Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-10-13

..Tbe huge island of New Guinea
is probably the most 'unspoiled'
savage country in existence today"
saws a bulletin issued by the Ma
tional Geographic Sociey in regard
to the island the former German
portion of which recently has peeh
placed under the control of Austria
liza by the League of Nations.
HOLLAND, Great Britain and Ger
many, who divided the island
among them-on paper-in 1889
have done little more than place a
tenuous fringe of outposts n mis-
sions along the coast. The spacious
interior has been left largely to the
numerous wild tribes whose chief
outdoor sport is collecting human
heads and who not infrequently
make cannibal feasts off the remaln
der of their enemies anatomy.
This out of the way island, with
its thousands of square miles of UNI
explored territory, has been ana
continues to be an interesting held
to the ~geographer, the naturalist
and the anthropologist as wei as
to politicians, statesmen and trad
crs. Counting Australia as a con-
tinent. New Guinea is exceeded in
size among the islands only by Icy
Greenland land it may therefore be
said to he the largest island IN the
world which supports a considera-
ble nopulation. The number of the
inhabitants is not definitely known
but is believed to be close to one
million. The isIanad is 600 miles
southeast of the Philippines and in
the latitude of the eastern bulge or
Brazil. The Equator lies only about
t1rorty miles eff its northernmOst
Point.
Big as Half Dozen States
This huge island of the troplc
seas covers q greater area than halt
a. dozen or more commemorative or
the United States. If it could be
laid down with its southeastern
point at Norfolk, Va, it would ex-
tend across Virginia, West Nlr-
ginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, WIS
consin, Minnesota and most OF
North Dakota it's northwestern
point resting near the Canadian
border not far from the Montana
line. And at its greatest width II
would extend from near the north
ern end of Lake Michigan to a point
lust south of Terre Haute, Ind. The
area is close to 100000 square miles.
Australia has a keen interest in
! New Guinea for it lies hardly a hum
dred miles to the north, n the
strait separating the two lands IS
dotted with small islands. Since
1906 the southwestern quarter OF
the island has been a territory or
the federal government of Australia
and the recent action of the league
of Nations now gives the common
wealth jurisdiction over more than
half the island.
The costal regions of New
Guinea-practically the only por-
tions known are typical tropical
lands and. as might be expected, are
not particularly healthful. The
mountains of the interior reach a
considerable height, one peak in the
Dutch portion of h island being
more than 500 feet higher than Mt.
Whitney the highest peak in the
United States proper.
Must Live on Ground
"Where the Papuans, the natives
Of New Guinea originated is an
unsettled point among ethnologists.
The inhabitants # most of the ada
cent islands are relatively fair,
straight haired Malays. but the
Papuans are black woody haired ne
croes like those of the far-away
Guinea coast OF Africa; 1t vas be-
cause of this similarity that the
name, New Guinea, was given to h
island. Some of the Papauns have
become mixed with Malays so that
numerous racial gradations exist.
The Papuan seems to demand an