^^r EXPLORATION IN NEW GUINEA. 767 



141st meridian, the An.<:,'Io- Dutch boundary line. That portion of our 

 Possession lying between its boundary hne and the 146th meridian 

 is as large as the whole of the rest of our mainland portion. It is 

 occupied chiefly by the deltas of the rivers draining the ranges 

 running along the confines of Kaiser Wilhelm's land, which have as 

 yet been sighted only from a long distance. D'Albertis described the 

 interminable swampy flats extending for hundreds of miles along 

 both sides of the Fly, the largest of these rivers, and the more recent 

 explorations of Sir William Macgregor have but confirmed the 

 observations of the Italian traveller. This is the chief and almost 

 the only level land on our southern coast, but in being swampy, very 

 malarious, rarely approachable in the dry season because of the surf 

 that hides the reefs, and accessible only by sea during the quieter 

 rainy season, when most of the land is inundated and its rivers 

 are flooded and dangerous, it is of no practicable use now, or likely 

 ever to be till time has elevated it higher above sea level. No 

 minerals have been discovered in this region in payable quantity ; nor 

 has recent exploration brought to light any extraordinary additions 

 to its fauna or flora. The palaBontological specimens brought back 

 by recent expeditions are few and in poor condition, but they are 

 just sufficient to indicate that in the Papuan Gulf region there occur 

 Tertiary beds of Miocene and Pliocene age, containing mollusca and 

 corals, some of them related to forms found in the Tertiary of Pata- 

 gonia, and others similar to species now living in the Pacific Ocean. 

 These beds overlie (whether directly or indirectly is unknown) strata 

 of Jurassic or perhaps of Lower Cretaceous age. 



In the remaining portion of the Possession, the two highest 

 summits have been ascended within the last few years — Mt. Owen 

 Stanley by the Administrator himself, and Mt. Yule by Mr. Belford. 

 The interest of the splendid achievement of the ascent of Mt. Owen 

 Stanley centres in the account of the fauna, and, perhaps, especially 

 of the flora of its alpine regions, where have been found commingled 

 South American, New Zealand, Australian, Himalayan, and 

 European forms, affording us data which must be of the greatest 

 assistance in the solution of the distribution of life in the Southern 

 Hemisphere. The ascent of Mt. Yule was too rapid, and the party 

 too short-handed, to reward Mr. Belford with any special novelties 

 among plants and animals. This mountain is 10,600 feet in height, 

 and stands isolated from the Owen Stanley range, and from the 

 others of the same cluster, all of them being volcanic. In the plains 

 to the south-west, a large lake, the only one yet known in New 

 Guinea, was discovered, varying from three to eight miles in width, 

 situated between Mt. Yule and the sea, twelve miles distant from the 

 coast. During his official voyages of inspection, the Administrator 

 has visited Rossel, Joannet, Sudest, and St. Aignan, the larger 

 islands of the Louisiade Archipelago, and made excursions of greater 

 or less extent into the interior of several that had never before 



