AMONG THE BOOKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1951, 11 April 1889, Page 30

AMONG THE BOOKS.

LADY BRASSEI'S LAST NOVEL. THE SUNBEAM IN MANY SEAS. These pages will be very widely read, for . Lady Brassey's name had become a household word in every English-speaking country. When the news came ot that solemn burial in the lonely seas of the South Pacific, it was universally felt that the end was strikingly dramatic. For a touching' record of these last days we may quote Lord Brassey's own words, which appear in the introduction to this volume, in the form of a letter addressed to his children. ,THB WAVING COCOANUTS AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA. "The last days of comparative ease in your mother's life," he says, " was spent at Darnley Island. You remember the scene : the English missionaries, the native teacher with his^ congregation assembled around him, the "waving cocoanuts, the picturesque huts on the beach, the deep blue sea, the glorious sunshine, the beauty, and the peace. It was a combination after your mother's heart, which she greatly enjoyed, resting under the trees, fanned by the refreshing trade wind." THE LAST DAY OF THE LAST VOYAGE. Lord Brassey gives a touching account of the last moments of his wife : — " She set out on her last journey," he says, "full of hope and enterprise. In India, in Borneo, in Australia, she was resolved to leave no place unvisited which could by any possibility be reached. . . • The enlargement of our programme of journeys within the tropics threw a heavy strain on her constitution.

Eangoon arid .Borneo told J upon her. She did not become really ill until the day after leaving Borneo, when she was attacked by the malarial fever which infests the river up which she had travelled to the famous birds' nest caves. On leaving Brisbane we found ourselves oii'ce more in the tropics. Enfeebled by an attack of bronchitis, caught at Brisbane, your mother was again seized by malarial fever. On the northern coast of Australia such fevers are prevalent. HBB DEATH BED. " Your dear mother died on the morning of September 14, 1887, and her remains were committed to the deep at sunset on the same day (lat. 15deg 50min S., long. llOdeg 35min E.). Every member of the ship's company was present to pay the last tribute of love and respect on that sad occasion. When in reply to her touching inquiry, ' Is it quite hopeless?' the answer gave no encouragement to hope, you will not forget the tenderness, the unfaltering fortitude, with which she bestowed her blessing, and then proceeded, until articulation was denied, to distribute to each some token of her tender love. As she lay back on her pillow, a veil of white lace thrown round her head, her eyes so bright, her smiles so loving, not a murmur from her lips nor a shadow of unrest on her serene countenance, the peculiar sweetness of her expression seemed a foretaste of the peace of heaven." TEIBUTES FEOM BACKWOODS AND LONELY SHEEP STATIONS. Lord Brassey goes on to throw an interesting side-light on his wife's popularity as a writer of books. "It was won," he says, 11 by means the simplest, the purest, and most natural which san be conceived. Not a single unkind or ungenerous thought is to be found in any book of hers. The instruction and knowledge conveyed, if not profound, are useful and interesting to readers of all classes. They were read with pleasure by Prince Bismarck as he smoked his evening pipe, as well as by girls at school. Letters of acknowledgment used to reach your mother from the bedside of the aged and the sick, from the prairies of America, the backwoods of Canada, and the lonely sheepstations' of Australia. Those grateful letters were the most valued which were received from the cottages of the poor. As George Herbert sings : Scorn no man's love, though of a mean degree : Love is a present for a mighty king." THE SUNBEAM IN MANY SEAS. We may now leave this portion of the book, which is necessarily mournful, and pass to the delightfully fresh and lively narrative of the many months of travel in India, Borneo, and Australia, which is distinguished by much of the old charm which made " The Voyage of the Sunbeam" a classic. Much of the ground which is covered has been traversed by many travellers and described by many pens, but fresh travellers throw fresh light upon these far-off countries, of which we are never tired of reading. And it must always be remembered that the word " Sunbeam " was an " Open Sesame I " in every navigable part of the globe. Few travellers ever made such royal progresses as the Brasseys, not even kings and princes. Before giving a few extracts from the " Diary" we must say a word about the very remarkable monotone plates by Nister, of Nuremberg, after Mr Pritchett's beautiful originals, which help to make the book one of the handsomest volumes of travel that have ever been published. Then every other page is adorned "with the most beautiful little wood engravings done, also after Mr Pritchett's drawings, by Messrs Whymper, J. D. Cooper, and G. Pearson. With this we may now quote a few extracts: — ' SEEING THE SIGHTS IN BUEMAH. In March the Sunbeam arrived at Rangoon, 30 years ago a swamp, now a city of 200,000 inhabitants, the terminus of a railway, and almost a rival of Bombay in beauty and extent. " The appearance of the people is most picturesque. Nearly all the men are naked to the waist, or wear a small white open linen jacket, with a voluminous putso wound tightly round their loins and gathered into a great bundle or knot in front. Their long hair is beautifully trimmed, plaited, and oiled, and their glossy locks are protected from the sun by an oiled silk umbrella. The women wear much the same costume. There seems to be a strong family likeness between our Scotch kilts, the Malay sarongs, the Burmese putsos and tamiens, and the Punjabee tanghis." Of the pagodas Lady Brassey says : — " On the extreme summit, in the place of honour, is almost invariably fixed an English sodawater bottle ; while the minor positions of importance are occupied by tonic-water bottles, which are of the same shape but of a blue colour." HOW ELEPHANTS WORK. . Lady Brassey gives an interesting account of a visit to a Burmese timber yard, where elephant labour is largely emplayed. "It was a wonderful exhibition of strength, patience, and dexterity, The docile creatures lift, roll, and push the logs of timber to any part of the yard. They pile it up into stacks high above their heads, seizing one end of a log with their trunk, placing it on the pile of timber, and then taking the other end of the log, and pushing it forward, finally placing it on their heads and sending it into Its place. They carry their intelligence to the point of rigidly enforcing the rights of labour. Nothing will persuade an elephant to do a stroke of work after he has heard the workman's dinner-bell during the hour of midday rest to which he rightly considers himself entitled." DYAK DANCES. One sketch shows- these dances as performed before the Brassey party .-—"Afterwards various kinds of dances were performed by the natives for our entertainment. In some of the war dances the men displayed much agility and gracefulness, darting from side to side in their war cloaks of toucans' feathers, which floated out behind them with each movement. They were armed with shields, spears, and kreises. It was really a most picturesque scene, and the large open verandah of Government House, with the background of sea, sky, and distant mountains, seen in the bright moonlight, with the Sunbeam peacefully at anchor in the foreground, formed at appropriate; setting. The Dusuns and Sundyaks are very fond of dancing, and seize every opportunity of indulging hi the amusement. In times of abundant harvest, it is said,, dancing goes on

in every village all night long, and night after night." . , BIED NEST HUNTING IN BOBNEO, ' One of the mast interesting chapters in the book is devoted to a description of an expedition to the famous bird caves of Borneo, where Lady Brassey was seized with the fever from which she died : — ; -.; "After tremendous exertions we reached the end of our climb, during which I had been not only once but many, times sorely tempted and even strongly urged to, turn back. When we paused to rest our eyes, by this time accustomed to the dim religious light, could perceive human figures crawling and clambering about the roof and pinnacles of the vast cavern in which we now found ourselves, and could observe many narrow rattan ladders hanging in the most precipitous places, or stretching horizontally across almost unfathomable abysses. Fixed 1 among the rocks on every side were strong hooks and pegs, to which the intrepid, monkey-like nest hunters attach their long, swinging ladders. Clinging to these, they proceed to prod all the nests within reach with a long bamboo pole, split into the shape of a threepronged fork at one end, with a candle attached." HOW THE NEST-HUNTEBS WOBK. "They easily detach the nests, 1 and rapidly transfer them to a basket hanging by their side. Having cleared the accessible space around them, they then unhook one end of their frail ladders and set themselves swinging like a pendulum, until they manage to catch another hook or peg, and then proceed to clear another space in the same way. All this goes on throughout the day, and very often throughout the night as well, for tho birds are then at home, and by their.appearance the natives can judge more accurately of the age of the nests on which their value depends. Occasionally, but not very often, a ladder breaks or a peg becomes rotten, and the hardy climbers tumble into the depths below, with almost invariably fatal results. The ladders employed are sometimes, I was told, as much as 500 ft in length, and we saw some ourselves over 150 ft long. Truly the seekers after birds and their belongings, whether eggs, feathers, or nests are a daring race, alike on the storm-beaten cliffs of St. Kilda and of Norway, and in the mysterious caves of Borneo and of Java." POET DARWIN, NOETH AUSTBALIA. The Sunbeam made her way up the great Banin Reef and into Papuan waters. " Palmerston, the name given to the settlement at Port Darwin, is beautifully situated on wooded headlands, jutting out into the harbour, in whose ample waters it is no figure of speech to say the navies of Europe could be anchored. ' The buildings have been erected with, considerable taste; a fine esplanade has been laid out along the sea front. The electric wire connects' Palm'erston with all the great colonies of Australia. In constructing the overland telegraph from South Australia a great middle section of the continent was discovered, capable of producing pasture for tens of millions of sheep and millions of cattle and horses. The first section from the north of what will eventually be the Trans-Australian railway has been commenced, and 1 is being carried on ,with energy by Messrs Miller, the well-known Melbourne contractors for public works." ' AMONGST THE PEARL FISHERS. " One afternoon," she says, "we steamed to the pearl-shell station on Prince, of Wales' Island, managed by Mr Hall. He has a nice bungalow there, and seems, very busy and happy in his occupation, contriving to keep good friends with all the • boys,' as the coloured labourers from Manila, China, the South Sea Islands, and other places are called. These 'boys 'are now, busily occu? pied in unloading the, shells from the boats and clearing and preparing them' for the market, which latter process we had' come to see to-day. First we went to a small sh'^cj where about half a dozen ' boys ' were employed, some in chopping and- scraping 1 the shells in order to reduce their weight, whilst others were washing and cleaning them with brushes made from the outside of "the cocoanut husk, which when split, into strips,' is excellent for the purpose, as it scrapes, and polishes the shells without scratching them. The boxes stood ready outside for packing, each holding about 2cwt of shells, .valued .at 11s per cwt. The number of shells varies according to their size, from 60 to 65 fitting into each box." ' ' THE DIVEES AT WORK. 11 On a table in the middle of the shed the shells were being quickly packed and nailed up, ready for exportation. They are jusfc now higher in price on account of the disaster on the north-wesb coast of Western Australia, which has temporarily crippled that rival station. From the cleaning and packing shed we went to another, where diving apparatus is kept. This was sent' out from England, and is exactly the same as that in use everywhere, being made to fit tightly round the ankles, wrists, and neck, with an immense superfluity of space jLn the middle to hold a storage of air. Besides this heavy dress, divers wear a belt with a large knife stuck into it, to cut themselres free from any obstacle their rope may get foul of, and they also have a hook, to which their air-pipe is attached. In addition to an enormous pair of leaden boots, two heavy pieces of lead are suspended over the shoulders, one piece lying on their chest, and the other on their back. They descend' with great rapidity, and can walk with the current on the bottom easily enough ; but woe betide j;hem if the tender is not careful, for if their air-line catches in anything it is absolutely impossible for them to make any headway against the tide. Unless the men above are quick and clever enough to repair the mistake promptly, they are lost."— Pall Mall Gazette. '' * ( ; ■ i — The soldiers stationed in Ireland are more than seven times as numerous as thoie in Scotland. FlOBIlEfB!— FO» THI lESKEX JUTO BIUUTH.— Jk few drops of the liquid " PloriHne " •prhHded on* wet tooth-brush produces a pleasant lather, urihMA thoroughly cleanse* the teeth from ail parasite* or impurities, hardens the gams, prevent* tartar, stopi decay, gives to the teeth a peculiar'pearly-white-neflf. and a delightful ;fragraaee to the breath. « removct all unpleasant . odour arising from /decayed i«eth or tobacco-smoke.- ''The Fragrant Jloriline. ftoinv composed in part of hoaey and sweet herns, .« delicious to the taste, aad the greatest toilet diionvcry of the »#». Price 2« 6d, ot all Chemist* and I'arfcznen. Wholesale depot, 18 Farringdon road, Uiadon.— [ADTT.] ..„,,,>' , i