148 REPORT—1862. 
copy of the Scriptures in Hebrew. With regard to their being descendants of 
Rechab, they quoted Jeremiah xxxy. 4-7, They stated themselves to be 600,000 
in number, thus confirming the prophecy, and the chief location of the tribes to be 
the south-east of the Mountains of Moab. Their general sojourn is on the west 
shore of the Dead Sea, and some of their members had been heard to say prayers 
at the tomb of a Jewish rabbi, in the Hebrew language. A rabbi named Gadd fell 
into their hands, and was robbed of everything, but bewailing his loss in the words 
commencing ‘“ Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God,” and being overheard, 
the tribe who had robbed him returned him all the spoil. He endeavoured to 
induce them to part with a copy of their Scriptures, which he actually saw, but 
they said that money was of no consequence to them, and that the books were very 
expensive in transcription. 
On Terrestrial Planispheres. By the Chevalier Ienazto Vitta. 
On the Trade of the Eastern Archipelago with New Guinea and its Islands. 
By Atrrep R. Wartace, F.2L.GS., ZS. 
The part of New Guinea with which trade is regularly maintained extends from 
the eastern extremity of the great Geelvink Bay, in about long. 137° E., to very 
nearly the same longitude on the south coast, a little beyond the river Utanata. 
This is a coast-line of more than 1200 miles, and it embraces also the islands of 
Jobie, of Biak and Sook, Waigiou, Salwatty, Batanta, Mysol, and the Ké and Aru 
Islands, all of which are inhabited by branches of the Papuan race. 
From the interior parts of New Guinea the only articles of commercial import- 
ance are aromatic barks and wild nutmegs. From the coasts and islands, tripang or 
béche-de-mer, pearl-shell, and tortoiseshell are all obtained in abundance, and form 
the most valuable portion of the trade. Less in quantity and importance are pearls, 
sago (raw and in cakes), birds of paradise, mats, palm-leaf boxes, and rice in the 
husk (paddy). These articles are mostly consumed in the Kast, some (as the aro- 
matic Mussoi bark) in Java, others (the tripang and pearls) in China, the pearl- 
shell being the only article the whole of which finds its way to Europe. 
The trade is almost entirely carried on by native prahus from Celebes and the 
Moluccas—rude vessels, sometimes built entirely without iron, carrying mat-sails 
on a triangular mast, and altogether incapable of beating against the wind. They 
therefore make but one voyage a year, going at the beginning of the west monsoon in 
December and January, and returning with the east monsoon in July and August. 
The trade is entirely carried on by barter,—calicoes, red cotton, bar-iron, choppers, 
axes, cheap German knives, Chinese crockery, brass wire, coloured beads, silver 
coins, tobacco, arrack, and opium being the articles chiefly in demand by the 
natives, some being required in one district, while a different assortment is requisite 
in another. In some parts, as at Dorey, Mysol, and Aru Islands, trade is carried on 
with peace and regularity ; in others, as Jobie and the neighbourhood of Maclure’s 
Tnlet, bargains are made by both parties fully armed and ready, should the nego- 
tiations not prove satisfactory, to settle the matter by a deadly combat. In these 
par scarcely a year passes but some traders are killed either in open combat or 
y hidden treachery, and whole crews are often massacred. 
To give some idea of the extent of this trade, I may mention that when I visited 
the Aru Islands in 1857, there were 15 large prahus from Macassar, besides about 
100 small ones from various other islands, and I estimated the value of the produce 
which they took away at about £20,000. 
Sago is the staff of life in these countries, and the chief support of all engaged in 
the New Guinea trade. To see sago manufactured by the natives is an extraordi- 
nary sight. A whole tree-trunk, about 20 feet long and 5 feet in circumference, is, 
by a few days’ labour, converted into human food. A good-sized tree will produce 
30 bundles of raw sago, weighing about 30 lbs. each bundle, and when baked yield- 
ing about 60 cakes of 8 toa pound. Two of these cakes are a meal for a man, or 
about 5 cakes per day; and asa tree produces 1800 cakes, it gives food for one man 
for about a year. The labour to produce the taw sago, by breaking up and washing 
the pithy substance of the trunk, is about 10 days for one man, which labour pro~ 
