S2 
N£W GUINEA, 
perfectly independent of each other, although the titles 
they hold, which are nominally conferred by the Sultan 
of Tidore, are sometimes expressive of subjection to a 
Buperior chief. It has been already stated that a sort of 
suzerainty over the western peninsula of New Guinea 
is claimed in behalf of the Sultan of Tidore, one of the 
least powerful of the native chiefs subject to the Nether- 
lands Government. This claim is acknowledged by the 
coast tn'bes, from a feeling which pervades all th'e smaller 
communities of the Archipelago in favour of placing them- 
selves under the protection of the moat powerful chief in 
their neighbourhood, a position which was held by the 
Sultan of Tidore when this suzerainty was first acquired. 
It has also been encouraged by the Netherlands Govern- 
ment, as giving them a sort of claim to a countiy which 
they might some day see fit to occupy 5 for a transfer of 
the suzerainty from the Sultan of Tidore could be ob- 
tained at any moment in which it might be required ; 
indeedj the narrative of Mr, Bruiju Kops leads to the 
inference that this claim was actually transferred imme- 
diately before the sailing of the Ejqiedition ; and that the 
flotilla was sent by the Sultan of Tidore for the purpose 
of formally giving over possession, the representatives of 
the Sultan being present on nearly every occasion in 
which the posts with the Netherlands^ arms were erected. 
The mode in which the chieftainship is conferred is 
thus described by Mr. iJruijn Kops : " When one of the 
native chiefs dies, information of the event is conveyed to 
the Sultan by one of the relatives of the deceased, who 
at the same time takes with him a present of slaves and 
birds-of-paradise as a token of fealty. This person is 
