59 



th 



f , -, _, of the Eamu, is because forests are the same as those already described in the 



irom about the 14oth parallel of longitude the basin Papuan portion of this report. The common Pometia 



oi tne Jtamu is so low that the whole country on each pinnata comes first in numerical order, and the natives 



side oi it lor some miles is subject to inundation dm- know it under the name of Kuting. It is sawn into 



ing the north-west monsoon. Here 

 its nature, and from a shallow river 700-900 yards 

 broad and rarely more than 10 feet deep rolling rapidly 

 over pebbles and gravel, it becomes a deep river rarely 

 more than 100 yards and generally around 80 yards 

 wide. Narrow, rather high banks wall it in but be- 

 yond, the inland country is almost as low as the river, 

 and m consequence both the confluents and flood waters 

 of the mam river itself spread out over a large area. 

 On bends the narrow banks are carried away and 



swamp formations occur; only on firm high banks do * n n j -ir • i. i ••*• 



] qw tTVO , flnnr^i, QT1 ^ 'n *i J * i \tT i V troe usually called Massoi bark (Cmnamoman mas- 

 Large trees nourish and ail the rest of the land is cov- on ;„ \r n ^ ± i i xr kao\ • ±i £ 

 prorl witli q Q , rnTMmr „ ' £ , i i \ 8 °W>> Var, rotufulatum, No. 592) occurs in these forests 

 eiect witn a swampy ram iorest broken bv nure swamn 4-t, i ±-£ n m *i , i , . 

 „ 4.^4.:^ t_ a^ __ _ l , r u «y P«r^Bwd.mp rather plentifully. The common Alstcma occurs, but is 



not made use of, and the same may be recorded about 



Pterocymbium sp., No. 602, Pap. 13; Celt is philippic 



ntnsis No. 603, Pap. 47 {Planehonia T%nwremis 3 No. 

 606, Pap. 2). Termialia affin. catappa is rather sought 

 after as a mill log, and the mill manager has planted 



all sizes of timbers and used everywhere in the mission 

 buildings, except in the ground. For posts and very 

 exposed places, iron wood, as they call Afzilia bijiiga, 

 is preferred with Pterocarpus next best, and Kaar 

 (Vitex cofassus, No. 590, Pap. 91, 115) for other in- 

 door work. 



Kesang-sang (Indt,, No. 591) is used for "trade box" 

 making, though it is worthy of a better use. Curiously 

 enough, Kakerim (Octomeles sumatrana, No. 539, Pap. 

 4) is not made use of. Musi, the cinnamon barked 



:! 



vegetation. In this swampy rain forest occur the bulk 

 of the ordinary rain forest types, but owing to the con- 

 dition^ under which the trees exist they do not attain 

 the height or diameter of the true rain forest types. 



Even on the narrow high banks the Pometia is of pool 



t *-, ■. y\ t -*- h-avv^x tto ex iiiiu xKJ tL. aim tnc mill inaiiaiM"! iiiia i;iaiiiru 



appearance, while the Octomeles are only half the size this species in a gully behind the millrace. The walnut 



of those found m the patches of ram forest above this substitute Ougo of the Yalu people (Dracontomelum 



swamp area. Travelling through this country m 

 March, viz., the end of the wet season, is exceedingly 



niangiferum No. 613, Pap. 1) is appreciated, but its 

 wide buttress roots make it an uneconomical mill log. I 



difficult and as will be seen from my description of found all the Papuan trees in the forests aromid'Finsch- 



my journey up the Eamu, which I give in detail in 

 appendix. 



The true swamp lands of the region which cover a 



hafen and the forest survey that I made showed the 

 stocking to approximate very closely with that of the 

 forests around the Knmusi and Safari in the northern 



large extent of country in the swamp rain forest, carry division of Papua. Unfortunately, all data of the survey 

 a vegetation of two Pandanus and Sarcocephelus with were lost, and again I have to rely on my memory for 



the above details. One species was certainly more 

 plentiful here and that was Afzelia hijuga, while I never 



here and there where the water is shallow enough, wild 

 sugar. Climbing ferns and creepers occur, but not 



plentifully, and neither the Pandanus or Sarcocephelus again found it in such stands as in the Hydrographer's 



carry much epyphitic vegetation. The depth of the 

 water in these swamps varies from a few inches to 

 4 feet, but what makes the penetration very diffi- 

 cult is the deep layer of mud below the water into 

 which one sinks up to the waist. Along the strips of 

 high banks the rain forest is as might be expected, 

 festooned with orchids, ferns and other epyphites, while 

 long reaches are so entangled with rattan (Calamus 

 sp.) that progress is rendered very slow. It is a most 

 unfortunate fact that the rain forests of the Markham 

 have all been destroyed and converted into grass lands, 

 and that the whole lower reaches of the Eamu are so 

 wet as to carry at best a poor swamp form of rain 

 forest, and at worst a pure swamp vegetation. It was 

 in this extensive area that I hoped to find forests of 

 commercial value, which with good rivers in either Pacific C 



range in Papua, I found it fairly well distributed 

 round the coast of mandated portion of New Guinea, 

 and in forest such as is to be found at Finsch-hafen it 

 occurs to the extent of 1£ trees to the acre. The saw- 

 milling operations have been confined to Afzelia, and 

 the better woods detailed above and the less valuable 

 softer woods have been left in the forest. This has 

 been due to the sad experience gained by the Mission 

 when they found that their soft wood linings and in- 

 ternal timbers generally were rapildy eaten by a ter- 

 mite. This pest differs from the many termites that 

 attack woodwork in that he requires no gallery or con- 

 nection to earth, but arrives flying and immediately 

 sets to work to eat the woodwork, relying apparently 

 for water on the moisture in the wood. At the Pan- 



held 



direction — the Eamu flows north-west and the Mark- 

 ham south-east and both rise back to back only 1,000 



ongress neid in Sydney in 1923, Dr. M. 

 Oshima described the ravages of a similar termite in 

 Formosa, and gave a description of the stepe that the 



feet above the sea in the middle of the great valley — Japanese Government was forced to take in order to 



would be immediately accessible for saw-milling; audit 

 was therefore a great disappointment to find no forests 

 of any importance. 



Forests Near Finsch-hafen. 



protect its public buildings and works. Complete iso- 

 lation from the soil is sufficient with most termites; 

 indeed, at this congress, although representatives from 

 all over the termite ridden lands that front the Pacifi 





were present, none except our Formosan expert had 



was, therefore, of particular interest to me to meet 

 with the same termite, or, at any rate, one with the 

 same habits in New Guinea. The Lutheran Mission 



Pursuing the investigation round the coast of Hew come across a termite that required no gallery to earth. 

 Guinea and inland I found rain forest all round, but " 

 everywhere it had been largely cleared by natives in 

 farming, and when it was intact it was always on the 

 poorer soils of the hills, and so ^as stunted and obvi- were forced to give up the use of all soft woods, except 

 ously a second class type. Surveys were made of the for case makill S> and to-day the mill is placed in great 

 forests near Finsch-hafen, which is the Lutheran Mis- difficulties to get logs, as it must necessarily pick the 

 sion's head-quarters. There is a saw-mill there run with e J es out of tlie forest, 

 an overshot water wheel, but after a comparatively 

 speaking short life the little concern is meeting much 

 difficulty in getting supplies of logs. Its output has 

 been used for mission purposes to build the stations 

 that these fine people have established far att&y in the 

 bush. Both in appearance and composition, these rain 



F.12389.— 5 



Fobests Behind Stkphansoijt. 



Passing the Rye coast with its dry belt of g^ass lands, 

 which I have already referred to, the next rain forest 

 I visited was behind the roadstead known as Stephan- 

 sort. Here the coast which has been running parallel 



