IN CENTRAL DUTCH NEW GUINEA 221 



have been resented so strongly by the natives of the 

 district as it was ; but had I known I would still have 

 had to take the risk. 



Life was there particularly miserable. At night 

 the cold was intense, a damp, moist cold like that 

 during the worst of a London fog. By day the 

 weather was, when not cold and damp, humid. Never 

 was there a clear, bright air. The forest trees, 

 festooned with mosses which hung from the branches 

 down to the very ground; the soil, covered with 

 lichens which gave a foothold such as a soaking-wet 

 sponge would these gave always an impression of 

 damp unwholesomeness. It was rare to be dry. The 

 earth was wet, the trees wet, the atmosphere dripping 

 always. To add to our hardships the food-supply 

 was necessarily poor. It was impossible to obtain 

 any provisions locally. All that we ate had to be 

 carried a four-days' march from the Canoe Camp. 



On the other hand, the collecting was simply 

 glorious. The very first bird I shot was a new species 

 of Bird of Paradise. 1 I collected there also specimens 

 of the most beautiful Bird of Paradise that I know, 

 the Astrapia splendidissima. I thought that this 

 was a new discovery, and was much disappointed 

 when I found out subsequently that Mr. Rothschild 

 had described it fifteen years previously. I was 



1 The new Bird of Paradise mentioned by Mr. Meek is the very 

 interesting Paradigalla brevicauda, described by Mr. Rothschild and 

 myself ; a coloured plate is published in the Ibis for 1912. E. H. 



