Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/66

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

56 PAPPUS city his troops acted with the greatest ferocity. In the defeat at Leipsic, Pappenheim received seven wounds and owed his life to a peasant. After the death of Tilly he joined Wallenstein, and in the battle of Liitzen (Nov. 6) received a mortal wound, and was carried to Leipsic. See Hess, Gottfried Heinrich, Graf 'con Pap- penheim (Leipsic, 1855). PAPPUS, Alexandrinus, a Greek geometer, who flourished according to Suidas in the latter part of the 4th century of our era, though by some modern critics he has been placed in the latter half of the 2d. He wrote several works, all of which have perished except the last six out of the eight books of the " Mathematical Collections." There is no edition of the Greek text, but two have been printed of the Latin version ; a portion of the original was printed by Dr. Wallis (London, 1688). PAPUA, or New Guinea, the largest island in the world, with the exception of Australia and possibly Borneo. It is included in the Australasian division of Oceania, and lies be- tween lat. 6' and 10 45' S., and Ion. 130 45' and 151 E., directly E. of the Indian archi- pelago and N. of Australia, from which it is separated by Torres strait, bounded S. "W. by those portions of the Indian ocean known as the Banda and Arafura seas, and elsewhere by the Pacific. Its length N. W. and S. E. is about 1,500 m., maximum breadth 400 m. ; es- timated area, from 260,000 to upward of 300,- 000 sq. m. Papua is less known to civilized man than any other region of equal extent on the earth. Until recently even the principal features of the coast had not been accurately determined, and no European had ever been able to advance more than a few miles into the interior. The island is of irregular out- line and deeply indented by several large bays, which form extensive peninsulas of its eastern and western extremities, while the more com- pact portion is situated between the 135th and 145th meridians. Thus on the N. coast, near Ion. 135, Geelvink bay, over 150 m. wide at its mouth, penetrates 120 m. southward, ap- proaching within some 30 m. of the waters of Etna bay on the S. side of the island. The peninsula so formed trends "W. N". W. from the narrow isthmus between these bays, and is indented in turn by McOlure inlet from the Banda sea, which extends inland to within 18 m. of Geelvink bay on the opposite coast. A second peninsula stretches thence westward to Galewo strait, 2 to 3 m. wide, between Papua and the neighboring island of Salawaty, and northward to a point called the cape of Good Hope, in lat. 6' S., Ion. 132 30' E. The great peninsula forming the eastern end of the island may be considered as beginning at a line drawn from Astrolabe bay on the N. coast, near Ion. 146, directly S. to the head of the gulf of Papua, on the S. coast, a body of wa- ter about equal in extent to Geelvink bay. It terminates near the Louisiade archipelago, not in a single point, as represented on all but the PAPUA latest maps, but in a broad fork consisting of two promontories, of which the northern is much the narrower, separated by Milne bay, an arm of the sea 20 m. long and about 8 m. wide. This appears by the survey made in 1873 by Oapt. Moresby of the British navy. The N. E. coast of this large peninsula borders on Dampier strait, between Papua and the isl- and of New Britain, and is indented by Huon gulf. The most important inlet on the N. side of the main body of the island is Humboldt bay, near the 141st parallel of E. longitude, W. of which the Dutch claim dominion over the whole country. Jobie and several other islands of considerable size are situated near the mouth of Geelvink bay ; and Prince Frederick Hen- ry's island, close to the S. coast, from which it is separated by Dourga strait, is about as large as the Moluccan island of Booro. The Key and Arroo groups lie S. of the western portion of Papua. The sea surrounding the island is deep on the Pacific side, but shallow toward Australia, in which direction it does not ex- ceed 100 fathoms in depth. Papua is a moun- tainous island, subject to a hot, damp climate, and clothed with a luxuriantly rich forest ve- getation throughout its known extent. But few large rivers have been discovered. Moun- tains are visible in the interior from all parts of the coast. The principal chains are the Ar- fak range, in the N. W. peninsula, with a maxi- mum altitude- variously calculated at from 7,000 to 9,500 ft.; the Snowy mountains, E. of Geelvink bay toward the middle of the island, of similar altitude, and so called because snow is said to have been seen upon their summits ; and the Stanley range, from 9,000 to 13,000 ft. high, in the S. E. peninsula. Volcanic ac- tion is not known to occur in Papua, although Dampier reported volcanoes on the N. E. coast opposite New Britain -in 1699. Earth- quakes are infrequent, and seldom severe. The coast of the N. W. peninsula is of coral forma- tion, as also are the adjacent islands, but noth- ing is known of the geology of the interior. The great height of the Papuan mountains and their distance from the coast have led to the inference that there must be large streams in the country; among the most considerable as yet known is the Amberno, described by the German traveller Meyer as sending vol- umes of fresh water into the sea at the N. E. end of Geelvink bay. The climate of Papua is warm and moist. During the wet season the rains on the coast are exceedingly heavy, and malarial fevers are prevalent. The flora resembles that of Borneo in the varied and luxuriant vegetation of the hot and damp tropi- cal forests. Little is known, however, of the natural history of the island except what re- lates to its fauna. A dense growth of man- groves lines much of the S. coast W. of Torres strait, and the forest trees here reach a height of 200 to 250 ft. Of the 17 Papuan mammals, all are marsupials but three, of which two are bats and one is a species of pig (sus Papuensis).