Sunday 24 May 1953 (cont) Elev. at 1 P.M. 1850 M. After stiff climb up we came out on field which boys had fired on way down. No damage. Much easier walking. Beautiful cloud effects to west--Goropu. Home at 3:00. Frank had arrived from Biniguni with cable for Len. Marie better so will stay on here at Top camp. Had hot bath. Just about to sit down to write letters when Bobby spotted 2 scrub Wallabies on other side of forest. David shot them--our first of this species for trip. Very small & dark (4 # 8 oz. & 4 # 2 oz. ! ). Wrote letters (mother, Kay, T.D.C.) 2 letters from Mother & 1 from Dr. Tate. Monday 25 May Top Camp Temp. at - 1° C. last night (coldest yet). Heavy frost. Brilliant moon tonight. Ken packed his knapsack after breakfast & after I took a couple of pictures started down the mountain to Biniguni with Niko (one of our boys) & Frank, the native medical assistant. Should be down well before dark. He is on his way out to Biawa on the coast to pick up stores & start supplies moving in for our Middle camp. I will miss him. No company in my tent tonight except rats, possums, cuscus & wallabies-- Today was an exciting one for the Mammal Department. First Lik Lik brought in a new genus Pogonomys--a long-tailed little tree rat which he caught out in the grass ! 3 other rats of 2 species we have. Boys skinned out wallabies--skulls almost perfect. I finished making up today's and yesterday's skins. I had sent David out in P.M. to look for animals in holes in trees. He found one and it ran up the tree. David went down, got his gun and collected our first giant rat Uromys anak which has a wide distribution in the mountains of N. G. Then Lik Lik & Isilele came in with another golden-green possum. Still alive--very gentle and quiet. Gave the boys a spell tonight & invited Losima to go out with me. I spotted eyes not a 100 yds from camp. In leafy high tree (fired 3 6s & 1.4:0 ) --returned to camp for some #4 s. Fired 3 more rounds before small possum fell out of tree. An immature ring-tail with a striking face pattern--young σ-- same species as the one Ken brought in a few nights ago. Losima is a good jacking companion. Delicious dinner tonight: soup, hash, hamburgers & baked beans, new bread, peas, canned pineapple & a candy bar ! Tuesday 26 May Top Camp Have just come in from 2 hrs of jacking (7:15 - 9:15 P.M.) with little Losima from Goodenough Island. Had all our luck in the first 5 minutes. I shot a golden-green ring-tailed possum just at the edge of camp in the scrub (high mossy forest). Found nothing else except 1 Rattus in 1 of my traps. Losima is a good jacking companion (repeating myself). David skinned the giant rat today (tail is almost 16" long ! the body 12" ). He found 3 embryos. Only 2 Rattus in traps today. Unpinned 37 specimens. They dry very quickly in my tent when the sun beats down. Boys finished skinning early, took cold bath in stream & then ran for the sun. Saw a small lizard at the bottom of our hole-in-the-ground john. Told Geoff & he managed to net it (without accident)--our first at this camp. His boys have found tiny frogs. Geoff is bush beating into a sheet. His insect collections have since shown a sharp rise. Took in my brook rat traps & have re-set along forest jacking trail (17). Clouds blew in about dusk & I thought our good weather was going to turn to rain. Cleared after dinner. Long-tailed bird-of- paradise was calling in woods today for several hours. Almost twice a day we have hard dried peas. They still have found no way to soften them up. I shall never go on another trip without a good selection of dehydrated food. New bread today.