A truly wonderful country!  What terrible convulsions of nature there must have been here ere these great boulders were displaced and rolled about like mere pebbles!  The villages are so built that they are accessible only on two sides by very narrow tracks.  We saw no game of any kind, yet the cassowary must abound somewhere near, as every one of the natives wears great head-dresses and neck-ruffs made from the feathers.  Our highest ascent to-day was to 2360 feet above the sea-level; we call it Mount Bellamy; it stands out alone, and from it we saw the Astrolabe, Vetura, and Munikahila.

2_nd_.—­We left this morning for a pig and cassowary hunt, but were unsuccessful.  We bagged four cockatoos, one green parrot, one brueros, and three pigeons.  Of my travelling in this land, to-day beats all; it was along mere goat tracks, on the edge of frightful precipices, down precipitous mountain-sides and up steep ridges, on hands and knees at times, hanging on to roots and vines, and glad when a tree offered a little rest and support.  I gave it up at last, hungry and weary, and let the others proceed.  I stayed with a party of natives who were getting a kind of large almond with a very thick fleshy rind, the nut inside very hard, which they broke open with stones, filling their kits with the kernels.  They call the nut okari.  They fed me with sugar-cane, taro, and okari, and then got leaves for me to rest on.  They had all their arms handy; I was, as I am always, unarmed, and felt thoroughly comfortable with them.  Only once in New Guinea have I carried a weapon, and then we had spears thrown at us.  I consider a man safer without than with arms.  The return “home” was frightfully steep and trying to wearied and hungry folks.

3_rd_.—­Youths busy with feathers of cockatoos got yesterday, making head-dresses.  They take the feather, strip it down, throw the quill away, fasten all the stripped feathers neatly together, dry in sun, then bind round their combs.  One youth is preparing a head-covering from the bark of the mulberry:  he is making native cloth by chewing the bark, and no wonder he complains of his jaws being sore, for it is a long job.  I gave the children presents of beads this morning, and some of the old gentlemen objected, saying they ought to have had them; but I did not understand them.  It is very convenient at times not to understand what is said—­it is thoroughly native.  We have been asking them if they will receive teachers, and they all say yes, and at once, for it means tomahawks, knives, and salt.  They say, “To-morrow we’ll all go and get the two teachers at Munikahila and bring them here now.”  We here are in excellent health and spirits; a little disappointed at not being able to cross.  Certainly we have not lived on the best, and we have camped anywhere.  I like these mountaineers—­free, independent, and kind.  When they cook taro, if near, we get a hot taro to