Seas

Further Expedition Planned - Thank-offerings of Notu Chiefs - The Voyage - A Gigantic Flatfish - Negotiating a Difficult Bar - Moat Unhealthy Spot in New Guinea - Hostility of Natives - Precautions at Night - Catching Ground Sharks and a "Groper" - Shark-flesh a Delicacy to the Natives - Wakened by a War Cry - A False Alarm - A Hairbreadth Escape - Between "Devil and Deep Sea" - Dangers of the Goldfield - Two Miners Eaten Alive - Unexpected Visit from a White Man - "Where's that Razor?" - Crime of Cutting Down a Coconut Tree - Walsh's Camp - Torres Straits Pigeons - My Boy an ex-Cannibal -

Horrible Fate of one of our Enemies - Collecting in Cannibal - Haunted Forest - I Shoot a new Kingfisher, and a Bird of Paradise - Natives' Interest in Bird-Stuffing - Return Journey begun - Tree-house in a Notu Village - Peacemaking Ceremonies - Notu Village described - Our Allies sentenced for Cannibalism - Parting with Walsh and Clark.

Rumours at Cape Nelson of a "Duckfooted" People in the Interior - Conflicting Opinions - Views of a Confirmed Sceptic - Start of the Expedition - Magnificence of the Vegetation - Friendliness of the Barugas - The "Orakaibas" (Criers of "Peace") - Tree-huts eighty feet from the ground-Loveliness of this part of the Jungle - Description of its Plants - A Dry Season - First Glimpse of Agai Ambu Huts - Remarkable Scene on the Lake - Flight of the Agai Ambu in Canoes - Success at Last - A Voluntary Surrender - The Agai Ambu Flat-footed, not Web-footed - Sir Francis Winter's subsequent Visit and

The "Orang-utan" and the "Man of the Jungle" - Voyage to Sarawak - The Borneo Company, Limited - Kuching, a Picturesque Capital - Independence of Sarawak - I meet the Rajah and the Chief Officials - Etiquette of the Sarawak Court - The "Club" - The "Rangers" of Sarawak and their Trophies - Execution by means of the Long Kris - Degeneracy of the Land Dayaks - Ascent of the Rejang River - Mud Banks and Crocodiles - Dr.

I leave the Main Stream and journey up the Sarekei - A Stream overarched by Vegetation - House 200 feet long - I make Friends with the Chief - My New Quarters - Rarity of White Men - Friendliness of my New Hosts - Embarrassing Request from a Lady, "like we your skin" - Similar Experience of Wallace - Crowds to see me Undress - Dayak's interest in Illustrated Papers - Waist-rings of Dayak Women - Teeth filled with brass - Noisiness of a Dayak House - Dayak Dogs - A well-meant Blow and its Sequel - Uproarious Amusement of the Dayaks - Dayak Fruit-Trees - The Durian as King of all Fruits - Day

My stay in British North Borneo - Visit to a Tobacco Estate (Batu Puteh) - Start for the Birds'-nest Caves - News of the Local Chief's Death - Applicants for the Panglima-ship - We Visit the late Chief's House-Widows in white - The Hadji "who longed to be King" - Extraordinary Grove of Banyan-trees - Pigs, Crocodiles and Monkeys - Astonishing Swimming Performance of a Monkey - Water Birds Feeding on the Carcase of a Stag - The Hadji and his Men pray at a Native Grave-shrine - An Elephant charges past us - Arrival at the Caves - The Entrance - A Cave of enormous Height, description of the In

by Stephen Leacock

In the town hall of the seaport of St Malo there hangs a portrait of Jacques Cartier, the great sea-captain of that place, whose name is associated for all time with the proud title of 'Discoverer of Canada.' The picture is that of a bearded man in the prime of life, standing on the deck of a ship, his bent elbow resting upon the gunwale, his chin supported by his hand, while his eyes gaze outward upon the western ocean as if seeking to penetrate its mysteries.

It was on April 20, 1534, that Jacques Cartier sailed out of the port of St Malo on his first voyage in the service of Francis I. Before leaving their anchorage the commander, the sailing-masters, and the men took an oath, administered by Charles de Mouy, vice-admiral of France, that they would behave themselves truly and faithfully in the service of the Most Christian King. The company were borne in two ships, each of about sixty tons burden, and numbered in all sixty-one souls.

On June 25 Cartier turned his course away from Newfoundland and sailed westward into what appeared to be open sea. But it was not long before he came in sight of land again. About sixty miles from the Newfoundland shore and thirty miles east from the Magdalen Islands, two abrupt rocks rise side by side from the sea; through one of them the beating surf has bored a passage, so that to Cartier's eye, as his ships hove in sight of them, the rocks appeared as three.