NEW GUINEA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 57, 9 March 1942, Page 4

NEW GUINEA

UNTAMED COUNTRY

WORLD'S LARGEST ISLAND

The largest island in the world, if we except the island of Australia, New Guinea is, in its interior, a terra incognita. This tropical island stretching from just beneath the equator to about the same latitude as Cape York, at the top of Queensland, although some 500 miles further east, is the scene of further attacks by the Japanese in their drive across the Pacific. The nearest point to Australia is across the shallow island-studded Torres strait, a distance of about 80 to 90 miles.

It would appear that at one time, probably during the Miocene epoch, New Guinea and Australia formed a continuous stretch of land. It would not require much of an upheaval to unite these territories once again. The island of New Guinea consists of a long central mountain chain of complex formation, a northern coastal range and a small planed down hill country on the south coast. In the central range many of the peaks reach up into the regions of perpetual snow. Amongst these are Mt. Edenburg (15,150 feet), Mt. Carstens (16,400 feet), which have glaciers, and Mt. Wilhelmina (15,312 feet). The most important rivers are the Mamberamo flowing to the north, the Sepik, also on the north, which is navigable by seagoing steamers for a distance of 180 miles, the Fly River flowing into the Gulf of Papua, up which a whale boat can proceed for a distance of 600 miles, and the Digul in the south-west.

The whole of New Guinea lies within the track of the south-east trade winds, which prevail from March to October, and are charged with mbisture from the Pacific. These are followed for the rest of the year by the north-west monsoons, whose rain-bearing clouds are condensed on the cold alpine slopes of the island.

As a result the rain or snow fall is considerable in every part-of the country and this, combined with an average high temperature ranging from 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, causes the climate on all the lowlying coast-lands and valleys through which rivers flow to be moist, bringing in its train the danger of malaria. Due to this abundant rainfall, the varying altitudes and the geographic position of the island, which places it in close proximity to both Asiatic and Australian botanical areas, the flora of New Guinea is full of variety. Animal life, however, shows a closer relationship with Australia than its Asiatic neighbours to the north. There are 84 species of marsupials, among which are two genera peculiar to the island. There are well over 500 species of birds found in New Guinea, and at least 50 genera are peculiar to the island.

New Guinea has apparently been visited by successive waves of human invaders, producing a population which shows a marked difference from both Australia and Indonesia. This population also differs among themselves, there being three main ethnical elements which are more or less clearly defined. These are the Papuans proper, who are found all over the island, the Negritoes, who have been found in the more interior regions of the Dutch and British territories, and the Melanesians, who occupy the southeast coastal region. The advent of the European may be dated from the beginning of the 16th century. New Guinea appears to have been sighted by D'Abreu in 1511 and first visited by De Meneses about 1562. It received its present name in 1546 from Ortiz de Retez, who was struck by the resemblance of its inhabitants to those of the Guinea coast of West Africa.

It is only recently that, in a valley in the interior of New Guinea in the vicinity of Lake Habbema, a race of people numbering 60,000 who had never before been seen by white men, was discovered. i