DUTCH NEW GUINEA.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1074, 13 March 1911, Page 5

DUTCH NEW GUINEA.

FUNDS FOR EXPLORATION. By TeloEraph-I'ress Association-Copyright, (Rec. March 12, 5.5 p.m.) London, March 11. The British Ornithological Union has granted .£2OOO annually for the years 191112 towards the exploration of Dutch New Guinea, which was begun in 1910. The work is being undertaken conditionally on the beneficiaries contributing equally, and the scientific results being placed at the disposal of the British •Museum.

Remarkable activity was shown during 1910 in the exploration of Western Now Guinea, one of the,last strongholds of the unknown in this part of the world. The efforts put forth by the Dutch for several years past to , reach the snows of the great central range .were at last crowned with success towards the end of 1909, When a party under Dr. H.A. Lorentz ascended a little above the limit of perpetual snow (11,635 feet) on Mount AVilhelnnna, the summit of which was fixed at about 15,580 feet. The ascent of a still higher peak further west (Mount Carstensz) has been a part of the programme of tho expedition organised by the British Ornithologists' Union under Mr. W. Goodfellow. Tho geographical work is in chargo of the well-known Tibetan explorer Captain Rawling, assisted by Dr. Eric Marshall (a member of Sir E. Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition) and Dr. A. F. R. Wollaston, who took part in the British Museum Expedition to Ruwenzori (Central Africa) a few years ago. These explorers have met with almost insuperable obstacles in tho way c£ an advance to their goal, owing to transport .difficulties and the impenetrable forest with which the whole country is clothed. They have made, however, an interesting discovery by substantiating the existence of a pygmy tribe (apparently of Negrito race) in this region. The Dutch have been active in exploring the many rivers which run south from the snowy range, views of which have been obtained a good deal east of Mount Wilhelmina. From the north, too, an important advance by way of the MamboiTimo River towards Mount Carstensz has been made by Lieutenant F. Honlorschee; still further success being only prevented by a severe outbreak of beri-bori and malaria. Further east, the Dutch anil Gorman parties for the survey of the Wist meridian (their common frontier) pushed south across the coast ranges and readied a wide plain drained by a large river.