Abstract
THE Sydney Mail of Saturday, January 20, contains a long account of the expedition of the Italian naturalist, D'Albertis, up the Fly River, New Guinea, translated from his diaries, and communicated by Dr. George Bennett. Signer D'Albertis left Sydney, April 20, 1876, in the mail-steamer, Brisbane, and reached Somerset, Cape York, on May 1, where the steam-launch Neva, which had been provided for the purpose of the expedition by the liberality of the good citizens of Sydney, was disembarked and equipped. On May 19, after various small casualties, a start from Port Somerset was effected, and Katow, on the coast of New Guinea, reached on the second day. Hence the mouth of the Fly River, already well known to D'Albertis from his previous expedition in the Ellangowan, in 1876, was soon entered, and more or less progress was made every day. The land traversed appears to have been mostly low and swampy. On June 20, being on shore, Mr. D'Albertis ascended a hill 250 feet high, and from the summit saw some “very high mountains” in the northeast, fifty or sixty miles distant—probably part of the “great Charles Louis range.” On June 28, after having been for some time aground, and only got off by an unusually heavy flood, it was determined to return and to try the western branch of the Fly River. The strong current and other adverse circumstances rendered it necessary to abandon this attempt likewise, after about a week's struggle, and the Neva returned to the coast, when the expedition passed several months amongst the islands, and finally returned to Somerset in November. The following is Mr. D'Albertis's summary of his discoveries:—
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D'albertis's Expedition Up the Fly River, New Guinea . Nature 15, 452 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/015452a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/015452a0