178 former German territory during or after the war of 1914-1918. Richardson, who went ashore, says the plantation is intersected by roads in every direction, and a light tractor (rubber tires) and a trailer are used for gathering the crop. Later in the day we called at Sarmi and hove to in the open roads while more copra, and damma were loaded. There is a government station here in charge of a controller responsible to Hollandia. After Sarmi we rounded Cape d'Urville, and drawing away from the still hilly coast of the mainland, set course for the island of Japen. May 23, 1939. Anchored in the poorly protected bay of Seroei on the south side of Japen about 11 AM and remained there till midnight. The administrative centre for the island, Seroei, is spread over # low- lying and swampy land at the head of the bay, with behind it a narrow valley disappearing obliginly into the hills. The whole place is inter- sected by stoned drains carried in straight lines to form the sides of squares and serving both to drain the ground and carry creek water through the town. Outpost settlements of the Dutch seem always to be built on low ground and canalized in this manner. Besides serving as washing places and sewers for refuse, the drains appear to provide the drinking water as well. We took a little cargo at Seroei. Most of the time was occupied in unloading drums of oil, and 3000 tins of rice for the govern- ment. This is a calling place for naval patrol planes, three new anchor buoys for which have recently been put down. It was until recently an exploration and air photographic base for the BPM (Oil Company). A concrete ramp newly built when we called here in April 1938, for the Sikorsky amphibian operated by BPM, has now almost disappeared, apparently broken through undermining by water, the little hangar is beginning to fall over, and the spacious living quarters of the company, farther up