mounted on stilts, made almost entirely of split bamboo, with a palm front roof. A fly erected beside it is the preparation room and one corner of the house is the kitchen, where a piece of metal forms the fireplace. There is another fireplace out- side. I should guess there are about 150 natives in Menapi and it is one of the larger villages; there is a white missionary here, whom we have not seen since the day of our arrival. Coconut trees are all around and every so often one of the nuts falls down with a thump. That is probably the most serious danger which Menapi has. There have been no more snakes since the first two and they were both pythons. We are almost at one end of the village which lines a small cove between two points and runs nearly a half mile along the beach. The water is warm and enticing but we have not had time for any swim- ming and there are crocs about. Van's collecting so far has not prospered much; he got a couple of possums and bats last nightbut his traps have yielded only one single spe- cimen My own bugs are going on nicely and reptiles other than snakes also are doing well. Tony Skewes, the Patrol Officer who spent last night with us, is a nice lad and seems rather young for such a large district. I have asked him to consult with the European Medical Officer at Baniara regarding taking tooth casts; it is too risky for us to touch because if after making one of the casts, the native became sick, it would be our sorcery which had caused it and it could easily close up the Expedition. There are sufficient different natives at Baniara to supply anthropology and they go to hospital there so there would be no such risk. The weather now is improving, nights are a little cooler and much of the humidity has gone, with daily temperatures ranging from 85 to 90. 25 March. We are really in hope of some mail coming in tomorrow as a Govt. boat really did stop at Baniara this afternoon; we saw it put in there and as our mail was sent down by runner yesterday, it at least should get away in fair time. Probably one of the native police will bring up anything there may be for us there. Ken leaves tomorrow, not being able to get away today and I think a few words about him would not be misplaced. I find him a most likable chap - about 30-32, I should imagine, fiery red hair, a foul Australian mouth and out from Wales in 1936. RAAR during the war and possessor of a knowledge of the natives and native tongues, which, I should think, would be of inestimable value to Govt. The head boy, Jimmy, goes with Ken and also a local native, Patrick, and they will be away for at least twelve days. Our boys have nothing to do with the locals who are under Church influence, but they, the locals, bring in specimens for me; the exchange rate is a stick of tobacco for a snake or goanna and a ship's biscuit for anything else. The hunting which the boys and I do is fairly productive too but I hope for better things when we are away from salt water. A habit of our boys is to dress their hair and heads up with fronds of silky grass and hibiscus or other colorful flowers when returning to camp after the dayswork is done. Len's boys are particularly colorful, probably because he is a botanist, I suppose. It is rather difficult to believe that not two months have yet passed since we left New York; the surroundings are so incredibly different that it is hard to convince oneself that it is even the same world. There has not been much chance to take any pictures since our arrival here, we have been so busy, but I have one or two and want particularly to get Len's party coming in from work some day. We are still without a visit from the Mission but Bill Mason, the trader of whom Rev. Cratwell said he was "not favorable to Missions" drops in some evenings. He usually manages it about the time of the rum issue. 27 March. The boys in their hut have been going through their customary evening chant for the last two hours and it is not yet over; every few minutes one of them remembers a verse which had previously escaped him and off they go again. Some- times there is a vague resemblance to a hymn but they are not Mission boys and when- ever the Mission bell goes, and it goes with great frequency, as this is a High Church Mission, there is a concerted yell from our boys, "knock off", they having learned that much English when working on plantations and so on. Keem and Lessimo, the cook and his helper, have learned under Len's tutelage to make a very good baking of bread; we had the second batch today and it is very good. We find ourselves thinking less and less