27 Oomsis Monday, April 13. A month ago tonight we drove out to Idlewild to fly to Australia and New Guinea. We have been on the ground in New Guinea 19 days, and this has been my first real day in the field. Four full days went into the correction of galley of my 1956 report. It has been a slow start, and we will lose more time in unpacking and sorting cargo, when it arrives. With one boy (the crippled Naton), I worked over to Oomsis Creek, 220 yards from camp, up the stream a bit, and back to camp by a small track through the forest. Some good tall rain forest survives quite close to the camp. Sixteen collection numbers (94 sheets) included some good things, e.g. a big tree Cassia of the brewsteri group, 2 Graptophyllum spp., a small tree Couthovia previously collected in the Busu forests; a small tree Ceodes, and another under- growth tree of a genus I can't name unless it is Rinorea. The rain prevented jacking last night. Only one Rattus exulans in traps. A good δ of the small Echymipera of this area brought in by Schultz's caretaker boy, who trapped it in a deadfall. In my morning in the field I came across 2 deadfalls set for bandicoot. And around a fruiting, cauliflorous Ficus (29173), a native had made a fence of rusty galvanized iron, and in gaps had set two spring snares. According to Naton, the snares were for bandicoots, which came to feed on the fallen fruits. Being reduced to four boys this morning for all duties (we need a minimum of six), I sent John up the road in the Land Rover to try to recruit 2 boys at Gurakor, 22 miles up the Bulolo Road, where the natives have a good reputation as labor. Before reaching Gurakor John met Schultz, who told him about a couple of good boys he could recommend at a locality called Pericles Creek (Perakles Village). These boys we have. Mark Schultz said when we moved into his house on Friday that he would be down about the middle of the week to remove very numerous wine glasses of all types which came from a roadside hotel he once owned at Mumeng - in the days when the drive from Lae to Bulolo took 2 days instead of the present 3 hours for cars - and other items of movable property including a 38 service revolver, a parachutists' carbine, and two other military rifles. Mark has seemd uneasy about these things, although assured that we had no interest in them and that they were not occupying room we needed. Much excitement this morning over a bat new to the collection. A free- tail with c. 18 inch spread of its narrow wings, and two bent falanges. Might be a Taphozous, thinks Van. Another was shot and fell into long grass. All hands out with all sources of light available, but failed to find it. Very heavy rain, from inland, during much of afternoon. Some stars showing tonight. On his drive this morning, John called in at Mick Leahy's Zenag farm and returned with cabbage, pumpkins, shallots, lettuce, celery, parsley, string beans, carrots and pineapples in abundance.