170 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



night with us and at dinner, though I was in a minority 

 of one to six, with characteristic courtesy they all spoke 

 English ; the entertainment, assisted by luxuries brought 

 from the Java, lasted until the small hours, and it was 

 the pleasantest evening I spent in New Guinea. 



The Java brought for us the long-expected steam 

 launch, and its career began, as it ended, with disaster. 

 Before dawn one of the men of the boat wished to fetch 

 something that he had left on the launch, which was 

 moored in the river about fifteen yards from the bank. 

 The sentry on duty did his best to prevent him, because 

 it was a rule of the camp that no man was allowed to 

 bathe before sunrise, but he insisted on swimming out to 

 the launch. In a few yards he found that the current 

 was stronger than he had expected, he called for help, 

 and in a few moments a canoe set out in the gloom to 

 look for him, but no more was seen of him until his 

 body was recovered by the natives at the mouth of the 

 Mimika a few days later. Shortly after the accident 

 happened our guests left us on their way back to Europe, 

 and we watched their departure with somewhat envious 

 eyes. 



The history of the middle period of the expedition, 

 that is to say, from April to December, is chiefly a his- 

 tory of floods and sickness and disappointment. In the 

 middle of April Goodfellow, who had gone away early in 

 March, returned with a fresh batch of forty-eight coolies, 

 whom he had recruited in Banda and Amboina. About 

 a half of these men were natives of the island of Buton, 

 and the rest were Ambonesc, and though they were the 

 best men that could be found at such short notice, and 



