L. 25, P. 7 is questionable just how many more it is worth while to make up. Beginning yesterday all trapped mammals come from across the river to the NE. The traps are all set in rather dense rain forest which includes trees up to two or two and a half feet in diameter. So far the yield includes only Rattus ringens and Uromys, the former abundant, the latter rare. Today the trap line count is stepped up to 300. Went out to sulphur-smoke a few trees I have had in mind. Had just moved away from the first, thinking there was nothing in it when two bats flew out. I got the net back in place just in time to net a third. No more came out however, nor did I get results from any other tree, excepting a g Gecko. The bat was a male Rhinophphus. Have had Brass's boy Mick fishing from the end of the dock. This morning he has caught three quite large fish and an immense crab. I had one of the claws of the last for my lunch (part) so you can guess that it was pretty large. Temperatures: Min. 23° c., max. 32° c. Thundershowers this afternoon and steady rain tonight. Gororo out rebaiting his traps, found a hole in a tree from which he poked out two bats, mother and son. Son very large, large enough to fly, I should have said, but mother carried him up onto a bunch of leaves where both were shot. They are the long-eared species of Sturt Island. Inahobi my cook-boy pro tempore, has tried his hand at making bread today for the first time in his life. Our regular boy has gone out with Brass and Rand. In Inahobi's own words "I put him yeast. Bimeby he go up (making a gesture like filling a baloon); I put him along over; he go down". From which you may gather that the bread was not exactly a success. It could be called tolerably good damper though. The mental strain was so great that Inahobi had to sleep right through the afternoon to regain something of his customary poise, and even yet his memory appears to be weakened. Tonight for supper he put on something he called stew. Apparently he had dumped the meat, potato and onion leftovers together, added a glutinous mass of flour and warmed slightly. If I survive his cooking I shall have done pretty well. Thur. Dec. 17. Rain of various intensity all night; clearing at day- break. Trapping perhaps owing to the rain very poor: two ringens and an Isoodon. The latter taken in the intergrade between savanna forest and true gallery forest. Went across to inspect the traplines of Gororo and Taikudo. Both fairly good, but most of the traps soaked and sprung by heavy rain, so having the boys roof them over with leaves this morning. Semt Aia and Kanamoia to do likewise after they had skinned out the catch. Mick caught three more fish today. His triumph of yesterday was rather dimmed by his getting fever in the afternoon; probably he had been out too long in the strong sunlight and heat. Having the wharf (wulp the boys call it) repaired. I had the ladder rebuilt the other day -- the one on the end leading down to the water. Am now having a lot of new cross poles put in to take the tread of people going along the top of it. Inahobi seems to be getting the general idea of telling the time quite well. He forgets about the minute hand, and only watches the hour hand so he is generally somewhere near right. Incidentally one of my boys (quite a while ago) came and reported that the clock was "dead". Tried an experiment this afternoon. I have three work (general) boys in camp who have just about done all the odd jobs around. So I've given them each twenty steel traps and an untouched patch of forest on the north side of West Creek to work upon; and instructions to trap for just one kind of animal, namely Echimypera the short-tailed bandicoot, which so far has not been taken at this camp, nor have any signs of it been reported. Not one of the three has worked with traps before, but they all think it is easy, whereas my regular boys know very well that it is not.