New Guinea in search of Parudise-hirds. 205 



seemed fairly plentiful in the neighbourhood, judginj; by its 

 continuous calling, 1 took, a short stroll along the track and 

 saw some White Cockatoos and Hornbills, and heard some 

 Goura Pigeons. I also caught fleeting glimpses of smaller 

 birds, with which I was unfortunately unacquainted. Towards 

 evening a few carriers came into the camp with three walla- 

 bies, which they had run down with their dogs. Heni-Keni 

 worked hard in skinning one, but soon tired of this business, 

 as I was too busy with the birds and could not give him 

 much assistance. 1 boiled the heads of the other two for 

 the sake of their skulls, while the men roasted and ate the 

 bodies. The third and last day's march began about 

 9 A.M., and we arrived at Madiu about 3 p.m. The track 

 was very tortuous and crossed endless ravines, down which 

 flowed numerous small streamlets. The jungle became 

 grander if possible than anything I had so far seen ; and I 

 observed many huge trees with their trunks split up into a 

 network of roots some distance above the ground, while others 

 were supported by means of huge flying buttresses. About 

 midday the rain descended in torrents, and we became 

 drenched and thoroughly tired by the seemingly endless 

 marching. At the summit of a high hill, cleared of bushes, 

 we found a large house into which we entered, while the 

 carriers went to a tumbledown shelter or squatted down under 

 the flooring of the first building. The view from this spot 

 was exceedingly fine — wide and very precipitous ravines and 

 mountain-slopes, with hardly a sign of any clearing with the 

 exception of the small village of Ihaevala. This lay some 

 considerable distance off across a deep valley, and was just 

 discernible through the jungle. Far away to the north-west 

 stretched several ranges, with Mt. Yule on the horizon. But 

 the view was frequently concealed during the day by clouds 

 or showers of heavy rain. Next morning I paid oft' about 

 twenty-four carriers with tobacco and large knives, and they 

 departed in great haste, whooping with satisfaction, down into 

 the valleys immediately below our camping-site. Aihegetta 

 arrived in the afternoon with eleven carriers and brought a 

 note from Stalker stating that he expected to join me in a 



