19] 



armed with bows and spears, but there is nothing un- 

 usual in this. All our shouting to them to come over 



: on 



much, and the people had gone to Waimcriba. 1 



wonder when they crossed, and how they got on. The 



and make friends had no effect, except io make them pad was so heavily trodden that my boys were at a low 



run up and down their bank distractedly. It came on 

 to rain, and a freshet coming down warned us to get 

 back to our bank, for we were still on an island which 

 was quickly becoming a rapid. Angep, who has ideas 

 and initiative, tried to swim over to say how-do-you-do. 

 but was washed down and landed fortunately on our 

 side half a mile below. On reaching camp we found 

 Fiele and his boys still sitting; there, and I asked him 

 (o bring over some more of his people to-morrow, and 

 I would return with him and sleep at his village. 



The Kohu boys have pearl-white teeth, and do not 



chew betel-nut; they are the first people I have met of 



New Guinea who- regard white teeth as fashionable. 

 The 



grass country of the Kamu flats consists of 



a 



gravelly soil, and on this grows a poor kangaroo gras^ 2 

 from 2 to 3 feet high. Wherever the flat is intersected 

 by a stream wild sugar takes the place of this grass. 

 Also, among the grass are some shrubs of the Legume 

 family and many annuals; few of the latter were in 

 flower, 



I made a good collection, and the Kohu people were 

 much interested when Peter got his boiler going under 

 the eave of a hut, and put the day's materia] in to dry. 



r 



21st March. — Went down to the lower ford, but it 

 had rained all night, and the river was running a 

 banker. Only the highest islands were uncovered, and 

 practically an unbroken reach of dark-yellow brown 

 swirling water stretched from bank to bank. One of 

 our guides gave a demonstration in crossing to convince 

 us of its impossibility, and was soon neck deep. The 



to understand, and Sarawai showed much astonish- 

 ment. We 



the way showed that a big crowd had passed. The ex- 

 planation did not occur to me till we got near camp, 

 when I remembered the loads at Ongoruna were due to- 

 morrow, and quite likely Jack had rushed them 

 through to-day. They were all there when we reached 

 ihe village, and Tuniurro had his boys all drawn up in 

 a line with — of all things in the world — bows, arrows, 

 and spears in their hands. They demurred when T 

 made them put them down, Tumurro vowing ^hat 

 the Kasowai were a bad lot and would kill and eat 

 them all. They would not stay in camp for the night, 

 and when they had had l heir pay they dashed off back 

 to Ongoruna. I made Tumurro shake hands with 

 Sarawai, and I never saw such a reluctant attempt at 

 friendliness. Sarawai said, when they had gone, that 

 the Ongoruna people often came down and ate the 

 people of Kohu. They are all liars. 



22nd March. 



The night 



I got 



U is ae 



night 



a Geminoru 



k Argus, gava me a mean of 5.45.3 S. 



the bad luck to blow 



was clear; the first clear 



since I left Bogadjim, 



q, y Ononis, 



my latitude 



out 



ma j oris and 

 T have had 



valve, and 



my D.E.K, 



the spare W.l). 12 I had in reserve, and the box of 



which had never been opened, turned out to be a dud; 



so ends all hope of longitudes from now on. Developed 

 films and got some good results of forest country over 

 the divide. Sent police boys down to the Kamu to 



method is interesting, and is worth detailing. The boy Uy aml ( ' nss « bu < they brou-ht had; the news that it 



nl^n^ar^ .i oL.JlnT.T ^Un ft « M <J ^nrln. ;•, „^A ™,.„, ,„;±i> V/as not Dossible. No Sl&na of Kiele and Ids villagers. 



chooses a shallow place and wades in, and running with 



No si^ns of Fiele and his villagers. 



^nuua^ d suciiiuw piciee ana wciues m, aim running wiiri ". — , i . — ©**- ~* - -^•- -**« — r ***-B • 



the current and leaning back against it, he edges over Decided to give the river time to go down and in the 



to the ether side, his rate increasing till he is doin< 

 almost the same pace as the river — -about 10 miles — 

 and by then the water is well up to his middle; he still 

 maintains his more or less vertical position, and lets the 

 river carry him down, but all the time he is edging 

 over. When he is neck deep he obviously has little 

 control over his direction, yet he still seems to be able 



to keep upright, and hold his pereneal band dry over 

 his head. Soon his head only appears new and again, 



and his hands are all that are visible ; finally he appears 

 again still dancing down stream, but evidently in shal- 

 lower water, for every second more and more of him 



is visible, and now he is standing calf-deep on what 



meantime to explore the upper waters on this bank to 

 as far as the Finsch-hafen Mission folk have penetrated 



from the Markham side. When I i old Sarawai of my 



plans and asked hi in for boys to go with inr, lie showed 

 his horror of my proposal and refused point blank. 

 Kogi and a Wanese boy in the end interpreted his 



objection, which was that the people who lived at 



Amage, up ihe river, were as big as trees and had tails 

 like dogs, and always ate strangers; ' ' 



23rd March. — leaving a police boy — Peter, and 



was 



a 



still 



boy who hurt himself on the Mindjim and 



unable to oarrv loads — we left Kohu at 7.15, and 



reached 



carry 

 the Efabia 



River at 8.25. 



There, took a 



was yesterday an island, gesticulating and shouting and ' "' i „c \ • „ i i . '*.: „ i' « u^, T ! < 



y J ±L > fe s ■ -6 round or bearings while waning tor some hoys to come 



waving his pereneal band at us. His gestures are as 

 clear to me as his demonstration was; they both con- 

 vince me that it is altogether impossible to take loads 

 over to where our friend stands, and that he himself, 

 naked and embarrassed only by the strip of bark cloth 

 in his hand, cannot go any farther. While all this has 

 been going on the people of Waimeriba have collected 



on the bank opposite We cannot make ourselves heard ^^ R af fche g E ( , m , Fufiher fche va11 , v 



across the 700 yards of swirling water, but their gesture, am] M ^ C])])(m{e H(Ie> rige a mmil)er of , lnal , ^ 



along with us from Koaki village. ]\Iade the village of 

 Arosia at 10.15 (1,200 feet) and get a round of bear- 

 ings here while the rice was cooking. There is a hill 

 south-east of Waimeriba on that sid; of the river with 

 a conspicuous single tree on the top, which makes an 

 excellent mark: while above rises the two peaks, ]\lt. 

 Otto and Mt. Ilelweg, which are the last of the Bis 

 marck Range at the S.E. end 



are quite plain. 



They say, don't come over in every wave of their 

 spears and bows, and in no hostile intent do they 

 mean this, but the river is too high. 



Investigated the country north-west, i.e., down the 



rock-spattered grassed hills, whose feet are washed by 



the Ramu. Some have precipitous falls to the river; 



others merely very steep slopes: all show strata of grey 



rock, and their summits carry outcrops. One hill has 

 two peaks or (rests, and offers a splendid landmark. 



feet above. 



Just behind Aroisa village there is a 



Ramu and 2 miles deep from the river. This gravelly On this side, the valley widens and the hills are of an 



grass and shrub-covered flat is evidently ancient river easier gradient and rise to the forests 1,000 to 2,000 



bed, and doubtless the Ramu has changed its course 



many times across some 5 miles of country. Nowhere is 



there a sign of permanent vegetation; all is of fche 



transient river-bed type. As I get nearer to the hills, 



I found the distinct lie of the old river bank, and 



semi-detached clump of sugar-loaf topped hills, round 



which the Efabia River makes its course; but, gene- 

 rallv Speaking, subsidiary or separate hills are all on 

 the other side of the river. The river itself continues 



wide — a series of channels and islands. The Efabia, 



above that rose the hills, which are here forested for 



100 feet and then rise, grassed, to the cloud line and too, runs more straight ly into the main stream, prob 



Iraucaria I found a well-beaten pad going north-wesl ablv because the hills here come so rinse to the Rami. 



and a little hamlet of four huts called Ainnpe, do- and fchere was no opportunity for the- tributary fa 



1 ted, except by pigs. Sarawai said they feared me iurn. 



