

■• 



p I 



tEFACK 



My orig 



r 



forest resources of Papua, and when that 



work was completed I was asked by the Administrator of the Territory of Xew Guinea to undertak 



similar forest 



My 



7 



been fur 



Administration, but was not in a condition for printing, as a number of botanical determinations 

 were unavoidably held over by Mr. White (Government Botanist, Brisbane), who desired to examine 

 them more critically. Subsequently, when my field work in the Mandated Territory was finished, 

 it was decided to print both the report on Papua and the one on the Territory of Xew Guinea 

 in one volume. There is no botanical boundary between the two Territories and the nature of 

 the forests is alike in both, and it was, therefore, considered more satisfactory to combine the two 

 reports, so that, while the description of the forests of each Territory will be found separated, 

 the technical description of the species met with in both will be found amalgamated, and the index 

 embraces the whole volume. 



The twelve months spent in the forests of Papua made the field work 



of 



New Guinea much easier botanically. Also types of forest were met with which correspond with 



others I had made surveys of in Papua, and required only 

 on, passing over large areas 

 commercial forest. 



of tvuical iunsrle of 



pection. It was possible to push 

 the search for areas of profitable 



p 



I had found no areas of immediately exploitable forests in Papua, but I had high hopes 

 of discovering some in the sister Territory. I thought that plains such as occur in the Northern 

 Division would be found in the great valleys of the Markham, Ramu and Sepik, and that possibly, 

 unlike the Dobadura area, the natives would not have destroyed the forests. My hopes were not 

 realized, for the natives of the Markham and Upper Ramu have converted what must have once 



been high rain forest into savannah forest and pure savannah. On the lower Ramu and throughout 



u 



the plains of the Sepik River, the conditions are so swampy as to preclude the growth of high 

 forest. The lower south-east end of Bismarck Range yielded no forests of commercial interest, 

 but it is possible that between the Hagen, the Bismarcksand the Central Range, valuable coniferous 



forests exist. The area is a wide one and, except for my climb up Mount Otto, which is, as it were, 



r 



only the first step, has not been penetrated and is well worth thorough exploration. Equipped 

 as I was with a knowledge of the Papuan silva, my progress in the Mandated Territory was much 

 more rapid in those parts where the King's writ ran ; beyond that area, however, and unfortunately 

 one has not to penetrate far to leave it behind, progress was hampered by the necessity of reassuring 

 and making friends with the native population. Where no white man had been before, the task 

 was easy, but in that intermediate belt which has not come under Government control, but where 



some years back well-armed native labour 





recruiting 



•>•> 



parties operated, the position is very 



difficult. It is unfortunate that, through the action of some of the natives who accompanied 

 me in one area where I had partially restored the confidence of the native in the white man, the 

 ood work was not only undone, but the population, justifiably incensed at the offence committed, 

 wreaked their vengeance by looting and destroying my base camp. The loss of botanical material 

 and notes was very serious, for they were irreplaceable ; the loss of gear was only monetary, but 

 the most serious loss was my native herbarium assistant, who, though getting clear of camp when 

 the attack came, did not succeed in reaching the coast. In the broken mountainous country 

 between the Ramu and the sea, he came to grief, but whether by the hands of hostile natives or 

 through an accident, will probably never be known. The delays caused through the need of 

 pacification before food or carriers could be obtained were a nuisance, and I was, in consequence, 

 unable to penetrate as far as I should have liked nor to make as many traverses as I had hoped. 



