Saturday, Jan. 31 On correspondence. Dined with the Bates at Edgehill, some three miles out of town, under the foot of the mountains. The Bates have no children and Mrs. Bates accompanies her husband on some of his long trips. Last year they drove down the Mitchell River to its mouth on the Gulf. The Bates have a yard full of ornamental native and exotic plants, including some fine young picabean palms and treeferns. Have from Bates four seeds of Corypha alata from the Mitchell River, its only known habitat in Australia. Sunday, Feb. 1 Most of morning spent at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. Kirkwood. Kirkwood photographs orchids in color (kodachrome). Mrs. K. is a keen collector and grower of native orchids: has about 700 plants in a slat house and on trees in the garden. K. has some excellent koda- chromes; is thinking of doing an illustrated article on North Queens- land orchids for the National Geographic. In afternoon drove with Mr. and Mrs. Dupain to Kuranda, and had dinner with them at the Kuranda Hotel. Kuranda is beautifully situ- ated on the Barron River, about 1000 ft. above sea level, and only half an hour drive from Cairns on a fine new highway built during the war. Rich rain-forest. Climate much cooler than at Cairns. Would be a good place to work for a few days if we should be delayed in starting on Cape York. Monday, Feb. 2 Left Cairns airport on an ANA Dragon Rapide biplane, Pilot Maurie Bonney, at 8:57 AM, stopped at Cooktown, Coen and Iron Range and ar- ried Horn Island airdrome about three o'clock. Good weather for air observation, but the plane was so stacked full of cargo that I could only see well from the side on which I sat--the starboard side. We carried only three passengers; 550 pounds of cargo. Had a good view of Mt. Finegan from the seaward side. An imposing, somewhat conical peak standing out well above everything else in the mountainous country between the Bloomfield River and Cooktown. Entirely forested but for some rock faces on the southerly side at the summit. There seems to be a depression on the summit, opening to W or NW of some considerable size. Looks like a mountain well worth our attention. Got a glimpse of Coen township, about 10 miles to the west of our course. In a jumble of low mountains and grassy valleys, well back from the rain-forested crest of the MacIlwraith Range. Does not look very attractive to me. Too far from the rain-forests. We should try to work on a tableland to the east of Coen, where hoop pines (Araucaria Cunning- hamii) grow in abundance and in places of continuous rain-forest. This very extensive tableland is on top of the MacIlwraith or Main Dividing Range and appears to be triangular in shape. The maps I have give an altogether false impression of this range country.