i82 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



directions, and connections are established between one 

 river and another. As well as in the case of the Wa- 

 taikwa this was observed on the Utakwa river, close to 

 the foot of the mountains, and I believe the same thing 

 happens on the Kapare river. Further on in their 

 courses, when they approach the mangrove swamps 

 near the sea, the rivers again break up into an extra- 

 ordinary network of branches. Judging from the appear- 

 ance of the country and from the considerable changes, 

 which we observed in the case of the Wataikwa during a 

 period of only a few months, it is probable that these 

 great rivers change their courses very often. 



Whilst parties of coolies, rapidly diminishing in 

 numbers, were occupied at lengthening intervals in 

 transporting stores from Parimau to the camp on the 

 Wataikwa river, Rawling and Marshall had found a 

 way of crossing that river. It is true that there were 

 a great many days when it was quite impossible to cross 

 it, and there was always a certain amount of risk of 

 being swept away, not to mention the discomfort of 

 beginning your day's work by getting wet up to j^our 

 chest ; but it w^as absolutely necessary to continue cut- 

 ting the track, wet or dry. On the other side of the 

 river, they had tried to continue in the North-east direc- 

 tion' and had come to broken lumpy ground covered 

 with the densest jungle that we met with in any part 

 of the country. The trees were not so very big, indeed 

 most of them were quite small, but they were of a pecu- 

 liarly hard wood, which quickly blunted the kukris of 

 the Gurkhas and they grew so close together that it was 

 quite impossible to push your way between them. 



