63 



New 



— ritory. On the other side of the main range the same 

 are only pole woods, and that they have not that won- conditions occur so that when I was climbing the moun- 

 derful heavy clothing of epyphites that the main forest tains called the Bismarcks, I could easily imagine my^ 



self back on the Owen Stanley range. In one important 

 matter the midmount?in forests of the Mandated Terri- 

 tory differ and that is that they come down a great deal 

 lower. The general rule determining the lower limits 

 of the midmountain forest still holds good: the region 

 is bounded by the cloud line. Evei^yone who has gazed 

 on these great mountain masses has noticed how clear 



boasts, nor its tangle of lianas. Again, the foot hill 

 forests have not the height growth of the midmountain 

 forests. Although thy type is not very well defined, 

 and both midmountain and lowland species meet in it, 

 the type of forest is really distinct from the rain forest 

 below and the coniferous midmountain forest above. 



Everywhere that the slope is not too steep for cultiva- ___ . 



tion, these foot hill for. sts are being turned into grass they are In the early dawn and how by 9 o'clock thej 

 lands. While the native farms, even higher into the are capped with clouds which by 10 a.m., as a rule, 

 coniferous belt, he prefers the foot hills for his garden. reach a certain fairly constant level. This is the lower 

 Sometimes he is forced to terrace the steep slopes of the limit of the midmountain forest, In some valleys, such 

 hills before he can plant his sweet potato crop. Else- as that of the Eamu and Markham, conditions exist 

 where, driven up higher by the grass he himself has which bring the cloud belt down much lower than on 

 helped to establish, In* farms on the edge of that bleak a mountain slope rising directly from the sea and en- 

 region the moss forest. Farm lands, and even villages, tirely exposed to the trade winds. In the Markham 



valley, in the early morning, one sees the land breeze 

 waft great balls of cloud down the valley and the sides 

 of the RaAvlinson and Finisterre range, they collect 

 and melt together till there is a belt of white cloud of 

 great width entirely blanketting the forest between 

 about 3,000 and 6,000 feet altitude. Above them rise 

 the great peaks quite clear, except perhaps a little cap 

 of cloud on the summit. Later — it is only a matter 

 of hours — the land breeze drops and the south-east 



in the midmountain area are more common in New 



Guinea than in Papua, especially is this the case where 



the population is heavy. -New Ireland must shortly 



face a land problem for her highlands, at any rate, in 



the northern half of the island, are rapidly going 



to grass. I climbed from Kundam (116 miles down the 



Kawieng road) up to the Lelet country, which is the 



roof of the island. It has been called a plateau, but in 



reality this term does not describe it very accuratelv. 



it is a series ot sharp ridges with deep gullies in be- trade wind from the sea blows up the valley and all 



tween It is all limestone country, and the ridges are the mountains from peaks to the first formed belt are 



about 3,000 feet above the sea. 



enveloped in cloud. What I think occurs is that the 



The whole of the area right over to the south-east great humid layer' of air that lies over the lowlands 

 side where a perpendicular wall or cliff of limestone and the river itself rises as the sun's heat 



increases 



forms the boundary has at one time been covered with and the land wind carries it down the vallev. Wher- 



— ^ — -. 4. « ±. ^ i r_ _ j I. Ml (* j rr^i -i -i • • * 



rain forest and foothill forest. The gullies carried the 



over this heavily moisture laden wind encounters a 



former and the ridges and steep slopes the latter. Shift- C old enough surface it turns into cloud. There is con- 



ing cultivation has converted it into a curious vegeta- 

 tion of shrubs, bushes and grass lands and tree ferns. 



tinuous transference of water vapour from the plain to 

 the mountain and it merely becomes visible as cloud, 



There is^ evidently a good rainfall and the forest is try- because it reaches the requisite temperature. Without 



ing hard to establish itself but the grass aided by fire 

 is winning slowly and surely everywhere. It is lalang^ 



the land breeze these clouds would form, but thev would 



. „- form less quickly and would not be so apparent as they 



grass for the most part which is all the more serious a re when driven along and piled up against the moun- 

 as natives find its rhyzomes impossible to eradicate with tains. At higher altitude there is no land Iveeze effect 

 their primitive tools. Here and there bracken has es- and it is not till a few hours later that this region is 

 tablished itself strongly and gives a moor land effect cloaked in clouds. So it is that in the mountains ris- 

 to the landscape. Except for the timber in rhe gullies, i ng f r0 m the Markham Valley the midmountain forest 

 theonly trees left are those either cultivated for their comes down to 2,000 feet. Above Finsch-hafen it lies 



around 3,000 feet. In the range between Astrolabe 

 Bay and the liainu, there is no midmountain forest on 

 the sea-ward aspect, while on the 2-4,000 feet ridges 



fruits, such as mango and roseapple, or retained for 

 shade. Alstonia scholaris seems a favorite village 

 shade tree. The natives all over New Guinea have a 



occurs 



pretty taste in flowers and plant hibiscus, poinciana, overlooking the Eamu, midmountain forest 



pulchernma and so-called crotons, along the roads and ( }own t0 2,500 feet. On the other side of the Eamu 



about their villages. On this cleared highland country 

 these splashes of highly coloured flowers or leaves were 



stand the 



large 



of mountains called the Bis- 



range 

 marcks and here the midmountain forest occurs com- 



perhaps a little more arresting than under the cocoa- paratively low down. Camped just above the level of 



nuts by the seashore. The variegated-leafed Erythrina, t h e Bamu I observed that only on exceptionally brigM 



with its masses of crimson flowers is as much planted days were the mountains clear above 2,500 feet after 



for its beauty as is the Anatto (Biva orellana) for its n a# m . It was at the end of the north-west season 



red dye which is mainly used for face paint in New 

 Ireland. 



that I visited this region, and it usually rained from 

 two or three p.m. on. Sights for latitude and longitude 



On Lavongai, the foothill forest is confined to the were no t easy to get and the best time I found was just 



very steep ridges, for the height of the island is not 

 very great and, anywhere that soil conditions are 

 favorable, rain forest occurs. The foothill forest is the 

 exception on Lavongai, and in this respect the little 

 island differs from others I have visited. Among inter- 

 esting foothill 



trees found was Kulan (Weimannia 

 Ledermarmii No. 802) which bears very regularly ser- 

 rate leaves. It penetrates into the rain forest and is s ky, while over the Kanni itself hangs a hank of fog 

 not confined to Lavongai, for I found it on the steep which is soon sucked up by the sun. The river here- 



after sunset. One could generally count on half an 

 hour of clear sky at that time. After midnight a clear- 

 ing of the clouds would often take place and the sky 

 in this case generally continued clear till morning. 

 At dawn the serrated edge of the Central and Bismarck 

 Ranges and the frowning top of Mt. Otto and Mt. Hel- 

 weg are all as clear cut as possible against the pale 



slope above Kundam in New Ireland. 



The Midmountain Forests. 

 In the Papuan portion (p. 38) will be found a gen- 



abouts is 700 feet above the sea so that the blanket of 

 clouds that soon covers the mountains down to 2,500 

 seems much lower than it really is. 



Hoop pine (Araucaria Cunningham i Xo. 639, Pap. 



era! description of the midmountain region in that ter- 376) as in Papua, is the distinctive species of the 



