THE LAST OF NEW GUINEA 257 



Zwaan, where we soon were lulled to sleep by the 

 pleasant music of the screw. Early the next morning 

 a dull cloud on the northern horizon was our last view 

 of New Guinea, and before night we had reached civi- 

 lisation again in the anchorage of Dobo. 



Two days later we came to the K6 Islands and went 

 ashore to visit the Cathohc Mission at Toeal. There is 

 nothing of great interest to see there except the magni- 

 ficent " iron wood " timber, which is cut in the forests 

 of the larger island, and is used for boat-building ; it 

 is obtained in larger pieces than teak, and it is said to be 

 equally good. The fathers occupy themselves with 

 carpentry and boat-building and with teaching a class 

 of small children. The few people whom we saw 

 appeared to be of a mixed Malay-Papuan race and were 

 dressed in unspeakably dirty clothes. 



From Toeal we went on to Banda, where we spent 

 a day of pouring rain, a great pity, for a walk through 

 the nutmeg woods of Banda is one of the pleasantest 

 excursions in the islands, and a day later we dropped 

 anchor in the harbour of Amboina. 



It will be fitting to remark here that on the 

 outward journey from Java to New Guinea and on our 

 return from the Mimika to Amboina, the members of 

 the expedition were the guests of the Netherlands 

 Government. The thanks of the Secretary of State 

 for Foreign Affairs have been conveyed to the captains 

 of the ships and to the other officials, who helped the 

 expedition in a hundred different ways. 



At Amboina, where we waited a few days for the 

 arrival of a steamer to Singapore, we parted with 



s 



