NEW GUINEA. EXPLORATIONS AND RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 39, 1 March 1884, Page 6

NEW GUINEA. EXPLORATIONS AND RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY.

The Rivers of Papua. I propose in this letter giving you some account of the rivers in the Papuan Gulf which I have mentioned, and which I have the honour of being the first white man to ascend. I begin with the Baxter, our first discovery. I "had heard the natives speak of a large river opposite the island of Poigu, which they called the Maicassar or Pearlshell River— wat being the native name for pear-shell aud cassar that for river. The officer attached to Captain Moresby's expedition, who was sent to survey that district, had evidently heard the same report; ; but that he did not enter or even go near the river is evident from the fact that he placed it on his chart as " shallow and fresh at low water " — an unfortunate guess, as we did not get less than five fathoms at the entrance, and did not find it fresh until we hod gone seventy miles up the river. It is situated about twenty miles to the west of Cornwallis Island in Torres Straits ; is about a mile and a-half wide at the entrance, and gradually becomes narrower, until at a distance of about ninety miles from the entrance it becomes so narrow and the cuiTent so rapid and blocked up with fallen trees and snags that we could not get further. We went up in our steamer Ellongowan — which was 90 feet long — over sixty miles. Indeed, a steamer of 500 tons burden might go as far with perfect safety. From that point we proceeded in the ship's boat. There are numerous arms branching off in all directions, varying in width from three hundred yards to small streams. For thirty miles up the river is quite salt, and we saw porpoises as far up as ten miles from the mouth. For the first twenty or thirty miles the land is low and swampy, the banks consisting chiefly of mud and mangroves. Beyond that the banks btcoaie higher, and the trees larger and taller. At some places the banks are between twenty feet aud thirty feet high, and the water so deep that we could haul the steamer alongside as at a wharf. The flora and fauna are much the same as in Australia, the marked exception being the palm trees of vai'ious kinds. Still I succeeded in collecting a few new plants for Baron Yon Mueller, of Melbourne. The low country, as far as forty miles or so from the coast, appears to be intersected with rivers and arms from the sea. We went forty miles up the river before the salinometer began to indicate fresher water, and for the next thirty miles it gradually became fresher, becoming at seventy miles from the mouth perfectly fresh, and the country quite changed in appearance. The banks of the river became higher and lined with stemless palms ; the trees covered with creepers ; the air filled with sweet odours ; and the forest resounded with the noise of birds — I cannot say mitsic or song, for most of the sounds were far from agreeable. At the highest point reached we were delighted to find the beautiful birds of paradise {Puradisea refjiana), a species that was then very rare, there being only three imperfect specimens in Europe. Some of our party succeeded in shooting three beautiful male birds. I sent one to the British Museum; but, unfortunately it never reached its destination. The bodies of these birds are a rich coffee-brown, their heads yellow, their throats emerald green. The long feathers which form their most conspicuous ornament spring from the sides from beneath each wing, and are of a deep red at the base, fading away into the pale brown of the body. Some of our party caused considerable excitement in scientific circles by publishing a d scription of a very large bird ; also, the hoof prints of an animal which they supposed to be the buffalo, seen during one of their excursions at the head of the river ; md as my name has been mixed up with > l hese supposed discoveries, I beg to state that, although responsible for the expedition, I am not responsible for all that was written about it. I took specimens of mud and gravel from the bed of the river, also of the rocks, soil, etc., for microscopic purposes. Amongst the sand and gravel from the river bed there were a few grains of gold. This information, howevei 1 , 1 did not publish at the time in my public report, feeling that it would probably lead to disappointment and disaster, which was the unhappy result, a few years later, of a similar discovery on the S.E. Peninsula, published in Sydney. We landed every day whilst the crew were cutting wood for fuel, and generally found traces of natives, who had been there the night before. Evidently we were watched on our vay up the river, and it was equally evident that the native inhabitants were concealed. We only saw a few temporary dwellings, except at one place about seventy miles up the river, where we found two hou&es and about six acres of land enclosed by a very good fence of a kind of basket-work, 4ft high, inside of which were sugar-cane, bananas, and tobacco growing. At another place, still higher, we were astonished to find, in a grove of bamboos, unmistakeable evidence of the use of an axe or large knife. Torres Strait wares had evidently found their way far into the interior. We did not, at the highest point, see any mountains or even hilly conntry ; so that, as far as our mission was concerned, our discovery was useless.

Voyage of the Ellengowan. On this our first voyage of discovery in the Ellengowan, I was accompanied by my friends Mr James Orkney, M.L.A., of Melbourne, and Mr Octavius Stone, F.R.C4.S , of Leicester, both of which gentlemen were travelling for pleasure, and were delighted to have arrived in time for this trip. Before we commenced our return journey from the head of the river wo all went on shore, faced a large and prominent tree, on which we painted the name of our steamer, with the date of our visit ; cut a neat frame in the trunk just above, into which we inserted a poi'trait of Her Majesty the Queen ; suspended from the tree an axe, a jackknife, and a looking-glass to show our friendly feeling to any natives passing that way ; then fired a royal salute, and gave three hearty Biitish cheers, which made the forest ring. It was amusing to see the enthusiasm with which our native crew entered into this ceremony. Although we were disappointed in not finding high land, healthy localities, and populous villages for mission stations, we succeeded in discovering some very fine country on both sides of the river. It is composed of a rich alluvial and vegetable soil, exceedingly fertile, with a dense, tropical looking vegetation. Here and there it is swampy, but generally from ten to twenty feet above the level of the river ; and if cleared and drained, and plenty of the eucalyptus globulus planted, might become tolerably healthy and splendid country. Failing to accomplish my object by the Maicassar, to which, being the first explorers, we gave a European name, in honour of the lady who presented us with the steamer Ellengowan, calling it the Baxter River, I determined to attempt a passage into the interior by the Fly River. Like the Baxter, this river had not been entered by any foreigner, so far as we know. Captain Evans, hydrographer to the Admiralty, told me that he was midshipman on board H.M.S. Fly when they visited and surveyed that part of the New JGu.in.ea coast.

They sailed past the mouth of this large river, to which they gave the name of their ship. While surveying in the pinnace, the natives came off in large numbers to attack them, and wishing to avoid a collision, they returned to the ship. Captain Evnns said that he considered " it would require two of Her Majesty's gunboats to open up that river." And when my report of our voyage of 1(30 miles up the river was read before the Royal Geographical Society, Captain Evans described it as " one of the best pioneer expeditions of modern timea." We found the navigation, both at the entrance and up the river, exceedingly difficult, and the natives numerous and hostile.

Expedition up the Fly River. On my expedition up the Fly River, I was accompanied by Mr Chester (Polico Magistrate at Thursday Island, then resident at Somerset), a^so Signor d'Albertis (the Italian naturalist), both of these gentlemen being anxious to embrace so favourable an opportunity of visiting the interior of this great terra incognita. Having taken on board the chief of Katau as pilot and interpreter, we started for the mouth of the river. The Katau people informed us that the Fly River natives were numerous and great warriors, and that they were more afraid of them than of white men, notwithstanding tho guns ; and we certainly had not long to wait for evidence confirming this description. For tho first thirty miles we were amongst our interpreter's friends ; and beyond that point he did not wish to go. First, ho represented further progress as impossible, there being little water ; then, finding that would not do, he declared that we should all be eaten up if we persisted in going further ; and it was certainly with fear and trembling that he left his friends behind. The events of the following day proved that there was some cause for his fears, for we had not gone far when nine large war canoes, filled with armed men in fighting costume, bore down upon us. A harmless exhibition of our po\\ er, however, led them to retreat. On two other occasions we were obliged to frighten the natives in a harmless way to prevent a collision. Before we returned, however, we succeeded in making friends with some of them, and oven getting them on board our steamer, where they were gieatly astonished at all they saw, and went away delighted with a small present. Having gone 160 miles up the river without seeing any signs of hilly country, and without even seeing any signs of natives for the last fifty or sixty miles—our crew getting sick, and provisions running short, it seemed useless to go further in pursuit of the object I had in view. Even supposing we found thickly-inhabited hilly country a hundred miles further up the river, it would be impracticable to establish a mission thero until we knew more about the navigation of the river, and became friendly with the savage tribes occupying numerous villages for the first 100 miles ; so we decided to return, leaving the river still broad and deep, feeling that we might probably find it meandeiing for several hundreds of miles amongst thelowlands of New Guinea, which Signor d'Albertis proved to be the case during the following year, he having gone 500 miles up the river in a steam launch. Before returning we pulled in the ship's boat to the next bend in the river, and there landed on both banks and on an island in the middle of it. To penetrate even a short distanceinto the interior proved exceedingly difficult. Hearing a waterfall, we determined to reach it, although we know that the fall could not be very deep. In order to accomplish oiu- object we had literally to cut our way through tangled cane, reeds, and dense scrub. During our return voyage down the river we had the misfortune to stick on a bank and break the shaft of our steamer. Our prospects at that time wei'e far from pleasant. Seventy-five miles up the river, hard and fast on a bank, our steamer disabled, surrounded by savage and hostile natives, who were coming off in their canoes, our position was certainly not an enviable one. However, there was no time to sit clown and mourn over it, and, believing that "Providence helps those who help themselves," we set to work to do the best we could under the circumstances, and were rewarded by getting safely out of the river after a few days' hard work and anxiety. From my last letter you will see that we are gradually and quietly becoming acquainted both with the deep channels in the river and with the savages who live on its banks, amongst w horn we have now several mission stations ; so that this great waterway to the interior is being effectually opened up to commerce, and the natives brought under the influence of Christianity, which is the best civiliser and handmaid to commerce. We have not yet explored the gulf between the Fly and Aird Rivers. It is quite possible there may be another large river in that locality bearing more to the north and east, but it is a dangerous coastline ; whereas we have proved that there is a passage into the Fly for large vessels, anr* a good harbour fifteen miles up, plenty of good and unoccupied land along its banks, and, according to Signor d'Albertis, probably gold to be discovered near the head of the river. My own conviction is that this Thames of New Guinea is destined to bear on its bosom a large proportion of the vegetable and mineral wealth of New Guinea.

Two Other Rivers. The Katau and Mabidauan rivers lie between the Baxter and the Fly, and are much smaller. Still, they lead through some good land, and are large enough tor small steamers, and so may become of some importance in the development of New Guinea. My first visit to these rivers was made about nine years ago, and I am not aware that any white man bad been there before. I know that some of the pearlshellers in Torres Strait had visited the village of Katau ; but no one as far as I can learn, ever made any attempt to ascend the river before I did. The Katau River is of much more commercial importance than the Mabidauan, although the latter is the larger and longer of the two. Katau is about twenty miles to the west of the Fly River, andmoreeasily approached than Mabidauan, which is situated opposite the east end of Saibai, between which island and mainland there are numerous reefs and sandbanks not marked on the chart. The Katau River leads in a north-easterly direction ; whilst the Mabidauan bears to the north-west, in the direction of the head of the Baxter River. On both of these rivers we have jow got mission stations, as well as in the Fly ; one on a hill at the mouth of the Mabidauan, two on the Katau (one at the mouth and another twelve miles up the river), and five in the Fly — the furthest inland being at Sumanut, which is twentyfive miles up the river. From my last letter you would get a very fair idea of the country in this part of New Guinea, and in my next I shall give you some account of the natives. Selecting a Mission Station. When Mr Murray and I established the New Guinea mission in 1871 we selected Darnley Island, in Torres Strait, as our starting point, on account of its central position, healthy climate, good anchorage in both monsoons, and its fertile soil and extensive cocoanut groves, which seem to point it out as the most suitable place for the sanatorium, •* city of refuge," and educational centre of our mission. We formed

our first mission station on this island, and a few days after we established our first mission station on the mainland of New Guinea, at a large village situated at the mouth of the Katau River, which is about twenty miles to the west of the Fly River. During the following year, whilst I was in England procuring the steamer Ellengowan and the means to carry on the work, Messrs Murray and Gill formed a second station at Tureture, about five or six miles to the eastward of Katau ; also one on Bampton Island, at the mouth of the Fly River, and commenced the mission on the S.E. Peninsula, at Manumanu, in Redscar Bay. All these places, with the exception of Darnley, proved exceedingly unhoalthy, and fatal to some of our South Sea Island teachers. It was this that led me, on my return from England, to endeavour to find high land and healthy localities in the interior, suitable for mission stations. Hence my explorations in the Baxter, Mabidauan, Katau, and Fly rivers. From my last letter you would learn that we have now mission stations on the three last-named rivers, where teachers trained from that locality are located, as they alone can stand the climate — the Baxter River being the line of demarkation between the London Mission and German Lutheran Mission, which is being established ! by the Rev. Martin Doblies, representing that Society in New Guinea. Mr Doblies came here in the Ellengowan from the S.E. Peninsula. He intended establishing a mission amongst the inland tribes behind Fort Moresby, Avhom he visited ; but prefers to begin on the main body of New Guinea at once, hoping to reach the interior by some of the numerous waterways in these parts. He accompanied me to the Fly River and along the coast to Saibai and Danan. At the latter I arranged for hi«s having a room in the teacher's lath and plaster cottage, as a retreat until he got settled, lent him our mission boat to visit Poigu (an island at the mouth of the Baxter Rirer, where we had formerly a mission station), which he intends making his base of operations, though I am afraid that he m ill not accomplish much without considerably moro help.

The Exploration of New Guinea. There can bo no doubt that the easiest, quickest, and least expensive way of reaching the interior of New Guinea proper is by one of its large rivers in the Papuan Gulf. The newspaper conespondents and others who have attempted to explore New Guinea have made Port Moresby their centre ot operations. It may be a very good centre for the Peninsula, being situated about the middle of it, but it is a very unsuitable base of operations for exploring the great body of New Guinea, from the nearest point of which it is about 200 miles distant. To reach it by land is impracticable ; and by sea a head wind has to be encountered durboth monsoons, which is a very serious matter in these parts. The natives make long voyages along the coast towards the head of the Papuan Gulf for sapro, which take them, as a rule, months to accomplish, as they go at the end of one monsoon and return at the beginning of another, making a fair wind both ways. No prudent captain would attempt to take a sailing vessel to the head of the Papuan Gulf during the southeast season, where there is no shelter from a most dangerous lee shore, inhabited by fierce savages and cannibals. From Darnley Island it is but a day's sail in a boat to the Fly River. To and from the Aird River and the other side of the gulf there is a leading wind during both monsoons, "which makes Darnley easy of access at all seasons. I mention Darnley because it has the best anchorage, and is nearest to the Fly River, although it is only one of a group of six islands, four of which are inhabited by natives of the same race and language. Murray having the largest population, we have here our principal station. S. McFarlane. Murray Island, December 20.