418 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap. 



the Owen Stanley range has several peaks which reach 

 elevations of from 10,000 to 13,000 feet. The Charles 

 Louis mountains, commencing near the south coast, east 

 of Triton Bay, appear to run far in a south-easterly direc- 

 tion, and their summits are believed to be snow-clad, and 

 are probably at least 18,000 feet high. If they continue 

 eastward in the same general direction, they would pass 

 about 100 miles to the north of D'Albertis' furthest point 

 on the Fly river, and perhaps form a great curve till they 

 merge in the Owen Stanley range in the south-east. This, 

 however, is mere conjecture, for throughout the whole 

 course of the Fly river the land was low, and only on one 

 occasion were high mountains seen to the north-west. 

 Combining this with the fact that for a length of nearly 

 700 miles the south coast of New Guinea is low and swampy 

 with no high land anywhere visible, we are led to conclude 

 that there is probably a continuous range of lofty moun- 

 tains towards the north, while the south consists of Avide 

 alluvial tracts and of slightly elevated inland plains. This 

 part of the island would thus somewhat resemble Sumatra 

 turned round, but with higher mountains, which are 

 probably not volcanic, and with a considerably greater 

 width of land. 



Although the Fly river penetrates so far into the 

 interior, its size and depth in its upper portion are by no 

 means what we should expect in a stream fed by a lofty 

 mountain range close to the equator. It is, therefore, 

 almost certain that larger rivers exist further west ; while 

 another large ri\er certainly flows northward, having its 

 mouth in a delta at the eastern extremity of Geelvink 

 Bay. Until these rivers are explored, and, at least, the 

 lower slopes of the hills ascended, we cannot be said to 

 have much real knowledge of the interior of New Guinea. 



Situated close to the equator, and extending only 

 eleven degrees south of it, the climate of New Guinea is 

 hot and uniform, and the rains abundant ; leading here, 

 as elsewhere in similar situations, to the growth of a 

 luxuriant forest vegetation, which clothes hill and valley 

 with an ever- verdant mantle. Only on the coasts nearest 

 to Australia, and probably influenced by the dry winds 



