Abstract
THE paper read at the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on Monday night, by Mr. Basil H. Thomson, was one of unusual scientific interest. It described a visit made by Mr. Thomson last autumn, along with the New Guinea Commissioner, to the Louisiade and D'Entrecasteaux Islands, both within the British sphere. Mr. Thomson's observations on the natives, on the geology and natural history of these islands, are of special value. The first island described is that of Sudest, the largest of the Louisiades. It is forty-five miles long and four to ten wide. It is of a slaty formation, with veins of crystalline quartz running through it in all directions. The eastern portion is mountainous, the highest point, Mount Rattlesnake, being about 3000 feet high. The highest parts are densely timbered, but the low hills near the sea are covered with grass, whose bright green offers a welcome contrast to the sombre tropical forest. Rossel Island is surrounded by a distant barrier reef of irregular form. The natives are dangerous head-hunters, who, however, kept out of the way of the visitors. With some difficulty the densely-timbered island was crossed, and proved a rich field for the botanist. Even at an elevation of 3000 feet a network of native paths was found. At the village, the inhabitants of which had fled, the party stayed the night. The village was scrupulously clean and the paths well kept. The houses were shaped like an inverted boat, built on a platform some 5 feet from the ground; the interior was reached through two trap-doors in the floor. The natives of Rossel suggest a hybrid between the Papuans and the natives of the Solomon Islands. The stone axe has fallen into disuse, its place being taken by blades of iron procured from wrecks. The language bears no resemblance to any known New Guinea dialect nor to the languages of Eastern Polynesia. St. Aignan Island, called by the natives Misima, is more than 100 square miles in area, being about twenty-eight miles long, and varying in breadth from about eight or nine miles on the east end. The west end consists of a great mountain range named Lakia, about 3500 feet above the sea, composed of schistose slate. The eastern part of the island consists of very rugged hills, through which the streams have cut very deep and narrow gorges. They are composed of coral upheaved by volcanic action, and mixed with conglomerate formed from shingle, and with broken layers of schistose slate. Round the eastern coast there is a fringe of coral, upheaved more recently, rising to a height of more than 100 feet, through which the mountain torrents have cut their way right down to sea-level. The natives are of two types, the one evidently Papuan, and the other betraying strong Malay characteristics, such as the straight hair and not prominent features. The limestone hills which compose the centre of the island were honeycombed with caves and densely timbered. From one great wall of limestone sprang a stream which, after 200 yards of daylight, plunged into a great cave in the opposite cliff. The mouth was a perfect arch, 150 feet from floor to roof. At the far end the river thundered down into a black tunnel, through which it passed under the range, emerging into daylight after some three miles of darkness. Normanby Island, the most easterly of the D'Entrecasteaux Group, is a narrow L-shaped mountain range, with deeply furrowed sides and wide valleys excavated by water-wear. It is probably nowhere of greater breadth than ten or twelve miles, and the area about 350 square miles. The highest parts of the island are perhaps 3500 feet above the sea-level. The southeastern portion is composed of schistose slate varying much in hardness, interlaid with veins of white crystalline quartz, which is free from any compound of iron or other metal. Traces of gold were found in the creeks. Toward the north end of the island the formation is igneous, consisting mainly of limestone, but in some of the river-beds are large beds of basalt and boulders of siliceous stone. The mountains of Dawson Straits, however, differ much in formation from the rest of the island. The rock appeared to be a sort of porphyry, and furnished indications of tin. The natives have strong Papuan characteristics. They wear the usual dress. Mr. Thomson penetrated some miles inland, passing through no less than thirty-one villages, and seeing many others perched on every available spur or ridge, and surrounded by its plantations. These villages were remarkable for their cleanliness. The cultivation is wonderful, and bears witness of their activity and industry. Normanby Island is the eastern limit of the wallaby, of which were found two varieties. It is also the eastern limit of a bird peculiar to the D'Entrecasteaux Group—the largest of the five species of Manucodia, which are still classed with the birds of Paradise. It feeds on insects, and though the strait which divides Normanby Island from the mainland is only ten miles wide, this bird, which is the commonest of all large birds in the D'Entrecasteaux Group, has never crossed to New Guinea. War and the difference of dialect have so completely isolated the various tribes as to make them different peoples as regards everything but their physical characteristics. At a spot not ten miles from a tribe that would barter all they possessed for tobacco and pipes, were people so ignorant of their use that they put the tobacco into a bottle given them, poured water upon it, and drank off the compound. Ferguson Island, the largest of the D'Entrecasteaux Group, is thirty miles long by seventeen broad, with an area of about 500 square miles. There are three great mountain masses on the island: Mount Kilkerran, on the north-east corner, 6000 feet high; the Maybole Range, on the north-west, which is probably 5000 feet above sea-level; and a lower range in the south-west corner, which is apparently unnamed, and which Mr. Thomson was unable to examine. The formation of the Kilkerran and Maybole Ranges is the same, consisting principally of micaceous schist with veins of white quartz intersecting it. In the beds of the rivers were boulders of quartz, and of a slaty rock very rich in silica, and there were boulders of what seemed to be a kind of porphyry. The south-eastern part of Ferguson and the small outlying islands, Goulvain and Welle Islands, are of igneous formation, and Mr. Thomson noticed two extinct volcanoes and some hot springs. This part is densely populated, owing probably to the fertility of the extensive flats of volcanic deposit. The people were in most respects similar to those in Normanby Island. The inland or bush natives have evidently no communication with those on the coast, except as enemies: they knew nothing of firearms. They are true Papuans. At Mount Kilkerran, near Hughes Bay, it was noticed that the sides of the mountain, consisting of great precipices and steep inclines, were dotted with villages up to a height of 10,000 feet, half concealed in clumps of cocoa-nut palms. Six specimens of a variety of Paradisea raggeana were obtaiped in this island. Near Seymour Bay there was a large extent of flat land and sago swamp, in which were found some saline lakes, and some hills giving off sulphur fumes strong enough to discolour the white paint on the vessel, which was lying nearly two miles distant. Some of the hills appeared to be composed of alum and sublimed sulphur. There were also springs of boiling water and boiling mud, and in one instance boiling mud was spouted up from a chimney-like cavity in the hill-side. Goodenough Island, the most westerly of the group, was visited. A great range of mountains running north and south, and culminating in two peaks not less than 7000 feet high, forms the centre of the island. On the east side is a plain some seven or eight miles wide, nearly clear of forest. The formation is slaty schist containing much mica and quartz. On the east side are projections of igneous formation, and on the point nearest to the sulphur springs in Seymour Bay is a small crater, probably not long extinct.
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Geographical Notes. Nature 40, 256 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/040256a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/040256a0