NEW GUINEA AND THE PAPUANS 
415 
desires. Much pumice is found along the coast, and the 
cliffs opposite Rook Island are of basaltic formation, and 
reach a height of 1000 feet. 
Between this point and Astrolabe Bay lies the 
“ Maclay Coast ” so called after the Russian explorer 
Mildukho Maklai. It is thinly inhabited, and is believed 
to have no good harbour. The entire country between 
Huon Gulf and Astrolabe Bay is composed of much 
elevated, broken, and precipitous land, and comprises 
three ranges of great altitude. The most northerly are 
the Finisterre Mountains, whose eastern peaks culminate 
in Mount Disraeli and Mount Gladstone, both of which 
are over 11,000 feet. The summits of the Kratke range, 
lying immediately to the south, vary from 11,000 to 12,000 
feet, and these are believed to be again surpassed by the 
Bismarck range, which lies not far from the Anglo- 
German boundary, and is reported to be snow-covered. 
Some of its peaks are known to exceed 15,000 feet. 
Astrolabe Bay contains the two stations Konstantin- 
hafen and Stephansort, which are about 10 miles apart, 
the latter lying at the head of the bay. Konstantin- 
hafen was badly chosen, having neither protection nor 
anchorage. It was in this bay in 1871 that Miklukho 
Maklai built his house and lived among the natives for 
more than a year. He found them tolerably peaceable, 
but in as low a state of civilisation as any race on the 
globe. Numeration often did not extend beyond the 
number one, iron was unknown, and the old men of the 
tribe spoke of fire as having only been recently intro¬ 
duced. Even then they were unable to make it, and if 
by any chance their hearths became simultaneously ex¬ 
tinct, which from the smallness of the villages seems to 
have been a not unfrequent occurrence, they had to 
journey to the next settlement to relight them. The 
