l events, I never
heard any voyagers mention having seen inhabitants on the isles near
which we suppose the one we are on to be."

"What sort of people are the islanders in these seas?"

"They are various. The New Zealanders are the most advanced in
civilisation. The natives of Van Diemen's Land and Australia are some
portions of them of a very degraded class--indeed, little better than
the beasts of the field."

"I have seen them," said Ready; "and I think I can mention a people, not
very numerous indeed, who are still more like the beasts of the field.
I saw them once; and, at first, thought they were animals, and not human
beings."

"Indeed, Ready; where may that be?"

"In the Great Andaman Isles, at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal. I once
anchored in distress in Port Cornwallis, and the morning after we
anchored, we saw some black things going upon all fours under the trees
that came down to the water's edge. We got the telescope, and perceived
then that they were men and women, for they stood upright."

"Did you ever come into contact with them?"

"No, sir, I did not; but I met, at Calcutta, a soldier who had; for at
one time the East India Company intended making a settlement on the
island, and sent some troops there. He said that they caught two of
them; that they were not more than four feet high, excessively stupid
and shy; they had no houses or huts to live in, and all that they did
was to pile up some bushes to keep the wind off."

"Had they any arms?"

"Yes, sir, they had bows and arrows; but so miserably made, and so
small, that they could not kill anything but very small birds."

"Where did the people come from who inhabited these islands, papa?"

"That is difficult to say, William; but it is supposed that they have
become inhabited in much the same way as this our island has been--that
is, by people in canoes or boats driven out to sea, and saving their
lives by effecting a landing, as we have done."

"I believe that's the truth," replied Ready; "I heard say that the
Andaman Isles were supposed to have been first inhabited by a slaver
full of negroes, who were wrecked on the coast in a typhoon."

"What is a typhoon, Ready?"

"It is much the same as a hurricane, William; it comes on in India at
the change of the monsoons."

"But what are monsoons?"

"Winds that blow regular from one quarter so many months during the
year, and then change round and blow from another just as long."