- 2 - will give us more time for our higher elevation transects. Laurie Crowley, owner of Crowley Airways and the best "bush pilot" in New Guinea (than which there is no higher accolade!), shoe-horned Ru, me, and the rest of our collecting gear into his Aztec, and in seconds we winged down the runway and over the bow of the Jap freighter still sticking above the waters of the Huon Gulf. Our flight was made in cloudless skies, but off to port (north) we could see just a bit of early morning cloud forming over the remotes Saruwageds. The Cromwell Mountains, their most easterly extension, were clear in the morning sun, and we had a beautiful view of the Rawlinson Range, rising steeply out of the Gulf, as we flew east paralleling its forested flanks. As we approached the mouth of the Mongi River, Laurie, flying at about 6000 feet, changed course to the northeast, crossed a high ridge west of the river, and then followed the Mongi north for a few miles until the tiny east-west airstrip at Pindiu came into sight. Encircled by hills it is the usual one-way, one- chance landing strip! Laurie made it look easy. Stan was there to greet us, and was busily taking moving pictures of the plane's arrival. The Corporal of the Pindiu Patrol Post had our cargo taken down to a very good "timber house" at one corner of the runway. We spent the rest of the morning "lining up" and sorting our gear. Pindiu will be our supply base for a good part of the expedition. It is less than thirty minutes flight from Lae, and the local Patrol Officer has been asked by the District Commissioner and the A. D. O. in Lae to give us all possible help. However, this is New Guinea, and an hour's walk from an airstrip puts you on your own! Ru and STan were both feeling crook so we took an early break and walked west along the strip, and up the hill past the house kiap to our