New Guinea by S. W. Carr

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 14, 1910

New Guinea

By S. W. Carr

BRITISH NEW GUINEA comprises 90,000 square miles, 2,700 of which constitute the islands to the east of the mainland. Its length is about 800 miles, and the width at each end is about 200 miles, but only about 50 miles in the center. The coast line of the mainland is 1,700 miles long, and of the various islands 1,900 miles. Most of these islands are mountainous, the highest being 8,000 feet; and they are of volcanic origin, with rich soil and dense tropical vegetation.

Papua is a land of mountains, rivers, and swamps. The main range, called the Owen Stanley, begins at the eastern point and runs westward through the Central Division, then northward into German New Guinea. Quite a number of peaks range from 10,000 to 13,000 feet high, and thus New Guinea has a good variety of climates. The Western Division contains most of the marshy and swamp land, also the Fly River, which is the largest in Papua, and has been navigated for a distance of 600 miles in a launch. Its estuary, which is 50 miles across, contains many islands, one being 50 miles long; one hundred miles farther up, the river is about four miles wide.

The people of Papua are as varied as the country and climate. In the west they are tall, dark, and savage, and still carry on their tribal wars and cannibal feasts; farther to the east the Papuan is smaller, lighter, and more peaceable, largely through missionary effort and government influence.

But whether the people are dark or light, large or small, savage or quiet; whether they live in the hot lowlands or malarial swamps or the cooler but difficult mountain districts, we are debtors to them all, and they must each have opportunity to know that there is a loving Saviour who died for both black and white, who wants them to hear, believe, and follow him, and be ready also to meet him when he comes.

S. W. CARR.