Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/259

Rh of that part. But that is far from where we passed by.

At Sekar, Fak-Fak, and other places along the coast from Merauke, the Dutch have established settlements, and at some of these reside Arab, Boutonese, and Chinese traders. Mr. A. E. Pratt tells us that both the Tugari and Alifuroes tribes are savage and troublesome. In his expedition in 1907 he was accompanied by his son. He states that relics of bygone Portuguese visits to the islands and coast are common, there being many brass guns. As this part is only a day's sail from Thursday Island in Torres Straits, and not distant from Port Darwin, no doubt in olden days there were more Portuguese and Dutch visits to North Australia than we know of; it is known the Malays frequently went there in quite remote days, and it therefore seems most possible that interesting discoveries may yet be made in the tropical jungles of New Guinea relating to bygone visits or occupation.]

In this part about the great Geelvink Bay there are no white inhabitants save, I believe, one missionary. They have gone there only to be murdered.

[To my great joy, these unknown lands of Dutch New Guinea, which I merely looked upon, have lately been visited by four or five Dutch expeditions and, with the consent of the Dutch Government, also by a British expedition. Dr. Arthur Wiehmann led a Dutch expedition in 1903, the results of which have been published. The present attack on the Mysterious Land will surely result in much knowledge. The British expedition was conveyed to New Guinea in a Dutch gunboat, and was accompanied by a Dutch officer commanding Javanese soldiers and convicts, the latter as carriers.

Three of the members of this British expedition 14