JJOETH COAST. 
63 
Africa. During the seventeenth and eigliteentb centuries, 
the northern coasts were repeatedly visited by Dutch and 
English navigators. In 1774, Captain Thomas Forrest^ 
who had been dispatched by the Enghsh "East India 
Company to search for districts prodneing apices, resided 
for some mouths at Port D017, on the north coast of New 
Guinea, during which period he held constant friendly 
intercourse with the inhabitants. But in those days the 
characteristics of the native races were scarcely noticed, 
except as regarded their importance" to the trading 
companies which had fitted out the expeditions. This 
dearth of information has been severely felt by historians 
of the Indian Archipelago. 
During the present century, however, the spread of 
knowledge and civilization m Europe and America has 
given rise to an interest in the less fortunate races of 
mankind; which every scientific voyager feels hound to 
acknowledge, by making their characteristics a leading 
subjeet of inquii-y ; and the French navigators who have 
visited the north coast of New Guinea during the pi-esent 
century have furnished particulars respecting the native 
inhabitants, which have served, in a great degree, to dispel 
the myster}' that had hitherto enveloped this interesting 
race. More recently, an expedition sent from the Moluccas 
by the Netherlands Government, to annex the north 
coast of this island to its possessions in the East, baa 
added many important particulars to our knowledge of 
the Papuans. The Expedition, which consisted of the war- 
Bchooner 'Circe,' Lieutenant Brutcl de la Riviere, and a 
small fleot of kora-koraSi or war^prahas, belonging to the 
