een able to explain my views in
detail; while in others, owing to the greater complexity of the subject,
I have thought it better to confine myself to a statement of the more
interesting facts of the problem, whose solution is to be found in the
principles developed by Mr. Darwin in his various works. The numerous
illustrations will, it is believed, add much to the interest and value
of the book. They have been made from my own sketches, from photographs,
or from specimens--and such, only subjects that would really illustrate
the narrative or the descriptions, have been chosen.

I have to thank Messrs. Walter and Henry Woodbury, whose acquaintance
I had the pleasure of making in Java, for a number of photographs of
scenery and of natives, which have been of the greatest assistance to
me. Mr. William Wilson Saunders has kindly allowed me to figure the
curious horned flies; and to Mr. Pascoe I am indebted for a loan of
two of the very rare Longicorns which appear in the plate of Bornean
beetles. All the other specimens figured are in my own collection.

As the main object of all my journeys was to obtain specimens of natural
history, both for my private collection and to supply duplicates to
museums and amateurs, I will give a general statement of the number of
specimens I collected, and which reached home in good condition. I must
premise that I generally employed one or two, and sometimes three Malay
servants to assist me; and for nearly half the time had the services of
an English lad, Charles Allen. I was just eight years away from England,
but as I travelled about fourteen thousand miles within the Archipelago,
and made sixty or seventy separate journeys, each involving some
preparation and loss of time, I do not think that more than six years
were really occupied in collecting.

I find that my Eastern collections amounted to:

310 specimens of Mammalia.
100 specimens of Reptiles.
8,050 specimens of Birds.
7,500 specimens of Shells.
13,100 specimens of Lepidoptera.
83,200 specimens of Coleoptera.
13,400 specimens of other Insects.

125,660 specimens of natural history in all.

It now only remains for me to thank all those friends to whom I am
indebted for assistance or information. My thanks are more especially
due to the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, through whose
valuable recommendations I obtained important aid from our own
Government and from that of H