56 



Survey of a Sample Area of 14 acres at Korixdal, 



New Britain. 



1"* ¥ 



Berba- 



• 



X o . of 



Cubic Contents. 



Percentage 



Trees 



Species. 



num. 

 No. 



lrees. 



Total. 



Per 

 Tree. 



Per 



Acre. 



Trees. 



Cub 



feet . 



98.6 

 0.3 



0.!l 



0.1 

 0.1 



to 



Acre. 



Euc. Nana /li- 

 ana 



Pometiapinn- 

 ata 



Dractomelum 



i/uuiiferum 



Celt is sp. 

 Vitex cofassus 



797 



586 



1 

 603 

 590 



« • 



103 



5 



10 

 1 

 1 



185,40s 



64(> 



1,716 

 202 

 210 



1,800 

 129 



171 



202 

 210 



13,243 



• 



46 



122 

 14 

 15 



85.8 

 4.2 

 8.3 



.85 



7-5 

 0.3 



0.7 



0-07 

 0.07 



Total 



120 



188,182 













- 



species. Nowhere, however favorable the conditions, 

 did the belt extend further than 5 chains from running; 

 water, and for the most part the width was barely 2 

 chains. It is a forest formation, similar in many 

 respects to the Octomeles riverine forests. It is a more 

 valuable forest, for its timber is greatly in demand in 

 New Guinea. So much so that up to date the demand 

 has not been filled, while Octomeles timber is regarded 

 as a second-rate wood in the island 



Octomeles has advantages over kamarere, for not 

 only w ill it grow in less well-drained soils, but it resists 



fire splendidly. Kamarere, unfortunately, is killed at 



once by a bush fire, and this is the cause of so large 

 an ayea on both the 11 (Miry Reid and Powell being de- 



s. 



It is one of the remarkable sights of New 



stroj v-d. 



Britain to see the forests of dead eucalpyt trees. 



It is more conspicuous on the Henry Reid River than 



It will be seen that, out of 120 trees, 103 are kamereres, fl on ^Powell, but on both the damage caused by a Con- 

 or 85.8 per cent, of the stocking, of the others, our friend f'g™;* 011 w **ch occurred around 1916 is very surpris- 



damoni takes next place with ten trees, then comes the ™* lherC ***** fo ;' csts sll0W > 110t onl ->' that this par- 

 common pometia with five trees, and two other species ti *?** s V™ ie \ of encdypt is very tender to scorching, 



are represented by one tree each. While there is, there- Tl'r T 8 ! f gl T 1*°™ the decortl f ated surface 



fore, a mixture of 14 per cent, of other species, these 0± the trm f s ,' but tlmt the country is subject to very 



seventeen trees have a volume, in all, of 2,774 cubic P ronounce + d ; lr J masons At the time of my visit, it 



feet, compared with 185,408 cubic feet, the volume of a PP cared *<> ^ impossible to burn any vegetation. The 



the kamareres, which therefore amounts to 98.6 of the ™ergrowth ™ quite wet, and the brandies were 



total volume of the standing stock. The number of ^PP™* h « a 7 dro P s on *» the ground all the time, yet, 



kamarere trees to the acre varies from one to twelve, at tim f > t ie bought is sufficiently prolonged to dry up, 



but the average, both on the north coast and south coast "°* °W,* e eucalypt detritus— the shed bark and dry 



of New Britain, approaches eight in first-quality 



forest. 



leaves — but all the dank tropical rain-forest undergrowth 

 and humus. That particular year, report has it, the 

 the whole mountain side from one end of JSTew Britain 



TTr,f™.f 11 „o+«Ur +i „ t^ e j. to the other was ablaze, and native crops and even some 

 Unfortunately the areas of kamarere forest are very naf - v ;i, :iw , „. pro wl -' , mif T1 • n *l- ,„ A , 4 



limited indeed. It is a large patch that carries 2,000 



native villages were wiped out. This particular drought 

 was not phenomenal, for the nature of the kamarere 



trees, and when the mill was set up at Korindal the f~ [,■ K " Z Z L « , 13. IZl 



r.oimt.P.1 «tn, l( li,,o. tr,.o, wa« ™1„ i nnn l „1 ti,„ toiest uith the mature stands and the young re-growth, 



counted standing trees were only 1,000 in number. The 

 forest on the Toreo River, which flows into the sea in 

 Open Hay, on the north coast, yielded timber foi 



show that fire is the main agent of destruction and re- 

 production. 



This species is no exception to the genus; it 



eighteen years, and was probably the largest area of all. at n r 1 7 lb T exco I ,no, 1 1 l ? Tne & n ™'> « 1S a 



The Kon.Mlal forest still carries about 700 trees, or * 3,^ ^f" ^ a t{ 7 l" T° ^ ace \ does .\ t 



live years' cutting, and between that area and Rahaul ^xl^llC'l, ^ T°* T T* ™ 



tl,,.,. or^nii *™w i : i • i i ■ i-i at JDLoPinaal, liolton s Mill, and on the Powell are, as 



ther snail forest, which is also being- exploited npfl x M Mfi iHo p W „ ™l Tw w„ a;~a 9 ^ 



s a no 



lie 



in a conservative manner. Sonic kamarere occur on the 

 Hanks of " The Father/' but what the number is I can- 

 not say. Also behind Commodore Bay an area of this 

 timber is said to exist. On various little streams on 



nearly as possible, even aged. They have died to- 



Until the saw-miller 



gethei 



and 



come 



both north and south coast tl 



H 



species lias been re- 

 still 



had 



ported, but the only moderately extensive area 

 untouched about which precise information is avail- 

 able is that which occurs on the Powell and Henry Reid 

 rivers. These two rivers empty into Wide Bay on the 



up together. 



came and clear-felled the forest, the reproduction took 



place only when a hole occurred in the forest; e.g., on 

 the banks of rivers and when grandfather tree 

 died. Elsewhere the copiously shed seed germinated 

 only to die suppressed by the cover of the lower story. 

 The extent of even aged stands points to a general and 

 periodic destruction over large areas of most of the 

 tree vegetation. On the soil thus prepared the seed 



south coast. A glance at the map will show that this area u *3 !* v , en lv 1 tl ^ T **T> 



is not far from that ulnVh h,L Wn ,.™1™ T *J ^ ^ tl0m f ie V m ? eucalypts— they seem always to yield 



is not far from that which has been exploited on the 

 north coast, along the Toreo River, In actual distance, 

 it is about 40 miles across the peninsula at this neck, 

 and it takes three days to walk it. I have not been 

 across, but have followed the Powell up to where it 

 becomes torrential, and here the kamarere ceases. F 



uecuii.es luiienuai, ami nere tne Kamarere ceases. ±rom ti 1P ( i rv , pn , mi • • • llf +T ° , A T ' 1 *' "™ 



this point, over the very slight rise in the centre and ll .> season is m sight there sheds down from the 



down to the first day of the Toreo. **Z*T» W^™ 2""^* •*»«*« supply of seed, and up springs a 



most abundantly when scorched to the point of death 

 springs up like wheat, and takes complete possession 

 of the soil. The same thing occurs when violent floods 

 wash away an area of bank or deposit a new silt on a 

 bend, as soon as the waters begin to subside, viz., when 

 the dry season is in sight there sheds down from the 



down to the first day of the Toreo, kamarere Is, I am in 

 formed, only a day's inarch. A survey of the forests of 

 the Powell River showed that the eucalyptus areas were 



not continuous, hut occurred m patches wherever the an( | 

 land on the banks was low enough to carry deposits of 

 alluvium and to be inundated by the high floods. Such 



fine crop of seedlings, often only to be washed away 

 by the first flood of next year. It is a very fast grower, 

 and in seven years will attain a diameter of 6 inches 



a 



height 



On the lower 



areas are, comparatively speaking, rare. 



reaches, while the land on either side was flat enough, 



it was for the most part too swampy, while on The 1 



of 25-30 feet, so once it is established 

 no tropical vegetation can compete with it, and later, 

 when it has grown into a tree, only shade bearers can 

 exist beneath its canoirv. The Powell River timber 



canojn 



upper part the banks sloped too quickly up into foot- 

 hills to carry the requisite soil and moisture conditions. 

 Here and there along a tributary, or on a somewhat 

 flatter yet elevated piece of country, the typical gum 



belt occurred, while on the river bank itself all along 

 were scattered, singly or in groups, specimens of the 



did not suffer to the same extent as that on the Henry 

 Keid Here whole forests are standing white and gaunt, 

 killed by the 1916 fire, while under the dry timber a 



regular 



even-aged 



stand of kamarere 



- , healthy and 



strong, has established itself, and is flourishing against 

 all-comers. Already this regrowth is up to 70 feet 

 high and 1 foot m diameter, and doubtless in the course 

 of time it will become the high forest, its ancestors 



