PAPUA. 



679 



Papua, as far as the 141st meridian, in 1828. 

 Fort Dubus was established on the south shore, 

 but was abandoned ten years later on account 

 of the unhealthful climate. Since 1875 a 

 'steamer from Batavia has visited the western 

 coast at various times. More recently the Gov- 

 ernment in Java has concluded a contract with 

 ithe Netherlands India Steamship Company, 

 and steamers are to call at several points four 

 times a year. Although the direct Dutch 

 claims to the western half of Papua might be 

 jonsidered to have lapsed, the Sultan of Tidore, 

 vassal of the Netherlands, has exercised a 



press suggesting the German settlement of New 

 Guinea prompted the Queenslanders in the 

 early part of 1883 to petition the British Gov- 

 ernment to annex the island. On April 4, Po- 

 lice Magistrate Chester, of Thursday Island, 

 under instructions from the Governor by ad- 

 vice of the ministers, formally annexed Papua 

 to Queensland, but the act was annulled by 

 Lord Derby. On Sept. 4, 1883, the English 

 Government was notified that, in consequence 

 of injuries committed by the crew of an Eng- 

 lish labor-ship on the property of a German firm 

 that interfered to prevent outrages on natives, 



135 Longitude 



East 140 from 



mzerainty over the chiefs of this portion of 

 ihe island for two hundred years. This suze- 

 rainty is still practically asserted to some ex- 

 tent by the Rajah of Mysole, the principal vas- 

 sal of the Sultan of Tidore. The Dutch claim 

 .s strengthened by the fact of the constant 

 ;rade between other Dutch possessions and the 

 western coast of Papua. Trade with this part 

 :>f New Guinea is carried on by the natives of 

 Oeram and the Bugis of Celebes. Moham- 

 medanism has been introduced to some extent, 

 imd the people, who in the extreme west are 

 i mixture of Papuans with the Malayan trading 

 :ribes, have generally laid aside their nose- 

 "ings and ear and arm ornaments, and begun 

 oo adopt cotton clothing. There is consid- 

 erable traffic on the shore of Kapuller Bay, 

 tfhere arms and powder, iron and copper uten- 

 sils, linen, and rice are exchanged for nutmegs 

 itid ^ bird-skins, articles that the coast tribes 

 ,)btain from the interior in exchange for sago. 



There are frequent wars between the people 

 )f the interior and the coast tribes, on account 

 ;>f the slave raids of the latter. The Dutch 

 government made an appropriation in the ses- 

 sion of 1885 for the scientific exploration of the 

 possessions in Papua. 



British New Guinea, Articles in the German 



the German Government would keep a ship 

 of war stationed at the New Britain and New 

 Ireland groups to protect German trading in- 

 terests. This note, asking- the English Gov- 

 ernment to take measures against the repeti- 

 tion of outrages arising out of the Polynesian 

 labor-traffic, was not answered satisfactorily. 

 On Aug. 2, 1884, Count Minister was asked to 

 try to come to an agreement with Earl Granville 

 as to the respective, spheres of interest of Eng- 

 land and Germany in the South Sea. The 

 Australian colonists were meanwhile clamor- 

 ing for the annexation of New Guinea. The 

 German Foreign Secretary complained be- 

 cause the field chosen by Germany for com- 

 mercial and colonial expansion was declared to 

 be the " natural domain " of Australia. On 

 Aug. 9, Lord Granville sent the assurance that 

 the extension of British supremacy in New 

 Guinea would apply only to the south coast, 

 though without prejudice to territorial ques- 

 tions beyond those limits. On Aug. 81 the 

 Chancellor accepted his proposal to appoint 

 commissioners to define the spheres of inter- 

 est of the two governments. On Sept. 19 

 the German Government was notified that in 

 consequence of negotiations between the Brit- 

 ish Government and its colonies, it had been 



