422 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
southern outlying ranges of the Victor Emmanuel Moun¬ 
tains. Though affording an excellent waterway to the 
heart of the country, this fine stream is not of such 
value as might be expected, for the land it traverses is 
almost everywhere unfitted for cultivation, and probably 
very unhealthy. Many of the tribes appear to be of 
nomad habits, perhaps for this reason, and those of the 
upper part of the river are not much given to agriculture, 
living on sago and the produce of their bows and nets. 
In this part gold was discovered by the Administrator’s 
expedition, but nowhere in payable quantity. 
Beyond the mouth of the Fly the coast of the Gulf of 
Papua appears to be a dead level for a vast distance, 
intersected by innumerable mangrove creeks and laby¬ 
rinthine delta-channels of small rivers. The land then 
rises rapidly as we proceed eastward, until we find our¬ 
selves in the high and exceedingly rugged portion of the 
possession of which mention has already been made. The 
greater part of the interior of the south-eastern part of 
the island may be described as mountainous, a more or 
less continuous range forming the backbone of the 
country from Mount Yule to Milne Bay, and to this the 
name of Owen Stanley Range was given by the officers 
of H.M.S. Rattlesnake} The most northern peak of any 
importance is Mount Yule (10,046 feet), a more or less 
isolated mass, of volcanic formation, whence the St. 
Joseph River takes its rise. To it succeeds the group of 
which Mount Owen Stanley—the highest peak of British 
New Guinea—is the highest summit. 2 These form a 
1 The extent of this range has been wrongly limited by some writers 
and cartographers to the mountain mass of which Mount Owen Stanley 
forms the highest point. 
2 Sir William Macgregor’s new name for this peak (Mount Victoria) 
cannot be retained, the mountain he ascended being without doubt identi¬ 
cal with the Mount Owen Stanley of the Rattlesnake survey. 
