116 Kimi Creek A Pseudocheirus cupreus was caught in the alpine grass by a dog belonging to one of the guides, and badly mangled. Tobram, a boy of Van's who accompanied the party, mainly to carry botanical specimens, picked up on the grasslands a skull of Hyomys. Six photos were made on top by John. The collection contains the stock plants of the alpine grasslands of New Guinea as regards genera (Agrostis, Aulacolepis, Deschampsia, Kelleria, Styphelia (2 spp.), Potentilla ( 2 spp.), Ranunculus, Euphrasia, Trachymene (2 spp.), Gentiana, Astelia, Carex, Rhododendron, Hypericum, etc.). A tree-fern, of which only three plants were seen, is what I am calling Cyathea bakeri (also collected by me on Mt. Wilhelm and Mount Wilhelmina. The upper part of the subalpine forest is described as low and stunted and 18-20 ft. high. Surprisingly, Podocarpus compactus is not present, or was not seen, the only conifer collected being P. aff. brassii, of which only one example was seen according to John. A Xanthomyrtus was collected at 9500 ft. The woody plants and some of the herbs were well collected, the grasses poorly. The gathering must be regarded as a sampling of the flora of the alpine and subalpine, nothing more. The particular weakness of this kind of collecting is that it gives no understanding of the structure, zonation or dominance of the forests. Above altitudes are by uncorrected aneroid and are reckoned perhaps 200 ft. too high. Early in the afternoon Patrol Officer Jock Aitkin of Lufa called in on his way to Goroka for a staff conference held annually. Jeep was sent out to meet him as Lufa has only a motor bike for road transport and it is out of action. Jock returned Saturday from his long patrol towards the border from Gono. Long, skinny Scot with a clear girlish skin but anything but girlish in other respects. Says that SDA Medical Missionary Barnett's mission to the border country is not so much to give yaws shots as to head off the importation of pigs from the Chimbu. The border people, recently brought under control, are a miserable lot, very poor in pigs, which they are starting to bring in from outside. The "seven days" regard this as very bad and propose to fly in goats to an airstrip soon to be built. It would appear that goat flesh and poultry are not forbidden food for this brand of Seventh Day Adventist. Wednesday, September 2. Strong wind from the east blew all night. Same until late today; some cloud but no rain. John (who went to Goroka late yesterday) returned at 10:30 a.m. with John Womersley and his boy Nima, who will spend a week with us. Had a spare tent rigged for John, and he brought a fly in which to work on his plants. John brought further news of a great project of the U.S. Fruit Co. in exploration for wild bananas and native cultigens throughout the Pacific. Plans are vague according to John. Brandeis, who collected sugarcanes in New Guinea in 1926, arrives soon to begin the program. Ochse, who it seems will be in overall charge, comes out later. Ochse is old now; Brandeis must be getting on. Another item (I had forgotten this when we were on Mt. Otto): Lane-Poole the forester climbed Mt. Otto from the Ramu Valley in 1923 or 1924. Conditions were cloudy, otherwise he would have discovered the Central Highlands 10 years before Mick Leahy. Lane-Poole's camp was later (in the Ramu) raided and his collections lost.