42 ITew Guinea. 



fresli water, and from the manners and habits of the people — such 

 as fire wood being stored in the houses, sticks laid across the 

 paths, to keep the passenger from the mud, as well as from our 

 personal experience, while there — the south-east coast of JN^ew 

 Gruinea, has evidently a very moist climate. It is probable, I 

 think, that during the whole S. E. monsoon, or from the middle 

 of March to the end of October, the weather is rainy, and that 

 during the N. W. monsoon, which brings rain to the north coast 

 of Australia, the south coast of New Gruinea may have its dry 

 season. Australia, on the contrary, has a remarkably dry climate, 

 and though there are frequent showers during the S. E. monsoon 

 on the margin of the north-east coast and about Cape York, 

 Avhere the trade wind first strikes upon the land, it is probable 

 that in the interior (as it is certain that on the north coast about 

 Port Essington) no rain falls during the greater part of the year^ 

 and heavy showers only during the remainder. 



Not only, however, is this variation of climate not sufiicient to 

 account for the utter diff'erence in the vegetation of the two 

 countries, Australia and New Guinea, but I much question 

 Avhether the difference in the climate be not in great part the 

 result of the vegetation. The thick dark woods and jungles of 

 New Guinea, completely protect the soil from the sun, the broad 

 close leaves shelter even the stems of the trees, and all tend to 

 produce a coolness favourable to the precipitation of moisture 

 from the damp trade wind. The open and scattered woodlands 

 of Australia, on the contrary, oflFer no shelter to the ground from 

 the rays of the sun. The small, thinly disseminated leaves of 

 these evei'green trees, instead of giving shade, become themselves 

 as hot and parched as the rocks and sands beneath them. The 

 ragged strips of dry and resinous bark hanging fi'om the trunks 

 of all the trees, are like tinder, ever ready to catch fire with a 

 spark, and the grass among the trees commonly resembles hay. 

 Everything absorbs the heat freely, and radiates it into the 

 surrounding atmosphere. Instead of being cooled then, and 

 precipitating its superabundant moisture, the sea air on entering 

 an Australian wood, has its temperature raised, and becomes 

 capable of licking up any drop of humidity it may find still 

 lingering there. For this reason, a current of air is seldom 

 perceptible in an Australian forest, which always feels hot, dry, 

 and oppressive. The immediate neighbourhood of Cape York 

 indeed seemed one of the comparatively favoured spots, where 

 frequent showers during the whole year permitted the existence 

 of permanent fresh water pools and green grass during even the 

 di'iest season. — Mr. Jukes, iihi sup?-a, Vol. 1., pages 295, 301. 



Captain Blackwood was followed in his survey of the south- 

 east coast of New Guinea, in the years 184(5 — 1850, by the late 



