Ixxxiv Appendix. 



to the London Missionary Society, where the unfortunate teachers, little better 

 than children themselves, are left to their own I'esources, and ai'e dying off 

 rapidly. 



Immediately to the east of Red scar Head the outlying Barrier reef reai-s 

 itself to the surface of the water, at a distance varying from three to eight 

 miles from the shore, and guards the coast uninterruptedly as far as Hood 

 Point from any rough seas. Simultaneously with the appearance of this 

 guarding reef the entire features of the country change. The whole coast 

 between Torres Strait and E-edscar Head is, as a rule, low and swampy, and 

 has probably been formed during the course of ages by the alluvial deposits of 

 the numberless large streams that^descend from the great Owen Stanley range. 

 Here precipitous, round-topped, gi'assy hills, openly timbered and bearing 

 a strong family likeness to each other, spring from the white coral and sand 

 beach, and are backed up by higher ranges inland, while fertile valleys lie 

 between. The coast is strewn with villages, always marked by a grove of 

 cocoa-nut trees. The houses are built after the Malay fashion, on poles, some 

 standing far out on the shore reefs in quiet waters, while others cluster among 

 plantations on the hill-sides. Perhaps this singularly sudden change from a 

 low, muddy, mangrove-bound coast, to boldness, coral, shells, and white sand 

 is caused by the courses which the rivers from the mountains take. From 

 Eedscar Head to Hood Point not a single stream was seen emptying itself 

 into the sea ; small trickling rivulets and water-holes were found, but no clear, 

 running stream. The soil is of a peaty, black, spongy nature, and probably 

 absorbs the rain as it falls. 



Close to the Fisherman Islands of Captain Stanley, the " Basilisk " passed 

 inside the Barrier reef by one of those narrow bottomless openings peculiar to 

 these seas, and anchored in a fine roomy harbour within a harbour (now 

 named Port Moresby and Fairfax Harbour), previously discovered by the 

 boats. The ship remained here some days whilst running surveys were made 

 and the coast explored. In the neighbourhood of Port Moresby the valleys 

 are intensely rich and tropical in their vegetation, but the hills, of which the 

 greater part of the country consisted, were joerfectly Australian in their 

 appearance. They had very poor soil, covered with large stones, scattered 

 gum trees, and grass. On some of the hills large quantities of quartz were 

 found, some specimens being impregnated with gold, but no trace of gold was 

 ever discovered among the natives. 



The description of the Yule Island natives may generally be applied to the 

 natives of this part of the coast, but they appear even a more harmless and 

 inoffensive race, only one having been seen ai-med during the month spent 

 amongst them. The canoes, which trade up and down the coast for long 

 distances, calling at different villages, were frequently examined and found to 



