THE EASTERN ARC RIP EL A 00. 



181 



Charles Louis (17,000 to 18,000 feet), are traced on the maps, and 

 de&cribcd as towering above the Him of perpetual snow by geograph- 

 ers relying ou the somewhat indistinct rifpurtfl of travellers. At 

 the same time the existence of such Alpine heights is rendered highly 

 probable by the presence of copious perennial breams flowing in 

 independent cliannela to the coast, and which are found to be fnr 

 inure nmiicrous than had till Lately been supposed. 



Hivers. — The largest river in >few Guinea appears to be the 

 Fly, which enters the n tr-i ^de ■ ■ t" l*.ipua tin If ih rough a Urge nud 

 iutriiMli; didtii, j>m I which D'AlWrtis ascended in IH7C1 t'"r yiX» mik-.i 

 in a etcum-lnnnch, It drains a vast swampy region diversified wish 

 wooded mountain t ami treeless plains broken by isolated hills, the 

 scenery in many place* pre*i: uling an Australian aspect, Another 

 large river, the Empress Augusta, was discovered so recently as 1866, 

 od the north-east oojist, by Dr. Fiusch, and navigated for 40 miles 

 by Captain Dallmau, who reported it navigable for a much lunger 

 dhctunce. ilr, Morris, Dutch Resident of Termite, alsf> purveyed in 

 1883-84, several hitherto unknown rivers on the north coftut T such 

 a* the Wiriwaai and Witriwaai, apparently two branches of the same 

 stream, and the much larger Aiberun (Ainberno or Mamheran), that 

 is M Great River," which he ascended for CO miles, and found to be 

 800 yards wide and seven fnthnms deep near its month. Two large 

 rivers the Davadava and lladava, not marked on any map, nleo 

 reach the sea nt Milne Bay, the latter with an intrknh; delta 12 to 

 lfi feet deep, and apparently leading into the heart of the country. 

 Uul owing l<» the lu-tiun (if tin-- smith-wi-nt monsoons the mouths of 

 the coast streams are mostly silted up with wind and mud, hence 

 innavigable* Altogether it may be anticipated that the more the 

 interior is opened up the more it will be found covered with 

 M mountains, north, east, souths ami west'* (Chalmers), and traversed 

 by copious perennial streams flowing from Lhe central water-parting 

 to the northern and southern seaboards. 



Geological Formations. — The salient formations appear to bo 

 a substratum of granite and gneiss cropping out in the Arfuk hills 

 and elsewhere ; stratified clay slates, and both old and recent Hmc- 

 Klottcs and calculous Lower Miocene clays with fossil shells identical 

 with those of south-east Australia, Quartz, greenstone, and jasper- 

 oide also occur on. the south-east coast, resembling those of the 

 Siluriau and Devonian aeries of t :ie. X..- w S •■uli WVv-* g^M-lieids. 



Otild will probably bo found both here and in the Hndnva river-basin 

 ss well as on the uplands and north-cast coast. It is usually asserted that 



