I was the first to enter the village.
They had heard us cooeying to one another; so only saw one man, and he
tried to look very unconcerned, with a bamboo pipe, trying to light it,
but too excited to succeed. The women had shut themselves indoors with
the children, and the men had gone into the bush close by with their
weapons.
6_th_.--From Janara to Epakari there are several steep ridges to go up
and down, and the last ascent is truly steep. It took us three good
steady hours' walking and climbing to get to Karikatana, the first of six
villages in this district. Dawes and Stone were at a village, I believe,
on a ridge nearer to Port Moresby. The chief, Nikanivaipua, received us
graciously, and insisted on our taking his house. We paid off our
friends, and they departed well pleased. We received presents of cooked
food and smoked wallaby. They were prepared for us, having been shouted
to an hour before we arrived at the village by our friend Lohiamalaka.
The village looks to be in a fine healthy position, close to the west end
of the Astrolabe, the high bluff bearing N.
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