230 A NATURALIST IN CANNIBAL LAND 



the Canoe Camp, and I soon recovered a fair degree of 

 health. In truth I had been upset by the sight of the 

 death of my boys rather than actually afflicted with 

 any definite disease, though of course I was seriously 

 run down owing to the hardships of the expedition. 



I had become very fond of my boys after seeing 

 them working by the side of the Malay coolies of the 

 Dutch : and the Dutch people, too, very greatly 

 admired my boys from British New Guinea for their 

 cheerfulness, endurance and capacity for work. They 

 reckoned they would sooner have fifty of my chaps 

 than a couple of hundred of their own coolies. 



After leaving Central Dutch New Guinea in March 

 1911, I indulged myself in a long spell in Australia, 

 visiting as usual my friends the Barnards. Then I 

 decided to visit London, partly for a conference with 

 the Hon. Walter Rothschild and Dr. Hartert and Dr. 

 Jordan, of the Tring Museum; partly with an idea 

 of following the advice which had been urged on me 

 by friends for many years of preparing for the press 

 a book giving some record of my experiences in the 

 South Sea Islands ; but chiefly to pay a visit to my 

 parents. 



In undertaking the task of writing a book, I felt that 

 I was entering upon an expedition into absolutely 

 unknown country ; not without its dangers probably : 

 not without its hardships certainly. But the urging 

 of friends was insistent : and I came at last to agree 

 with them that there might be some grains of rice to 



