EXPEDITION TO NEW GUINEA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5292, 12 March 1878, Page 3

EXPEDITION TO NEW GUINEA.

The Premier of Queensland has handed to the -Brisbane Courier the report furnished by Mr. H. M. Chester, police magistrate at Thursday Island, of his expedition to’the New Guinea coast. We subjoin the report, which, will repay perusal :—• “ I left Thursday Island in the cutter on Ist ultimo, and proceeded to Jervis Island (Marbiak) to-piek up the Test of the party who had volunteered to join me on an expedition to the Mai-Cussar Biver, in New Guinea., “At Marbiak I found two of the brew of the Neva, who had just returned from the Fly. Biver, where they had 1 been with Signor D’Albertis. ■ One of them was in a pitiable condition with fever and; ague. They stated that they had been told to find their own way to Somerset- from the mouth of the Fly, and that, after a narrow escape from death at the hands of the Bampton Islanders, the Katon natives brought them as far as their own village, and sent them oh to Cornwallis. They, found the New Guinea natives very numerous and hostile where the year’before they;saw no signs'of inhabitants. Tlu: Neva was frequently! attacked; and one of the Chinese crew was wounded; by-an arrow. The original party oh board the Neva included Signor D’Albertis, ti European engineer, three' South Sea Islaudeis, and five! Chinese sailors. One of the latter died 'during- the cruise,'and the fate of the, other- foiir is uncertain!They are' .said td’ have rum away with the Neva’s boat, and were. probably s killed by the natives. ’ ‘ “ We left Marbiak on the morning of the 3rd December, -the party consisting of Messrs. Jardine, Summers, feauefather, Pilot .Wilkie, myself and son, together 1 with five Europeans and sixteen--South Sea' Islanders, with two large boats belonging to’ Messrs. Jardine and Pennefather. • Mr. Pearson, manager of Bell’s station, kindly gave us the services of one of his men, to--pilot us across the Orman reef, and also 1 induced Mamdose, the chief of the Marbiak tribe, to go with as interpreter,for Talbot Island. ■ We passed to. the eastward of ‘ Turnagain,’ I which is merely a mangrove swamp, and anchox-ed for the night about five miles from Talbot Island,’ in -.ten feet water. Next morning' anchored off; the north end of Talbot (iioigu), in four; fathoms’, opposite a Village of four; (miserable /'guhyahs; inferior even to those of the main land. A canoe with seven natives came off to us. Each man had a small book in his hand, or stuck in his waist-cloth. These proved to be “primers” printed in English characters, but in the native language, and the owners appeared to regard them with a-kind of'superstitious reverence as talismans for their protection. One intelligent young fellow afforded us much amusement by his anxiety to display his recently acquired knowledge; but it extended no further than, the first page, which he had evidently got by rote." One "thing, however, was’noticeable, that whereas their notation, never previously exceeded two, they can now count as far as ten in English, though I 'doubt whether their own language is capable of expressing that' number otherwise than by repeating two five times. The native evangelists, as they are termed, who are reducing ’ these barbarous tongues to writing, are not as well educated as an average English child of twelve years of age. Under their tuition, the natives are adopting new pronunciations of old words, and adopting new ones ; the result is a mongrel language, that will some day puzzle philologists. The very names of the islands are altered to suit their notions. “Marbiak” becomes phonetically •“ Mah-bu-whack ;” and Yorke Island, known to Jukes and McGillivray as “ Marseed,*’ is tortured into “ Macheeg.” I must also protest agrinat the practice of renaming rivers and places which have once been placed on the chart. The position of the river which has been re-named the “ Baxter” was fixed and called by its native name “Mai-Cussar,” on Lieutenant Connor’s chart, two years before it was visited by Mr. McFariaua in the Ellangowan.

■ “We landed on Boigu during the day, and sent Mamopae to secure the services of an interpreter for the New Guinea coast. The whole island, with the exception of a small mound opposite our anchorage, appears to be a swamp in the wet season. ■ The timber consists principally of mangrove and silk-cotton trees, with a few cocoanuts at the western end of the island. The inhabitants are fine muscular men, and from the quantity of dugong bones, crab and turtle shells, in the vicinity of their huts, they evidently live well. Scrub hens are also very numerous. Their huts are more miserable than those of any island in the Straits, which is the more remarkable as they are in frequent communication with the wellhoused natives of New Guinea. Towards sundown Mamoose returned with a number of men, including the chief, who also answers to the name of Mamoose; in fact, this name is now applied to the chief of any island, and has been adopted by the natives, although previously unknown. It may not be uninteresting to trace the origin of this novel application of a word foreign to their language. In 1870 I visited Darnley Island, anil having studied with much inierest ‘Jukes’ Yoyageof the Fly,’ I surprised the natives by recalling names of people who were then living, but who have long since ‘ gone over to the majority,’ and byrepeating a number of words in their language. The simple natives would have it that I was Jukes himself, and told me that during the Fly’s visit I had changed names with a man calied ‘Mamoose’ (signifying red hair), and from that time they never spoke of me by any other name. In the following year I visited Harbiak, whore the chief, whose name was ‘Genai,’ insisted on my changing names with him ; since which time, even among his own people, he has always borne the name of Mamoose.' When the pearlshellers arrived' in the Straits, Marbiak offered a fine field for recruiting labor, and, finding the chief was colled Mamoose, they concluded that it was the native word for chief, and from hearing it so often the natives have gradually adopted the word. On December 5 wo took an interpreter on board, and after a run of two hours and a half, anchored in the mouth of the Mai-Cussar, close to the left bank, in;three,and a half fathoms, the river about one mile wide. Two canoes full of Boigu men’ accompanied ua.: A short time before our visit they had lost a man in a skirmish with the New Guinea natives, but had since made friends. They told ns there was a village a short distance inland, and, in hopes of , being able, to communi-. cate with the people, we landed i a strong 'party, numbering eleven Europeans and six or eight Polynesians.' We crossed a belt of man-

groves,' tKetl'a,n'ext'oriaivo flat'coveired'wlEKea-’ tree scrub, and camo'out orv : comparatively open country, dotted- with magnificent ferns and clumps of bamboo. ■ Grossed a salt-; water creek on a slippery fallen tree, and halted for a spell. We'reckoned we had come about five miles, and as the guides, 'when asked where the village was,'■ still spoke of it as a long way off, we questioned them more closely, and found we were not even half-way. As it would have been impossible to reach the' village and return before sundown, and as there was no water to be found, and hd native tracks visible, we reluctantly retraced our steps, and after a bathe in the creek, regardless of alligators, we returned to the cutter, somewhat fhtiguell with’our exertions in such a climate. Our progress through the bush was much easier than we had anticipated, as the grass had been .recently burnt, and in places the fallen .timber was still smouldering., We saw one, or two wild, pigs, a kangaroo, and a quantity of pigeons ,'of a kind that are not found in the Straits. We went on about ten miles iu the cutter, and anchored for the night in ten fathoms. The Boigu linen declined to go any further, . Continued the! ascent on, the 6th without impediment, /anchoring'at,night, and on the' 7th passed a plantation of cocoanuts and ba-.anas, but .still ho signs of natives. The river now nairovyed rapidly,. and a fringe of'broach-leaved palms, tpok: the place; of: the inevitable mangrove on either, bank. . Anchored at 4 p.m., at a spot about twelve miles beyond the furthest .point reached by theßllengowau in 1875, the river being about sixty yards; wide. We landed a watering some of . whom wandered away in the bush shooting, pigeons and scrub-hens,, leaving two,-of [the< cutter’s crew, a Darnley Islander named,; Spear, and my Chinese servant, to fill, the breakers from a small creek. . A little before sundown the two boys came running back, r saying that the, natives were mustering with bo\vs and,arrows. Reinforcements were sent, but .were not, re-,; quired, as no attempt was made to molest the men in the creek.. The. cowardice, of Spear, and the .-shameless - way. ia which be justified himself when .upbraided with; running away,' although armed with a., double-barrelled gun, fairly convulsed us with laughter, ‘ You think me—- fool?’ said he, ■* No, no, me no want to dead; when ,me, been see him bow an-arrow full cock', 1 my'word, me run like h——j On the Bth, wp filled our tanks, hut; the. water pro-; cured was so’oharged with decayed vegetable matter as to be [Scarcely drinkable. While breakfasting.on deck , we. suddenly,heard loud shouting,’ and ‘ thinking, the f \yatering party were being, attacked we snatohed,up our guns to go to tlieir assistance, but presently saw a number of natives on the opposite bank shouting and waving green , boughs. The words ‘ Boigu,’ ‘ Missionary,! ‘ Smoke,’. ‘ Whitefellow,’ were plainly distinguished. ' ; Several of lus jumped into the boat, and' went, to.meet them,taking a quantity of Turkey red, calico, knives, and tobacco. Only eight .or ■ ten men showed themselves, hut there were many ■ more •; concealed > lat ; the bush. < -They bartered a few arrovys, dilly ; bags, bone daggers, and necklaces of dogs’ teeth, and we had no difficulty in persuading tjyo of them to go off to the cutter with ,us-These men bad aquiline features and ■ straight: hair,' and wore superior in physiqu i to the Australian aboriginals, ; It..was. unfortunate having .no .interpreter, as, they are , evidently, ,iu,, constant communication with the Boigu men, who Kavh doubtless told them of the missionaries, aod that,, they ; have <; little • ;to /; fear.! from I white people. They uuderstooddhe: use of tobacco, and ware; eager to, get it. -In a -short time they disappeared, and, .we/did knot seek them again. That afternoon: [Messrs; Jardine, Pennefafher, myself and,; son,-; with;, two South Sea Islanders, started to go farther up; the river in the skiff./ A, short'distance above, where the cutter was anchored,; we came upon, a raft made of bamboos lashed together,; which is evidently, theff. only means of crossing the. river, and about five miles further on .we; landed at a small plantation of cocoanuts,yams, and bananas, partially surrounded by a fence in an unfinished state. The ground was cleared of undergrowth, but the large trees were left standing,; and;;killed ’ .by. s burning; round the roots. There were also trenches; to drain the garden, On a slight rise behind the clearing were four or five lot huts, with arched roots made’of tea-treh bark, high enough to admit of a man standing upright. The sides were formed of saplings about four inches in diameter, laid horizontally between uprights, and the whole firmly lashed with vines, forming a. perfect defence against arrows. Each house had a porch in front, formed by extending the arched roof beyond the gable. In one we found an old dismantled native drum, which I took the liberty of appropriating, leaving in its place a large piece of. Turkey red and some tobacco. These camps are evidently only occupied at certain seasons, probably by hunting parties, as the plantations are too small to support many people. We continued the ascent for another five miles, and found the channel becoming blocked with trees as if by laud-slips. The river was Here twenty-five yards wide, the water quite salt, and the influence of the tides plainly discernible. We commenced our return at midnight of December 8, entered another branch on the 9th, and anchored outside the mouth on the evening of the 11 th, having had to tow the 'cutter the whole distance. Erorn the anchorage Boigu bore east-by-south, distant about nine miles. ,

The Mai-Cussar is certainly a magnificent river. There is not a shoal or a sandbank in it to obstruct the navigation, nor is there a dangerous bar at the mouth. We found nine fathoms at the entrance, and carried deep to the very head. Vessels drawing eighteen feet can lie alongside the banks. There is probably a deep passage between Talbot Island and New Guinea which, if properly surveyed and marked, would be available for the largest vessels. If so, a man-of-war, by sending her steam-launch ahead to sound, could in moderate weather avoid Torres Straits altogether, passing to the eastward of Cornwallis, and thence to The Brothers. In war time, an enemy’s ship might thus elude observation, and before her presence was known, intercept every vessel passing through the north-east channel. We saw several reefs and shoals that are not rfiarked on the chart, notably a reef dry at low water about half way between Talbot and Cornwallis, the latter island bearing south-east from it. There are also shoal patches about seven miles southeast of Cornwallis. I reached Thursday Island on December 15. It was my intention to have gone further along the coast to the westward, but having to be at Somerset by the 20th idem to relieve Mr. Beddome, there was no time for further exploration. I regret this very much, as I believe the coast in that direction offers a fine field for discovery. It is highly probable that there are other large rivers affording access to the interior between the Mai-Cussar and Frederick Hendry Island, but it would be useless to attempt their exploration in our cutter. By the mail steamer I forward a few curi-ously-barbed bone-point«d arrows, an ornamented gourd containing lime used in betel chewing, and a sample of flax from the South Cape, New Guinea.