east. The three lakes are at a low altitude — between 

 200 and 300 feel above sea level, and the slopes of the 



with a typo of rain forest which I have not met with 



elsewhere. It consists of -two species — No, 136, Karawa, 



foothills are clothed to the water's edge with rain forest. the dipterocarp already referred to, and that wonder- 

 In certain places where 1 he slope is too steep, grass land fully durable wocd, No. 10, melila. Seme other species 



were found, but they were so much in the minority as 



The figures will be found in Table 



to be negligible. 



lias established itself, and this the native has extended 



by his annual hunting fires. A survey was made of 



the forests of Embi Lake. On the north side the lake XVII. These were obtained from strip surveys, 700 



is fringed with sago palm and forest, and beyond is a chains in length, or covering an area of 140 acres. I 



largo grass area. To the south, however, lies the hesitate to say what percentage of the total area of this 



llydrcgrapher's Range, and the foothills are covered type of forest my strips represent, for, while I am able 



TABLE XVTL 



Sl'KVEY OF THE FOREST AROUND EMBI L.AKE, HYDROGRAPH ER*S, NoRTHEES DIVISION. 



Herbarium 

 Number. 



10 



136 

 238 

 206 

 145 

 239 

 240 

 205 



Local Name 



Melila 



Gara-wa 

 Iiasara 



Ineno 



Ano-Ano 

 Guti 



Pohara 

 Gasara 



* • 



• • 



Scientific Name. 



Afzelia bijuga 

 A nisopte ra poly a n dra 

 Podocarpus neriifolius 

 Myrist irci pse a do -a rye n tea 



Indt. 



Calophyllu m inophylhi m 



Indt. 



Indt. 



• • 



Total 



Number 



of Trees. 



427 



354 



14 



8 

 6 



7 

 6 



8 



840 



Cubic Contents. 



Total 

 C.F. 



33,943 

 74,249 



756 



1,029 



840 



504 



1,029 

 1,508 



113,918 



C.F. 



242 



530 



* • 



813 



Per Acre Per Tree 



C.F. 



79-49 

 245 - 1 9 



135-00 



Percentages of 



To Total 



Cubic 

 Contents. 

 Per Cent. 



29-85 

 65-14 



5-01 



1 00 00 



To Total 



Number 

 Trees. 



Per Cent 



50-8 

 43-3 



59 



100 



Acres 

 per Tree. 



1 



032 



0-38 



> 



3 



to fix the limits in altitude, I had not time to find out 

 how far it extended east to west along the foothills. It 

 will be seen that No. 136 and No. 10 together account 

 for 95 per cent, of the volume, and 94 per cent, of the 

 number of trees. The other seven species represented 



far as quantity and 

 volume are concerned. It will be seen, also that No. 

 10 — melila, or bendora, as the northern people call 



exceeds No. 136, karawa, in number 



;. The average 



are of negligible importance so 



enough, the bark yields a yellow, while the leaves yield 

 a cream, latex. No. 240, pohana, is a large tree, with 

 a dark brown scaly bark, and yields a nice light yellow 

 wood. Nos. 205 and 206 I had met with before; also 

 the useful canoe paddle wood, tatoa, No. 145. 



Of other species, I should mention two glorious 



No. 222 — A (/a petes Mooch ousiana. 



climbers. 



This 



climbing heath attains its best development at and over 

 2,000 feet; it bears masses of cerise, somewhat waxy 

 flowers on the old wood of the stem and on the young 



twigs. 



The flowers themselves are about 1 inch long 



and bell-shaped, and are so closely set as to sometimes 

 entirely hide the stem, of the liana. The other climber 



bears axillary 



No. 243 



is iNo. L'4o — Hoy a dimorpka — which 

 umbells of beautiful pink flowers. 



ram 



The usual 



forest climbers, such as Freycinetias, occur here aiso. 

 On the whole, the melila-karawa forests are less covered 



more mixed rain forests. 



A fz e Ha biju ga— 



of trees, but does not carry the volum 



melila was cne-third the size of the average karawa. The 



actual figures are as 79 is to 245 cubic feet per tree. 



Again, however, the dipterocarp failed to strike the 



eye so markedly as the melila; so to avoid difficulties, 



if this type of woodland is to be designated, I should 

 call it a melila-karawa forest, or, better perhaps, 



bendcra-karawa forest. The maximum melila mea- 

 sured had a girth of 10 feet, and a clear bole of 90 

 feet, while the largest karawa girthed 13 i feet, and 

 shot up 110 feet to the first branch. While the total 

 cubic contents per acre is not very great, it compares very 



favorably with all the other forests visited. But what 



makes this Hvdrographer's forest valuable is the fact 

 that no great mixture of species occurs. From the saw- 

 milling stand-point— and that, after all, is the forestry undergrowth is also rather scanty, and except for the 

 stand-point— a forest of this type is very much more ever-present lawyer cane (Calamus) the woodland is 

 valuable than one which contains a host of different 

 species, even if the latter carries twice the total volume 

 of the first. The area that I found was insufficient for 

 saw-milling purposes on a large scale, but it is quite pos- 

 sible that further areas of similar forest may be found 

 in the foothills of this or neighbouring ranges, which 

 would repay commercial exploitation. In the mean- 

 time, care should be taken to preserve this belt, and 

 the native should be prevented from extending his farm 

 lands to the slope carrying the typical forests. Of the 



with epiphytes than the 

 Melila, with its rather smooth bark, offers little pur- 

 chase for plants to root, and while karawa has rough 



^ kavlr it does not seem to carry the aerial 



The 



enougn 



gardens in its branches one would expect to see. 



very penetrable. The second and third story trees are 



not well represented in such a forest. No. 241, Eugenia 

 jamb ol ana (atfin) was found everywhere; also 80, the 



cabbage tree Genda (tmetum gnemonj 



The leaves 



of this species are 



They 



use 



cabbage 



used by the natives as we 

 must be picked very young, 



The tree is much culti- 



before they become leathery. 



vated in villages throughout the Territory, not only 

 for the leaves, but for the nut, the kernel of which is 

 edible. The bark yields a strong fibre, and the rather 



other species: No. 238, rasara, is ^ Podocarpus nern at t rac tive net bags that the Suku women affect are said 

 folius, a second-story tree, with a nice timber like the 



be the 



Queensland brown pine 



same species, 

 is sought after 

 makes good decking. 



by 



It may prove to 

 guti (Cat&phyllum sp.) 



timber 



No. 239, , 



canoe builders, as 



It I 



l* 



a 



its 

 large handsome 



tree, wi 



ith 



a 



grey, heavily ridged bark. Curiously 



to be made of string twisted from the bast of this 



I ree. 



Here and there on these foothills pure stands oi tall. 

 lender palm trees clothe the slopes in close formation, 

 and are very beautiful and unexpected. 



