{FRAGMENT 3: End of July 31, 1926 through September 24, 1926} {F3.1}
{End of Saturday, July 31 entry}…Of that there is no question. It is believed that the reason they did not want them in the house was because they had other things in there which they did not want Leroux and Matt to see. The tin could also have come from Motor Camp. #End insert.
After detouring around the village without seeing the Papuans the party crossed the river in a Papuan prow which was tied to shore and followed the Papuan path back to camp. It was easier going than the course they had followed along the river going up and they made good time. Leroux is of the opinion that the trail leads to river dix [sic] and continues back to the mouth of the river which we entered on Thursday. It connects all of the villages. We were pleased to see them again for with their story it cleared up the Papuan actions towards us in the morning. After they had met the party in the morning on their way to our camp they were anxious about their presence in the woods for they did not know where they were going or what they were going to do. That explains their hasty departure and I gathered from the actions of the young chap that he wanted to know if Leroux and Matt were going to sleep in their tent this evening. If not he was trying to put the idea over that it would be dangerous for them not to do so. That opinion may be right and may be wrong. We all had coco[a] and got ready for our second night in this camp. As I write[,] two Birds of Paradise are calling to each other above my head. Saleh and the Dyaks see one of them a short distance away and want to shoot it for it is a large beautiful one they say. They grab the shot gun and start out after it but we decided it best not to shoot and they are very much disappointed. It is best though; for it might have a bad effect on the natives and they outnumber us greatly. It rained heavily during the evening and we sat and sang in the Dyak lean[-]to as it poured down in volumes. During the latter part of the evening we decided that as the exploring party had got[ten] to the foothills of the {F3.2} mountains and had got the direction of the river and the location of it on the map that the two prows would return. Leroux and Matt were going to accompany us down stream for half a day and then camp in the vicinity of some of the houses where we had seen people but who were afraid to come out and trade. They would try and establish contact with them and return later. Our prow with our Dyaks had planned to stay out but one day and was now two days overdue. We would take the collection with us after seeing them firmly established in their camp for the evening.
