The Cruise of the Marchesa to Kamchatka & New Guinea; With Notices of Formosa, Liu-Kiu, and Various Islands of the Malay Archipelago (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 Excerpt: ...of depths of less than seventeen or eighteen fathoms. We were anchored at the time in about fifty feet of water, and noticed that the natives went down to bring up the old tins and empty bottles we had thrown overboard. They do nqt use any weight, but swim straight downwards. Returning from a shooting excursion next morning, we took refuge in the Datu's house to avoid a heavy shower of rain. He received our invasion with calm reserve, apparently not being too pleased to see us, but after a time he became more friendly. His house, like the others, was built on piles over the sea, with a rickety bridge about eighty yards in length connecting it with the shore. The floor was, as usual, constructed of split bamboos, which were so far apart that I nearly broke my leg by putting it through a more than ordinary large gap. Among a little pile of spears in the corner of the room were three guns, one of which was a magazine rifle of American make Our host was without cartridges for it, happily for the Panglima, and we had neither the wish nor the ability to assist him. On the day following our arrival at Jolo we were astonished to see a large man-of-war approaching the anchorage. She proved to be the Wolf, a German corvette, the officers of which were very anxious to get information as to the doings of the Spanish authorities in the archipelago. This we left them to obtain first hand, and contented ourselves with lending them a couple of charts, of which they were in need. The Germans were at that time extremely jealous of Spanish influence in these and other neighbouring islands, and--somewhat maliciously I fear--we asked them if they recognised the sovereignty of Spain in Sulu. They told us that they were unable to answer the question. By the treaty of March 7th, ...