4 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



to Dobo in the Aru Islands would have been most costly, 

 and from there we should have been obliged to charter 

 a special steamer to convey the expedition to the shores 

 of New Guinea. 



When we left England we had the intention of ap- 

 proaching the Snow^ Mountains by way of the Utakwa 

 River, which was the only river shown by the maps 

 obtainable at that time approaching the mountains. 

 After a consultation with the Military and Geographical 

 Departments at Batavia it was decided that, owing to 

 the bad accounts which had been received of the Utakwa 

 River and the comparatively favourable reports of the 

 Mimika River, the latter should be chosen as the point 

 of our entry into the country. This decision, though we 

 little suspected it at the time, effectually put an end to 

 our chance of reaching the Snow Mountains. 



During the month of December, while stores were 

 being accumulated, and the steamer was being prepared 

 for our use, we had leisure to visit, and in the case of 

 some of us to revisit, some of the most interesting places 

 in Java. A large German ship filled with fourteen 

 hundred American tourists arrived at Batavia whilst we 

 were there, and the passengers " did " Java, apparently 

 to their satisfaction, in forty-eight hours. But a tourist 

 with more time could find occupation for as many days 

 and still leave much to be seen. Germans and Americans 

 outnumber English visitors by nearl}'' fifty to one, and 

 it is to be deplored that Englishmen do not go there in 

 larger numbers, for they would see in Java, not to mention 

 the beauty of its scenery, perhaps the most successful 

 tropical dependency in the world, a vast monument to 



