Vol. xxxi.] 



102 



Mr. A. F. R. Wollaston gave the following account of 

 the expedition to the Utakwa River, S.W. New Guinea : — 



(i Our party consisted of Mr. C. B. Kloss, an engineer, five 

 Dyak collectors, and 74 Dyak carriers ; the escort, provided 

 by the Dutch Government, numbered ] 30 men under the 

 command of Lieut. Van de Water. We left Java on the 

 31st of August in a Government steamer and anchored a few 

 miles up the Utakwa Eiver on the 18th of September. In 

 seven days all our baggage had been landed and a base-camp 

 established about twenty miles from the sea. A fortnight 

 later we proceeded up the river in six large canoes, which 

 had been made by the Dyaks. Two days' journey took us 

 as far as it was possible to go by w r ater, and there a second 

 permanent camp (Canoe Camp) was made. Three marches 

 from the river a camp was made in the foothills at an 

 altitude of about 2500 ft., and collectors were sent there as 

 soon as possible. When sufficient stores had been accumu- 

 lated at that place a preliminary excursion was made for 

 six marches into the mountains in the middle of December, 

 and at the end of that month two collectors were sent up to 

 a camp between 4000 and 5000 ft. In the middle of 

 January we set out on our excursion to the highest moun- 

 tains, and at the ninth camp from the river (about 6000 ft.) 

 two collectors spent a fortnight and obtained a valuable 

 series of birds. Three days' further march brought us to a 

 place (10,500 ft.) from which we were able to reach the 

 highest mountains. We climbed above the snow-line on to 

 the ice-cap of Mt. Carstensz on the 30th of January and the 

 1st of February, but on neither occasion were we able to reach 

 the summit of the mountain (15,800 ft.). Above 6000 ft. the 

 character of the forest begins to change, the trees are of 

 smaller size and herbaceous plants are more numerous. 

 About 8000 ft. are many Casuarinas, which are replaced 

 higher up by bushy heaths and various flowering shrubs, 

 until at about 11,000 ft. the rocks become so steep as only 

 to support the scantiest vegetation. In the higher regions 

 (above 6000 ft.) animal-life was very scanty. Small Parrots 

 in pairs are seen occasionally, and large flocks of Lories were 



