THE RETURN OF MY COLLECTORS WITH BIRDS OF PARADISE AFTER A FEW HOURS’ SHOOTING AT EKEIKEI.
Getting under weigh again, we descended from Madui into a ravine, where we passed a delightful waterfall, far away up on the precipices of the river Aculama, which we were to know better during our stay in New Guinea. The waterfall was on one of the tributaries of a little river, which we could see far below us rushing over its rocky bed in small cataracts that alternated with still blue pools. The trees in the ravine were loaded with lycopodiums and ferns, and, in their season, a few rhododendrons. The cluster of flowers was like a golden ball the size of a man’s head. On a later journey I secured the root, but it died before I could get it down to the coast for shipment. These rhododendrons did not grow alone, but attached themselves to tree trunks.
Another curiosity of the Aculama was a large fresh-water prawn, of which I got wind from the natives’ talk. As soon as I heard it mentioned, I told my boys that if they could bring me a specimen I would pay well for it, and also for examples of the fish of the Aculama. They accordingly went in quest of the crustacean, and before long they brought me a specimen. The prawn haunts the eddies under the large boulders, around which the natives draw their net so as to lie close to the shape of the stone. They then pull it out of the water gradually, and occasionally find that they have caught one or two specimens. The variety is about 5 inches long, of a transparent brown when caught, very much like our British prawns, and when cooked of a rich red. The pincers and legs are longer than those of the marine species. They make delightful morsels, and are a welcome addition to the explorer’s larder, which provides changes none too many.
In the waters of the Aculama I had also the good fortune to discover an entirely new fish, the rhiacichthys Novæ Guineæ, which has been described by Mr. Boulenger, and I am permitted to print his account in the Appendix.
CHAPTER V
THE FIRST CAMP
Journey continued—A Glorious Scarlet Creeper—Dinawa—Site for Camp selected—Building Camp—Native Assistance—Organisation for Scientific Work—Daily Routine—Teaching the Natives how to Catch and Handle Entomological Specimens—Sudden Affluence leads one of my Native Boys to Desert—He is Caught and Reformed—My best Native Assistant and his Wife—Female Influence a great Asset with other Women—The Day’s Work—Collecting at Night—Photography—A Dark Room in the Wilds—Native Interest in Developing.
CHAPTER V
THE FIRST CAMP
To return, however, to our journey. We crossed the Aculama by a missionary bridge, a rough structure made of two trees placed about a couple of feet apart, and laid with cross strips of wood. At once we began our climb to Dinawa up a winding forest path—the last stage of the march which was to bring us to our permanent camp. I was always on the look-out for natural treasures, and when we got to the top of the ridge just beyond the Aculama, I was fortunate enough to see in a ravine just below a magnificent example of D’Alberti’s creeper. D’Alberti had discovered it on the Fly River. The one I found here in the mountains was of the variety named Macuna Bennetti. It ran up its supporting trunk on a stem which was about 6 inches thick at the base. At the height of 200 feet it found light, threw out slender arms, and then dropped down bunches of festoons 20 feet long, a magnificent blaze of scarlet blossom. The flowers of the Macuna Bennetti are distinguished by a calyx covered with short hairs, some short and pliable, a few stiff. When we reached the top of Dinawa Hill we found patches of grass growing, which did not occur anywhere on the lower slopes.