^'EW GUINEA AND THE PAPUANS 425 



southern boundary, the first of any importance is T'rince 

 Frederick Henry Island. Altliough DO miles in extreme 

 length, it is low, perfectly flat, and marshy, and is only 

 separated from the mainland by a narrow channel. It 

 thus partakes of the nature of a delta island, and is of 

 little or no value. To the north-north-west lies the Aru 

 group, a vast congeries of islands, the nearest of which is 

 not less than 7 miles distant from the mainland, yet the 

 intervening sea is so shallow as everywhere to be fished 

 for pearls by the native divers, and the presence of casso- 

 waries, kangaroos, and birds-of-paradise shows the islands 

 to be purely Papuan. The group is compactly massed, 

 and is about 130 miles long by 50 broad, consisting of 

 one island — or, more accurately, land mass — of large size, 

 the Tana besar of the Malays, and innumerable other 

 islands. This Tana besar is divided by numerous narrow 

 channels, resembling rivers, the origin of which it is diffi- 

 cult to explain, the more so as in some cases these 

 marine rivers, as they may be termed, are culs-de-sac. 

 Herr Kibbe and another German naturalist resided on 

 the islands for more than a year in 1882, and records 

 that rain fell on 250 days in 12 months' observations. 

 This rainfall, however, was considered unusual, and the 

 islands sometimes suffer considerably from drought. The 

 natives are undoubted Papuans, although they do not 

 cultivate the large mops of hair usually worn by that 

 race. Every family has its peculiar totem, which is 

 carved over the doorway of the house, and the houses are 

 of remarkable construction, built on piles sunk in the 

 solid rock, and consisting of two rooms only, the one sur- 

 rounding the other. The people are apparently divided 

 into two brotherhoods or confederations — the Uli-luna 

 and the Uli-siwa — which are more or less at enmity 

 with each other. An altogether separate tribe are tlie 



