XIX.] BORNEO. 707 



continue her voyage by Singapore to Point tie Galle in Ceylon. 

 Between Labuan and Singapore our progress was but slow, in 

 consequence of the calm which, as might have been foreseen , 

 prevailed in the sea west of Borneo. 



Singapore is situated exactly halfway, when a vessel, starting 

 from Sweden, circumnavigates Asia and Europe. We staid here 

 from the 28th November to the 4th December, very hospitably 

 received by the citizens of the town, both European and Asiatic, 

 who seemed to vie with the inhabitants of Hong Kong in 

 enthusiasm for the voyage of the Vega. A Babel-like confusion 

 of speech prevails in the town from the men of so many different 

 nationalities who live here : Chinese, Malays, Klings, Bengalees, 

 Parsees, Singhalese, Negroes, Arabs, &c. But our stay was all 

 too short for independent studies of the customs and mode of 

 life of these different races, or of the rich vegetable and animal 

 worlds in the neighbourhood of the town. I must refer those 

 who are interested in these subjects to previous descriptions of 

 that region, and to the abundant contributions to a knowledge 

 of it which have been published by the Straits Branch of 

 the Asiatic Society, which was founded here on the 4th 

 November, 1877. 



We arrived at Galle on the 15th December, having during 

 our passage from Singapore had a pretty steady and favourable 

 monsoon. While sailing through the Straits of Malacca strong 

 ball-lightning was often seen a little after sunset. The electrical 

 discharges appeared to go on principally from the mountain 

 heights on both sides of the Straits. 



I allowed the Vega to remain in the harbour of Point de 

 Galle, partly to wait for the mail, partly to give Dr. Almquist 

 an opportunity of collecting lichens on some of the high moun- 

 tain summits in the interior of the island, and Dr. Kjellman 

 of examining its algae, while I myself would have time to 

 visit the famous gem-diggings of Ceylon. The return was as 

 good as could have been expected considering our short stay 

 at the place. Dr. Almquist's collection of lichens from the 

 highest mountain of Ceylon, Pedrotalagalla, 2,500 metres high, 

 was very large ; Kjellman, by the help of a diver, made a not 

 inconsiderable collection of algoe from the neighbourhood of the 

 harbour ; and from an excursion which I undertook in company 

 with Mr. Alexander C. Dixon, of Colombo, to Katnapoora, 

 the town of gems, where we were received with special kindness 

 by Mr. CoLiN Murray, assistant government agent, I brought 

 home a fine collection of the minerals of Ceylon. 



Precious stones occur in Ceylon mainly in sand beds, especially 

 at places where streams of Avater have flowed which have rolled, 

 crumbled down, and washed away a large part of the softer 

 constituents of the sand, so that a gravel has been left remaining 



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