12 rUCJCEEDINGS OF THE 



Mr. W. R. Ogilme-Grant : Mr. President and Erother 

 Members, — In the circular letter which I have addressed to 

 every Member of the Union, I suggested that it might be 

 possible to do something more than has yet been done to 

 celebrate the Jubilee of our great Ornithologists' Union, 

 and with this aim in view I laid before you a proposal, and 

 invited your co-operation in the scheme for the exploration 

 of the Charles Louis Mountains in Dutch New Guinea. The 

 Charles Louis Mountains are believed to rise to an altitude of 

 from 16,500 to 17,500 feet, and, if so, are by far the highest 

 gx'ound between the Himalayas and the Andes. German 

 New Guinea and British New Guinea have been more or less 

 worked ; but practically the whole of the great interior of 

 New Guinea has not been touched at all, so that the Charles 

 Louis Mountains are at the present time beyond doubt the 

 finest unknown ground in the Avorld. For a number of years 

 I have been eagerly watching for an opportunity of sending 

 out an Expedition for the exploration of this great range, 

 but until quite recently the risk attending such an attempt 

 rendered its chances of success too small to justify the 

 experiment. 



Now this is all changed, and, acting on reliable information 

 which has lately been supplied to me by Mr. Walter Good- 

 fellow, the well-known traveller, I have determined to try 

 and organise an Expedition. In the first place I secured the 

 services of Mr. Goodfellow, as I felt confident that if anyone 

 could successfully lead an Expedition into these mountains, 

 he would do so. With his help I have carefully worked out, 

 as far as possible, the details of the scheme, and find that he 

 has been able to make specially favorable arrangements for 

 obtaining porters, thus overcoming the greatest difficulty, 

 namely, transport. The services of two other well-known 

 naturalists with previous experience of New Guinea have 

 also been obtained. With the generous help of various 

 friends, most of whom are members of the Union, I have 

 already been able to raise a considerable sum of money, 

 sufficient to meet the working expenses for a short time. 

 Eut without greater resources the Expedition cannot remain 



