Up Snow Range on the Equator.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 3 July 1914, Page 2

Up Snow Range on the Equator.

DR. WOLLASTON LEADS SUCCESSFUL EXPEDITION IN NEW GUINEA. + ! DAYS SPENT IN CLOUDS. For the first time the Great Snow Range of New Guinea has been penetrated, and Mount Carsteir/.a scaled. Dr. A. F. R. Wollaston led the successful expedition. From the spot where the exploring party landed to. the highest point reached was only 60 miles, but almost incessant rain, swollen rivers, and the difficult nature of the, country made the work so hard that to cover this, apparently short distance occupied four and a half months. At the very end the expedition nearly came to grief through the capsizing of Dr. Wollaston's canoe. The explorer was rescued with some difficulty, but lost three months' diaries and a large quantity of kit. Three of the expedition died!!

The doctor left England a year ago for the purpose of ascending Mount Carstenza, the highest peak of the Nassau Range in Dutch New Guinea, which was the objective of an important expedition three years ago, of Which Dr. Wollaston was a member, but which did not succeed in its They disembarked at the mouth of the Utakwa River, which had been ascended by Dutch travellers two years previously—the best route into the unknown interior, and a base camp made 20 miles up this river. PIERCED UNINHABITED REGION. All this region was quite uninhabited, and the expedition had to carry every bit of its own food. Canoes were made by the Dyaks, and the river was ascended for two days beyond the base, but thereafter the expedition travelled by land. In the high mountains the sun was never visible except for an hour in the morning, and the travellers were always in the clouds. At about five thousand feet the expedition met some curious but friendly folk of smallish stature, who showed the travellers their track and helped them. They were not, however, pygmies. The highest point (15,000 feet) was reached after five days' march from the last base. The rain descended in a continuous torrent, and although Mount Carstenza is almost exactly on the Equator, the fogladen air was freezingly cold. Two attempts to reach the actual summit were made. As the last load was being taken to the base camp the canoe containing Dr. Wollaston and Dyaks struck a snag in the swirling torrent and capsized. The doctor was carried a long waxdown the stream and almost com pletely exhausted when he was rescued. Much valuable property was lost, including maps, cameras, instruments, and three months' diaries, but the expedition managed 'to secure an important collection of birds and plants.

The night porter at .1 bi.g hotel was astonished to see the figure of a man, scantily dressed, descending the stairs in the early hours of the morning. Tapping him on the shoulder, the porter said, brusquely :— "What are you doing here?" The man turned and said, in a dazed way :— "I beg your pardon. lam a somnambulist." " Well, sir," was the reply, "you can't walk about here like that, no matter what your religion is !"