Meyer recently published an account of some animals he had taken on Mount Simpson; he did not get near the summit but we prefer a new territory anyway. We are pleased to see that our boys do not mix with the Mission natives here and regard themselves apparently as something rather superior; maybe they feel that they have to live up to the scars of Taubada Tate. This afternoon late their soccer football went off with a loud pop as they were kicking it off around after knockinf off for the day; we shall try to replace it for them. 23 March. Collections for the six last 24 hours - butterflies, 8; goannas,l; Microleps, est. 550; snakes,21 lizards 1; geckoes, 10; centipedes, 3. This is the first full day of collecting and I think I sould keep some sort of approximate. The above is not a bad haul at all, but it includes a a few things taken before actual collecting started. This morning I took Niko and Billee out for their first bit of trainingWe walked perhaps a mile or 1\frac{1}{2} back from Menapi towards Baniara and then got onto the beach. I gave them complete instructions on carrying their guns, broken while passing through the village, loading, cocking the lock, sighting and pulling the trigger. Then I threw some coconuts into the water and fired myself. Both Niko and Billee went over the top, but that ended the first lesson. They did not for x hours I then tackled an explanation of the various things we want to take and finally gave them butterfly nets, killing jars and sent them out. They got the idea quite well but got centipedes into the dry bottles, ruining the butterflies that were there. However, it was a good first les- son. They did that for a couple of hours, then rejoined me and I gave them the second lesson in musketry, making a target of a fallen branch which represented "gaigai badaha", a big snake. I shot it in the neck where it should be shot, Niko blew its head off, a bad shot, and Billee went over the top again. It was about 1030 and rain began to pour down so we knocked off for the morning. I turned my boys over to Bluey for camp chores in the afternoon as Len and Van were both using their three, and got my material fixed up, making a fairly good show. The two snakes are both pythons, I think, one 67\frac{1}{2} inches long and the other 18. It rained in the late evening and there is not much sense in going out this evening. Tomorrow Bluey is going out also, having become more than a little interested; we may have another Jack Roberts in him but with his knowledge of natives, their customs and lan- guages, he should stick to anthropology. Odd to think that he came out here from Wales as late as 1936. The butterflies are not very plentiful yet but we are still in the wet season and they have not yet had a chance. 24 March. It does not seem feasible to keep any kind of record of specimens except in a notebook; there is no particular point in listing them here and there is such variety that a great deal of space would be used which would simply be repetition as I have to list them in the note book first anyway. This morning Bluey came out with me and my boys and seemed to become quite interested in the operations and found them to be more than a little tiring. We spent the morning out, scattered around, and were delayed a bit at the beginning by a promised Govt. boat which did not appear. The boys also seem to be taking hold of their jobs, even springing out of their hut after hours in order to ensnare some brilliant butterfly; their methods so far are far from professional but they will improve. The locals also bring things in but that probably will pass off. Tony Skewes, the patrol officer from Baniara, came over for supper and to spend the night, most of the evening being devoted to the planning the Mt. Maneo attack. Van's trap line yielded nothing at all this morning, but the boys brought in a few bats in the afternoon and he got a couple of things with his light in the evening. Microlepdoptera not so plentiful in the evening as they have been. 25 March. Sent Niko and Billee out in separate directions this morning and Bluey and I went out together again; he seems very interested and enthusiastic and ran himself ragged after dragonflies. He leaves to look into the Mt. Maneo approaches either tomorrow or the day after. The boat mentioned yesterday has not yet shown up and of course there is no communication of any kind so not telling when it will come. I took a picture of our headquarters here this morning; it is a good native house,