8 4



Mr Walter Goodfellow,



about 8,500 ft., beyond which comes a broken, white stoney slope

and crumbling cliffs intersected by many burning fissures from

which proceed an incessant noise as of colossal machinery at

work underground. The white slope viewed from a distance

conveys the impression of a snow-capped summit and it is

difficult to believe that it is not so. At sunrise and sunset it

glows with all the beautiful tints of a snowy peak.


The upper forests are dark and gloomy, and the thick,

hanging—and often black looking—mosses which cover every

trunk and branch, give a funereal appearance to the whole. One

seems to come upon this depressing region with a strange sudden¬

ness, for a little below are many deep arms in the mountain

containing hot springs from which steam, always arising, causes

a rank growth of the most verdant tropical vegetation

imaginable to spring up. Giant ferns and beautiful oichids here

struggle with each other for supremacy.


On a bright early morning I first came across T. johnsto 7 ii<z.

Ascending from my camp to the upper forest limits, I stood for a

while looking up the white slopes to the crater above, when I

was surprised to hear the unmistakeable sound of Lorikeets

chattering near by. I had no sooner located the noise in an

isolated tree which stood a lonely giant amidst all the stunted

vegetation around, than a flock of thirty or more flew out, and

after circling round at a great height again entered the thick tree

top. Beyond noticing the yellow undersides of their wings

flash as they turned in the sunlight, it was impossible to gather

any idea of their appearance. I was convinced that this must be

a new species, but there seemed little chance of securing any

specimen there, as the tree was quite inaccessible from where I

stood with no means of getting round to it. The next day I was

again on my way to the same place, but long before I reached the

forest limit my Bagobo guide stopped and pointed to some birds

he had seen in the thick bushes overhead. Personally I could

see nothing; neither was there a sound to be heard, but at length

I noticed the leaves moving, although it was impossible to distin¬

guish any bird so gloomy was it all round. I fired and nothing

fell, but the air was suddenly alive with the screaming of Lories

beyond the tree tops. Even then I could get no sight of them.



