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As my voyage from this place to Waigiou was among islands inhabited by the Papuan race, and was an eventful and disastrous one, I will narrate its chief incidents in a separate chapter in that division of my work devoted to the Papuan Islands.
The largest of these, Waigiou, is not less than seventy-two miles from one side to the other; the low shorage consists mainly of swamp and morass, while the banks, which run up steeply, are surrounded by coral reefs, and are full of small caves hollowed out by the waves. All the islets are clothed with vegetation of surprising beauty.
They chew betel or smoke cigarettes incessantly; eat dry sago and a little salt fish; seldom sing while rowing, except when excited and wanting to reach a stopping-place, and do not talk a great deal. They are mostly Malays, with a sprinkling of Alfuros from Gilolo, and Papuans from Guebe or Waigiou.
Three days later the Coquille entered the narrow and rocky harbour of Offak on the north-west coast of Waigiou, one of the Papuan islands. The only navigator who has mentioned this harbour is Forest. Duperrey therefore felt unusual satisfaction at having explored a corner of the earth all but untrodden by the foot of the European.
On rounding a point we again ran full on to a coral reef with our mainsail up, but luckily the wind had almost died away, and with a good deal of exertion we managed get safely off. We now had to search for the narrow channel among islands, which we knew was somewhere hereabouts, and which leads to the villages on the south side of Waigiou.
It is interesting to observe among the islands themselves how a shallow sea always intimates a recent land connexion. The Aru Islands, Mysol, and Waigiou, as well as Jobie, agree with New Guinea in their species of mammalia and birds much more closely than they do with the Moluccas, and we find that they are all united to New Guinea by a shallow sea.
In the afternoon we found a tolerable anchorage under a small island and stayed for the night, and I shot a large fruit-pigeon new to me, which I have since named Carpophaga tumida. The next morning we sailed on, and having a fair wind reached the shores of the large island of Waigiou.
This part of Waigiou is really another island to the south of the narrow channel we had passed through in coming to Muka. It appears to consist almost entirely of raised coral, whereas the northern island contains hard crystalline rocks. The shores were a range of low limestone cliffs, worn out by the water, so that the upper part generally overhung.
A squall them brought us on to the entrance of Dampier's Straits, where we were again becalmed, and were three more days creeping through them. Several native canoes now came off to us from Waigiou on one side, and Batanta on the other, bringing a few common shells, palm-leaf mats, cocoa-nuts, and pumpkins.
New Guinea, Aru Islands, Mysol, Salwatty. New Guinea, Mysol, Salwatty. Waigiou. New Guinea. New Guinea. Batchian, Gilolo. New Guinea New Guinea. North Australia. East Australia. North-East Australia. New Guinea. New Guinea. New Guinea, Salwatty.
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