298 



AUSTRALASIA. 



a considerable mean elevation, though still lower than the Berau uplands, with but 

 few summits exceeding 3,500 feet. Farther east rise the superb crests of Genoffo 

 (4,910 feet), at the entrance of Arguni Bay, and Lamansieri (2,450 feet), at the 

 foot of which are the ruins of Fort Bus. 



Beyond this point the coast-range is again interrupted by other inlets, such as 

 Triton and Etna bays ; but farther east it merges in the loftiest mountain range 

 not only in New Gruinea, but in the whole oceanic world. This system, which is stiU 

 very imperfectly explored, begins at Cape Burn with the Lakahai headland (4,560 

 feet), after which follow eastwards a succession of crests continually increasing in 

 altitude and rising even above the snow line, one of the glittering peaks having an 

 elevation of 16,750 feet. These snowy summits, to which has been given the 



Fig. 131. — Mountains of New Guinea. 

 Scale 1 : 24,000,000. 



to 1,000 

 Fathoms. 



Pepths. 



1,000 to 2,000 

 Fathoms. 



2,000 Fathoms 

 and upwards. 



name of Charles Louis in ignorance of their native appellation, are jDrobably con- 

 tinued eastwards to the crests seen by d'Albertis to the north of the Fly River 

 basin, and are doubtless connected either by lof tj^ plateaux or by other highlands 

 with the ranges skirting the north coast. Here Mount Gautier or Tabi attains an 

 altitude of 6,500 feet ; Mount Cyclops, farther east, is nearly as high, while the 

 system terminates opposite New Britain in the mountains, 11,500 feet high, to 

 which the French navigators have given the name of Finisterre. The last head- 

 lands present in many places the aspect of regular fortifications, the step-like 

 ramparts being formed of old coral beaches successively upheaved at various 

 geological epochs. Earthquakes are of most frequent occurrence in this region of 

 the mainland, which lies nearest to the volcanoes of Melanesia. 



The orography of the .south-eastern peninsula has been more extensively sur- 



