NEW GUINEA AND THE PAPUANS 
427 
shells, tripang, and tortoiseshell are the most important, 
with edible birds’ nests, pearls, birds-of-paradise, and 
ornamental timber in smaller quantities. The return of 
the praus is determined by the advent of the east mon¬ 
soon. The trade many years ago was estimated at 
£18,000 per annum, and is now probably much greater, 
and during the height of the season there are between 
4000 and 5000 people collected, representing all the 
chief races of the archipelago. The Dutch are repre¬ 
sented by a Postholder here, but no other European 
resides on the islands, which are remarkable for their 
unhealthiness. 
Misol is the next island we come to, lying 50 miles 
north of Ceram, but divided from that island by a very 
deep sea, while, though almost as far distant from New 
Guinea, the intervening water is very shallow. It is of 
a compact sub-triangular form, about 50 miles long by 
20 wide, mountainous and forest-covered. It contains 
kangaroos and birds-of-paradise, and the usual charac¬ 
teristic Papuan fauna. The inhabitants of the interior 
are true Papuans, but on the coast are a mixed Malayo- 
Papuan race, who are Mohammedans, and are ruled over 
by a raja tributary to the Sultan of Tidor. This island is 
seldom visited, and very little is known about it. 
Salwatti, Batanta, and Waigiu are three large islands 
off the north-west extremity of New Guinea. Salwatti, 
of a roundish form, and about 3 0 miles across, is separated 
from the mainland by the narrow Galewo Straits. 
Batanta, divided from the last-named island by Pitt 
Strait, is long, narrow, and mountainous. Thirty miles 
northward we come to Waigiu, nearly 80 miles long by 
20 wide, but much cut up by deep inlets, which pene¬ 
trate from the south almost to the north coast. This 
island is very rugged and hilly, but with no very lofty 
