but the bountiful American supplies and the sometimes thoughtless liberality and generosity were undoubted examples of Kago working; as a result, we are expected to supply handouts and sometimes we are asked when the rest, and presumably the more liberal, of the Americans are coming. We have assured them that no more are coming and as a consequence, perhaps, no extra high huts are being built. I remem- ber much the same thing happening when Hamilton Rice went up the Uraricoera, paying double the usual rate of trade for labor, and the succeeding difficulties which we encountered when we tried to get porters for the Roraima job. Yesterday Losima, the cook's mate, had to go to the trading post to get coconuts; while there he spot- ted something in the store which he wanted and on his return to our camp he sidled up to me and asked me for ten bob; his rate of pay is twenty shillings a month, of which the Govt. withholds 15/-, and they are not due for pay until next week anyway. They have so little and work so hard to get so little that it is hard to withstand such a plea, but it is another example of Kago and can not be allowed. Kago, boiled down, is simply something for nothing. Some of the locals have developed the habit of bringing things, mainly butterflies and goannas, in to trade with me; size is the only ratio they can use and ship's biscuits and tobacco sticks are the only things I can trade. A large snake is worth two sticks, a small one (which may be much rarer and more valuable) is priced at one stick, and the broken butterflies which the kids bring in in their grubby little hands are worth a quarter of a biscuit, if anything. About mid-morning our boys were quietly beating their drum and chanting a chant which certainly did not sound very Christian when Gussie arrived and asked that a good thorough Christian gloom be observed; we had to stop the drum and the singing, but hearty laughter is now coming from their godown so they are not seriously offended though I doubt if it will improve their opinion of the locals. 4 April. Another good hunting day was climaxed in the evening by a native who brought in a snake very much like the Australian brown. I don't think it really can be because the head is different and the A.C.B. has never been found in Papua, though the Taipan (bad luck to him) has. If this should be it, my reputation is made, in a way. Tony Skewes arrived over this evening from Baniara with his superior, Peter O'Sullivan, who has returned from sick leave; they are both nice lads and will be of much value to us. We have the feeling that some further word regarding us may have come from Port Moresby, but they are the sort of chaps who would do anything they could just because they are as they are. A ship, the Betty Ann, sent out by Banting to p ck up the copra in Bill Mason's shed was due here about 1600 hours but has not yet arrived (it now is 2030); she should bring mail out and take it back x but when she will ar- rive and depart again is something of a question. A day or so I took a few photos and did so again today; the natives love to have their pictures taken and their desire to pose is second only to their wish to have a copy of their own photo. Little Losima, the cook's mate asked me, "Bimeby, taubada, you give me picser", to which I replied, "Yes, Lssima, bimeby we get Samara; I get you picser". We shall have to have quite a number taken and printed when we get back there. They will have to be black and white of course, as we cannot get kodachromes done within a suitable time. Looking at the beginning of yhis entry, perhaps I had better explain the Taipan is so much like a giant specimen of the Australian Coastal Brown snake that for a long time they were assumed to be the same genus; later it was established that they were not - the Taipan is much larger, much more ferocious and venomous, and has different scalation. That does not matter xxx much, since the Taipan has already been found in New Guinea; the trick comes in finding the A.C.B. here, because it has not been done before. 5 April. The big news is the arrival, about twenty hours late which is not much in these latitudes, of the Betty Ann. Len and I went to meet her in and te captain gave us a letter containing a bill from Bunting. There were two mailbags, one addressed to Menapi and the other to Baniara, and our gloom was great when Bill Mason went through the Menapi one and found nothing but newspapers in it. However, our luck was good because Tony and Peter had not yet returned to Baniara, having spent the night at the Mission, received and opened the Baniara beg there at the Mission, and