LONDON i
PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED,
s t . jo .h n ’s s q u a r e .
P R E F A C E .
A long association with the Bast, an intimate a c quaintance
with the work which has been accomplished
in North Borneo, and the fact that, during my official
residence at Hong Kong, in connection with the British
North Borneo Company, it fell to my lot to report
home the death of Mr. Frank Hatton, may perhaps be
thought to give appropriateness to the few prefatory
words which I am glad to have the opportunity of
addressing to the readers of the latest addition to the
literature of biography and exploration.
This volume is an unpretentious record of useful
and interesting work, and at the same time a tribute
from a loving father to a devoted so n ; a tender in
memoriam to a young life, rich in promise, but suddenly
cut off by a sad mishap, ere youth had matured into
manhood, and when distinction had already been
achieved in the paths of science and research.
The straightforward, unaffected story which the
young man’s diaries tell, brings us face to face with
life and adventure in British North Borneo, until
lately as much a terra incognita as . some parts of
Central Africa. The island of Borneo was first brought
a 2