Wednesday
August 25th
1926

We were off at 6:30 and our Papuan friends of last nite were out to trade with us but we can[’]t stop so we pass [‘]em up. Their village was located a short distance up stream and it was an hour or more before we lost sight of them. The motor boat barely moves at times and it is very tiresome to sit [and] burn gasoline and oil and get nowhere. One would think that after the last expedition was here they would know enough to use more than 12 H.P. motors when the loads are so heavy and the stream so swift. Posthumus some time ago asked for another boat and they sent one of 8 horsepower. We run steady, I should say drag along and during the day many Papuans came out in prows and wanted to trade stone axes and bows and arrows for knives. We had no time to stop so had to be content with tossing [‘]em a few beads. They had no difficulty in keeping up with us and several times tried to hook on but the Dyaks and soldiers in the prows behind shoved them off. They couldn’t understand why. We didn’t see any of these people of today on our trip down so they must have got the word of our trading from those above or below over their wireless system of howling communication from village to village. Dick opened the Klim he received on the transport from home and oh Boy how good it tasted. It has been an exceedingly {F3.53} hot day – all of them this trip have been hot – and we are as brown as the Dyaks. Dick especially for he has been going without a shirt for some time and is tanned from the hips up. The river is rising and we were able to save some distance by taking a short cut. There was just enough water and no more, but we made it. If we had [had] to turn back and go around the large bend it would have meant at least 4 hours more. That was the only brite feature in addition to the Klim of the day. At 5 o’clock we sighted the bivauc which was a day and a half from M.C. coming up and where we stopped our 2nd night on this trip. The Papuans who have a village below and above camp were out in full force and when we landed they were on hand shouting saro. Those from the village upstream came shortly afterwards and I traded with all of them. It was almost dark so it was impossible for us to get any pictures. That was unfortunate for we would have secured some good ones. Another tribe from across the river also put in their appearance. They were profusely decorated with forehead shell ornaments and large fellows. Two of them had 4 layers of shell on their foreheads. About 30 of them were in camp and they were hard traders. Leroux had given the tribe from upstream a large knife so I traded the other 2 tribes large knives for stone axes and their shell ornaments in addition to some bags. They were loath to part with there [sic] shell ornaments and it took considerable dickering back and forth. They stayed late and when it was dark commenced to jump and shout in what appeared to me to be a menacing attitude because of their numbers. They were trying to bluff us into trading more in their favor, so I showed them what my revolver was for and they stopped. Some ran away. They wouldn’t part with hardly anything except for a saro up to this point but later accepted other things and were eager to get them[;] as we are heavily loaded I selected the little things and gave them the best of the deals. They were quick to take advantage {F3.54} of this, however. It was after eight before we could get them to depart. It was a beautiful evening and a full moon illuminated the rugged ruts and the river accross [sic] from camp. Some one had an oration until almost midnite. I think it was one of the soldiers. Of course, we couldn’t understand it but he kept talking in a monotone and then singing in the most weird manner. All I could get was Mati which means deal [sic, = dead] americans, Posthumus, Sergeant Choeblate and a few others of similar character. [sic] It grew tiresome after a few minutes. I don[’]t know whether he was peeved, praying or what and Dot the navy man said he didn’t know what it was either. The convicts (10 of them) are out of food. Dot says he can’t give them any from the transport. Don’t know what he’ll do. The Dyaks also got uppish (ours) because they were told to build their own shelter. They claimed they had built it for us and were entitled to use it and the transport gang should build one. I was busy with the Papuans and Dick told them that as we were being taken up by the transport as a courtesy they had to do what the commander of the transport said and we had nothing to do with it. When we were with them in the prows we could [say] yes or no. He was rite but the Dyaks couldn’t see it and sulked on us and refused to unload the prow until they got good and ready. They have been acting funny since our second day out but this was the worse. They sit in the prow all day and do nothing. If we had not been given a lift by the Motor Boat they would have had to pole and paddle for 6 or 7 days to get us back and then it might have been impossible to make the grade at that. When the current is swift and the boat stands still because of lack of power they have to be urged repeatedly to paddle a little to help out. Just a little is needed and we go forward slowly but forward we go, otherwise we stand still. It[’]s a tough trip up with such a heavy stream, heavy load and only 12 horsepower to pull it. {F3.55}