Chapter VI—From Torres Strait to Hong-kong. 
HE contrast which, from an historical point of view, may be established between 
the regions situated east and west of Torres Strait is one of the most 
remarkable to be found on the surface of our globe. While the inhabitants 
of the numerous island-groups scattered over the wide expanse of the Pacific 
Ocean have only recently, we might almost say in our days, been brought 
into contact with the more advanced branches of the human family, the populations of the 
Indian Archipelago have been for ages under the influence of a civilisation which dates at 
least as far back as the earliest written records. Many centuries before the first European 
ship rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the Arab, the Persian, the Hindu, the Malay, and the 
Chinese had shared between them this the fairest and most favoured region of the earth. At 
a later period the great seafaring nations of the West came, each in its turn, to claim a 
portion of the riches which Nature and the industry of man had accumulated in these 
latitudes of never-ending summer. At the present day the Portuguese, who were first in 
the field, possess only a few remnants of their former conquests. The Spaniards still own 
the Philippines, but incessant civil broils have deprived them of any opportunity of developing 
the immense resources of these beautiful islands. The French, defeated by their ancient 
rivals the English in their gallant struggle for the possession of Hindostan, are laying the 
foundations of a new dominion in the delta of the Cambodia River. More to be envied 
than all the rest, the Dutch reign supreme from the Strait of Malacca to the shores of Papua, 
and their unostentatious rule almost makes the world forget that this nation, whose 
enterprise reclaimed Holland from the mud-banks of the Rhine, owns an empire which 
extends from east to west a distance of over 2000 miles, and embraces, besides the famous 
spice-islands, the greater part of Borneo and Sumatra. 
It was therefore with more than ordinary interest that we commenced our cruise 
through the seas westward of Torres Strait. Noon of the 8th September found H.M.S. 
“ Challenger ” off Cape York, whence her course was altered for the Prince of Wales Channel, 
o 
