Kaindi 53 Tuesday, May 19. Heard light rain on our galvanized iron roof several times during the night. The usual doubtful dawn followed by clearing and good bright sun from Mid-morning to the end of the day. Botanized up the road as far as Edie Creek. Nothing exciting, for most of the vegetation was second growths. A wet, open gully yielded a fine pink- flowered Begonia, an unfamiliar Marattia, and several other herbaceous plants new to the collection. Most mornings in the field I get wet feet. Our $25 W.C. Russell Moccasin Co. boots let in even the water from wet grass. The only boot dressing we could buy in New York is worthless. Nothing of the kind is procurable locally. We are now trying Kiwi boot polish rubbed on our boots after each wearing in the hope that in time it will make them watertight. A big catch in traps from a new line included two more marsupial rats, beyond the common Rattus niobe. Van and John left in the Land Rover after 4 o'clock to camp at the repeater station on top of Kanindi Mountain. They will set traps, try for bats, and jack in the upper beech forest tonight. Wednesday, May 20. Woke well before daylight feeling cold in my unzipped sleeping bag. The reason was apparent when I got out of bed at 6:15. Temperature on the front porch was 46F, lower by 8 degrees than any morning here so far. A clear, quite cloudless dawn followed by a glorious day of bright sun pleasantly warming after all the miserable weather we have been having. Mist closed down about 6 pm; a smart shower fell at 7; not, at 8; there is more mist and the night is quite warm (62 on the porch). Van and John returned from the mountain top about eleven am. They jacked until one this morning for a Pseudocheirus cupreus and another which could not be recovered. Another example of the big Pipistrellus shot at dusk. Four Rattus niobe taken in traps. Seven specimens of a small green ground frog new to the collection. Van enthusiastic about the view from the mountain top at dawn. Many photos taken. I had a big morning. Went first to Bert Jentzsch's mining camp high on the Meari and 25 minutes walk or thereabouts from our camp. Came first upon a group of about 6 Goilala boys working a gold box in the creek. Creek almost a gorge which must have very few hours of sun in any day. Boys in the usual gray flannel, short-sleeved shirts. These boys spoke Motu and pidgin English. Beyond where Jentzsch lives, in a small, tight house on the slope of the ravine, the track continued up a steep incline on the east side of the creek to an underground mine owned by Jentzsch. Three timbered drives on different levels were cut into the very steep slope of Kaindi Mountain. Gravity fed from them was a five-head stamp mill of "portable" type driven by a Petter motor. The mine, crushing plant, and everything of Bert's applepie order and showing evidence of careful and skilled planning. Five boys working underground wore plastic helmets in addition to flannel shirts. One boy shovelled the rubbly material from the mine into the hoppers of the battery. Another was tending to the tailings, gradually building up a dam, reinforced with horizontal sticks, to prevent the sludge from flowing into the creek and being lost. The Waria River boss boy of the mine, who said he had been with Jentzsch for "two tens and eight" (28) years, picked a few pounds of material out of a small open-cut working above the drives, carried it up to a water race in a dish, and in at most a minute exhibited a fine prospect of very fine, richly colored gold.