6 



occur in the lowlands; higher up a rivei where it be- 

 comes torrential the rain forests or savannah 



is a definite third story in this forest some 30 feet high. 

 The first and second stories are there, too, but are hard 



to distinguish at first, hut not so the third. The great 

 difference is, however, caused by the wealth of elinibers, 



lianas, Freycinetias, and as one's eye follows these up 

 the trunks, by the festoons of hanging ferns 

 occur. In some cases the strip of alluvial ground is (Asjihnium) and other epiphytes in the branches, by 

 narrow, ami the ground then slopes rapidly up to the t h e presence of tuft upon tuft of young calamus palms 



forests 



come down to the streams edge, according as the 

 conditions are favourable for one or the other forma- 

 tion. It is in the comparatively speaking flat country 



the foothills and the sea, that these forests 



betw 



een 



tops of little hills. Jlere the ram forest gradually alters 

 in composition, becomes more open and finally on the 

 top carries a larger proportion of deciduous than ever- 

 green trees. The composition of these riverside forests 

 is very complex for, while they include all the charac- 

 teristic rain forest species, they also shelter a number 

 of intermediate forms — types one might expect to find 

 in the gullies of the savannah forests. 



1 made an inspection of the forests bordering the 



Veimauri, Vanapa, Veiya, and Brown. A saw-milling 

 company holds them under lease from the Government, 

 and has spent some capital on a mill and on opening up 

 the forests for timber purposes; the areas in consequence 

 seemed to be worth investigating carefully. 



As will be seen from the portion of the Central 

 Division map, which is on a scale of 4 inches 



ro tlie mile, these rivers all fall into an estuary 

 known as Galley Reach. The Venapa and Laloki are 



big rivers, and they together form a large part of the 



low-lying tidal delta 



Galley Reach and high ground. 



All this delta country consists of mangrove swamp. 

 A description of this typical mangrove forest will be 



found on page 47. The rivers Veiya and Veimauri 



rise comparatively close, and are small in comparison 

 with the first two-mentioned waterways. 



No forest proper is met with until one has left the 

 tidal salt water, or the land begins to rise sufficiently 

 to drain, and so carry an association of tall hygro- 

 philous trees. The dividing line between the mangrove 

 and the fresh-water swamp formation is the limit 

 reached by the salt water. Then come low-lying swamp 

 lands, mainly covered with 



which star the ground; by the long, slender, cylindrical 

 stems of the larger-growing palms. 



Here, then, are some of the striking differences that 

 an Australian from the southern States would see at 



once. 



A North Queenslander would find a great 



similarity between this forest and the one he is accus- 

 tomed to in his own country and calls " scrub. 91 Tie 

 would probably feel quite at home once he recognize i 

 a few of his Queensland friends — such as mi Ik wood, 

 Leichhardt's pine, cedar and beech, stinging trees, and 

 scrub itch. 



The complexity of the forest is much reduced when 

 it comes to examining it from a purely forestry stand- 

 point. The often very beautiful excrescences of the 

 scene must be overlooked while the main thins — 



country which 



high; and the third of trees 30 feet high. Its 



sago 



timber — is examined. Once this is determined on, the 

 forest becomes a simple matter to describe, for it now 

 consists of three storeys of trees — the top one, about 



Uef'between the 10 °- 120 feet hi gh, is composed of trees from 7-ft. girth 



upwards; the second of trees 5 feet in girth, 50 to 75 

 feet 



composition is very varied — the number of species on 

 1 acre being very great. Its density is very high, the 

 shade is as complete as possible, the young trees are 

 very crowded, and their leaves are, as a rule, very 

 large — much larger than their parents, to enable them 

 to catch what little light filters through from above. 

 While some of the largest trees have clear boles from 

 the ground, others are buttressed, the buttresses in 

 some cases stretching out 3 yards from the butt. 



If, on this skeleton of our forest, you, in imagination, 

 throw a covering of climbers of all sizes, with all 



palm (Metroxylon "r^ * l * X V -C 1> , ^ ^ 



L rflli^JJt.. manner of leaves, from the huge cut up leaf of a Frey- 



le lawyer 



rumphii), with here and there a sabi (Sarcocephalus n : n£k +: Q fr , + i ' \„i- A * ^ i r j £ ^ 



? F u (* j.\i r% i j n t \i. if/ • cmetia to the delicate palm fronds of the lawyer 



cardans), the Queensland yellow or Leichhardrs pine. # ^ ^ ^ ^^ J . ~ £ 



and Myrutica sp. The latter is a big tree, which baa orpMd and gtrew h » d . herbaceous 



,., a *.♦ t^ t, ft plants and the tufts of the young calamus before it 



like a Sonneratia, but has no pneumatophores. ' , . .. ,. , . u , ./ to * ^^ 



* L **. i_.i » ' „w„ fk. i«£i of ri» _«« P U . ts out lts clmbm f shoot J lf y° u sow ^re and there 



the 



looks 



As soon as the land rises above the level of the swamp 



are to be found the rain forests, broken here and there 



by depressions which are swampy, and limited inland 



by the rise of the rocky hills. The rain forest at its 



best is on the alluvium of the Hats. 



liAIX FoKKKTS. 



A description of this typ<e of forest is not easy. The 

 large buttresses that certain trees have at the base cf 



a large strangling fig, grotesquely monstrous, you will 

 have some idea of the appearance of a tropical rain 

 forest of this type. 



Unlike the temperate climates, there is no spring 

 in the tropics, when masses of flowers come into 

 bloom. The ground is never covered with show? 

 blossoms of wild flowers, and, except for third story 

 trees, and those that have their blossoms low down on 





the boles, the hanging lianas, the aerial gardens that their trunks (cauliflory), the flowering of the trees 



cover the upper branches of the tall trees, all tend to takes place unseen. There is too much intervening 



distract and make a comprehensive view or description greenery, and the branches are too high for the passin 



difficult. Add to these the thick stand of young trees traveller to see the flowers unless they are very large 



which make it hard to see stems of the trees more than and showy. It is hard to collect botanical material 



half a chain away, and some idea of my difficulty in in these forests for, apart from the trouble of finding 



giving a general view of this type of forest may bo out whether the tree is in flower, there is the task o^ 



obtained. How does such a forest differ from the wet getting the material down, and matters cannot wait 



for many of the species have but brief flowering 



periods. 



In the same way the epiphytes that make up the 

 aerial gardens on the branches are so high up that 

 they only appear as tufts of greenery, and the flowers 

 of the orchids, which are never large or showy in 

 Papua, are not seen at all. Now and then a third 

 story tree, such as maita-maita (Eugenia sp 9 ) or a 



bio bio (Carr'nna) in full flower or fruit, or a Bac- 



eucalypt forests of the extreme south-west of Western 

 Australia, of parts of Victoria, and of Tasmania? In 

 the first place, in the extraordinary mixture of species. 

 On 108 acres on the right bank of Veimauri Creek. I 

 measured 69 different species of trees of 5-ft. girth and 

 over. The height of the top story is not as great as 

 that of the Australian wet eucalypt forest; 100 to 120 

 feet would be the limit of height of the canopy, except 

 for one species — Ilimo- — which I shall refer to later. 



In the absence of heavy undergrowth, except for th c 

 lawyer canes (Cahmnis sp 4 ), there is no difficulty in 



throng} 



This rattan, with ita 



hooking spines, makes a scrub-knife* a necessity. 

 and there a thick growth of ScitamifUBj with 



o 



Her 



large 



green paddle-like leaves, makes a dense covering. There 



eauria with its trunk a mass of pendant racemes of 

 cream flowers, add a colour to the greenery. These 

 sights are, however, comparatively rare, and one, for 

 the most part, only sees flowers when they have 

 dropped to the ground, or when a native has 

 laboriously climbed up and brought them down. 





