NEW GUINEA AND THE PAPU2\.NS 383 



the post, there is every reason to believe a very different 

 result would have been obtained. 



Although until quite recently New Guinea was an 

 almost complete terra incognita, many naturalists and 

 travellers have of late years visited and explored it. 

 Even now, however, no land journeys of any length have 

 been made into the interior, which is only known by the 

 ascents of the Fly and Kaiserin Augusta rivers. It 

 would be beyond the scope of this volume to refer in 

 detail to the work of each explorer, but some of the most 

 important points may here be given. After what may 

 be termed the middle period in the history of discovery 

 — that of Cook in 1770, of D'Entrecasteaux in the 

 Recherche in 1793, of Duperrey in 1822-25, and of 

 Dumont d'Urville, who explored the northern coast in 

 the Astrolabe in 1827 — the work was again taken up by 

 Englishmen, and in 1843 the Ely River was discovered 

 by the ship of that name. From 1846-50, H.M.S. 

 Rattlesnake surveyed the coasts and islands to the south, 

 and it was the officers of this vessel who viewed and 

 named the lofty Owen Stanley peaks. But it was not 

 till 1873 that Captain Moresby, in the Basilisk, deter- 

 mined the form of the south-eastern extremity, which 

 had previously been totally unknown, and thus com- 

 pleted our knowledge of the external form and dimen- 

 sions of this vast island. 



We may pass now to the various attempts to penetrate 

 the interior and investigate the fauna and flora of this 

 most interesting island. In 1858 Mr. Wallace visited 

 Dorei, on the north coast, and remained there with four 

 Malay servants for three months and a half This was 

 the first time that any European had ventured to reside 

 alone, and practically unprotected, on the mainland of 

 this country. In missionary enterprise the Eev. J. 



