INT110DU CTION. 
v 
the traveller’s progress, added to which a hundred petty troubles bar his path in every 
direction. Still these very difficulties make success when attained infinitely sweeter. My 
failure to reach Kina Balu on two occasions was due to the disturbed state of the inland 
tribes and the punitive police expeditions sent against them by the British North Borneo 
Company. 
The accompanying map will give my readers some idea as to the positions of the 
localities visited by me in North Borneo and Palawan. 
I must apologize for the somewhat cumbersome shape of my volume, but I have 
sacrificed the size for the illustrations, finding it impossible to give topographical drawings 
on a much smaller scale. The numerous illustrations are from my water-colour sketches 
made in Borneo and lithographed by myself. I have perhaps given rather too many of 
Kina Balu, but they will, I feel, assist the reader’s imagination of the districts traversed 
more than pages of descriptive letterpress. 
The figures (opposite page 56) of the three reptiles I have copied from Dr. Mocquard’s 
memoir, published in Paris in the ‘ Nouvelles Archives du Museum,’ 3 e serie, ii. The 
first eight figures in the illustration (opposite page 184) of the new beetles are copied 
from Mr. Waterhouse’s ‘Aid to the Identification of Insects,’ vol. ii. pis. 186, 187; 
no. 9 is from the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ by kind permission; the last 
three are original drawings. 
The attitudes of several of the birds have been taken from drawings in the ‘ Ibis ’ by 
Mr. J. G. Keulemans. 
Our success is greatly due to the assistance of others—mine was no exception to this 
rule; and to many kind friends, both at home and in the “ Far East,” I beg to tend my 
most grateful thanks for kindnesses shown me in the past. As far as the publication of 
this volume is concerned, Mr. H. E. Dresser deserves my best thanks for the trouble he 
has taken in correcting the proof-sheets. 
In conclusion, I must crave the indulgence of my readers, and trust that they will take 
a lenient view of this my first literary effort, for I myself am conscious of my many literary 
shortcomings. Essentially and by choice a “ field naturalist,” I find it far easier to explore 
an unknown tract of country than to write an account of my researches. 
JOHN WHITEHEAD. 
Bickley, Kent, 10th May, 1893. 
