8o PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



with rain-gauges for use at Wakatimi and Parimau, 

 where interesting observations might have been recorded 

 for a year or more. A roughly constructed rain-gauge, 

 which was used for a short time, more than once re- 

 corded a fall of over six inches of rain in one night, 

 and that was in the comparatively dry season of March. 



A great deal of the rain fell in thunderstorms. 

 From January 4th, 1910, to January 4th, 191 1, I heard 

 thunder on two hundred and ninety-five days, not 

 including days on which I saw distant lightning but did 

 not hear the thunder. 



Before we left England it was thought that the 

 party ought to include a geologist, but it was impossible 

 to add to our numbers, which were already sufficiently 

 great. As it fell out, we hardly reached geological 

 country at all and a geologist would have spent an idle 

 time, but there would have been plenty of occupation 

 for a well equipped hydrologist. 



The winds, whether from the East or from the West, 

 were very variable both in force and constancy. Some- 

 times there would blow a fierce wind for two or three 

 days followed by several days of calm. At other times 

 a steady wind would blow for two or three weeks and 

 so great would be the surf on the sea-shore that no 

 ship could approach the mouth of the river. The 

 wind usually dropped before sunset and the nights were 

 calm. 



It followed naturally from the heavy rainfall that 

 the nights were seldom clear, and at one time Marshall 

 waited for three months before he could take an obser- 

 vation from a star. But there were times even in the 



