{"product_id":"2940012978349","title":"The Land of the Hibiscus Blossom","description":"LAST year, while travelling over Australasia collecting material for\u003cbr\u003ea work then being prepared, I thought to score a point for my firm\u003cbr\u003ewhile up in Northern Queensland by visiting that as yet considerably\u003cbr\u003edark island, New Guinea.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Melbourne editor and agent at once consented to my proposal and\u003cbr\u003econsidered with me that it would be of great advantage to the work\u003cbr\u003eif I could make my notes and sketches from the savages and their land\u003cbr\u003edirect, if I thought it was worth risking my life for; but was it\u003cbr\u003eafter all worth the risk?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Australia, New Guinea is a name to inspire fear and trembling;\u003cbr\u003ethey are much nearer to the dreaded cannibals, and hear more of their\u003cbr\u003edeeds of atrocity than we in England are and do. Tales of death from\u003cbr\u003efever to those who luckily escape the spears and poisoned arrows float\u003cbr\u003edown monthly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"God help you if you go to that fever-stricken land,\" wrote a\u003cbr\u003eVictorian friend, by way of farewell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI considered it worth the risk, and as I had in former years lived\u003cbr\u003ewith the cannibals of New Zealand besides having had some distant\u003cbr\u003erelations wolfed amongst them in the good old days, I did not feel\u003cbr\u003equite the same shrinking as a new chum might.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was rather amusing to hear the sad forebodings of casual friends\u003cbr\u003ewhom I picked up as I progressed towards my destination; the nearer I\u003cbr\u003edrew to it, the sadder became the gloomy farewells.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You are too plump to escape the natives.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Just the temperament to catch the fever quickly.\" And so on.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI made friends at Thursday Island, and was fortunate enough to find\u003cbr\u003ethe mail-steamer going, not only to Moresby, but round the coast as\u003cbr\u003efar as Teste Island; so Mr. Vivian Bowden the plucky manager of the\u003cbr\u003eenterprising firm of Messrs. Burns, Philip, and Co., made up his mind\u003cbr\u003eto take a little holiday and accompany me on the voyage round the\u003cbr\u003eBritish part of the island.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI am indebted to his kindness in many ways; not less to his great\u003cbr\u003epatience allowing me to use their vessel pretty much as I liked, but\u003cbr\u003ein giving me time to take as many sketches as I wished, besides\u003cbr\u003eintroducing me to the genial and generous traders throughout the\u003cbr\u003eislands of the Torres Straits, and where they had ventured to\u003cbr\u003eestablish stations in New Guinea.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI met with no mishaps from natives, nor did I catch the fever.\u003cbr\u003eEverywhere I was cordially received and overpowered with kindness: by\u003cbr\u003ethe Governor, his Excellency Sir John Douglas, the missionaries, white\u003cbr\u003eand coloured, the traders, and those splendid man-eaters, the natives;\u003cbr\u003eso that now I can hardly know which to admire or regret the most,\u003cbr\u003esince fate has forced me to say \"adieu.\"","brand":"Purple Cow Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147444928752,"sku":"2940012978349","price":5.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012978349_p0.jpg?v=1763575279","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012978349","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}