Worcester daily spy., 1871-07-13
A New Continent.

III,
if the report is true that the British have bought
out the claims of the Dutch upon New Guinea,
| the last remaining tracts of terra incOqnitd will
presently be explored and opened to commerce;
and our planet will thenceforth be tame and
| unnteTeSting object to adventurous travellers
| and healthy boys.
| The Corea is known to us through the reports
| of Chinese and Japanese travellers; the Astor
| sibrary contains several accounts of the country
land its inhabitants; andi is certain that neither
race nor in civilization do the Coreans differ
| greatly from their neighbOrs the Chinese. But
| of New Guinea less is known to the civilized
| part of mankind than of the interior of Africa.
No white man has ever, so far as is known pen
etrated even fifty miles from the coast, on this
island which has vet about twice the area of
England Scotland and Ireland. Indeed it is
| probably the largest island in the world; and
| though its climate is believed to be extremely
moist and very different from that of Australia,
it may, in the hands of the English, become in
| time new empire, like Australia.
In its physical form New Guinea seems some
what to resemble New Zealand, being divided
| by deep gulfs into three large peninSulaS 1t
| has a range of snow-clad mountains, visible
| from both the north and south coasts, and be-
lieved by geographers to be not less than twenty
| thousand teet high, which is good deal higher
than any of the Rocky mountain peaks. With
such mountain range, it has probably consid-
| cradle rivers, and indeed the Dutch, who have
| long carried on an inconsiderable trade with
some parts of the coast, report the mouth of
one river to be three-quarters of mile wide
The coast, so far as it has been visited is thick
ly timbered.
The people Of the coast line are divided into
petty tribes, who live at war with each other,
and cannot understand each others tongues
Some of them, Mr.. Wallace reports, have neatly
built houses and cultivate small fields. OF the
inhabitants of the vast interior, little or indeed
nothing, is certainly known. The Dutch report
that some of the coast tribes are savages with
whom they found it impossible to hold inser-
course, every attempt being fiercely repulsed
Mr. Wallace reports the Papuans, as the
natives of New Guinea are called, to be
distinct race from the Malays. They
are as tall as Europeans, of a dark
brown color and with frizzly hair growing
in little knots over their heads and faces. They
have welshaped and large noses; long face;
the mouth is large and the lips prominent; in
manner they are impulsive and demOnstrative,
thus resembling more the negro than the Malay,
who is reserved; and Mr.. Wallace credits them
with much more vital energy than the Maays.
Whether the inhabitants of the interior of the
great island are of the same race and possess the
same characteristics as those of the coast re-
mains to be seen.
So far as is known, New Guinea possesses
neither holSeS nor CATTLE 1t has five species of
kangaroos; crocodileS were seen on the mud
banks, which line considerable part of the
known coast line, by the Dutch navigator Kolff;
and it has a peculiar native pig. But it is the
home of the splendid bird of paradise; and Wal
lace says, speaking only from his visit to a small
part of the coast, that its birds are "more nu-
merous, more beautiful, and afford more new
curious and elegant forms than those of any
other island on the globe"
New Guinea also produces the true nutmeg;
and the MalayS get from their tortoise she'll
trepang, pearls and edible birds nests, sending
fleets of their prahoos every year to the coast to
trade for these objects.
30 oil fhofi &c e
which contains two hundred thousand square
miles, and is one thousand four hundred miles
IN length from east to west 1t is to be hoped
that the English will-if they have really bought
out the Dutch-send out scientific expedition,
properly fitted and armed, TO make an eXplora-
tion of the interior. 1t is curious and bewild-
ering thought, that in this vast unexplored re-
gion we may yet find living the great bird which
became extinct in New Zealand since that island
became known to Europeans; or that some ami
NAL hitherto unknown to civilized men may be
found in its wilderness; or that even some new
race of men may inhabit there. What new pre-
ducts, or what greater abundance of those now
scarce, may be discovered by enterprising eX-
plorers, remains to be seen; but doubtless the
timber of New Guinea alone, which all accounts
describe as of remarkably fine growth, will be
of great value to Australia.
The first account of the snowy range of New
Guinea, and of the curious or novel phases
which nature may there take on will be looked
Tor with great interest, not only by geographers
but by all intelligent people; and commerce,
hitherto debarred from the island, will shortly,
no doubt, turn her eyes curiously towards the
mysterious interior, which not even the Malays
have ever penetrated, and where may lie hidden,
for aught anyone knows, store OF precious
metals as rich as that of California or Austria
liza.
But when New Guinea is once thoroughly ex-
plored, what will remain for the adventurous
part of mankind2 China is better known to US
nowadays than many parts of our own country;
Thibet is commonplace; the school-master is
teaching English and engineering in the inner
most hooks of Japan Bart, Livingstone, Du
Chaillu, Baker and others have made Africa
well-known land; the wilds of Australia have
been surveyed; and when New Guinea has
been travelled over and described, the explorer
of the next century will have to look to the
moon or the planet Mars for his nearest field of
adventure and glory.-Neeo York Eventng
Post.