382 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



probably nearly as far as Astrolabe Bay. The natives 

 were at that time known both to the Spaniards and 

 Portuguese as " Papuas," a name given them by the 

 people of the Moluccas, Galvao tells us, "because they 

 are black, with frizzled hair." Another Spaniard, Ynigo 

 Ortiz de Eetes, in the ship San Juan, also sailed along 

 the north coast in 1546, anchored in several harbours, 

 and was the first to give the country the name of New 

 Guinea, from the resemblance of the people to negroes. 

 In 1606 Luis Vaz de Torres passed through the straits 

 which still bear his name, and sailed along the south 

 coast, taking possession of it in the name of the king of 

 Spain. In the same year the Dutch began their explora- 

 tions in these seas, visited the Aru and Ke islands, and 

 sailed along the west and south coasts of New Guinea; 

 and from that time,. for more than two centuries, almost 

 all the exploration of the coasts was made by this 

 nation ; and we find their voyages commemorated in 

 numerous Dutch names, as Geelvink Bay, Schouten's 

 Islands, and MacCluer's Inlet. In l700 our country- 

 man Dampier sailed along the north coast, touching at 

 many points, naming many capes and islands, and dis- 

 covering the strait which bears his name. Thus a con- 

 siderable knowledge of the coast was obtained, but not a 

 single attempt was made to penetrate the interior. In 

 1827 a small Dutch settlement was attempted at Triton 

 Bay, on the south-west coast, but it was soon given up, 

 and no attempt at exploration appears to have been 

 made. Mr. Wallace was informed by a Dutch gentle- 

 man at Makassar that the officer in charge of this settle- 

 ment, finding the life there insufferably monotonous, 

 killed the cattle and other live stock, and reported that 

 they had died, and that the place was unhealthy and the 

 natives intractable. Had a naturalist been chosen for 



