ADVENTURES IN NEW GUINEA.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 87, 25 March 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

ADVENTURES IN NEW GUINEA.

BRITISH EXPLORERS CUT THROUGH JUNGLE.

Tn view of the sensation caused throughout Australasia by the remarkable adventures of Mr. Staniforth Smith. Administrat r of New Guinea and h ; « party. aho were oni on an exploring expedition tbo following information about the hardship experienced by a British expedition, which is trying to reach the S>w>w Mountains will be read with interest. Letters have

been received iu England from Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant, secretary and originator of the expedition, and extracts from them hive appeared. _Mr. Grant tells of his visit to the pigmies’ village, and mettione that the average height of these people is 4ft. flin.

"They seem,” ho says, “to be a much more independent tribe than the natives inhabiting the data. "There can be no doubt that they ore of a different tribe to the Papuans, end live entirely in the mountams. though they are «m friendly terms with the men of the low ground, end trade them tobacco. and probably other things. They may also occasionally int r-marry with the Papuans. “Their dress, if it may so be called, is different from that of the low ground Papuans. They nil carry rope sacks, most of thrir arrows are different, they hare fircsticks. and their houses are Tcttl hotxscn, and not nv*r<* huts-’’ Th? pigmies mca-ured by Mr. Grant waned in ago from oM men to youths of 20. The* explorer adds:... “This is without question tho most d'flkuH country I have ever w<«ked in, and tho most terrible to move about in.” -

Captain Rawling roys*... “Evwrthing is more or leas at a standstill, as no coolies have yet arrived. We hare now 12 men” (this was October 29). ‘‘The server work is stopped. Dr Woolaston reports that it is impossible to cross the Iwaka River, but an aoon as we get our coolico we shall try and make our way up its bunks.

“Since the last tree was felled, over • month ago, we have been waiting for one fine hour, for he clouds to cicar away, in which to do our work.

“At daybreak, on some days, we can •re tho range for a few minutes, and then up roll the clouds and-all is again obscured. We have had one fair view only in six weeks. **As soon as cur coolies arrive we shall make our final effort. Drs. Woolaston and Marshall and I, with three or fou** Gurkhas and all available coolies and natives, will push up the river towards the snows. Possibly we may be able to cut ©Hr wav at tho rate of about two miles a dav. and if this can bo maintained for 12 days we shall he wry clceo to the great mass of Ccrwtang, the objective cf the expedition.

Dr. Woolaston gives a graphic account cf tho difficulties daily encountered by his coUeag-K-s and himself. He savs:—

“At the first camping place, an island in the middle of the river, I uus nearly wrehed «w»y by a flood, but luckily lost nothing of importance but one boot. The flood continued for three days, and J »*• unublo to move, either backward or forward-JUther alarming, os these rivers or© very swift and rise incredibly rapidly. ] have about 20 natives with aao, &• our coolies have dwindled down to 19, and those have gone down to Walcntuni to fetch up the stores. The natives threatened all the time to go »ack. leaving me- and a Gurkha and rreciotß loads. «nd it took all my patience and cajoling to persuade them to atop. !Hie going is horribly bad. Today I have crooned 23 rivers and streams «*f varioos risce and swiftneos. Some of them would hare carried me off my foot and down io ee-i but for two stalwart natives holding me up. Between the riven you are up to your knees in mod, and constantly being tripped up by rootn and creepers. It is beastly, but it brings one nearer to the mountains.

caap I am bound for w cloec to t«» foot-hills. From here wo have to ***** th» fcot-hills eastward for about Io miles through this same kind of country, and then strike into the moontans by the most likely-looking valley. Before we reach this valley there will be many big rivers t-> be crossed, and this rt is absolutely impossibk' to attempt at prevent wth only a handful of eeolim. The wet season is getting wetter and wetter.’’ A letter dated November 11 has been tveriwd from Mr. Walter Goodfellow, the t ader of the expedition, who was invalided home from Macassar, stating that the explorer is rapidly recovering bis health. The camp nt Wakatitni. where be fifrst contracted fever, although on the highest ground available, was under water, the land being only distinguishable from the river by th :> line, of the jungle. Mr. Shortridge, who had only just returned to bis work after a period of illn®«, was again prostrated by fever immo'it.'tcly on landing, and was compelled once mere to be invalided home.