EXPLORATION IN NEW GUINEA. 385 



3.— AN EXPLORATION IN NEW GUINEA. 



By DONALD MACK AY, F.R.G.S. 



I LEFT Sydney on June the 28th, 1908, with the object of exploring 

 the Purari River to its source. My object was chiefly to locate 

 metalliferous country, and at the same time make any observations 

 that might in some small way add to our knowledge of little known 

 New Guinea. I enlisted the services of Mr. Little, a well-known 

 pioneer, to recruit the necessary native carriers. To the Federal 

 Government I am indebted for the use of scientific instruments. 

 My plan was to depend on the Government steamer, the " Merry 

 England," to land my party at the mouth of, or rather at one of the 

 many mouths, of the Purari, and then to follow the river in boats 

 as far as practicable, making excursions from base camps to the 

 east and west. As the Purari some one hundred miles from its 

 source turns sharply from a general north and south direction to an 

 east and west course, it seemed at one time feasible to strike south- 

 wards from our most westerly camp. As it happened, I had to 

 return to the sea by practically the route as that taken on the 

 forward journey. I travelled via Brisbane and Cooktown, arriving 

 at Samarai on July the 6th. 



When some twenty miles from Port Moresby we passed through 

 a light rain. Port Moresby is in the Papuan dry belt, and this dry 

 belt extends some 60 miles west as far as Yule Island. Yet here only 

 20 miles out to sea it rains nearly every day. 



On reaching Port Moresby I found Mr. Little still away re- 

 cruiting. The " Merry England " was also away with the acting 

 ■Governor on board. As the s.s. Moresby was sailing for Samarai 

 I decided to go on to that " Garden of Papua," where I should meet 

 Little and my " boys." These last I saw for the first time as they 

 filed off the ship at Samarai, and they looked a wild and a woolly 

 crowd, especially the " Tufi boys " from Cape Nelson, with their 

 hair hanging in long ringlets. 



On returning to Port Moresby I met with my first disappoint- 

 ment. I learned that the captain of the " Merrie England " could 

 not at this season of the year undertake to land my party at the 

 Purari. A message came in from Mr. Higginson, the resident 

 Magistrate of the Gulf Division, to say that he was waiting to 

 render us assistance at the Purari, but he added that great seas had 

 been breaking on the coast for the past month and no whale boat 

 could live in the surf. Mr. Bowden and the Mission Fathers at Yule 

 Island were equally pessimistic. I therefore decided to make the 

 journey from Yule" Island by land, and from Yule Island I made 

 my real start. The party consisted of Mr. Little, Mr. A. E. Pratt, 

 surveyor, Mr. Ichborne, collector, myself and 84 carriers. 



The 140 mile tramp from Yule Island was particularly trying 

 on my " boys," and I had considerable difficulty in keeping them 

 going. Walking on sand along beaches, in the direct sun, was a 

 new experience for them. On this coastal trip we were frequently 

 blocked by the difficulty of crossing rivers, and there was little that 

 was new to observe. At the village of Diapu we saw a settlement 

 noted for the number of children. They came around in droves, 



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