It was on the 13th of April, 1880, that, accompanied by an old College friend (whom throughout these pages I shall call L. ), I left London for the Eastern Archipelago, via Marseilles and Singapore, our destination being Sarawak, the seat of government of Raja Brooke in the island of Borneo. Our expedition had been a long-projected one, but it was not until the latter end of March, 1880, that we finally decided to start.