Arau 138 Thursday, October 15. Mist during the night but morning clear except for a low fog in the river valley. Fine day with much sun. No rain. Temperature on our veranda at 6:15 this morning was 51 F. Hung the max. and min. thermometers this afternoon. Botanized today in the gully immediately to the N of the homestead, where Wally is clearing a dam site, also preparing a few acres for experimental planting of coffee under forest canopy shade. No plants of special note. Castanopsis and a few oaks are the principal canopy species in this deep ravine. This morning John drove to Aiyura and on to Kainantu. Main object was to repair the broken trailer towing bridle, or whatever it is called, with an electric welding plant at Aiyura Experiment Station. He returned about 6 p.m. with Dr. Maa and John Barrett as unexpected visitors for the night. Both eager to learn something about the mammals of the country from Van. Maa is winding up his work on the Highlands early and preparing to leave Kainantu for Lae early next week. From there he goes to Bougainville. Had fair success in Sonofi, not much at Moifa. He and Zigas failed to get 1-5 cc blood samples from native mammals for the kuru research project. Tried needles into the heart, also some kind of pump recently acquired for the purpose. Learn from our visitors that Lae has had 6 1/2 inches of rain during the past 2 days. Kainantu airstrip has been closed to DC3's for over a week, owing to wet conditions, and the town is out of bread and running short of fresh meat. Friday, October 16. Clear night followed by a snappy morning -- high broken thin overcast, temperature down to 46 F., 8.5 C. Hot, sunny day. Strong SE breeze drying the open ground. No rain again. Accompanied by Maa and Barrett, I botanized down a new road leading to a 30-acre clearing in the forks of the Wanton and O'awa rivers. Most of our plant and bug hunting was done in a few acres of low, in parts flooded ground in the apex of the river fork where big old oaks and Castanopsis were still the principal trees. Collected my first oak for the locality -- a small acorned Pasania, and saw another with longer acorns. A swampy flat edging the Wanton was covered with tall pit-pit. Van still doing well and feels he can spend another week here with profit. Today he had a second Macruromys in steel traps, and Wally's clearing gang brought two very good specimens of Distichurus. Only two specimens of the latter had been taken on the other five Archbold Expeditions -- one on the Fly River in 1936, the other on the Peria in 1953. Our guests got a lift back to Kainantu on a Department of Agriculture Land Rover visiting this area with Mick Hawley to drum up materials for a district exhibit for the coming Lae Show. Invited Maa to change his plans and spend next week with us at Arau; he is not sure whether arrangements already made will allow him to accept. Pullen, assistant to Hoogland (CSIRO botanist), will not be joining us, Hoogland advises by letter. Maa has told more about the Dutch scientific expedition to the Star Mts. The plan was to fly (by the Dutch New Guinea subsidiary of KIM) personnel and supplies from Hollandia to a big strip somewhere at the foot of the mountains. Transport from there to a mountain base was to be by the expedition's two big helicopters. But the helicopters are now out of action and the expedition has been ordered to close and walk back to Hollandia. I find the walk-to-Hollandia part of