2o8 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



On the credit side of their intelligence must be placed 

 their admirably constructed houses, their decorated 

 arrows and ingeniously woven bags, and their cultivation. 



As well as the village and clearing of Wambiri Merbiri 

 we saw other small patches of cleared ground on the 

 spurs of Mount Tapiro, and on the slopes of Mount 

 Tuaba we saw from a distance another large clearing 

 which we were never able to reach. Farther to the East 

 we saw no sign of them and we were informed by the 

 Papuans that there were no more in that direction. That 

 is probably true, for the mountains are so excessively 

 steep to the East of Mount Tuaba that there appears to 

 be no country suitable for them. It seems likely that 

 we were fortunate enough to meet these people at the 

 Eastern limit of their range and that more of them would 

 be found living in the hills N.W. from the Kapare River 

 towards the Charles Louis Mountains, where the slopes 

 are less steep than in the Nassau Range. The thick- 

 coated dog, which was brought down to Parimau by the 

 Tapiro (see p. 126), might suggest that they have dealings 

 with other natives living high up in the mountains, but 

 so far we have no definite knowledge of the existence of 

 such a people. 



This account of our observations, which were neces- 

 sarily very superficial, will suffice to show that there is a 

 most promising field for some future investigator, who 

 has opportunity and time to spend among these most 

 interesting people. 



