some neio Paradise-birds. 239 



jjrevious experience that by this meaus only he could expect 

 to make new discoveries^ especially among the Paradise- birds. 

 He went first, accompanied by only one native attendant, to 

 the Astrolabe Mountains, which he had already repeatedly 

 visited, and the inhabitants of which he knew well, and met 

 with a friendly reception. 



The Astrolabe Mountains constitute a plateau, divided into 

 two districts by a confluent of the Goldie river, the Laloki, 

 which breaks out of them between two steep ridges of rock 

 and forms below them the imposing " E,ona Falls/^ These 

 districts are called — that on the western side '' Taburi,'^ and 

 that on the eastern " Schogari/' It may be remarked that 

 on the Astrolabe range, the height of which is given at 

 3824 feet on the English charts, the nights are cold, and the 

 constant precipitation makes a residence very unpleasant 

 for the collector. 



After passing by the sources of the river *' Camp Welsh,^^ 

 which flows into Hood Bay, Hunstein made his first halt at 

 Moroke, the chief village of the district of the same name, 

 and began his collecting there. Undeterred by the warnings 

 of the natives, the bold explorer pushed forward thence into 

 the Horseshoe Mountain, which lies between Mount Owen- 

 Stanley and Mount Obree of the English charts, a region 

 into which he, as in many other spots in New Guinea, was 

 the first white man to place his foot. Here the vegetation was 

 already sufficient to convince the practised eye that heights 

 had been reached which had never before been attained by 

 any collector in this district. There appeared a world of 

 new trees and new plants. The discovery of a rhododendron 

 with wonderful white flowers, which has been since described 

 by our celebrated fellow-countryman. Baron v. Miiller of 

 Melbourne, leaves no doubt of the truth of this. Rhodo- 

 dendrons have also been found in the Arfak Mountains, in 

 North-western New Guinea. But the keen collector was 

 rewarded not only by finding rare plants, but also by the 

 discovery of new species of birds. Amongst those were 

 three beautiful and previously unknown Paradise-birds, to 

 which two more were afterwards added. 



