ee mee me ee See eT Ue ea 
23 
facilitates drainage, as the small rivulets, issuing from the slopes, which 
stream over the marsh to drain into the lake, would form a water-logged 
area under forest conditions, impeding access to and from the lake. This 
is no doubt what the Papuans imply when they explain the burning by 
saying that it keeps the ground “ panas” or dry. But more important still 
is the fact that the houses on the oppesite side command the whole of this 
cleared area, so that the arrival of strangers can be controlled and warning 
received in case of hostile attack. 
The practice of burning areas for observation or otherwise must always 
have been prevalent in the Arfak, as Forrest, in 1705 (1, 108), whose stay at 
Dorei Boy coincided with a very dry January, saw from there “many great 
fires on the mountains of Arfak.”’ 
Passing over the central portion of the marsh, we made our way to some 
rising ground, where the camp was pitched in front of an isolated forest 
patch facing the lake, from which it was separated by a muddy tract, where 
Juncus lampocarpus predominated. This tract soon became a morass from 
the constant Papuan traffic to and from the lake, where a long white beach 
formed the landing-stage of the native rafts. 
The day after our arrival the Alfueros streamed over to visit us, accom- 
panied as usual by wives, children, and babies. Wearing no clothes, many 
were plastered over with some black pigment, possibly for greater warmth. 
They brought to trade “ ubi,” corn-cobs, tobacco, and splendid potatoes. The 
latter, grown on the upper lake, were a most welcome delicacy after unlimited 
sweet potatoes, and as much appreciated by the Malays and Papuans as by 
myself. My people traded everything that could be scraped together for 
them and for the tobacco, which was said to be of very good quality. The 
“ Pradjoerit” and “ Orang ranté” exchanged their salt rations and matches, 
relying with touching faith on my supplies, even parting with the buttons on 
their uniforms. The Papuans traded their rice and sago rations, te return 
to the coast exhausted as a result of an “ubi” diet. St. Vraz (15, 235) 
mentions potatoes as doing well at Hatam, where they had been introduced 
for twenty years through the Missionary Woelders from Andai. The 
tobacco was carried at the top of long poles, rolled into large pointed ellipses, 
which looked like clubs. 
In 1857 (8, 75), when the northern part of the Arfak was visited by 
members of the ‘Etna’ Expedition, they were told that tobacco was not 
grown on the north side but on the east, and that it was distributed from 
Hatam to Amberbaki, Dorei, and the south-west coast of Geelvink Bay. 
That it should be easiest to bring this appreciated article three days’ journey — 
down from Hatam to Andai, and then by “ prau” along the coast, in prefer- 
ence to the two to five days’ journey from the Angi lakes, proves how little 
intercourse there is between the Hill and Coast tribes, and also what a 
natural boundary the inundation “ korang ” belt forms. 
