PORTFOLIO
134
ly communication with the natives, and acquire
land to the greatest possible extent” (Finsch
1888: 7). Posing as a group of scientists to dispel
potential Australian suspicions about their intentions,
Finsch and his fellow expedition members
made six separate voyages between September
1884 and July 1885 in the misleadingly named
steamer Samoa, resulting in the declaration of
northeastern New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago
as German protectorates. In doing so,
they became the fi rst Europeans to touch upon
the Sepik River in New Guinea.
Contemporary newspaper reports speculated
that Finsch “would probably be appointed administrator
of the annexed territory” (Anon.
1884a, 1884b, 1884c). This did not prove to be
the case. He was offered, but refused, a contract
as station director, objecting to the prospect of
the Neuguinea-Compagnie vetting all his publications
and confi scating for its commercial benefi
t any items of ethnographic interest he collected.
However, fi nding a more congenial position
proved exceedingly diffi cult, and Finsch spent
the best part of a decade following his return to
Germany without formal employment. During
this period he exhibited, cataloged, and illustrated
his collections, assisted by his wife, Elisabeth
Finsch, née Hoffman (1860–1925), who helped
prepare watercolors based on his fi eld drawings
(Finsch 1899a: 73). Finsch also sold parts of his
collections to what are now the American Museum
of Natural History in New York (from
which collection his drawings and watercolors
illustrate this article); the Field Museum in Chicago;
the Luigi Pigorini National Museum of
Prehistory and Ethnography in Rome; the Peter
the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology
in St. Petersburg; and the Weltmuseum
in Vienna. He published a lengthy account of
his travels in 1884–85, Samoafahrten (Journeys
in the Samoa, 1888); a descriptive catalog of
around 1,000 artifacts purchased by what was
then the K. K. Naturhistorisches Hofmuseum in
Vienna; and an exceptionally detailed overview
of his expeditions, exhibitions, publications, and
other activities over the period 1859–99 (Finsch
1888, 1893, 1899a).
In 1897 Finsch “abandoned ethnology, with
a heavy heart,” and returned to ornithological
work at the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Histo-