3^4 



NA TURE 



{March 9, 1876 



mountainous, a range of mountains running north-west 

 through the centre of the island, having its cuhnination 

 in Mt. Owen Stanley, 13,205 feet. The three islands 

 mentioned above, as also the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, 

 contain mountains of considerable altitude, and along a 

 great portion of the north coast densely wooded moun- 

 tains come right down to the coast. The north coast is 

 marked by an almost entire absence of the reefs which 

 are so characteristic of the south coast. Some minute 

 survey work was done among the islands in the south- 

 east, with the result that a passage has been found which 

 will shorten most materially the voyage from Australia 

 to China. Another important service done by Capt. 

 Moresby to navigation was the accurate survey of the 

 channel in Torres Straits. 



Captain Moresby landed on many points of the coast 

 surveyed as well as on the islands, and invariably he and 

 his officers and men became the best of friends with the 

 natives. Captain Moresby's skill in managing savages 

 cannot be surpassed. By tact and patience he in almost 

 every instance managed to obtain a cordial welcome from 

 the natives not only of New Guinea, but of the many 

 islands which he visited to the east of Australia. Not in 

 a single instance was it found necessary to take life, and 

 we would recommend all who have to deal .with uncivi- 

 lised people to study Capt. Moresby's tactics. The natives 

 of the part of New Guinea visited Capt. Moresby speaks 

 of as belonging to the Malay type, lighter coloured than 

 the Papuans, and with the characteristic and elaborately 

 done-up long frizzled hair. They are probably a modifi- 

 cation of the genuine Papuan, possibly in the direction of 

 the Malay type, though more probably the modification 

 may be the result of circumstances or of mixture with or 

 gradation into a more distinctly Polynesian type. They 

 are well-made, gentle in demeanour, and stand compara- 

 tively high in the scale of uncivilised men, both in intel- 

 ligence and in art. They are evidently comfortable and 

 happy, living in good houses built on piles, and having 

 abundance at hand to supply all their wants. Many 

 of them seemed not to possess the bow — the spear, 

 club, and hatchet being the chief weapons on the south 

 coast. The officers and crew of the Basilisk brought 

 away quite a shipload of weapons, utensils, and orna- 

 ments, some of them of really exquisite workmanship. 

 The use of the metals is quite unknown among most of 

 the people visited, who in many cases turned up their 

 noses at the hoop-iron with which the ship was so abun- 

 dantly supplied, and who with difficulty could be made to 

 see the superiority of the iron hatchet. Capt. Moresby 

 gives many valuable notes on these interesting people, 

 which we commend to the notice of ethnologists. 

 One very curious custom is referred to in the south- 

 east, which, when first seen, roused the indignation of 

 those on board the Basilisk, out which Capt. Moresby 

 wisely tolerated. A native, followed by a number of 

 others, rushed on board bearing a dog, which, before 

 anyone could interfere, he caught by the legs and 

 dashed out its brains on the deck. This was horribly 

 shocking, but Capt. Moresby rightly surmised that it 

 was meant as a pledge of friendship. Indeed, the poor 

 natives were evidently utterly bewildered when the officer 

 on duty bundled them out of the ship and threw the poor 

 dog's body after them, and it was only on Capt. Moresby's 



going on shore and professing friendship that they were 

 quieted. Another method of friendly salutation is to 

 squeeze the nose and the navel simultaneously with the 

 fore-finger and thumb of each hand ; the natives were 

 quite ecstatic when Capt. Moresby and his men, with ex- 

 cellent tact, returned the grotesque salutation. This plea- 

 sant people extend all along the south and north coast 

 visited, the black Papuans differing in many respects 

 from the former, and seemingly quite untractable, not 

 having been met with till about 148" E. on the north 

 coast. Though Capt. Moresby does not profess to be 

 either botanist or zoologist, and unfortunately none of his 

 staff seem to have had the necessary qualifications, still 

 naturalists will be able to glean some information from 

 his notes as to the nature of the flora and fauna to be 

 met with on the coast. We have referred to the signs 

 which a recent expedition] saw of some large quad- 

 ruped living on the island ; similar traces were found 

 by the Basilisk expedition near the head of Colling- 

 wood Bay, the second large bay from the south-east, 

 on the north coast of New Guinea. ".Here Lieut, ^mith 

 observed the droppings of some large grass-eating animal 

 in a spot where the bushes had been heavily trampled and 

 broken. Our opinion was decided that a rhinoceros had 

 haunted there ; and we were much surprised, as the 

 animal has never been believed to exist in New Guinea." 

 This and other secrets of this interesting island cannot 

 surely now remain long unrevealed. 



We have referred at length to Capt. Moresby's account 

 of his work in New Guinea, but the first half of the book 

 contains a most interesting account of a cruise among 

 the islands to the east and north-east of Australia, up- 

 wards of fifty of which were in this way visited. Almost 

 everywhere was the Basilisk welcomed, and Capt. Moresby 

 made excellent use of his opportunities in noticing the 

 characteristics of the islands and the people, and in im- 

 pressing upon the latter the desire of England to befriend 

 them. In several places sad results were seen, and 

 harrowing stories told of the visits of the Polynesian 

 kidnappers, whose inhuman traffic Capt. Moresby set 

 himself to put down. It seems doubtful whether some of 

 the islands called at by the Basilisk have been visited 

 by white men before. The natives were mostly fine- 

 looking people, evidently allied to the gentle inhabitants 

 of Southern New Guinea. On many of the islands white 

 traders and missionaries are settled, in others the natives 

 are still in their pristine and contented state. We assure 

 both the physical geographer and the ethnologist that in 

 this part of Capt. Moresby's work, they will find a very 

 great deal to interest them. 



The work altogether must be regarded as one of the 

 most valuable recent contributions to geography. Capt. 

 Moresby possesses many of the qualifications which 

 go to make an explorer of the first rank, and he 

 has the gift of telling his story in clear simple 

 language, indulging in no theories, and filling every 

 page with valuable information. In an Appendix he 

 draws attention to the suitability of New Guinea for 

 colonisation, and urges upon the imperial government, 

 we think with justice, the annexation of it and all the 

 neighbouring islands to the south and south-east. While 

 portions of the island are evidently unsuitable for habita- 

 tion by white men, a very large proportion of the country 



