The Salomon Islands And Their Natives

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from The Solomon Islands and Their Natives When, in the beginning of 1881, H. M. S. "Lark" was being prepared for her commission as a surveying ship in the Western Pacific, I was selected by Sir John Watt Reid, the Medical Director-General of the Navy, to be appointed as Surgeon. For this selection I was also in some measure indebted to the late Sir Frederick Evans, then Hydrographer, who was desirous that a person possessing tastes for natural history should be chosen. I subsequently received some instructions from Dr. Gunther, Keeper of Zoology in the British Museum, to whom I may take this opportunity of expressing my sincere thanks for the encouragement he gave to me during the commission. Unfortunately there were no public funds from which I could be assisted; and, as a matter of fact, I may state that all expenses had to come out of my pay as a naval surgeon. At the close of the commission I received, mainly through the influence of Dr. Gunther, a promise of a grant of 150 from the Royal Society of London for the exploration of the interior of the large island of Guadaleanar; but a very serious illness prevented me from carrying out my intention, and thus an expedition, which I had looked forward to as a fitting completion of my work in these islands, was never undertaken. However, mt disappointment was in some measure diminished on my arrival in England, after being invalided, by the important results arising from the examination by Dr. John Murray, Director of the Challenger Commission, of that portion of my geological collection which threw light on the formation of coral reefs, and which exhibited the deep-sea deposits of the Challenger Expedition as rocks composing islands in the Solomon Group. To Dr. Murray I am indebted for much kindness in many ways, and I gladly take this opportunity of expressing my sincerest thanks. 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."

This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

With reference to the different sections of this work, I should remark that the anthropological notes are for the most part now published for the first time. The translation of Gallego's Journal and the historical sketch of the re-discovery of the group will, I hope, have a general as well as a special interest. In my natural history notes it will be seen that I am greatly indebted to the papers on my collections of shells and reptiles by Mr. Edgar Smith and Mr. G. A. Boulenger. For the identification of the greater part of my botanical collection, I am indebted to the courtesy of the officials at Kew and particularly to that of Prof. Oliver. I take this opportunity of acknowledging the kind assistance I received at Melbourne from Baron Ferd. von Mueller. My inexperience in botanical collecting considerably diminished the value of my collections, which have further suffered from the fact that I have been unable after repeated application to learn anything of a collection of ferns that I presented to the British Museum. During the commission I profited greatly by Lieut. Malan's previous experiences of the Pacific Islands. To Lieut. Leeper I am greatly indebted, as shown in the chapters on the vocabulary of Bougainville Straits and on the meteorology of the group.