II. — Forty-eight Hours in Sarawak. By 
Geoffrey Meade-Waldo, M.A. 
It was the author’s good fortune to receive an invitation 
from the Earl of Crawford to accompany him in the 
capacity of naturalist on a prolonged yachting cruise to 
the Far East during the winter of 1907-8. 
My host, fully realizing what opportunities were bound 
to present themselves to the collector or naturalist during 
such a cruise as the present, followed his usual custom of 
including a naturalist among the party on board, in order 
that something, at least, might be done to enrich the 
collections of the British Museum, of which he is one of 
the Trustees. 
At the request of the Editor of this Journal I have 
undertaken to write a few notes on the fleeting visit paid 
to this fascinating country, and to add a list of such 
insects as were captured during the short time available. 
It has not been possible to get specific names for all 
species, since some of them belong to neglected families in 
their respective orders. 
The fine yacht ‘Valhalla,’ R.Y.S., on which the cruise 
was made, was built by Messrs. Bamage and Ferguson, of 
Leith, in 1892, and is 1490 tons, yacht measurement; she 
is fully-rigged, capable of sailing ten or eleven knots in a 
good breeze, and of steaming about the same speed. At 
the conclusion of the present voyage Lord Crawford had 
sailed some 240,000 miles in the vessel. 
The ‘ Valhalla ’ left Cowes on November 8th, and arrived 
at Singapore on January 26th, having called at various 
places en route. We left for Kuching on the afternoon of 
February 8th, arriving off Po Point on the 10th, where we 
anchored in a considerable ground swell, being unable to 
proceed up the river owing to the state of the tide. A 
start was made up the river early next morning, and we 
anchored off the signal station at Pinding about 10 o’clock. 
To one who was comparatively new to the astonishing 
depths of the forest and magnificent exuberance of tropical 
nature, the dense mangrove swamps and nipa palms with 
their handsome fronds—the principal vegetation on the 
river banks—were indeed a revelation. Occasionally a 
Sar. Mus. Journ., No. 3, 1913. 
