378 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
which afford shelter, and to some extent supply the want 
of harbours. Beginning at the Moluccan side, we have 
Waigiu, Batanta, Salwatti, and Misol, all grouped round 
the western promontory, and, in the case of the two last- 
named, connected with the mainland by innumerable 
islands, islets, and reefs. Wessel’s or Adi Island protects 
the entrance of Arguna Bay, and farther south is the 
Aru group, which, though at some distance from New 
Guinea, is connected with it by very shallow soundings. 
Frederick Henry Island almost forms a portion of the 
mainland, being cut off from it only by the narrowest of 
channels. We pass through the reef-beset Torres Strait 
and reach the south-eastern promontory without meeting 
with anything more important than scattered rocks, but 
at this point are closely packed together countless islands, 
which a very slight elevation would join to the mainland. 
The Louisiade Archipelago forms with Bossel and Sudest 
Island the terminal point, and to the north lie Woodlark 
Island, the Trobriand group, and the more important 
D’Entrecasteaux islands. Coasting the northern sea¬ 
board and passing New Britain and New Ireland, we 
find a long chain of islands fringing the shore, and at no 
great distance from it, all of small size, and almost all 
volcanic, the craters of some being still active. The 
final group are those situated in Geelvink Bay, the 
Schouten Islands, Nufur, and Jobi Island, of which the 
latter, with a length of over 100 miles, is the most 
considerable. 
2. Physical Features. 
New Guinea appears to be divided into a northern 
and a southern mountainous portion, with a vast extent 
of low country in its central part, though whether these 
lowlands extend quite across to the Pacific Ocean is still 
