270 XEJV GUINEA. [chap. 



intervening sea, little known to Europeans, is a network of shoals 

 which render the northern passage extremely dangerous, and the few 

 ships which pass these wild and lonely shores always hug the line 

 of reefs on the Batanta coast. In the case of Batanta and Waigiou 

 we have an excellent example of the rule — to wliich there are few 

 exceptions — that the length of time that any island has l^een 

 separated from the mainland bears more or less relation to the 

 depth of the intervening sea. Batanta is in close proximity to 

 Salwatti — abordiug it for a distance of more than twenty miles, 

 the strait at no part being more than five, and in some places not 

 more than two miles across. Waigiou, on the other hand, has five 

 and twenty miles of intervening sea between its nearest point and 

 Batanta. It might reasonably be supposed that the fauna of 

 Batanta would correspond closely with that of Salwatti did we not 

 know that the existence of a strait, however naiTOw, is an almost 

 insuperable barrier to the passage of most of the forest-haunting 

 species. The great depth of water in Pitt Strait renders it probable 

 that the separation of Batanta took place at some long past period, 

 while the shallow soundings and numerous reefs existing in 

 Dampier Strait, together with the fact that Waigiou shows signs 

 of recent subsidence, indicate that the latter island was connected 

 with Batanta at no very remote date. A consideration of the 

 a\dfauna of the two islands bears out this theory completely. 

 Several species, which do not exist in Salwatti — among them the 

 Birds of Paradise to which I have alluded — are found in Batanta, 

 Ijut they also occur in Waigiou, and, ornithologically speaking, the 

 two latter islands are practically identical. 



Eeturning next day to Momos, we prepared for our departure 

 and paid off the men who had accompanied us to Chabrol Bay. 



^ The wide-rauging King Bird (Cicinmcrus rcgiiis) is not found in Waigiou, but 

 it is believed to exist in Batanta. While in the latter island we on two occasions 

 saw a bird closely resembling it, but it may possibly have been the lovely Rhipidwnis 

 Guliclmi tertii, which — although its native country is still uncertain — is supposed to 

 be found in Waigiou. Only four specimens of this bird have ever been obtained, and 

 oiu- search for it and inquiries among the natives were fruitless. 



