CHAPTER V 



Arrival of our Ambonesc— Coolie Considerations— Canoes of the Natives 

 —Making Canoes— Preliminary Exploration of the Mimika— 

 Variable Tides— Completing the Camp— A Plague of Flies— Also 

 of Crickets— Making " Atap "—Trading with the Natives— Trade 

 Goods. 



After all the stores and equipment of the expedition 

 had been landed at Wakatimi, an operation which 

 took six days and some ten or more journey's of the 

 steam launch towing many boats to accomphsh, the 

 Nias returned to Dobo, and brought back from there 

 on the 14th January our Ambonese coolies, who had 

 arrived there by mail steamer from Amboina. To 

 those of us who had had experience of native carriers 

 in other countries, the appearance of the ninety-six 

 Ambonese came as something of a shock. When the 

 boats crowded with them came within sight of the camp 

 the natives cried out that our women were coming, and 

 they might well be excused for their mistake. With 

 their wide straw hats and coloured coats and shirts and 

 gay sarongs they had not much the appearance of men, 

 and we wondered what sort of people they would be 

 to force a way through the trackless country. When 

 they landed, our first impression of their unsuitableness 

 was rather strengthened than otherwise. Every man 

 (to give them a dignity which very few of them deserved) 

 had a large wooden or tin box as well as a huge bundle 



