A Rare Turtle.

Curious Incident in Dutch New Guinea.

A CROCODILE was killed in a singu lar manner, in a river in Dutch New Guinea, at the end of October, 1929; and the event had a peculiar sequel.

A luxurious yacht, the “Arpha,” 700 tons, flying the white ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron, arrived at Me rauke, in Dutch New Guinea, and the owner-commander, Lieut.-Colonel the Rt. Hon. W. E. Guinness, D.S.O., M.P., asked the late Dick Roche, the famous Paradise-bird shooter, to lead the party into parts hitherto unknown. None was better qualified than Roche for such a commission. He piloted the yacht up the Eilanden River, 100 miles inland —away into a region where no steamer had been seen since the survey boats were there in 1905, and where a British ship had never before been seen.

They went, in a motor launch, into un known branches and creeks, on shooting expeditions—going among cannibals who had never seen white men before.

One day, in the Frendschaap River, Colonel Guinness and Mr. Roche fired simultaneously at a huge crocodile, and the beast never moved again. In its mouth was a fresh water turtle, of a species which Roche declared was hitherto unknown. He urged Colonel Guinness to take the reptile to a museum, and the Colonel—evidently fearing that it might be a known species which would look a little ridicu lous —finally agreed. It was placed, alive, in a tank of fresh water.

The “Arpha,” on its way back from

New Guinea to Singapore, ran on a reef on the Sula Islands, and was saved with difficulty. The turtle died; but the Colonel, true to his promise, put it in the freezer, and duly delivered it to the South Kensington Museum, London. It proved to be a rare specimen; and the Museum sent a special letter of thanks to Mr. Roche for his interest in the matter. It was only the double shot which, killing the crocodile instantly, made the salvage of this rare creature possible.

Further references to the mysterious death of Mr. Roche are published else where in this issue.