191;'.] on The Pygmies of New Guinea 771 



the hills, could be undertaken until the arrival of fresh coolies from 

 Macassar. These arrived on December 28, but were most dis- 

 appointing from the point of view of physique and carrying power. 

 Within two months more than half of these were on the sick list and 

 had to be invalided out of the country. Three months' stores were 

 now rapidly accumulated at Parimau. From thence one hundred 

 and ten loads were collected on the Wataikwa. It was necessary to 

 move in two, and on one occasion in three, parties, relays being the 

 most economical way to accumulate stores at the front, while at the 

 same time carrying on the work. Marshall and Grant therefore 

 moved first, carrying a certain amount of stores to the Iwaka, and 

 then continuing the path up the right bank of that river for two 

 marches in a search for a crossing place, and there formed a fresh 

 base camp. In this search they were not successful, for the river 

 showed no signs of diminishing in volume, was found to run from 

 the north, and not from the east as we had hoped, was unfordable 

 anywhere, and too broad for a felled tree to form a temporary bridge. 

 On AYollaston's and my arrival, ten days' food supplies were in hand ; 

 the river had been well prospected to the north, and it was evident 

 that a crossing had to be made by some means or other. 



Our intention ^vas to reach the summit of a range of hills which 

 foi'med an almost complete circle, and from whence a full view of the 

 snows and main range might be obtained. As I said before, but ten 

 day's supplies were in hand, and if this object was to be ol)tained an 

 innnediate move was imperative. Fresh efforts were made to fell 

 trees across the river, but all attempts proved fruitless. Large trees 

 were scarce, and those which fell correctly either broke their backs 

 or were at once swept away by the current. 



Late that night, however, luck changed, and the Gurkhas suc- 

 ceeded in felling one tree which held long enough for a single strand 

 of rattan to be drawn across in position. In two days more, thanks 

 to the pluck and cleverness of the Gurkhas, the bridge was complete. 

 An immediate advance was made to the east, for only eight days' 

 supplies remained. We were now on a branch of the Wania River, 

 and up this new bed we advanced for two days. On account of the 

 roughness of the road and the denseness of the vegetation slow pro- 

 gress was made, so slow in fact that it was soon realized that by this 

 route the summit of the range could not possibly be reached with the 

 amount of provisions still in hand. We therefore cut up a spur 

 lying directly to the east, reached a height of 3U00 feet that night, 

 and the summit of the hill (5500 ft.) the day following. The going 

 underfoot was such as we had never before experienced, for so dense 

 was the mass of live and dead timber, that the path had to be made 

 over and through the forest, solid ground not being found that day 

 or the next, when a small party advanced along the crest. At the 

 greatest height (GoOO ft.) a fine point of observation was found, l)ut 

 on account of the clouds which early collected no view could be 



