The country all round us seemed to be one large swamp, and we stood
upon a springy foundation of reeds and mud; except for these, we
should undoubtedly have soon sunk out of sight in the mud. As it was,
we stood in a foot of water most of the time, and in places we had
to wade through mud over our knees.
The lake swarmed with many kinds of curious water-birds, the most
common being a red-headed kind of plover; there was also a great
variety of duck and teal. The swamps were full of large spiders, which
crawled all over us; we had to keep continually brushing them off.
Farther down the lake we saw another small village, and we were
told that these two villages comprised the whole of this curious
tribe. Whether they axe the remnants of a once powerful tribe it
is impossible to say, but their position is well-nigh impregnable
in case they are ever attacked, as their houses are surrounded by
swamps and water on all sides, and no outsider could very well get
through the swamps to their villages. The only possible way to get
there would be to cross the water in their shell-like canoes, a feat
which no man of any other tribe would ever be able to manage.
Monckton thought that these swamps and lake were formed by an overflow
of the Musa River. This had been a phenomenally dry season for New
Guinea, so these swamps in an ordinary wet season must be under water
to the depth of many feet.
We camped close by on the borders of the forest amid a jungle of
rank luxuriant vegetation, over which hovered large and brilliant
butterflies, among them a very large metallic green and black species
(ORNITHOPTERA PRIAMUS) and a large one of a bright blue (PAPILIO
ULYSES). The same afternoon we three went out shooting on the lake. Two
of the Agai Ambu canoes were lashed together and a raft of split
bamboo put across them, and two Agai Ambu men punted and paddled us
about. Before starting we had first educated them up to the report
of our guns, and after a few shots they soon got over their fright.
The lake positively swarmed with water-fowl, including several
varieties of duck, also shag, divers, pigmy geese, small teal, grebe,
red-headed plover, spur-wing plover, curlew, sandpipers, snipe,
swamp hen, water-rail, and many other birds. The red-headed plover
were especially numerous, and ran about on the surface of the lake,
which was covered with the water-lily leaves and a thick sort of mossy
weed. All the birds seemed remarkably tame, and we got a good assorted
bag, chiefly duck - enough to supply most of our large force with.
