AMONG PAPUAN PEAKS 
built large fires and kept them going during the 
night. The sky at night was clear and starlit, but 
the morning brought clouds, and mists enveloped the 
forest, often accompanied by heavy rain that made the 
place most depressing. ‘The view was entirely shut 
out; everything was dripping; our clothes were very 
soon saturated, and the whole situation was most 
uncomfortable. 
The humidity of that region was proved by the 
fact that the under side of the leaves of various plants 
was covered with moss. 
The day after our arrival we began the building of 
a proper camp. We felled trees, erected a stockade 
and also a platform some little distance above the 
eround ; over this last we threw the fly-tent, making 
a floor to it of split bamboo. Inside the tent we 
arranged to have a fire in the native manner. We 
put down a wooden frame, inside which we laid 
earth closely patted down to form a hearth in the 
Papuan style. After building our abode we had to 
discover another spot where we could carry on our 
work at night. When this was found, a further task 
awaited us, for the forest came so close that we had 
to open up a space to enable our lamp to shine out 
and thus attract the moths. ‘To do this we had to 
fell more trees, and the precipitous nature of the 
ground rendered our task all the harder, for once 
when we had allowed a large newly-felled trunk to 
slide, it got out of hand and careered three or four 
hundred yards down the precipice, taking other trees 
with it. Finally, however, we managed to open up a 
gap towards the camp, which left us an excellent 
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