The day after our arrival we began the building of a proper camp. We felled trees, erected a stockade and also a platform some little distance above the ground; over this last we threw the fly-tent, making a floor to it of split bamboo. Inside the tent we arranged to have a fire in the native manner. We put down a wooden frame, inside which we laid earth closely patted down to form a hearth in the Papuan style. After building our abode we had to discover another spot where we could carry on our work at night. When this was found, a further task awaited us, for the forest came so close that we had to open up a space to enable our lamp to shine out and thus attract the moths. To do this we had to fell more trees, and the precipitous nature of the ground rendered our task all the harder, for once when we had allowed a large newly-felled trunk to slide, it got out of hand and careered three or four hundred yards down the precipice, taking other trees with it. Finally, however, we managed to open up a gap towards the camp, which left us an excellent clearing for scientific purposes. Here we built our collecting verandah, and thither we repaired every night, a little journey requiring some self-sacrifice, for as we went those dreadful leeches I have already described attacked our feet and legs unmercifully. We had to do a good deal of our work unassisted, for our natives were not willing to accompany us, as they feared the Mafulu people. We knew perfectly well there was some risk, and never went up to the verandah without taking our revolvers. As we worked there through the small hours, our position was brilliantly lighted up by our lamp, so that, had the Mafulu people wished to do so, they would have had every opportunity of taking a good aim at us. Fortunately, however, they did not realise that while our lamp made us very visible to them, it rendered them entirely invisible to us, and although we sometimes felt rather uneasy, we never received any unpleasant reminder in the shape of a hurtling spear. Had they known, however, how entirely we were at their mercy, we might not have escaped. As we pursued our collecting here, it was interesting to note the Alpine signs in insects and flowers. On the trees grew a very fragrant rhododendron. Moths were plentiful, but butterflies were not, for everything in this dense forest was struggling for light, and the butterflies had accordingly retired to the tops of the trees. Here I counted at least twelve different species of paradise birds. [Illustration: SOME UNKNOWN SPECIES DISCOVERED BY THE AUTHOR IN NEW GUINEA. 1.—A new Reptile—Lygosama Pratti. 2.—Another new Reptile— Toxicolamus Stanleyanus. 3.—A new fish of the Gobiid Genus _Rhiacichthys_. _By permission of the Zoological Society of London._ ]