DR. ODOARDO BECCARI'S RECENT VISIT TO NEW GUINEA

 

ODOARDO BECCARI'S (1843-1920)

By Henry H. Giglioli

WHEN I last wrote in these pages, our distinguished traveller was on the eve of starting for a second exploration of New Guinea; in the April (1875) number of the Geographical Magazine, I told you how he had succeeded in hiring the schooner “Deli, and was to leave Amboina for Geelvink Bay on the 20th of January, 1875; I also gave his proposed itinerary. Since then the voyage has been accomplished; and although Beccari was unable to proceed as far east as he had wished, yet he has been thoroughly successful, and has returned loaded with collections, and after having culled an extraordinary amount of new information on the still veiled and mysterious Papuasia. I add a translation of some of the letters he has sent home, which are most interesting:—

“DOREI, June 5th, 1875.

. . . “On the second of this month I returned from the exploration of Geelvink Bay, to find here the Italian frigate “Vettor Pisani, to my no small surprise; through her I got my letters, dated many months back. I will now tell you of my doings since I last wrote. On the 22nd of January I left Amboina, and reached Salwatti on the 31st; the next day I proceeded to Sorong, and thence made an excursion to Ramoi. I was there able to secure splendid specimens of the Casuarius uniappendiculatus, two adults, male and female, and two young ones: one of the latter has been embarked alive on the ‘Vettor Pisani.' I did not succeed in getting the 7anysiptera nympha. It being war-time at Sorong, I was able to procure a Papuan head, freshly cut off and cooked, but not for eating, merely for facilitating its preservation. It is, however, true that these Papuans drink the blood which drips from a newly-cut head, if the late owner thereof proved himself a man of valour by a vigor ous defence; they believe thus to imbibe part of his courage. It appears certain that the boat's crew of the ‘Franz' was murdered by order of the Rajah of Salwatti at Tangion Selé at the entrance of Seilolo Strait and not at Krabra near Efmatal Island, as the rascally Rajah led Captain Redlick to believe. 

From Sorong I went on to Dorei Hum, and thence I climbed up a mountain, Gunong Morait, about 3000 feet high ; from its summit the principal river of the N.W. peninsula of New Guinea, and which I was told rises in the Arfak Mountains, ought to be seen. On the top of Gunong Morait I shot two fine specimens of that remarkable Parrot, Dasyptilus Pecqueti, the only specimens obtained as yet; its tongue does not end in a brush, but is instead minutely papillose. I also collected several fine botanical novelties and some handsome insects. It appears that the Lophorina atra and the Parotia sexpennis inhabit that mountain as the Diphyllodes speciosa certainly does, as I procured several specimens myself of the latter species. Not being quite satisfied with my first excursion, I went on to Has, from whence I again climbed up the mountain range which seems to line everywhere the N.W. coast of New Guinea. I reached an elevation of about 1200 feet; at a charming spot I crossed the mountains, and soon arrived on the bank of the river Wa Samson, i.e. “turbid water for it is ever muddy. 

At that spot the river was about 20 meters wide, to judge by sight, perhaps more; the depth was from 3 to 4 meters, and the current strong; the river was evidently then low, for the banks were vertical and the level of the water at least 3 meters below that of the forest, in which unmistakable signs of frequent inundations could be traced. I was told that near its mouth the Wa Samson tunnels its way under a mountain, and that it falls into the sea from a considerable height, hidden amongst rocks a few miles west of Has. This explains how nothing can be made out of the aforesaid river while coasting, the change in the colour of the sea could alone indicate its whereabouts. During that excursion I obtained the Seleucides alba, and saw Sericulus aureus, Gymnophaps Albertisi, and several other rare birds, besides others probably still unknown, amongst which what appeared to be a Pitta. I then decided on returning to Sorong; but on nearing Tangion Ram I was overtaken by a hurricane, and had a very narrow escape of being totally wrecked; with much difficulty we succeeded in keeping afloat, and thus saved the collections and probably our lives; we were, however, obliged to throw overboard the heavier objects, and to my great grief a large supply of alcohol; this happened on the 3rd of March. The following day I reached the schooner at Sorong; on the 5th we started for Waigheu and anchored at Wakkeré, where I remained four days searching for Diphyllodes Wilsonii, it was only on the last day of my stay that one of my men managed to secure a fine male specimen. 

I was there told of an Epimachus, which is perhaps the E. Elliottii, for the coloured drawing of that species was at once recongized by the natives to whom I showed it; they call it Man Xullo, and stated that three specimens had been recently sent to the Sultan of Tidore. It appears, moreover, that the same species is to be found near Sorong, where it is called Kalem-mu. The Diphyllodes Guglielmi III. is not found, I believe, at Waigheu. I got news of that species at Salwatti; it is also found in the neighbourhood of Sorong. Another Diphyllodes is described by the natives. I cannot make out what it can be : it is found in the mountains of Salwatti. I was two days in getting from Wakkeré to Dorei, and after a trip to Andai, I started again on my voyage round Geelvink Bay. It will be here necessary to follow my route on the small sketch-map I enclose; be it however understood that you give no more value to it than it deserves; it was merely drawn to show the spots I visited, and no more. Part of it is a tracing of the English Admiralty chart, but there are many alter ations.

Not a single point was, however, determined astronomically by me, and the compass observations were necessarily very rough ; I believe, however, to have ascertained that Geelvink Bay is much less extensive than it appears in the Admiralty chart, which is evidently constructed on the original Dutch map, drawn by the officers of the ‘Geelvink' in 1705. I have a copy of the latter, given to me by Dr. Miclucho Maclay. This comes from the fact that Dorei is the only spot, the position of which has been repeatedly verified, and which is therefore given exactly; the remainder of the bay has never since been surveyed. Besides the considerable reduction in the extension of the bay, it should be recollected that it is considerably more shallow than given in the maps. I found out this while I was at Ansus, whence the mountains which line the bottom and the whole contour of Geelvink Bay are plainly visible; this would be impossible were the distance given on the maps exact, for in these climates the constant haziness of the atmosphere prevents the sight of land at a distance greater than 70 or 75 miles; the depth of Geelvink Bay should be reduced at least half a degree. Even the position of Oransuari is placed several minutes too much to the south in the English charts, an error which does not exist on the French map.

“From Dorei I went to Momi and Warbusi. At the former place I purchased a young cassowary, which is probably a new species, although not old enough to show all the differential characters; it is, however, very distinct from all those which I have seen, and from those indicated in Schlegel's Synopsis, in the distribution of the wattles, of which two big ones are placed high up on the fore part of the neck, while a smaller spherical one is placed much further down; the helmet is not fully developed, but it will probably turn out to be high and compressed. I also enclose the coloured drawing of the head of another species of cassowary found at Jobie, the skin of which is preserved in alcohol; in my specimen the skin of the neck is unfortunately lacerated in the place where the wattles ought to be, I cannot therefore be sure that they do not exist; there cannot, however, be more than one, and that about the size of a pea, solitary and central. The helmet is anteriorly compressed, but depressed and flattened posteriorly, showing a surface about 2 inches broad; thus this species appears to unite in the helmet the distinctive characters ascribed by Schlegel to the two sections which he has  formed of the genus Casuarius. The above-named naturalist is mistaken in asserting that each species of cassowary is limited to a special locality. 

In Salwatti and on the Papuan Main, there are at least two species, which the natives readily distinguish; moreover, non sexual external characters are to be observed in the Casuarius uniappendiculatus. Probably the species I procured at Warbusi is the one which is said to accompany the latter. Here, at Dorei, two species of cassowary are certainly found. I have specimens of both; one is the above-mentioned undetermined species, the other is the Casuarius papuanus, of which I have a young specimen. Again, at Ansus, there appear to be two species of these singular birds; the natives told me that the two sexes are very distinct in both forms. At Amboina, also, there appears to be a peculiar species of Casuarius, different from that of Ceram.

“At Warbusi I was able to secure good specimens of the Sus papuanus. I proceeded thence to Ansus, where I stayed a fortnight; I got there several specimens of the Paradisea papuana, slightly different from the mainland birds. Twospecimens of the Diphyllodes speciosa were also procured: they have the bill longer, and the yellow on the wings brighter than the specimens hitherto collected. I then coasted along the southern shore of Jobi, with the intention of proceed ing to the mouth of the Ambernoh River, but the season was too far advanced; I met with contrary winds and was obliged to return. On my way back I stopped at Miosnom Island, which is interesting to the geologist, being volcanic. I found three or four small harbours, which appear to be submerged (craters. In all the other islands and on that part of the mainland where I have been, the rocks were all stratified, except the Arfak Mountains and a portion of the northern coast, principally composed of granite. The natives at Ansus (Jobi) told me that an active volcano is visible from the sea on the other side of Humboldt Bay. The aborigines at Ansus are quite inoffensive. I got on very well with them. They have the strange custom of mummificating their dead. The Orang kamampa of the interior and mountainous parts of Jobi, on Mount Samberi are said to be cannibals. I went also to Korido, Kordo and Sowek; between Kordo and Biak a small channel is open, only available to small canoes. Sowek is a small island near Kordo; here I obtained about 200 Papuan skulls, robbed by the natives of Kordo from the island-cemeteries where they were accumulated; this has led to a war between the people of Kordo and those of Sowek. I employed a couple of days from Kordo to Mafor, whence I started on the 1st of June for Dorei. I have obtained no less than forty specimens of the Tanysiptera Carolina, My bird-skins amount at present to about 1400, of these more than 200 have been prepared by David, whom I found here. He had shortly before returned from Hatam, where he was able to obtain some of the most gorgeous and rare species-Astrapia nigra, long tailed Epimachus, &c, &c. About 180 bird-skins were obtained at Ansus, 90 at Miosnom, 307 at Kordo, 113 at Mafor; the remainder from other localities; about 500 skins were collected in May. The reptilian collections are also rich. I might have done much more had I a larger supply of alcohol; as to fishes, I might easily have filled ten large barrels of fine species.

“As soon as the flag of my schooner could be made out from the shore at Mansinam, the commander of the ‘Vettor Pisani’ came to meet me in his steamlaunch, and towed me to the anchorage. I at once went on board the frigate, where, as you may well suppose, I met with a very cordial reception. As soon as the ‘Vettor Pisani’ sails, I shall prepare for the journey to Hatam, which is not so easy, for the Arfak people have murdered one of Bruijn's hunters at Andai near the missionary's house. In my next I will tell you how I failed in reaching and ascending the Mamberam (Ambernoh) River. On the whole, I am well satisfied with the results of my exploration. I shall probably be at Ternate at the end of August, and thence I shall go to Batavia. I am well in health, and have not had a single attack of fever. I hope much from my trip to the mountains. During this season only one male specimen of Drepanornis has been obtained: I hope to get some. I have not done very much in insects. I have, however, collected a certain number of Auprestidae and Eupholus, a few Cetoniae, many Brentidae, and a single specimen of 7mesisternus Isabellae. I believe I have all the species of birds described by Dr. Meyer. Besides those mentioned, I - have two species of Nasiterna, another is found at Hatam; many other Parrots; Corvus senex, which is very common; many pigeons, amongst which some ten specimens of the Goura Victoriae, the Cuculus lencolophus, the Chrysococcyx Meyeri and allied species, one is not bigger than a Nectarinia; most of the King fishers; Meltdora, several Podargus, three Striges; some Sun-birds, allied to Nectarinia Aspasia; Myzomela and many Meliphagidae. I have most of the species of reptiles collected by Dr. Meyer; three or four specimens of the green Varanus, and only three species of Hydrophidae. The day before yesterdav one of my men saw a gallinaceous bird as large as a Megapodius, with a white head and a tail like a cock; what can it be P The ‘Vettor Pisani’ leaves to-morrow, 8th June." 

This letter, and another one dated from Andai, June 15th, are directed to the Marquis Doria. In the latter Beccari tells us that he was on the eve of starting for Hatam, but that he had encountered many difficulties in arranging for the excursion. At the end of October several letters reached us, dated Hatam, June 21st, and Ternate, August 26th ; in the first Beccari tells us how his collections were rapidly increasing, and how his health was never better, in the latter he gives an account of his final doings in New Guinea, and his return to Ternate. I add an extract from one of his letters from that place. He answers my objections to his hypothesis regarding traces of Hindu blood amongst the Mafor Papauns, sending me a drawing of one of their Karwars or so called idols, which has an unmistakable elephantine proboscis. I am sorry to say that he has not converted me; but let me give his own words:–

“TERNATE, September 11th, 1875.

. . . . “In one of the cases I have sent there are two Papuan idols for you. I may here remark that these so-called idols, or Ka wars, are not objects of real worship, being, in fact, the effigies of ancestors or defunct personages, parents, or friends. I have many proofs to give you showing that the Mafor are true Hindus, with an admixture of Papuan blood from the female side; but I will content myself for the present in enclosing the sketch of a Karwar, which will surprise you. Who ever taught the Mafor to represent the elephant in their Karwars?”

According to what Beccari says, the Papuan Karwars are much the same as the Tikkis of the Maories and other grotesque quasi-human figures sculptured in wood by not a few of the islanders of Polynesia and Melanesia. One of Beccari's most interesting letters is doubtless the one which he addressed on the 4th of August, from Ternate, to our leading ornithologist, my friend Count T. Salvadori. of Turin; it is mainly ornithological, and very lengthy, I will not, therefore, give a complete translation of it, but a few extracts will no doubt interest the readers of the Geographical Magazine, giving as they do further details on his last excursion to the Arfak Mountains.

 “The ornithological and other collections made during my last trip to New Guinea are ready to be shipped for Italy. The Papuan birds are more than 2OOO. . . . . In the letter I wrote to Doria from Dorei, I told of the route I had followed up to that date. As soon as the ‘Vettor Pisani’ left Dorei, I went and anchored my schooner near two islets at the mouth of the Andai River; thence I could more commodiously make my preparations for ascending the mountain. I was able to get as high as 67oo feet, and thence I could see all the greater heights, and doubt not that the highest peak of the Arfak Mountains reaches Io,ooo feet. I have seen that Von Rosenberg gives as the habitat of various species of birds, “the interior of the northern peninsula of New Guinea. I do not know what he means by that interior, for the most distant spot from the sea reached by Von Rosenberg in New Guinea is the house of Heer Waelders, missionary at Andai, not a kilometer from the sea-shore. That is also the locality visited by Dr. Meyer. The hunters of Von Rosenberg only ascended the first slopes of the Arfak Mountains, and the fact that they found a few only of the characteristic species of birds, shows that they did not push very far from the sea. Dr. Meyer's men went further inland, and stopped at a place called Warmendi; very few were the birds they obtained in this first excursion, and on their return to Andai they were sent back to the mountains. On this second occasion they reached a greater height, but did not go as far as D'Albertis had gone before them. Shortly after D'Albertis and I had left Andai, Heer Waelders sent to Hatam some of the Papuan mission boys, who knew something of bird-skinning; from them he obtained most of the mountain species, which were, in March of the following year, bought by Dr. Meyer. 

It must therefore be distinctly stated that up to the present date only Italian travellers have had the good fortune to collect the rarest and finest birds of paradise in their native forests, and to lift the veil of mystery which hitherto hung over their true habitat, which had deterred former travellers from attempting to penetrate the country; and even Wallace, who speaking, not without good reasons, of the country inhabited by the rarest birds of paradise, describes it as ‘rocky and mountainous, covered everywhere with dense forests, offering in its swamps and precipices and serrated ridges an almost unsurmountable barrier to the unknown interior” (Malay Archipelago, ii., p. 424).

“I remained a month in the mountains, first at a locality about 5ooo feet above the sea, then lower down at the place where D'Albertis stayed, about 3500 feet above the sea. My intention was to have remained another month, but a letter from Heer Waelders (which I received contemporaneously with new provisions) told me that all the men I had left on board my schooner were ill with the dreadful beri-beri, and besides that, several troops of other Arfak tribes were not only on the look out for the heads of my men, but had undertaken to get my own. I learnt that about 5oo Papuans, from as far off as Amberbaki, had united to surround me. They must indeed have had a grand notion of my person, if to take me and the five men that were with me they had mustered 5oo strong!

They had already twice attempted to burn the missionary's house. The reason of all this was that when the hunters of Heer Bruijn arrived at Andai to explore the Arfak Mountains, one of them was killed by the so-called Alfuros, and his head, carried in triumph, made the round of the villages of that tribe. The brother of the murdered man, an Alfuros of Galega, thought himself in duty bound, according to the custom of the country, to avenge his dead brother; thus one day, while I was at Dorei, and the ‘Vettor Pisani’ was yet there, he quietly landed and managed secretly to kill two of the Arfaks. It appears that he hid the heads and managed to throw the bodies into the sea ; for the two men were soon missed by their friends, but their search for traces of them or their bodies remained fruitless. In the end the Arfaks came to the conclusion that their two companions had been either killed or robbed by the sailors of the ‘Vettor Pisani, which had sailed about the time the search had been given up. It was thus that they wanted to take revenge on me, who had remained. I can, however, assure you that I have no very high opinion of the courage of the Papuans, and had I not received such bad news of the health of my people on board the ‘Burung Laut, I should not have hurried back to the coast. 

When I reached Mansinam I found that the bad tidings had not been exaggerated; two of my men had died, and the rest were more or less ill. Fortunately the captain and boatswain were only laid up with fever; only one seaman was able to work. The best I could do was evidently to get away from the miasmatic influence. I got another seaman from a boat lying near mine, and with my hunters, all more or less sea-worthy, managed to get away. On the 18th of July I left Mansinam ; on the night of the 21st I was at Salwatti. On the 23rd I went to Batanta, where I remained four days, and then proceeded to Koffiao, erroneously called Poppa on the maps; but I only stopped 30 hours, for on the way three more men died and several of my hunters were taken ill. It was high time to hurry on to Ternate. I was, however, able to get 40 bird-skins at Koffiao, amongst them are the Zanysiptera Elliotti, a Pitta and Rhipidura viduala. On the evening of August the 4th I reached Ternate.”

Beccari's intentions were to go from Ternate to Menado, and thence proceed to Java, where he will pass the winter, studying the plants he has collected at the Herbarium of Buitenzorg, Beccari appears to have reaped a large series of botanical novelties, amongst which a new Araucaria and new Rhododendrons from the Arfak Mountains. Beccari will in all likelihood return to Europe in the spring, unless he yields to the strong desire of exploring the interior of Sumatra. In my next I shall inform you on the doings of our other Papuan traveller, L. M. D'Albertis, who has sent interesting letters from Yule Island, where he has passed most of 1875.