Arau 141 Best plant collected was a long-leaved Podocarpus with red receptacles. Saw on the river flat a second tree of the larch-like Dacrydium first noticed a day or two after our arrival here. A runner arrived after dark with a letter from Maa and some preserved mammals from Barrett of Aiyura. Maa has been collecting there. Asks if he may join us at Kassam -- our next camp on the Highlands. Wednesday, October 21. The good weather continues. Some early morning fog or mist. Thunderstorms around in the afternoon, but no rain here. Collected in the vicinity of a limestone cave some 15-20 minutes walk north of Karanka strip, on the Wanton River. Van and John went into the cave. They first did this two days ago. Further explored today and found what appeared to be a big upper-level chamber not noticed before and requiring a ladder for entrance. The two visits have resulted in collection of Dobsonia, Emballonura and Minopteris schreibersi. Rousettus is believed to be in the cave. Had a fair bag of plants, some few of them apparently restricted to the limestone, e.g. a pendent polypodiaceous fern and some Elatostema relatives. The river flows in a limestone gorge at the cave and thereabouts. There is a streamflow gauge in the gorge. The Wanton is under consideration for a hydro plant to supply the Lae-Madang-Eastern Highlands area with electricity. Seems rather small for that. Crowley says the gauge has registered a flood level of 34 feet -- one foot under its capacity. The river banks are too frequently floodswept to carry much in the way of plants. Recent floods have risen about 20 feet. Thursday, October 22. Max. 28.5, min. 11.5 C. Still no rain, and no indication of it today. Misty dawn. Very thick smoke haze and a slight feeling of dryness in the air this afternoon. Botanized on the secondary grasslands, and in the relic primary forest of a ravine near Arau #2 village. The principal grass of the formerly forested lands is a hairy Ischaemum about 3 ft. high and forming a tangled stand. Rather numerous tall thickets of Saccharum sp. and Pennisetum macrostachyum are conspicuous, and a clump of Themeda gigantea appears. Imperata arundinacea takes over in places and forms a dense cover 2 ft. or more high. With this occur Apluda mutica and a few other grasses and herbs. Van and John revisited the cave this morning but decided that ladder work was too dangerous. Have heard of another cave in the neighborhood and have asked John to make inquiries of the local people. I find their pidgin hard to understand. But it is difficult to get John to attend to expedition business when he can find anything else to occupy his time. Present focus of interest is a small dam which Wally is building near the homestead. The #2 cook resigned this afternoon through trouble over ration biscuits -- a situation which could not have occured if John paid proper attention to his duties. I advised the boy to think matters over and he is at work this evening. Van has 90 traps set in the limestone gorge below Karanka; in two nights they have yielded nothing of special interest, such as water rats of the several genera. Great commotion in the Larner house this evening as Muriel chased, and knocked down finally, the first Hipposideros for the camp. The kill was made with a broom.