NEW GUINEA AND THE PAPUANS 
429 
mountains. In the north are hard crystalline rocks, hut 
the south is mostly coral limestone, fissured and worn 
into many fantastic shapes. The whole is covered with 
dense forest. Batanta and Waigiu are remarkable for 
possessing two peculiar paradise-birds, not found in any 
other island—the Bed bird-of-paradise and Wilson’s bird- 
of-paradise. Batanta is almost uninhabited, but in 
Waigiu the people of the coast live under petty rajas, 
subordinate to the Sultan of Tidor, to whom they have 
to pay an annual tribute of paradise-birds, tortoise-shell, 
and sago. In this island there are “ Alfuros ” or wild 
tribes in the interior, as in Salwatti. 
Passing eastward to Geelvink Bay, we find two islands 
at its mouth, the Willem Schouten or Misore group, the 
easternmost of which is known as Biak, the other as Suk, 
or Supiori. They are scarcely ever visited, and the interior 
is quite unknown, but it is believed that no birds-of-paradise 
exist, though the rare and beautiful crown-pigeon, Goura 
Victoria which is also found on Jobi Island, occurs in 
abundance. Jobi, or Jappen as it is sometimes called, is 
of considerable size, being 110 miles long and 10 to 15 
in breadth. The village of Ansus on its southern coast 
carries on a certain trade with Dorei, but the natives, 
although not so treacherous as those of the Willem 
Schouten group, are not entirely trustworthy, and are 
constantly at war with the people of the interior. Dr. 
Guillemard was told in Ansus that there were seven 
tribes of “ Alfuros ” in the island, of which the Natawoi 
and Boba speak the same language, as do also the 
Papuma and Arowaba. Those of the Marau, Aiomi, and 
Ariwawm are distinct, and there are thus five languages 
exclusive of that of the coast dwellers, all of them suffi¬ 
ciently dissimilar to be incomprehensible to persons of 
another tribe. The coast people are probably mixed 
