L95 



it, looks as though we had 



outstayed oui welcome. 

 Some came down from Hanep, but the boys I sent to 

 Koaki returned empty, the inhabitants having run 



away when my messengers, Kogi, the interpreter, and were submerged except for their hands and a swag of 

 a police boy returned. They did this yesterday, but I rice or a kerosene tin of gear dancing its way across. 



to these boys, and I stood amazed at the edge of the 

 central arm as they danced their way obliquely down 

 stream. ' For half the distance across this flood they 



got them back, including a woman, and had a talk 



supported by two brown hands, was a spectacle I shall 

 They promised me a pig and never forget. With all my practice of flood dancing 



I confess I stood on the edge of that 

 central channel and could not bring myself to take to 

 the water. I was very glad in the end of the help 



to them at Point F. 



much taro, and I said they would get a tomahawk and at the Mimea 



two plane irons for the pig, and cloth and salt for the 



grasped my arm ; even so 7 



taro; but they never came, so I have had to work into 



my rice. I calculate that if we get the canoe down of a young man who firmlj 



to-morrow and cross next day, I have food enough to I could not keep my feet and swam the middle stream. 



see us up Mt. Otto and back to the coast, allowing for the boy easily leaning back against the force of the 

 no delays or accidents. 



3rd April. — Finished canoe and got it down to Ramu 

 with awful labour. First, down the Kohu River, 

 which was easy, then across to the intermediate stream 

 over the wide stretch of grass land, and then having 



current and running with it. 



T calculated that the 



distance across of the whole river here was 618 yards, 

 while the central channel or arm was barely 60 yards. 

 It was flowing 9i miles an hour, and when T was cross- 

 ing it it seemed several miles wide. Jack stuck to 



crossed another little stream we had the wild sugar and me aild "T*^ \° \ mm t J le last cY } am } el m h ™*. oi 

 grass land of the last lap to drag and push the big me ~ my he P ei ; had deseited me— and T lest my footing 



It was not till 5 p.m. that we got her f nd ***"*% began swimming when I found how use- 



canoe over. 



alongside the big river. If was too late to pui on the 



two 



outrigger and launch her, so, leaving a guard of 

 police boys to watch (ill dark in case the Waimeriba 

 people took it into their heads to play up, we all re- 

 camp. I think had it nol been for police 



less was such a method of progression. I was rolled 

 over and over, and that I came out on the oppostie 

 bank was mere luck. Jack had stuck to a Waimeriba 

 boy and to his rifle, and there we were, two dripping 

 objects, Jack in particularly undress uniform for a 



The Weimeriba 



boy Angep, who yelled himself so hoarse that he can P° lio f bo {: a f ,ld . l m * f" , a " d ] beh - 



_„... i _ i •/ i ■ , , , people collected on the bank had wa1 



now only speak in a whisper, we would never have goi 

 that canoe down. The local population gave us no 

 assistance, and it was sheer physical brute force and 

 awkwardness that had to be applied. It is only by 

 making much noise that natives can move heavy ob- 

 jects great distances, and in this Angep showed himself 

 a king. What a noisy job pyramid building must have 

 been. I got a good round of bearings from the launch- 

 ing place, which is practically the lower ford. 



4th April.— I 



got my 



final Azimuth observaii 



which enabled me to correct one of the old figures and 

 strike a sound mean of 23 cleg. 17 min. 5 sec. The 

 corporal and four boys went down at daybreak and 

 fixed the outrigger. We all followed, including most 

 of the male inhabitants of Kohu, and launched the 

 canoe in the side arm of the Ramu. 1 got washed 

 away, taking a photograph, standing waist-deep in the 



stream, and had hurriedly to wind off the film and put 

 the camera out to dry. My watch got waterlogged for 

 the third time. The crossing of the second arrn was 

 done easily, but the third beat us for a while. Time 

 after time the current took the canoe and spun it down 

 stream to bring it up half a mile below. Then fol- 

 lowed the wearisome job of dragging ii up by a rope 

 against the current. We managed to get two cargoes 

 across by 11 a.m., and there were two more to go; the 

 boys and I could swim and get no wetter, for the canoe 

 was always full by the time it reached the other bank. 

 Meantime the cook was told to cook rice on the island 

 of stones where we were marooned, and on which, for- 

 tunately, there was plenty of dry driftwood. The boys 

 on the other shore had collected in force during our 

 aquatic sports, and finally when they saw the smoke 

 of our fire and recognized a number of Kohu peopl 



people collected on the bank had watched our perform- 

 ance with interest, and doubtless regarded my ducking 

 as part of the usual procedure of white nun crossing 

 the river. Ii would have been more like a spoils 

 me; ting had the crowd not been so very well aimed 

 with bows and arrows, and I should have felt more 

 heerful had I a dry pair of shorts to put on and had 

 the rest of my party not been standing on the opposite 

 side of that central arm. too far away to be cursed 

 at effectively. I picked out Feile from the mob, and 

 got some of the gentry io put down (heir arms, and 

 then by signs showing that I had no weapons, induced 

 the rest to do BO. I then spent two houis trying by 

 signs to get the people to send back for the remainder 

 of my gear and for my boys. Hy 5 p.m., they were 

 all over, and, headed by Feile, we marched oil* to a 

 hut and a lean-to shed, which 1 was assured was 



Waimeriba, Kogi as an interpreter is a failure here, 



as the language is different from the Kohu "talk," and 

 he could induce no Kohu boy to come along. 



I fear 



whole attitude of these 



have met. 



quite different from anything 



I 



jntr. 



Mv 



Utile iron box 



ther 





with us, they came dancing through the flood to us, 

 crossing arm after arm. Often all that could be seen 

 of the native was his two hands out of the water. TIow 

 he keeps his perpendicularity below water I could not 



I was to learn. After a few more failure- to 



boys of Waimeriba, of whom 



see. 



get cargoes across, the 



some seven had come over, volunteered to carry our 

 goods right across. While I could not see how it was 

 to be done, I gladly acquiesced in the suggestion, for 

 I did not see how we were going to cross the central 

 arm if the smaller one in front of us had almost beaten 

 us already. So we had lunch, and, making up the 

 loads into the smallest possible bundles, we gave tin 

 Waimeriba crowd the signal to pick them up and earry 

 them over. Crossing the minor arms was child's play 



Lost four 18-iu. knives, which is mysterious. 



they have been stolen. The 

 people is 



There were 52 boys on the beach, and they showed no 

 fear of me or mv boyg. and I hey have young boyfl among 

 them, so do not fear recruitment. They look like 

 "fight 7 ' at the least provocation. They have only 

 brought us a little kaikai, which, coupled with the loss 

 of the knives, is suspicions. My own people are scared, 

 but then they are always so. A serious mishap occurred 

 crossing a creek the other side of the Ramu this niorn- 



, containing papers and 



valuables, was dropped and swamped. Nothing \vj 

 said at the time, and the corporal only reported the 



(went to me at noon. When 1 opened it there was still 



3 inches of water in the box, and the condition of raj 

 note-bocks, &c, can he imagined. T had everything 



out in the sun to dry, including the watch, which 

 started bravely ticking again at 2 p.m. Fortunately, 

 my spare watch and most of my gear T have left at 

 Kohu, and 1 am travelling as light as possible. As a 

 rule, that box contains films and prints. What an 

 escape! My camera I sent back with Peter, who is to 

 dry it out again, and he and the police boy. Riarunga, 

 and l T lem, the boy with the bad foot, will slay behind 

 lo look after camp and dry out botanical material. The 

 watch is going all right, which is as well, afl I borrowed 



, in Madang. 



it from II 



5th April. — Left Waimeriba at 7 a.m., and mad 



south-west till we si ruck ihe Marea, which is a big river 



