-62- Mist floating through tree tops off and on since time of our arrival this morning. Aneroid at noon 1545 m., at 6 P.M. 1540 m. Temp. 6 P.M. 65°F. Saturday May 16, 1952: Fine clear morning. Temp. at 6 A.M. 58 F., alt. 1550 m. Some mist in tree tops later. Sent runner back to Binigumi with mail at 7 0'clock, and with him 4 carriers we no longer need. Have boys up and down the trail opening it up for carriers with box loads. We must have some box loads, but they are hard on carriers on steep trails and I suspect they are the cause of the delay in arrival of the carriers. Examined country in easterly direction from camp. Some steep little gullies but mostly easy ridges. Oak forest, many big trees, their bases mounded with a network of surface roots covered with moss. Forest looks over age here and slopes climbed yesterday; many dead standing trees and fallen timber. Much leaf and stick litter rotting on ground. Soft walking on this and thin moss and hepatics over surface roots. The scrambling bamboo abundant, climbing as high as 50-60 ft., culms fluish green and up to 1½ in. diameter. Plenty of mammal signs in forest. Many small rootings and turning over of ground litter. A small clay pool in a gully puddled by some beast with tracks like the heel marks of a big wallaby. This location for a collecting camp improved by my discovery of two small pools of water in a gully a couple of hundred yards east of camp and easy to get at. No sizeable stream close at hand, but we can hear a waterfall which cannot be more than a mile to the east(100 °)from camp. Heard faint yells down the track while eating lunch of bully beef and rice at noon. At 12:20 the leading carriers appeared carrying my plant drying frame and a box on a pole. In all 38 men, 3 women, plus 3 village councillors without loads. The transport left Binigumi yesterday morning and camped somewhere on the trail. It is a day late but we have several loads more than we expected. The carriers in good fettle. Now babbling to beat the bend while their rice cooks. People from Binigumi, Budnaga and Opaigwai Villages. Sunday May 17, 1952: Another cloudless morning after a starry night. No rain since we left Binigumi on Thursday. Alt. 6 A.M. 1535 m.; temp. 58 F. Carriers called at 5 o'clock, took over 2 hours to cook and eat their rice and it was 7:30 when we got away. Left a tent and fly rigged for the next relay party. Gosiagos ahead with knives and axes, opening up the track for the carriers. 7:45, 1600 m. Change in forest; taller, gloomier, considerable amount of tangled low bamboo. Acorns on ground. May be transition from mid-mountain oak to beech forest. 8:25, 1760 m. A small-leaved Podocarpus common in forest cassowary droppings. Hear water running below on right. 8:35, 1795 m. Carriers rest in small ferny opening (scrambling Sticherus). Pandanus leaf hut. Small-leaved heavy crowned big trees certainly beeches (Notho-fagus) Xanthomyrtus (?) also, as smaller trees. Steady and rather east ascent so far. Continued on at 8:50. Crest of spur up and down - mostly up - and carriers make many short stops. Running water below on right. Spur narrow.