Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

—rrTTSIC.\L FEATUEES OP NEW GITINEA. 299\oytcl, thanks partly to the proximity of Australia, and partly to the more contractedform of this region, rendering it accessible to explorers penetrating inlandfrom both coasts. Here the highlands lying within the territory annexed to theBritish colonial possessions have received English names. The north-west chain,under the same meridian as the Finisterrc highlands, begins with the Albertrange, followed south-eastwards by Mounts Yule (10,000 feet) and Owen Stanley(1 0,200 feet). This twin-crested mountain, which dominates the whole peninsidarsystem, was first ascended in 1888 by the Australian explorer, Martin.Eastwards, the range gradually diminishes in height, and then branches offKg. 132.JMacClxter Inlet A^•D 0^^N Pexinsula.Scale 1 : 4,000,0110.._^Easb oF.br-eenw.ch80 Feet andupwards.into two ridges forming the extreme south-eastern fork of New Guinea, and reappearingat intervals in the Moresby and Massim (Louisiade) archipelagoes. Thechannel here separating the mainland from ITayter and the other eastern islandshas received from Moresby the name of China Strait, because it offers a directroute for vessels plying between Aiistralia and China. The shores of this channelpresent some of the most enchanting scenery in the whole of Melanesia. OwenStanley was the first to determine, in 1848, the completely insular character of theeastern archipelago.East of the China Strait, the south-east extremitj^ of New Guinea is continued