43 





■ forget-me-nots, heaths, &c. There are very few 

 birds, the most noteworthy being' the lark, only oik* 

 specimen of which was obtained by my private 

 collector, Joe Fiji; but to my great disappoint- 

 ment, I learned the day after we had left the 

 mountain that Caesar, Lifu, and Joe had eaten 



was met with between 



7,000 and 8,000 feet. 



a 



At 



11,000 feet the greater part of the forest consists of 

 cypress trees with a few araucarias, and the under- 

 growth becomes thin. Many trees from about 10,000 

 to 12,000 feet are 3 feet or more ill diameter, and from 

 50 to 150 feet high. They are not smothered in moss 



two of my three new birds obtained on the nioiin- above 10,000 feet to anything like the same degree as 

 tain, and that one of tlie two was the lark. those that grow from 6,000 to 10,000 feet. A little 



grass begins to be met with in small patches at 11,000 

 feet. A grass patch at about 10,800 feet was white 

 with frost at 8 a.m. 77 



44. We were camped two nights on Mount Vic- 

 toria, the 11 tli and 12th June, at an altitude of 

 12,452 feet, that is about 670 feet from the top 

 of the highest peaks, and we therefore can speak 

 of its climate with some degree of authority. The 

 temperature rose '•»! the middle of the day on the William writes: 



In a general description of the top of Mount 

 Scratchley and the surrounding mountains, Sir 



tops of the peaks when the sun shone straight on 

 them, to 70 degrees. In the morning the grass was 

 all quite white with frost before the rays of the 

 sun reached it. Icicles were brought into camp 

 the afternoon of the day we got to the top; and 

 next day I saw one, the largest I observed, more 

 than an inch in diameter, and 7 or 8 inches long. 

 During the day, from about 10 a.m. till 4 p.m., 



the temperature in the shade was between 50 



The sky was blue and 



degrees and 60 degrees. 



wind was blowing 



cloudless, except when the 

 strong from the south-east, when there was some 

 haze. At night, there was no trace of cloud to be 

 seen, except those that lay like lead in the great 

 valleys below, and the stars shone out as brilliantly 

 as on a frosty winter's night in the British Isles. 

 From the dryness of all the plants and trees on the 

 Owen Stanley range, it was apparent there had 

 been no rain for several weeks, and the whole 

 range did not show a single cataract or waterfall 

 of any kind, nor even was there the murmuring of 

 a mountain stream to break the deep oppressive 

 silence that reigned on this great lone mountain. 

 Mount Victoria is, during this season at least, em- 

 ' ' piratically a dry mountain, and the same may be 

 said of all the other great mountains of the Owen 

 Stanley range traversed by us; but yet, strange to 

 say, water oozes from some of the gigantic rocks 

 on the crest of Mount Victoria, and only 200 feet 

 or 300 feet from the top of the south-east peak, I 

 caught a small frog which was floating benumbed 

 with cold in a little pool of water, where there 

 was sufficient to enable one to sav it was " 

 ning." We suffered much from the cold, as we 

 had not sufficient clothing to protect us, so that, 

 in spite of fires, a good deal of discomfort had to 

 be endured. It seemed also to sharpen the appe- 

 tites of a party already not strangers to hunger." 



The results of Mr. Hemsley's determinations of the 

 botanical material that was gathered at these high 

 altitudes will be found in the annual report of that 



year. (a) 



Grasslands were met with by Sir William between 



10,000 and 11,000 feet. The forest at Dickson Pass, 

 10,884 feet, was "mainly comprised of cypress "(Libo- 

 cedrus papuana). The upper limit of tree life would 

 seem to be about 11,000 feet, when Sehimper's alpine 

 grassland conditions take the place of the dwarfed 

 forest cut up by grass patches. The dryness of the 

 climate is evidently great at these altitudes — at any rate 



weird-looking forest. 



run- 



" On the top of Mount Scratchley, there is pro- 

 bably an area of not less than two score square 

 miles above 10,500 feet, the greater part of which 

 is covered by grass, bare rocks, and clumps of trees 

 and shrubs. There are at least three small lakes 

 on the top, the largest having an area of probably 

 15 to 20 acres. The appearance of the mountain 



top from our first camp was most picturesque. 



Sharp ridges of a yellowish brown, sometimes so 

 large as to become small hills, covered the broken 

 ground in all directions. The hills and ridges 

 bristled with rugged, sharp, grey rocks on which 

 were often little heaps of broken up white quartz. 

 Between rocks and ridges, and in some of the inter- 

 vening valleys, there were clumps of a very strange 



This consisted almost en- 

 tirely of cypress trees of a peculiar form. The top 

 of each tree is a broad crown, quite fiat, and even 

 on the upper surface, light green in colour, with 

 a tinge of yellow, while the stems, covered by 

 lichens, are of a hoary grey. The branches are 

 gnarled, and the stems short in proportion to the 



width of the crown. These trees do not grow 

 close together, but rise on the sloping ground with 

 the regularity of steps on a staircase. They are 

 generally protected from the wind, and not a leaf 

 seems to move on them, so that the whole view 

 suggests irresistibly the idea of a petrified land- 

 scape. The dantesque appearance is further in- 

 creased by a cycas with a short, thick, black stem, 

 and a small crown of leaves, which generally grows 

 in the grass in irregular rows at the edge of the 

 cypress wood, and looks like a line of sentries 

 posted round it. 



Altogether, on the tops of the Owen Stanley 

 range of Mount Scratchley, of the Wharton chain, 

 and of Mount Albert Edward, there cannot be less 

 than, say, 100 square miles of this grassy country. 

 There is probably considerably more." 



* 



Tjie Mangeove Forests. 



These forests occur 



along 



tin 1 sea coast wherever 



there is an inlet or hay sufficiently sheltered to permit 

 tin 1 \vi'(^ to grow, and into which a river flows, deposit- 



A river with little fall i- the most favorable 



mg silt. 



to the formation of mangrove swamps, for delta condi- 

 tions are set up — the fresh water meeting the Hood tide 



daily, and depositing its bars of silt. These become 

 large flats, covered at high tide, and exposed at low 

 water. Here is the home of the mangroves and their 



. • .- V ^. vnnr ftiV Willi a™ faund things gr^at associate — the Nipa palm. These are all trees 



at certain times ot the year, oil William ionnci inmgs © r r . 



i-rc j. i u nTT1 - if^j * h*> mnimtniii in FUtv- wlt}l V(il ' v special aids to growth in the extraordinary 



very different when he re-visited tlie mountain in oep * i © j 



fcember, 1889, for he writes, "Nothing could be done in 



the fog and rain that lasted all day.*W The ascent this 

 time had been made from the Mambare in the north- 

 west, and Mount Scratchley had been climbed. This 

 mountain lies to the north-west of Mount Victoria, 



and rises to a height of 12,500 feet Trailing bamboo 



(a) Annual Roport. British tfew Guinea, 18^ W>S, pp. 47 to 



(b) Annual Import, British Sevr Guinea, 1896 189/, p. Alii. 



F.12389.— 4 



50 



situation tbey are found in, and aids, too, to propaga- 

 tion and broadcasting of seed. Wherever a new flat is 

 formed, the seeds transplanted by the tide or the 



current, plant themselves, and the forest advances con- 

 tinually. On the upper limits of the mangrove forest, 

 the Land is slowly draining itself, and the mangrove is 



dying out; its reclamation work has been ae<< mplished. 



1 Jut tlie conversion from swamp to dry land is very 



