The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

IV.] BORNEO—THE ORANG-UTAN. 27James Brooke, and lived in liis house whenever I was at thetown of Sarawak in the intervals of my journeys. But somany books liave been written about this part of Borneo sinceI was there, that I shall avoid going into details of what I sawand heard and thought of Sarawak and its ruler, confining myselfchiefly to my experiences as a naturalist in search ofshells, insects, birds, and the Orang-utan, and to an accountof a journey through a part of the interior seldom visited byEuropeans.The first four months of my visit wei'e spent in various partsof the Sarawak River, from Santubong at its mouth up to thepicturesque limestone mountains and Chinese gold-fields of Bowand Bede. This part of the country has been so frequentlydescribed that I shall pass it over, especially as, owing to itsbeing the height of the wet season, my collections were comparativelypoor and insignificant.In March, 1855, I dietermined to go to the coal-works whichwere being opened near the Simunjon River, a small branch ofthe Sadong, a river east of Sarawak and between it and theBatang-Lupar. The Simunjon enters the Sadong River abouttwenty miles up. It as very nari'ow and very winding, andmucli overshadowed by the lofty forest, Avhich sometimes almostmeets over it. The whole country between it and the sea is aperfectly level forest-covered swamp, out of which rise a fewisolated hills, at the foot of one of which the works are situated.From the landing-place to the hill a Dyak road liad been formed,which consisted solely of tree-trunks laid end to end. Alongthese the bare-footed natives walk and carry heavy burdenswith the greatest ease, but to a booted European it is veiyslippery work, and when one's attention is constantly attractedby the various objects of interest around, a few tumbles into thebog are almost inevitable. During my fii'st walk along this roadI saw few insects or birds, but noticed some very handsomeorchids in flower, of the genus Coelogyne, a group which I afterwardsfound to be very abundant, and characteristic of thedistrict. On the slope of the hill near its foot a patch of foresthad been cleared away, and several rude houses erected, in whichwere residing Mr. Coulson, the engineei', and a number of Chineseworkmen. I was at first kindly accommodated in Mr. Coulson'shouse, but finding the spot very suitable for me, and offeringgreat facilities for collecting, I had a small house of two roomsand a verandah built for myself. Here I remained neai-ly ninemonths, and made an immense collection of insects, to whichclass of animals I devoted my chief attention, owing to thecircumstances being especially favourable.In the tropics a large proportion of the insects of all orders,and especially of tlie large and favourite group of beetles, aremore or less dependent on vegetation, and particularly ontimber, bai'k, and leaves in various stages of decay. In the untouchedvirgin forest, the insects which frequent such situations