INTRODUCTION. V 



these people, as they avoid as much as possible any in- 

 tercourse with white men and the only means of over- 

 coming their shyness is to present them with tobacco, 

 which males and females are very fond of. Some of the 

 once wandering Poenans have recently settled near the 

 Dyaks and adopted their mode of life. In the Upper Man- 

 dai valley I had an opportunity of visiting some of those 

 Poenau settlements and had the pleasure of making friends 

 with their interesting inhabitants at the cost of a few 

 handfuls of chewing-tobacco and small tin boxes full of 

 glass beads , and after becoming thoroughly acquainted , 

 they were very nice and kind people indeed. Another 

 Poenau settlement is the large family-house at Nanga Era 

 on the Upper Kapoeas , where I once spent a very pleas- 

 ant evening on my journey from Nanga Raoen to Poetoes 

 Sibau on the Kapoeas. 



After a pleasant sea-trip I arrived at Batavia on No- 

 vember 1st. 1893, and was very kindly received by my 

 excellent friend Dr. Vorderman , the well-known Dutch 

 Ornithologist of the Malay Archipelago. I was very anxi- 

 ous, of course, to see his splendid collection of birds, 

 consisting of nearly 2000 skins , all carefully preserved in 

 tin cases to keep them from moisture and insects ^). 



During my three weeks' stay in Java I was fortunate 

 enough to make an excursion to Mount Gedeh and to ob- 

 tain, on the inner edge of the crater, a specimen of the 

 rare Merula javanica , besides a number of other birds. 



On November 17th. I left Batavia, accompanied by Do- 

 ris, one of Dr. Vorderman's collectors and a Javanese cook- 

 boy, and arrived at Pontianak on November 19th. In the 

 hospitable home of Mr. Tromp , the Resident of Dutch 

 West-Borneo , I made the acquaintance of Dr. Hallier, the 

 Botanist of our expedition. Dr. Hallier , who had been three 



1) The whole collection was presented last year by Dr. Vorderman to the 

 Leyden Museum, and an enumeration of the specimens will be published in 

 this periodical as soon as possible. 



Notes from, the Leyden ]Miiseiitn, "Vol. XIX. 



