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"A MYSTERIOUS SYSTEM": TOPOGRAPHICAL FIDELITY AND THE CHARTING OF IMPERIALISM IN JOSEPH CONRAD'S SIAMESE WATERS (2).

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From: Studies in the Novel
Date: 20000922
Author:LARABEE, MARK D.

So Conrad's narrator, were he traveling during the northeast monsoon season, merely followed good seasonal advice by staying to the east. But the vaguely sinister nature of Giles's unfinished warning makes the western side of the gulf seem unnaturally dangerous. Conrad disposes us towards placing considerable faith in Giles's opinion, for the narrator describes that captain as:

   an expert. An expert in--how shall I say it?--in intricate navigation. He 
   was supposed to know more about remote and imperfectly charted parts of the 
   Archipelago than any man living. His brain ...

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