Description

Sir Edward Belcher (1799-1877) was a British naval officer who served as surveyor on several long voyages in the Atlantic and Pacific. Published in 1848, this two-volume account, interspersed with charts and illustrations, was the second of his journals to appear in print, and appealed to Victorian readers' enthusiasm for books on exploration, natural history, ethnology and adventure. Volume 1 combines topographical and strategic reports about Borneo, Manila and Singapore with tales of piracy and vivid descriptions of local customs. Volume 2 recounts dramatic episodes on the return journey from Japan via Hong Kong and Mauritius. It also contains an engaging, and sometimes alarming, commentary on flora and fauna by the ship's surgeon, Arthur Adams, in which readers are introduced to spectacular species of spiders, fish and snakes, as well as sensational descriptions of shrunken heads. It also includes a 30-page vocabulary chart for ten Asian languages.