PEEFACE. V 



ceived mucli voluntary help, and I was often indebted to 

 the services of Mr. Samuel Redman and Mr. Albert Rowe. 

 My right-hand man was Mr. AYilliam Isabell who had been 

 sent to the ship as Leading-Stoker to take charge of the 

 condenser. Without his aid in the packing aAvay of my 

 collections and his cheerful readiness to assist me in ever}' 

 wav throug-hout the commission, I should have broken down 

 long bef >re I did. To his careful attendance during mv 

 illness I owe my life. 



With reference to tlie different sections of this work, I 

 sliould remark that the anthropological notes are for the 

 most part now published for the first time. The transla- 

 tion of Galleso'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. Boulenser. 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 collect- 

 ing 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 ]\luseum. 

 During the commission I profited greatly by Lieut. Malan's 

 })revious 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 meteor- 

 ology of the group. The enumeration of the many disin- 

 terested services I liave received would carry me far beyond 

 the limits of a preface. Of all of them I shall retain a last- 

 ing remembrance. 



HENRY BROUGHAM GUPPY. 



17 Woodlane, Falmouth. 



