My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 177beautiful ferns and pitcher-plants, of which I made asmall collection. Elephants and rhinoceroses, as wellas tigers, are abundant there, but we had our usualbad luck in seeing only their tracks. On returning toMalacca I found the accumulation of two or threeposts—a dozen letters, and about fifty newspapers.... I am glad to be safe in Singapore with mycollections, as from here they can be insured. I havenow a fortnight's work to arrange, examine, and packthem, and four months hence there will be work forMr. Stevens.^" Sir James Brooke is here. I have called on him.He received me most cordially, and offered me everyassistance at Sarawak. I shall go there next, as Ishall have pleasant society at Sarawak, and shall geton in Malay, which is very easy ; but I have had nopractice yet, though I can ask for most commonthings."I reached Sarawak early in November, andremained in Borneo fourteen months, seeing a gooddeal of the country. The first four months was thewet season, during which I made journeys up anddown the Sarawak river, but obtained very scantycollections. In March I went to the Sadong river,where coal mines were being opened by an Englishmining engineer, Mr. Coulson, a Yorkshireman, and Istayed there nearly nine months, it being the bestlocality for beetles I found during my twelve years'tropical collecting, and very good for other groups.It was also in this place that I obtained numerousskins and skeletons of the orang-utan, as fully describedin my " Malay Archipelago."* They were sent by sailing ship round the Cape of Good Hope,the overland route being too costly for goods.N