312 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



carved and painted outside to represent either 

 inverted turtle-shells or crocodile scales. We 

 were not a little amused at the action of one 

 Moko native, who singly, in his fragile canoe, 

 baled the water out by a motion of his left 

 foot, keeping his balance and paddling vigor- 

 ously against the choppy sea meanwhile." 



The Baron von Schleinitz, in a voyage to 

 the Huon Gulf in New Guinea, made the dis- 

 covery of eight harbors and nine rivers not 

 heretofore laid down on the maps. He could 

 not ascend the rivers, but he found reason to 

 suppose that some of them, in particular the 

 Markham river, would afford means for ex- 

 ploring the interior, as its broad valley stretches 

 far inland between high mountains. The rocks 

 on the southern coast are primitive and meta- 

 morphic, with older sedimentary and volcanic 

 formations ; a fact which indicates greater ac- 

 cessibility to the interior, because erosion does 

 not make the harder rocks so broken and im- 

 passable as the chalk formations in the vicinity 

 of Finch B;iy and other parts of Kaiser Wil- 

 helm's Land. Another voyage was devoted to 

 the coast, from Astrolabe Bay to the mouth of 

 Augusta river, and led to the discovery of 

 many bays, harbors, islands, and rivers not 

 upon the maps, as well as the gathering of in- 

 formation about the country, which will be of 

 value in making plans for its cultivation. 



The baron measured 140 nautical miles in 

 Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, and 110 in New Pom- 

 erania (New Britain) and Rook Island, and 

 laid down many good harbors and anchoring 

 places. In New Pomerania a low plain of 

 great extent was discovered, having a fertile 

 soil, and traversed by navigable streams. Its 

 area was estimated at 4,000 square kilometres. 



The coast between Juno Island and Cape 

 Croisilles was visited in April and May by Dr. 

 Schrader's scientific expedition, to which the 

 discovery of the Empress Augusta river is due. 

 Though lacking ia harbors, the region seemed 

 worth cultivating, the land being fertile, and 

 the coast-waters favorable for anchorage. 



The Catholic missionaries on Yule Island 

 have discovered, in the course of some excur- 

 sions to the opposite shore, that the two rivers, 

 Hilda and Ethel, flowing into Hall Sound, are 

 only insignificant streams ; but they have found 

 a new and large river, the St. Joseph, rising in. 

 Mount Yule and flowing directly southward. 

 In fifteen villages which they visited, the mis- 

 sionaries numbered about 2,000 inhabitants, 

 all of whom seemed very peaceable. They in- 

 tend to found a new station twenty miles up 

 the river. Dr. Edenfeldt was to accompany 

 them in an ascent of Mount Yule, which is 

 10,046 feet in height. 



Mount Owen Stanley, the highest peak of 

 the range of that name, has at last been as- 

 cended by Mr. C. H. Martin, who estimates its 

 height at 13,205 feet. He describes the north- 

 ern slope of the mountain as a paradise of ferns 

 and palms. The same general character is 

 given to the ridge forming the water-shed be- 



tween the south and east coasts by the report 

 of Messrs. Harding and Hunter, who ascended 

 it in the summer. It is from five to six thou- 

 sand feet high. Mount Obree, 10,240 feet high, 

 was ascended by W. R. Cuthbertson. Pines 

 were growing at heights of 6,000 to 8,000 feet, 

 and rhododendrons at the summit. 



In an article in Petermann's "Mitteil- 

 ungen," Dr. Th. Posewitz discusses the Kina- 

 balu Lake in Borneo. This lake, described as 

 lying at the foot of the Kina-balu (Chinese 

 woman) mountain on the south or southeast, 

 has been said by some travelers to be a great 

 body of water, while its existence has been 

 doubted and even wholly denied by others 

 since its first reported discovery in 1812. An 

 examination of the various reports leads him 

 to conclude that the Kina-balu is a swampy 

 depression on the middle course of the Libogu- 

 Labuk river, which was originally a lake like 

 many of those found along the course of the 

 Barito and other streams of Barito ; it appears 

 as a level tract or a marshy lowland, according 

 to the time of year it is observed. It is simply 

 now in the course of transformation from a 

 lake to a dry plain. This view is supported by 

 the name given to it on Hatton's map, Danau- 

 Ebene, that is, lake-plain, presumably taken 

 from the natives, and embodying the history of 

 the lake. The Kina-balu mountain was lately 

 ascended by Mr. H. M. Little, one of the offi- 

 cials of the Borneo Company, who describes 

 it as a huge volcanic mass, and estimates its 

 height at 11,565 feet. 



A visit made by Capt. J. Fairchild to the 

 little islands Antipodes and Bounty, near New 

 Zealand, for the purpose of building on them 

 some little huts as refuges for shipwrecked 

 people, gives some interesting information 

 about those islands. Mount Gallavay on the 

 Antipodes is about 400 metres in height, and 

 is apparently of volcanic origin ; the level part 

 of the island is covered with grass of poor 

 quality, and is the home of thousands of the 

 albatross. Capt. Fairchild thinks that, if good 

 grass were sown and sheep and goats placed 

 there, they would thrive well. There are no 

 trees either on these or the Bounty islands, 

 which are fourteen in number, and have neither 

 flowing water nor vegetation, not even lichens 

 and mosses. Millions of penguins and other 

 sea-birds make their nests there, so that ship- 

 wrecked men could find enough to eat, and 

 the frequent showers would afford water 

 enough for drinking purposes. 



The population of New Zealand, according 

 to a census made March 28, 1886, is 578,482, 

 exclusive of Maoris, of whom there are 41,969, 

 and 2,254 half-castes living with them. The 

 number of Chinese was 4,527. 



The Caroline Islands have been divided by 

 the Governor-General of the Philippine Islands 

 into two administration districts, the east and 

 west, divided by the 148th degree of east 

 longitude. 



By a treaty of Nov. 19, 1886, the little group 



