Library of Cryptozoology

Prof. Edgeworth David : ... I have been told by one of the comrades of Sir William Macgregor, who has done so much to explore New Guinea, and whose work has been so gracefully acknowledged by Dr. Lorentz–that comrade was the Hon. Anthony Musgrave–that the spoor of some large herbivorous animal was observed some years ago in British New Guinea. These spoors were traced by him around the edge of a swamp at an altitude of about 9000 feet; they measured 4 inches in one direction and 4 1/2 in the other. The natives said they knew this animal, and called it the pig-devil, or devil-pig, but Mr. Musgrave was never able to get a sight of it. I should like to ask Dr. Lorentz if he could perhaps say whether any such trace of a large herbivorous animal had been noticed in Dutch New Guinea. ... Dr. Lorentz : ... No traces were met with of a large animal in the mountains.

It is possible, says Professor [Edgeworth] David, that some of the supposed extinct beasts that once lived in Australia may still be alive in the wilds of tropical New Guinea. Mr. McCabe told how the huge prehistoric monsters that once inhabited the earth crept off, in the ice ages, to the tropical belts. Speaking of the British Museum's expedition in Dutch New Guinea, Professor David told how some years ago in British territory an exploring party found the spoor of what may have been a nototherium–a wombat-like small elephant. Traces of the kangaroo-lion, a flesh-eating beast that has left its tooth-marks on the bones of other big animals, may also, he says, be found there. "The high snow-capped ranges of eastern New Guinea," said Professor David, "are certainly amongst the least known of the important ranges of the world ... The Hon. Anthony Musgrave, secretary of Sir William MacGregor, Governor of Queensland, told me that when some years ago exploring Eastern New...

There can be no doubt that besides the mammalia already known to inhabit New Guinea, many remain to be discovered. Some very large animal is reported to occur in the mountains. Its presence was first indicated by Mr. C. A. W. Monckton, who, during his ascent of Mount Albert Edward in the west of British New Guinea, discovered the huge footprints and very large droppings of some cloven-footed monster which had evidently been browsing on the grassy plains surrounding the lakes on the summit, at an elevation of about twelve thousand five hundred feet. Unfortunately, he was unable to gain any information respecting this animal from the natives, who hunt all over the mountain, as they proved extremely hostile to his expedition. Among the Europeans at Port Moresby this creature is now commonly known as Monckton's "Gazeka," but up to the present time no one has attempted to return to Mount Albert Edward and procure a specimen. Mr. Monckton stated that Sir William Macgregor had...

... a Dutch explorer (Dr. Lorentz) is said, two years ago actually to have seen the animal [the devil pig], which is described as being very large, striped black and white, and having a proboscis like a tapir's.

Animals are rare. The wild dog, an occasional wallaby, a stray tree-kangaroo, and a long-snouted animal not yet obtained, form the bulk of the quadrupeds.

Friday, 17th November. ... they drew the attention of the men to the tracks of a wild animal in the bush, showing great terror of it. This is the first indication of such being in existence. I have seen the tracks; what kind of an animal it is I can't explain, but there is not the slightest doubt in my mind, or in the mind of all our party, that such is in existence. The tracks had the appearance of horse's hoofs with shoes on–quite as large, but with this difference, there was the impression of four toes. We all know well the impression of the alligator, and it does not in the slightest resemble it. It must be a heavy animal, as we saw the impressions of where it had laid down on the sand, and the natives informed us it lived in the bush, not in the river.

At the head of Collingwood Bay we found a good anchorage, and remained two days cutting wood. Here Lieutenant Smith observed the droppings of some large grass-eating animal in a spot where the bushes had been heavily trampled and broken. Our opinion was decided that a rhinosceros [sic] had haunted there; and we were much surprised, as this animal has-never been believed to exist in New Guinea. It would have been very satisfactory to have set the question thus started at rest, but time failed us.

I was no doubt wrong in speaking of the occurrence of the rhinoceros in Papua as a fact without the qualification "if confirmed;" but I wrote in a hurry. From the details supplied by Mr. Smith, which I annex, I think there is at least a very strong possibility that there is a rhinoceros in Papua, and the object of my letter will have been attained if it causes explorers on the north coast of that island to look after it, and at the same time places Mr. Smith's name on record as the discoverer of its indications. "1. The heap of dung first seen, which was quite fresh (not having apparently been dropped more than half an hour), was so large that it excited Mr. Smith's curiosity, and he called Captain Moresby to see it. Neither of them knew what animal to assign it. Quantities of dry dung were afterwards seen. "2. Shortly afterwards, the Basilisk being at or near Singapore, Capt. Moresby and Mr. Smith paid a visit to the Rajah of Johore, who had a rhinocero...

I am quite of your opinion that the occurrence of a rhinoceros in New Guinea is very seriously to be doubted (see NATURE, vol. xi. p. 248), but I beg leave to mention a report of a very large quadruped in New Guinea , which I got from the Papuans of the south coast of the Geelvinks Bay. When trying to cross the country from there to the south coast, opposite the Aru Islands,–in which I did not succeed, but only saw the sea-shore at a great distance from the height of a mountain chain (I afterwards succeeded in crossing the continent of New Guinea from the Geelvinks Bay more to the north, over to the Maclure Gulf),–and when hunting wild pigs along with the Papuans, they told me, without my questioning them, of a very large pig , as they called it, fixing its height on the stem of a tree at more than six feet. I could not get any other information from them, except that the beast was very rare, but they were quite precise in their assertion. I promised heaps of glass pearls and knives ...

Lieut. Sidney Smith, late of H.M.S. Basilisk , reports that while engaged in surveying on the north coast of Papua, between Huon Bay and Cape Basilisk, being on shore with a party cutting firewood, he observed in the forest the "droppings" (excrement) of a rhinoceros in more than one place, the bushes in the neighbourhood being also broken and trampled as if by a large animal. The presence of so large an animal belonging to the Asiatic fauna in Papua is an important fact. (We should be inclined to doubt very seriously the occurrence of any rhinoceros in New Guinea. At any rate, the important fact , as our correspondent terms it, cannot be considered as established.–Ed.)

An interesting letter appears in yesterday's Daily News from Mr. Smithurst, the engineer of the steamer which made the voyage up the newly discovered Baxter River in New Guinea, referred to in Sir Henry Rawlinson's address at the Geographical Society last week. The river seems to be a magnificent one, and could evidently be made navigatable to a considerable distance inland. The exploring party found the banks to consist mainly of mangrove swamps, though, near the end of the journey, high clay banks with Eucalyptus globulus were found. Scarcely any natives were seen, though there were frequent signs of their being about. Mr. Smithurst refers to a very remarkable bird, which, so far as we know, has not hitherto been described. The natives state that it can fly away with a dugong, a kangaroo, or a large turtle. Mr. Smithurst states he saw and shot at a specimen of this wonderful animal, and that "the noise caused by the flapping of its wings resembled the sound of a locomot...

That night we camped in a very narrow strip of bush close to the river without pitching the tent. We were aroused in the night, by the movements of some large animal in the bush, and all hands turned out, but couldn't see anything, and after firing a shot or two, we turned in, and were not again disturbed. Next morning I went down to the river. On a sandy bank I saw the impression of an unknown animal clear and distinct. The impression in the sand resembled a horse’s hoof with a shoe on it, but larger and more oblong, with this difference that it had three round toes at the fore-part of the hoof, and there was likewise an impression on the ground which was sand, which had the appearance of having been made by a large quadruped.