NEW GUINEA AND THE PAPUANS 
379 
uncertain. The massive peninsula north of MacCluer’s 
Inlet appears to be everywhere mountainous, a continuous 
series of range behind range extending along its north 
coast. The most lofty peak of the Arfak range of this 
series was found by Lieutenant Powell, during the cruise 
of the Marchesa , to be 9046 feet, but it is possible that 
farther inland still higher altitudes may be reached. 
The Wa Samsum river, which enters the sea near Cape 
Spencer, probably rises in the Arfak Mountains. It has 
not been visited by Europeans, but the necessary short¬ 
ness of its course precludes its being of any great size. 
In the narrow isthmus at the head of MacCluer Inlet 
there is a ridge about 1200 feet high. The seas 
approach each other very closely here. They are known 
to be in one place only a few hundred yards apart, and 
it is not yet absolutely certain that this supposed pen¬ 
insula may not prove to be an island. Lately its insularity 
has been reported to be proved, but to all intents and 
purposes it forms part of the mainland, and will be thus 
described in these pages. South of the inlet lies another 
land-mass of almost equal size—the Onin Peninsula—and 
this also appears to be mountainous. When we pass 
into the great central mass of land to the south and 
east of Geelvink Bay, we find the ranges of still greater 
altitude. The Charles Louis Mountains, beginning close 
to the coast with Mount Lakahia (4526 feet), increase 
to the eastward till, at about long. 136° E., they reach 
a height of 9500 feet. They thence stretch farther 
inland in the same uniform direction, and their summits 
have been seen from the sea in fine weather, apparently 
covered with snow, and have been estimated to attain an 
altitude of from 16,500 to 17,500 feet. They are thus 
the loftiest known peaks in the whole archipelago, and 
even in the whole area between the Himalayas and the 
