On January 1, 1903, Harry and I left Port Moresby on board Captain Pym’s vessel, the _Whaup_. This took us to Yule Island, and from that point we proceeded to Pokama, on the mainland. There we were met and entertained by Cavé, a hospitable Papuan woman, widow of Captain Williams, a trader. She has a very comfortable bungalow at Pokama, and keeps a small store, where she does business with passing traders, who are always welcome at her house. She also owns a small light-draught cutter, which brings sandalwood down from Bioto Creek, and this boat she is willing to let out to travellers. She also keeps up the beautiful gardens and fine mango trees planted by her husband, and she cultivates custard apples and a delightful fruit known as Soursop. It is the shape of a kidney and about the size of a pumpkin; within it is a mass of creamy pulp, surrounding black seeds. This pulp is most cooling, and it is accompanied by a pleasantly astringent acid juice, the whole fruit forming an ideal refreshment for the tropics. From Pokama we went by canoe to Yule Island, where we halted at the Sacred Heart Mission, and then went on to Aruopaka, where we stayed for several days in the house of Mr. Russell. Mr. Russell himself was absent, but we joined him later at Moa, one and a half hours’ row from Aruopaka, a voyage which we made in our host’s whaleboat. From Moa we passed by way of Inawee, Inawa, and Inawabia to Aipiana, the Government station, where Mr. Russell entertained us for five days. In the curiously-named villages just mentioned we tried to collect carriers, and at this juncture I sent Harry back to Pokama to bring on the goods we had left behind us, appointing to meet him at Bioto. During his absence Mr. Russell and I went to the southward through other villages Rarai and Nara, and picked up twenty more men. On our way through these southern villages we met Captain Barton, then the head of the native armed constabulary, and now the Administrator. With him I spent one night, and then pushed on to Bioto with my thirty bearers, who, as yet, had nothing to carry. To perform the journey adequately I really should have had a force of seventy. At Bioto we enlisted a few, but our numbers were still very insufficient. At 4 A.M. in the morning after my arrival at Bioto, Harry rejoined me, and during that day we began sending the baggage by relays to Epa. Harry had been enabled to bring all our remaining goods with him through the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Dauncey, who had lent him his whaleboat. With the help of the Chief Constable, who gave us the use of his canoe, we got the baggage along to Oo-fa-fa, from which point I was assisted by my old friend Mavai, who sent down carriers from Epa to take the stuff up to Ekeikei. At Bioto the mosquitoes were at this time a terror, and were so thick that one could hardly put food in one’s mouth or take an aim with a gun. [Illustration: THE VILLAGES OF ELEVADA AND HANUABADA.