23 



facilitates drainage, as the small rivulets, issuing from the slopes, which 

 stream over the marsh to drain into the lake, would form a water-logged 

 area under forest conditions, impeding access to and from the lake. This 

 is no doubt what the Papuans imply when they explain the burning by 

 saying that it keeps the ground u panas" or dry. But more important still 

 is the fact that the houses on the opposite side command the whole of this 

 cleared area, so that the arrival of strangers can be controlled and warning 

 received in case of hostile attack. 



The practice of burning areas for observation or otherwise must always 

 have been prevalent in the Arfak, as Forrest, in 1705 (1, 108), whose stay at 

 Dorei Bay coincided with a very dry January, saw from there " many great 

 fires on the mountains of Arfak." 



Passing over the central portion of the marsh, we made our way to some 

 rising ground, where the camp was pitched in front of an isolated forest 

 patch facing the lake, from which it was separated by a muddy tract, where 

 Juncus lampocarpus predominated. This tract soon became a morass from 

 the constant Papuan traffic to and from the lake, where a long white beach 

 formed the landing-stage of the native rafts. 



The day after our arrival the Alfueros streamed over to visit us, accom- 

 panied as usual by wives, children, and babies. Wearing no clothes, many 

 were plastered over with some black pigment, possibly for greater warmth. 

 They brought to trade "ubi," corn-cobs, tobacco, and splendid potatoes. The 

 latter, grown on the upper lake, were a most welcome delicacy after unlimited 

 sweet potatoes, and as much appreciated by the Malays and Papuans as by 

 myself. My people traded everything that could be scraped together for 

 them and for the tobacco, which was said to be of very good quality. The 

 " Pradjoerit" and " Orang rante" exchanged their salt rations and matches, 

 relying with touching faith on my supplies, even parting with the buttons on 

 their uniforms. The Papuans traded their rice and sago rations, to return 

 to the coast exhausted as a result of an " ubi " diet. St. Vrsiz (15, 235) 

 mentions potatoes as doing well at Hatam, where they had been introduced 

 for twenty years through the Missionary Woelders from Andai. The 

 tobacco was carried at the top of long poles, rolled into large pointed ellipses, 

 which looked like clubs. 



In 1857 (8, 75), when the northern part of the Arfak was visited by 

 members of the * Etna ' Expedition, they were told that tobacco was not 

 grown on the north side but on the east, and that it was distributed from 

 Hatam to Amberbaki, Dorei, and the south-west coast of Geelvink Bay. 

 That it should be easiest to bring this appreciated article three days' journey 

 down from Hatam to Andai, and then by " prau " along the coast, in prefer- 

 ence to the two to five days' journey from the Angi lakes, proves how little 

 intercourse there is between the Hill and Coast tribes, and also what a 

 natural boundary the inundation "korang" belt forms. 



