and two apple pies just baked by the Lochiel's chef. Wishing you a successful expedition we of the Lochiel remain, Yours faithfully, W. W. Wallace. Terry MacLeod. Ian Mackay. W. W. Johnson.(Bluey) P.S. Apple pies aint much good without ice cream. We are agreed that it was exceedingly decent of the lads, but there was one flaw in their gesture. They did not send the pies. This morning I found the best collecting area I have struck since ar- riving at Lockerbie. By the way, the official name of this camp is "Locker- bie: 10 miles WSW of Somerset." There is a tongue of scrub forest reaching from the main forest out to the main trail to R.I.P.; it contains tall, stand- ing timber, a considerable amount of fallen trees, is clear and easy to get through and contains also many glades into which the sun can filter. It seems to be crawling with scorpions - I got six of them within an hour, as well as several six inch centipedes, a few butterflies which I had not previously had, and some widgey grubs, which, Gil Bates maintains, taste like almonds and cream. I think somehow I shall never like that dish, should it ever be offered to me. The afternoon I spent tinkering with our bicycles; one of them is smash- ed beyond repair, the axle of the front wheel being snapped, so I am trying to produce two good bicycles from the three poor ones. Think I can do it but there is one nut which bothers me - it is rusted on fast but as soon as I can free it we shall be able to ride to work again. Think this will be all for tonight; tomorrow I want to go out and try my peice of forest by night, with a jack-light. For some not very good reason, I think it will be a good spot by dark as well as by day, and tomorrow daytime I shall clear a few trails through it. Tuesday, 27 April 1948. This marks the beginning of our second week at the Tip. I issued the second batch of tobacco to the boys yes- terday afternoon - they are allowed three ounces weekly and the packets are only two ounce so it works out about right. In the morning I went again to my little strip of forest and found a huge fallen tree which yielded bugs in great quantities, including several kinds of which I had not previously taken any specimens. The afternoon was devoted chiefly to an attempt to improve the condition of our bicycles. With the aid of Ginger Dick and his tool-shed, I was able to fix the broken chain by manu- facturing a new link so we have two bikes in usable condition. The third com- pletely baffles me as the axle of the front wheel is broken and it is a special kind of bike and one cannot just put a piece of metal through and expect the wheel to revolve; it is a custom-made job and I shall have to find one of the thousands of bicycles left in the bush by the Army and steal a whole front wheel. In the evening I went out with a head-light to my bit of forest but had no luck of any sort. Bats would occasionally flash through the beam of shot at them. The glade, which I expected to be teeming with wild life, showed no movement whatever and even when I turned off the light and stood quietly, there was no sound of any sort to be heard.