Aboriginal settlement a few miles from Somerset, pearl fisheries of Torres Straits Is., life of natives, physical description, shelters, hunting and fishing gear.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

Excerpt from New Guinea Polynesia: Discoveries Surveys in New Guinea and the D'entrecasteaux Islands; A Cruise in Polynesia and Visits to the Pearl-Shelling Stations in Torres Straits of H. M. S. Basilisk None of the navigators who did good service in the South Seas and on other parts of the New Guinea coast, neared the coast-line laid down by the Basilisk within these bounds, a fact as singular as it is inter esting. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

The South Seas, as this region used to be called, conjured up images of adventure, belles and savages, romance and fabulous fortunes, but the long voyages of discovery and exploration of the vast Pacific Ocean were really an exercise in amazing logistics, navigation, hard grit, shipwreck and pure luck. The motivations were scientific and geographic, but at the same time nationalistic and materialistic. A series on global exploration and discovery would not be complete without this book by Quanchi and Robson. It is ambitious and informative and includes the familiar names of Laperouse, Bougainville, Cook and Dampier, as well as the intriguing stories of the Bounty Mutiny, scurvy, and the mysterious Northwest Passage, Terra Australis Ignotia and Davis Land. There are entries on first contacts, ships, navigational instruments, mapping, and botany. The scene is carefully set in the introduction, the chronology spans several centuries, and the extensive bibliography offers a guide to further reading. There are more than just dry facts in this book. It has a whiff of salt air, the clash of empires, cross-cultural beach encounters and personal adventure.

The first volume compiles the results of an ethnographical research expedition in the Torres Strait, New Guinea, and Borneo.