22 
Even on the march when resting for meals the Papuans invariably sorted 
themselves into their own family groups. Notwithstandin g the heterogeneous 
nature of the party—over forty carriers, wen, women, and children, the men 
in most cases accompanied by their wives and other children, with the hill 
people joined on,—I never heard any complaint from the Serzan nor a 
discordant note or quarrel. 
No doubt the presence of my staunch friends Manao and Waspiri, both 
very fine men, and that of old Basi, the korano of another “ campong,”’ a 
fund of quaint humour and good temper, who had been up several times 
before, had a great deal to do with this result. There were, however, many 
outside elements over which their control was not acknowledged ; but the 
absence of bad temper and quarrelsomeness is always a distinguishing 
feature of primitive people who have been spared contact with our so-called 
civilization. 
The next morning, after some hours’ progress along the crest, we emerged 
from the small forest into a lower scrub, to look down on to the brilliant blue 
waters of a lovely lake, surrounded by slopes and ridges wooded to the water’s 
edge as they ran into the lake, intersected by the white beaches of many bays 
of varying size and outline. This lake lies in a trough between the ridge we 
were on and Koebré Mountain, of which the bare summit with a few scattered 
trees limits the sky-line west, as it rises straight from the water’s edge, except 
for a little cultivated land where the few Alfuero houses were dotted along 
the shores. One or two moving spots on the water showed that these people 
were observing us from the frail rafts made of three palm-stems tied together, 
which are their only means of transport (Pl. 1. fig. 2). 
On the eastern side at one’s feet the prevailing forest runs down to the 
water’s edge where the banks are steep (Pl. 2. fig. 4), but where the slopes 
are gradual it is replaced by an open marsh bordering this side of the lake, on 
which some long spinneys and an isolated forest-patch intrude (Pl. 2. fig. 3). 
Intersected about the centre by a few forest-clad lateral spurs from the 
S.W. ridge, the marsh sweeps round to the north, where a break in the hills 
marks the exit of the Tilaan River. This northern portion was not touched 
by me in the course of this work. 
Angi Lakes. 
Turning abruptly to the right, we descended steeply over roots and 
trunks of trees through a sheltered mossy forest, then splashing over logs 
and bog on to the marsh. Here it was open and easy walking where water 
streams over the coarse quartz sand, bright with Riedelias, Dendrobiums, 
and Rhododendrons, but impassible where boggy and covered with fern and 
sedge. 
The marsh is not a natural association, but it is kept open by the Alfueros, 
who were busy burning it off during our stay ; a practice which no doubt 
