PREFACE 



Ever since my camping life with the aborigines of 

 Queensland, many years ago, it has been my desire to 

 explore New Guinea, the promised land of all who are 

 fond of nature and ambitious to discover fresh secrets. 

 In furtherance of this purpose their Majesties, the King 

 and Queen of Norway, the Norwegian Geographical So- 

 ciety, the Royal Geographical Society of London, and 

 Koninklijk Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, 

 generously assisted me with grants, thus facilitating my 

 efforts to raise the necessary funds. Subscriptions were 

 received in Norway, also from American and English 

 friends, and after purchasing the principal part of my 

 outfit in London, I departed for New York in the au- 

 tumn of 1913, en route for the Dutch Indies. In 1914, 

 having first paid a visit to the Bulungan, in northeast 

 Borneo, in order to engage the necessary Dayaks, I was 

 preparing to start for Dutch New Guinea when the war 

 broke out. 



Under these changed conditions his Excellency, tne 

 Governor-General, A. W. F. Idenburg, regretted his in- 

 ability to give me a military escort and other assistance 

 needed for carrying out my plan, and advised me to 

 await a more favorable opportunity. During this in- 

 terval, having meanwhile visited India, I decided to 



