1D9 



picked up the signs of the deserting population, and 

 following these up came out on the grass lands above. 

 The inhabitants had lefi hastily that 



morning, 

 they had dropped taro, bananas, &c, on the way, which 

 helped us considerably. We travelled fast, but the hills 

 are steep, and we were very much out of breath when 

 we sighted a party of eight natives 2,000 yards away. 

 We gave chase, but were unable to gain on them; at 

 the same time a party appeared on the hill we had just 

 left, and another on our right, 

 the same distance away now 



and night. 



my supplies in any case were low. Listed everything, 

 and then set a guard and arranged relict through the 



They all were about 



and 



1,500 yards 



we 



stopped to see what they would do ; bur they only stood 

 and shouted and danced and waved their spears and 

 bows. Whenever we moved towards a party they moved 

 on, and so it was necessary to divide our number, and 



11 th April. — We had to abandon two empty boxes, 

 and some worn rice swags, otherwise, thanks to the 

 natives, our gear was light enough for my eight boys 

 and our prisoner — who carried a precious remnant of a 

 sw 7 ag of rice — to manage. We left Kohu at 7 a.m., and 

 reached the Giagolo River without incident, and taking 

 a fairly well-beaten trail through very muddy country, 

 peached the Sola, where we lunched. We had been 

 lucky in coming across wild pig at the Giagolo, and 

 Jack, forgetting his swollen leg, managed to shoot a 

 young one. I missed a big one. So we had roast pork 

 for lunch, and the boys had taro we had robbed from 



I was just arranging to do this— tin corporal and 1 to l^l £ T a a ju i a! ^ n * 



^ m iiU.«wi *£ ** ~*i.~ ~.i;^ u— A „ ..^u„ the Kohu gardens, and I had rice. At the village oi 



go one way and the two other police-boys to go another 

 when we discovered two natives in a gully 550-600 yards 

 away. They were in long grass, and were making up 



Saleba, we got n>ews of the police-boy who passed 

 through on Tuesday, I think, without his rifle cr belt, 

 and of the boy with the bad foot who passed through 



the gully as fast as they could without giving: them- n«^„: ««, A u „, ,i -, rw? -n i t j. 



i & J T , * J , . ,, t f ?. ,. Bcroai, our old route, on the same day. Of Peter T can get 



selves away. 1 sent Angep to cut them off, and taking ^ „^ , n i • i ■,• • , tit i j. • 



fi,« ^^v. ^a t „± t u * j ^ i.- no news at all > which disquiets m:\ We let our prisoner 



the corporals rifle 1 put tour shots round these natives, •, i , a i u ^ i i. x. • *•■ ji ± 



r r g° back at baleba, the people there being friendly to 



her, and promising to get her heme safely. I had now 



which had the effect of making them Ik down tio"ht, 



and making the other parties on the hills around dance i • i- , , - . -, 



the harder. Angep got round all right, but o*e native J±"^ "™5 J° *i ^ "S^J" .5™' \t 



managed to elude him by sneaking up a gully. He 

 couldn't find the other for a long time, but at last we 

 saw him drop his rifle and jump on something, 

 prisoner turned out to be a woman, and although w T e 

 had all had a bad time, and felt rather 



His 



we 



sore, 



laughed uproariously at the sight of the very heroic 

 Angep returning with a female prisoner. 



The paities on the hills around had all increased. 1 

 judged that there were not only Kohu people, but 

 those of Hanep and Koaki. They wene obviously very 

 anxious to fight something, but apparently not peopl- 

 with rilles. for I could get no nearer than 1,500 yards, 



and I decided not to divide my party of four as I could cleared a good L , 



from an intelligence stand-point she was useless. We 

 made Kaduba at dusk where we were well received. A 



clear night. Latitude 5 degrees 40 minutes 36 seconds 



(mean of three observations). Found a very beautiful 

 tree orchid. 



12th April. — Made Ongornna in four hours; there we 

 were welcomed by Tumnrro and his people. The police 

 boy left two days ago for Kwato, so we are close on his 

 tracks. We pushed on and camped near Bieli. On 



my last journey I suggested to- Tumnrro that while the 



trail was a good one for pigs, it might be improved 



for human use. Much to my astonishment, he has 



n 



right through, and tried here 



not trust my police, except Angep, not to shoot indis- 

 criminately, once trouble started. Kogi translated 

 some of the shouts that came to us, and which made 

 him angry. Gibes at the morals of our female relatives, 

 a3 far as Kogi could explain them. Angep's prisoner 

 could tell us no more than we had already heard, viz., 

 that th»e three boys had got safely away to Ongornna. 

 Questions aimed at getting some idea of the motive be- 

 hind the needless destruction, produced nothing but 

 protestations and laments, Kogi had great difficulty in 

 understanding her at all, and it sleemed to me that he 

 caught only a word or two here and there. She seemed 

 to say that Sarawai was badly wounded, which is queer, 

 but when asked to take us to him, she became hopeless 



again. 



I haven't supplies now to wait a day 



longer 



here, and it would take three weeks to get the people 

 in hand again, and another three police-boys would be 

 necessary. There is a serious risk of our being waylaid 

 when strung out on the march home, and so I decided 



1 



that I had better give the inhabitants a good fright 

 and pull out as quickly as possible. So with the cor- 

 poral's rifle I put several bullets as close as I dared to 

 the various parties on the hills. The result was as I 

 expected, they ducked and ran, and soon we had the 

 whole expanse of those grassed foothills to ourselves, 

 and not a native was in sight anywhere. We searched 

 on through other little huts, but except for the find of 

 the 5-chain tape, recovered nothing of importance, and 

 pretty well picked up bits of everything I had owned. 

 We continued the search all afternoon, but found 

 nothing, and only sighted four natives towards Koake. 

 The fortunate thing is that the three boys got away. 

 That the police-boy ran for it may have been the best 

 thing he could do. The loss of over 200 specimens, 

 both leaf, flowers, and timber, is the most serious, and 

 like my diary photograph's, and notes of longitudes and 



and there to pick a gradient. A nasty wet camp. No 



news of Peter and the other bow 



13th April. — Left camp at 7 and, taking a new trail 

 through Aladeloi, which took us up and down a good 

 deal, and crossed the two largest heads of the Hoku, we 

 finally climbed to the divide, and from there dropped 

 down a cleared track to Kwato. This track was made 

 by the German administration, which intended setting 

 Up a sanatorium on the divide at about 3,500 feet. It 

 is curious that the people of Kwato and Yalu never 

 mentioned this excellent old trail, which is, in the wet 



season, the best and quickest route from Bogadjim to 



the Raiim. The road comes down a long spur which 

 divides the Mindjim from the loworro. The Mindjim 

 route is the shortest in the dry season, but 1 do not 

 recommend it to anyone in the wet. At Kwato, T 



found all was excitement. The police boy had gone 



through, but said nothing, excepl that master has sent 

 him with a paper to Madang. In not talking, he 

 showed a very commendable discretion. At Madang, 

 however, he reported matters to the D.O., with the im- 

 mediate result that every Luluai and Tultul was warned 

 to hold himself in readiness; and the patrol officer 

 (Captain Ellis) and as large a force of armed police as 

 could be spared was sent out to my rescue. The parly 

 arrived at Kwato an hour after I did. which was very 

 quick work. T was very glad to see Ellis and his tucker 

 box, for I was a little hungry. The other native had 

 goi through all right, but there was no news of Peter. 

 What has been puzzling me all along was now ex- 

 plained, and that was the motive behind the ageless 



destruction perpetrated by the Kassowai people. Police 

 boy Malunga has told the story, and it appears that my 

 corporal of police and another pel ice boy and my in- 

 terpreter Kogi, had on the 30th March, when returning 



from the Rami] to report on the possibility of fording, 



latitude? cannot be replaced. The rest is a monetary had come across hut e where s« me of the women of Kohu 

 loss, and fortunately it is not very heavy considering were living. One woman was raped. Interference with 

 everything, for T am at the end of my journey, and women is, as is well known to every me followed by 



