The travelling was not so
bad--a good deal of descending and ascending. Oriope, the old chief, was
delighted to see us. His wives and children have gone with great burdens
of betel-nuts and taro to trade at the seaside. The old fellow goes with
us. We are now 1530 feet above sea-level, east-by-south from last
camp--Mount Owen Stanley due north. Oriope is Mr. Lawes's great friend.
He used to live in Munikahila, but trouble through marrying a wife has
sent him in here. He seems greatly attached to Ruatoka. He is a
terrible talker, long-winded and deafening.
29_th_.--We had a strange sort of a hut for sleeping-quarters on the top
of a rock. The house, being open all round, felt exceedingly cold when
the fire went down. The people here seem much lighter than at the other
place, and the children have a more pleasant expression. Basaltic rocks
lie scattered about in every direction. We had our flag flying, and the
admiration was great, the natives viewing it from underneath then from a
distance, and in each position noticing something new.
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