CHAPTER IV 



Sail from the Am Islands— Sight New Guinea— Distant Mountains^ 

 Signal Fires — Natives in Canoes — A British Flag — Natives on 

 Board — Their Behaviour — Arrival at Mimika River — Reception at 

 Wakatimi — Dancing and Weeping — Landing Stores — View of the 

 Country — Snoiv Mountains — Shark-Fishing — Making the Camp- 

 Death of W. Stalker. 



When wc left the northernmost end of the Aru Islands 

 behind us the wind rose and torrents of rain descended, 

 and the Arafura Sea, which is almost everj^where more 

 or less shoal water, treated us to the first foul weather 

 we had experienced since leaving England. At dawn 

 on the 4th January we found ourselves in sight of land, 

 and about five miles south of the New Guinea coast. 

 A big bluff mountain (Mount Lakahia) a southern spur 

 of the Charles Louis range determined our position, and 

 the head of the Nias was immediately turned to the 

 East. As we steamed along the coast the light grew 

 stronger, and we saw in the far North-east pale clouds, 

 which presently resolved themselves into ghostly-looking 

 mountains one hundred miles away. Soon the rising 

 sunlight touched them and we could clearly see white 

 patches above the darker masses of rock and then we 

 knew that these were the Snow Mountains of New 

 Guinea, which we had come so far to see. Beyond an 

 impression of their remoteness and their extraordinary 

 steepness we did not learn much of the formation of 

 the mountains from that great distance and they were 



