384 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



Chalmers must be mentioned as one of the early pioneers 

 on the south coast. Visiting the Gulf of Papua in 1877, 

 he, later, established himself at Port Moresby, and has 

 done much to elucidate the ethnology of the Papuans, as 

 has his co-worker Mr. Lawes, and also Mr. van Hasselt 

 in Dutch New Guinea. The naturalists Bernstein and 

 Von Rosenberg had previously investigated the north- 

 west peninsula, and in 1871 the Eussian Miklukho 

 Maklai resided for fifteen months upon the coast which 

 now bears his name (" Maclay Coast "), under conditions 

 of great hardship. In 1872, Signor d'Albertis, an 

 Italian naturalist, succeeded in ascending part of the 

 Arfak range, and returned with rich collections of the 

 insects and birds ; but this exploit, successful as it was, 

 was eclipsed by his exploration of the Fly River four 

 years later, which he ascended for over 500 miles, thus 

 penetrating to the very heart of the country. Meyer in 

 1873, and Beccari in 1875, collected in North-Western 

 New Guinea, the former paying special attention to the 

 exploration of Geelvink Bay, and crossing, or nearly 

 crossing, the island at its two narrowest points. Two 

 years afterwards Mr. Wilfrid Powell made a hazardous 

 voyage along the coasts of New Britain in a small vessel 

 of only 1 5 tons burden, mapped a large area until then 

 unvisited, and also visited the north coast as far as 

 Humboldt Bay; and in 1883 Mr. Kettlewell's yacht 

 Marchesa cruised for some time in the waters of Dutch 

 territory, visiting most of the great islands, and obtaining 

 very large collections of birds and insects. The Swiss 

 collector, M. Leon Laglaize, made several expeditions to 

 the north-western peninsula about this period, and was 

 the first to penetrate the country of the Karons. 



In 1884 the eastern portion of the island was annexed 

 by Great Britain and by Germany, and since then expe- 



