BARON MACLAY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3813, 25 September 1936, Page 2

BARON MACLAY

ADVENTURES IN NEW GUINEA. Scientific investigations of the Russian scientist and explorer, Baron N. de Miklouho-Maclay, in New Guinea and other islands in the western Pacific, are recalled by the death in Sydney recently of his widow, Baroness Margaret de Miklouho-Maclay, the sole remaining direct link with the family of the late Sir John Robertson. It is doubtful whether a more hazardous or daring adventure in the cause of science had been undertaken. After a brilliant academical career at no fewer than four universities in Russia and Germany, Baron Maclay adopted comparative anatomy as his speciality. In 1866 he travelled extensively through Europe and visited Madeira, the Canary Islands, and Morocco in company with Professor Haeckel and other scientists; and three years later toured Asia Minor. The desire for exploration in more remote regions conceivably followed, and in 1871 he disembarked from the Russiancorvette Vitiaz, on the northeast cost of New Guinea, with two servants, a European and a Polynesian, scientifically to investigate that hitherto comparatively unexplored country. Both the captain and officers of the Vitiaz unsuccessfully sought the abandonment of the project which, though daring, was, in their opinion, likely to have fatal results. Servant Dies. Soon after the corvette had departed, on Septembfer 26, 1871, the Polynesian servant was stricken with fever and, despite careful medical attention from Baron Maclay, died after a lingering illness. To make matters worse, the European servant was terror-stricken by the unmistakable of fact, the explorer would have had hostility of the natives. As a matter a far easier tasx in pursuing his investigations if he had been alone. The forerunner of a brilliant, courageous band of anthropologists who have undertaken field work in New Guinea, he made a thorough study of the race, language, and culture of the islanders in the areas in which he lived. He gathered a magnificent collection of ethnological exhibits, some of which, however, were jettisoned during a heavy storm at sea. He has left scientific outlines of their anthropometry, social groupings, material culture, decorative art, and naturelore, and paved the way for a deeper study by later scientists.

After he had carried out research work in the vicinity of the Astrolabe Gulf and throughly explored the adjacent mountains and the “Archipelago of Contented Men,” consisting of 30 islands outside the pale of civilisation, Maclay was surprised at the return, in December, 1872, of the Russian warship Isumrud. At the request of the Grand Duke Constantine, the warship was despatched to New Guinea, owing to the circulation of a rumour that Maclay had been murdered by the savage inhabitants. This rumour may have arisen from the fact that before the Vitiaz sailed away he had pointed out hiding places for his diary and documents, which, in the event of his death, could be made available to the scientific world. It was with reluctance that he proceeded on the warship to Java, where he continued his travels and researches. The call of New Guinea was still strong, however, and in December, 1873, he set out again; on this occasion choosing ! the south-west coast of the island as the field of his anthropological exploration. Here he pursued his enthnological investigations of the formation, customs, and habits of the indigenous population. History records that during his temporary absence from Aiva, when cruising eastward along the coast, the little village was attacked by enemy tribes. Ten men and women were wounded, and, in Maclay’s own hut, the wife and child of one of the chiefs were brutally murdered. Everything of value, including some of the explorer’s property, was carried off by the looters. But Maclay, with a display of remarkable heroism and at personal risk, arrested the leader of the murderers. He boarded a prow in which the leader was hiding, and, holding a revolver at the black’s teeth, demanded his surrender. Too overcome with terror to resist, the leader, “who trembled as if in a fit of ague,” was secured with cord and removed to Maclay’s own boat. Visit to Java, After a further visit to Java and to the Malay Peninsula, he made a third voyage to New Guinea in 1876, where, isolated from civilisation, he pursued his researches, which yielded a rich harvest of scientific results. Then he proceeded to Singapore, where a renewed attack of remittent fever, with general anaemia, rendered his health precarious. A change of climate was demanded to restore his health. He proceeded to Australia, arriving in Sydney towards the end of July, 1878. Here, at his instigation, was established, at Watson's Bay, the first zoological station in Australia. He took several trips into the interior of Australia and visited the islands of Melanesia to continue his anthropological studies, and in 1881 paid another visit to the southern coast of New Guinea. Slave Trade Suppressed. Baron Maclay endeavoured unsuccessfully to induce Great Britain to secure the ownership of New Guinea because of its sympathetic adminis-

tration of territory peopled by coloured races. His efforts to suppress the slave trade among the native races of the Pacific, however, were crowned with success; indeed, his influence with the Dutch Government was so effective that reforms were instituted. So great was his influence among the natives with whom he lived that a claim by visiting Englishmen to be. his brother was a sure passport to safety and friendship. He laid the sound foundation for anthropological exploration and ethnological investigation in New Guinea and Papua—a work which in thit remarkable territory even to-day Is far from completion.