44 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 967 



leum refineries in the past, even though 

 enormous in quantity, has been restricted 

 almost entirely to the extraction and clari- 

 fication of products which exist ready- 

 made in the crude oil. The various grades 

 of gasoline and naphtha, illuminating oil, 

 lubricating oil, paraffin, fuel oil and road 

 oil are all marketed in a low-developed 

 stage in the art of manufacture. The coal- 

 tar industry, on the other hand, which 

 utilizes a cinide material closely resembling 

 petroleum, and not a bit more inviting, has 

 reached a high stage of development in 

 that its products are completely trans- 

 formed into an almost infinite variety of 

 costly dye-stuffs, flavoring matters, medic- 

 inal preparations and other articles which 

 have contributed to our wealth, our com- 

 fort and to the advance of our civilization. 

 This utilization of what was formerly a 

 waste product which could be disposed of 

 only at considerable expense is a splendid 

 example of what chemical industrial re- 

 search has accomplished. The fact that 

 petroleum products are not similarly util- 

 ized simply demonstrates that we lack the 

 requisite knowledge. 



F. W. BUSHONG 



AN ASCENT OF TEE SNOW MOUNTAINS 

 OF NEW GUINEA 



Dr. a. p. E. Wollaston has recently re- 

 turned from his second expedition to Nether- 

 lands, New Guinea. Last year he published an 

 official account of the unlucky expedition of 

 the British Ornithological Union to the " Snow 

 Mountains " of New Guinea. Those who have 

 read his' "Pygmies and Papuans" (London, 

 Smith, Elder & Co., 1912) will gain some idea 

 of the extreme difficulty of traveling in the un- 

 known districts of that island. That expedi- 

 tion did not attain its main objects, but, deter- 

 mined not to be beaten, Dr. Wollaston has made 

 another attempt, which has proved successful. 

 On the present occasion Mr. C. B. Kloss, cura- 

 tor of the Kuala Lumpur Museum, Federated 



Malay States, accompanied Dr. Wollaston, 

 and, in addition to an engineer and five native 

 collectors, they took with them seventy-five 

 Dyaks, and a large escort was provided by the 

 Netherlands government. It took four and a 

 half months to reach the mountains from the 

 coast. The mountains, as approached from 

 the south, are a steep escarpment of limestone 

 rock rising abruptly from broken foothills, 

 through which many large torrents flow in ex- 

 cessively steep gorges. The heavy forest of the 

 low country extends up to between 6,000 and 

 7,000 feet, beyond which height it becomes less 

 dense, and more herbaceous plants appear. 

 Geraniums, gentians, daisies and many other 

 palsearctic forms, besides numerous terrestrial 

 orchids, are found in the higher regions. The 

 limit of perpetual snow on the Ingkipulu 

 Mountains (Nassau range) was found to be at 

 a height of about 14,200 feet. 



Unlike the Mimika River, visited by the 

 former expedition, the Utakwa is uninhabited, 

 probably on account of the absence of sago. 

 The expedition was frequently visited by na- 

 tives from other rivers, some of whom came 

 from great distances. Unfortunately, they did 

 not provide themselves with supplies for the re- 

 turn journey, and as the expedition proceeded 

 on its way it encountered the dead bodies of 

 some 30 or 40 natives, mostly women and chil- 

 dren, whose curiosity had led them down to 

 the low country, and who had perished from 

 exhaustion as they were going home. The 

 meeting with these bodies was the most ter- 

 rible experience of the expedition. A hitherto 

 unknown tribe of a rather short people of 

 Papuan type were met with at an elevation of 

 some 4,000-6,000 feet. Despite the very cold 

 nights they wear no clothing. They are 

 mainly collectors and hunters, but also grow 

 sweet-potatoes, tobacco and sugar cane. They 

 carry bows and arrows and shoulder bags con- 

 taining apparatus for making fire, tobacco, 

 knives, spoons and other small belongings in 

 true Papuan style. Their knives are made of 

 a hard, slaty stone that can be brought to so 

 keen an edge that bamboos can be cut with 

 them. The people are said to be extremely at- 

 tractive, mest friendly and in some respects 



