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[Page 78]
139
we were in an enemy's country miles from our base and there flew the glorious old banner of liberty. A European dressed in white awaited our landing. This proved to be Mr Stillen of the Sarang Plantations Ltd, Sydney. He is a German-Australian & is the owner of the "Genoa" mentioned in an earlier page of this diary. Without actually telling him the object of our visit we asked the road to the creek. He readily guided us & also took us along to his brother's house where I administered the oath of neutrality. The natives of the plantation also supplied us with a few pawpaws which proved very welcome.
We then started on our search. By road the creek was fully 9 miles and the track meandered in & out the bush, along the beach, over sandy hillocks & if, I may be excused the expression, the march was the rottenest bit of work I have ever had the misfortune to do. Worst of all, there was no steamboat; in fact no boat of any size could possibly get from the creek to the sea. We had lunch & turned back. It seemed as though the track would never end. The walking was particularly heavy along the beach, the sand of which was jet black. It was impossible to get through the bush except where the road led. The "road" I may tell you was about 3 feet wide & when passing through the bush it was necessary to move in single file. This was the New Guinea one reads about. The trees were so thick that it was impossible to see more than a few feet on either side and the daylight was as faint as a tolerably clear moonlight night. All things have an end (so they say) & at last we reached Adalbert Hafen again. We signalled to the "Lili" to send the boat ashore and returned on board.
At 6.30 this morning we left Adalbert & steered for Eitel Freidrich Hafen which we reached about 11.15.
While conversing with Mr. Stillen on Thursday I learned that a steamer which might possibly be the one we are in search of had taken refuge