USEFUL PRODUCTIONS OF NEW GUINEA. 69 



pig-s^ yams, and cocoa-nuts, and weapons and orna- 

 ments of no marketable value,— tortoise shell, flax, 

 arrow root, massoy bark, and feathers of the birds 

 of paradise were seen by us, it is true, but in such 

 small quantities as to hold out at present no induce- 

 ment for traders to resort to these coasts for the 

 purpose of procuring" them. That g-old exists in 

 the w^estern and northern portions of New Guinea 

 has long* been known, that it exists also on the 

 south-eastern shores of that g'reat island is equally 

 true, as a specimen of pottery procm*ed at Redscar 

 Bay contained a few small laminar g-rains of this 

 precious metal. The clay in which the g*old is im- 

 bedded was probably part of the g-reat alluvial 

 deposit on the banks of the rivers, the mouths of 

 which we saw in that neig-hbourhood, doubtless 

 orig-inating" in the hig-h mountains behind, part of 

 the Owen Stanley Rang-e. 



It is evident, however, that our acquaintance with 

 the productions of a great extent of coast line upon 

 which w^e never once landed must be very slight, 

 but with that little we must be content until some 

 more complete exploration of the shores, which were 

 only cursorily examined, and especially of the rivers 

 of the Great Bight — which seem to offer a ready 

 means of penetrating far into the interior of New 

 Guinea— shall have been effected. That an expedi- 

 tion with this end in view will soon be undertaken 

 is, however, highly improbable, the survey of the 

 Rattlesnake having completed all that was requisite 



