53 



From a purely forestry stand-point, all soils of New 

 Gruinea are good forest soils, that is to say, tliey are all 

 capable of growing high forest. Questions of slope and 

 rainfall and altitude determine the type of forest that 

 grows on a given area. Generally speaking, the rain- 

 fall is sufhcient; exception alone must he made of the 

 Kye coast where, though no figures are available, the 

 fall must be below 30 inches. 



As in Papua, the climate is largely determined by the 

 two monsoonal winds, and by the mountainous nature 

 of the J erntory. The south-east monsoon is the pre- 

 valent wind during the periojd that the sun is north of 

 the Equator, tliat is, from March to September, and the 

 north-west monsoon blows when the sun is south of 



the Equator. There is, however, a great variation in 

 the dates of the beginning of each monsoon, and south- 

 east winds may continue well into December. The 



north-west monsoonal season is generally taken as the ViA IX1C F1C4A110 VA „ m , THCTI „, lt .... _ UJiV __ w _, _ 



west season, but there are places in the Territory where wou i<i have to acquire webbed feet to help him' over 

 the position is reversed. The coast line fronting the the vast swamps of the Sepik and Eamu plains. Until 

 1 1 uo ii («nlf, from the mouth of the Markham to Cape data are obtained regarding the mountain regions, it 



time, severe forms of malaria appeared, as also at 

 Finsch-hafen under similar conditions in 1891. The 

 years where the trade wind sets in violently suffer from 

 dryness continually. A weaker trade wind is accom- 

 panied by a greater rainfall." These periods of great 

 dryness are very scare, and generally one may regard 

 the Territory as one of moderate to great humidity. 

 Most writers exaggerate the picture of the damp, 

 dank, forest clad islands. Dr. Ha no quotes 

 Wallace's famous description of Borneo as applic- 



wT ™ Guinea — "An orang-outang could reach 

 from tree to tree through the whole island without 

 even being compelled to put foot to ground." Dr. 

 Hann goes on, " This could also find an application 

 in New Guinea, and one could here expect that 

 feat from the New Guinea tree kangaroo." I am 

 afraid the marsupial would become rather footsore 

 on the plains of the Markham or the Kye coast, and 



able to New 



Fortification, enjoys a dry season in the north-west 



is not possible to come to any conclusion as to the 



monsoon, and gets all its rain in the south-east season. climate at various altitudes. Opportunity might, I 

 J lie Rye coast, which runs from Cape Fortification to 

 the mouth of the Mindjim, is, for the first half at 



British rainfall returns' 1 



least, a very dry area, getting no rain in the south-east 

 season, and not much in the north-west. The published 



cover so short a period of 

 years, and come from so few stations, as to make it 

 difficult to draw up a rainfall map. Dr. Hann,f in 

 discussing the weather of New Guinea, writes, "The 

 position of the coasts in connexion with the direction of 

 the prevailing winds is really the decisive factor for 

 the annual rain period, and on this account contrast- 

 ing conditions appear at small distances apart." He 

 then goes on to contrast Finsch-hafen, in Huon Gulf, 

 witli Stephansort, in Astrolabe Bay. In discussing the 

 incidence of the rain, he writes, " On the whole north 

 coast the thunderstorms, as well as rain, appear to 

 happen chiefly in the night time/' 



Koiistantin-hafen. — Night, 94.40 inches; day, 24.02 



inches. 



Frederick W. Hafen. — Night, 116.93 inches; day, 



20.08 inches. 



Erima-hafen. — Night, 93.31 inches; day, 9.45 



inches. 



think, be taken of the splendid peaceful penetration of 

 the Lutheran Mission at Finsch-hafen to establish a 

 chain of meteorological stations from, sea-level to the 

 top of Sarawaket, 13,400 feet. Daily-read stations at 

 5 ; 000 or even 6,000 feet could be arranged, thanks to the 

 native mission teachers, and one or two self-recording 

 instruments, to be visited monthly, could be placed on 

 the trail from Ogeramnagn to Sarawaket — one in the 



mossy forest, one in the Daerydium-PhylloeladllS forest, 

 and finally one on the summit. The cost would be very 

 small, and the result of great value. Mr. Hunt's in- 

 genious rain-gauge which, though unattended, records 

 the incidence of the rain, might well be used. Other 

 self-recording instruments for temperature, baro- 

 metrical pressure, and wind have been used success- 

 fully in the Philippines, and would answer equally well 



in New Guinea. Relative humidity and evaporation, 



which are most important factors governing the growth 

 of forests, and to which are due the presence or ab- 

 sence of mossy forest, require recording also, and are 

 really more important than temperatures. Frosts, 

 doubtless, occur on the high mountains, for at Sara- 

 waket I experienced a temperature of 33 degrees F. 



from midnight to dawn, and the grass was covered 



Stephansort. — Night, 99.21 inches; day, 23.23 inches. 



Sattelberg.— Xight, 111.81 inches; day, 86.22 inches, with hoar-frost in the morning. The Rev. Keysser too, 



Herbertshoe. — Night, 31.10 inches ; day. 42.52 



inches. 



."On Sattelberg (3,182 feet), above Finsch-hafen, 

 the rainfall was 142 inches; November till April, 37 

 inches; May to October, 105 inches. At its foot, Sim- 

 hang, still more fell — 172.8 inches; November to April, 

 112 inches ; May to October, 128.7 inches." The Sattel- 

 berg figures are most interesting, for any resident would 



plain. It 



say that more rain falls at the sanatorium than on the 



is a damp cold locality in the 

 senson, but the Scotch mist and drizzle does not fill the 

 rain gauge as do the heavy rains of the plain. It is 

 unfortunate that after British occupation the keeping 

 of records at Sattelberg was discontinued. 



The absence of droughts is a popular myth, which 

 one sees quoted in most publications. As I shall show 



hen dealing with the eucalyptus forests of 

 South New Britain, a very severe drought occurred 

 some ten years ago, which was followed by a great 

 fire, which consumed much of the rain forest of the 

 south coast of the island. In this connexion, Dr. Hann 

 writes, " In the year 1895 a great drought set in in the 

 Astrolabe Bay, which continued during 1S96. The 

 drought was also great in Java in 1896, At the same 



^^M^M — ^ 



later 



w 



* See appendix A. p. 91. 

 t Thpse data have been 

 wealth Meteorologist. 



Report to League of Nations 1922-23. 

 kindly communicated to me by Mr. Hunt, Common 



found ice up there, and records that one of his hoys 

 tried to bring a piece home to Finsch-hafen to show his 

 wife. On the following page are the rainfall returns, 

 taken from Hans Meyer's German Colonial Kingdom. 

 Unfortunately, the period of years over which the 

 observations were recorded is not given. Generally 

 speaking, the climate of the Territory is the same as 



that of Papua. Temperatures are not excessive; 



relative humidity is high. Hurricanes are absent, 



4.1 A «* and even strong gales are rare, so the common spectacle 

 south-east . , • i i j r • i x\ A A t™ t. At 



m other tropical lands of wide swathes cut through the 



jungle by tornado or hurricane is absent in Xew 

 Guinea. For forestry, the climate is excellent, and there 

 is little doubt that under that tropical sun and in those 

 rich low lands timber could be grown with great suc- 

 cess. It is the suitability of the climate and the ex- 

 cellent forest soils that have militated against the 

 growth of even aged pure forests. All species have a 

 good chance in that land, and so one finds the wonderful 

 mixtures which, while delighting the mind of the sys- 

 tematise are not what the forester wants. Only when 

 conditions become hard and the fight for existence is 

 T1 acute does one find pure Btands of conifers. So the hoop 



and other araucaria, beaten by the broad-leafed trees 

 in the gullies, defy all competition on the -harp rocky 



* Communis ated to me by Mr. Hunt, Commonwealth -Meteorology . 



