CHAPTER XX 



NEW GUINEA AND ITS INHABITANTS 



Immediately north of Australia, and separated from it 

 at Torres Straits by less than a hundred miles of sea, is 

 the largest island on the globe — New Guinea, a country 

 of surpassing interest, whether as regards its natural 

 productions or its human inhabitants, but which remains 

 to this day less known than any accessible portion of the 

 earth's surface. Within the last thirty years considerable 

 attention has been attracted towards it, by surveys which 

 have completed our knowledge of its outline and dimensions, 

 by the settlement of English missionaries on its southern 

 coasts, by the explorations of several European naturalists, 

 and by the visits of Australian miners attracted by the 

 alleged discovery of gold in the sands of its rivers. From 

 these various sources there has resulted a somewhat sudden 

 increase in our still scanty knowledge of this hitherto 

 unknown land ; and we therefore propose to give a general 

 sketch of the island and of the peculiar forms of life 

 that inhabit it, and to discuss briefl}^ some of the interest- 

 ing problems connected with its indigenous races. 



It has hitherto been the custom of geographers to give 

 the palm to Borneo as the largest island in the world, but 

 this is decidedly an error. A careful measurement, founded 

 on the most recent maps, shows that New Guinea is con- 

 siderably the larger, and must for the future be accorded 

 the first place. In shape this island differs greatly from 

 Borneo, being irregular and much extended in a N.N.W. 

 and S.S.E. direction, so that its greatest length is little 



