A remarkable thing about the Tip is the absence of leeches and scrub itch (a mite-like red bug). The Hollands assure me of this. Tree climbing kangaroos occur in the rain-forest of the Escape River but not on the Tip. Kangaroos are about, as are cassowaries. Cuscus, wallabies and a big rat that eats coconuts (and has a white-tipped tail) are present. Monday, February 9 The wind has changed to a fitful northwester--a mere breath of a breeze. Clouds began to build up yesterday. There was a shower last night, and this morning a downpour. The air is cooler, the dust has gone, and so has the tension of the past week of unrelied and unrelenting heat. Tuesday, February 10 And still in T.I. Thought I might be able to get away yesterday, or today, on the "Lochiel", the cockroachy vessel I inspected in Cairns a week or so ago. The Lochiel left for Darnley and Murray Islands with cargo on Friday and was supposed to be back Sunday or Momday and leave right away for Cooktown. The skipper offered to drop me at Portland Roads, from where I can take plane on Friday. But this is T.I. I'm more or less resigned to waiting. Am even getting used to the "Blood House", as my hotel is called. Last night I had dinner and spent the evening with the Cadzows. Very pleasant. Other guests were the T.I. doctor ( Brown) and his wife, and Capt. Hamish Campbell, a Torres Strait Pilot. Interesting company. Cadzow, a well informed man with a taste for good books. Campbell, one of the seventeen members of the Torres Strait Pilot Assoc- iation, was master of the B.P. ship "Macdhui" when the Japs sank her with bombs in Port Moresby Harbor. A big burly chap with a thick Scotch brogue and picturesque turn of tongue. Brown was one of the band of 200 Australian paratroops (the "Sparrow Troops") who held out against the Japs for three years in the mountains of Timor. The detachment was landed to create a diversion from the New Guinea campaign. They took to the hills, made friends with the natives, lived on the land, and held out in guerilla warfare to to the end of the war. At one time the Japs had 70,000 troops on the island. The Portuguese collaborated with the Japs against the Austral- ians, as did some of the native chiefs, who were mostly Portuguese halfcastes. But the natives themselves remained loyal, although the Australians had no money after the first few days. Other natives were loyal to the Japs. It all depended on who contacted them first. The main stronghold of the paratroops was on a high mountain south of Dilli and about half way to the south coast. This mountain was 9066 ft. high and the Portuguese built a column on its top to bring the height to 10,000 feet. The natives at this high altitude (top of the peak?) grew English potatoes and had buffalo. They also grew paddy rice on elab- orately terraced slopes. I did not know that the Timorese grew rice or terraced the ground. Brown says their stronghold mountain would be easy to get to in peace time. It should be a good spot for biological exploration. Timor is a most important island for biogeographical studies, and an