182 



Erema Ha fen and then turned up to the Dividing 



Ficus; there were every kind of fig from those bearin 





good 



i 



PcmdanuB sp., both with and 



From Madang I made my way along the coast to few birds' nest ferns were seen, but for the most part 



the trees were rather bare of ferns, orchids, and 

 Range, and after a short climb, reached Keku, a mission climbers. Of the last the Mucuma genus seemed most 

 station ct the Madang Lutheran Society. This took me common. The genus of tree best represented was; 

 two days, and the country passed through was nearly all 

 under cultivation. Here and there patches of beach 

 forest remained. Giant Golaphyllum inophyttum, 

 yellow-flowering Pterocarpu*, the large white-flowered 



Bwrtf/f/to/tia specioSGj and the mangroves were met 

 with. Of rain forest there was none, and as one rose 

 the 1,300 feet to Keku, the sides of the range were 

 covered with weed tree second growth that had sprung 

 up ox.- old farm lands. From Keku I proceeded west, 

 passing through Agjuai, Jabbia, Nauna, and Usina, and 

 thence down to the Ramu. This took me three days, 

 and I passed over very broken country indeed. The 

 trails were exceedingly bad, and the natives backward 

 and difficult to« deal with. The timber was not de- 



without prop roots, were very common, as were 



Macaranga, Saitrauja, Geunsia, Pipturu*, A Iphitonia, 



Sterculia. 



Diary. 



6th February, 1923. — From Usina to the Ranm 

 proved six hours away, in fact, the carriers did not 



reach it but halted in a grass patch on the edge of the 

 Biraka (Bilak of Captain Tutton) River. It was the 



only dry spot we had seen to-day, and so I decided to 

 pitch the camp there. I was soon to be disappointed. 



deep, and the water was rising rapidly. All hands 



turned out to dig a drain to the 



, and we managed 



strayed to any extent, for the population is too small to for dmm came the rahl ■ t ag we ,. everything snug, 

 have much effect, but the broken nature of the country and to Qur dig in one hour Ave were &ooded 4 inche8 



and the consequent succession of very steep slopes and 

 the light soil made the tree growth poor. No great 

 height was reached in crossing this range ; at the highest 

 joint it is only 4,200 feet, and the trail from Keku goes 

 over a saddle which is only 2,100 feet. One is therefore 

 in rain forest region all the time, yet the type of timber 

 is poor foothill forest. Certainly species of the rain 

 forest are met with, but they are not numerous, and in 

 diameter and height are of very poor quality. Mud- 

 stones, sandstones, shales seem to predominate among 



to carry it off. I\Iy guide, a native whom I found at 

 Usina, who spoke pidgin, had been to work for white 

 men, and looked rather dressy (in a singlet) next to his 

 naked countrymen, tells me that I shall be flooded 

 right out here, and cut off from Usina and the coast. 



7th February. — It rained all night, but the drain 

 saved the camp. Out at 5.30 in a heavy mist with 



the rocks, with big boulders of soft limestone in places, Police-boy Angep, the guide Singlet, and some boys to 



and a great collection of many-coloured stones in the 

 waters of the numerous streams. The mudstone coun- 



beat down the tall grass (Imperata and Sar/iaru m), so 

 that Ave might make our way to a little knoll a mile 



try never seems to carry much forest, and in travelling away, where Singlet said we would find a better cam]), 

 across this area I was reminded very much of the country From there we watched the rising sun suck up the en- 

 lying between the Purari and the Era River in Papua, 

 which proved so disappointing from a timber stand- 

 point. When, the hills were left behind we dropped 

 down to a still more depressing country — the valley of 

 the Ramu. Hereabouts and for miles below, probably 



veloping valley mist. Little "by little the foothills of 



the Bismarcks became plain, and then the peaks, the 

 midmountain country being still bandaged with cotton 



wool. The crest of the Bismarck Range is very saw- 

 toothed indeed, far more than anything I have seen 



to the month, lies a wide stretch of low-lying country. in the Owen Stanley Range, except possibly the main 



Much of it is swampy all the year round, and the re- three peaks of Mount Victoria. As a camping ground 



mainder, except for a few little islands of high land, is 



under water in the rain season (north-west monsoon). 



In February it was ankle deep in water, and streams 



after leaving the hills, where they were white torrents, 



spread out over the land for half a mile or so, making 



it impossible to 1 race the main course of any but the 



biggest. On the little rises which are only reached in 



exceptional floods, native communities shelter. Fixed 



abodes seem to be rare, and the people, who struck me 



a;=> a low type, are nomadic in their habits. They can 



make only very small gardens on the pimples of land, 



am! they seem to subsist on what they can kill, and 



such edible plants as are to be found growing wild. 



The tree growth in this swampy area is wretched, 

 and quite useless as timber; botanically it is very in- 

 teresting, and it. is most unfortunate that all specimens 

 collected hereabouts were subsequently lost when my 

 camp was destroyed. From memory I can give but a 



poor account of this vegetation. It was a pole growth tween tribes across the river and those on this side seems 

 of rain-forest species with a large mixture of the weed hard to believe. Police-boy Angep is despondent about 

 trees that spring up on old farm lands in rain forest. crossing or breaking the river as he calls it. " Five 



this knoll is excellent, except for the difficulty of fetch- 

 ing water. Returned to camp, and casting round up 

 the Biraka, found a good dry spot which has never, I 

 think, been flooded. Put boys on to make a good hut, 

 for this must be my base camp, and from here on I 

 must go very light. While this work was going on I 

 went down stream to the main river, and there at the 

 junction I found the poles of Captain Tutton's tents, 

 lie was there in dry weather, for the site of his camp 

 is now deep sucking bog. The Ramu is a deep, muddy 



It makes a bid U-bend at this point, and is 

 80 to 120 yards wide, and by means of floats I found its 

 surface rate to be 10 to 11 miles an hour. The clouds 

 were right down on the Bismarck, but the foothill and 

 lower slopes up to 3,000 feet were plain, and these 

 appeared to be well inhabited, for I noticed large areas 

 under crop, and the smoke of villages arose from many 

 ridges. The story that there is no communication be- 



river. 



feller canoe u he thought might do the work, but they 

 would have to be big, and some would upset on the 



snags 



This bank carries a few bio- Octomeles which 



by its wealth of flowers which festoon the trunk. 



A 



Evodias, for instance, were very common and very 



beautiful, for several species were in full flower. Many 



colofloral trees occurred, and among them a Jiaccaurea 



was very common; its presence could be detected 50 could answer well for the purpose but I have no adzes, 



yards away owing to the very heavy perfume given out all d in the end I decided to try a raft, and, failing that, 



explore the river up and down for a crossing while boys 

 went back for more supplies and adzes. 



Returned to camp to find the buildings grass- 

 thatched, practically finished. Went clown with fever, 



Barringtonia, of which a pink and white variety were anc * &° sent °^ the boys T no longer required — 42 in 

 seen; several Eugenia* and two Garcinias were noticed. number — to Madang, and twenty are to return with 

 Many species of Lauranthus occurred, but epyphitic more rice. I turned in and ran a temperature up to 



Sarcocv phalus, probably 8. confafus, was the largest 

 tree met with, but even this was only 10 to 15 inches in 



diameter. Several little trees cf the nutmeg family were 

 common, as were the wide-leafed pretty-flowered 



plants were not common. The staghorn fern and 



a 105.4 before I broke the fever. 



