-126- Monday, October 12, 1952: Another crisp morning - 12 C. Clear sky until 10 A.M.; light rain 12-2. Glimpses of a bright starry sky through the treetops tonight. Collected along a newly cut trail running about 1/4 mile SE. Forest dominated by oaks; the large stately Pandanus of the area very plentiful in gullies; not much scrambling bamboo. Flora not so rich as at this altitude on Maneau, but by hunting around I am averaging over 30 numbers a day. Nothing in traps and Van started the day by shooting birds. Soon he has six specimens of a Pogonomys, cut from a hollow tree by Ken. At noon the native hunter came in with two black wallabies and a cuscus (Phalanger). The rat and the cuscus new to the collection. All three mammals are thick-set and have long furry hair. The cuscus lives in holes under the bases of trees and feeds on pandanus fruits at this time of year. The black wallaby has white under pellation and a stiff stubby tail. More people from Garuwata bring fresh food. Also the councillor from one of the Wakonai group of villages. This man lives at about 1500 ft. in the mountains. Appeared in the rain alone, dressed in a creneal band and an Australian soldier's tin hat, the latter filled with a bit of electric wiring for a chin strap. He had cut track from near his village to join our trail at 1380 m. From the beginning - on our way up here, he has told us that there is a good spot for our collecting down there and a shorter and easier route to the lowlands than the one by which we came. I feel the man knows what he is talking about; Ken does not. He will go with the councillor tomorrow to examine the route. Tuesday, October 15, 1953: Max 18, Min. 12 C. Clear morning clouding over about 10 o'clock; clearing mid-afternoon. No rain. Clear tonight. Saw Ken off in his search for a #2 camp site by going down to the bottom end of the grass spur at 1380 m. (corrected aneroid altitude 1400 m.). As in all new ventures he was most pessimistic and unsure of himself and the world at large. Collected in the primary forest of the ridge crest immediately below the grass and found that the principal tree which I have been calling an oak, is Castanopsis - very like the species at #3 Camp on Mt. Dayman. An oak also collected. From the lower end of the grass I got bearings on Bolu Bolu (96°), south end of Vivigani airstrip 48° magnetic. Van's hunter brought in a big black male forest wallaby weighing _____ lbs., and a bandicoot (Echymipera). Another blank from traps. A small blackish bat shot at in camp this evening.