New Guinea in search of Paradise-birds. 20 7 
disturbed, so forbade them. As this district appeared to be 
fairly rich in bird-life we determined to give it a trial; and 
in order that no time should be wasted in having a house 
built for us, we set out for the Mission Station at Dilava to 
request permission to occupy the house where we were. 
Starting soon after breakfast, accompanied by Heni-Keni 
and a villager, we ultimately arrived after a hard march of 
about three hours at Dilava, from which high altitude we 
obtained a grand view of many spurs of the Owen-Stanley 
range (particularly Mt. Chamberlain far away on the horizon), 
and of a great number of deep valleys all densely covered with 
jungle. The missionaries, of whom there were seven, gave 
us a most cordial welcome and shewed us what they were 
cultivating in their gardens in the way of vegetables. We 
had some delicious oranges and some fresh milk, as they had 
a small herd of cows and also went in for poultry-farming. 
After a sumptuous repast and the receipt of much useful 
information regarding the birds of our district from the 
converts, which our genial hosts kindly interpreted for us, 
we found it necessary to bid them farewell and return to our 
camp. The day passed without rain, which was exceptional. 
Our request that we might occupy the mission-house at 
Madiu was immediately granted, and during our residence 
there we did our best to repair it and to keep it in good 
order. At no great distance from Epa the track led down 
to a river about eighty yards wide, but two of my staff 
led me safely across and I got wet only up to my middle, 
though close to Dilava a mountain torrent took a considerable 
amount of negotiation. By means of a fallen tree, across 
which we manoeuvred Blondin-like, and by jumping from 
rock to rock we managed to reach the opposite bank, but I 
must say that after my last attempt I was glad we had no 
more of such obstacles to encounter. For the next three 
weeks our daily routine did not vary much. Live birds, 
mammals, and reptiles came in to such an extent that our 
collapsible cages were soon filled, and we had to build two 
large aviaries under the house. These measured roughly 
about 6x8x5 feet, and into one of them we turned all the 
