NEW GUINEA AND THE PAPUANS 429 



niouutains. In the north are hard crystalline rocks, but 

 the south is mostly coral limestone, fissured and worn 

 into many fantastic shapes. The whole is covered with 

 dense forest. Batanta and Waigiu are remarkable for 

 possessing two peculiar paradise-birds, not found in any 

 other island — the Eed bird-of-paradise and Wilson's bird- 

 of-paradise. Batanta is almost uninhabited, but in 

 Waigiu the people of the coast live under petty rajas, 

 subordinate to the Sultan of Tidor, to whom they have 

 to pay an annual tribute of paradise-birds, tortoise-shell, 

 and sago. In this island there are " Alfuros " or wild 

 tribes in the interior, as in Salwatti. 



Passing eastward to Geelvink Bay, we find two islands 

 at its mouth, the Willem Schouten or Misore group, the 

 easternmost of which is known as Biak, the other as Suk, 

 or Supiori. They are scarcely ever visited, and the interior 

 is quite unknown, but it is believed that no birds-of-paradise 

 exist, though the rare and beautiful crown-pigeon, Goura 

 Victorice, which is also found on Jobi Island, occurs in 

 abundance. Jobi, or Jappen as it is sometimes called, is 

 of considerable size, being 110 miles long and 10 to 15 

 in breadth. The village of Ansus on its southern coast 

 carries on a certain trade with Dorei, but the natives, 

 although not so treacherous as those of the Willem 

 Schouten group, are not entirely trustworthy, and are 

 constantly at war with the people of the interior. Dr. 

 Guillemard was told in Ansus that there were seven 

 tribes of " Alfuros " in the island, of which the JSTatawoi 

 and Itoba speak the same language, as do also the 

 Papuma and Arowaba. Those of the Marau, Aiomi, and 

 Ariwawa are distinct, and there are thus five languages 

 exclusive of that of the coast dwellers, all of them suffi- 

 ciently dissimilar to be incomprehensible to persons of 

 another tribe. The coast people are probably mixed 



