INACTION AND AN EXCURSION 
and the same whaler’s trading boat that had got us 
down took us back to Port Moresby, where I at once 
set about active preparations for my second journey 
inland. 
On my return to Port Moresby I heard, to my 
sreat regret, the news of the death of Mr. Flood, the 
American naturalist. When I went up to Dinawa, 
while on my first journey, I left Flood in Port 
Moresby. Some time after he went up the Venapa 
River, seeking land shells. He was foolish enough 
to go alone, and his folly was the greater because 
he was very deaf. At length the authorities got 
alarmed about him, and Mr. Ballantine headed a 
search party, but the only trace of the naturalist 
was one of his camp fires. It is thought almost 
certain that he may either have strayed away and 
died of hunger, or he may have been devoured by 
a crocodile. It was not the first time that a party 
had gone out to seek Flood after his prolonged ab- 
sence had given cause for alarm, and it was doubly 
absurd of him to go alone, because, even with Papuan 
attendants, it is difficult—as I myself have found— 
to pick up the trail when once it has been lost. I 
was much distressed about Flood, for he was a most 
unselfish enthusiast in the pursuit of science. 
181 
