INSULAR A US TRALASI. i . 



1229 



and twenty ounces, valued at twenty-six thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven pounds, 

 but this is a good deal less than the amount actually obtained. The existence of other 

 minerals has not been proved. Until a competent geologist visits the country and reports 

 on its formation, with a view to practical mining operations, the mineral products of 

 New Guinea will be conjectural only. 



The earliest missionary work among the natives of New Guinea was probably that 

 of the Lutheran Church, which had missionaries at Dorey some years before Mr. Wallace 

 visited it in 1861. A Roman Catholic mission was begun on Woodlark Island, in 

 the Louisiade Group, but the members died, the Bishop removed to Rook Island, 

 where he succumbed to fever, leaving but little result. Sir \Vm. MacGregor in 1890 

 found some natives who remembered them, and who crossed themselves and knew a few 

 French phrases. In 1872, the London Missionary Society began work on some of the 

 Islands in the Fly River District, and also on the main-land at Redscar Bay, a large 

 number of South Sea Island missionaries, under the superintendance of a few Europeans, 

 have been engaged in teaching and preaching. Sixty stations are now (in 1891) occupied 

 on the south-east coast from the Fly River to East Cape, and a considerable number 

 of natives have embraced Christianity and made some progress in education and 

 civilization. A Roman Catholic mission was begun in 1885 at Yule Island, by brethren 

 of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They have extended their mission to the Saint Joseph 

 River District, in which they have several stations. The Wesleyan Board of Missions 

 are taking up the islands lying off the east end of New Guinea, in connection with a 

 station on the main-land at Bentley Bay. The Australian Anglican Mission is beginning 

 operations on the north-east coast from Cape Ducie, to the German boundary at 

 Mitre Rock. In German New Guinea several Protestant missionaries from Germany 

 are settled among the natives. 



THE NEW BRITAIN GROUP. 



^T^HE New Britain Group is generally considered to include the two large islands of 

 New Britain and New Ireland, the small group called the Duke of York Group, 

 New Hanover, Sandwich, Gerrit, Denys, St. John's, Sir Charles Hardy's and Fischer 

 Islands, and the Kaan Group, with a number of outlying islets. Of the whole Group 

 but little was known before the year 1875. Up to that time no white man had been 

 able to live on the main Island, nor was there any trustworthy information obtainable 

 either about the place or the people. Some traders from the firm of Messrs. Godeffroy 

 and Sons had resided for a few weeks on the island of Matupit, in Blanche Bay, but 

 they came into collision with the natives, and were compelled to fly and abandon the 

 Island, after shooting some of the natives in making their escape. New Britain is separated 

 from the north-east coast of New Guinea by Rook Island, and a deep-sea channel about 

 fifty miles wide. Dampier's Straits is the name given to the channel through which that 

 navigator sailed, in the year 1 700, and thus proved that New Britain was a separate 

 island, and not a part of New Guinea. Dampier calls the Group by the one name of New 

 Britain, and thought indeed that it was only one main island; but Carteret, in 1767, 

 discovered St. George's Bay to be a wide open strait, varying from twentv to thirtv 



