300 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS- ASIA. [May 23, 1859. 



visited, while other Societies have properly received his contributions 

 to botany and zoology. 



The paper for which we are indebted to Mr. Yeats is a translation 

 from the Dntch of Dr. Salomon Miiller, the learned and judicious 

 naturalist of one of the expeditions which the Dutch Government 

 sent out for the exploration of New Guinea in the years 1826, 1828, 

 and 1835. It describes a considerable portion of the south-western 

 coast of this hitherto unknown country, and is itself a small portion 

 of the great work on the people, languages, natural history, and re- 

 sources of the Dutch possessions in India, composed and published 

 under the auspices of the Netherland Government. Should the 

 enlightened recommendation of Sir William Denison, alluded to 

 under the heading of Australia, and backed as it has been by the 

 Council of this Society, meet with the approbation of our own 

 Government, we may hope to see the worthy example of the Dutch 

 Government followed on a still larger scale. 



In speaking of the Indian Archipelago, it may not be out of 

 place to mention that by a recent and practical examination of the 

 coal-fields of Borneo, those of the British island of Labuan have 

 been found to be incomparably the best as to quality, extent, and 

 facility of working. Our capitalists have not been slow to take 

 advantage of this, and are about to work the mines. It would be 

 superfluous to dwell on the vast advantages of a cheap supply of 

 coal in our present enlarged intercourse with Australia, China, 

 Japan, Siam, and the islands of the Archipelago. 



Mr. H. Wise, a gentleman long familiar with the question of 

 Indian navigation, has furnished the Society with an ingenious 

 Memorandum (accompanied by a map) on the means of shortening 

 the route from the Western world to China and Japan by cutting 

 a ship canal through the narrow isthmus which divides the Gulfs of 

 Bengal and Siam. Communications on the subject have also been 

 received from Sir Robert H. Schomburgk, our Consul in Siam. The 

 subject is not, however, ripe for discussion, and all that I need 

 observe upon it at present is, that it is one which comes eminently 

 within the province of the Geographical Society, and is well entitled 

 to our best consideration. 



Admiring and respecting as I do our eminent Medallist Sir 

 James Brooke, whose skill, perseverance, and courage laid the 

 foundation of an important settlement in the Eastern Archipelago, 

 I cannot close this brief referencfe to that region without expressing 

 my gratification that at a period when the health of this dis- 



