BOOKS.

xErrEL's VISIT TO THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO.*

So far as voyaging is concerned, these volumes contain an account of a visit to the Indian Archipelago, and a run through that still more romantic region of lovely seas and scenery. but wild men, which extends to the North-westward of New Holland. As long as Captain Koppel is on his own element he sustains the interest of the reader. Unexplored or rarely visited countries—coral-reef studded seas, where the lead is continually kept going, and a look- out-man watches for indications of a bank by signs on the water, so suddenly does the deep sea shoal—savage or semi-savage men, yet with a certain proficiency in nautical and even in social arts— attract the reader of this narrative. Captain Keppel visited Port Essington, to remove the garrison from that (as the result proved) unhealthy settlement; and he gives a striking and more favourable account of the natives than most travellers have enter- tained. He also called at Sydney, Van Diemen's Land, and Nor- folk Island ; and he presents slight but pleasant sketches of each place.

The matter of the voyage is that of the old explorer, combined in the more settled places with modern manners and ideas. The author is much beyond the old navigators. The straightforward frankness of an observing sailor has been cultivated by a taste for science and literature. Captain Keppel is a conchologist, a lover of poetry, and a philanthropist, though not exactly in the Exeter Hall fashion, besides possessing the acquirements necessary to his profession. He has had a wide experience of the external world, and he can illustrate his observations of nature by facts drawn from many regions.

The book does not wholly consist of exploring or surveying voyages. A portion of it is devoted to Sarawak, Labuan, and the intermediate places ; a larger portion to a discussion of the charges against Rajah Brooke, or rather a defence of the Prince of Sarawak. The notice of Labuan has this interest. The settlement was very badly chosen ; sickness and deaths followed occupation the Rajah himself narrowly escaping, and apparently owing his life to Cap- tain Keppers opportune arrival and a subsequent sea-voyage. The defence is a tedious and not very happy piece of writing. The Captain wants the training of an advocate; he is deficient in weight and closeness of argument, and indeed in a perception of the nature of proof. When we consider the fame and the actual capabilities of the island region which stretches from the Chinese Sea to the Coral Sea off New South Wales, its neglect is a problem of difficult solution. The celebrity of the Phillipine Islands under the old Spanish rule, and of the Spice Islands of the Dutch, was almost fabulous ; yet it falls short of the real beauty and natural richness of the Indian Archipelago. Since the days of Cook, the charm of beauty and of brilliant mystery has 'hung over the Papuan Archipelago. Yet in this age of enterprise, little or nothing has been done to develop the riches of the one region or to penetrate the other. South Sea traders have been the principal visitants and the only sojourners at the Papuan Archipelago ; and their reports are few, and too obviously coloured by their own ideas to be satisfactory. Of the Indian Archipelago it must be said, that Sir James Brooke is the only man who has endeavoured to realize the day-dreams of many, and thrown himself upon the wilderness and the wild man ; though the principality he has founded has been with a view to business and is not too distant from the emporium of Singapore. Still, what is Sarawak amongst so many islands, some of them the largest on the globe, and all so beautiful P Even within our own day, we have seen Swan River, South Australia, and New Zealand start into existence, while countries far richer, and far more attractive as regards the poetry of geography, remain as nature made them. The prestige of a flag—of national claims on the part of Spain and Holland, with the somewhat un- scrupulous jealousy of both countries—may have prevented enter- prise in the Indian Archipelago : the hidden dangers of the Coral Sea would stop those who merely looked to immediate profit from New Guinea and its neighbours • but it is strange that neither England nor America, on the part of Government or individuals, should have made greater efforts to render an account of the only region over which the halo of imagination yet lingers. Like most other navigators, Captain Keppel did not pause in his voyage through the Papuan region : but his passing glimpses are among the freshest pieces of description in the book. This scene almost carries one back to the first glimpse of the New World, when Columbus thought he had fallen upon the rivers of Para- dise, and some of his followers went in search of the fountain of perpetual youth.

* A Visit to the Indian Archipelago, in H. M. ship Meander. With portions of the Private Journal of Sir James Brooke, K.C.B. By Captain the Honourable Henry Keppel, R.N. With Illustrations by Oswald W. Bnerlay. In two volumes. Pub- lished by Bentley.

"At noon on 21st December, we entered Pitt's Straita,—a narrow chan- nel about forty-five miles in length, separating Batanta from Salawatty : these are two small islands, off the North-west coast of Papua or New Guinea.

"We had been for some days past working up against a strong breeze with a proportionate sea. The sudden change into perfectly smooth water was very enjoyable. The sea was deep blue, as was the serene sky overhead : instead of looking out to windward for squalls with rain, we now gazed pleasantly on a luxuriant jungle which mounted on either side far above our mast-head. Beautiful birds in endless variety added life and interest to the scene ; nor did it decrease as we proceeded. As is usual in narrow chan- nels and under high land, we had the winds baffling, coming off on either side in strong and sudden puffs, sometimes striking the ship aloft, without giving us the usual notice of such a visit by so much as a ripple on the sur- face of the water. The channel, too, was just sufficiently tortuous to pre- vent our seeing any distance before 1.18 • so that, as each point was rounded, some pleasing variation would present itself in the already beautiful scenery, such as one can never be tired of looking at. Occasionally, canoes came off, as the tide swept us along. The jungle was too dense for us to make out any habitations, but their locality was indicated by the appearance of that most useful of all trees the cocoa-nut, as well as by a break in the other- wise rock-bound coast, a patch of white sandy beach, on which there was not sufficient ripple to prevent the smallest boat from landing. Either fear or laziness prevented the natives from coming alongside in any numbers. I ob- tained two fine specimens of the black bird of Paradise, in exchange for an old musket. The rest of their cargoes were composed of fruits, bows and arrows, parrots, shells, spears, and tortoise-shell. The natives are well- proportioned, but ugly-looking savages, with a profusion of hair frizzed out in an extraordinary manner; which I have no doubt they thought very handsome, but which only impressed us with the idea of a dense harbour for filth and vermin.

"As there is no anchorage, it is desirable that a ship should get through Pitt's Straits in one tide ; which feat we just succeeded in accomplishing by sunset. On emerging from the straits, we found the wind still blowing fresh from the Westward, with a following swell and a strong Easterly set ; but, as our course now lay in that direction, before the fallowing morning we were many miles on our voyage, and thereby missed seeing a large portion of the Northern coast of New Guinea,---a country about which there appears to be more interesting mystery than any we had visited."

Leaving the coast of New Guinea when it trended to the South- ward, the MEeander sailed on, through a succession of islands beauti- ful in their ocean, their vegetation, their climate, and their forms— though a sojourn might dispel the enchantment—till she reached New Ireland. The natives of this isle have somewhat of the oddity and incongruity that distinguish Pat at home, but the New Ire- lenders seem more practical in the fishery.

"We were visited along the whole length of the coast by a constant suc- cession of canoes, with natives very similar to those of the Feejee Islands., Although they came alongside, none of them could be induced to come on board. They hada vast quantity of hair, frizzed out, and coloured white, black, or red.

"A man, having his hair carefully divided down the middle, would pre- sent one side covered with a jet black mixture, while the other half.would be of a bright red, or perhaps white. The men, five or six in number, be- longing to the same canoe, were generally coloured uniformly. Suppose a canoe with a black crew to have paddled up to one side of the ship, pre- sently, while your attention was occupied elsewhere they would shift round to the other aide ; but le ! now the crew was white.' It is not easy to believe that black is white, yet here it was so : one and the same crew were black on the port and white on the starboard side. Others with their hair cut short, and covered over with some dirty thick gluey substance, would paint a white ring round the head just above the eyes and ears, with a line under the chin. It was difficult to believe that the head was not confined in a close fitting skull-cap.

"The symmetry of their shape was in no way hidden by clothes, as paint was the only covering they condescended to wear.

"One and all were clamorous for barter : empty bottles, buttons, and bits of iron hoop, were most in demand. Clothes, or the materials for making them were treated with great contempt. Their canoes were carved out of one tree, and generally from thirty to fifty feet in length : they have out- riggers, 'to give them stability, which were very inconvenient for coming alongside.

"We were puzzled at one time to make out the use of a curiously formed piece of wood, about four feet long and in shape very like a whale-at, but solid : from a hole in the centre descended a strong cord of twisted rattan, forming a running noose, like a hangman's knot. The mystery was solved shortly after. As I was leaning out of the cabin-windows, when there was just sufficient wind to give the ship steerage-way, I observed a shark swim- ming leisurely along some twenty fathoms below the surface. The natives from their canoes observed the monster about the same time. In a few minutes several of these oddly shaped buoys were dropped into the water. Some of our people fancy they saw them sprinkle a powder in a sort of magic circle round the buoys ; I did not observe them use any bait : what charm they used, if any, we did not ascertain ; but certain it is that the shark shortly after rose, and was fool enough to shove his head into the fatal noose, when he was as completely hanged in his own element as ever rogue was from the gallows-tree.

"The buoyancy of the float prevented his diving with it. Having flou- rished his tail about for twenty minutes, he was drawn up by his head on a level with the water, and there belaboured with the heavy end of their paddles until he seemed satisfied that further resistance was useless : they then tumbled him bodily into the canoe, and hurried on shore amidst the yelling of the whole flotilla; where, no doubt, he underwent the further pro- cess of dissection.

*

"On the 8th we again crossed over to the New Ireland coast, and then stood to the Southward, between that and New Britain ; the scenery of which was of surpassing beauty. There were extensive green slopes, which from a distance appeared to have been cleared by cultivation ; but we ascer- tained that such was not the case.

"We now looked out for a harbour near the Southern end of New Ire- land, (discovered by and named after Captain Carteret,) where fresh water was to be obtained : it is a place occasionally visited by English and Ame- rican whalers ; as was proved by a salutation which met our ears while we were standing in for the shore. What ship that ' shouted a black savage, one of a party in a canoe ; ' Tobac got ? '—' God dam !'—' Rum got ? Give rope !' While delivering himself of these lessons in English. and American, and without waiting for an invitation, he sprang into the main chains, and thence on the quarter-deck. "The manners of these savages were not at all improved by their inter- course with more civilized nations."

The following is the only exhibition of the natives at home. Their grounds show an advance over most savages, whether Austra- lian, African, or Red Indians. The name of the island is Coco.

"While the ship was watering we formed a party, and, under guidance of a savage who spoke and understood a little English, started off to visit one of their villages. "Having pulled along the beach to the Northward for a short distance, outside the harbour, we landed opposite some fishing-huts ; and, striking into the forest, followed a jungle-path for about a mile : this brought us to a collection of perhaps two hundred huts; they scarcely, however, deserved that name, each dwelling being nothing more than a circular hole, three feet deep, over which a thatch was thrown, and into which we were obliged to creep on all fours. The women were certainly not shy ; both sexes were

dressed' alike in a small apron made from the bark of a tree. Furniture they had none; and little to tempt us to prolong our visit ; while myriads of ravenous mosquitos made the usual attack on the pale-skins. "Not seeing any gardens, and knowing the natives to have supplied the ship well with vegetables, we made them to understand our curiosity on the subject : they explained that their cultivated ground was further off, and offered to show us the way. They led us by a pleasant walk through the jungle ; we met on our way- several detached parties of men, women, and children, carrying on their heads to the village the daily supply of vege- tables, consisting of taps, yams cassava root, and plantains. Hall an hour brought us to the banks of a broad and rapid stream, tumbling and roaring over rocks and large stones. The water through which we had to wade was about three feet deep. On the opposite side were the gardens. We were astonished, not only at the neatness and pretty appearance of the ground, but at the order that prevailed where no one appeared to rule. Each section of the village seemed to have its allotted portion. Parties arrived, cut and

carried their vegetables away in i perfect quiet. Our party roamed about in twos and threes, while the savages were n tens and twenties : this, how- ever, was scarcely prudent, as they might, had they been in the humour, have easily disposed of the white men. All accounts describe the natives about Carteret Harbour as not only grasping and avaricious but treacherous and cunning cannibals. One man, who spoke a little English, denied to me that they ever ate men: he, however, admitted that when they killed an enemy they occasionally eat the palm of his band, or some such dainty bit. We got away from these dreadful characters without having been molested in any way ; although on the afternoon previous to our visit to the village one of the officers had found it necessary to protect himself from robbery in a summary manner. He had been shooting, but had discharged his gun just before getting into a canoe with two natives, who offered to convey him on board. An attempt was made by them to take forcible possession of his watch; but, being a very powerful young man, he threw one of the savages into the water, and, standing over the other prepared to break his head with the butt-end of his gun, compelled him to paddle alongside."

More such pictures might be quoted, as well from the Indian as the Papuan Archipelago, and circumstances will give an interest to the account of Norfolk Island. The author, too, introduces pictures from other lands, and touches lightly but pictorially on his to and fro voyages.