yelling which was continued at intervals through the whole night. Worst of all, the effluvium from the bodies of the sleeping carriers just beneath my bunk was intolerable. I sat up and tried the effect of smoking strong tobacco, but in vain. Luckily, in groping about the apartment for the large globular vessel containing water (as I had become very thirsty), I upset it, and its contents poured through the battens, soaking the unsavoury sleepers below, thoroughly rousing them and sending them off to a drier spot. Towards morning tired nature asserted its power, and in spite of rain, dogs, yelling infants, and malodorous savages, I gained a few hours sleep.
The morning broke fair, but chilly, as the village stands at a high altitude above the plain. Stepping forth into the fresh morning air, we stood gazing in admiration at the surpassingly beautiful scene stretched out before us. In the direction of the Astrolabe Range, in particular, the mountain scenery was superb, rivalling in wild grandeur any I had ever seen before in my travels.
Breakfast over, I sallied forth into the village to take some pictures. The native population, men, women, and children, gathered round Misi Lolo with a childlike curiosity to watch my proceedings, and readily obeyed all instructions. They stood in groups, took the proper attitudes, and even posed picturesquely, as conscious that they were being immortalized in picture. When Hunter, at my request, asked the men to mount to one of the tree houses, and to group themselves in warlike array on the platform, as if defending their garrison against the attack of a hostile tribe, they ran up the ladders with the ease and agility of monkeys, donned their war coronets and masks, and in full war-paint, armed with shields and spears, went through all the evolutions of Papuan defensive fighting. They certainly looked anything but despicable combatants. I succeeded in taking several fine photographs from savage real life, all thoroughly characteristic of the manners and habits of these mountaineers.
Not caring to wait for the feast of roast pig to be held later in the day, and intimating to my creditor that I would pay for the pig all the same, I got Hunter to collect our baggage and carriers, and made a
