CHAPTER YI. 



NEW GUINEA AND ADJACENT ISLANDS. 



(Papuasia.) 



HIS vast region owes the appellation of New Guinea, conferred on it 

 by the Spanish explorer, Inigo Ortiz de Retis, in 1545, to the 

 resemblance observed by him between its inhabitants and those of 

 Guinea on the West African seaboard. Next to Australia it is 

 the largest continental mass in the Pacific, and exceeds even Borneo 

 in extent. From the north-west to the south-east extremity the distance in a 

 straight line is nearly 1,500 miles, exclusive of the groups and chains of islands 

 by which the mainland is continued in both directions. At the broadest part it is 

 over 400 miles from north to south, and the total area is estimated at 314,000 

 square miles, or 326,000 including the Aru Islands and other adjacent groups 

 scattered like fragments round a shattered continent. 



New Guinea, which is thus half as large again as France, seems destined to 

 take an important part in the future evolution of the oceanic lands, for it is abun- 

 dantly watered and rich in various natural resources. Hitherto, however, it has 

 remained almost entirely excluded from civilising influences. The fringing reefs, 

 marshy coastlands, dense forests, and even its very vastness have protected it from 

 white intruders, while the scattered indigenous populations, divided into endless 

 hostile tribes, have nowhere merged in a compact nationality. 



Progress of Discovery. 



But although still unexplored to any great extent, Papuasia has already been 

 partitioned amongst three European powers. Holland, which had laid claim to the 

 whole island for over half a century, is henceforth recognised as mistress of the 

 western section as far as 141^ east longitude, while the rest of the territory has 

 been divided between England and Germany by the treaty of 1885. To England 

 is assigned the south-eastern slope, facing Torres Strait ; to Germany the northern 

 seaboard washed by the Pacific. 



The honour of having discovered New Guinea belongs to none of its present 

 political rulers. A letter addressed by the Florentine Corsali in 1515 to Jidian dei 



