we propose to tackle in about five weeks. It has been at least partly climbed in 1894 by a police patrol, but they did not reach the summit and their records of flora and fauna are not good. The same thing applies to the main mountains of Goodenough Island, though there is only one claimant to having climbed it, as far as we know, and his claim has not been substantiated. Ken should be back in another ten or twelve days with a report on what we may expect of Maneo, and after we see him I can state the route by which we shall travel. I find myself rather amused by the little girl natives. All girls or women whatever their ages, wear the grass skirt and nothing else; it sticks out fore and aft like a crinoline which has been cut short, and the little girls, somewhat tilted back naturally, with their small bellies preceding them, and the bustle of their skirt following them, make quite a sight. Had rather a pleasant time with Mason last night, but we only did away with three bottles of beer. Mason is employed by a trader named Spiller, who at the moment is on his way to England. Spiller married a native woman, Mollie, who lives in his house. She was paralysed during childbirth, Mason says, but speaks fairly good English and is quite vivacious. Our discussion was mainly about snakes and both Mollie and Mason have some odd ideas regarding them. Incidentally, we are allotting about three months to the Maneo operation as we shall have to make intermediate camps at different elevations, and shall return to Samarai after that job, to re-equip and rest before the Goodenough ascent. 30 March. Our greatest weakness showed itself today; none of us knows anything about any kind of machinery. Niko took the forearm off my shotgun to clean it and I cannot get it on again; Len got himself a new watch in Brisbane and cannot figure out how to set the hour hand and Van spent a full hour puzzling the intricacies of a can-opener. It was with considerable fear that I decided that I must have a new rib- b on on this typewriter, but that has been accomplished, as this shows. The Bishop appeared at the Mission about 1130 this morning and left again shortly before 1400; there was no acknowledgment of our existence made at all, not even a suggestion that they take out mail for us, which I consider not only a Christian thing but a plain white man's thing. The wind shifted in the afternoon and there are whitecaps on Menapi; may we trust that the Bishop is seasick. in a good Christian way. The morn- ing did not offer very much in the way of specimens so in the afternoon Van and I took our five boys and one of Len's botanical boys out and tried a new direction; we fol- lowed up a track through sago palm gardens, nearly boot deep in mud in places, and then got onto a creek bed. The water varied from ankle to knee [illegible] depth but it turned out to be a prolific collecting ground for me and Van saw a number of places which, he thinks, will prove to be good trapping sites. So far his traps have just yielded practically nothing, though he has about 150 out. I went out there during the morning and was advised by Bill Mason, that I should take a native guide as even the Police Officers get bushed there; it is not that bad but I did go to some pains to mark my trail clearly enough so that I could get back again. In the afternoon the wind change took place and now it is blowing half a gale straight inshore. There is rain in the air too so that the night and perhaps tomorrow also may be bad. It doesn't matter just so long as the Bishop is uncomfortable. 31 March. Last night was comparatively cold, temperature running between 79 and 85 degrees, but today was warmer, with much of the humidity gone and a reasonably cool breeze. My collections improved but I can hardly call this place infested with snakes; only three have come in since our arrival. This morning after my stint of collecting I managed to get a few photos which I hope will turn out well; I got Len and his botanical boys returning, but Len had been working in swamps so, disgruntled, they had not done themselves up with flowers for their return. I got about three other pictures but am not sure enough either of myself or of the camera to be certain of their quality; the weather has been somewhat against picture-taking anyway. Today Ken should be working on the main Maneo ascent; it has been a good day for it but we are awaiting his report quite anxiously ; that of course will come with his return here, as will the move to sub-camps from here. Van definitely is doing poorly with his mammals and a move somewhere else is in order. A strong on-shore breeze last night cut my light-trap takings down to about 60; previous nights have never been below 400 and sometimes have reached over 600. However, there are lots more nights. Tonight