Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/500

* NEW GUINEA. 440 NEW GUINEA. are no dangerous cariiivora. The crocodiles in the rivers cause some loss of life, and there are many poisonous snakes. On the whole, the fauna is poor in quadrupeds, which include the pha- langer. echidna, and rodents, and among the marsupials the wallahy and tree kangaroo. The hird of paradise is preeminent among the birds, including fourteen of the eighteen known varie- ties, and all those of the most magnificent plumage. Other birds inchule the cassowary, pigeon, emeu, hornbill, cockatoo, geese, ducks, i|uail, snipe, and woodcock. The capture of the trcpang or bOche-dc-nier, in about twenty varie- tio, allords an important industry oU' the coasts. There is consiilerable trade in turtle-shell, pearls, and pearl-shell. Geology. Although the geological structure of the island has not yet been adequately investi- gated, important discoveries of gold have been made in British Xew Guinea — alluvial gold on the eastern islands and along the Mambare and other streams, and auriferous reefs on ilount Scratchley and in other places. Prospecting has scarcely more than begun, but the gold-bearing region seems to be extensive, and mining is al- most the only industry of the white men in British Xew Guinea, the number of miners vary- ing from 100 to 1000 men, w)io are meeting with some success and some disappointment. Gold has also been found in the Bismarctc range of Kaiser Wilhehnsland. Commerce. The trade of the island is still very small. The incoming of miners into British New Guinea has increased the commerce of that colony, whiili now amounts to over .$500,000 a year, about ei|ually divided between imports (chiefly foodstuffs, tobacco, cloth, and hardware) and exports (co])ra, jiearl shell, gold, pearls, and sandal wood). Nearly the entire trade of this possession is with t,)ucensland and New South Wales, about 400 small vessels a year entering and clearing the ports. The colony is treated as a postal district of ueensland, the postal movement being about 20,000 letters and l:).000 newspapers a year. The German New Guinea Company has a concession placing in its hands the development of Kaiser ilhclmsland with stations along the coast at Friedrich Wilhelms- hafen, Konstantinhafen, Finselihafen, and Ste- phansort. The few plantations yield export to- bacco and cotton, and the natives barter copra, trejiang, and mother-of-pearl. Several steam and sailing vessels owned by the company con- nect the ports with Bremen. Dutch New Guinea has very little trade except along the coast, an occasional Dutch war vessel supplying the needs of the trading and missionary posts. Government. British New Guinea (estimated area, 0O..')4O square miles; population, 3.58,080) is a Grown colony with an administrator and a legislative council. The expenses of adminis- tration, about .$75,000 a year, are guaranteed by Ihe Commonwealth of .-Uistralia, which prac- tically monopolizes the trade. The revenues are from " .$50,000 to .$00,000 a year, chiefly from customs duties. A company called the British New Guinea Syndicate has a concession of 250,- 000 acres of land, best suited for cultivation, and has begun to develop systematic planting. Land is offered to settlers at 2s. (id, an acre. Native labor is in ample supply, and the natives are improving under the British policy of gradually making them more useful to themselves and foreigners without depriving them of their in- herited rights and social usages. The German New Guinea Company maintains a court of law in each section of the colony of Kaiser Wilhehnsland (estimated area. 70,843 s(iuare miles; population, 110.000 1. The reve- nues are still very small, the expenditures being about three times as great ; the deficit is covered by a Government subvention. Dutch New Guinea (estimated area, 151,800 square miles; popula- tion, 238,000) belongs to the Kesidency of Ter- nate, Molucca Islands, and is one of the outposts. -V Dutch olficial (Cuiilrulciir) has chaige of the Government interests, but very little is done for the country excepting to |irotect the few white stations and prevent intertribal wars along the coast. Population. The total population, estimated at 706,000, is very thinly spread over the island. The dense forests have had the effect to keep' the small tribes apart and to make them sus- picious of one another. Near the British settle- ments many of them are beginning to speak English, and it is found that Ihey are best con- trolled by native policemen in the pay of the Government. While they often make war upon one another, they have offered no important op- position to the ins'ress of the whites. Many of them are cannibals, and a few white men have been killed by members of tribes addicted to eat- ing human flesh. Ethnology. The term 'Papuan,' which is of Malay origin t ixipiinnh. frizzled'), is apjdieil by modern ethnologists to the type of man found in its greatest purity in certain ])arts of New Guinea (often called 'Papua') and some small islands to the east and west of it. Some writers use 'Papuan' and 'Melanesian' as equivalent terms, but most authorities divide the negro like race in question into a Papuan proper and a Melanesian section. It would seem best to re- strict the term Papuan to the assumed autoch- thones of the great inland of New Guinea and the peoples closest akin to these. Physically, the Papuans are of rather short stature, dolicho- cephalic, frizzly-haircil, dark-skinned. This gen- eral type is not. however, without variations due to ilalay, Melanesian, Negrito, and Polynesian inllucnces. The Papuans are, as a rule, scdcnlarv, with pile-dwellings about the coast, and may be said to 1k> in the "Stone .ge.' Tree-dwellings, especially for purposes of refuge, are common. The Papuans generally arc good fishermen, boat- users, and boat-builders, but not farcrs into the open sea like the Malays and Polynesians. Their characteristic vessel is the one-trunk canoe. In matters of government they seem to be less com- munistic than the Australians, for private prop- erty in K number of things (land, fields, houses, besides ornaments and weapons) exists, while the general tone is quite democratic, subjection to chiefs being rather a matter of popular recogni- tion than of individual imposition. Shamanism is. however, a jiowerful failor. The position of woman varies in diverse parts of the Papuan do- main, but is generally not low. In disposit ion and temperament the Papuans vary from the less energetic and very hospitable peoples of fJerman New Guinea like the X'aropu, to the savage and warlike tribes of some regions of the I?ritish territory and the cannibals of various sections. The Papuans are an imaginative people, and possess numerous myths and an abundant folk-