3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

Expeditions to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands 55
(2) Arfak Mountains (Vogelkop) 5 (Fig. 2.5)
Itinerary6 :
5 April 1928 arrival in Manokwari
12 April 1928 en route from Manokwari to Momi
13–15 April 1928 at Momi
16–17 April 1928 ascent to Siwi
18 April–24 May 1928 at Siwi collecting
25–27 May 1928 en route from Siwi to Ditchi via Ninei
28 May–8 June 1928 at Ditchi collecting (climbing Mt. Mundi and Mt. Lehuma)
9–10 June 1928 en route from Ditchi (via Dohunsehik) to Kofo
11–15 June 1928 at Kofo (Anggi Gidji Lake) collecting
16–23 June 1928 en route from Kofo to Momi (via Dohunsehik, Ditchi and
Siwi)
24–25 June 1928 en route from Momi to Manokwari
After several days of preparations, Mayr and his crew of seven (3 mantris and four
Christian Papuas) departed on the government boat, the “Griffioen,” on 12 April
to Momi, 90 km south of Manokwari and located at the eastern foot of the Arfak
Mountains (Fig. 2.5). Obtaining the necessary porters and converting the baggage
into many small portable loads took another four days until the expedition was
ready to leave Momi and to enter the foothills of the Arfak Mountains in a northwesterly
direction on 16 April. The general plan was to collect birds at different
altitudes up to the shores of one of the two Anggi Lakes at 1,925 m. Considering
the steep mountainous terrain and the poor condition of the trails, the porters
refused to take loads weighing more than thirty pounds. About 60 porters were
required to carry the equipment and supplies. They entered the rainforest soon
after leaving Momi and new bird calls were heard everywhere. It was quite a sensation
when Mayr saw the first brilliant bird of paradise (Ptilorhis magnifica)alive,
aspecieswhichhehadknownsofaronlyasamuseumskin.Onthesecondday
the hunters brought two adult males of the Superb Bird of Paradise (Lophorina
superba) and a female with large eggs of the Dwarf Whistler (Pachycare flavogrisea).
Mayr and his mantris had collected around Manokwari several common
species like Meliphaga albonotata, membersofRhipidura, Cinnyris jugularis and
C. sericeus, Aplonis cantoroides, Oriolus szalai, Halcyon sancta and H. albicilla, and
had listened to the incessant calling of Philemon novaeguineae.
5 Mayr (1930f, 1932e) published two accounts of this expedition based on his detailed
diaries which have been preserved and are deposited in the archives of the Staatsbibliothek
Berlin (Mayr Papers). Moreover, this archive holds the letters he wrote
to his family, to Ernst Hartert and to Erwin Stresemann (Haffer 1997b). I have used
all of these documents in the preparation of this account of the expeditions to New
Guinea and the Solomon Islands (1928–1930). I did not include the rich information
contained in the diaries and letters on the natives and their customs, general considerations
on colonialism and life in the tropics or on the many logistic problems
regarding camp moves, porters, and transportation which fill many pages of these
diaries.
6 The dates are taken directly from Mayr’s diary; a few of them differ slightly from those
given by Vink (1965: 487).