Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885 Read online

  "A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago: A Narrative of Travel and Exploration from 1878 to 1883." By Henry O. Forbes, F.R.G.S. New York: Harper & Brothers.

  Although a long succession of naturalists have done their best tofamiliarize readers with the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, Mr.Forbes's book is full not only of freshly-adjusted and classified facts,but of curious and valuable details of his own discoveries. Even thebest-known islands of the group are so inexhaustible in every form ofanimal and vegetable life that much remains for the patient gleanerafter Darwin and Wallace, who found here some of the most strikingillustrations of their deductions and theories, It is well known thatstartling contrasts in the distribution of plants and animals are metwith in these islands, even when they lie side by side; and in no otherpart of the world is the history of mutations of climate, of the law ofmigrations, and of the changes of sea and land, so open and palpable tothe scientific observer. Mr. Forbes's object seems to have been to visitthose islands which offer the most striking deviations from the moregeneral type. His earlier explorations were made alone, but during thelast eighteen months he was accompanied by a brave woman who came outfrom England to Batavia to be married to him at the close of 1881. It ispainful to read of the deadly ordeals of climate and the excessivediscomforts and privations to which this lady was exposed. Her diary,kept at Dilly during her husband's absence, while she was ill, utterlydeserted, and in danger of a lonely and agonizing death, makes asingular contrast to the record of Miss Bird and others of her sex whoseem to have triumphed over all the vicissitudes possible to women. Tothe general reader Mr. Forbes's travels in Java, Sumatra, and theKeeling Islands are far more satisfactory than in those less familiar,like Timor and Buru. In the light of the terrible events of 1883,everything connected with the islands lying on either side of theStraits of Sunda is of the highest interest. Those appalling disasterswhich swept away part of Sumatra and Java and altered the configurationof the whole volcanic group surrounding Krakatoa took place only a fewweeks after Mr. and Mrs. Forbes sailed for home. This widespreaddestruction seemed to the inhabitants the culmination of a series ofcalamitous years of drought, wet, blight, bovine pestilence, and fever.It was Mr. Forbes's fortune to be in Java during these bad seasons,which, from combined causes, made it impossible for flowers to perfectthemselves and fructify. This circumstance was, however, useful to thenaturalist, offering him an opportunity for experiments in thefertilization of orchids and other plants. The account of the Dutchcinchona-plantations, which now furnish quinine of the best quality, isfull of interest.

  Mr. Forbes's visit to the Cocos-Keeling Islands, in the Indian Ocean,cannot be passed over. He was eager to visit a coral-reef, and thisatoll, stocked and planted only by the flotsam and jetsam of the seas,the winds, and migrating birds, offers to the naturalist a mostdelightful study; for here, progressing almost under his eyes, are thephenomena which have made Bermuda and other coral groups. Little as theKeeling Islands seem to offer in the way of secure habitation, they havea population of some hundreds of people, presided over by theirenergetic proprietor, Mr. Ross, who has planted the atoll thickly withcocoanut palms. Gathering the nuts and expressing the oil is the chiefindustry of the inhabitants, who are all taught to work and supportthemselves in some useful way. No money is in circulation on the island:a system of exchange and barter with agents in Batavia for necessaryproducts takes its place. This thriving little community has, however,terrible forces to contend against. Darwin recounts the effects of anearthquake which took place two years before his visit to the islands in1836; a fierce cyclone brought ruin and devastation in 1862; and in 1876a terrible experience of cyclone and earthquake almost swept away thewhole settlement. This was followed by a most singular phenomenon."About thirty-six hours after the cyclone," writes Mr. Forbes, "thewater on the eastern side of the lagoon was observed to be rising upfrom below of a dark color. The color was of an inky hue, and its smell'like that of rotten eggs.' ... Within twenty-four hours every fish,coral, and mollusc in the part impregnated with this discoloringsubstance--probably hydrosulphuric or carbonic acid died. So great wasthe number of fish thrown on the beach, that it took three weeks of hardwork to bury them in a vast trench dug in the sand." Wherever this watertouched the growing coral-reef, it was blighted and killed. Darwin sawsimilar "patches" of dead coral, and attributed them to some great fallof the tide which had left the insects exposed to the light of the sun.But it is probable that a similar submarine eruption had taken placeafter the earthquake which preceded his visit to the Keeling Islands in1836.