The New Guinea Company proved to be a debacle during the period of its rule 1885–1899, in both administrative and commercial terms. Initially investors had pinned their hopes on land sales to the flood of patriotic settlers expected in New Guinea from Germany and Germans in Australia, but it quickly became apparent that no such rush of intrepid Teutonic pioneers would arrive. By the end of Company rule the European population was only 250. The second plan was for the newly christened Kaiser Wilhelmsland to become a “German Java” through cotton and tobacco plantations worked by indentured Asian laborers. This plan too failed, as the German overseers were thoroughly ignorant of how unfavorable local conditions were for these crops. For instance, only after considerable time and effort was spent putting up fences to guard crops from monkeys was it realized that there were no monkeys.