AMONG PAPUAN PEAKS 
clearing for scientific purposes. Here we built our 
collecting verandah, and thither we repaired every 
night, a little journey requiring some self-sacrifice, for 
as we went those dreadful leeches I have already 
described attacked our feet and legs unmerci- 
fully. 
We had to do a good deal of our work unassisted, 
for our natives were not willing to accompany us, as 
they feared the Mafulu people. We knew perfectly 
well there was some risk, and never went up to the 
verandah without taking our revolvers. As we 
worked there through the small hours, our position 
was brilliantly lighted up by our lamp, so that, had 
the Mafulu people wished to do so, they would have 
had every opportunity of taking a good aim at us. 
Fortunately, however, they did not realise that while 
our lamp made us very visible to them, it rendered 
them entirely invisible to us, and although we some- 
times felt rather uneasy, we never received any un- 
pleasant reminder in the shape of a hurtling spear. 
Had they known, however, how entirely we were at 
their mercy, we might not have escaped. 
As we pursued our collecting here, it was in- 
teresting to note the Alpine signs in insects and 
flowers. On the trees grew a very fragrant rhodo- 
dendron. Moths were plentiful, but butterflies were 
not, for everything in this dense forest was struggling » 
for light, and the butterflies had accordingly retired to 
the tops of the trees. Here I counted at least twelve 
different species of paradise birds. 
We had not been long at Mafulu when we were 
faced with another trouble. Our food supply began 
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