On the Equator — A Reader’s Guide

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In Category - Geography

Authors: De Windt, Harry, 1856-1933 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2008 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Java (Indonesia) -- Description and travel; Sarawak (Malaysia) -- Description and travel Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 33,685

Reading time 147 min

Text sections 4

On the Equator — A Reader’s Guide can be approached with a clearer sense of reading commitment from its source measurements: 33,685 words, 2 hr 27 min estimated reading time, and 4 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 28.1 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Java (Indonesia) -- Description and travel,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #27503

Harry de Windt's 1880 travelogue from London to Sarawak and Java blends brisk narration with ethnographic detail, shifting from colonial club life to head-feast ceremonies and jungle hunts, all in a plain, observant voice.

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

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Our Plan of Travel Outfitters--Journey to Marseilles-- Departure--"The Inevitable"--Journey Out--Singapore-- Leave for Kuching--The _Aline_--"Talang-Talang"--The Sarawak River--Kuching--The Bazaar, &c.--Comfortable Quarters 9

Territory of Sarawak--History of the Country--Raja Brooke and Muda Hasim--Rebellions in Sarawak--Brooke proclaimed Raja--Chinese Insurrection--Military and Naval Establishment--Exports--Progress of Sarawak--Death of Sir James Brooke 24

Kuching--Society--The Club--Amusements--The _Sarawak Gazette_--The Bazaar--Health of Kuching--Life in Kuching--Rats--Preparations for Journey to the Matang Mountain 36

Travel in Borneo--Travelling Boats--Leave for Matang-- Our Crew--Alligators--Mosquitoes--Matang Bungalow--The Garden--Ascend the Mountain--The Waterfall--A Nasty Jump--View from the Summit--Snakes--Return to Kuching 44

The Rejang Residency--Wild Tribes of the Interior--Start for Rejang--Timber Ships--Sibu--Attack by Katibus--A Dinner Party--The Fireship--Kanowit--"Jok"--Kanowits' Dwellings--Human Heads--"Bones" and "Massa Johnson" 58

Leave Kanowit--Scenery--War Canoes--Arrive at Kapit-- Wild Tribes--Kayan Burials--Head Feast--Lat--His Family--Tattooing--The Sumpitan--Kayan and Dyak War Dances--The Kok-Goo--The Bock Expedition to Central Borneo--Cannibalism--Return to Kuching 75

Sport in Borneo--The Orang-Utan--His Habits--Start for Sadong--A Rough Journey--Sadong--The Fort and Village--L. Capsized--The Mines--Our Cook--The Abang--Start for Mias Ground--Our Hunt for Orang--Lost in the Forest--Leave for Sadong--An Uncomfortable Night--Small-Pox--Manangs--A Dyak Don Juan--Return to Kuching 93

Preparations for Departure--Leave Sarawak--A Squall--A Dutch Dinner--Batavia--Weltereoden--Life in Java-- Buitenzorg--Koerapan--Dutch Soldiers--A Review--Modes of Execution in the Archipelago--The World-Wide Circus--Return to Singapore--Leave for Europe--Gibraltar 114

Cadiz Custom-House Officers--Spanish Courtship-- Marketplace--Leave for Seville--Jerez de la Frontera-- Seville--Pilate's House--Las Delicias--Triana--Madrid-- Bull Fighting--"Espadas"--A Bull Fight--Frascuelo-- Cruelty to Horses--Leave for Paris--A Stormy Passage-- Home Again--Adieu 128

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.

Thanks to the small experience gained from a former voyage to these parts we successfully resisted the efforts of our outfitters to supply us with, in addition to what was really necessary, almost every useless thing ever heard of, from a cholera-belt to a velvet smoking suit. We were, however, resolved to take nothing more than was absolutely necessary, as on a journey of this kind nothing is more embarrassing than a large amount of luggage. A small but complete outfit was therefore got together, which was easily carried in one small overland trunk, one small portmanteau for cabin use on board ship, and a gun-case each. This we afterwards found ample to contain all the necessaries required.

On the evening, then, of the 13th of April, we stood on the platform of the Charing Cross Station, awaiting the departure of the mail train for Dover, and--our luggage duly registered for Paris--we ensconced ourselves in a smoking-carriage, and lit up the fragrant weed, not sorry that we were really off at last.

Our journey to Paris was pleasant enough--a quick run to Dover, a smooth moonlit passage to Calais, a sound sleep in a comfortable _coupé lit_, and we awoke to find Paris around us, white and cheerful in the bright spring sunshine. Putting up at Meurice's Hotel, three days were enjoyably spent here, and on the 17th we left for Marseilles, which was reached at 6.30 a.m. on the 18th, after a tedious journey of twenty hours. We at once drove to the ship, on alighting at the railway station, not forgetting to purchase on our way through the town those essentials on a long sea voyage, a couple of cane easy-chairs.

On arrival at the quay we found active preparations for departure going on, as the ship was to sail at 10 o'clock a.m.; and, being Sunday, she was thronged with holiday-makers, who had come to see her off. Having got on board, we dived below and installed ourselves in a comfortable and roomy cabin (which we were lucky enough to get to ourselves the entire voyage), and returned on deck to watch the busy scene. The hubbub and the noise were deafening, for the squeakings of some sixty or seventy pigs, which were being hoisted on board a vessel alongside bound for Barcelona, added to the din, and combined to make what the French would call "_un vacarme infernal_."

By 9.30, however, decks were cleared of all but passengers, and at 10 precisely hawsers were cast off, and we steamed out of harbour.

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Harry de Windt opens On the Equator with a precise date—13 April 1880—and a companion he calls only "L.," establishing a first-person travel narrative that moves quickly from London outfitters to the Sarawak River. The early chapters alternate between logistical details (the steamer Aline, the Kuching bazaar) and wry asides about "the inevitable" discomforts of sea travel. De Windt’s prose is brisk and unadorned, rarely pausing for reflection; he reports what he sees with a journalist’s economy. Yet the book’s pace changes markedly when he reaches the interior, where ethnographic set-pieces—such as a Kayan head feast or a Poonan longhouse visit—expand into longer, more immersive passages. This shift from travelogue to field report gives the work a dual character: part colonial itinerary, part amateur anthropology.

A Plain, Observant Voice

De Windt’s narrative voice is consistently matter-of-fact, even when describing extraordinary scenes. He notes that a Poonan dwelling was “on its last legs in point of repair” and that the inhabitants were “endeavouring to sleep off the evil effects of their potations” after a head feast. The tone is detached but not cold; he records details—the straw cigar fixed in a corpse’s mouth, the rice stuck in a trophy head—without moralising. This restraint gives the observations a documentary quality. At the same time, de Windt occasionally inserts a dry humour: the house “appeared likely shortly to follow the example” of its rotting posts. The voice remains consistent throughout, whether he is describing a Dutch dinner in Batavia or a bullfight in Madrid, though the later chapters on Spain feel more hurried, as if the author is eager to conclude.

Shifts in Pace: From Itinerary to Ethnography

The book’s structure creates a noticeable change in tempo. The opening chapters move rapidly through departure, Singapore, and arrival in Kuching, with short paragraphs and frequent topic shifts. Once de Windt reaches the Rejang River, however, the narrative slows. Descriptions of the journey to Kapit, the Poonan longhouse, and the head feast occupy several pages, with extended quoted speech from a local informant. The prose becomes more detailed and less compressed. Later, the Borneo hunting chapters (orang-utan in the Sadong district) revert to a quicker pace, punctuated by mishaps such as capsizing and getting lost. The final chapters on Java and Spain feel almost like an afterthought, compressing weeks into a few pages. This uneven pacing suggests that de Windt’s primary interest lay in the Bornean interior; the rest serves as framing.

Recurring Details and Their Effect

Certain motifs recur across the excerpts, reinforcing the book’s texture. Rats appear in Kuching; mosquitoes plague the Matang journey; alligators are mentioned in passing. These small, physical irritants ground the narrative in bodily experience. More striking is the repeated attention to head-taking and its rituals: the head feast at Kapit, the smoked heads with rice in their mouths, the caution to the dead to “follow the road” branching into three paths. De Windt does not sensationalise these details; he presents them as facts, often via local testimony. The effect is cumulative: the reader grows accustomed to a world where death and celebration intertwine. The author’s own position remains that of an observer, never a participant, which keeps the focus on what he saw rather than how he felt.

Readers should note that On the Equator is not a continuous narrative but a series of set-pieces, some vivid, others perfunctory. The strongest passages are those where de Windt lets the scene unfold without hurry—the head feast, the orang-utan hunt, the Poonan longhouse. The later chapters on Spain feel tacked on, perhaps to round out the journey. For the best experience, focus on the Borneo sections (chapters 1–7) and treat the rest as a coda. The book rewards attention to small, concrete details: the way a Dyak house leans, the taste of arrack, the colour of a smoked head.

I remember finishing On the Equator and lingering on its quiet moments—the way de Windt noticed a head-feast's strange gravity without flinching. That same unhurried, almost wondering attention came back to me later, like a half-remembered scent, when I picked up Where the strange trails go down — Context and Discussion. It felt less like reading than like sitting still while someone's old map unfolded gently into dusk.