There are great mountain ranges to the north-west and through the interior of the island, and the natives speak of lakes of vast extent, with Dyak villages on their shores. But this is only tradition. There is a lake commonly reported only two days' journey from the foot of Kini Balu, a high mountain on the north-west, but no Englishman has yet trod its shores. The difficulties of exploring such dense jungles and mountain precipices as bar the way across Borneo are almost insuperable. I quote from Mr. Hornaday's recent lecture at Rochester. He says, "Owing to the peculiar and almost impassable nature of the country, Borneo has never been crossed by the white man. Travelling over some of the mountains seems to be an absolute impossibility. Many of them consist almost wholly of huge blocks of basalt, soft, moist, and too slippery to walk upon. I would rather attempt to cross the continent of Africa than the island of Borneo. The explorer must carry with him provisions enough to last both going and returning. The jungle affords nothing fit for human sustenance, and there are no inhabitants to supply the explorer with food. Fame awaits the man who will thoroughly explore the interior of the island."[11] [Footnote 11: Mr. Hornaday's lecture before the Young Men's Christian Association.] Sir Spencer St. John, who has had more experience of Borneo jungles than any other Englishman hitherto, says, "As I have now made many journeys in Borneo, and seen much of forest walking, I can speak of it with something like certainty. I have ever found, in recording progress, that we can seldom allow more than a mile an hour under ordinary circumstances. Sometimes, when extremely difficult or winding, we do not make half a mile an hour. On certain occasions, when very hard pressed, I have seen the men manage a mile and a half; but, with all our exertions, I have never yet recorded more than ten miles' progress in a day, through thick pathless forests, and that was after ten hours of hard work. It requires great experience not to judge distance by the fatigue we feel."[12] [Footnote 12: St. John's Limbong Journal.]