]46 Professor A. a Hacldon [May 23, 



latter into any semblance of their former selves ; nor should surprise 

 be felt if mistakes are occasionally made in the attempt. 



A similar experience occurs to those who study an isolated people 

 which is rapidly becoming modified and is dying out at the same time. 

 Some facts collected from legend and myth precisely resemble 

 tbe present habits of the natives ; others have only lately fallen into 

 desuetude. Lastly, some customs are so dissimilar from anything in 

 our own country, that it is difficult to thoroughly understand them 

 under favourable circumstances ; but when these customs are no 

 longer practised, and but imperfectly remembered, when they have 

 to be described through the unsatisfactory medium of Jargon English, 

 and when one bears in mind the great difference in the mental concep- 

 tions of narrator and listener, what wonder is there that disconnected 

 narratives are recorded, or that errors creep in ? 



Happy is that traveller who has the opiDortunity of studying exist- 

 ing habits. It was my lot to recover recently lost or fast dying-out 

 customs ; our archa3ologists graj)ple with the problems of the past ; 

 it is the object of all to assist towards a complete History of 

 Man. 



Torres Straits, as you are aware, separate New Guinea, the 

 largest island in the world, from Australia, the smallest continent. 

 Although the Straits are eighty miles wide in their narrowest part, 

 yet, owing to the presence of islands and of numerous and often 

 extensive coral reefs, there is only one channel suitable for ocean- 

 going steamers, and that averages a mile in width, and in places is 

 much less. 



The islands in Torres Straits may be divided into three geological 

 groups by the lines of longitude 142^ 48' E. and 143' 30' E. 



The islands to the west are composed of old igneous rocks, and 

 are surrounded by fringing reefs. These islands may in fact be 

 regarded as disconnected portions of Northern Queensland. They 

 are fertile, but there is no particularly luxuriant vegetation ; doubt- 

 less irrigation and cultivation would greatly improve their pro- 

 ductiveness. 



The central group of islands is composed of low coral islets 

 formed by wind and wave action ; the soil is poor, and supports only 

 a scrubby vegetation. Coco-palms grow on some of the islands, and 

 there are occasional mangrove swamps. 



The eastern islands, Uga, Erub, and the Murray Islands, are of 

 volcanic origin, and are also fringed with coral reefs. In these the 

 soil is rich and vegetation luxuriant, Uga and a great part of Mer 

 being simply large gardens of coco-palms, bananas, and yams. 



It is interesting to find that the inhabitants of the volcanic islands 

 form one tribe, which I term the Eastern Tribe ; the Western Tribe 

 occupying all the remaining islands. The customs of the two tribes 

 are different and their languages distinct, so much so that there are 

 only a few words in common, and these are mainly trade words. 

 Four subdivisions of the Western Tribe can be distinguished, tbe 



