-7- Dinner with the Healys. Beautiful view of China Strait through coconut palms and colorful plantings from the residency on top of the hill which forms one side of the Island. Healy spoke of investigations into water power potential which have been carried out by the "British aluminium people". He showed a party around last year, examining the rivers of the south coast as far west as the Turama. The Angabunga, flowing into the deep water port of Hall Sound, considered most suitable for a dam and big hydro plant. Site for the works would be on Yule Island. Bauxite ore would be brought from the Wessel Islands off the West Australian coast. Friday 3/13/52: A sweaty day in Buntings bulk store godown uncrating the cargo and making a start on the organization of camp gear and my collecting equipment and supplies. Samarai has been hot the past few days and sleeping in the raw, one does not often need a covering sheet at night. My newly unpacked thermometers read 32 degrees C. at 9 P.M. An odd shower falls most days and usually there are heavy showers between about midnight and 2 A.M. Humid weather and dark nights would lead one to expect numerous nocturnal insects. But this is not the case. I have not seen a moth in Samarai, or a butterfly for that matter. Perhaps the distance from the mainland (2-3 miles) has something to do with it. Yet I'm told that now and then, not correlated with season, insects swarm at night on the island. Saturday 3/14/53: Finished reorganizing my own gear and started on general gear and supplies. Another hot steamy day. Max. 32.5, min. 26.5 C. Conference with Wynn in afternoon on order for foodstuffs and trade goods. Making up orders tonight. In afternoon visited Van. Archdeacon A.J. Thompson of the Anglican Mission, 30 years a missionary in this general area. A kindly old gentleman. The arch-deaconry was destroyed during the war when the Japs were advancing this way, and Thompson is still in temporary quarters (not overly spick and span). The church still stands, though the scorched-earthers set fire to it three times. Watched the finish of a cricket match between the Samarai whites and a native team from Kwato Mission (on another island on China Strait). The whites took a bad beating. The wonderfully quick eye of the native said to be responsible. Another factor, perhaps was the aftermath of a call yesterday of Buras Philip & Co.'s M.V. Bulolo, and a night-long party which followed it. Capt. W. (Bill) Wilding of the Bulolo collects saltwater fishes every trip for the aquarium at Toronga Zoo in Sydney. Keeps them in tanks on his bridge. A Bluff sailor who tells off his passengers and fires broadsides in all directions. At Samarai a species of fruit bat is noisy at night as it feeds on the big purple fruits of the Java Almond tree (Terminalia cataupa). Sunday 3/15/52: Temperature: max. 32; min. 26 C. No rain today, last night or yesterday