168 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



EXPLORATIONS IN NEW GUINEA. 



After a long period of comparative immunity from the 

 visits of civilized nations, New Guinea is in a fair wav of 

 soon becoming well known, in consequence of the numerous 

 expeditions that have been or are about directing their 

 course toward her shores. A late article in the Mittheilun- 

 gen of Dr. Petermann gives a summary of the more impor- 

 tant of these movements, of which we give an abstract. Dr. 

 A. B. Meyer has been engaged in investigating the natural 

 history first of Celebes and then of Macassar. The last ad- 

 vices from the Russian expedition under Von Miclucho-Mac- 

 lay, of which we have made repeated mentions in our col- 

 umns, were dated at Astrolabe Bay, in New Guinea, where 

 Maclay expected to remain some months, studying the lan- 

 guage and prosecuting his investigations. He found the 

 Papuans very rude, without a knowledge of iron, and almost 

 ignorant of the existence or appearance of Europeans. Into 

 this same bay, to which on modern maps but a slight extent 

 is given, Captain Edar, of the schooner Emma Patterson, late- 

 ly penetrated for two hundred miles without reaching the 

 end, and observed from the interior of the bay very high 

 mountains, which appeared to stretch inland like an Alpine 

 chain. 



Another expedition is of Italian origin, under Beccari and 

 De Albertis. This, intended principally for a natural history 

 and commercial investigation, has not been heard from for 

 some time. 



Very important results are anticipated from the operations 

 of the London Missionary Society, which has established mis- 

 sion stations at several places on the southeastern peninsula 

 of New Guinea. The missionary reports of Messrs. Murray 

 and Macfarlane, published in the Sydney Morning Herald in 

 October, 18 VI, furnish some very important geographical in- 

 dications. From Redscar Bay, according to their accounts, 

 is visible a mountain over 13,000 feet in height, presenting a 

 magnificent appearance in the landscape. The natives in 

 that vicinity were found to be a perfectly harmless race, and 

 entirely without warlike weapons. 



A Dutch expedition is also said to have been occupied in 

 visiting New Guinea in 1871, partly in the interest of science, 



