The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-11-18
NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

TaE Prison OF WELrEvREDBN AND GLANCE AT
THE EAST INDIAN ARcHIPELAdO. BY CAPTAM
WALTER M. GIBSON. j. G. Riker, Fulton street.
The spirit Of adventure which leads men to reck.
iessly hazard their lives in search of the unknown,
is almost as fruitful in its results in our own
day rs it was in that of the earlier discoveries.
Although limit seemed at one time imposed
to the further advance of geographical know
ledge, recent events have demonstrated that
there are no bounds to its extension. The
discovery of the Great Polar Sea, of the North.
west Passage and of the great Antarctic continent,
and the solution of many minor geographical pro
bems, which, though long agitated had never until
lately been settled, all show that apparently well
explored as is the globe we inhabit, we have
not yet arrived at the full term of our discoveries
How comparatively limited, for instance ia the
knowledge that we possess of the islands of the
Indian Ocean! The marvellous accounts given of
them by the Venetian and Portuguese travellers OF
the 10th and 18th centuries had long been locked upon
as apochryphal. 1t is only within comparatively re-
cent date that the vecty of Marco Polo has received
confirmation from the Investigations of Marsden and
the work of Captain Gibson supplies us with what
was wanting in the way of coroboratory evidence.
The latter has the additional merit of bringing
vvidy before our eyes the poetic life and beauty of
these islands, OF which previous travellers had only
partial and unsatisfactory gmpses.
Nothing in the history of individual adventure is
more interesting and striking than the narrative of
Captain Gibson's travels in this delicious region
The singular and unprecedented character of his in
tercourse with the natives, the circumstance Of his
Imprisonment by the Dutch and the romantic de.
tails of his life in and final escape from captivity,
all make up story Of novel incidents and situations
to which but few works Of fiction offer parallel
And yet there are no grounds for throwing doubt on
the accuracy of his statements. They are in strict
keeping with the character, scenery, and political
circumstances of those islands. He presents to u.s.
it must be recollected, under a new aspect a race
excluded by the treacherous character commonly
attributed to them from civilized consideration and
fellowship, whilst at the time he completes the
insight given to us by Sir James Brooke and his
associates into the motives and causes of the calum
MES uttered against them.
What really led Captain Gibson into this career
ofwi adven ure does not very clearly appear from
bis own statements. He had long dreamed of . visit
to the Indian archipelago. 1t was, he says, the
ideal Of reverie conceived in earliest boyhood when
the Sumatra land began to CLEAN before my eyes,
and the Indian Ocean lay outstretched shining
path, even in those early days, leading to fortune
and honorable renown" This vague and dreamy
aspiration seems to have been consistently pursued
towards its realization in spite of the numerous and
at times apparently insurmountabe obstacles thrown
in his way. His life has been strange mixture of
unpleasant reality and romance. After struggling
for seme years in obsculity, with means and
the evils incident to them, he at last succeeded in
obtaining possession of vessel in which he pro-
ceeded to realise the golden dreams Of his boyhood
and 70 visit those shores towards which his eyes had
been SO iongingly directed. More happy than those
VINO mad preceded him IN the same path, he seems
70 nave ingratiated himself at once in the affection
and confidence OF the so-caled treacherous but in
reality, simple and kindly disposed race by whom
those islands are peopled, and even in winning the
devotion Of one Of the most remarkable herones
and enthusiasts that we have ever read of. The in
terest with which he has contrived to surround
Sahyeepah the granddaughter Of one OF the chief
sAns of Surnatra, would appear to be pure fiction
were 1t not consistent with the general traits that
Captain Gibson attributes to her people. Although
she appeared to him at first to be hut the simple
childke daughter ola barbarian she soon convinced
him that she was an energetic and high soued wo-
man. She visited him in prison, aided his escape,
and saved him from imminent danger Of death.
As natural corollary Of this sympathy on her part
for our gallant adventurer, she finally embraced the
religion that he professed.
Captain Gibson describes the innumerable and
sunny islands of the Archipelago, scattered in
fanciful profusion like gems over the surface of
bright and tranquil sea- in something of the spirit
Of the narratives of the old voyagers and he re-
Allies to our minds the enthusiasm and rapture in
- 'ired in those old fathers of discovery by the
-. d beauties Of this delightful region As he
liz, through the Straits of Sunda, in the
Ill. ~. 'e Flirt the invariabe sight described by
o. 0a n.uc~ tors presented itself in harmony with
ST.. r.tn-., sc.r. expanding to the view at every
,,o;r. &c tho bortzc> The Malay prahus crowded
18th rrotna or article. for traffic; the lake like Sc
rentv Of the sea the aro natic odors waited the
almost mperceptible breeze; the varying and CLEAN.
ing tints of verdure on the slopes that rose from
the shore to the interior of Java, in an atmosphere
beautifully tsnsna ant though glowing close TO the
~. "a purple base, all burst on -" .,ot nro.
40 delighted voyager with an effect like ,,orer
duced on the mind Of the old Spanish exi
when he first gazed on the Pacific
Silent upon peak in Daren
But we will let our traveller describe his own SEN
sations:-
tfat deem hearts thrill on entering threshold Of
the East Indian neutrality-suspicious. islands of much
tabled wea 18th and wonoer much real value and in
terest much less known than any other portion
To my right the golden Jabadiv, the land OF bar,
lev Of the Aexsndfian geographer the sacred Isle OF
The pindoos and the Java of English and patch domn-
ion-an island rivapg Cuba in size ana fertility ana six
fold ts number of sOuls land OF great empires
and oriental pomp sending forth its embated fleets and
hosts to the nations around them then warning with
European power and skill and ang by the hands q the
buccaneerirr men Portugal Of Eng and and OF Holland
and nov Welding coffee harvest the cbe support OF the
smos bankrupt sovereignty OF the last and the neanes
OF its masters.
To nv left was a greater island still, though less fruit
Iu ana less peopied and not rich in eric lore and
dynastc tame but the chief seat OF great race VINO
without war; or proseyting zeal had scattered their Ian
Vuape and customs and traditions among numoerless ma
lions arouud-fro Madagascar to Polyn from Ma
lacca 10 Parua the teempg millions OF the many thou
sand isles the nosn ocean, all bear some MARKS
OF the int lectual sway OF the Malays OF sumatrA
BEFORE me was greatest of ALL an island continent
full of hidden wonders and unexplored rivers, ana
plains and mountain ranges; where the human iortn,
with hairy skin lodged In the trees; where man sought
r. Id ~ taow the best Of gifts 70 lay At