L. 25, P. 6 Minimum temperature last night 22½ c., max. 35.5 At 4.30 a call from across the river let us know someone wanted to come over. I took a boy and rowed over to find four men and a youngster who had come from somewhere NE of us. One was dressed as a village police-man. They had no food with them, but brought in three bandicoots and a juvenile flying squirrel which I bought. They have gone back for food and say they'll be back tomorrow. They say the name of their village is Bé. Mon. Dec. 14. Changing some of the trap line to across the river. Catch this morning was only four, a Phascogale with five young in the pouch, two ringens and a brachyhinus. Our friends of yesterday arrived again this time with bananas and yams. I didn't do as Rand did the other day -- buy all their food and them have to feed them. Instead I bought a little of it and told them to keep the rest to eat themselves while they went out hunting for me. They have at least one dog which they simply left on the other side of the river to howl its head off while they came across. Someone will have to go and fetch it. Crossed to NE shore where some old gardens and fallen-down houses. Beyond found some good-looking forest where started transferring traps (60) from the line run by Taikudo and Aia. On way back had Gororo taken to SE shore in the bend of the river. The first part is mainly mangrove and nipa. From there I landed at the north bank at the mouth of West Creek. An old track leads up through some dwarf bamboo past three fallen houses (little more than shelters), into some really nice woodland, beyond which is again savanna. Am having the steps at the end of the old wharf (have I said there is a wharf here? There is one rather rickety but usable one and the remnants of two others) repaired. Then the dinghy can be moored and always afloat instead of high up on the mud as she usually is when wanted. At 2.30 four of our boys with two locals came back from Rand's party. A note from Rand says they are at Panzan (?) about 5 hours walk out. So they didn't go to Mibene after all. They will be staying about 8 days. There is no forest at all. He doesn't say in the note whether there is the swamp they hoped to find. They met some additional people including the police man of Rouku on the road. Temperatures: last night min. 22½ c., today max. 34½ c. Tues. Dec. 15. A big catch from the woods across on the NE shore with only a hundred traps: all but on e R. ringesns though, and that one another young Uromys. Of the series of ringens (13 of them) one alone is juvenile. Shot another Pipistrellus last night. A light shower this morning again. The day will probably hot and steamy later on. Shifting a second hundred traps into the NE woods across the river. Shall concentrate my whole battery of traps there for four days or so and then move them to the other big batch of forest as yet untouched on the north side of West Creek. By that time I hope the "Vailala" will have arrived and I shall pull out for Daru. Passed my first hundred specimens for this camp this morning (15 species). That number of species probably comes pretty near the total obtainable without a very protracted stay. This morning the local people all slipped away, whether to their villages or not I don't know; but they seem to have told the boys they were coming back. Probably they've gone for more provisions. Temperatures: Min. 23½ c., max. 32 c. Rather cloudy and early rain prevented the usual very hot afternoon. About 5 o'clock the local natives came back once more, bringing more food with them. They seem to live entirely upon yams and bananas. Wed. Dec. 16. Catch (with 240 traps) 11 R. ringens, of which three were juvenals. Not too good but then we had a lot of rain last night. I find that I have already more than 30 ringens from this camp, and it