﻿216 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Except for the " kadjangs " and tarpaulin which we brought from 

 Kuching, all the materials for the house (which contained no nail 

 or cord) were provided by the jungle. 



A little way below the house was a huge overhanging rock, 

 under which trickled a tiny stream ; a bamboo split down the 

 middle formed an excellent water-pipe, carrying the water to a 

 place under which we could stand and bathe. 



Mindful of Wallace's warnings in the Malay Archipelago, and 

 knowing from my own experience how difficult it is to catch moths 

 in a native-made hut roofed with leaves, I brought some old 

 packing-cases from Kuching, and these were brought up the hill 

 in sections by Dayaks. When put together and given a coat of 

 whitewash they formed a very serviceable moth-trap. The 

 rough measurements of it were : 7 ft. high ; across open front, 

 4 ft. ; across back (boarded), 2 ft. ; sides, 4 ft. ; a good reflector 

 lamp placed on a split bamboo inside this kept us well supplied 

 with moths each night. 



According to our aneroids, the height above the sea-level for 

 this place was just under 1000 ft., and the summit of Mt. Serambu 

 was 1340 ft. The temperature in the shade of our hut averaged 

 between 71°-77° Fahr. ; on one cold afternoon it went down to 

 69°, and for two days it never went above 73°. These tempera- 

 tures were almost suggestive of the North Pole after those 

 registered at Kuching, where 80°-90° is the usual range, with 

 an occasional rise to 96°. As the wet monsoon lasts from 

 October to March, we could hardly expect to have other than a 

 wet spell in January for our trip, and for the last portion, at all 

 events, of our stay there we had our full share of wet weather, 

 which accounts for the relatively small number of insects caught 

 in the daytime, although it made no difference to the numbers 

 captured at night. 



On the 21 st we spent our first night on the spot where 

 Wallace had dwelt just fifty-six years before. Jungle life has 

 been described so often before that there is no need for me to 

 detail ours, though let me remark that the best accounts give 

 but a very small idea of the unique charm of life in such 

 surroundings. With the exception of a visit paid by Mr. Smith 

 and myself to some caves in a neighbouring hill, our party spent 

 just a fortnight collecting on and round this place. Mr. Smith 

 unfortunately contracted fever, and had to return to Kuching on 

 the 29th. The remainder of us stayed up there until February 

 2nd, descending on that day by the Peninjau side to Siniawan, 

 which was a good deal shorter than the Paku route. 



All inquiries of the older Dayaks failed to elicit any positive 

 recollections of Wallace's visit here. All they remembered was 

 that the first Rajah, Sir James Brooke, had a bungalow built on 

 this site (which site, by the way, they say he purchased from the 

 Peninjau Dayaks for one cannon), and that he came here often 



