E-text prepared by Steven Gibbs, Harry Lamé, Veronika Redfern,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
()
from page images generously made available by
Internet Archive
(http://archive.org)
| Note: | Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/cu31924028691149 |
Please see Transcriber’s Note at the end of this text.
THE
SOLOMON ISLANDS
AND
Their Natives.
BY
H. B. GUPPY, M.B., F.G.S.
LATE SURGEON, R.N.
LONDON:
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, LOWREY & CO.,
PATERNOSTER SQUARE,
1887.
S. Cowan & Co. Strathmore Printing Works, Perth.
PREFACE.
When, in the beginning of 1881, H.M.S. “Lark” wasbeing prepared for her commission as a surveyingship in the Western Pacific, I was selected by Sir John WattReid, the Medical Director-General of the Navy, to be appointedas Surgeon. For this selection I was also in somemeasure indebted to the late Sir Frederick Evans, thenHydrographer, who was desirous that a person possessingtastes for natural history should be chosen. I subsequentlyreceived some instructions from Dr. Günther, Keeper ofZoology in the British Museum, to whom I may take thisopportunity of expressing my sincere thanks for the encouragementhe gave to me during the commission.Unfortunately there were no public funds from which Icould be assisted; and, as a matter of fact, I may state thatall expenses had to come out of my pay as a naval surgeon.At the close of the commission I received, mainly throughthe influence of Dr. Günther, a promise of a grant of£150 from the Royal Society of London for the explorationof the interior of the large island of Guadalcanar; but avery serious illness prevented me from carrying out my intention,and thus an expedition, which I had lookedforward to as a fitting completion of my work