The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-02-02 00:00:00

THE TENIMBER ISLANDS.

At a recent meeting of the Royal Geographical '
Society, held in London, General Sir J. H. Lefroy,
R.A., K.0.M.G., in the chair, a paper, entitled • -
"Three Months' Exploration in the Tenimber Islands,
or Timor Lent," was read by Mr. H. 0. Forbes.
When the writer left England for the Eastern Archi-
pelago he had two main objects in view, one being the
exploration of the interior of the large island 02 the
Celebes, and the other to visit and to determine with
some certainty the distribution of animal ana vegetable --
lire on the then quite unknown group of the Timor
Lam Island. Mr, Forbes, who was accompanied .
V ronghont his arduous journey by his wife, paid first
of all a visit to the Keeling Islands, and 'afterwards
went to New Guinea, There they were surrounded
at once by a crowd of tall, erect, frizzly-headed, well-
dispeeed men and women, who found them most
curiohs objects. It was evident that the natives had
but seldom seen white faces. They examined their
visitors' legs, arms, and faces, rubbing them gently,
walkwr_ tht and
:eseycnitosanatolftboicodeak,ndes
and looking at their fingers as if to see if the colons
was coming off. Mrs. Forbes, probably • tbe only
white lady that had ever trod the northern part of the
Island, was, however, the great object of curiosity.
Some interesting particulars were given of the in•
habitants of the unknown region of the Timor Lent.
The men varied very greatly in stature; some were
short and thickset, and reached little over Mt., but the
5 fgreater
t. ii portion
n., some
wellw e 1 lo- fvoerrm6efdt . men
Theofwtaohbilooeunt
varied in like degree, some
tobbteheiTnierrghss
were.hO
which gave to the
scarcely reaching sft,,
the tallest of the men. whlne
forward in a jerky, bouncing style,
out dbealisilinadrhpe,
possible for them to move
was full of grace, but so proportioned were they that
It really seemed scarcely pos
anvoidndginugpmanodtiodno,wtnh.eir heal!: when
ungracefully. The youths were splendid examples of
the human form, many of the girls were handsome,
and a few were even beauties, with pensive eyes, deli.
ecbAcxaes
Ist: i
reaeetr
ndf:eueeeaygtcluora.er F,
passedeTar,nh bdei
Insalubrity,unf
ettaloulomlnttaalhutetehdee se
7caowofsahnr
Tottr
whole
ieenmdri
nob
lersoitfLtanhtbaaeeuotr
utdtsryhewaxelaa n-sfhediontt limb.
coulduoe
urbeocor.f
' •
animal 'life, with the exception of birds, was but
poorly represented,

The Duke of Bigamist, a well-known Bonapartist, „.
has been elected president of the French Jockey Club ~ •
by 231 votes out of 236,
In Paris, on Monday, a mass was celebrated for the -•
repose of the moul of Louis XVI. the expenses being
paid by certain French ladies and gentlemen.
A young woman named Christian &Mean, a ser-
vant to Mr. Carnegie, at Seaton, near Arbroath, has
been committed to Forfar Prison on a charge of having _
set fire to Seaton House. During last week a fire
broke out on separate occasions in three different parts
of the house, but fortunately was extinguished in each
case before much damaze bad been done.
On Monday the governor of her Majesty's Prison at
Wandsworth received a communication from the
Home Office to the eff.ct that the sentence of death - -
passed moor) Geerge Baldwin for the murder of George
Hoare at Kennington, on the 12th of December was
raepiteld. The convict, who was to have been exee
3uted on Tires -lay, was at once informed that his life
wits to be spared.

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