BRITISH NEW GUINEA. 
1 1 
— on the very day she died he commenced to sing, and continued 
in full song, almost putting to shame the mocking-bird whicli 
lives on the opposite side of the room. He has now resumed 
his old familiarity with me. He greets me in the morning by 
flying around my head, and gives me no peace until I have 
placed half-a-dozeu hempseeds in my hand, on to which he will 
fly from across the room. During breakfast he sits either on my 
shoulder or close by me on the table, and has his peck at nearly 
every mouthful I eat. When watercresses are on the table he 
will sometimes insist upon bathing in the water which has 
drained from them — an inconvenient habit which I have tried 
in vain to break. But this is one of the few blemishes in 
Peter’s character, and as long as he is happy I tolerate it. 
It may be questionable if it is right to deprive any bird of its 
liberty in order to make a pet of it. But if we do keep pets it is 
clearly our duty to make them as happy as possible. I do not 
think Peter has had one unhappy day — excepting the first few — 
since I have owned him, and kindness, a little patience, and 
forbearance will, I believe, make any bird as happy and as tame 
as mine. The pleasure of possessing a pet which has confidence 
in you is a thousand times greater than owning one which is 
frightened every time you approach it. 
Fred. W. Ashley. 
BRITISH NEW GUINEA.* 
It is a remarkable reflection that, though the shores of New Guinea were first 
sighted only some twenty years later than the discovery of America by Columbus, 
this land still remains in greater part as little known to us as the planet Mars, 
though for many years its savage shores have been constantly passed by Australian 
mail steamers with all the resources of civilisation aboard. It has been partitioned 
into British, Dutch, and German territories without the happy possessors knowing 
much of their bargains. The exploration of British New Guinea is so recent (and 
in part only complete) that it is a matter more of newspaper chronicle than of 
history. In the German portion (Emperor William’s Land) only a few river 
courses and mountains appear on the map, while the Dutch part (quite half of the 
whole island) is a blank of the kind that charms the youthful chartographer who 
has to “draw a map” to satisfy the claims of pedagogic justice. In fact there 
is probably not even in Africa so great a land untrod by the foot of the explorer as 
exists in New Guinea. A book on this country might therefore be expected to 
rival in brevity the celebrated account of the Icelandic reptiles, and it only adds 
to our interest in New Guinea to find that the small portion of it already explored 
has yielded materials for a handsome volume, full of the narratives of travellers, 
and a statistical account of their natural history and ethnographical results. Mr. 
Thomson, as Hon. Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society of Australia, has 
had admirable facilities for acquiring the facts made known since Australian 
exploration has done so much towards the investigation of New Guinea. A 
dramatic incident in connection with the preparation of his book was the loss of his 
MSS. and illustrations in the wreck of the Quetta. 
* British Neiv Guinea, by J. P. Thomson. Small qto, pp. xviii. , 336, with 
map and numerous illustrations. (London: Philip & Son, 1892. Price is.) 
