A CONTRIBUTION 



TO THE 



PHYTOGEOGRAPHY AND FLORA 



OF 



DUTCH N.W. NEW GUINEA. 



INTRODUCTION. 

 1. HISTORICAL. 



THE history of the navigation and exploration of Now Guinea from the 

 earliest times has been most exhaustively summarised by Dr. Wichmann in 

 the two volumes of history included in " Nova Guinea." The following 

 account is, therefore, strictly limited to records of botanical collections and 

 observations in N.W. New Guinea alone. 



From historical times the N.W. coast of Dutch New Guinea paid tribute 

 to the Sultans of Tidor, and was subsequently included in the Residency of 

 Termite, which now administers the whole of the Sultan's dominions. 

 Termite, the capital, has always been the centre of the N. New Guinea 

 trade in Bird*-of-Paradise, the " Passaros del Sol " of the old Portuguese 

 navigators, who widely distributed these highly prized objects both east and 

 west, Oriental potentates and Moorish sultans with their courtiers vying in 

 the possession of such treasured symbols of royal power and magnificence, 

 which adorned the headgear on ceremonious occasions. 



Subsequent to this the golden returns from the spice trade in the 

 Moluccas, a monopoly most stringently held by the Dutch East India Co., 

 attracted the attention of other European nations. In the search both for 

 wild varieties of the precious trees and suitable areas for possible exploitation, 



