302 AUSTEALASIA. 



period the phenomena are reversed on the northern slopes, the lofty Owen Stanley 

 range completely intercepting the south-east trade, and producing calms or 

 variable breezes in the sheltered waters north of Papuasia. 



Half Australian in some of its aspects. New Guinea presents a less varied flora 

 than Indonesia, although the western peninsula seems to belong to the same zone 

 as the Moluccas. Here are found the nutmeg and other Moluccan plants, while 

 the acacias and eucalyptus of the eastern regions recall the neighbouring continent 

 of Australia. In general the two floras may be said to overlap each other in New 

 Guinea, alternating with the dryness or moisture of the contrasting slopes. Where 

 the slopes are exposed to droughts the prevailing forest trees are the eucalyptus 

 and other Australian species, and here occur vast savannahs of the so-called 

 " kangaroo grass," while the streams are fringed with the bread-fruit tree, the 

 mango, pandanus, areca, and cocoa-nut palms. But there are also a large number 

 of indigenous forms, and Beccari enumerated no less than fifty varieties of the 

 palm peculiar to the great island. Amongst the more valuable local sjjecies is the 

 sassafras goJieianum, the bark of which yields the precious massdi oil, so highly 

 prized as a febrifuge in the Malay Archipelago. 



Notwithstanding the great diversity in their relief, climates, and general 

 physical aspects, New Guinea and Australia present remarkable resemblances in 

 their respective faunas. On the one hand lofty mountains, rain -bearing winds, 

 well-watered valleys, large rivers, vast ever-green woodlands ; on the other, 

 boundless plains, where waterless and stony tracts are varied by thorny scrub. 

 Yet the mammalian fauna belongs to a common centre of dispersion, a fact which 

 can be explained only by assuming a former continuity of land between both 

 regions. The present Torres Strait by which they are now separated is evidently 

 a comparatively recent event in the history of the planet. 



The animals, however, have had to modify their habits in order to adapt them- 

 selves to their different environments. Thus one of the New Guinea kangaroos, 

 formerly a jumper, is now a climber. His tail has become smaller and covered 

 with hair, his paws have been furni'^hed with claws, and he moves from branch to 

 branch with short springs. Instead of grazing he feeds on the rich foliage of the 

 trees, but he is still rather awkward at climbing, and would soon be exterminated 

 were the local forests infested by rapacious beasts. 



The whole mammalian fauna is limited to a pig, some bats, mice, and mono- 

 tremes, with over thirty species of the characteristic marsupials, one of which is no 

 bigger than a rat. The dingo, or wild dog, which everywhere accompanies the 

 natives, came with them at some remote age from foreign lands ; like the Austra- 

 lian dingo it never barks, it lives almost exclusively on fruits and vegetables, and 

 its flesh is said to be excellent. 



In its avifauna New Guinea partakes both of the Australian and Malaysian 

 regions. In the north-west peninsula and neighbouring islands alone Wallace 

 and other naturalists have enumerated at least two hundred and fifty species of 

 land birds belonging to one hundred and eight genera, of which sixty-four are 

 peculiar to the zone of Papuasia, the Moluccas, and North Australia. Some of 



