Nciv Guinea in search of Paradise-birds. 199 



L.iiulinf;^ at Port Moresby, tlie scat of the Papuan Govern- 

 ment, on February 28th, we had to wait for ten days before we 

 could proceed to Yule Island, whence we proposed to enter the 

 interior; and during this enforced halt we were daily engaged 

 in getting together "trade " for the natives, and in endeavour- 

 ing to persuade one or two " boys " to join us as interpreters 

 and servants. Tins we found no easy matter. We would 

 interview a certain number, and all arrangements would 

 appear to he advancing satisfactorily until our destination was 

 mentioned. Then the excuses came out. One had married 

 a wife, another was l)usy in collecting a debt, and there 

 were other antiquated and annoying reasons which we found 

 it very difficult to overcome. It had so happened that 

 some mouths previous to our arrival a native policeman had 

 ])een killed and eaten somewhere in the vicinity of Mt. Yule, 

 toward which our proposed route stretched, though miles 

 away from the mountain itself. Our would-be guides and 

 interpreters unanimously declined to take any commercial 

 risks with their heads. Eventually we " signed on " three 

 youths for a six months' engagement, and straightway 

 started them off into the bush to see what they could 

 accomplish as entomologists. The results were poor, and 

 the next day we " signed o^'" one who was partially blind. 

 Before leaving Yule Island we had to discharge a second 

 boy, as the police there gave him so many harrowing 

 accounts of carriers who had disappeared mysteriously for 

 ever, added to other stories of a gruesome nature, that 

 an annoying attack of "funk^^ rendered him useless in 

 any capacity. Port Moresby lies inside a land-locked bay, 

 the entrance to which is difficult on account of numerous 

 reefs, while behind the town high and magnificent ranges 

 and spurs of the Owen-Stanley Mountains stretch for miles 

 parallel to the coast. Along the shore the foot-hills are 

 clothed in dense vegetation, occasional open patches reveal- 

 ing undulating slopes vivid with rank green grass. Large 

 masses of misty clouds frequently divide the inland ridges 

 and completely conceal the summits of many a lofty peak. 



The white residents at Port Moresby number about seventy, 



p2 



