PAPUA. 



PARAGUAY. 



681 



announced its intention to proclaim a protect- 

 orate over the eastern portion of the north 

 coast from East Cape to the Gulf of Huon, 

 ' which may be regarded as the limit of the 

 German annexations," and over the adjacent 

 islands. This act the German Chancellor com- 

 plained of as a distinct breach of the promise 

 given by the English Cabinet to confine its an- 

 nexations to the south coast, and an unfriendly 

 course after Germany had declared her inten- 

 tions to acquire the same territory for German 

 colonization. 



The commodore on the Australian station, 

 who received his instructions Jan. 17, forth- 

 with proceeded to New Guinea and took formal 

 possession of the coast east of the Gulf of Huon, 

 and proclaimed a protectorate also over the 

 Louisiad and Woodlark Islands, and Long and 

 Book Islands, between the German possessions 

 on New Guinea and New Britain. The D'En- 

 trecasteaux group was included in the earlier 

 annexation. 



German New Guinea. The establishment of 

 German power in New Guinea was proposed 

 to the Government in 1880, when the chair- 

 man of the administrative board of the South 

 Sea Company, Herr von Hansemann, suggested 

 to the Chancellor a plan for the establishment 

 of trading settlements on the north coast from 

 East Cape to 141 east longitude. Bismarck, 

 whose Samoan scheme had been defeated in 

 the Parliament, would only promise consular 

 and naval protection to the enterprise. In 

 June, 1884, Bismarck, who had just enunciated 

 the principles of his colonial policy, was peti- 

 tioned anew by Herr Hansemann and Herr 

 Bleichroder to assist the plans of the South 

 Sea Company to colonize northern Papua and 

 the southern portion of New Britain from the 

 German naval station of Mioko, in the Duke 

 of York's Island. Dr. Finsch and a sea-cap- 

 tain named Dallmann were intrusted with the 

 execution of these secret plans. Southern 

 New Guinea was expressly excluded from the 

 field of their operations. 



There were no German commercial interests 

 in Papua previous to the establishment of the 

 protectorate on the north coast. Dr. Finsch 

 sailed from Sydney with $10,000 worth of 

 "trade" for Papua, and purchased the terri- 

 torial privileges on which the German pro- 

 tectorate of northern Papua was founded. 

 The steamer was owned by the German Trad- 

 ing Association. Dr. Finsch, who is a natu- 

 ralist, continued on his voyage from Makou 

 on Sept. 28, 1884, and returned three weeks 

 later at the conclusion of his secret expedition 

 to the northern coast of Papua. The German 

 commissioner visited the island also. About 

 the same time the German gunboat " Hya3na " 

 and the corvette " Elisabeth " visited New 

 Britain and hoisted the German flag at vari- 

 ous points, and subsequently on New Ireland, 

 New Hanover, and the Admiralty Islands. 

 The limits of the German and English posses- 

 sions were agreed upon by the South Sea joint 



commission. The later British annexation of 

 Huon Bay and the small islands opposite King 

 William's Land was regarded as an offensive 

 proceeding by Germany, if not irregular and 

 invalid by reason of prior German claims. 

 When the "Elisabeth " returned in November, 



1884, from her expedition to Astrolabe Bay, 

 where the German flag was raised, it was said 

 that the "Hyaena" had gone to Huon Bay for 

 the same purpose. Before this was accom- 

 plished the British Government announced 

 the annexation of the northern coast from 

 East Cape to Huon Bay, as well as of the isl- 

 ands north and east of Papua that were not 

 German possessions, including Rook and Long 

 Islands off the shore of King William's Land. 

 The British claims over the coast of Huon Bay 

 and over Long Island, Rook Island, and the 

 other islands adjacent to N~ew Guinea and 

 north of the 8th parallel of south latitude, 

 over which British sovereignty had been pro- 

 claimed, were abandoned in the delimitation 

 agreement arrived at. The line between the 

 German and the English possessions in Papua 

 starts from the east coast at Mitre Rock on the 

 8th parallel, and runs due west to the 147th 

 degree of east longitude, then in a straight line 

 in a northwesterly direction to where the 144th 

 meridian and the 6th parallel cross, and con- 

 tinues from there in a west-northwesterly di- 

 rection to the intersection of the 5th parallel 

 with the 141st degree of east longitude, which 

 is the eastern limit of Dutch New Guinea. 



The charter granted by the Emperor to the 

 New Guinea Company of Berlin on May 21, 



1885, contained the first official statement of 

 the limits of the new German possessions. 

 German sovereignty was declared to extend 

 over the part of Papua not under British or 

 Dutch protection, the islands near the coast 

 of that portion of the island, the New Britain 

 group, to be called in future Bismarck Archi- 

 pelago, and all other islands northeast of New 

 Guinea lying between the equator and 8 south 

 latitude, and between 140 and 154 east longi- 

 tude. The formal annexation of the north coast 

 and of New Britain took place Dec, 17, 1884. 



PARAGUAY, a republic in South America. 

 Area, 91,650 square miles; population, 350,- 

 000, besides about 150,000 Indians. The most 

 populous city (next to the capital, Asuncion, 

 with a population of 25,000) is Villa Rica, with 

 12,000 ; Concepcion, a center of traffic on the 

 left bank of the Paraguay, has 11,000; San 

 Pedro, 10,000. Before the war the population 

 of Paraguay was 800,000. The casualties of 

 the strife and the great loss of territory re- 

 duced it to what it is at present. There are 

 10,000 foreign settlers in the country. The 

 most numerous settlers are Spaniards, and next 

 to them Italians, then Frenchmen and Brazil- 

 ians. The Government does all it can to attract 

 settlers, the land-grants being as liberal as in the 

 Argentine Republic and the United States. In 

 the Chaco-Paraguayo land is given settlers gra- 

 tuitously. The best Government lands can be 



