356 



H. J. T. BIJLMER 



IKaapd'Urville 



Several of the former expéditions had already mentioned the existence of little men 

 in the central parts of the island and "New-Guinea-Pygmies" hâve already a certain répu- 

 tation. In 1907 and in 1909 the expéditions LORENTZ discovered the little Pesegem; the 

 English expédition on the Dutch territory under GoODFELLOW (1910) and WollaSTON (1912) 

 mentioned the Tapiro, while the Dutch Military Exploration (1907 — 191 5) revealed the so- 

 called Goliath-Pigmies. As for the British territory, Seligmann and Strong described the 



Kamaweka and WlLLlAMSON the Mafulu. 

 The Germans referred to very short- 

 statured people near Finschhafen (PÔCH, 

 NEUHAUSS), at the upper-course of the 

 Kaiserin-Augusta-river ( German-Dutch 

 frontier-expedition) and in the Torricelli- 

 mountains (SCHLAGINHAUFEN). The ho- 

 mogeneity of the Papuans suffered once 

 more a great shock; to the tall men 

 of the South-coast and the rather small 

 ones of the North-coast were added the 

 dwarfs of the centre ! Not only the length 

 of body, but also the shape of nose 

 and face and the cephalic index seemed 

 to fail as characteristics and the fact that 

 in spite of ail this the crisp hair was 

 found everywhere, increased the confu- 

 sion. One point became obvious: where 

 the heart of the island was reached, the 

 Pigmy- Papuans were found; so they 

 seemed to for m the population of ail the 

 Central High Mountains between Car- 

 stensz-top and Mt. Scratchley. 



Our expédition had a fair chance 

 to discover more about thèse famous 

 dwarfs: it was directed to the large moun- 

 tain-ranges that are situated on the North 

 side of the central crest of New-Guinea. 

 While the expéditions, coming from the 

 South-coast, could only find some little 

 valleys on the steep southern slopes 

 between this crest and the immense coast- 

 plain, we might expect complexes of large 

 valleys. Alas, the expédition of 1920 was not fortunate ; the Mamberamo, the largest river on the 

 Dutch North-coast, along the course of which we had to cross firstly the „van Rees Moun- 

 tains" and then the „Lake-Plain", was neither a short nor an easy way. Yet the Central 

 Mountains were reached and the first high range was passed. In 19 14, DOORMAN, a naval officer 



3550 - . ,J 2 " * 



500 * ' 



( ***, +3300 



4-0 5 + 



: + ^34-sû 





* + 3500 



■C300 



* 3950 



CE.NTRAAL * j.3770 



PR.HENDR.K-TOP WILHaMINA-TOP/fefu^/ 



HOOCGEBEBGTE 4750 * * 



I : 2.000.000 



Route followed by the expédition. The mountain-route goes fron 



Prauw-bivouac (1) to Swart-valley (6, 2, 3). 



