42 



The bird life in the mossy forest is certainly small; 

 yet, even there, Ave found the mounds of the scrub hen 

 and the circuses of the bower-bird; and one day, when 

 the clouds did not conn 1 down till 12 noon, I saw quite 

 a number of little birds darting about among the under- 

 growth of shrubs. It was that day that I was able to 

 record drought conditions in the mossy forests. Every- 

 thing was perfectly dry — the mosses cloaking the stems 

 came off dry and brittle, and dust flowed out, 

 the dead branches of trees were dry enough 

 to burn at the first attempt when we lit the 

 fire to boil the luncheon tea, and the whole forest 

 gave one the appearance 



rain for some time. It is quite possible that such 

 dry periods, instead of lasting one night and a morning, 

 last twe or three days, in which case the whole forest 

 would become most inflammable. This is, to my mind, 

 the only explanation for the comparatively large areas 

 of burnt mossy forest. The normal condition of the 

 mossy forests is to 'be enveloped in cloud, and to be, in 

 consequence, saturated with moisture, but there are 

 evidently times when periods of drought occur. The 

 mossy forests in all probability receive actually less 

 rain than the foothill and the mid-mountain forests. 



of having received 



no 



Rati 



ler a curious thing, yet one that has been 

 recorded elsewhere in the tropical mountains, is the 

 presence of xerophytic epiphytes growing cheek-by- 

 jowl, as it were, with mosses ami filmy ferns on the 

 trunks of the trees in this type of forest. The xero- 

 phytes appear to crowd to the upper branches, which 

 point to a higher evaporation in these than at the base 

 of the trunks. Until meteorological data are available, 

 in particular temperature and rainfall, and humidity, 

 it is not possible to put forward any general explana- 



mossj 



tion of the dwarfing of tree growth in the 

 forests. 



Alpine Grasslands. W 



As a rule, in the mountains of the tropics, when one 

 has passed the dwarfed mossy forest of the cloud belt, 

 one reaches a xerophillous belt of shrubs; then alpine 

 grassland prevails." How far Schimper's generaliza- 

 tion is true for the high mountains of Papua, I am 

 unable to say from my own observation, for the summit 

 of Mount Obree, 10,240 feet, is the highest point I 

 reached in the main range. From what has been 



written by Sir William MaeGregor, it appears to be 

 more or less applicable. When the ascent of Mount 

 Victoria was made, and when, later, the Wharton 

 Kange was traversed, Sir William made a very fine 

 collection of botanic material, which was subsequently 

 examined by Baron F. v. Miiller, and by Kew. The 

 results w r ere published in the annual reports of New 

 Guinea between 1889 and 1894. Sir William Mac- 

 Gregor's observations about the flora are of such par- 

 ticular interest that I have made the following extracts 

 from his dispatches: — W 



"About 9 a.m. next day we crossed the Vanapa 

 for the last time on the outward journey. The 

 altitude of this crossing was 10,1)50 feet, the tem- 

 perature 59 degrees. It is even there a fine, 

 . mountain stream, about 5 yards broad, with a 

 very rocky bed. On crossing, we began the ascent 

 of the central ridge of the Owen Stanley range. 

 At this point there are several large spaces on the 

 face of the mountain, where grass grows freely, but 

 on which, there are no trees whatever. As wild 

 dogs were howling in the vicinity, some of our 

 people expected to find natives at these clearings, 

 but I could see no trace whatever of human pre- 

 sence except our own, either past or present. Mr. 



Belford, when in advance of the three men, who 

 were carrying all our food, set fire to the grass as 

 a signal to those behind, who had lingered about 

 the river, and must have been fully half-a-mile 

 from us. To my great alarm, the fire in a few 

 minutes covered scores of acres, and swept like a 

 tornado in a straight course towards the river, 

 whence our men were coming. I feared they 

 should have to throw away their packs and run for 

 their lives, but very fortunately there was a wet 

 strip along the middle of this great grassy patch 

 which did not burn, and along this they soon 

 appeared, greatly to my relief. The surrounding 

 forest growth, although it looked very dry, did not 

 burn. Early in the afternoon, we reached the top 

 of the great ridge at the point named Winter 

 Height, which has an altitude of 11,882 feet. At 

 about 5 p.m. we camped, after having w r alked about 

 5 miles, on the loAvest part of the great central 

 ridge, at a point where the top of a glen on the 

 south side meets the top of the glen on the north 

 side, forming the lowest part of the central por- 

 tion of the Owen Stanley range, to which has been 

 given the name of Dickson Pass. Its height is 

 10,884 feet, and it divides Mount Douglas from 



Winter Heights. 



42. In our camp at Dickson Pass the morning 

 temperature before sunrise was 44 degrees, and at 

 8 a.m. it had risen to 55 degrees. The forest here 

 is mainly composed of cypress. We had water 

 near. We passed over the top of Mount Douglas, 

 11,796 feet, and had an opportunity of picking 

 strawberries there. They were not of large size, 

 excellent in flavour, but not quite ripe. At 5 p.m., 

 we pitched camp, after a march of about 5 to 6 

 miles, some four hours' march from the top of 

 Mount Victoria, the name I have given to the 

 highest crest of the Great Owen Stanley range. 

 Soon after w r e had camped, there arrived two 

 Polynesians — George and Caesar Lifu — and four 

 Papuans, sent by Mr. Cameron to bring us sup- 

 plies. They had brought rice and flour, which 

 we could manage without, but of meat, of which 

 we had practically none, they did not bring an 

 ounce. Indeed, it w r as clear that their enthusiasm 

 to get to the top of the " Great Mountain " was 

 greater than their consideration for us, for even 

 the rice and flour they had left on the way, and 

 now they joined us with empty hands and empty 



(a) Srhimper, A. F. Plant (ieo^raphy, p. 721. See pp. 65, 60 in New Guinea 



section. 



(f>) Annual Report, British New Guinea, 1888-1>^', pp. 4:5—44. 



stomachs, and we had to share our scanty stock 



with them. They did not, however, return so 



light, as geological and botanical specimens had to 

 he transported. 



43. At about 11 a.m., of the 11th June, I 

 reached the top of the north-west peak of Mount 

 Victoria, and at once set to work to collect geo- 

 graphical data, and botanical and other specimens. 

 I do not feel competent to pronounce on the 

 geological formation of Mount Victoria. The 

 specimens will be duly examined by competent 

 authorities hereaf ter, but it may be mentioned that 

 a few hundred feet from the top of the highest 

 crest, I saw the largest vein of quartz I have seen 

 in the possession, about 15 inches thick. There 

 are no trees on this mountain within 1,500 feet of 

 the top, and but few bushes grow within 1,000 

 feet of the summit. The flora is disappointing 

 except as regards grasses, which were 

 far beyond my expectations. There are probably 

 few species or varieties of flowers or grasses of 

 which we have not brought away examples, but die 



total will, it is to be feared, be surprisingly small. 



There are several varieties of dairies, buttercups, 



* 



numerous, 



