Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

GERMAN NEW GUIXE.V. §17The first liouscs of the settlement were erected towards the end of tlie year 1885on a round ishmd, which has been connected by an embankment with the mainland.Cisterns have also been constructed to husband the rain-water, there beinga total absence of springs in the coralline limestones of the island and surroundingshores.At the first arrival of the Germans the district was comparatively well-peopled,but most of the natives have since emigrated in order to avoid being obliged towork on the plantations of the whites. A Protestant mission has been establishedin the vicinity, and communication with the civilised world is maintained by asteamer plying between this station and the Australian settlement of Cooktown onthe east coast of Queensland.In the Appendix will be found a table of the islands which may be regarded asgeographical dependencies of New Guinea. The German islands off the north coastform part of the Melanesian Archipelagoes, while those of Torres Strait on theopposite side of the great island are attributed to Australia.