(58) December 28 More work making up bundles.A 50 lb.bag og rice is missing; probably left on board the France.No carriers reported this morning as expected so G. R.,and I went up the mountain trail and visited three vil- lages- Chiai,Sirwana,and Amio.At the first one the medical tultul joined us and took us over to Sirwana where we picked up the local kukurai and tultul as interpreters to Amio.This is an excellent example of the di- diversity of language on Bougainville.These three places are not more than three miles from one another.At Amio we were enlightened about the non- appearance of carriers:their village is a couple of miles off the moun- tain trail that leads to Kupei.Indeed the men of Kupei were once bitter enemies of the Amio warriors and tradition inspires a somewhat frigid atmosphere between the two.Berenge,the Sirwana tultul offered to procure "plenty fella kanaka" and have them down at the plantation tomorrow morn- ing.A bargain- and we returned,guided by the old"doctor tultul"from Chiai. It was well after dark when we got in with much wind and rain.Jock was about to"make bello"which would summon his labor line to organize a search party. December 29 The first contingent of carriers came up the hill to Jock's house about 8 A.M.Berenge,the trusted tultul,was with them.proven faith- ful.The Doc had already been down to the store tying in loose ends and all the safari needed was locomotion.Three boys from Arawa(Kakarika)vil- lage on-the-salt-water have jumped at the chance to accompany us- Waggi, who holds a brief as a cook,having worked for a Captain Jolly in Rabaul. He will be boss-boy over three youths,Kokeri,Kelas,and Monto- cook-boy, wash-boy,camp-boy,and a personal attendant for each of us.It is doubtful that we shall keep them all.As we were getting the first of the packs out and the kanakas were busy lashing them to liwoi(wooden poles),another bunch put in appearance,about 25 in all.Chiai,Sirwana,Monkontoro,and Kaino were represented.The villages we saw yesterday were quite small, the male population numbering about 10 or 15.The caravan was put under way- G.R.,and I up ahead and the Doc bringing up the rear.Over 30 car- riers,including the little monkeys who carried odd stuff;and stretched out for about 300 yards.We entered the bush at the spear-line back of the plantation at II o'clock.When they got under way the kanakas stepped right out sothat we carrying only our guns had difficulty keeping up. No rain all day but the trail was very slippery anyway.The wonderful prehensile power of his big,splayed toes is the secret of the bushman's performance on a steep trail in six inches of mud with one end of a pole on his shoulder,loaded with not more than 120 lbs.(govt.regulation).They do carry 160 lb.copra bags full-up down to Jock to sell them.They rested just once all the way to Kaino(about 6 miles),crossing four good wide rivers with plenty of quick water and boulders.Here we set up camp in the house kiup(govt.rest house,built by the village and reserved for the use of patrols).Well-fixed before the rain started.All the men came over to have a yarn and we traded tobacco and marks(shillings),Teutonic sur- ival,for raffia arm-bands.All the carriers from villages roundabout fin- ish their trek here.We must send for the tultuls of villages higher up toward Kupei to get on tomorrow.Waggi,who we call Baki,showed he could cook and we spent a comfortable night on the bark floor.All the houses for sleeping up this way are built on poles;cook-houses and common-use- of-all buildings set on the ground.Drainage seems to be the principal reason for this.Mosquitoes were scarce. December 30