31 



timber growth. The surrounding country is very 

 broken. To the south is a succession of small hills, all 

 of recent geological formation — sandstones and mud- 

 stones. To the north rise range upon range of big 

 mountains. After passing these islands we reached a 

 stretch of the river 400 yards wide, 3 fathoms deep, 

 and running 4.8 miles per hour, bearing 276 deg. It 

 appeared to come from between two high ranges, which 

 have a N.W. to S.E. trend. 



This river, 



The Vailala River. 

 though considerably smaller 



than the 



Purari, carries a sufficient volume of water to be easily 

 navigable by the Kismet to a point above the Ivori 

 junction. Beyond there it becomes very snaggy, and 

 as the reversing gear of the launch had become unser- 

 viceable, I decided to go no higher. Starting from 

 this highest point, surveys were made of the timber on 

 each bank, six camps in all being made for this purpose. 

 Having examined the islands on the way back, and A summary of all data obtained will be found in Tables 

 having been prevented from examining the surrounding XXI T. and XXITT. The total area of ihe strips covered 

 country as well as I should have liked, owing to the hos- 180 acres, and the traverses were cut parallel, and at 



It will be seen altogether 

 there were 478 trees, with a volume of 65,434, which 

 worked out at 383 cubic feet per acre, and 135 cubic 

 feet per tree. Examined camp by camp and traverse 



light angles to the river. 



tility of the natives, we retraced our way to Ua. I made 



the farthest island of the group (Dure-a Xamaina), 

 103 miles above Ua. I noticed along the course of the 

 Purari here and there a number of Oamarina nodijlora, 



which rather surprised me, as I considered this to be a by traverse, it was found that the good timber was all 



hill species of the savannah forests. Again, the great dose on to the river, and the traverses cut at right 



leafed Dammaropsis Kingiana was a common tree over- angles to the course all carried very inferior trees. The 

 hanging the water. Up to then I had considered this 



fig-like tree to be purely a mountain torrent species, 

 growing at 4-6,000 feet. The common trees of the 

 Purari are an Alblzzia, P t croc j/mbi urn, and Pomctia. 



A small palm, with delicate fronds and a little red 



fruit in a crowded weeping panicle, fringes the banks 

 in many places. 



From the point of view of floating timber, the Purari 

 leaves nothing to be desired. There is no impediment 

 on its course, and a log released at the Dure-a Islands 

 would reach the head of the delta in eighteen hours. 

 The river carries so large a volume of water, and at the 

 same time is subject to such violent rises, due to night 

 rains in its upper waters, that its course is always clear 

 to the delta. Such snags as are deposited occur only at 

 the mouths of tributaries, and only remain there until 

 the main river rises again, and carries them down. It 

 is unfortunate that so fine a means of log transport 

 should be barren of sound timber. 



■ 



Before leaving the delta of the Purari, the courses 

 of the Ivo and Houramu were investigated, but the 

 timber along these waterways was found to be even 

 less plentiful than on the Baroi, so no surveys were 

 made. 



The Upper Era. 



Through the kindness of the Resident Magistrate 

 (Mr. Woodward), who organized and led the patrol, I 

 w T as fortunate enough to visit the head waters of the; 

 Era. The map of this region is quite misleading, for 

 the Era rises in the hills where Hon Creek has its 

 source ; the latter, as I have already shown, falls into 

 the Purari below Chalmers Islands, and the Era into 

 the bay called after it. Our object was to reach the 

 Purari from the head of the Era, which we thought 

 would be somewhere near the source of Poh Creek. 

 Having penetrated some distance through unknown and 

 particularly broken country, consisting of mudstones, 

 shales, sandstones, with here and there a coal seam, 



country either became swampy — this was usually the 



case on the lower readies — or it became hilly, as was the 

 ease higher up. In both cases the quality degenerated, 

 and the number of trees to the acre decreased. Here 

 is an analysis of the data at each camp : 



No. 



of 



(amp. 



1 

 2 



2 

 3 

 3 

 4 

 4 

 5 

 6 



• • 



• • 



* V 



Direction of Traverse. 



• • 



At right angles to river 



Parallel to river 



At right angles to river 



At right angles to river 



Parallel to river 



Parallel to river 



At right angles to river 



Parallel to river 



Parallel to river 



Area 



No. 



Trees 



Included 



of 



to the 



in Strip. 

 13 



Trees. 



Acre. 



36 



' 2*7 



15 



74 



. 4M> 



10 



17 



. VI 



32 



42 



1-3 



20 



72 



' 3*6 



16 



57 



• 3*6 



25 



40 



, !"♦* 



S3 



73 



2-2 



16 



74 



* 4'2 



Remarks. 



Hilly country 

 Alluvial flat 



Hilly country 

 Flat, wet country 

 Alluvial flat 

 Alluvial flat 

 Swampy land 

 Alluvial Hat 

 Alluvial flat 



Turning to the main Tables XXII. and XXIII., we 

 see that there were five species that carried a volume 

 of over i\ per cent., and that together these accounted 

 for 31 per cent, of the total volume, and .36 per cent, 

 of the stocking. No. 5, okamu, is well in front again 

 when the number of trees is considered, though, owing 

 to the buttressed stem and relatively small girth, the 

 volume is less than 5 per cent. Although only 26 ilimo 

 were encountered, these accounted for nearly 11 per 

 cent, of the total volume. I did not find them in close, 

 pure stands, such as I described on the Venapa, but 

 they were scattered among the mixed rain forest. No. 

 278, haikaka, is among the predominant trees, and the 

 soft wood, No. 13, or No. 279, sihu. No. 300 is com- 

 mon as trees go in Papua, but its volume per tree is 

 low. Just below the 4i per cent, mark comes our oil 

 tree, No. 304, auro, with 24 trees and 4.33 per cent, of 

 the volume, and 4.94 per cent. o'f the stocking. 



While a certain number of species recorded on thw 

 Baroi were not met with on the Vailala, a number of 

 new trees were encountered. 



No. 317, ai-i-hi 



, __....., t i which, at the time 



we had the misfortune to lose our guide, who deserted magg of mAUYe flowers. 



us, and finally we returned by means of rafts down the struct i ona i type. 



(Eiif/crna sp.) is a handsome tree, 

 I saw it. i.e.. December 



saw it. i.e., UecemDer, was a 

 The wood is of a hard eon- 



Era though at first we were ignorant that it was the 

 same river we had started to ascend a fortnight pre- 

 viously. The whole of the country 1 ravelled over, which 

 mav be taken as the basin of the Era, carries no timber 



No. 318, opopera ( K i ruj 1 adendron sp.) ? or dika, yields 

 a soft yellow timber that exudes a greenish gum. 

 No. 319, kirabu, (Cinvlmamum sp.), yields a hard 



lilt? UdOlll ui uir .ljai*, ^c^ix^ «*v m».~ v ~ 9 



In the lower reaches of the river a few wood With a rather pretty grain. 



of importance. 



cedar were met with, but nowhere was there a forest 



of millable volume in this dreadfully broken country. 



The Kikori Etver. 



The Kikori River carries a little limber at its lower 

 end, just above the salt water, but this soon peters out 

 as the limestone formation is reached. From what Mr. 

 Stani forth Smith has told me of the country between 



X o . 



'tl 1 



* 



smell like Orotea. 



baiah, yields a hard, sound wood, with a 



N 



o. 



322, horopo, yields a soft brown wood, with a 

 slight cedar fragrance. It is used for canoes. 



Xo. 323, bainbu, (IlUpt sp.), a pate brown, firm wood. 



No. 324, auakou, yields a nicely grained cabinet wood 

 of light weight. 



Ko. 3^5, kuakeia (Sideroxylon sp.), yields a very 



nianilOITIl OiiiJia n<*» lwu iin- vi ■*— ~ ~~ ./ in i ,i i i 



the Kikori and the Strickland, which is all limestone, uniform yellow-brown, rather hard wood 



there is no likelihood of timber being found in that 

 region. 



No. 

 od 



326, koboharua, yields a useful looking brown 



