The Isles of the Pacific —— Or, Sketches From the South Seas

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ISBN: 9781330019788 出版年：2016 页码：245 B Francis Forgotten Books

Such have been'the day-dreams of the poet in many lands. Childhood, full of unconscious poetry, revels in stories of distant island homes, island mysteries, island researches. Nothing In the Arabian Nights' attracts its eager fancy more than the story of Sindbad the Sailor, with his strange experiences of wonder-teeming isles. Robinson Crusoe will be a fearful joy to the young while the English language lasts. Sir Edward Seward's Narrative, Penrose's Journal,~ a delightful book, now, alas-l out of print, and Masterman Ready, all recognised and ministered to this youthful passion for island adventures, and all were popular accordingly. The present volume is an attempt to convey to young readers a fair notion of the isles of the Pacific Ocean, of their principal clusters, and of the features which distinguish several of the most remarkable among them. They differ from each other so widely in climate, natural features, social and political condition, that even a few sketches, if tolerably faithful, will at least have the advantage of variety; while they may also serve to clear up a certain amount of confusion as to groups and races which exists, I believe, in young minds generally, and is not rare among children of a larger growth.