-131- of camp E & N, filling known gaps in the plant collection and happening across a few species previously unseen. The most im- potent "known" was my third Pandanus. By far the commonest and most striking in the area, but only today found with a fruit head which had not ripened and fallen to pieces. An observation forgotten yesterday is that the dominant tree of the immediate camp locality is a Castanopsis, not an oak. Van's hunter today completed his contract to provide 4 walla- bies for a drum of salt. In my ramblings this morning I thought twice that I could smell a cuscus. The strong scent was unmis- takable. Eventually, when my boys could detect nothing, it became apparent that the smell came from the boys themselves. They had eaten cuscus meat last night! If there is a stronger meat than mutton it must be cuscus. There are more similarities than the opposite between this island and the New Guinea mainland. The differences are largely in things that are lacking. One of the missing features is the "six o'clock cricket." A noisy cicada sounds off at about 5:20 in the morning. There is no cicada noise in the evening. Friday, October 23, 1953: Max. 19.5, Min. 14.5 C. Dull and misty; strong gusts of wind from SW, then NE. No rain. Carriers from the Wakonai group of villages arrived about 1:30 to transport us to #2 Camp tomorrow. On the way up they took sup- plies to #2 where Ken awaits us. A radiogram from Buntings advising that they will arrange for a boat to pick us up at Bolu Bolu November 14. No mention of Geoff, so presumably there is at least no further bad news. Plant collections for this camp were 430 numbers, including 132 bryophytes; 1408 sheets of specimens. Further work would not be warranted. Most plants seen were found in flower or fruit; a number of other species, especially trees, are in young leaf or with flower buds which should open in about a month. The mammal total is small - only 54 specimens of 8 species (wallaby, Phalanger, bandicoot, Pogonomys, Rattus, Hydromys, Dobsonia, Miniopterus. This time the 11th hour prize was Hydromys, trapped in the creek last night. We have a good collection of frogs; only 2 lizards (skinks from tree-tops). Saturday, October 24, 1953: Broke camp and left at 7 o'clock for #2 Camp on the lower slopes; 42 carriers including 11 women; 2 village policemen and 2 councillors in attendance. Arrived at #2 Camp 11 o'clock having stayed behind the transport line and collected on the way down. I made the altitude 910 m. by aneroid; Ken previously made readings of 860 and 866 m!