36 



looks clown over mile upon mile, stretching out to the Junghuhnii stands at 3,000 feet, but the best developed 



coastline far in the distance, there is nothing but hill 

 upon hill — -broken range on broken range. Now and 

 then a big valley, like that of the upper Kemp Welch, 

 gives some idea of order. A ribbon of turbulent broken 

 water, stretching out into the distance, seems to offer 

 some chance of a road, but even that is soon lost in 



trees stood at between 5,500 and 7,000 feet. I even 

 found specimens at 8,000 feet, but they were poor 

 in quality and festooned with moss. The timber is 

 hard and dense, and not quite as heavy as water. Like 

 all oaks, it is fissile on the quarter. It should be suit- 

 able for heavy constructional work, as it has every 



another medley of wave-like hills. Turn your back on appearance of being a sound strong wood, 

 this very beautiful picture of the foothills and you face 



the splendour of the mountains. In the early morning, 

 before the clouds have rolled down on them, they ap- 

 pear to stand right over you; it seems but a short way to 

 the divide/ 6,000 feet above. All is a perfect even carpet 



of dark green, except where 4 here and there a water- 

 fall cute a sharp white line, or a limestone rock exposure 

 stars a slope. For 2,000 feet up grow the forests that 

 I have termed " mid-mountain/' and these forests are, 

 so far as my investigations go, the highest quality 

 forests of Papua. Particularly is this the case with 



the belt at the head of the Mimai. Long before you 



have reached the highest point of the last savannah 

 forest you can see the big hoop pines standing out 

 clear on every ridge and spur that offers you a sky line. 



Quercus spicata and Q. lamponya bear very conspicu- 

 ous fruit, the cupule of which is, on an average, 1\ 

 inch across, and the nut 1 inch high and hemispherical. 

 They differ from the small acorned species in the colour 

 of the wood, which is a deeper brown at heart, and in 



the fact that, when you cut into it, the cambium layer 



turns a mauve colour on exposure to the air. The 

 timber would prove of about the same value as the 

 small acorned species. It is a 

 heavier than water. They also are to be found at much 

 lower altitudes in the foothill forests, but are at their 

 best at 6,000 feet. 



The undergrowth of the oak forests while not absent, 

 as in the stands of Quercus Junghuhnii, is much sparser 

 than in the mixed foothill forests. Already at this ele- 



little harder, and is 



Later, as you get nearer the lower limits of the belt, vation the mosses, lichens, and liverworts begin to be 

 you pass a few stray ones that have established them- more prevalent, and the Elatostema, of which there are 



numerous species, are beginning to make soil cover. 

 The general impression gathered is of a rather tem- 

 perate-climate type of forest, yet this is not really 



selves in the gully or foothill forests, and the identity 

 of the species is immediately made certain. It is the 

 Queensland hoop pine, Australia's premier soft wood, 



that is known scientifically as Arcmcaria Cwnmwghamii, quite a correct statement, for the forest remains tem- 



While this is not the commonest tree of the mid-moun- perate looking only so long as you do not look up to 



tain belt — indeed, there are very large areas where it is the branches. These are covered with epiphytes and 

 either unrepresented or, at any rate, rare — it is so 



splendid a tree, and so dominates the whole forest "old 

 growth around, that it makes a more lasting impression 

 on the; mind of the traveller than the other and more 



mosses, while, for the first time, . one notices that 



man's beard" lichen hangs from the" topmost 

 branches. What then gives the forest this temperate 

 appearance ? It is, I think, the small number of 



numerous conifers, oaks, and other species. One's first species, the almost entire lack of big-stemmed creepers, 

 impression of the mid-mountain forests, as seen from the great diminution of the under storeys, the" absence 

 the outside, above the Mimai, and its confluents, is of of prop roots, and, finally, the general mossiness of the 



a forest of moderate height-growth — about 100 feet 



country. Perhaps I should add that, as a rule, after 



with every spur and ridge lined with very much taller 10 o'clock, there is a cold Scotch mist blowing through 

 hoop pines standing sentinel as it were over the inter- the forest, which is intemperate enough for any tem- 

 vening mixed forest. With a binocular it is possible perate climate. 



Let us examine the mixture of species. Surveys were 

 carried out on several of the slopes, and. these were 

 pushed, in one case, up to the main divide, an altitude 

 of 9,000 feet. In another, the traverse was stopped at 

 8,500 feet, as the forest conditions had become very 



to pick out odd hoop pines on the slopes, but for the 



most part they are confined to the ridges, and this, 

 of course, makes them all the more strikingly con- 

 spicuous. It is little wonder that travellers, from the 

 earliest times of Papua, have brought back tales of 



forests — tall pines or firs as they were perhaps more degenerated, and the growth consisted purely of very 

 often called — growing high up on the lonely mountains miserable moss-covered, prop-rooted, scrubby trees. 



far inland. Climbing up from the foothill forests, one 

 enters the mid-mountain belt. The transition is 



gradual. At first one meets some oaks; there is no 



doubt about their being oaks, for the ground is covered 



The summary of these traverses will be found in Tables 

 XXIV., XXV., and XXVI. All three show a very 

 marked contrast to the tables I have given up to now. 

 The number of species is much reduced, the total 



with acorns; and one's attention is, as a rule, drawn volume, and the volume per acre is pleasantly heavy, 



to this, owing to the way the soil has been rooted up 

 by wild pig. The wild pig is as fond of his acorn as is 



and the number of useful species is large, compared 

 to any but the Hydrographer and the Borua forests, 

 his domesticated brother in Europe, where at one lime Examining them one by one: — Table XXIV. covers the 

 the value of .a forest was estimated, not according to long ridge that runs from Laruni village to the top of 

 the number of cubic feet of oak beams, boards, and Mount Obree. Incidentally I may add that this is an 



easy, short, and, in every way, excellent way of getting 

 to the top of Mount Obree. It can be done without 



scantling it could yield, but the number of pigs it 

 would feed; pannage w r as more valuable in those days 



than timber, and more valuable than grazing. There severe exertion in six hours. The actual rise in eleva- 

 are three oaks, and these caused me some trouble, tion is from 4,800 feet to 10,200 feet, or 5,400 feet, 



owing to the difficulty of obtaining botanical material, 



but the slope is nowhere difficult. 



From Laruni village to the 40-chain peg the forest 

 WM poor. Even the oaks were of no size. It will be 

 noticed that I have put the two oaks on one line- 



but their identify has now been determined specifically. 

 They are represented in the herbarium and museum 



by Nos. 117, 4ls and -125. These three oaks are Quercus 



pseud o-mol ticca. Quercus htmponga, and Quercus the reason being that* they were so mixed that it w 



spicata. Q. pseudo-molucca bears a small acorn about not possible to separate 418 from 425. 

 the size of that of the European tree. It grows to a From the 40-chain peg to 8,120 feet which was 283 



very large tree. I measured one 15 feet ill girth chains from Laruni, the main mid-mountain belt 



as 



The average, however 



^ « 



and 80 feet to the first limb. 



would be 8 feet in girth and (JO feet of bole. Its 



overall height is about 100 feet, I found it at 



occurred. The slope was so gentle m places as to he 

 almost flat, and here there was some depth of -oil, 

 and larere mixture of species. These flatter portions 



much lower elevations, right down to the Quercus were separated by steeper slopes where the main species 



