Ludvig Verner Helms (April 14, 1825 – July 26, 1918) was an adventurer, merchant, emissary, and author associated with the Far East, especially the Borneo Company in Sarawak. As a manager for the Borneo Company, Helms developed and expanded trade for Sarawak in the country's infancy. Helms traveled extensively and encountered several notable personalities including Mads Lange, the Kings of Cambodia and Siam, the White Rajahs of Sarawak, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Brigham Young. Helms wrote and illustrated an account of his adventures in 1882 titled Pioneering in the Far East and Journeys to California in 1849 and to the White Sea in 1878, providing firsthand accounts of Bali, California, Cambodia, Thailand, Sarawak, Japan, the White Sea, and their leaders during periods of significant historical interest. Early life Ludvig Verner Helms was born in Varde, Denmark, on April 14, 1825, the son of Rudolph Helms and his second wife Mathilde Augusta Fridsch. Rudolph Helms was an Apoteker (Pharmacist) in Varde. Helms was the thirteenth of sixteen children. Southeast Asia (1847 - 1872) In 1846 Helms left for Bali, sailing via the Cape and Singapore. He spent the next 26 years in Southeast Asia working as a merchant or trader. During this period he would visit Bali, Cambodia, Siam, China, Japan, Australia, and California. Bali Helms sailed from Hamburg, Germany, on the Brig Johanna Caesar on September 15, 1846, with the intention of finding and introducing himself to his fellow countryman Mads Lange, who was reputed to have established a successful merchant business on the island of Bali. He had never met or corresponded with Lange, but had letters of introduction. His ship stopped in Cape Town, South Africa, in November 1846, where he spent several weeks with friends, and then continued to Singapore on December 16, 1846, where he arrived on February 25, 1847. In Singapore he was told the Bali natives were unfriendly and advised against proceeding. However he decided to continue, and found a ship that was willing to drop him off at Bali. He arrived in the middle of the night and, communicating only by repeating Lange's name, was led by natives to Lange's residence, where he was welcomed. Helms spent the next two years working for Lange in his growing trade business near Kuta, which included rice, spices, and animal stock, as well as the importing of the Chinese Kepeng, the currency used in Bali. His