74 Richard Cull, Esq., on the 



valuable contributions have been made to Ethnology. The 

 survey of Torres' Straits was important in a commercial and 

 maritime point of view. The Ethnology of this district, in- 

 cluding both sides of the Straits, Timor, &c, is most impor- 

 tant in relation to the great questions of the route of migra- 

 tion of the Malays to people the islands of the Pacific, and 

 that of the black race (Papuans'?) to people N. Australia. 

 Materials are now fast collecting, which will, it is hoped, ere 

 long enable us to form some connected view of the Ethnology 

 of this region. 



" Steene Bille's Bericht der Reise der Galathea um die 

 Welt." 



This book is an account of a voyage of discovery round 

 the world of the Galathea, a Danish corvette, commanded by 

 Captain Bille. 



The great object of the expedition was to obtain more 

 accurate and positive knowledge of the Nicobar Islands, a 

 Danish colony in the Bay of Bengal, with a view to that 

 Government's decision as to the expediency of retaining the 

 colony. The Galathea proceeded by the Cape of Good Hope 

 to Madras, Calcutta, and these islands. Thence she passed 

 through the Straits of Malacca, to Batavia, the Philippines, 

 China, the South Sea Islands, and home by Cape Horn. 



The Danish edition is in three volumes, the German, by 

 omission of an appendix and other curtailing, is compressed 

 into two volumes. I have only seen the German edition. 

 The voyage occupied two years, from 1845 to 1847, and the 

 delay of publication was caused by the political events which 

 have so much agitated Europe for the last four years. The 

 chief value to us is the very complete account of the Ethno- 

 logy of the Nicobar Islands. The appendix contains voca- 

 bularies of the Nicobar and Negrito languages, which I regret 

 are not in the German edition, and the scientific (ethnological) 

 part has evidently been abridged also. This I regret ; for 

 while German is generally read, we find but few who read 

 Danish. 



We are indebted to another of our fellows, Dr Daniell, for 

 gathering important details of the Ethnology of Western 

 Africa. Dr Daniell has resided for several years on the 



