D'ALBERTIS' EXPLORATION OF NEW GUINEA.*
WE recently noticed the Island Life of Mr. Wallace, as a speci- men of wide and important speculation, founded on a large amount of carefully-observed and collected, though often very minute, facts. We have now before us a book of a very different type. Signor D'Albertis is an eminent example of the explorer and collector, pure and simple. His book literally corresponds to its title, What I Did and What I Saw. He refrains almost entirely from generalisation and theory, but his zeal, patience, and courage excite our admiration, and his simple, unadorned narrative disarms criticism. These volumes contain,in theform of • New Guinea : What I Did, and What I Saw. By L. M. D'Albertis, Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy, Gold Medallist of the L.R.O.S., .tc. London : Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and MivIngton. 1880. a journal, with here and there a short summary, the facts of three explorations of New Guinea and some of the small adjacent islands between the years 1871-1877, including two laborious ascents of the great " Fly " river throughout 300 miles of its course. Every schoolboy knows the general position of New Guinea, but there is probably no portion of the globe at once so accessible (for the width of Torres Straits, which separate it from our most northern Australian possessions, is only eighty miles, and their depth only some twelve fathoms,—a significant fact for the geologist), and so little known. Its native population is not dense, and though low enough in the scale of civilisation, is, for the most part, not ferocious or aggressive, and is capable of being dealt with in the way of traffic, for Signor Albertis had little difficulty in inducing the inhabitants, espe- cially those near the coast, to bring him innumerable specimens of birds and insects, in exchange for simple articles of use or ornament ; and he spent long periods of time among them, with- out a single European companion, obtaining no small influence over them by a display of firmness and rigid justice, aided occa- sionally by operating on their fears, when they were disposed to pilfer or to violate their bargains, by an exhibition of a few simple scientific displays, such as fireworks ; while the precision of his aim in shooting commanded their wonder and respect. His adventures of this kind, told in straightforward terms, without the faintest appearance of boasting, and his description of his own frightful sufferings from fever and dropsy, which never cooled his ardour in pursuit of his beloved birds and insects, are extremely interesting. He seems generally to have inspired the female portion of his savage neighbours with something like superstitious terror, though one dusky damsel, much prettier than the rest of her race, evidently became enamoured by the pale-faced stranger and at the risk of her own life warned him of some conspiracy against his life and property, all of which he tells with the most amusing naivete.
The anthropology of New Guinea seems to have puzzled Signor D'Albertis. Indeed, he almost arrives at the conclusion that there is no distinct Papuan race, but that the population is composed of numerous tribes, more or less crossed and hybrid, of extremely varied types. He finds every variety of cranium, features prognathous and aquiline, hair of many tex- tures, and colour varying from black to tawny, some having- even chestnut or auburn hair ; and be finds an almost equal diversity in the ornamentation of their persons. Most of the- tribes have attained to a rude agriculture, but most of them are still in the " stone period," having little or no knowledge of the use of metals. They catch and kill their game with bows and arrows, clubs, and very strong nets, and although good animal food is plentiful, they indulge, like the Australians, in eating insects, and especially the big, succulent larvae of the larger beetles and lepidoptera. Although our explorer met with few evidences of ferocious warfare, they are eager skull-collectors. He is of opinion that many of the tribes, especially those of Moatta, who are already tolerably familiar with Europeans, and have made considerable progress under the direction of mission- aries, could very speedily be brought into a condition of civilisa- tion by the influence of Christianity, combined with the en- couragement of such work as would lead to their greater material prosperity. The chief difficulty in regard to colonisation arises, of course, from climate ; but the temperature in most parts of New Guinea is wonderfully low, for a country situated so near the Equator, and the drainage of swampy ground, which in time might be accomplished by native labour, is the chief desideratum. The religious sentiment, even in the form of Devil-worship, is not developed in the minds of the inhabitants ; at least, Signor D'Albertis found no traces of it, except in a few places where there were carved images, like idols, to which the people attached little importance, and which they were quite willing to sell ; and among certain tribes, he found that something like an idea of sanctity was attached to certain collections of bones and other objects. There is one very remarkable fact in the social development of some of these com- munities. In Yule Island, in particular, which was thoroughly explored by our author, the position of women is very different from what it is generally believed to be in savage and semi- savage races. They work, but are not mere beasts of burden, and are treated with respect, and often exercise no small influ- ence in their own families, and in the villages to which they belong.
New Guinea is not so destitute of mammiferous animals as New Zealand, but the species are few, consisting mainly of cer-
tain marsupials, miniature kangaroos, some of which are arborial in their habits,—the innumerable dogs and pigs being evidently of human introduction. The ornithology of the island is that which forms its great attraction to the naturalist. It is the home of the Bird of Paradise, perhaps the most gorgeous, and certainly one of the most grotesquely attired, of all the families of feathered creatures. The species of this group are very numerous and very different from each other, but all adorned with wonderful masses of plumage growing from parts of the body the most unusual, and where it would almost seem to be cumbrous and inconvenient, but always of the most exquisite texture and the most delicate or the richest colour. The pursuit of this tribe becomes a veritable passion with our apparently calm explorer. Like those inarticulate poets whom we often find in the guise of mere sportsmen, Signor D'Albertis has evidently the most intense, though silent and almost unconscious, enjoy- ment of natural beauty. He seldom attempts to describe, and still less to discourse with enthusiasm on, the "lustrous wood- land " of the glorious tropical regions in which he so long wandered.
To the general reader, the list of birds which is given in the appendix would have been much more interesting, had there been some indication of the groups or families to which they belong. For the use of the scientific ornithologist, this may not be necessary, though we believe some of them constitute even new genera. This objection does not apply to the catalogue of plants furnished by Professor Beccari, who was partially asso- ciated with Signor D'Albertis in his explorations. These volumes are beautifully printed and illustrated. As a proof of the in- dustry of Signor D'Albertis, we may mention that he collected 318 species of birds, about 4.4 of which are new.
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