Mt. Yule Climbed

Another Exploring Feat In Papua

From Our Own Correspondent.

Pt. Moresby, Oct. 4.

ON May 16, Mr. R. S. Speedie, Assis tant Magistrate on patrol from the recently established police camp in the Goilala district, in the interior of the Central Division, climbed Mt. Yule and reached the summit at 10,412 ft. He was accompanied by Patrol Officer Watkins and a party of police, and the two men spent six days on the heights, making observations.

Many years ago, in the early days of British New Guinea, George Belford, a Samoan half-caste, in the employ of Sir William MacGregor, was said to have ascended this familiar feature of the south coast. He was reported to have left on the summit a bottle of whisky, as proof of his feat of endurance, but an extended search by Messrs. Speedie and Watkins failed to reveal this valued relic, or any other trace whatever of a previous visit. They concluded that the mountain top had not been visited before.

Mr. Speedie cut a track from the south east, and, climbing over spurs of the mountain at 7,000 ft., reached ground to the south, where ladders were necessary to scale sheer rock faces 100 ft. high, run ning north to south. The main spurs on the eastern side he found to slope gradu ally to the west, where the nature of the country changed from thick jungle to tussock grass and stunted tree fern growth.

To the north, where they were pre pared to face precipices of great height, they were astonished to find only gently sloping ground, and passed through stunted growth and over grassy vales until they were confronted with a sheer drop—“what might be described as a white void beneath them.” Careful in vestigations along the edge proved even tually, and to their surprise, that they had reached the summit of the mountain.

“In spite of the pardonable feeling of elation at the conquest,” stated Mr.

Speedie, “we were both disappointed at the simplicity of the climb after fortify ing ourselves against and looking forward to all sorts of hazardous adventures.”

Standing on the edge of a 5,000 ft. drop to the north, a magnificent view could be gained of the Kunimaipa valley, lying between Mt. Chapman and Mt. Strong, near the border, and the villages perched high on the ridges of the spurs of the different valleys stretching below them.

A fire was built on the summit, and the huge columns of smoke that rose in the still morning air seemed greatly to disturb the inhabitants in the valleys.

Even the Kunimaipa people, far away, could be heard shouting from the moun tain tops. “Come down,” they called frantically, “or you will die”; and the message was passed on from crest to crest until it reached the white men, who were violating the strongholds of the mountain spirits, for which the penalty is death.

Mr. Speedie built a cairn of stones on the northernmost end of the summit, marking a post with a broad arrow and the date of their arrival, and left a record of the climb in a bottle amongst the stones.

Mt. Yule was named after Lieutenant Yule, who examined the coastline in the Bramble, from the Gulf to Redscar Bay In 1846.