115 
lishecl by the missionaries there in the ’eighties con- 
sumed most of its trees and the forests have not regen- 
erated, perhaps because the grassy hillsides are fired 
each year. 
We were told there are snakes and lizards on the 
islands we visited, but saw only geckos, which squeaked 
about the house. Birds were not particularly numer- 
ous, the most frequently seen being the bright little 
sun-bird. There was a tame white reef heron on Darn- 
ley and we saw the skins of two pelicans hanging in a 
shed. The butterfly fauna is reported to show affinities 
with New Guinea rather than Australia. The mosquito 
species were few but interesting. Anopheles farauti 
was responsible for the malaria epidemics. A new 
undescribed species of Aedes was found breeding in 
treeholes on Darnley. Another species collected there 
has been recorded only from New Guinea, but until 
more is known of the mosquitoes of Cape York this can- 
not be taken as evidence that the fauna originated from 
New Guinea. 
The natives of the Torres Straits are of Western 
Papuan origin, intelligent, dark-skinned people with 
fuzzy hair and fine physique. Linguistically they be- 
long to two groups — the Eastern islanders whose langu- 
age, though distinct, has affinities with those in the 
neighbouring parts ol‘ New Guinea, and the Western 
islanders whose language is allied to those of aboriginal 
tribes on Cape York. An explanation of the latter 
situation is a gtadual penetration of these islands by 
the Papuan stock, who acquired the language of previ- 
ous aboriginal inhabitants before replacing them entirely. 
The Murray Islands arc off the usual shipping 
routes in the Straits and the natives have maintained 
a relatively pure stock. All estimates of the population 
at various dates since 1802 have been in the vicinity of 
400 or higher — the most recent is 460 on Mer and 100 
on Dauar. Darnley Island was frequently visited by 
pearlers and beche-de-mer fishers, who employed south- 
sea island labour and native missionaries from Loyalty 
Island intermarried with the islanders. In 1888 there 
was a population of 76 Darnley natives and 74 south- 
sea islanders, so that present population of about 290 
is of rather mixed origin. For example, we spoke to 
individuals whose mother, father or grandfather had 
come from Cape York (aboriginal), Solomons, Philip- 
pines Rotuma (Polynesia), Jamaica (negro). 
The islands of Torres Straits are administered by 
