gregory would have ample provision to 

 enable him to effect that object. They must, at all events, give that gentle- 

 man all credit for having overcome great difficulties, and for having already 

 solved a curious geographical problem. If he should demonstrate the practi- 

 cability of the other suggestion, he will have achieved a most important result. 



2. Notes of a Journey up the Sadong River, in North - West Borneo. 

 By A. R. Wallace, f.r.g.s.* 



The Sadong is the first considerable river east of Sarawak, from 

 whicli it is distant about 25 miles, and forms a portion of tlie terri- 

 tory lately ceded in perpetuity by the Sultan of Borneo to Sir James 

 Brooke. 



About 20 miles up this river, a small stream, the Simunjon, enters 

 from the east, a few miles up which, on an isolated mountain, coal 

 of good quality has been discovered, and is now being worked. At 

 this place I spent the whole of the dry season of 1855, engaged in 

 making collections of birds and insects, and more particularly in 

 hunting the great orang-utan or " mias," which is there particu- 

 larly abundant. I succeeded in shooting 13 of these extraordi- 

 nary animals, and in accumulating a mass of information about 

 them, which will, I trust, tend to clear up many obscure and doubt- 

 ful points in their natural history. I had intended to devote the 

 latter part of the dry season to a somewhat extended journey into 

 the interior, but an unfortunate wound in my foot rendered me in- 

 capable of leaving the house for three months of the very finest 

 weather, and it was not till the rains had begun that I was enabled 

 to walk. As the time which I had fixed for leaving Borneo, was 



* See Proceedings, R. G. S., No. IV. p. 97.— Ed. 



