BREAKING THE GROUND 
what restricted areas, so that our work necessitated 
encamping sometimes for months at a time at one 
particular spot, in order that the collection and pre- 
servation of our specimens might be carried on 
under the most advantageous conditions possible in 
such a wilderness. To this end we built two perma- 
nent camps, one at Dinawa, and the other at Ekeikei, 
at altitudes of 3600 and 1500 feet respectively. From 
these bases we made short expeditions in various 
directions, and established temporary camps on the 
St. Joseph River, Mount Kebea, and finally at Mafalu, 
our highest point of attainment, 6000 feet above the 
level of the sea among the fastnesses of the Owen 
Stanley range. But even that altitude is com- 
paratively insignificant in the magnificent highlands 
of Papua. ‘The higher we rose it was only to catch 
sight of still loftier ranges that piled peak on peak 
as far as the eye could reach. The only one of 
these that has as yet been trodden by the white man 
is Mount Victoria, which rises to a height of 13,000 
feet. This was made the objective of a special 
expedition by Sir William Macgregor, who recently 
crossed British New Guinea, a journey which took 
him fifty-one days to accomplish. Sir William has 
also explored the Fly River tentatively, and D’Albertis 
followed its course for 600 or 700 miles; but when 
these achievements are mentioned, one has exhausted 
nearly all the serious efforts that have been made 
in Papuan exploration. Within the last year the 
Netherlands officials have issued a map that makes 
many valuable additions to our knowledge of the 
topography of the coast-line of their territory. 
24 
