176 



unfortunately blotted out the view, which on my re- 

 turn journey I found was wonderful. On the ridge 



was some mossy forests. The Dawsonia moss covered 

 the ground, tree ferns formed a second story, while 



but the choice of a representative sample of this type 

 of forest must wait until I have seen more. 



Picked up time from IManila (Cavite N.P.O.) at 3 

 a.m. GMT or 1 p.m. zone time and rated my watches. 



filmy ferns were to be seen on all sides. Dacrydium Sunday, 11th November. — Stayed at Jcangey all day 



data was very common. A curious sight was a and fixed azimuths of surrounding peaks and of Sara- 



D'Albertis creeper on a Dacrydium* In Papua one 

 regaided this as a riverside tree creeper in low country, 

 and here it is growing in mid-mountain forest, if not 

 mossy forest. The real creeper of these forests, how- 

 ever, is the pert- wine-coloured trumpet flowered 



climber, Dichrotrichum Chalmersii F.v.M. Pure 

 stands of the two oaks Q. sjneata and Q. lamponga 



occurred here and there on the less steep slopes, 



while (J. janghuhnii was very common though usually 

 well mixed with other species. The trees, however, 

 were small, and nowhere did I encounter good forest. 



waket, which was just visible over the top of two ranges 

 that lie between. It is grass-topped, and in the full sun- 

 light, shines out very clearly above the dark forest-clad 

 lower peaks. Brought in Cavite both at 1 p.m. and 

 at midnight very clearly, and took stellar observations 

 for latitude and longitude; also took boiling-point 

 height, 4,240 feet. 



Monday, 12th November.- — Left Joangey at 6.30 a.m. 

 and arrived at Kuluntufu at 9.30. It was so short a 

 distance that I wanted to push on, but the Mission 

 teacher prevailed on me to stop. He said that it would 

 The clearings for farms were confined to small areas ta j^ e me t0 g p 1TL to reach Tobu, which is the next 

 around each village; in between the forest was virgin. p ] ace Q f ca n 011 my ma rch. Mapped and botanized. 

 A tree which is prized by the natives is Hcdu (II nn- This village is separated from Joangey by the deep gorge 



antandra bchjravvaim (F.v.M.) which yields them the f t h e Mongi, which the B.P. height makes 1,679 feet 

 split planks for building their Mission schools, churches, 

 guest homes and their own houses. Every village has a 

 guest house, and the mission teacher makes one at home 



a 



in it. The 'building of board houses is becoming 

 practice, and there are several in each village replacing 



the low eave-to-ground rough pole hovels of the past. 



deep, while the villages have only 39 feet difference in 

 height, Joangey being the higher. They are just within 

 shouting distance of each other, and yet it takes three 

 hours to climb down and up from one to the other, 

 and it would have taken all day had it not been for 

 the excellent zig-zag trail that the natives have cut. 



1 am now quite beyond the sphere of Government. The The riyer ^ ong i l9 a turbulent rushing white torrent 

 District Officers' patrol finishes at Nganduo at furthest, which seems to have torn its way down through chalks 



and all the progress now is due to missionary effort. 

 The trail since leaving Sattleberg has been a good one 

 for the bush — the grades have been well picked out and 



the trail kept clean. 



and mud stones to a hard rock. I crossed it on a pic- 

 turesque bridge. At first, going down to the water, 



Que reus, Eugenia and a Calophyllum marked the coun- 

 try as mid-mountain; before I got to the river, how- 

 Saturday, 10th November. — Left Junzain and arrived ever, I was among ordinary rain forest trees, PomeJia, 

 at Joangey, the next village, where I camped. It is a Pterocarpti*, Terniinalia okafri y and others of the low 



five and a half hours' march with loads, and is thor- 

 oughly enjoyable, owing to the splendidly cut track. 



Pick and shovel work was to be seen, and some of the 

 side cuts down the zig-zags were S feet high. ( 1 om pared 

 with the so-called roads in the mountains of Papua, 

 particularly the track that leads from Port ]\Ioresby to 

 Kododa, these trails made under the peaceful sway of* 



the missionary are wonderful examples of roads. The 



zig-zag is so foreign a method to the native, who, like 

 the Roman, is prone to drive his track straight on over 

 hill and dale, that I was very surprised to see it an 

 accepted method in these parts. 



country. For the first time since leaving the Owen 

 Stanley Eange in Papua, I met with the rose-leaf ed 

 raspberry (Jiubus rosaefoliux). The whole valley, except 

 where the slope is too precipitous, has been farmed, and 

 there are numerous villages scattered about. 



Tuesday, 13th November. — A five-hours' march 

 brought us to Tobu. • It was hard going. First we 

 climbed the divide separating the Mongi from the Kuak. 



From the top the trail switch-backed its way along the 

 side of the valley, gradually dropping and crossing seve- 

 ral confluents and passing through Kapagu village and 

 so down to the bridge (2,494 feet), a wide crossing 



We crossed Hondanu creek and later Ngacgnac, both necessitating two spans, an immense boulder serving as 



flowing east, to join the Mongi. Before falling to the 

 Ngacgnac, we pursued a high crest from which we over- 

 looked the deep valley of the Mongi and the villages 

 on eilher side. Alas, the mists were down on the 



a 



heights to the north- -west, so 1 did not catch even 

 glimpse of my destination. Although we did not rise 

 higher than 4,500 feet, the ridge was slightly mossy 



type was foothill forest. 



in character, but the mam 



a central pier. Then up to the other side, zig-zagging up 

 1,800 feet past the village of Korombu and so up to 

 Tobu. The geology of the country is changing. We 

 have left the chalks, and hard limestones have taken 

 their place. Here and there I noticed dykes of what 



seemed to he basalt. The farming, if anything, has 

 been more severe. Walls to hold up the soil and enable 

 the cultivation of steeper land are common. As time 



The two aoorned oaks were common, but Q. jvnf/lnrhnii goes on this system will develop into terracing, such as 

 was absent, the common Myristiat and Wormia were 



numerous. Several Meilinelln and Impatiens and Be- 

 ffonia, in full flower, made the undergrowth very at- 

 tractive, while a Gleic/nnia and the white bracted 



one sees in Italy. Volcanic light soil and lava occur 



here and there. There is a grand view before me, and 

 the range to the north stands out very prominently, its 

 slopes being almost precipitous and its crests almost 



Mussaenda covered openings. In such holes, too, one alpine. The line of demarcation between farm and 

 found the little tree Homalanthus popul if alius Grab., forest is very high; the natives have saw-edged the 

 with its decorative crown of spade-shaped leaves, which higher mid-mountain forest, and some of the villages are 

 are quite red when young. Deming, the native boys 

 call it, and they ascribe evil properties to the milk that 

 flows when the bark is cut into. 



on the edge of the perpetual cloud belt and moss forest. 

 On the bank of the Kuak were some Castiarina nodi- 

 flora, and the steep hillsides, once forest, are now 



Hnce leaving Sattleberg, the formation seems to have covered with weed-tree growth and lots of Damnaropsis. 



been mudstone, with chalk or limestone showing where- 

 evt'i* a big land-slip had occurred. A bio- earth tremor, 

 which threw the main building at the sanatorium off 

 its piles, seems to have caused a number of these slips. 

 I decided to leave the careful examination of the 

 forest until my return journey. Not only is it a ques- 



The planks used to make the square-built houses are 



here also made of the 'Magnolia. Away down the 



valley I can see the sea. I made Tobu 4,449 feet 

 above the sea. 



14th November. — Left Tobu at 6.40 and reached 

 Ogeramnang at 11 a.m. The rise from the village was 



lion of conserving supplies for the climb up Sara waket, arduous and the crest of the divide was 6,761 feet. 



