6 April. First of all, I forgot to note here that yesterday was a Sunday. That is my main calendar and when I do not mention it, it puts me off for the rest of the week. Maybe the above will straighten me out. There is not a great deal of urgent news; probably the departure of Len and Van tomorrow and their boys is the main thing, but that can keep until they get back and we exchange notes on what has happened. There is a big dance in Menapi village today; it started about 1600 hours and now is just getting nicely warmed up but it has a lot of incon- gruities, this being a Mission village. Len and I strolled over to watch during the early evening, before dark, but it was too cloudy and gray to get any pictures. There were two teams of men dancers, eight on each side in two files, facing one another. They were done up in good Papua fashion, drums, tail feathers, feather headdresses and so on but the effect was marred by the fact that the most ferocious- appearing of them had a five-cell flashlight stuck in his girdle. While they were dancing, the dance consisting of a shuffled movement like a two-step, two all-women teams of soccer players were battling together in a field abutting on the dance floor. The women wore only their grass skirts and I trust that if I say the football was floppy, I shall not be misunderstood. Last night we were royally entertained by Bill Mason and Mollie and the food they put on rather shamed our poor effort to wine and dine Bill a day or so ago; we had nothing to offer but the meat-and-gravy part of the new Army rations we are trying out, and the meat part of that is not so hot, but Bill put on scrub hen with three vegetables, followed by jelly and ice cream (made in their kerosene freezer) and we rather cringed. He followed that by creme-de-cacao, but ruined that by serving tea with it, and we finished the evening by listening to the Australian broadcast. It makes our kind of living seem rather rough, though, and I suppose the next few days, with only myself to prepare for, will be a bit rougher. Keem, the cook, remains with me, and of course my own two boys, Niko and Bili, but there will be only one European eating meals. One lens has come out of one of my pairs of glasses; I suppose that may be good as I shall be able to see different things with each eye. 7 April. A few more words about the dance might be in order as our own boys took part in the evening; I don't know when it stopped but Van and I walked over about 2100 and stayed for a half-hour. I should state regarding the remarks I made yesterday that although they pair off, they do not dance as partners no touch each other in any way. The locals form up in two teams, as I said, but our boys, from Fergusson Island, dance in a circle and at the end of the dance they all con- verge, hissing as they close in on each other. They concocted dance dresses for themselves from shredded palm leaves and made paper crowns; practically all the cook- ing utensils were over at the dance ground and Siginotu had managed to borrow a drum from some unwise Papuan. They were outnumbered about fifty to seven, as Keem and Losino, perhaps because they are from Goodenough Island, did not dance though they did join in the chanting, but they made almost as much noise in a much more menacing way than did the local Papuans and attracted a good number of spectators away from the more accepted steps. There were no women dancing with our boys nor did they join in much in the dancing of the locals, but tripped around blithely all by themselves, one woman carrying a stick over her shoulder all through the dance like a soldier with / sloped arms. This afternoon, Len and Van, with their six boys, departed for Debora and probably will not return until Saturday. That leaves me in a rather Crusoe-like position with four Men Fridays and the cook, Keem, has asked if he can go out hunting with Niko sometime. There will not be enough work around the camp to keep him busy and it is a good idea, I think. This spell will give me a chance to get the books balanced and get caught up with my mail, among other things. One further word about the dance - it would have been quite spectacular had it been done around a bonfirebut the glaring light of Tillie lamps, plus the aforementioned five-cell flashlight rather spoiled it. 8 April. I think I mentioned a few days ago, in connection with our dinner with Bill Mason, that these days alone might be rather rougher than others. I was completely wrong and the three boys have been looking after me like nothing on earth. Almost I am beginning to put on the weight that I lost after [illegible] Port