"By Aeroplane to Pygmyland" Accounts of the 1926 Smithsonian-Dutch Expedition to New Guinea

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Journal of Stanley Hedberg
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May 31, 1926 : Albatross Camp (Base Camp) ; Mamberamo River


Monday
May 31
1926

We were up early this morning and eager to learn if the soldier had returned or had been found. He had not, although the searching parties hunted until long after midnight in the rain. Dr. Hoffman took Billy the camp mascot with him. The soldier who had accompanied the lost one led them to the spot where they had separated and they searched in the dark for tracks without results. Five brigades of four men each were sent out at daybreak and they scattered all through the jungle in an effort to locate him. They also fired many shots but still no response was heard. He evidently has been attacked by the Papuans when they found him alone or he has fallen over one of the ridges and lies dead at the bottom. He couldn’t have wandered so far away in a day that he couldn’t hear the shots. If he had been lost he would have started campward [sic] at the break of dawn and he surely could hear the shooting and the shouting of last night. He is a goner I am certain. On top of that we learned that two convicts had escaped last night and had evidently taken a canoe with them for the canoe was missing from its mooring place. The Dyaks who remain – three of them – said that the canoe was there last night at eleven o’clock. The convicts had received their five day food supply yesterday and it was a good day or evening I should say for a getaway as it was rainy [sic] heavy and everybody was interested in the search for the missing soldier. A guard is on duty every minute of the day and night down near the warehouse and the boat landing but they evidently had got [sic] by them. Things are developing rapidly after a few days of nothing of interest with Matt, Leroux and Van Leeuwen away in addition to Posthumus and Jordans with the transport. There are many clews [sic, = clues] that could be enlarged upon but {F1.30} one guess is about as good as another as to what happened to the soldier and the convict getaway. The convicts won’t be able to go far or get any place. Their five days[’] food with what ever they could steal or conserve will not last them long in this country and when they get down to the mouth of the river they are a long ways from civilization or villages or anything. In addition to this the Papuans will get them too if they are not careful. They had bitten off more than they could chew. Both of them were long term convicts. Dr. Hoffman was telling us that in Boreno [sic] some 20 years ago when a military expedition was exploring that country and using convicts for carriers abd [sic, = and] laborers two of them escaped into the jungles one night. The commanding officer informed the Dyaks about their escape and told them all he wanted back was their heads. The Dayks [sic] were anxious to grant such a request for head hunting used to be their favorite sport and still is to some extent in some sections of Boreno [sic]. In two days they returned with the heads of the escaped convicts which were exhibited to the others. No more tried to escape after that, the captain reported. I don’t know what they will do in this case. Things are rather upset with both Posthumus and Jordans away in addition to all of the Dyaks. If the Dyaks were here they would be better enabled to find the lost soldier I’m sure. Two of the Dyaks remaining are sick in the hospital and the other too old to do much jungle searching. We can easily spare the convicts and the canoe and the soldier for that matter for we have plenty of each. It is two o’clock as I write and no trace has been found of the soldier[,] an army sergeant who has just passed covered with mud informs me. They are searching far and wide but it is a big task. The river is falling rapidly and is almost back to the point where it was when it began to rise again. Korteman took our pictures today and Prince shaved for the occasion forgetting to take off the bottom part leaving him a good looking German affect beard. It is the end of {F1.31} the month today and it is a month for Prince and I in Albatros camp. It has past [sic] very rapidly for until the last two or three days there has been plenty to do all of the time. It is slowing down now and will be slow until we start upstairs when Doc and Leroux and Van Leeuwen and the transports return.

Navy Sparks[,] the chap we call Dot[,] has regular communication with Manokwari every day. His motor is humming away as I write. Army Sparks[,] the chap we call High Tension[,] is not getting good results with his short wave set and wants to use the navy set[-]up with his short wave. Dot[,] however[,] told him no in plain language for he doesn’t want to jim [sic, = jam] up his set when it is working so nicely now. I don’t blame him either. The Navy and the Army have no love for one another.




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