468 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 
by a change of wind or tide. We returned to Matupit 
in the afternoon. 
Nearly 20 years after this event it was my good fortune 
to revisit this place, in August, 1897. I found that the 
island was much reduced in size and height; and is now 
only about two miles in circumference, and about 30 or 
40 feet high. The crater continued to emit boiling 
water for at least two years after the eruption, and the 
lagoon still exists; the pumice has consolidated, part of 
the shore line has been washed away, and some of the 
material has been deposited in what was formerly a channel 
between the new island and a small rocky islet, but which 
channel is now quite filled up. The whole island is covered 
with vegetation, and there are casuarina trees on it at 
least 30 feet in height. This fact will show how rapidly 
the pumice is disintegrated by the power of wind, rain, and 
sun, and how quickly the vegetation grows in a land of 
great moisture and great heat. I have often sailed my 
boat over the very place where this island now stands, and 
this, I think, is an unique experience. There is, I believe, 
no white man living now but myself who saw that fearful 
eruption in 1878, to which this island owes its birth. 
Britisu NEw GUINEA. 
‘According to a return recently prepared in the office 
of the Surveyor-General of Queensland, the total area of 
British New Guinea is about 90,540 square miles. It has 
an approximate coastline of 1728 statute miles on the main- 
land, and of 1936 miles on the islands, giving a total coast- 
line of about 3664 miles. 
“Tts northern boundary lies from 5° south latitude at the 
west end to 8° south latitude on the east end; the southern 
boundary in the west is the sea and the Colony of Queens- 
land, and in the east end it comes as far south as 12° south 
latitude. The eastern and western boundaries are re- 
spectively the 141° and the 155° of east longitude. The 
western boundary meets Dutch New Guinea; the northern 
boundary meets Kaiser Wilhelms-land.”’ 
[The control of this Possession has recently been accepted 
by the Commonwealth of Australia.] 
GENERAL REMARKS ON PHYSICAL FEATURES. 
It may, I think, be accepted as a fact that most of the 
islands under consideration are of voleanicorigin, and that a 
large number of them have been formed by upheaval, 
