15 



he took out in his first four crops, which owed their ins; cultivation by natives is resorted to and fire is the 



When he a train agent used to clear up the brush and slash, and to drive 



plentifuhiess to generations of humus, 

 abandons the area, a crop of weed trees springs up as 

 before. There is no reason why he should not continue 

 this process of a few crops, and letting the land lie 

 fallow to grow a re-growth forest for seven years before 



Unfortunately, he finds he cannot get 



much 



(!)B 



rown 



he is back at his first plot in a 



Tie has no alter na- 



he recrops it. 



enough land 



shorter period than seven years. 



Live ; the land no longer yields him the same number 



of successive crops; he has either to shift his village to 



new country, or work the old ground over at shorter 



intervals. Latterlv. the Government 



Latterly, the Government itself, in its 

 anxiety to see settled communal life, has placed obstacles 

 in the path of the natives who wish to found a new 

 village. The population grows; the land yields less, 

 and the village must remain a fixed centre. Wh en 

 the native reduces the interval between his crops suffi- 

 ciently to give the regrowth too little time to restore 



crop of potatoes or taro, 

 comes in. urass in ordinary competition with 



the plant foods to grow a 

 grass comes in. vxrass 



weed trees would stand no chance at all, but the native 



uses an 



agent which gives the grass a tremendous ad- 



vantage over the tree — that is, fire. After the native 



has farmed a piece of soil worn out by the process I 

 have described, he finds that his poor crop is replaced 



d trees and grasses. When dry weather sets in 



fires this to drive out the 



by wee 

 durii 



ip 



the S.E 



season, lie 



and there 



wallaby, and the baby weed trees are killed. The grass 

 ic burnt, but its roots are untouched, and it comes up 

 again, to be burnt once more. Year by year the area 

 of this grass land increases; it takes up a few yards of 

 regrowth each burn, and, once gained, the grass land 

 maintains its hold. In a little while large numbers of 

 such patches of grass become linked up, 

 remain only thin chains of rain forest, either too nar- 

 row to farm, or along some water-course, and too wet 

 to burn, or reserved by the community for tribal cere- 

 monial, or for superstitious reasons. Were the native 

 to forego burning the grass lands for a few years, the 

 weed trees would doubtless re-establish themselves, for 

 in such scil, and with such excellent climatic conditions 

 of environment, woodlands have a decided advantage 

 over gr^tss lands. As it is, the Buna Plains to-day con- 

 sist of artificially created grass lands, with narrow 



belts. 



out game. 



In the Philippines such artificial grass lands and re- 

 growth woodland is known as "Parang." 

 describes the final conditions there as follows:- 



"When an area is burnt over regularly, the 

 grasses form almost pure stands. With primitive 

 methods of agriculture, the grasses get a good start 

 even without fires, as their rhizomes are much 

 harder to erradieate than are dicotyledonous plants; 

 but it is only where other plants are destroyed by 

 fire that the grasses form extensive pure stands. 

 If the grass is not burned, it is quickly invaded by 

 second-growth trees. If no fire has occurred in an 

 area for tw or three years, small patches of trees 

 may appear; but an area is rarely kept free from 

 fire for a period sufficiently long to allow trees to 

 cover it. The part left in grass is usually burnt 

 over with fair regularity. 



trees at the edges of the forest, or the occasional 

 absence of fires may cause the trees to encroach 

 upon the grass. Thus the parang persists for years 

 — the trees at times gaining, at others 

 ground. When they form a continuous forest, the 

 land is frequently cleared again and cultivated, as 

 such areas are much more easily put under culti- 

 vation than is grassland. 



When ground is cultivated intensively, or with 

 modern methods, the grass does not take possession 



of it , but the shifting system of cultivation has 

 been so widespread in the Philippines that, accord- 

 ing to Whitford, 40 per cent, of the land area of 



lb* per 



The fires may kill the 



losing 



the Arch pelago is occupied by grass; 



cent, by second-growth forest; while only 10 per 



cent, is cultivated. M 



It will be a long time before the Papuan native de- 

 velops better methods of agriculture, and in the mean- 

 time the utilization of the large areas of artifically 



Created grass land is a serious problem. In the section 



dealing with plantations I have ventured to put forward 

 a solution. 



situation or 

 agricultural 



rrmges, and chains of rain forest. These are 

 either naturally protected through their 

 artificially protected by man. From an 

 point of view, the native with his present primitive 

 farming implements and notions cannot cultivate the 

 grass country; so that, even without any great increase 

 in the population, there is the making of a serious land 

 problem for the Orokaiva people. Tha cessation under 

 British Government of all inter-tribal warfare has 





The Forests near Soputa. 



i 





: While it is not possible to create in one's mind a 

 precise idea of the nature of the forests which once 

 spread over the whole of this flat area, an examination 

 of the fringes of forest that still remain enables us to 



get a general impression of the silva of the district 



Immediately behind Biiim. along the Kokoda 



Close to the Giruwa Kiver, 



track, 



accentuated the difficulty, for the native's mind is no of f orest 



lies the hamlet of Soputa. 

 and about this part are 



longer anxious as to whether he or another will re^p 

 the crop he sows, or as to whether the village will exist 

 in a year's time. There are in all probability also more 

 mouths to feed than in the old days. This disappear- 

 ance of rain forest conditions, and the establishment of 

 grass lands, occurs throughout the tropics where shift- 



some 



fringing 



a number of small areas 

 the river, others around 



swampy ground. A strip survey embracing an area of 



3 miles by 2 miles was carrifed out, and the summarized 



results will be found in Tables X., XI., and XTT. The 



arc 



■a included in the strips was 



(1) W. H. lirnwn : VrjictatioB of Philippine Mountains, pp. 18 19. 



TAB LP] X. 



Survey of Forests m.ar Soptjt* in Northern PmsiON. 



Herbarium 

 Xuinl'or. 



Local Name 



Scientific Name. 



183 



Digisi 



136 



Kara w a . 



137 



Dandike . 



138 



IVirarnba. 



140 



< rnambo . 



141 



Konina . 



142 



Sieira 



143 



Dihaba 



• • 





144 



I Duduye 



. laglata MpindttMt • • 

 A ' "j I ra polyandra 



Rubiaa ae . . 



Couihovia brarh>inra 



Elaeocarpus novo-guinu nsx 

 Canarium lineistipula 

 [ndt. 



Setnecar/'Hs ^p. 



Nu mbcr 

 of Trees. 



« ubic Content*. 



Percent »■_;■ s of 



Total. Per Ac* 



• • 



• • 



* • 



5 



22 

 7 

 3 

 1 



6 

 2 

 I 



< ul ic it- 



842 

 8,007-* 



2.m>.v e 



1,039 

 395 



460 



5 5 4 



111 



I llbic ft 



11 '0 

 110:0 



3s i ) 



13 







60 



71-0 



3 o 



20 



5 



Per Tree. 



Cubic ft. 



156 

 136 

 148 

 132 

 460 

 92 



129 

 L41 



Total 



Cubic 



Contents 



Total 

 Number 



Trees, 



% 

 311 



31-84 



10 97 

 3-84 



1 48 

 171 



2 05 



o <>:> 

 0-r>2 



o/ 



2 24 



24 • <)0 

 9*80 

 3- 10 

 1-30 



0-44 



2-7" 

 • 90 

 0-44 



Acres 



pel Tree. 



150 



1-4 



3 () 



32 



26-0 



780 



13 







39 



•78-0 



