THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



163 



A GREEN CATERPILLAR ORNAMENTED WITH 

 FEATHERY PLUMES 



One of the many strange insects with which 

 the jungles of Sarawak abound and which re- 

 pay the entomologist for his journey half-way 

 around the world to collect. 



merited in some degree its appellation of 

 the Venice of the East ; but for the past 

 century it has been nothing more than a 

 few score of small wooden houses built 

 on piles on a muddy bank which is bare 

 at low tide, exposing an accumulation of 

 refuse from which a stench arises that is 

 a novelty even to one who has become ac- 

 customed to the varied odors of the East. 



The Sultan's domains extended along 

 the northwest coast nearly to the westerly 

 extremity of the island, where the terri- 

 tory included in the basins of the Sara- 

 wak, Lundu, and Samarahan rivers con- 

 stituted the province of Sarawak, with 

 the town of Kuching, on the Sarawak 

 River, for its capital. 



Sarawak was inhabited chiefly by Ma- 

 lays, Land Dayaks, and Chinese, and had, 

 at times, been independent under Malay 

 rulers; but in 1839 its government was 

 in the hands of a vassal of the Sultan, 

 the Rajah Muda Hasim, weak and incom- 

 petent, but apparently an amiable man, 

 not entirely devoid of humanitarian in- 



A CURIOUS INSECT THAT USES ITS AN- 

 TENNA AS A PARACHUTE 



This tiny creature, which resembles a plant 

 rather than an insect, springs from the branch 

 of a tree and drops gently through the air, sup- 

 ported by its downy tentacles. 



stincts ; for he did, on one occasion, avail 

 himself of an opportunity to render 

 timely assistance to some shipwrecked 

 English sailors. This event was the cause 

 of James Brooke's first visit to Sarawak, 

 which led to his great work there and the 

 establishment of the white rajahs. 



This action of the Rajah was so un- 

 usual that the Governor of Singapore 

 and the Singapore Chamber of Com- 

 merce resolved to recognize his gener- 

 osity by sending presents and a letter of 

 thanks. 



James Brooke, the son of Thomas 

 Brooke, of the East India Company's 

 civil service, was chosen to carry out this 

 mission. He sailed from Singapore in 

 July, surveyed parts of the coast of what 

 was destined to become his domain, find- 

 ing its position so much in error that he 

 was "obliged to clip some hundreds of 

 miles of habitable land off" the charts." 



On the 15th of August he anchored in 

 the Sarawak River, at the town of Ku- 

 ching, where he was well received by 



