Papuan Thnhers. 21 



It is to be regretted that botanical specimens were not pro- 

 cured at the same time, submitted to one of Australia's eminent 

 botanists and placed on record for reference, thus placing in 

 the hands of those seeking reliable information a ready means 

 of identifying the various species in the several districts. 

 Another source of confusion is likely to arise, through the way 

 in which a word describing a tree is spelt. As with children 

 so with most of the island natives the letter R is a great diflfi- 

 culty, and L is nearly always substituted, hence Aru7m may 

 become Alulu, Arac/a, Alaga, etc. This has already occurred 

 in two out of the six species which are referred to in tho 

 following pages. 



The author is not aware that any serious attempt has been 

 made so far to collect and classify the flora of Papua, but it 

 is known that Avhile the great majority of the flora is peculiar 

 to Papua, there are representatives of the mainland also 

 grow^ing there. 



In fulfilment of a promise by the Secretary for External 

 Affairs, the author received six species of Papuan woods ujDon 

 the understanding that they should be submitted to the usual 

 mechanical tests and a report furnished. The colloquial names 

 supplied with the specimens were Ulabo, Alaga, Tamonaii, 

 Kokoila, JIad(we and Ilimo. With the exception of the first 

 two, the spelling used by Mr. Burnett has been adopted. In 

 the case of the two mentioned, it is possible that the spelling 

 of one or other of the authorities may be incorrect, but from 

 the description in the Catalogue, they evidently apply to Uraba 

 and Araga. 



All the specimens were of fair quality, more or less seasoned, 

 and measured nine feet long by six inches wide and four inches 

 deep. With the exception of Madave (only one piece being 

 sent), two pieces of each were forwarded. These were cut to 

 lengths of four feet six inches, and subjected to the cross-break- 

 ing test, after which they were cut up into specimens for 

 end-grain compression, tension, shearing, bending, charcoal and 

 ash tests. The percentage of moisture in each tested specimen 

 was ascertained, and the change in colour due to heating 

 noted, and also the amount of moisture reabsorbed after drying. 



The weights per cubic foot were calculated from the dimen- 



