“_Aug. 12th._—We arrived at Amana at 10 A.M. There is a tree-house here, 40 feet above the ground—used as a look-out station. A small village, and the people bad. About two months ago the chief murdered a man and a boy close to our yesterday’s camp. We heard of five other recent murders. There is a lunatic here, the first and only lunatic we saw in New Guinea. We sent an armed native to call Foula to our aid for carrying.” NOTES ON AMANA AND THE TREE-HOUSE Amana was a most peculiar village, and like Yo-ya-ka was built on an extremely narrow ridge, so narrow indeed that we could not pitch our fly-tent there, but slept in a house the front part of which overhung a precipice. The house commanded a most lovely view far away into the valley, the slopes of which were covered with dense wood. We could see the river flashing at intervals through the greenery; it must at least have been 1500 feet below us, but the roar of the torrent came up to us with great distinctness. As we approached Amana our carriers suddenly put down all their loads and would not enter. On being asked why, they said that some time before the chief of Amana had killed one of their people. [Illustration: OUR CAMP IN THE OWEN STANLEY RANGE 3,400 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL. The scenery in central New Guinea is magnificent. ] We went in and made the acquaintance of this worthy. He was rather a personable character, quite bald, and with a very noble forehead, but, like most of the more degraded aborigines, he could not look the white man in the face. On hearing of our approach he became frightened and retreated to a tree-house, one of the most remarkable curiosities which we saw in New Guinea. In the village was a large tree, the trunk of which reached up about 20 feet bare of branches, and then the main stem divided into a fork. Among the branches were two platforms. To the first there was a very rude ascent, a rough ladder consisting of two uprights with rungs placed at an angle of at least 65 degrees. Above that was the second platform, forming the bottom of the house, which was reached by steps, very narrow, but not so far apart as the steps of the lower ladder. The tree-house is not uncommon in New Guinea, but it is very exceptional to find two platforms. The uprights and ladders were made of bamboo, and the rungs were made of boughs cut anyhow with walo, a species of cane which grows to a length of 20 feet, and is used for lashings. Each cane is the size of a thick pencil, and has a spiky outer cover. This is peeled off when the cane is ripe, and it is then split, an operation requiring great dexterity, and one which can only be performed by the Papuans themselves, for none but a native could split a 20–foot cane cleanly down its entire length.