CHAPTER I 



The Sarawak River — Kuching — Our House and its Surroundings — 

 First Impressions in the Forest — A Road over Tree Trunks — 

 Leeches — Siul and Tuan-ku Yassim — Gigantic Cicadas — Fig-trees 

 and Birds — An Exploration towards Mattang 



ON April 4th, 1865, 1 embarked at Southampton on the Delhi, one 

 of the fine steamers of the P. and 0. Company, and twelve day 4 J" 

 later reached Alexandria, where I met my friend Doria, who came 

 from Genoa. The Suez Canal being then non-existent, we crossed 

 the Isthmus by rail to join the Indian mail steamer in the Red Sea. 



After the usual stop at Aden, and a quiet voyage over the Indian 

 Ocean, we sighted the high land of Ceylon at dawn on May 5th, and 

 at 6 a.m. our vessel, the Candia, dropped anchor in the small and 

 not too well protected harbour of Point de Galle. The delight with 

 which I gazed at this outermost fringe of the continent of Asia — 

 perhaps more blessed by Nature than any other part of the world 

 — I can hardly venture to describe. The surprise for the traveller 

 is all the greater from the fact that, as it were, at a single bound 

 he finds himself transported from Europe to the tropics. The 

 memory of the sweltering shores of the Red Sea, and the burnt and 

 arid crags of Aden, only serve to increase his admiration of the charms 

 of this island of perennial verdure. 



In Ceylon we spent some delightful weeks which I need not 

 dwell upon here. As a naturalist, finding himself for the first time 

 in tropic lands, I was greatly disappointed to have to tear myself 

 away from this enchanted isle. But our aspirations were towards 

 more distant and less known lands, and on May 20th we bade adieu 

 to the island, laden with ineffaceable memories of the delightful 

 days we passed on it. Touching at Penang, we arrived in due course 

 at Singapore, and on June 15th found ourselves on the Rainbow, 

 the Sarawak Government's steamer, carrying the mails between 

 Singapore and Kuching, the capital of Rajah Brooke's dominions. 



On the morning of June 19th we were early on deck, for with 

 daylight the mountains of Borneo were sighted. The steamer 

 had slackened speed in order not to approach the coast before dawn. 

 As the sun rose, the imposing mass of Santubong appeared, like a 

 great fortress commanding the entrance to the Sarawak river. 



1 B 



