The results of an amicable understanding are uncertain at its commencement, for they depend on the enterprise of the individual and the power of the native tribe into whose hands he may chance to fall. I will therefore not enter into a visionary field of discovery, but it appears to me certain that, without the assistance of the natives, no small party can expect to penetrate far into a country populous by report, and in many parts thickly wooded. Without entertaining exaggerated expectations, I trust that something may be added to our geographical knowledge of the sea-coast of this bay; its leading features, productions, river anchorages and inhabitants; the prospects of trade and the means of navigation; and although my wishes lead me strongly to penetrate as far as the lake, yet the obstacles which may be found to exist will induce me to rest satisfied with the more moderate and reasonable result. It may not be superfluous to notice here that a foregone conclusion appears to be spread abroad regarding the aboriginal (so-called) inhabitants of Borneo, and that they are usually considered and mentioned under the somewhat vague appellation of Dyaks. They are likewise commonly pronounced as originating from the same stock as the Arafuras of Celebes and New Guinea, and radically identical with the Polynesian race. The conclusion is not in itself highly improbable, but certainly premature, as the facts upon which it is built are so scanty and doubtful as to warrant no such structure. On an island so vast as Borneo, races radically distinct might exist, and at any rate the opposite conclusion is hardly justifiable from the specimens of language, or the physical appearance of the tribes of the southern portion of the country. We have Malay authorities for believing that there are many large tribes in the interior, differing greatly in their degree of civilisation, though all alike removed from the vicinity of a superior people. We have the Dyaks of the south, the Idaan of the north, the Kayan warriors and the Punan, a race little better than monkeys, who live in trees, eat without cooking, are hunted by the other tribes, and would seem to exist in the lowest conceivable grade of humanity. If we can trust these accounts, the latter people resemble in many particulars the Orang Benua, or aborigines of the Peninsula, but the Dyaks and Idaans are far superior, living in villages, cultivating the ground and possessing cattle; besides these, we have the names of several other tribes and people, and in all probability many exist in the interior with whom we are yet unacquainted.