x PREFACE. 



book six years ago, and by this time perhaps forgotten all 

 about it. 



I must now say a few words on the plan of my work. 



My journeys to the various islands were regulated by 

 the seasons and the means of conveyance. I visited some 

 islands two or three times at distant intervals, and in 

 some cases had to make the same voyage four times over. 

 A chronological arrangement would have puzzled my 

 readers. They would never have known where they were ; 

 and my frequent references to the groups of islands, 

 classed in accordance with the peculiarities of their 

 animal productions and of their human inhabitants, 

 would have been hardly intelligible. I have adopted, 

 therefore, a geographical, zoological, and ethnological 

 arrangement, passing from island to island in what seems 

 the most natural succession, while I transgress the order 

 in which I myself visited them as little as possible. 



I divide the Archipelago into five groups of islands, 

 as follow : — 



I. The Indo-Malay Islands : comprising the Malay 

 Peninsula and Singapore, Borneo, Java, and 

 Sumatra. 



