-100- everything and wear a Leering expression. From them Geoff bought 5 good saltwater crabs, carried alive from the coast this morning for a few sheets of newspaper and two boxes of safety matches. Mighty good eating. There is a recent inflation in the value of newspaper which I cannot understand. For 4 or 5 x full sheets of the N.Y. Times or Tribune one can buy a good bunch of bananas. The high value placed on the paper can hardly be because it is American. Fortunately we have a good surplus brought from the U.S. for interleaving my dried herbarium specimens. Ken left for Baiawa early this A.M. with a transport of 22 loads, including several of specimens. Extra carriers offering - 6 men and 5 women - took drums of foodstuffs and 2 cases of meat to Opaigwari Village where they will be stored in the councillor's house for use at our Peria Creek camp. Wednesday, August 12, 1953: Max. 35.5, Min. 19.5 C. Overcast and sultry; heavy shower 1:00 - 1:30 P.M.; starry night. Clouds black over the mountain all day. Botanized down river and near [illegible] with the bend of the Gwariu found a strip of swampy rain forest with a small stream flowing through it, evidently from a spring. In this moist habitat were a number of plants previously met with only at our 700 m. camp on the mountain. Ken back from Baiawa in afternoon. Reports very dry conditions there; most of the grasslands have been burned. Thursday, August 13, 1953: Max. 33, Min. 20.5 C. Sultry again and almost completely overcast. The river 9 inches lower than when we came here, indicating no rain of consequence on the mountain. Packing up in preparation for our move to Peria Creek tomorrow. This has been a good locality for insects and herps, discouraging for mammals, only fair for plants. My proceeds are 313 numbers (including 37 bryophytes), 1446 herbarium sheets of specimens. Many of the plants are species of the [illegible] rain forest of the river bed and flood banks. The primary forests have been disappointing. This is the middle of the dry season in the area and therefore not the best time for col- lecting pknts, but the primary forest is actually poor in species. Bajs from the caves at Maneau, and Pogonovays brought in by natives, have boosted mammal numbers, but results from trapping and shooting have been poor. Mammal collections from Biniguni Camp: 368 specimens, 20 species. The Mt. Dayman-Biniguni series of camps has yielded between 50 and 60 species of mammals. Geoff's collections from Biniguni: Insects and spiders 1600; other invertebrates 53, Fishes 70, reptiles and amphibians 220. Friday, August 14, 1953: Peria Creek, Kwagira River. Had more carriers than we needed for our move from the Gwariu to this camp. Left the Gwariu at 7:35, stayed a few minutes to collect cargo from the resthouse at Bini-