Two Years Among New Guinea Cannibals: A Naturalist's Sojourn Among the Aborigines of Unexplored New Guinea — John Shaqi
Two Years Among New Guinea Cannibals: A Naturalist's Sojourn Among the Aborigines of Unexplored New GuineaPratt, A. E. (Antwerp Edgar)
History
Two Years Among New Guinea Cannibals: A Naturalist's Sojourn Among the Aborigines of Unexplored New Guinea
Pratt, A. E. (Antwerp Edgar)
Ethnology -- New Guinea; Natural history -- New Guinea; New Guinea -- Description and travel
Despite the difficulty of migration, however, it is certain that had our
mission been one of exploration pure and simple we could, during our two
years’ sojourn, have traversed a far more extensive region than we did.
But our first concern was the examination of the butterflies, moths, and
birds of the Owen Stanley range, and that within particular and somewhat
restricted areas, so that our work necessitated encamping sometimes for
months at a time at one particular spot, in order that the collection
and preservation of our specimens might be carried on under the most
advantageous conditions possible in such a wilderness. To this end we
built two permanent camps, one at Dinawa, and the other at Ekeikei, at
altitudes of 3600 and 1500 feet respectively. From these bases we made
short expeditions in various directions, and established temporary camps
on the St. Joseph River, Mount Kebea, and finally at Mafalu, our highest
point of attainment, 6000 feet above the level of the sea among the
fastnesses of the Owen Stanley range. But even that altitude is
comparatively insignificant in the magnificent highlands of Papua. The
higher we rose it was only to catch sight of still loftier ranges that
piled peak on peak as far as the eye could reach. The only one of these
that has as yet been trodden by the white man is Mount Victoria, which
rises to a height of 13,000 feet. This was made the objective of a
special expedition by Sir William Macgregor, who recently crossed
British New Guinea, a journey which took him fifty-one days to
accomplish. Sir William has also explored the Fly River tentatively, and
D’Albertis followed its course for 600 or 700 miles; but when these
achievements are mentioned, one has exhausted nearly all the serious
efforts that have been made in Papuan exploration. Within the last year
the Netherlands officials have issued a map that makes many valuable
additions to our knowledge of the topography of the coast-line of their
territory.
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