PHYSICAL FEATUEES OF NEW GUINEA. 



299 



veyed, thanks jDartly to the proxiinity of Australia, and partly to the more con- 

 tracted form of this region, rendering it accessible to explorers penetrating inland 

 from both coasts. Here the highlands lying within the territory annexed to the 

 British colonial possessions have received English names. The north-west chain, 

 under the same meridian as the Finisterre highlands, begins Avith the Albert 

 range, followed south-eastwards by Mounts Yule (10,000 feet) and Owen Stanley 

 (13,200 feet). This twin-crested mountain, which dominates the whole peninsular 

 system, was first ascended in 1888 by the Australian explorer, Martin. 



Eastwards, the range gradually diminishes in height, and then branches off 



Fig. 132. — SIacCluer Inlet and Onin Peninsula. 

 Scale 1 : 4,000,000. 



to 32 

 Feet. 



Depths. 



32 to 80 

 Feet. 



SO Feet and 

 upwards. 



60 Miles. 



into two ridges forming the extreme south-eastern fork of New Guinea, and reap- 

 pearing at intervals in the Moresby and Massim (Louisiade) archipelagoes. The 

 channel here separating the mainland from Hayter and the other eastern islands 

 has received from Moresby the name of China Strait, because it offers a direct 

 route for vessels pljdng between Australia and China. The shores of this channel 

 present some of the most enchanting scenery in the whole of Melanesia. Owen 

 Stanley was the first to determine, in 1848, the completely insular character of the 

 eastern archipelago. 



East of the China Strait, the south-east extremity of New Guinea is continued 



