Public attention has been repeatedly and prominently directed to New
Guinea during the last few months. The name often appears in our
newspapers and missionary reports, and bids fair to take a somewhat
prominent place in our blue-books. Yet very few general readers possess
accurate information about the island itself, about the work of English
missionaries there, or about the part New Guinea seems destined to play
in Australian politics. Hence a brief sketch indicating the present
state of knowledge on these points will be a fitting introduction to the
narratives of exploration, of adventure, and of Christian work contained
in this volume.

New Guinea, if we may take Australia as a continent, is the largest
island in the world, being, roughly speaking, about 1400 miles long, and
490 broad at its widest point. Its northernmost coast nearly touches the
equator, and its southernmost stretches down to 11 degrees south
latitude. Little more than the fringe or coastline of the island has
been at all carefully explored, but it is known to possess magnificent
mountain ranges, vast stretches of beautiful scenery, much land that is
fruitful, even under native cultivation, and mighty rivers that take
their rise far inland. Its savage inhabitants have aroused powerfully
the interest and sympathy alike of Christian Polynesians and English
missionaries, who, taking their lives in their hands, have, in not a few
instances, laid them down in the effort to win New Guinea for Christ.

At some remote period of the past, New Guinea, in all probability, formed
a part of Australia. Torres Strait itself is only about sixty miles
wide; the water is shallow; shoals and reefs abound, giving the sailor
who threads the intricate and dangerous navigation the impression that he
is sailing over what was once solid earth.