AT FOOT OF THE SNOW MOUNTAINS 213 



The Canoe Camp was situated on the right-hand 

 branch of the Oetakwa. The journey to it was about 

 three hours by steamer, then eighteen hours by launch, 

 and then a day and half by canoe journey. The last 

 stage of the river is nothing but a succession of rapids, 

 which generally are negotiated by aid of a tow-rope. 



I bought two canoes at the mouth of the river from 

 the natives, but found them absolutely impracticable 

 in the rapids and left them behind. I had to depend 

 entirely then on the Bornean canoes belonging to the 

 Dutch Military Expedition. 



When I got to Canoe Camp I found that the Dutch 

 expedition was only a day or two ahead, and as the 

 country looked fairly promising for lepidoptera I 

 thought it best to start collecting, and so put up a 

 grass house and made a camp there. It was impos- 

 sible to enlist any help from the natives of the district. 

 They were wild and nomadic in their habits, very 

 timid and very dishonest. One saw them but seldom, 

 and when they came to the camp it was usually in big 

 numbers with the idea of thieving. They were of fine 

 stature and wore little dress. Some of them indeed 

 were stark naked. Their chief weapon was the bow 

 and arrow and they had no spears, but used a kind of 

 lance which was headed by the sharpened thigh-bone 

 of the cassowary. 



At this camp my first discovery of any note was a 

 new sub-species of a Bird of Paradise. It is very 

 closely allied to another species called Parotia carolae. 



