locals to carry food up continually. Old "Jack" Tells me he employed four boys to shoot and assist him with skinning; and six collected butterflies and insects. At this time Meek was more interested in the latter. They had three tents and used over a ton of rice for their boys. It was accomplished before the Bird Ordinance; during the fair SE season; and with thorough preparation. One native has a gam about a very rare bird that Eichow failed to get; the male possesses a comb "all-a-same rooster", a golden bill and throat, and a long tail- a rather lurid description. He took a female but not the male. This creature inhabits two small hills on the slope of the big mountain; these are supposed to be impossible to climb. The natives are right about the terrain, I think; they describe it as being "very bad for walk about", which probably means shale rock and clay. Man-loving leeches are in abundance. But the cancelling feature for me is the weather alone. Two boys that I sent out to start cutting trail returned and reported the track heavily overgrown and everything "too much wet."