ast known parts of the Indian Archipelago, and one need
not go far from the coast to come to places which are never visited
by Europeans. Labuan itself and its immediate neighbourhood have
much that is interesting to offer to the observer, and from thence
short excursions may be made with ease and without excessive cost to
the territory of the Sultan of Bruni, who is favourable to
foreigners, and to the mountain Kini Balu, near the northern
extremity of Borneo, which is 4,175 metres high, and visible from
Labuan. When, before our arrival at Japan, I arranged the plan of
our voyage home, I included in it a visit to this mountain, at whose
summit a comparatively severe climate must prevail, and whose flora
and fauna, therefore, notwithstanding its equatorial position, must
offer many points of comparison with those of the lands of the
north. But when I was told that the excursion would require weeks, I
had to give it up.

On the 12th November, the _Vega_ again weighed anchor to continue
her voyage by Singapore to Point de Galle in Ceylon. Between Labuan
and Singapore our progress was but slow, in consequence of the calm
which, as might have been foreseen, prevailed in the sea west of
Borneo.

Singapore is situated exactly halfway, when a vessel, starting from
Sweden, circumnavigates Asia and Europe. We staid here from the 28th
November to the 4th December, very hospitably received by the
citizens of the town, both European and Asiatic, who seemed to vie
with the inhabitants of Hong Kong in enthusiasm for the voyage of
the _Vega_. A Babel-like confusion of speech prevails in the town
from the men of so many different nationalities who live here:
Chinese, Malays, Klings, Bengalees, Parsees, Singhalese, Negroes,
Arabs, &c. But our stay was all too short for independent studies of
the customs and mode of life of these different races, or of the
rich vegetable and animal worlds in the neighbourhood of the town. I
must refer those who are interested in these subjects to previous
descriptions of that region, and to the abundant contributions to a
knowledge of it which have been published by the Straits Branch of
the Asiatic Society, which was founded here on the 4th November,
1877.

We arrived at Galle on the 15th December, having during our passage
from Singapore had a pretty steady and favourable monsoon. While
sailing through the Straits of Malacca strong ball-lightning was
often seen a little after sunset. The electrica