316 



NATURE 



[August 2, 1888 



their midst, and exploding among them a tin case con- 

 taining twenty-five pounds of gunpowder. One would 

 think that if their hostility had not been excited by these 

 gentle tactics, they could have borne also with equanimity 

 the appropriating of a few cocoanuts. 



The second part into which this record of exploration 

 divides itself, is really little more than the log of a trading 

 cruise. Except the claim to the differentiation of a few 

 insignificant islands, no piece of exploration worthy of the 

 name abides in the recollection after laying down the 

 volume. Macluer Inlet has long been a rendezvous for 

 trading vessels, and Mr. Strachan's time seems to have 

 been chiefly devoted to collecting nutmegs, massoi bark, 

 tortoise- and pearl-shell from the natives. He reached 

 the top of the Gulf, and he lays evidently great store by 

 another geographical surmise related in the following 

 words : — 



" In three days we arrived at the head of the Gulf and 

 anchored opposite what afterwards proved to be an 

 island. Here two channels, one to the north and the 

 other to the south, debouch into the inlet. The latter we 

 entered and followed until we reached a bend, at a 

 distance of not more than three miles from Gleevink 

 [Geelvink] Bay, where we anchored. 



" Here the channel is between two and three miles in 

 width, and the depth of water seven fathoms. My charts 

 showed the opposite shore to be entirely unsurveyed and 

 faced by many islands ; the inhabitants of which I had 

 reason to believe were hostile. 



" These considerations decided me to return, although 

 well convinced that by continuing another two or three 

 miles I should enter the broad waters of Gleevink 

 [Geelvink] Bay." , 



We should have felt more confidence in this conviction, 

 if the author had given the data on which he grounds his 

 surmise, if only to allay our suspicions that this is not a 

 happier guess than that which flashed on him at the 

 mouth of the Mia Kasa River. He makes no reference to 

 the explorations in 1873, in the same region, of Dr. Meyer, 

 who, entering the Wapari River on the eastern side, in 

 Geelvink Bay, and ascending mountains over 1200 feet in 

 height, descended the western slope till he struck the 

 Jakati river by which he reached the shores of Macluer 

 Inlet — a route which must have led him across the wide 

 channel supposed by Mr. Strachan to exist, but of which 

 no mention is made by Dr. Meyer. Is Mr. Strachan 

 quite sure about his position — especially the longitude of 

 his turning point ? 



In the selection of his crews Mr. Strachan was most un- 

 fortunate. They appear to have been very typical beach- 

 combers, against whom he brings charges of threaten- 

 ing the natives, and of wantonly shooting their dogs — 

 deeds which are very characteristic of that baneful type 

 of humanity. 



In his natural history determinations Mr. Strachan is 

 very often considerably afield ; but he makes several 

 interesting observations on the customs of the people. 

 One or two illustrations of the natives are given, which 

 appear to be faithful representations of the tribes of the 

 <hlta. 



The book, we regret to say, does not leave a very satis- 

 factory impression on the reader ; there are numerous 

 inaccuracies and too many discrepancies between the 

 text and the maps ; while the goody-goodyism and 



buccaneering brag with which it is interlarded are insuf- 

 ferably nauseous, with the result that the reader loses 

 what confidence he might otherwise have had in state- 

 ments of the author that may be quite accurate. 



In noticing this volume we cannot omit to draw atten- 

 tion to a subject much more serious than its poverty of fare. 

 Mr. Strachan tells us he was denounced in New South 

 Wales as a " red-handed murderer, who had tramped 

 through New Guinea knee-deep in blood." The accusa- 

 tions against him were the outcome of the " outrageous 

 lying " of one of his own party, which he rebutted by a 

 letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who 

 caused his (Mr. Strachan's) letter to be published in Sydney 

 for general information. We may probably accept the 

 statements made against himself in this volume, under 

 his own hand, as at least not "outrageous lying." Mr. 

 Strachan knew fully the conditions under which he 

 and his party had permission to cruise in the waters of 

 the Protectorate or of the Dutch Crown. No spirits, 

 firearms, gunpowder, dynamite, or any explosives can be 

 landed under any circumstances, so as to be given or sold 

 to the natives ; no acquisition of land on any account is 

 permitted ; and above all a just treatment of the natives 

 is a si?ie qua non, since it was the overacts of her 

 subjects that compelled Her Majesty to take under her 

 gracious Protection the inhabitants of that portion of 

 Papua, now generally known as British New Guinea, and 

 for which the name of Torresia has been suggested. On 

 p. 80 is recorded this little episode : " The men who were 

 so fortunate as to possess muskets were very eager to 

 obtain ammunition ; but this the law distinctly forbids 

 the white man either to give or to sell to the natives under 



a penalty of three months imprisonment Being 



anxious to accommodate those whose kindness to me had 

 been so uniform, I was placed on the horns of a dilemma, 

 but having confidence in their integrity, and being 

 anxious to serve them while keeping within the strict 

 letter of the law [! ! !] . . I at last decided to place the 

 required ammunition on my cabin table. Having done 

 this I lit my pipe, and went on deck to give some orders 

 to my officers. On my return the natives had all left my 

 cabin. ... I missed a twenty-eight pound bag of No. 4 

 shot, half-a-dozen half-pound flasks of powder, and a box 

 of caps." This is not the only occasion, recorded in his 

 book, on which he distributed warlike material. In 

 several places he confesses to having dispensed gin to 

 the natives, and presented it as gifts to chiefs. The edict 

 as to the purchase of land was also disregarded in the 

 same open way. He purchased Strachan Island, con- 

 taining [only] seven hundred and fifty square miles, by a 

 very simple transaction. " '' Are you willing that I come 

 and possess this island?'. . . .They all signified 

 their willingness. My trade was opened and parcelled 

 out to each chief according to the number of people in 

 his tribe. I told them the name was Strachan Island, 

 and by this name the natives know the island at present.'' 

 The latter amazing statement we may take for what it is 

 worth ; but it would have been very instructive to have had 

 details of the items of the trade paid for this little estate. 

 The document would probably have formed a companion 

 to the valuable inventory given in the late Sir Peter 

 Scratchley's journals of the price paid by certain Australian 

 pioneers for a tract of land the size of a large English 



