From These And The
Captain's Description, It Appeared That The People Of Arfak Were
Similar To Those Of Dorey, And
I could hear nothing of the
straight-haired race which Lesson says inhabits the interior, but
which no one has
Ever seen, and the account of which I suspect
has originated in some mistake. The captain told me he had made a
detailed survey of part of the south coast, and if the coal
arrived should go away at once to Humboldt Pay, in longitude 141°
east, which is the line up to which the Dutch claim New Guinea.
On board the tender I found a brother naturalist, a German named
Rosenberg, who was draughtsman to the surveying staff. He had
brought two men with him to shoot and skin birds, and had been
able to purchase a few rare skins from the natives. Among these
was a pair of the superb Paradise Pie (Astrapia nigra) in
tolerable preservation. They were brought from the island of
Jobie, which may be its native country, as it certainly is of the
rarer species of crown pigeon (Goura steursii), one of which was
brought alive and sold on board. Jobie, however, is a very
dangerous place, and sailors are often murdered there when on
shore; sometimes the vessels themselves being attacked.
Wandammen, on the mainland opposite Jobie, inhere there are said
to be plenty of birds, is even worse, and at either of these
places my life would not have been worth a week's purchase had I
ventured to live alone and unprotected as at Dorey.
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