40 Cincinnati Society of Xatural History. 



Others of the Malayan Islands, catching butterflies all the 

 time and selling enough of these beautiful creatures to pay 

 all expenses. These eastern islands have the famous 

 Oniif/ioptira or bird-winged butterflies, that are not found in 

 any other part of the world. These sell for big prices. 

 December 21, 1887, he went to the great island of Borneo. 

 This was his first trip there, and it was a most unfortunate 

 one ; his boxes of implements and supplies went a.stray, and 

 he never heard of them afterwards. This included his mss. 

 notes for five years, microscope, books, etc., and in addition 

 to this, " my remittances for butterflies sold failed to reach 

 me, and to add to my misery I missed the season for collect- 

 ing completely. " This wretched year has taken all the youth 

 out of me." He adds: "Mr. Hoze told me not to venture to the 

 interior Dayak villages ; that they were cannibals, head hun- 

 ters, snake eaters and devil worshipers ! and that they would 

 abandon their villages if I came there, and they would soon 

 have my head smoking over their fire, that they .spoke no 

 Malay, but onfy a monkey gibberish. In spite of this dire 

 prophecy, I went any way. I found the people kind hearted 

 and honest, though their fear of me was something amu.sing. 

 but when it wore off we were the best of friends. They do 

 not now hunt heads, and the old ones they had were taken a 

 long time ago, and in fair open battle, whereas in Celebes 

 and even here, up the Barito, it is considered '' coninic il faut"' 

 to get one's head on the sly, and women going to draw water 

 and old men too decrepit to fight, are the favorite victims. 

 The language of these Dyaks I can readily understand. I 

 can even understand the little children talking to each other, 

 the .severest te.st of the knowledge of a language. The hon- 

 esty of the.se Dyaks is surprising. I go away and leave my 

 ])ambo() house open and my things .scattered over the floor 

 and shelves; and when I return find everything has been ex- 

 amined and inspected by these people, who have visited the 

 house during my absence, but not so nuich as a pin is missing. 

 Here I am with almost nothing to eat, a little rice porridge 

 and occasionally a scrap of veni.son dried to a c\\\\> over a 

 slow fire. Oh! when I get back to Pengaron won't I get a 

 side of bacon and feast ! I have been so weak from this bad 

 diet I can hardly run fast enough to catch butterflies. How- 

 ever, I console myself with the reflection that 'good things 



