184 REPORT— 1876. 



On some Points of Interest in tJie Physical Conformation and Antiquities of tlie 

 Jordan Vallei/. By Professor Poetee. 



The general geological structure of the valley, the author said, was lime, and of the 

 same age as the basin of the Sea of GaUilee, and its surface was flat. The breadth 

 varied from three to ten miles, extending a little towards the east ; and from the 

 nature of its thick alluvial covering, it was of more recent formation than the 

 mountains, of which the soil was the deposit, the vallej' having been at one time ap- 

 parently a lake. The River Jordan, as it at present existed, could have had nothing 

 to do with the formation of the valley itself He recommended to tlie notice of 

 men of science that geological remains on the site of Sodom and Gomorrah pointed 

 to an explosion of bitumen much later than the ordinary geological formation, and 

 probably within the historic period. 



Notes on the River Putumayo or I^d, SontJi America. By A. Snrsox. 



On his Eecent Journeys in New Guinea, By Octatius Stone. 



The island extends in a south-easterly direction for a distance of over 1400 milf\'a, 

 having a maximum width of 450 miles and a minimum of only 20. The neigli- 

 bourhood of the Baxter River and the entire shores to tlie west of the Papuan Gulf, 

 for an average of 100 miles inland, were low and more or less swampy, being inter- 

 sected by watercourses and covered with forests of mangrove-ti'ees. This part of 

 the country was thinly populated by the Dande Papuans, who iu consequence were 

 subjected to periodical raids from the adjoining islands of Borgu, Scaibai, and 

 Daun, the invaders generally returning victorious with the heads or jaw-bones of 

 their slaughtered victims. The only trace of cultivation he saw v/as 80 miles up 

 the river, where a space of six acres liad been neatly fenced round and planted 

 with yams, taras, sugar-cane, and tobacco. Outside the enclosure were two or 

 three uninhabited bark huts, which appeared to afford shelter to these ro'\inf 

 people, in which they prolonged their stay as game was more or less plentiful. 

 Traces of wild boar and kangaroo were observed in tlie Upper Baxter. No other 

 large animal was known to exist. They were hunted with the bow and barbed 

 arrow, while the war-arrows were poisoned by steeping in tlie putrid carcase of a 

 victim until sufficiently saturated. The district of the Baxter River contrasted 

 strikingly witli the Fly River discovered by Capt. Evans, whose banks for GO miles 

 swarmed with human beings. The author's impression of the western coast was 

 tliat it would prove a grave to such Europeans as sliould choose to reside there. 

 This part of the country was inhabited by the Papuan race, a dark race of people, 

 though not so dark as the ^\.ustralian negro, and one of cannibal propensities. The 

 eistern peninsula, on the other hand, was inhabited by the ISIalay race. Of this 

 race the author tliought they had come to New Guinea from islands further east, 

 8 mie of them making the change at a comparatively recent date. This race was 

 fir above the savage, botli in intellectual and moral attributes. They were culti- 

 vators of the soil, each having his own plantation, and strongly opposed to tlie 

 caunibalisni and polygamy which obtained among their western neighbours the 

 Papuans. The women, too, of the Malay race were not debased as among the 

 dark race, but mixed witli the men, with whom they shared the management of 

 public affairs. The Owen Stanley mountains ran through the centre of the country, 

 from soutli to north ; and the east country was, on tlie whole, favourable to culti- 

 vation, and probably possessed great mineral wealtli. It accordingly offered suffi- 

 cient inducement for colonization ; but colonization, if attempted, would requij e to 

 be set about with much previous consideration, owing to the peculiar situation of 

 the peninsula and the circumstances of the people. 



