11 [Vol. xxix. 



to shoot, and no plantations of mealies or bananas to plunder. 

 You may well ask what the natives in such a country do. 

 Certainly there are fish in the sea and in the rivers, and in 

 the low-lying swamps near the coast is any quantity o£ sago ; 

 but it is the first object of an expedition to the mountains to 

 leave that country behind. 



" So it follows that every scrap of food for Europeans and 

 coolies alike has to be imported into the country and carried 

 laboriously wherever the expedition desires to go. When I 

 tell you that a party travelling with Malay coolies carrying, 

 in addition to food, only the most necessary camp equip- 

 ment, exhausts its supplies in 14 days, you will understand 

 what are the limitations of this sort of transport. It means 

 that you must progress by means of depots of food, and the 

 process is a very slow one. For instance, suppose you wish 

 to establish a depot of food at a place six marches above your 

 base-camp, the coolies would consume six days' food on the 

 way up and (if they marched well) three days' food on the way 

 down ; thus they would leave only five days' food at the depot. 

 It requires very little imagination to understand that it will 

 be a long time before enough provisions can be stored at the 

 first depot in order to begin the establishment of a second 

 depot six marches further on. The task is not an impossible 

 one, but it requires very careful calculation, and it involves 

 a good deal of hardship to even the best of coolies.'' 



An exhibition of the cinematograph pictures taken by 

 Dr. Eric Marshall in Dutch New Guinea had been 

 arranged to follow, and the prospect of this entertainment 

 had drawn a large number of Members and many distin- 

 guished guests from all parts of the country. 



It was found, however, that the electric current was 

 insufficient for the purpose, and after the operator had made 

 several unsuccessful attempts to remedy the defect, it was 

 found necessary to postpone the exhibition till the next 

 meeting of the Club on the 8th of November. As the 

 arrangements for this exhibition had been made with the 



