S. Cowan & Co., Strathmore Printing Works, Perth.


Transcriber’s Note

Remarks on the text:
Inconsistent spelling, lay-out, capitalisation, hyphenation, punctuation, use of accents etc. and duplications in the text have been left as in the original work, except as mentioned below.
Mendana (Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira) is consistently spelled without tilde in the original work, this has not been changed; Curacoa is mostly spelled without cedilla, this has not been changed.
In various places the author refers to snider; this is probably a reference to the Snider-Enfield rifle.
Page 137, ... the engraving here given, ...: It is not clear which illustration this refers to; none of the illustrations appear to show the described cicatrices.
Page 138, ... as shown in one of the figures. It is not clear to which illustration this refers; none of the illustrations appear to show the described instrument.
Page 235: The full title of Pingré’s publication (abbreviated in the text) is Mémoire sur le choix et l’état des lieux où le passage de Vénus du 3. juin 1769 pourra être observé avec le plus d’avantage: et principalement sur la position géographique des îsles de la mer du Sud.
Page 256, Admiral Roggewein: Jacob Roggeveen (1659-1729).
Page 262, footnote “Discoveries of the French ...”: the last digit of the last page number is missing from the original.
Page 268, footnote 386: fabricateur du contes, as printed in the original, not changed.
Page 275, Bernaldo de la Torre: Bernardo de la Torre (Galvano refers to him as Bernaldo de la Torre).
Page 276, footnote [416]: the last digit of the year is unclear in the original; most likely the year is 1791, but it might also be 1797.
Page 328, they are not usually more than 112 in length: the unit (probably inches) is missing in the original work.
Page 367, Table: from the lay-out of the original page it is not immediately clear to which column the Mean for 1883 refers. Numerically it could be either the Mean Temperature or the Mean Dry Bulb Temperature. The former seems more logical.

Changes made to the text:
Multi-page tables have been combined to single tables; “Carry forward” and “Brought forward” have been deleted from these tables.
Some minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected silently.
Footnotes have been moved to under the paragraph where they are indicated.
Some illustrations have been moved.
Throughout the book the following words have been corrected or standardised: Ipomæa to Ipomœa; Kænigii to Kœnigii; Scœvola to Scævola; palœolithic to palæolithic; Elœocarpus to Elæocarpus; Gœrtn to Gærtn; Adenosma cœrulea to Adenosma cærulea; guage to gauge; Labillardiére to Labillardière; memoire(s) to mémoire(s); redigé to rédigé; Oceanie to Océanie.
The map (frontispiece) is not explicitly referred to in the text; where the author refers to contemporary (Admiralty or English) charts, a hyperlink to the frontispiece is provided, on the assumption that this map gives a realistic impression of the knowledge of the Solomon Islands at the time the work was published. Not all of the names the author mentions are to be found on this map.

Other changes:
Page vii: calcareons changed to calcareous; Geologie changed to Géologie
Page ix: Bougain- changed to Bougainville
Page 19: thus dampened changed to this dampened
Page 73: agenerally changed to generally
Page 101, footnote [85]: page 185 changed to page 186
Page 104: Curzon Howe changed to Curzon-Howe
Page 113: extremely changed to extremity
Page 115, first table: ditto marks added to last column
Page 136: Pteropidae changed to Pteropidæ as elsewhere
Page 138: an instrument three prongs changed to an instrument of three prongs
Page 141: ... sang with as true ... changed to ... sung with as true ...
Page 153: (p. 155) changed to (p. 74) (page 155 shows a fishing net)
Page 168: labour-scooner changed to labour-schooner
Page 187: Bataviasch changed to Bataviaasch; Hara-hagh changed to Haragh-hagh as elsewhere
Page 201: rodoleros changed to rodeleros
Page 202: 7° 50″ changed to 7° 50′
Page 216: Megapodidæ changed to Megapodiidæ
Page 224: nãmes changed to ñames as elsewhere
Page 234: Contrariété changed to Contrarieté as elsewhere
Page 235: òu changed to où; Découvertes des François ou 1768 and 1769 changed to Découvertes des François en 1768 et 1769
Page 247: goe changed to go
Page 261: augmentee changed to augmentée
Page 262: Isles de la Déliverance changed to Iles de la Délivrance
Page 265: Decouvertes changed to Découvertes
Page 273: p. 202 changed to p. 205; p. 205 changed to p. 202
Page 274, Note V.: V. missing from original, added; óu changed to où
Page 278: à peu prés changed to à peu près
Page 292: Gomphranda changed to Gomphandra
Page 298: tubo corollœ changed to tubo corollæ
Page 300: Euphorbia Atota changed to Euphorbia Atoto; Litsæa changed to Litsea
Page 303: Drymophlorus changed to Drymophloeus
Page 305: Cycas circinails changed to Cycas circinalis; Commelyne nudiflora changed to Commelyna nudiflora; Erianthemum variabile changed to Eranthemum variabile (Erianthemum is a mistletoe, which seems improbable given the description)
Page 319: Dr. Seeman changed to Dr. Seemann as elsewhere
Page 327: fur changed to für
Page 337: Helix (nanina) solidiuscida changed to Helix (nanina) solidiuscula
Page 347: collumellar changed to columellar
Page 349: Tapparone Canfri changed to Tapparone Canefri
Page 363: not less 2100 changed to not less than 2100

Index entries changed to conform to the text:
Melaniaguppyi changed to Melania guppyi; Erianthemum variabile to Eranthemum variabile; Maté to Mate; Mulé to Mule; Pitt Rivers to Pitt-Rivers; Vella-la vella to Vella-la-Vella.