iy 



THE ISLAND RIVER 217 



objects of the expedition was to cross New Guinea from 

 South to North, and it was hoped that from the furthest 

 point they had reached they would soon arrive at one of 

 the upper tributaries of the Kaiserin Augusta, the large 

 river which enters the sea in German territory. They 

 were at that time busily occupied in transporting supplies 

 up to their furthest camp with a view to continuing the 

 journey, but shortly afterwards the expedition was 

 crippled by sickness and the project was abandoned. 

 We spent two days alongside of the Swallow transferring 

 to her the stores and many of the men that we had 

 brought from the Utakwa and taking away the sick and 

 time-expired members of the Island River expedition, 

 amongst them being Lieut. Van der Wenn of the Nether- 

 lands Navy, who was attached to the expedition as 

 surveyor. 



On our way down the Island River we saw many 

 things which we had missed on the way up, because we 

 had entered the river and steamed up through several 

 hours of darkness. First we came to isolated houses by _ 

 the river bank of the same type as the Mimika houses, ^^ 

 but larger and better built ; near them we saw a few 

 natives, who appeared to be very shy and retreated hastil}' 

 into the jungle when the steamer approached. 



Lower down, when we were within about thirty miles 

 of the sea, we came to a large village of fifty or sixty 

 houses, some of which were raised on piles near the edge 

 of the river and the others were built in the trees, where 

 they presented a most astonishing appearance. They 

 are square and apparently well-made houses with ridge- 

 pole roof and walls of " atap," the entrance is by a hole 



