NEW GUINEA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4562, 3 November 1875, Page 3

NEW GUINEA.

The following interesting letter appeared in a recent issue of the Sydney Morning Herald : Sir, —Signor L. M. D'Albertis, the Italian naturalist, who visited the Arfak Mountains (an account of which was published in the Sydney Hail of May 31 and June 7, 1573) and other parts of New Guinea, made large and valuable collections in every branch of natural history, more especially in ornithology. In this department, among the novelties, consisting of fifty-three species, there were two new birds of Paradise—Drepanornis Albertii, and the Paradisea Kaggiana,—the latter resembling, but decidedly distinct from, the red bird of Paradise of Waigiou (Paradisea rubra), and in the collection there were also representatives of fourteen other species, considered new. The whole were described, and several figured in the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 1873, by Dr. P. L. Sclater." He also obtained a new kangaroo, found at New Guinea, from one the sailors of H.M.S. Basilisk, at Sydney. This animal he named and described as Halmaturus luctuosus. He took it via San' Francisco to England alive, and on the 17th of April, 1874, deposited it in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London. It unfortunately died on the 24th of November, 1874, from congested lungs, after a severe frost. It was a female. A dissection of the animal was made by Mr., M. A. Garrod, prosector to the society ; and in a paper published by the society, in their Proceedings for January, 1875, "On the Anatomy of the Kangaroo and its Affinities," it was discovered, by the dentition and in other anatomical characters, to belong to the genus Dorcopsis, and not to Halmaturus, and will now be known as Dorcopsis luctuosus. Having disposed of his choice New Guinea collection to the Italian Government, he resolved to revisit New Guinea, where he arrived, via Somerset, Cape York, in March, 1875, making Yule Island his head-quarters. I may also mention that Dr. Salvador!, of Turin, is now at work at a complete account of D'Albertis' collection. Having been in correspondence with him since his arrival at New Guinea, I will give from his letters such information contained in them as may be of public interest; and the result so far of his success proves that a man of courage, energy, love of enterprise, and ready to undergo privations, can achieve more in his intercourse with savage races (who are always suspicious of numbers), than large and expensive expeditions. George Bennett, M.D. Sydney, October 8, 1875.

The letters from Signor D'Albertis were dated from Yule Island, on the coast of New Guinea, at which place he resided on the most friendly terms with all the men, women, and children on the island. From this island he made frequent excursions to the main land in his boat, visiting the different villages, and his intercourse with the natives was always of a friendly character. On one occasion his boat was stolen by four of his own men, and it compelled him to remain for six weeks a prisoner on the island without . any provisions, exeept bananas and roasted snakes, until the arrival of the missionary boat, which brought him his supplies from Somerset. He afterwards managed to purchase a canoe, and it enabled him to resume his excursions to the mainland. He writes that he is in good health, but the men and women in his service were in bad health from want of proper nourishment, and that one woman had died after a week's illness. In another letter he says, I have made several excursions into the interior of the mainland, vijited five villages, and am on excellent terms of friendship with all the natives. I can now speak their language pretty well, and have obtained some very interesting information respecting their manners and customs. The natives on the coast, he says, are "Polonais" (this word I cannot comprehend), and continuing says, " They are of a rather light complexion, especially among the women, among whom he found several very pretty. On the coast he observed Eucalypti trees, plants, and animals similar to those of Northern Australia; but inland on the mountains the Papuan vegetation predominated. My relation with the natives at the present time is excellent ; I have friends everywhere; and now, having a canoe, I shall be able to extend my excursions. I have heard of the Macleay expedition, but I do not think it will realise the public expectations in Sydney. I think there are two many people together ; they are too well found to return in a hurry, and not sufficiently found to be able to remain a sufficient time to penetrate into the interior, the only place anything can be done. On this part of the coast of New Guinea both fauna and vegetation are too Australian in their character to lead one to expect to make many new discoveries; nevertheless, I wish the expedition every success, only I hope they will not come here, because it would be certain to unsettle the natives, and disturb, being a solitary individual, my amicable arrangements with them ; but as for an expedition to colonise New Guinea, it will be a certain failure. It is ridiculous to read the reports in the papers of the meetings held in Sydney, and I am surprised to see so many respectable names engaging their responsibility <jo very thoughtlessly. My collection of natural history has not been so large as I expected from many adverse causes, but I have succeeded in shooting a fine specimen of my new bird of Paradise (of which I had previously only a damaged specimen), the Paradisea Baggiana ; and I also obtained many new birds, and others of very great interest. I have also killed Dorcopsis luctuosus, and have sent all I have so far collected by the missionary boat to be forwarded by the mail steamer from Somerset direct to Italy. I have also written to Dr. P. L. Sclater, secretary to the Zoological Society of London. By the same opportunity my Italian companion, who is suffering severely from the fever of the country, is compelled to leave and return to Europe. It was reported, I understand, in Sydney that I had been lost in tho bush, and had suffered from sunstroke and privation. This did not occur to me, but to my Italian companion ; but he only suffered an illness of two or three days from that misadventure. He also says that, both at Somerset and during a four months' residence in New Guinea, he remained in good health and spirits." In the latest letter received from him he says:—"England, like the Lupa (wolf) di Dante, after a meal is more hungry than be-

fore ; not having yet digested the feast of the Fiji islands, she nevertheless hungers after New Guinea. If she likes to bite at this mcrcel nobody will trouble her repast, and as for myself, I certainly shall not blame her ; but at the same time I cannot but regret that public meetings should have been held m Sydney to induce credulous people to come to New Guinea, and regret it more when I see influential names engaged in it. I have been at Yule Island for four months—the place named at one of the meetings I have mentioned. I got a little into the interior of New Guinea, and was the first European who visited five villages, so I suppose I ought to be a little more acquainted with the country than those who were present at the meeting, where I read it was promised to the credulous people a good trade in cocoanut oil, ebony, sandalwood, nutmegs, cloves, coffee, &c, when at the same time I know that but few cocoanut trees grow on the island, and are not plentiful even on the main land ; and when I know that the natives are totally ignorantof preparing the oil —when I see the island quite bare of forest trees, and even on the mainland, for miles to the second or third range of hills, Eucalyptus and other Australian forms of plants and long grass, as in Northern Australia, I ask where ebony, sandalwood, nutmeg, cloves, and coffee are to be found, and how it is possible to compare this part of New Guinea with Java? I do not deny that far inland on the mountains at a great elevation, a climate may be found similar to that of Java, but not fifteen or fifty men could go at once so far into the interior of a country without navigable rivers, and densely populated. For these, and many other reasons, I think the speakers at the meetings are either deceived themselves, or are desirous of deceiving others. With respect to the annexation of New Guinea by England, as I said before, I do not object as a matter of policy, but on such a plan as proposed at Dr. Lang's meeting, I cannot too strongly condemn it. When I was in Sydney, the statements then made at meetings and in newspapers about New Guinea, showed gold was the attraction for credulous people to visit New Guinea, and I then took the opportunity of publishing in a letter in the Sydney Morning Herald my ideas on the subject, and I believe it prevented the ruin of many persons. Now gold is not made the principal attraction, but the new bait held out is in articles of trade which do not exist."