29 



taspodon Motleyf) 



our alphabet, might be spelt Dure-Durea. The map wa 



- 1 ■ f S _____ __ „ ra _. __ __- _. _ _. -_, ^_ -. __,. __, - ,-__ ____ -^ .*___ _^, »j- - V *. V *■_- 



the delta. It not only yields a rather hard, straight- plotted some time ago, and needs some correcting, not 



grained, heavy, brown timber, with an oily feel and a 

 vinegar smell, but yields a heavy vegetable oil in corn- 



only in place and river names, but in the position of 

 islands, rapids, &c. While the journey took five -days 



paratively copious quantities. See description in Sec- to do, the actual running time of the launch was only 



tion C, p. 113, also remarks on page 173. 



No. 305, boa, (Antiaris toxicaria), a very light, 

 porous wood, soon attacked by blue fungus. Its bark 

 yields " tapi cloth." 



No. 306 wairo (Canarium Unewtipula), a hardish 

 wood that cuts soft; also badly stained with fungus. 



No. 308, bahia (Dysoxylon sp.), a medium hard 

 wood of a red-brown colour, with a mahogany grain. 

 Should prove a good cabinet wood. I saw some nice 

 beams, 18 inches x 18 inches, cut from this timber. Lying 



41 hours, and coming back to Ua camp, whence we had 

 started, took 11 hours. 



The timber proved of singularly poor class, and so 

 my investigations were negative. This detracted very 

 much from what was otherwise a pleasant excursion. 

 Only those who have footed it through the Papuan 

 jungles can realize the pleasure it is to journey by 

 launch, making inroads here and there on the forests, 

 but returning always to a snug home tied up stem and 

 stern to stout trees on the bank. That the journey 

 was not wholly without discomforts and excitements 



at Upoia, the old camp of the Anglo-Persian Oil (Join- was only to be expected. Details of the voyage and the 

 pany. That company would appear to have preferred guides we took on from the big communal house that 

 this to any wood as a general purpose timber. 



No. 309, buhu, a straight-grained, firm wood; works 



well, and has a satin grain. 



white wood. 



/ 



In addition to the above, I came across a few trees 

 outside the strips: — 



^ Xo. 297, kaki kaki (Garuga sp.), proved to be inden- 

 tical with _\ T o. 20— uri— of the Galley Reach forests. 

 It grows in the delta on quite different country from 

 the foothills of the Veimauri, and attains much greater 

 height and larger diameter. 



No. 298, koraikavivi, proved to be identical with No. 

 88— time that I first found 



Vanapa. 



above Doura, on the 



No. 316, urope (Adenanthera pavonina) yields a 



good, easily-worked and very beautiful cabinet wood. of them, and spent their nights in the forward hold 



stands sentinel at the big bend opposite the river 

 dubbed " Auro " on the map, but called something 

 quite different by the Jude Namainas who inhabit thai 

 patch of the Purari, and the difficulties when we 

 reached the Durea Namainas, have been left with the 

 Resident Magistrate at Kikori (Mr. Woodward), where 

 they may be of some use. Suffice it to say here that 

 the natives up to the big bend already mentioned are 

 kind and hospitable, if a little timid. They are called 

 Ku-ku-kus by the coastal people, but call themselves 

 Jude Namainas. Above the big bend there is a stretch 

 of banks utterly ungardened, and this continues up to 

 the group of islands already mentioned, where the 



Durea Namainas live. These people have communal 

 houses on the islands, as well as garden houses, are 

 cannibals, and are feared by the Jude Namainas. The 

 guides we took from the big bend went in great fear 



I took the opportunity, while I had a launch at my 

 disposal, to collect material of the common palms. 

 Palm material is so bulky that it is difficult, in a 

 country like Papua, when carriers are required for the tio11 - 



of the Kismet, which was little more than would hold 

 the anchor chain, and when the hatch wag down 



they saw to that — had only the hawse pipe for ventila- 



These Durea Namainas were 



purpose of carrying their own food, to transport it. 



No. 311, dihihu, the tall palm with the small (§-in.) 

 fruit in large panicles. The stem is used for flooring 

 by the natives. 



No. 312, apumehere, a medium palm, with a red, 

 showy fruit. Spears are made from the trunk. 



No. 313, kurabea, a medium palm with globose pink 

 and white fruits 



seeds. 



containing 



decidedly un- 

 friendly, and expressed this by signs, the purport of 

 which was unmistakable. They also showed their con- 

 tempt of us by a gesture which is very old, and yet so 

 telling, that it is used with success by the London 

 street arabs to-day. Passing beyond these islands, wa 

 reached a stretch of river 400 yards wide, 3 fathoms 

 deep, and running 5 miles per hour, and here, through 



three very °dar_> brown ^ a °^ P e * T °l> we were obliged to turn back. This was 



No. 314, aporo, a tall palm with maiden hair cut 

 fronds. It is used for flooring, and the Koiara natives 

 like it for spears. 



No. 315, doporo, a tall palm with a green oval fruit, 

 3 inches x If inches, contaning one seed. A betel sub- 

 stitute, and the split trunks are used for flooring. 



Interesting as the fringe forests of the Baroi River 

 are from a scientific stand-point, they leave a good deal 

 to be desired from a commercial aspect, 

 told that there was likely to be excellent timber up 

 the Purari, above the delta, I decided to pursue my 

 investigations up that river. < a > 



through a caimn 



Having been 



particularly unfortunate, as we were entering more 

 mountainous country, and we might have found some 

 timber of more interest than what had been seen lower 

 down. Also, we cannot have been far from the place 

 where it is said the Purari passes 

 with 2,000-ft. walls. This is interesting, not only from 

 a mere spectacular stand-point, but because I have 

 failed to find any record of any one having visited it, 

 and also it is not without interest to one who has in- 

 herited some little love of Egyptology, for it is called 

 after the sacred cow of Isis, the Ilathor cau<*n.w 



Lest it be thought that the hostile nature of the 

 Dure-a Namainas reflects discredit on the administra- 



Mr. Moates accompanied me, and was of great assist- tion of the Delta Division, I hasten to add that these 



anoe, not only in the continual everyday troubles that 



reconnoitring when 



but 



ID 



landing 



and 



we 



While the Purari is a great, 



arose, 



reached hostile country. 



rapid-flowing river — and here and there the current was 



so fast as to make it necessary to anchor or tie up to 



the bank, and wait for better times — it is for the most 



part free from dangerous rapids and snags. So with 



the launch Kismet, which could just make 5.6 miles 



an hour, a native coxswain, Pipi, and a native engine 

 boy, Maimo, we ascended the Purari to some 6 miles 

 bevond the group of islands, and which is marked on 

 the map on page 75a Biroe village, but which to-day i? 

 known by a sound which, as far as I can render it in 



(a) A rouuli sketch of the course, together with notes, bearings latitudes, 



rates of current, notes of prominent features, and other details, lias been left 

 With the Official Secretary (Mr. Leonard Murray). 



people are only a handful, that few launches can go 

 up the Purari, and none such is possessed by the 

 Resident Magistrate of the Division. Also, to correct 

 anv wrong impression as to these people's nature, I 

 would point out that we were the third white party to 

 visit them, and that they have really never been visited 



in the sense understood by magistrates, viz., with a 

 view to establishing friendly relations. Indeed, the 

 last party which visited them had a queer method of 

 pacifying them, for they fired a volley over their heads. 

 That was in 1912. < a ). In the curcumstances, is it anv 

 wonder that we were received with contumely, and 

 made the object of the oldest derisive gesture in the 

 world ? 



(a) Annual Repor* Papua, 191_, p. 186. 



