NEW GUINEA. EXPLORATION AND RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY. No. 1—Introductory. Fly River, New Guinea, Oct. 26.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 28, 15 December 1883, Page 6

NEW GUINEA.

EXPLORATION AND RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY. No. 11 — Introductory. Fly River, New Guinea, Oct. 26.

About 360 years ago New Guinea was dis oovered by mere accident. There were ii those days a number of gallant spirits wh( were immortalising their names and that o their country by their "glorious exploits.' Amongst these was Don Jorge Demencsis, a distinguished Portuguese navigator whc was proceeding on a voyage from Malacca te dislodge the Spanish from the Malaccas. The usual route home to which the Portuguese had become accustomed was by the south of Borneo and off Celebes, and by the island of Ambocca, but Don Jorge thought he would try another course, and so went round the north end of Borneo, and being set to the eastward by currents and standing afterwards to the south, made the discovery of New Guinea, where he landed and remained a month. Two years latex another Portuguese (Alvared De Suanadraj landed on its shores, and although there is no record of his having penetrated inland, he called an island by the high-sounding title of Isla Del Oro, from the idea which he formed of its abounding in gold. In 1i)45 a Spanish mariner named Yuigo Orbiz De Nez also voyaging to the Molaccas, sailed 150 miles along its northern coast, and gave it the nameNeuvea Guinea, from some resemblance, or fancied resemblance, it bore to the Guinea Coast on the West of Africa. In IGJG Schauten visited the country in the duty ship Ninty. and discovered one large and several smaller mec'aneas. In 1009 Dampier in the lioebuck circumnavigated the island. On landing he was met with considerable resistance, the natives using clubs and spears and hollow sticks, from which they threw fire at their opponents. In 177fi the French vessels La Boudeas and L'Etoile, under the command of De Bougainville, sailed along the southern and eastern coasts ; in 1 770 Captain Cook sailed along the coast, and confirmed the statement of its disconnection from the continent of New Holland. There were several visitors after thi.s, among others Captain Edwards, in the Pandora^ in 1791, Bampton in 1791, and Black - in 1840 ; but little or no further information relative to the place was given until Stanley, in H.M.S. Rattlesnake, ran along the coa^t, and made a rough survey of a portion of it. Still, although the island haas been visited at various points by Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, and English navigators, very little was known either of the country or its inhabitants until after the establishment of the London Society's New Guinea Mission in 1870, a brief account of the commencement of which and our early discoveries will hero find an appropriate place.

The First New Guinea Mission. In 1 869 1 was appointed by the directors of the London Mission Society to superintend the establishment of a mission in New Guinea, the Rev. R. Murray, of Samoa, being sent to take charge of the missionary htation at DifF. By the beginning of 1871 my arrangements were completed, a suitable vessel chartered", and eight teachers selected from Diff and Mare. Mr Murray, who arrived from Samoa, accompanied us on this important voyage. We started from Diff and made direct for Darnley Island in Torres Straits, where we formed our first mission station, this central and tolerably healthy island having been selected as a sanatorium and "city of refuge" for the mission on • the main land. The first mission stations established on the main land were at Kalau and Tukolere, large villages situated between the Baxter and Fly Rivers, where Western Polynesians from Diff and Mare were located as evangelists. In the following year a mission was commenced in Redscar Bay by Rev. Messrs Murray and Gill with a teacher from Raratonga; but this place, like Kalau and Turetiri, proved exceedingly unhealthy, and the teachers had to be withdrawn. A year later, Port Moiesby »as m le the centre of operations on the peninsu.a, and in 1574 Rev. W. G. Lawes joined the mission, and took charge of that station.

A Pioneer Missionary's Work. At the request of the directors, I devoted the first five years of my mission life in New Guinea to strictly pioneering work. We had much to learn about the place and people before our plans could be matured, and our modus opcrandi definitely fixed. A small steamer supplied by a friend enabled me to move about with comparative ease and safety. It now became evident for the success of our mission, as well as the opening up of the country, that it was desirable to seek high land, healthy localities, and populous villages in the interior, and these I hoped might be found by exploring the rivers. From some of the natives at one of our stations I heard of the existence of a large river* about 15 miles west of Cornwall Mand, the mouth of which was said to be opposite Paigon, one of a froup of small islands off the coast, where was then contemplating establishing a mission station . I proceeded thither accompanied by two friends — Mr Orkney, of Melbourne, and Mr Octavius Stone, F.R.S. We were delighted to find a noble river, about a mile and a-half wide at the entrance, with between 7 and 8 fathoms water, without any bar or impediment to a steamer of 500 tons for seventy or eighty miles up. After having gone about ninety miles, we were stopped by fallen trees and snags, the river became very narrow, and we had passed many tributaries of considerable sifce. Some of the largest of these, however, were salt, and, I believe, led to the coast .further west, thus forming a large island or islands. We did not see any village, although we landed every morning whilst the crew were cutting fuel for our day's run, and penetrating a considerable distance into the interior on both sides of the river. Only on two occasions did we see natives, who appeared very much afraid, and disappeared as we approached their tracks, and sometimes temporary dwellings were seen at several points. At one place we found tobacco and banana plantations. Before returning we cut a frame in the trunk of a tree into which we placed a portrait of the Queen, and around hung a few presents for the natives, including tomakawks, knives, looking glasses, etc. Being the first Europeans to enter this river, we named it in honour of our missionary steamer by means of which our explorations were made — calling it Baxter River. Failing to reach the high land of the interior by means of this, river, I resolved to' try 'the . Fly. From Captain Evanßj hydrographer to the Admiralty,, who; was midshipman with Captain Blackwood during. • his, visit to New Guinea in 1845, I learnt all that was known about the Fly River. They, discovered what they supposed to . be the mouth of a large river, judging from the body of fresh -water flowing out. They attempted to enter in the snip's pinnace, but were met by large canoes full of savage looking men, who were evidently coming to attack them, and having no desire to shed blood, they returned to the ship and gave the name of their vessel to the river. f>

tain Evans assured me it was his firm conviction it would require two of Her Majesty's gunboats to open that river. When my report of our voyage upon the river was read at the Royal Geographical Society, he declared to the meeting that he considered it one of the best pioneer voyages of modern times. I was fully alive to the difficulties of the task, and made my arrangements accordingly. As my object was to see if there were suitable localities for mission stations which could be conveniently reached by the river, I determined to avoid, if possible, any collision with the natives, who, of course, were ignorant of our friendly intentions, by landing to cut fuel at uninhabited places. If sucessf ul in tne object of our search, it would be a comparatively easy matter afterwards to conciliate the natives and give them a true idea of who and what we were.

Exploration of the Fly River. 3 I was accompanied on this, as on the piej5j 5 vious voyage, by two friends who were anxious to join us on so interesting an ex|J pedition — Mr Chester, the Police Magistrate * at Somerset, and Signor Dalbertis, an Italian naturalist. The latter was particul arly fortunate in arriving from Ynille Island just in time to join us, which led to 1 his obtaining a steam-launch in the follow - I ing year, and exploring the river 3 much higher than I felt justified in > going. We found the river ten miles ' wide at the mouth, gradually narrowing ; 3 studded with small islands, the largest 1 about four miles long and two wide ; fre&h } near mouth at low water ; the banks for first 100 miles thickly populated with war1 like people, who came out in large canoes » (each holding about thirty men) at several [ points to attack us, but who were easily 3 frightened away when we were unable to 1 conciliate them. Beyond the first 100 miles ■ ©r so, we did not see any natives, and 1 only on one occasion did we see any traces } of them. The banks became higher, some1 times rising to more than 20 feet, and the soil, as may be supposed, is rich | alluvial. Tho wild nutmeg and other ppices abound, and pigeons shot had [ generally their croppers full of the [ former. I believe there are immense | tracts of good sugar land on the upper part of the Fly .River, very thinly populated. This great river is the Thames of New Guinea, running Hoo miles into the interior. ; We went about *2GO miles in the Ellen (iowan, but, finding neither high land nor even natives after the first hundred miles, provisions running short and the crew getting fever, 1 determined to return. About 80 miles from the mouth of the river mc had the misfortune to ground on a sandbank and break our shaft, and this right opposite a large village of howling savages, where one of the houses was over 400 feet long. In this disabled state we were obliged to tow with the tide and anchor when it turned. Thus we got out of the river. Two days after a fair wind sprang up, to which we spread our small sails and reached Somerset in safety. There our able engineer and captain soon replaced the damaged shaft with the duplicates of machinery I had brought from England.

Discovery of Harbours. Failing to find populous and healthy localities up these large rivers, and our mission on the coast (both in the gulf and on the peninsula and Port Moresby) suffering from the fatal fever of tho country, I determined to try the east end of New Guinea, hoping, from the narrow and mountainous character of the peninsula, to find it more healthy. Calling at Port Moresby, I consulted with Mr Lawes, who joined me in an expedition to the China Straits. We visited many places on the coast on our way down, and made some impbrtant discoveries of harbours, lagoons, rivers, islands, and passed among others, which may be mentioned, as likely to become most useful for commerce, a fine harbour off the town of Kerepunce, in Hood Bay ; Mullins harbour, in Orangerei Bay ; Stay Island, which was supposed to be the South Cape between which and the main land there is splended anchorage and good water for vessels. During the following year (about three years after Mr Lawes joined the mission) we had the pleasure of welcoming Mr and Mrs Channel's, who threw themselves heartily into the work. I accompanied them to the South Cape, as we had arranged to form two central stations, for two new branches of the mission in the South and East Cape districts, Mr and Mrs Chalmers taking charge of the former, and lof the latter ; they selecting Stacey Island as their centre of operations, I Samaria, a small island in the China Straits, which commands both sides of the peninsula. My energetic colleague soon became acquainted with the coast line of this diocese between 1 South Cape and Orangerei Bay, where he discovered some good harbours, and has since visited many of the tribes on the south side of the peninsula. Finding the east end of our mission as> unhealthy as the west,; both proving fatal to our Polynesian teachers, it seemed to me that the best way to evangelise the great island was to establish training institutions for the education of the staff of teachers from amongst the people themselves, who are accustomed to the clime. Five years ago I began the important work at our central station at Mun ay Island with nine young men, who formed the nucleus of what has become a Papuan Industrial School and Teachers' Seminary, in which about 100 young men and boys are being trained with the view to their becoming evangelists in New Guinea. Eight earnest Christian young men — the first converts of the mission, and the first r fruits of our institution — have recently been appointed to stations in the Papua Gulf in and near the Fly River, where our latest and most important discoveries have been made. During the monsoon, many vessels bound from Australia to China pass through the Torres Straits, whei'e, it is well known, a large per-centage have been wrecked. A slight error in reckoning or in chronometers causes the daptain to miss Bramble Bay ; then, to avoid what looks a terribly dangerous place on the charts, he attempts to beat away from the extensive Warrior Reef, whereas we find that there is a fine passage through it at the north end, three miles wide, with six to seven fathoms of water, which I named the Missionary Passage. There is good anchorage on the lee side of the reef. This is now our usual course from the Fly River to Thursday Island, it being much more pleasant andsafersailingontheleethanontheweather side of Warrior Reef,

Entrance to Fly River. Our last and perhaps most important discovery of all is a good passage into Fly River for large vessels, about eight miles t,o the eastward of Brampton Island, an eyeh sandy bottom, gradually shallowing from nine to three fathoms and a • half, and then as gradually deepening to ■ six , ; fathoms — a , tine harbour formed by three islands, situated in the middle of the river,, safe at all seasons and smooth as a, mill pond, with six fathoms of water close ,to shore, which J have named Port Spicer. ,, It is about fifteen miles from, the, mquth of the noble river, which at Port Spicer is eight or nine miles wide, Here I have formed, our central station for, bhe Fly River Mission on the largest of the islands, Mibu, which is likely to oecome an important dep6t in the future, commence q( this Thames of New Guinea, ForsmaUvessels

it is what may be termed the back entrance to tliG river, between the mainland and islands of Brislow, Brampton, and Mibtt, safe at all seasons. Our mission schooner, Ellen Gowan, takes the former, and ouu small vessel, the Venture, the latter pas-

Other Explorations, Other explorations and attempts at settlement have been made since the commencement of our mission; notably two voyages of Captain Moresby in the Basilisk, in 1873, during which he discovered a fine harbour on the sea coast of the peninsula which bears his name, and some islands at the east end which were supposed to form part of the mainland.

Fatal Diggers' Expedition. The ill-starred expedition of the Maria, comprising a number of miners and adventurers, left Sydney in 1872 to explore New Guinea and search for gold. I met the members of this expedition on my return from New Guinea, juj?t before they started, and endeavoured to cominoe them they were going at a most unsuitable season, the "N. W. mensoon," and in a most unsuitable vessel ; but it was the advice of a missionary, and they probably thought I had other reasons for wishing them to defer their departure, so they started but never readied New Guinea. The vessel was wrecked, a number of lives lost, and the survivors rescued by Captain Moresby in the Basilisk. In 1874, the Rev. Dr. Lang undertook an immigration scheme— a party with their wives and families were to iorm a settlement at Yuille Island with a view to opening a trade with Australian ports in pro ducts of the island, and to collect specimens of the natural history and mineralogy of the country. On hearing of this, lat once wrote a letter to the " Sydney Morning Herald," which was copied in to the "London Times," accompanied by a leader on the subject setting forth the almost certain sad consequences of such an attempt, urging that what was required at first in in such a country was not immigrants with families, but explorers, turning prospectors to report on the most suitable places for settlement. I knew Yuille Island well, and considering the number of deaths at our mission stations along the coast, I felt it my duty to raise a warning voice against an expedition which would certainly have led to disappointment and disaster. It was abandoned. In 187S several parties of miners visited Port Moochi with the object of searching for gold, which was reported to exist near that place, the best-organised party being known as the Colonist Expedition, some of the members of which penetrated half across the peninsula, or 45 miles from the coast prospecting for gold ; but their reports were unfavourable, and all left the Island.

Other Explorations. In articles professing to give a short account of explorations in New Guinea, honourable mention should be made of the labours of Dr. Beccari and Signor D'Albortes (the Italian doctor), Mikelucho Maclay (the Prussian doctor), Mayer (the German), and Wallace (our own countryman). These gentlemen in their scientific pursuits have contributed valuable information about New Guinea ; Messrs Ingham, Stone, and Goldie have also visited and written about places on the peninsula where no European had been before them, and it is greatly to the credit of the lastnamed gentleman that, having travelled so far along the coast of the S.E. peninsula and in the interior, he has never come into collision with the natives, although, like all other travellers, he took the precaution of being well armed. The enterprising proprietors of the "Argus" and "Age" sent expeditions to explore this beautiful and luxuriant island, from whom, it is to be hoped, we may soon learn something of animal, vegetable, and mineral treasures, as well as physical features of the country. Seeing we have mission stations established in Fly River, they will find it by far the easiest and quickest way of reaching the interior islands ; and as we do not believe in Christianity without civilisation, much less in civilisation without Christianity— (they are twin sisters) — we shall, as we have always, encourage any legitimate attempt made to open the country. But whilst we are prepared to do this, we are also prepared to oppose any proceedings that would be unjust and injurious to the natives. We are here for their benefit, and are anxious to see them advance in civilisation. Being in possession of the country, they have surely a right to participate in the benefits arising from the development of its resources. It is attempts to ignore nativejrights a"nd abuse their persons and property by European travellers and settlers that lead to trouble, which might, and ought to be, avoided. It is well that all who contemplate visiting New Guinea should clearly understand our position. They must decide whether wo help or oppose them.

Expedition Up Fly River. I stai-t in a few days for a month's tour up the Fly Rivei\ and into the interior, to visit the island tribes, somo account of which I shall givo you in my next communication.