39 



loaves in the mid-mountain bolt is so marked that liim his rather ugly note since it draws one's attention 

 cue is quite surprised when a fairly large leafed, or 

 for that matter, a compound loafed tree is met with. 



I cannot say that this mid-mountain belt has the ap- 



forost of a temperate climate when 



of 



to his presence. I saj 



rather a drab, dowdy person 



and a rat — all marsupial — occur here, and 



" his " advisedly, for his wife is 



Magani and cus-cus, 



in the 



pearance 01 a 

 looked at as a whole. 



branches of Xo. 384 (Eugenia sp.) we caught a nine 

 Patches of it certainly remind feet six inch python alive. It had a nicely reticulated 

 me of forests in the Jura and Vosges, but what it is cfckin, had recently eaten a cus-cus, and was as much 

 most like, to my mind, is the mist-belt forest that oc- appreciated by the Larunf villagers as it was feared by 

 cnra in the Drakensburg Mountains in South Africa, the boys we had brought up with us. The country was 



not high enough for wild dog, which Sir William 

 McGregor records at 11,000 feet. 



The next survey was made of the forest on the some- 

 what isolated peak lying to the north of Laruni village, 



at elevations of 6-7,000 feet. The similarity is really 

 quite vague, for the South African type carries none 

 of the tropical monocotyledons, which form an im- 

 portant part of the Papuan cloud-belt forests. What 



resemblance there is, is due to the mosses, lichen, liver- which is called Ubua. This peak divides the Mimai 

 worts, ferns and soil cover. The Papuan forest appears from the Vi confluents. It rises somewhat abruptly 

 to be rather a lifeless one, but this I think is due more from the Mimai-Vi junction, and forms a razor-backed 



ridge, dropping down to join the amphitheatre of 

 spurs that make the basin of the Mimai headwaters. 



to the absence of one or two noisy birds than to th 

 absence of all bird life. The doves, pigeons and horn- 



bills were left 2,000 feet below, and that noisiest of Ob the Vi slope it is very abrupt indeed, and, in places, 

 noisy birds — the white cockatoo — does not come up precipitous. Here, forest ceases except for an isolated 

 higher than the foothills. There are numbers of birds hoop pine or two, and grass takes its place. On the 



but they are quiet ones 



darting 



in and out of the lower elevations, also towards the junction of the two 



greenery and moss. Some of the bigger ones are met torrents, the slope is covered with grass or Eucalyptus 

 with, too; the cassowary's spoor is quite plain in places, savannah patches. This is all foothill country, and 

 and right up above the cloud-belt the big-footed scrub it is easy from Laruni to pick up the change to mid- 

 hen makes her mountain of a nest. So fermentation mountain forest, which is rather well defined. 



data collected is given in Tabic 



DiacK, dried, nam iungus, ana in tne cent- 

 pole-like erection, is met with everywhere'. 



of leaf mould is quite sufficient even here, where the 

 thermometer drops below 50, to hatch out eggs. The 

 most written about playground — that of the bower bird 

 is quite common. The little circus rimmed in with 

 black, dried, hard fungus, and in the centre, the may- 



The only 

 bird call that could be called loud, that I have heard 

 in the mid-mountain forests, is that of the blue Bird 

 of Paradise, and even he is quite subdued compared into two parts, 

 to his noisy brethren at lower elevations. This bird's and consists of 

 plumage is the most beautiful blue, and one forgives and 425, 0. spicata, are represented, and number 



TABLE XXV. 



Survey of the Forests on Ubua Mountains, near Laruni, Central Divi-ion. 



The summit of Ubua is only 6,400 foot, so it does 

 not rise above the mid-mountain belt, and the change 

 to mossy forests is not observable. A summary of the 



It will be seen 

 that in the 18 acres covered by my strip, there were three 



conifers, two oaks, and eleven unknown broad-leafed 



species. The traverse was started at 5,200 feet and 



ended at the top. Tbe 1,200 feet rise divides itself 



The first runs from 5,200 to 5,<S00 



Q 





Herbarium 

 Number. 



Local Name 



418 

 425 

 376 



269 

 Unknowns 



Scientific Name 



* • 



» • 



Yau 



Quercus lawponga 

 Quercus spicata 

 Ara ucaria c u n n Ingham ii 

 Podocarjius cupressina . . 



Number 



of 



Trees. 



Cubic Contents. 



Total cf. 



32 



Total 



43 



3 



11 



89 



1,871 



6,270 



484 



1,408 



Per Acre 

 C.f. 



Per Tree 

 Cf. 



104 



348 



27 

 78 



10,033 



557 



58 



146 

 161 

 128 



Percentages of 



To 



To 



Total 



Total 



Cubic 



Number 



Contents 



Tins. 



iVr Cent. 



Per Cent. 



Acres per 

 Tree. 



18-6 



62-5 



4-8 

 14-1 



112 



100- 



35-9 



48-4 



3-3 



12-4 



100- 



• 





together 32 trees and eleven unknown broadleafed absent. Ubua is not high enough for these species, 



species. There are numerous seedlings and sapling The steep, precipitous slopes down to the Vi, cuts the 



hoop pines and Podocarpus cupressina, but no big forest in half, and one finds grass lands up to the edge 



conifers. From 5,200 feet to the top, 6,400 feet, of the crest. Here were found some interest ing shrubby 



the position is reversed: the stand of conifers is trees, species that thrive on the vd<rv of high forests, 



practically pure so far as the top story is concerned, No. 371 — Schuurmasia Hrnningsii — a small tree, was 



and the oaks make up but a light second story, and last found on the edge of forest and steep grass binds 



there are no unknowns of mill log size. In short, it is in the IFydn>grapher's foothills at an altitude of about 



pine country proper. Going back to Table XXV. the 500 feet. Xow we find it growing at 6,000 feet where 



89 trees covered 10,033 cubic feet timber, which works the coniferous belt is cut by a grassed precipice. Xo. 



out as 557 cubic feet per acre, and 112 cubic feet per 37la, a shrubby Scaevola, is common here; 

 tree. Of these, Hoop pine accounted for 6,270 cubic 

 feet and 348 cubic feet per tree or 62.5 per cent, of 

 the volume, and 48.4 per cent, of the stocking. If the 

 survey had been made only in the upper part of the 



also 



a 



small white flowing Iducuna. 



In the grass I found 



tti " • r * oaa .? ii *i « +An n nA tm oli + « 1 n 1 1 o- - v survey was a iso mane 01 rne runner up u 



Ubua, viz.: from i>,800 feet to the top, and light along . y i 



. L ' 1 . t ,\ -. MM oa „- ° f Tt Anrfc Alain Divide and to the north-west of Alt. Obree. to 



it, the forest would have shown over \n) pel cent. Hoop. p ,, , ^ ^. 



XI LCI !L^ L-™*<™J l.lnw r>800 feet redneed ™<* th,s ' ™ followed the Mnnni up some way, and 



the pretty blue herb IVhalenhergia gracilis, and a red 

 flowering ground orchid was conspicuous. 



A survey was also made of the timber up to the 



To 



The other species encountered below 5,800 feet reduced 

 the average considerably. It will be at once remarked 

 that celery-topped pine and Liboredrus papuana are 



crossing 



then 



steep to carry 



it, ascended a 



very 



steep slope* — too 



high timber — and, making a fairly well 



