PHYSICAL FEATUEES OF NEW GUINEA. 297 



the work of discovery witliout friction, explorers are needed, such as Miklukho Mak- 

 hiy, whose rule of conduct was to be ever discreet, forbearing, truthful in his dealings 

 with the aborigines, and who, in the midst of imminent perils, always remained 

 faithful to his resolutions. But such heroes are rare, and there are few who have 

 " demonstrated by experience that in every part of the world man is still human, 

 that is to say, a sociable being, possessed of good qualities, with whom it is right 

 and possible to enter into relations on a footing of mutual justice and kindness." 

 — {Letter of Tohtoi to Miklukho Maklay.) 



Physical Features of New Guinea. 



New Guinea has nothing of the massive form characterising the Australian 

 continent, which it separates from the equatorial waters. It has been compared 

 to a gigantic bird whose head is represented by the north-west peninsula, the neck 

 by the narrow isthmus between Geelvink Bay and Etna Bay, the tail by the 

 south-eastern prolongation fringed by numerous little parallel peninsulas resem- 

 bling the plumage. The surrounding waters are so shallow on the south side that 

 a sudden subsidence of some fifty fathoms would suffice to connect Papuasia with 

 Australia ; while the Louisiade Archipelago would form a continuation of the 

 mainland towards the south-east. But in other directions its shores are encircled 

 by profound chasms of over one thousand fathoms, such as the Nares Trough on 

 the north side, and the Carpenter Trough (1,320 fathoms) between the Louisiades 

 and the great Barrier Beef of East Australia. Even the narrow channel separat- 

 ing New Britain from the north-east coast is over 500 fathoms deep. 



At the north-west extremity some islands of considerable size, such as Mysol, 

 Salwatj^, Batanta, and Waigiu, indicate the beginning of the relief which on the 

 mainland rises to great elevations. The Arfak hills, which skirt the north side of 

 the Berau Peninsula, terminate at the entrance of Geelvink Bay in a precipitous 

 headland, 9,520 feet high. The Gulf of Berau, better known as MacCluer Inlet 

 from the navigator who explored it at the end of the last century, penetrates 

 over 120 miles inland, almost completely separating the north-western peninsula 

 from the rest of the great island. The two regions are connected only by a 

 narrow range of hills, and even these were recently supposed b}^ Strachan to be 

 pierced at one point by a channel flowing between Geelvink Bay and Mac- 

 Cluer Inlet. But the naturalist, A. B. Meyer, who had crossed from sea to sea, 

 had already demonstrated the non-existence of any such communication. Accord- 

 ing to the missionary Geiseler, who resided, in 1807, in a village on the isthmus, 

 boats may cross from coast to coast by utilising two streams flowing in opposite 

 directions between the rocky water-parting, which is, at one point, only " a quarter 

 of a mile " broad. It is uncertain, however, whether the " mile " in question is 

 German or English. 



South of MacCluer Inlet the seaboard is indented by the deep Arguni Bay, a 

 long, narrow, fjord-like formation winding between the steep escarpments of the 

 surrounding hills. The Onin Peninsula enclosed between these two inlets stands at 



