6io 



NA TURE 



[October iS, 1894 



than ihose of ti.e Purari Hella. West of thi Purari delta, 

 between the moiiilis of the Fly and AirJ rvivsrs, lie three im- 

 poriaiit siteaiii'', ;he Omati, Turama, and liamu. These 

 traver>e cnoimoU'S aieas i>f low-lyinj; country. Concerning 

 each of these livers, .Mr. Thomson gave some imeicsting de- 

 tails, the result ot sir William MacGregor's exploiaiions. 

 Continuing, he reinaiked : "The exploration of the lower 

 Bamu ba^in, besides ihrowiog a flood of light upon a 

 hitherto ut.kno*n part of the country, reveals to us a condiuon 

 of things not tasily undtrstiod, and rarely met «ith in any 

 other d.>trict ul the Possession. Here no cultivated areas were 

 seen, alihuunh the soil is excctdingly rich and abundantly 

 watered. The people appeared to live eniiiely on sago. 

 Bananas weie giowing wiUI amongst the rank forest vegetation, 

 bultheie were i.o signs of sugarcane or sweet potatoes. A 

 fair idea of the richness of the land in this district may 

 be obtained when it is staled that there is nothing (o be 

 coropartd with it in the Fly basin wiihin 400 miles of the 

 sea. It is high and dry and in every rts|.ect eminently suitable 

 for extensive and s)stemaiic cultivation, there being a much 

 larger area of good available agricultural land than Sir W. 

 MacGiegor had 'seen elsewheie in the Po-session.' This dis- 

 trict could no doubt be thrown open to European settlement 

 without in any way infringing existing naiive rights." Mr. 

 Thomson hen dealt wiih >onie of the newly-discovered features 

 on the i^orlh-easi coast o( the possession examined by .Sir William 

 MacGregor during the months of February and March last. 

 " Recent detailed examination of some hitherto unexplored 

 parts of the coist-line,' .'■aid the writer, "has discovered the 

 existence of several navigable .-treams of considerable import- 

 ance, " hile a tiaverse of the coastal section between Ipote and 

 Dako shows that there are numeious sheltered channels among 

 many coial islands along the shove of the bay. These will be 

 available for trading crafts in all kinds of weather. Passing 

 on from this part ot ihe coastline, an examination was made of 

 the mi.uth of a stream slightly noilh <.f the Clyde river, wiihin 

 the German teiritory. From obseivations of ten pairs of meri- 

 dian stars the latitude of this stream was found to be 7° 5S' 30'' 

 S., taken at the place wheie it enters the sea. It is a cmn- 

 paratively small watercourse, forty or fifty yards wide on the 

 lower reaches. The naives here are of a daik bronze colour 

 and quite naked. The hair is worn in ringlet, and removed 

 from the face. Their ornaments consist of Job's teais, earrings 

 of turtle shell, and head luffs of cassowary feathers. They 

 were aimed with spears of palmwood, Gothic shaped shields 

 nearly 3 feet long, and stone clubs. At tirst they were friendly, 

 but afterwards appealed hostile. The next river to claim atten- 

 tion is called ihe .Vlambare. This is simply one of the mouths 

 of a river known as the Clyde, of the Admiralty chaiis. It 

 lies about two miles within the Hritish territory, and in the 

 lower part traverses some good alluvial land, abounding wiih 

 remarkably fine fields of sago palms. The river was navigable 

 by the s'.eam launch for the first forty miles, where further pro- 

 gress was impeded by rapids', and some lew miles farther the 

 channel is simply a succession of deep pools. Below the 

 rapids some extensive areas of very fine alluvial land were met 

 with, and the foiest tiees so high that the birds on the upper 

 branches lade defiance to the marksman's firearms. Above 

 the rapids the country was broken, and little agricultural land 

 was to be seen. The district possesses a very fine climate. 

 Sandflies and mosquitoes were entirely absent, and the early 

 morning atmosphere was decidedly cool and bracing. The 

 people have well-cleared and cultivated garden^, in which they 

 plant tarn, sugai-canc, edible hibiscus, yams, and bananas ; but 

 there were apparently no tobacco, papaya, nor pumpkins. 

 Several villages were located on the banks of the liver, some of 

 which arc situated in the midst of beautiful groves of cocoanut 

 and betel palms. The only ornamental shrubs met with con- 

 sisted of a lematkably fine variety of light yellow crolons of 

 great beauty. Ordinary watercresscs were met with at one of 

 the villages, but they were seen at no other place on Ihe 

 north-cast coast. The men were profusely ornamented with 

 shells, pigs' teeth, Job's tears, cassowary leathers, red seeds, and 

 bones, .'^fjmc of the women wore a necklace or two, others a 

 narrow maiwork bell, but they were clothed with nothing else. 

 In this part of the country they use the password 

 'Orokaiva,' meaning 'man of peace.' They use an adze 

 of ba.salt. Their pottery is not well prepared. It is without 

 ornamtnl, thick, and slightly conical in shape. The people 

 seemed to be industrious agriculturists, growing food for the 



NO. 1303, VOL. 50] 



entire population. They possess a great number of canoes. Sir 

 William .MacGregor is of opinion that some good agricultural 

 land could be obtained for European settlement without inter- 

 fering with native occupation, and he further believes that the 

 natives would welcome Eumpcin setlers who would be pre- 

 pared to treat them fairly." The next place visited was a small 

 sluggish river, fifty to sixty yaids wide, and two fathoms deep, 

 called the Ope or Opera. The position of its mouth w.as found 

 to be lat. V iS' 16" S., and long. 14S' It' 25" E. It is 

 convenient for watering ships .ind of value to traders. Several 

 villages were seen in the neighbourhood, and there was 

 evidence of a l.irge population of friendly natives. The men 

 were nude, but the women were covered by a pettico.-it of naiive 

 cloth. They were armed with speais and stone club.^, orna- 

 mented with wreaths of convolvulus and red hibiscus. They 

 danced, sang, and shouted, but appeared to be very friendly. 

 To the south of this district the Kumusi River flows into 

 Ilolnicot or Gona Bay, in lat. S" 28' S., and long. 148° 

 16' E. The mouth is obstructed by a ba--, some four feet below 

 the surface. Most of the land on the lower part of this river is 

 low and unfit for European cultivation, although considerable 

 areas of alluvial deposits are occupied by many native gardens, 

 and there are fine fields of sago palms. The highest point 

 reached was about forty-six miles from the sea, by traverse, or 

 lat. S' 35' S. and long. 14S' o' 20" E., where further pro- 

 gress was barred by rapids. Here the country "was with- 

 out exception the most attractive" Sir W. .MacGregor had 

 "seen in New Guinea." E.xtensive lr.-icts of splendid alluvial 

 land stretched far and wide along the river valley, 

 covered by forest trees, and to all appearance above the 

 reach of flood. These flats occupy what was formerly the river 

 bed, as indicated by the sandy substiatum. Some six miles 

 from the river lay one of the central main mountain ranges, the 

 intervening space being occupied by small mountain streams, 

 numerous rolling wooded hills and flats. At night the air was 

 pure and delightfully cool. Gieat reluctance was felt at having 

 to leave such a district, where the scenery is of a very fine 

 description. There is apparently a large population here, but 

 the people would no doubt be friendly. When descending the 

 river the steam launch Ruby collided with a treacherously con- 

 cealed snag and foundered. This unfortunate accident com- 

 pelled the party to travel down an open unprotected coast in 

 the whale and viver boats. The Kumusi natives were unusu.ally 

 interesting. They are from a light to a dark bronze colour, not 

 remarkably powerful people, but of fair Papuan physique. 

 Their foreheads are squaie and rather high, with hazel eyes of 

 fair size, large mouth, small chin, and flat cheeks and chests. 

 The nose resembles that of Port Moresby, only slightly shorter, 

 and the nostrils rather coarser, lioth sexes wear cloth of 

 mulberry bark. They use stone clubs, the disc and the pine- 

 apple pattern, the palmwood spear with square-shapeil sharp 

 end and barbs on one side only, and small Gothic shields, with 

 a few examples of the great shield of Orangeric Bay. The 

 stone clubs and adzes are made of basalt. They have no 

 tobacco growing in their gardens, and were ignorant of its use. 

 Their canoes are similar to those on the Ikore and .\Iambare 

 Rivers. It was found that a river of considerable s:/e enters 

 the sea at Cape Sudest, but unluckily a bar closes its entrance 

 to navigation. The natives call it Tambokoro. The position 

 of Cape Sudest was determined astronomicallv, and lound to 

 be in lat. S 44' S. and long. 148° 25' 30' E. In Dyke 

 Adand Hay three streams were discovered — Kevoto and 

 Umundi Creeks and the .Musa River. The mouth of the first 

 of tliese lies in lat. 9' 4' 55 ' S. and long. 148° 1}^ 20' E. Hoth 

 creeks are of little importance. The lower pait of the Musa 

 River traverses low, swampy country, covered by water when 

 the liver is flooucd. When ascending this stream the Ad- 

 ministrator passed within a few miles of the western peaks of 

 Mount Victory. " It has three principal summits, the western 

 one of which is at present quiescent." Ashylooking deposits 

 were obseived nmong the rocks on the others, and sever.rl large 

 fumcrolcs, out of wh:ch little spiral clouds of smoke were issu- 

 ing. The highest point reached on the river was about 

 ihirty-five milts from the sea in lat. 9° 19' ."o" S. and long. 

 148° S3'43'E. Here the slieam was about 100 yards broad, 

 three lathomsdeep, and the current two to three knots per hour. 

 This place was evidently on the margin of a settled country. 

 The banks of the river were beginning to rise, and the capacity 

 of the channel was about suflicitnt to carry the water. The 

 {orcsl trees were very laigc. What the upper portion of the 



