62 



all my travels on both north and south coast of New 

 Britain. Here are the native names for the commoner 



trees : 



A sang 



of Pterocarpus was remarkable, and as for Afzelia Likdin, a village situated on the summit of the moun- 

 bijuga, I came across only one tree in fifteen days' sur- tain with a splendid view over to Kavieng, I see that I 

 veying about here. Cedar (Cedrella toona var Aus- mention the extraordinary rarity of Pometia pinnata — 

 tralis) occurs in the hills, for I have seen pieces of the only one tree was met with in a four and a quarter 

 wood, but it is very rare, for 1 did not see a specimen in hours' tramp from the coast to the top. The woody 



climbing Melastomacea with mauve flowers was well 



out in bloom. The natives call it Tubunta in New 

 Britain (Indt. No. 796). The commonest large tree 

 was Singwa (Campnospermum brevipetiola No. 785, 

 799), w r hich is used for canoe making; its oil is not 

 known to these people. Of new species Bou-u (Colo- 

 phyllum sp. No. 800) Avas a nice timber tree. Sapilul 

 (Polyosma lagunensis No. 801) is a small tree with 

 beautiful terminal spikes of very fragrant flowers — it is 

 too small to yield timber. Kulan (Wienmannia Leder- 

 mannii No. 802) is a larger tree, yielding a strong 

 rather interlocked wood. Mail (Gordonia fragrans 

 No. 804) is a still bigger tree with rose like flower. It 

 yields also cross-grained wood. The little Ta-autim 



(Barringtonia quadrigibosa No. 803), with its long 

 pendant spikes of floAvers, arrests the eye through the 

 masses of corolla tubes that litter the ground under it. 

 Sukai (Myristica montana No. 805) is a little fruited 

 nutmeg tree. The nut is half the size of the usual one 



met with. A very large number of the rain forest 

 species were encountered, and with the exception of the 

 rarity of Pometia pinnata, the mixture in the original 



(Vitex cofassus) y Tun (Pometia pin- 

 nata), Erima (Octomeles sumatrana), Lup (Dravtome- 

 lutti mangifvrum), Kwila {Afzelia bijuga), Sawa (Al- 

 stonia scho/aris), Gotgot (Celtis pliilippiiiensis), Kiau 

 (Garcinia sp.), Manga (Pterocarpus indicus), Epenge 



(Wormia sp.), Musa (C innamomum massoia) ; ta- 

 bling (Macaranga sp. No. 787), Elu Kalaka (Myrstica 



Utum (Barrinutonia speciom^ Talisa (Ter- 



sjj.) Utum (Barringtonia 



minalia catappa), Kurong {Bfuguiera 



(Pfiizophora *p.), Baia 



sp.), Tongong 



Bogun (A vice n ilia 



officii/ alt's). 



{Cain //// i/Ihim inopht/lhun), 



Rain Forests of New Ireland. 



The northern part of the island consists of a long 

 narrow strip of land rising to no great height in the 

 middle. The population is, comparatively speaking, 

 big, and all the forest has been cultivated, and so con- 

 verted into scrub regrow T th. That very big timber once 



grew on this island is shown by the presence of mag- __ _ _ v VVAV . __ w _™_^ «.* vv ^ 



nificent specimens of the following species, which may bush was probably typical. ' It was hard to find Iny but 



be seen near villages along the main road: — Octomeles 



sumatrana, Pterocarpus indicus, Pometia pinuata, 



Celtis philippinensis, Pterocymbium sp., Terminalia 



catappa, and T. Okari affin., Vitex cofassus, Planehonia 



sp., Alstonia scholaris, Dracontomelum maiigiferum, 



!Mangifera minor, and many more. 



All the New Guinea forest species seemed to be repre- 

 sented, and trees like Pometia were of magnificent pro- lmcl ! )een ^ farmed or burnt in the past^and this^cul- 



portions and very free from grooves and buttresses. I X " J ' * ' ^ 



think the largest Octomeles I have ever seen I found 

 in this part of the Kavieng district. I did not visit 

 the southern end of the island, which falls in the Nama- 



the smallest patches of virgin forest. 



In my climb from Bau-ung to the top of the mountain 



at the eastern end of the island I encountered the same 

 conditions. The villages on the top are new, having 

 been established as a result of a reversal of the German 

 policy, which was to bring all villages down to the 

 beach. In spite, however, of their newness, the forest 



tivation, doubtless, dates from old pre-German days. 

 On the lower lands were some magnificent specimens of 

 Kwila (Afzelia bijuga) and Tun (Pometia pinnata), 

 but higher up they were not well represented, It was in 



tanai district, but from all accounts there is no rain Tavongai that I found Ahsang (Vitex cofassus) being 



used for house props and 'being sent over to Kavieng 



forest of commercial value there either, though largo 



was 



trees occur to show that in the past some fine forest for tlle samo l )U1 'l )0se - Comparatively young saplings, 

 • - • • - steep to carry J llst l ftr 8 e enough to make a prop are made use of. This 



high timber. J shall have occasion to refer again to was kteraBting, for on the main land of New Guinea 

 New Ireland when I deal with the question of foothill 

 forests and mangrove formations. From a 



this wood is regarded as decidedly not durable in the 



a commer- 



ground. 



cial point of view, accessible forests that could be pro- 

 fitably sawn do not exist. North-west of New Ireland 



(New Han- 



Foot Hill Forests. 



As will be seen in the Papuan portion of this report 

 (page 34), the foot hill type of forest is due to the 



lies the compact little island of Lavongai 



over). Here the story is very similar to that of New tindit^ 

 Ire and. .Practically the whole island to-day is covered sloping plateau at even 4,000 feet, rain forests oust the 

 with a regrowtk forest of weed trees. The population f 00 t hill forests. On the steep slopes of all the ranges, 

 o-day is very small, and I was considerably puzzled both on the main island of New Guinea and on the 

 by the presence of such large areas of country, which 

 appeared to have been reduced to their present state of 

 second growth, or even to grass, by natives and their 



l •/..• ».« . -p., ° T ' ^ — * ww uiun^ti.v vxi tiiv. iiituii loianu infill Ull X>tJW 



Arfting cultivation. Either Lavongai once supported Britain, but that is because that very characteristic foot 

 a much larger population or else the island has been " '" " - 



swept by devastating fires. Old natives to whom I 

 spoke admitted that sickness had carried off a number 



r>f r ;ii n „„ „,>j +i,„+ i xi i. i ii 4 * ,vu 6'") " llvl j - , "cw j-i i-miiu. j.iie ouier loot ma trees 



ot Milage, and that large fires had occurred but enumerated on page 34 were all met with. Of conifers, 



nothing phenomenal or catastrophic in the way of an 1 •■ ' • ■• - ' 

 epidemic or a fire could be remembered. The soil on 



numerous smaller islands which are mountainous in 

 character, this foot hill type of vegetation occurs. It is 

 more distinctive on the main island than on New 



New 



hill tree Quercus Junghuhnii, is confined to 

 Guinea proper, and does not occur on New Britain, 

 Lavongai, and New Ireland. The other foot hill trees 



however, it is interesting to note that the two common 



fit* u;ii ~"u : i A i ii -.ii ~m — «~" T ***««««wiao, f"-., Hoop-pine (A. Cunninghami and A. 



e hill slopes is good thoroughly suitable for the cul- Klinkii), come well down into the foot hill forest above 

 ture of ropical fruits such as cacao, and it has all Finseh-hafen and all along the ranges dividing the 



Zl t lT\^ \ r S n t]l ° rU1U ^ type * * K;,inu *** Markham basin from the sea So he o^ 



ent to the top of the hills or mountains from two lap of midmountain trees is very marked and it is not 



z:^z!l lG ^:!:ri^}^^^^^ ** «k » a*^ m *, JL oaks hX*£ 



gm- way down below 3,000 feet, i.e., Q. pseudo molucca, 



its variety depressa, Q. lamponga. 



ficent Kwila trees (Afzelia bijuga) finer than I have Q. spicata ami 



seen anywhere, I think. It was from this point that 

 the (50-ft. Kwila piles were obtained for Rabaul Har- 

 bour works. In my diary recording the walk up to 



Kvodias of the lower lands climbs up to here also, and 

 makes the confusion worse, while a host of purely' rock 

 forest species are to be found. The main difference, at 



