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

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Journal of Matthew Stirling
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December 21, 1926 : Ambon


December 21

The trip to Ambon was without particular incident. We spent two days there and settled our affairs with the postmaster and the Governor's secretary, who have been handling our mail and financial affairs respectively. There the Dyaks landed and will stay until the RPM steamer arrives which will take them to Borneo, and there we bid them goodbye, not without real feeling. The night before we sailed Van Leeuwen fell off the {p. 310} gangplank leading from the coal dock to the Wega and broke a rib. He has been practically confined to his cabin since then. We took on about thirty convicts of our old gang at Ambon, among them Shorty and Oompah. Moon, it appears, is about to go back to New Guinea, the south coast this time for a short spell. Our most conspicuous cargo taken on at Ambon is nine "nuts" who are headed for the insane asylum at Bandoeng. They are quartered on the after part of the top deck where they furnish a continuous three ring circus.




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