Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

PHYSICAL FEATUEES OF NEW GUINEA. 297tic work of disco vciT without friction, explorers are needed, such as Mikhikho !^^aklay,whose rule of conduct was to be ever discreet, forbearing, truthful in his dealingswith the aborigines, and who, in the midst of imminent perils, alwaj's remainedfaithful to his resolutions.But such heroes are rare, and there are few who have" demonstrated by experience that in every part of the world man is still human,that is to say, a sociable being, possessed of good qualities, with whom it is rightand possible to enter into relations on a footing of mutual justice and kindness."— {Letter of Tolstoi to Miklukho Mahlay.)Physical Features of New Guixea.New Guinea has nothing of the massive, form characterising the Australiancontinent, which it separates from the equatorial waters. It has been comparedto a gigantic bird whose head is represented by the north-west peninsula, the neckb}- the narrow isthmus between Geelvink Bay and Etna Bay, the tail by thesouth-eastern prolongation fringed by numerous little parallel peninsulas resemblingthe plumage. The surrounding waters are so shallow on the south side thata sudden subsidence of some fifty fathoms would suffice to connect Papuasia withAustralia ; while the Louisiade Archipelago would form a continuation of themainland towards the south-east. But in other directions its shores are encircledby profound chasms of over one thousand fathoms, such as the Nares Trough onthe north side, and the Carpenter. Trough (1,320 fathoms) between the Louisiadesand the great Barrier Reef of East Australia. Even the narrow channel separatingNew Britain from the north-east coast is over 500 fathoms deep.At the north-west extremity some islands of considerable size, such as Mysol,Salwaty, Batanta, and Waigiu, indicate the beginning of the relief which on themainland rises to great elevations. The Arfak hills, which skirt the north side ofthe Berau Peninsula, terminate at the entrance of Geelvink Bay in a precipitousheadland, 9,520 feet high. The Gulf of Berau, better known as MacCluer Inletfrom the navigator who explored it at the end of the last century, penetratesover 120 miles inland, almost completely separating the north-western peninsulafrom the rest of the great island. The two regions are connected only by anarrow range of hills, and even these were recently supposed hj Strachan to bepierced at one point by a channel flowing between Geelvink Bay and Mac-Cluer Inlet. But the naturalist, A. B. Meyer, who had crossed from sea to sea,had already demonstrated the non-existence of any such communication. Accordingto the missionary Geiseler, who resided, in 1867, in a village on the isthinus,boats may cross from coast to coast by utilising two streams flowing in oppositedirections between the rocky water-parting, which is, at one point, only "a quarterof a mile " broad. It is uncertain, however, whether the " mile " in question isGerman or English.South of JIucCluer Inlet the seaboard is indented bj- the deep Arguni Bay, along, narrow, fjord-like formation winding between the steep escarpments of thesurrounding: hills.The Onin Peninsula enclosed between these two inlets stands at