242 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



wondered whether we should be the last as well as being 

 the first Europeans to penetrate into that forsaken 

 region. It has been mapped now, and our wanderings 

 have shown that it is not the wa}/ by which any sane 

 person would go who wished to explore the Snow ]\Ioun- 

 tains. It is a region absolutely without inhabitants, 

 and the Papuans, who live on the upper waters of the 

 x- Mimika and Kamura rivers, shun it even as a hunting 

 ground. There are no precious metals or other pro- 

 ducts of the soil to be won, and not until all the other 

 forests in the world are cut down will its timber be of 

 value. So it may safely be supposed that it will long 

 be left untouched ; the Birds of Paradise will call by 

 day, the cassowaries will boom by night, and the leeches 

 will stretch themselves anxiousl}' on their leaves, but it 

 will be a long time before another white man comes to 

 disturb them. 



Many people have the idea that a tropical forest is 

 full of gorgeous flowers, about which brilliant butter- 

 flies are constantly flitting and birds of splendid plumage 

 flash from tree to tree. This idea is no doubt due in a 

 great measure to the habit of gathering together in hot- 

 houses the flowering plants of all the Tropics, though 

 they may have come from Central America, from Africa 

 and from Borneo or Java. It is true that there are 

 many splendid birds, but the vegetation is so dense 

 that you seldom, if ever, see them ; the brilliant butter- 

 flies are mostly out of sight near the topmost branches 

 of the trees ; and you may travel for days together 

 without seeing a single flowering plant. Many of the 

 trees are covered with orchids on all their branches, but 



