1NSUL AR A US TRALASIA. 



1231 



cur 



December to May the weather is often very squally, and the north-west monsoon prevails. 



During these months the rain-fall is exceptionally heavy, a fall of four inches in as 



many hours has been very frequently recorded, and the annual total would probably not 



be below one hundred and twenty inches. The south-east monsoon blows very strongly 



from June to October, when a few weeks of variable weather precede the setting in of 



the north-west monsoon. The tides are very irregular, and seem to be much affected by 



the prevailing wind and currents. A change of wind is on some days sufficient to 



counteract almost entirely the usual ebb of the tide. There is only one tide in the 



twenty-four hours. The flood-tide in the channel between New Ireland and the Duke of 



York Island sets to the north along the coast of the latter, and the ebb to the 



south. During the whole of the north-west monsoon, or 



from the end of November to the end of April, the 



rent sets strongly to the south-east. During some of 



months, especially January and February, it is often 



strong indeed, and the channel between the 



Duke of York Group and New Ireland is 



covered with trees, which, from the number 



and size of the barnacles adhering to them, 



and the quantities of Crustacea and fishes in 



and about them, must have been a long time 



in the water. The current changes during 



the south-east monsoon, setting north-west 



in that season. 



The life and manners of the aborigines 

 may be best described by individualizing a 

 type, who shall, for our present purpose, be 

 known as To Ling, or its feminine equivalent, 

 Ne Ling words in the New Britain dialect 

 signifying " such-a-one." For the land of To 

 Ling's birth, then, there is no native name. 

 Both on New Britain and New Ireland the 

 land is divided into districts, which often 

 receive their names from a river or moun- 

 tain. New Ireland is called Tombara on 

 the charts, and navigators no doubt under- 

 stood the natives to give that as the name 

 of the land to which they pointed when 



THE " DUK DUK," NEW BRITAIN GROUP. 



asking the question, but the word simply means the south-east trade-wind, or the quarter 

 from which it blows. There is no unity among the people, and there could scarcely be 

 a general name for a land split up into districts, the people of which have no connection 

 with each other, and speak what are practically different languages. To Ling's home 

 was in a village, the like of which may be found any day in every district of the 

 Group. In a clear patch of ground in the heart of a dense scrub approached by narrow 

 tracks from all sides, some of which lead down to the beach, and others to huts of 



