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: