The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

440 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.annual expeditions to collect tribute have had oixlers to get alltlie rare sorts of Paradise Birds ; and as they j^ay little ornothing for them (it being sufficient to say they are for theSultan), the head men of the coast villages would for the futurerefuse to purchase them from the mountaineers, and confine themselvesinstead to the commoner species which are less soughtafter by amateurs, but are a more profitable merchandise. Thesame causes fi'equently lead the inhabitants of uncivilizedcountries to conceal minerals or other natural products withwhich they may become acquainted, from the fear of beingobliged to jmy increased tribute, or of bringing upon themselvesa new and oppressive labour.CHAPTER XXXIX.THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PAPUAN ISIANDS.Xew Guinea, with tlie islands joined to it by a shallow sea,constitute the Papuan group, charactei'ized by a very close resemblancein their peculiar forms of life. Having already, inmy chapters on the Aru Islands and on the Birds of Paradise,given some details of the natural history of this district, I shallhere confine myself to a general sketch of its animal productions,and of their relations to those of the rest of the world.New Guinea is perhaps the largest island on the globe, beinga little larger than Borneo. It is nearly fourteen hundred mileslong, and in the widest pai^t four hundred broad, and seems tobe everywhei'e covered with luxuriant forests. Almost everythingthat is yet known of its natural productions comes fromthe north-western peninsula, and a few islands grouped aroundit.i These do not constitute a tenth joart of the area of thev/hole island, and are so cut ofi' from it, that their fauna maywell be somewhat different ;yet they have produced (with aAery partial exploration) no less than two hundred and fiftyspecies of land birds, almost all unknown elsewhere, and comprisingsome of the most curious and most beautiful of thefeathered tribes. It is needless to say how miTch interest attachesto the far larger unknown portion of this great island,the greatest terra incognita that still remains for the naturalistto explore, and the only region where altogether new and unimaginedforms of life may perhaps be found. There is now, Iam happy to say, some chance that this great country will nolonger remain absolutely unknown to us. The Dutch Governmenthave granted a well-equipped steamer to carry a naturalist(Mr. Rosenberg, already mentioned in this woi'k) and assistants» This is no longer true, verj' extensive collertions having been made in German andBritish New Guinea(the soutii-eastern iiortion) which have more than doubled the numberoi' species of birds.