0:00:02 > 0:00:06I've been making natural history films for over 60 years
0:00:06 > 0:00:10and, in the process, I've been to some very interesting places
0:00:10 > 0:00:13but, every now and again, I've been allowed to make a film
0:00:13 > 0:00:16about my other enthusiasms -
0:00:16 > 0:00:18about the history of exploration,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22about tribal objects or the life of a great scientist.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25You could call them my Passion Projects.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02In 1971, I joined an expedition into a patch of unknown territory
0:01:02 > 0:01:05in the heart of Papua New Guinea,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08and made a film about it, which we called Blank On The Map.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16Nobody, as far as I knew, had ever recorded on film the method
0:01:16 > 0:01:22whereby, for 500, 600 years, the rest of the world had been explored.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26For all that period of time, if you wanted to explore Africa,
0:01:26 > 0:01:30and you were a European, you got on a boat and got off.
0:01:30 > 0:01:31If you were lucky, there might be horses,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34but there were great parts of Africa where there weren't -
0:01:34 > 0:01:36and, if there were no horses,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39there was no internal combustion engine - you walked.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41There was no other way of doing it.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45I thought it was really very, very romantic
0:01:45 > 0:01:48and, if you were going into a country that you didn't know,
0:01:48 > 0:01:53you would have to take stores, often with a carrier line of 100 porters,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57and there was only one place in the world where you could still do that,
0:01:57 > 0:01:59and that was in New Guinea.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02And I'd told friends of mine in Australia,
0:02:02 > 0:02:06"If you discover that anybody's going to do another
0:02:06 > 0:02:10"one of these long trips, I would love to make a record of it."
0:02:10 > 0:02:14And, after a couple of years of administrating in the BBC,
0:02:14 > 0:02:16the message came from my pals,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19"We've got a trip going on. It may be the last ever."
0:02:19 > 0:02:23And so I said, "Right," and arranged to go.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35These arrows and this bow belong to a man
0:02:35 > 0:02:39who has never seen a European face.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41So does this house.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44I'm in the middle of Central New Guinea,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47and these wonderful mountains all around
0:02:47 > 0:02:50are one of the few places left on the surface of the earth
0:02:50 > 0:02:52that are truly unexplored.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56BIRDS SCREECH AND CHIRP
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Until only a few months ago,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14it was thought that this area of Central New Guinea
0:03:14 > 0:03:16was completely uninhabited,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19and then Laurie Bragg, the assistant district commissioner
0:03:19 > 0:03:21who's responsible for this part of the island,
0:03:21 > 0:03:23was looking at some aerial photographs
0:03:23 > 0:03:26that had been taken to try and map this area,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30to make sense out of this tangle of mountain ranges and rivers.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35And on the photographs, he saw one or two tiny little pinpoints,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37which indicated to him that there,
0:03:37 > 0:03:41there were gardens like this one, and houses and people -
0:03:41 > 0:03:46people who had not been contacted ever by the outside world.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50And so, it was decided to send an expedition to try and find them.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53AEROPLANE WHIRS
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Aeroplanes first arrived in this country way back in the '20s.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04The island of New Guinea is immense - 1,500 miles long,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06lying between Australia and the equator,
0:04:06 > 0:04:11and 50 years ago, its interior was virtually blank on the map.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15The aeroplane has, ever since, been a key tool in filling in that blank.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Sometimes by dropping supplies to explorers
0:04:18 > 0:04:20who had marched for weeks on end.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24Sometimes by dumping men on a sandbank by an unknown river.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28Sometimes, as now, by giving a man like Laurie Bragg
0:04:28 > 0:04:32a view of what lies ahead of him before he sets off into new country,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35and the view could hardly be described as welcoming -
0:04:35 > 0:04:38an unbroken carpet of green corduroy,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42jungle as thick and as sticky as you can find anywhere.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45PLANE HUMS
0:04:48 > 0:04:51- Does the river look OK for the canoes?- Oh, yes.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53There doesn't seem to be very many snags. It is...
0:04:53 > 0:04:57It's hard to tell the current from here, but it looks pretty good.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00How many times have you been up this river?
0:05:00 > 0:05:02- I haven't.- Oh. Has anybody?
0:05:02 > 0:05:06They've been to this next group of people, but not beyond.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14There's a village.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17It's the last known one.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22You can start to see some snags in the river now.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Getting a bit marginal for canoes now.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28There look as though there are some bad rapids there.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Will we get as high as this?
0:05:30 > 0:05:32We won't get canoes anywhere near here.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39I'm just trying to pick out that garden area I saw a minute ago.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44There is a big garden complex
0:05:44 > 0:05:48underneath the top of this mountain over here.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53- Is that everything you want to see? - Yeah, except for clouds.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Back at his base at Ambunti on the Sepik River,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Laurie Bragg developed his plans
0:06:02 > 0:06:04in the light of what he had seen
0:06:04 > 0:06:07for a major patrol into those unknown mountains
0:06:07 > 0:06:09to discover just what was there.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12We'll move from Ambunti here,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16downstream along the Sepik in two workboats,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18the Opal and the Sapphire,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22and come into the Karawari River here.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Follow the Karawari upstream into the Korosameri.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29The work boats should get to about here somewhere.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34And then the river will be too shallow for the work boat,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36and the canoes will shuttle us
0:06:36 > 0:06:40and the rations and patrol gear up to approximately here,
0:06:40 > 0:06:45where I think we'll run out of sufficient depth of water
0:06:45 > 0:06:49to take canoes, and from there, we'll have to walk.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52- What's the walking going to be like? - It's going to be very difficult.
0:06:52 > 0:06:58- Is it?- Yes, if we have a look at the aerial photographs of the area...
0:06:58 > 0:07:01- I don't want to shock you or anything.- Ha-ha!
0:07:06 > 0:07:08- That's the Salamei river.- Yeah.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11We won't get that far with the canoes.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14We'll have to walk from down below here somewhere.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Be moving up along this to that junction there.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21- Yeah. - Which I don't know what it's called.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24And then we'll get on to this ridge
0:07:24 > 0:07:27and follow that to the crest of the Salamei April Divide.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33- Now, you can see garden areas there. - Yes.- See them?- Yeah.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36And establish ourselves on that ridge somewhere
0:07:36 > 0:07:40- where we find people.- Mm. - And let the people come to us.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Patrols have been the means of administering this country
0:07:43 > 0:07:47ever since Europeans first settled here. Every few months,
0:07:47 > 0:07:49government officers like Laurie Bragg
0:07:49 > 0:07:51take a handful of armed native police,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54leave their stations, and travel for weeks,
0:07:54 > 0:07:56visiting the people in their territory.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59In the settled areas, they see that schools are started
0:07:59 > 0:08:02and roads built and that the people get some sort of medical help,
0:08:02 > 0:08:04even if it's pretty simple.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07In the wilder parts, the job's more dramatic.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Tribal feuds must be stopped and elementary law established.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13This particular patrol would be different
0:08:13 > 0:08:16only because in addition to doing all that,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19it was going to walk slap across one of the last
0:08:19 > 0:08:21of those empty blank patches on the map
0:08:21 > 0:08:24to try and sort out its geography on the ground
0:08:24 > 0:08:27and, if possible, contact the inhabitants
0:08:27 > 0:08:29who so far have never seen Europeans.
0:08:38 > 0:08:4240 years ago, the Sepik River was notorious for its head-hunters.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Indeed, it was news of a spectacular headhunting raid
0:08:45 > 0:08:49that made the government decide to establish the station at Ambunti,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53240 miles up the Sepik River, in what was then the Dark Interior.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57The men of one village had raided their neighbours,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00lopped off 28 heads, boiled them and scraped them,
0:09:00 > 0:09:01moulded them with clay,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05and then stuck them up for display in the cult house.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Even today, it's not unusual to hear of a ritual murder or two
0:09:08 > 0:09:10in the remoter parts,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13away from the main river and the eye of the government.
0:09:13 > 0:09:1790 miles downstream from Ambunti, we left the Sepik
0:09:17 > 0:09:20and turned into a tributary that came in from the south.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24This river was shallower and hemmed in by rafts of floating reeds,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26so we had to leave the two big boats
0:09:26 > 0:09:30and carry on in three dugout canoes, fitted with outboard motors.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33On the Sepik, we had seen quite a lot of people
0:09:33 > 0:09:35travelling along the river in canoes.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37But here, there was no-one,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40just flocks of ducks and eagles and herons.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49After three days of travel,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53we came in to land at the last known village on this river, Inaru.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57This was the end of the easy bit. From now on, we shall be walking.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Patrols only come up as far as Inaru about once a year,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04and none had ever been beyond it.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08For the villagers, therefore, our arrival was an important event,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11and since there were only about 50 of them,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14we represented a massive, almost overwhelming, invasion.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36The people of Inaru live very simply.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38They plant a few vegetables,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42but they rely heavily on the forest to supply them with fruit and meat.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47The river provides them with fish, mostly black bony catfish,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50and, once a year, it presents them with an enormous bonanza.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Mayflies. For three days, millions of them hatch
0:10:55 > 0:10:59and rise to swirl in blizzards over the surface of the water.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02No-one knows what particular chemistry in the river
0:11:02 > 0:11:05or change in the climate causes all of them
0:11:05 > 0:11:08to emerge at the same time in this extraordinary fashion,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11but the Inaru people know well enough
0:11:11 > 0:11:14that this limitless gift of food will only be here for a day or so.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21The newly hatched insects are soft and juicy,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24and, eaten still wriggling, just like oysters.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Our porters relished them, just as the villagers did.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32Life in the jungle may look as though it's blissful and untroubled,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Adam and Eve in a primitive paradise,
0:11:35 > 0:11:40but, in fact, only too often, it's scourged by disease.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44The headman had a tropical ulcer on his foot the size of a golf ball.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48There were cases of yaws and malaria and skin fungus,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51all diseases easily treated by the medicines that we had with us -
0:11:51 > 0:11:54and the villagers knew that perfectly well,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57and were certainly delighted to see us.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Communication, however, was not easy.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04Astonishingly, there are over 1,000 mutually incomprehensible
0:12:04 > 0:12:05languages in New Guinea.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08The Inaru language is only spoken by these people
0:12:08 > 0:12:11and two other villages - about 200 people in all.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21If we were to meet any new people on the journey ahead,
0:12:21 > 0:12:23interpreters would obviously be invaluable,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26but plans to get them had already run into snags.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31We're expecting to get a Bisorio bloke
0:12:31 > 0:12:34to interpret for us.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36We haven't got him yet.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41And Bisorio people live over in these hills over here
0:12:41 > 0:12:43and they're nomadic...
0:12:43 > 0:12:47and the local people here have agreed to go and look for them,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50but they're not sure they're going to find them.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53When did they last see them?
0:12:53 > 0:12:58They saw two blokes... two men from this group a month ago
0:12:58 > 0:13:02when they came in from the hills over there to trade for tobacco.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08So, the constable and two Inaru men set off in a canoe
0:13:08 > 0:13:10to try and find us an interpreter,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12a nomad, who might be anywhere
0:13:12 > 0:13:15in several hundred square miles of forest,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18and who might not be to keen on being discovered anyway.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21It seemed a fairly tough assignment.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28The next day, we ourselves would set off on foot,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31following the river into the mountains.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Since from here on we should be in uncontrolled country,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37there was a chance we might have to defend ourselves,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41so Laurie issued bullets to the police and, at the same time,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45as the regulations insist, gave strict instructions in pidgin
0:13:45 > 0:13:47on when and how a man was permitted to fire them.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58And so the march began. There was no track,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02so two men at the head of the column had to cut a path through the bush
0:14:02 > 0:14:05wide enough for people burdened by heavy and bulky loads.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Because we had no idea
0:14:07 > 0:14:10when or where we might find villages from whom we could get food
0:14:10 > 0:14:14and shelter, everything we needed had to be brought with us
0:14:14 > 0:14:18and carried on men's shoulders - tents, medicines, lamps,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21surveying equipment, radio gear, personal baggage,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23trade goods such as beads and salt and knives,
0:14:23 > 0:14:28photographic equipment, axes, buckets, and above all, food.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Food for us, food for the carriers of equipment,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35and more food for those carrying food.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41We marched up the east bank of the river,
0:14:41 > 0:14:45but the main area of unknown country lay to the west,
0:14:45 > 0:14:47and so, eventually, we had to cross it.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51At this point, it was just possible for one man without a load
0:14:51 > 0:14:54to swim across, but to get the whole party over,
0:14:54 > 0:14:55we had to build a bridge.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04The New Guinea forests most generously provide you
0:15:04 > 0:15:06with everything you need
0:15:06 > 0:15:10for the construction of a first-rate suspension bridge -
0:15:10 > 0:15:13primarily Kanda, a kind of long, straggling cane
0:15:13 > 0:15:14that grows throughout the forest,
0:15:14 > 0:15:16draping itself over trees
0:15:16 > 0:15:20and along the ground like a carelessly laid cable.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24It grows, astonishingly, into lengths up to 500ft long
0:15:24 > 0:15:27and it's as strong as any rope.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Three lengths bundled together will form the basic cable
0:15:30 > 0:15:32on which to put our feet.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34One on either side will serve as handrails,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37and the whole contraption will be tied together
0:15:37 > 0:15:39with string made from splitting kanda.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50106 carriers, quite apart from ourselves,
0:15:50 > 0:15:52have got across that bridge.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57106 sounds an absurd, almost ludicrously, large number,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59but the basic calculation is this -
0:15:59 > 0:16:04if one man carrying nothing or carrying just a tent or trade salts
0:16:04 > 0:16:09or a radio is going to survive in the field for a fortnight,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12he needs two other men, carrying nothing
0:16:12 > 0:16:15but food to provide him with food and them with food.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19If you want to stay longer than a fortnight in the field,
0:16:19 > 0:16:23and we do, you've either got to arrange for an air drop
0:16:23 > 0:16:27or you've got to live off the country.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29We can't live off the country
0:16:29 > 0:16:31because there are very few people here
0:16:31 > 0:16:35and, anyway, turning up for dinner with 106 porters
0:16:35 > 0:16:37is hardly a way to endear yourself.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Or else, of course, we could starve.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43We're planning to get an air drop.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47But first, we've got to cross this river.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04MEN SHOUT
0:17:27 > 0:17:29The forest, as we had seen from the air,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31was as continuous as a carpet.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35There were no clearings, no patches of grassland, no meadows,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39and in order to get enough clear space in which to pitch tents,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41we had to cut down trees,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43and that takes time and energy.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47So every day we stopped at about four o'clock in the afternoon.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51That gave us time to make camp and get settled in before sundown.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54But since by then we had been marching for nine hours anyway,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56it was none too soon for most of us.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00The first job on making camp in the evening
0:18:00 > 0:18:03was to put up the aerial for the portable radio,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06so that Laurie Bragg could report back to his base at Ambunti
0:18:06 > 0:18:09and they would know just where we were if anything were to go wrong.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Ambunti, Ambunti portable. Ambunti, Ambunti portable. Do you read?
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Roger. Now, on the aerial photograph,
0:18:24 > 0:18:26we're on the Salamei river
0:18:26 > 0:18:30immediately north of the nick in the top frame.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36Our intention now is to remain at this campsite
0:18:36 > 0:18:39for one or two days,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43to allow the constable and the Bisorio interpreters
0:18:43 > 0:18:46he's gone to look for to catch us up.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48Have you got that, over?
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Yeah, roger, roger. That's all. Roger.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00After three days of hard walking, a rest day is a blessing
0:19:00 > 0:19:02that everybody's grateful for.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Their bruises and cuts and strains
0:19:05 > 0:19:07get a chance to heal,
0:19:07 > 0:19:11there's one man who's got a dose of malaria...
0:19:11 > 0:19:14and it also gives a chance to see something of the wildlife
0:19:14 > 0:19:16in the forests around here.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18When you're tramping through it -
0:19:18 > 0:19:21110 men, lugging patrol boxes about -
0:19:21 > 0:19:23you make a certain amount of noise
0:19:23 > 0:19:27so you don't expect to see much wildlife in the bush.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31But moving alone and by yourself, well, you've got a chance.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35But this bush around here in New Guinea
0:19:35 > 0:19:38is a very strange sort of bush.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41There aren't any big mammals - there are no monkeys,
0:19:41 > 0:19:45there aren't elephants or tigers or lions.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49In fact there are no big mammals at all in New Guinea.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51But what this forest DOES have,
0:19:51 > 0:19:56and which gives it a unique excitement and splendour,
0:19:56 > 0:19:58are birds of paradise.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00We've already heard them calling around the camp,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03and with any luck we might see some of them.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12And there IS one -
0:20:12 > 0:20:14lurking low down in a tree,
0:20:14 > 0:20:17swinging his train of yellow plumes.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20These marvellous birds assemble in the tops of trees
0:20:20 > 0:20:22and display to one another every morning
0:20:22 > 0:20:24in the half-light of early dawn.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28That is a wonderful enough sight, which few people have seen.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Now, however, it was afternoon,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33and it looked as though we might be even more lucky,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36and see a rare performance of the display dance
0:20:36 > 0:20:38in the full blaze of sunshine.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40Undoubtedly, these plumed males
0:20:40 > 0:20:42assembling in their display
0:20:42 > 0:20:45were getting more and more excited.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Slowly, they hopped onto higher and higher branches,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52until they reached the very summit of the tree,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55where they had stripped the leaves from one branch
0:20:55 > 0:20:57so that on this, their display ground,
0:20:57 > 0:20:59they could dance unimpeded.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Now there were eight of these splendid creatures
0:21:05 > 0:21:06in a frenzy of excitement,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10displaying to one another as their performance mounted to its climax.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13This is a males' dance only - a competition
0:21:13 > 0:21:15not so much to impress the female,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18but to gain dominance over rival males.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20It's always performed in the same tree,
0:21:20 > 0:21:22and that is often their downfall -
0:21:22 > 0:21:24for some tribes hunt them for their plumes,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27which are used as money with which to buy pigs and wives.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Here, however, in this uninhabited wilderness,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33they can dance unmolested.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50And this, apart from the pig, is the biggest mammal in the island.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54An absurd and endearing creature, the tree kangaroo.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03Above it was another - a baby.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10It seems quite ridiculous that an animal shaped like a kangaroo
0:22:10 > 0:22:14should have decided to try and climb into a tree.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Its legs, which are splendid for hopping,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20seem to be a positive liability up in the branches, and indeed,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23to be truthful, tree kangaroos are pretty clumsy creatures
0:22:23 > 0:22:27and always in imminent danger of falling out of their trees.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37Another of New Guinea's splendid and extraordinary decorated birds -
0:22:37 > 0:22:39the Goura pigeon.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41The largest of all the pigeons,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43with a marvellous silver-spotted tiara,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47which it uses just like the birds of paradise in display dances.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49It spends most of its time on the ground,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53and, unhappily for its own wellbeing, makes pretty good eating.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02The next day, seven days after leaving Inaru, the constable,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05who had gone to look for the interpreter, caught up with us.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07He gave his report to Laurie in pidgin,
0:23:07 > 0:23:12and though I couldn't understand all he said, it looked like bad news.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15HE SPEAKS IN PIDGIN
0:23:19 > 0:23:23THEY SPEAK IN PIDGIN
0:23:33 > 0:23:36He had found no-one. It was a real blow.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40But there was nothing we could do now except go on.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46You have to watch where you put your hands.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48If you grab a branch for support,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51in order to steady yourself, without looking at it closely,
0:23:51 > 0:23:53as like as not you will stab your palm
0:23:53 > 0:23:56full of long, barbed thorns.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58It's extraordinary in the circumstances
0:23:58 > 0:24:01how quickly you become quite a good practical botanist,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04able to recognise some sorts of tree in a flash.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Now that we had left the rivers,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14we were navigating for much of the time on simple compass bearings.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20HE SPEAKS IN PIDGIN
0:24:32 > 0:24:36And then, suddenly, two weeks after setting out,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38as we cut our way up a ridge,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42the sharp eye of our trackers noticed an old break in a sapling.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Someone else, a few months ago, had passed this way.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49That morning, we saw several more.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52The rigs we were following must be a route used by those people
0:24:52 > 0:24:56whose houses we had seen from the air. They couldn't be far away.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58Indeed, they might well be watching us
0:24:58 > 0:25:02as we crashed so clumsily and noisily through the forest.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12And then, unexpectedly, we marched into a clearing,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15and there ahead of us was a house.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19It was big enough to hold an entire family group of 20 or so people.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21It was also clearly a fortress,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23built on stilts for protection,
0:25:23 > 0:25:25with loopholes through the sides
0:25:25 > 0:25:27from which defenders could fire arrows.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30The question was whether the fortress was manned,
0:25:30 > 0:25:34and whether we, without interpreters to explain our intentions,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36would be taken as friends or enemies.
0:25:36 > 0:25:37Oi!
0:25:45 > 0:25:46Oi!
0:25:48 > 0:25:51There was no reaction. Nothing moved.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02The entrance was barricaded with a huge, heavy plank.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05It looked as though the house was deserted, but we couldn't be sure.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08It could be that the people were simply not at home,
0:26:08 > 0:26:10but out hunting somewhere in the forest.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Or that they had taken fright at our approach
0:26:13 > 0:26:16and were somewhere nearby, watching what we would do.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18Or it could even be an ambush.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54This narrow corridor is a very effective fortification.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58Nobody could get into this house armed only with spears
0:26:58 > 0:27:00and bows and arrows...
0:27:00 > 0:27:01if the owners didn't want them to.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05And this is the only room.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12These...
0:27:12 > 0:27:14I don't know what's in here.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16From the weight of it, it's quite light,
0:27:16 > 0:27:17perhaps it's a dancing skirt.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23And here, carefully strung on vines...
0:27:24 > 0:27:30..these, I think, are the eggs of the bush turkey, the megapode.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39The back here...
0:27:44 > 0:27:45RATTLING
0:27:46 > 0:27:49These dancing beads, dancing rattles.
0:27:53 > 0:27:54And here at the back...
0:27:56 > 0:28:00..jawbones of pigs, carefully strung up and preserved.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02The pig, all over New Guinea,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05is an animal of great ceremonial importance.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08And this is unusual. At least, I've not seen it before.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11The jawbones of piglets, too.
0:28:13 > 0:28:19And this savage and effective-looking dagger...
0:28:19 > 0:28:20carefully incised on the tip.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28This is made from the leg bone of the cassowary,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30the New Guinea ostrich.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36And here, a formidable armoury of arrows.
0:28:39 > 0:28:45These, with the bamboo blades, are normally used for killing pigs.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50And these, with the hardwood points, sometimes the bone points,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53I asked one of the local people once what they were used for,
0:28:53 > 0:28:58he said, "Oh, they killing man." These are war arrows.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04A rack of firewood.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09And above me, the rafters of the roof
0:29:09 > 0:29:15are most carefully and meticulously lashed with a decorative pattern.
0:29:20 > 0:29:21The fireplace.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28The stones are still warm. They were here just recently.
0:29:30 > 0:29:36Here is the fire stick that they use for making fire.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38It's got those notches.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40You put it beneath your foot and...
0:29:41 > 0:29:43..pull it with a rattan cane.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49So they were here quite recently. But now...
0:29:50 > 0:29:52..the place is totally deserted.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59We couldn't have stayed by that house any longer,
0:29:59 > 0:30:01for we were running short of food.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04But although we hadn't actually seen the people themselves,
0:30:04 > 0:30:07we had learned quite a lot about them from the house itself
0:30:07 > 0:30:09and the objects inside it.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22The following day, we were due to get an airdrop of supplies.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24Before we had set out,
0:30:24 > 0:30:26Laurie had agreed with the pilot on a date for the drop,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29and together, they had picked a place which -
0:30:29 > 0:30:31judging from the air photographs - seemed suitable,
0:30:31 > 0:30:33where the ground was relatively flat
0:30:33 > 0:30:37and the plane could get a decent approach run through the mountains.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Our problem now was to get there on time and, preferably,
0:30:40 > 0:30:42with all our gear dry.
0:30:44 > 0:30:45MEN SHOUT
0:30:51 > 0:30:54When we got to the drop site, we felled trees to make
0:30:54 > 0:30:57an open space and spread out tarpaulins
0:30:57 > 0:30:59as markers for the pilot to aim at.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02And just so that several tons of stores weren't dropped
0:31:02 > 0:31:07on the tarpaulins we used as tents, we concealed those with branches.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15The pilot would need all the help he could get to find us,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17so we lit a fire as well.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23PLANE ENGINE ROARS
0:31:30 > 0:31:32THEY SHOUT
0:31:35 > 0:31:37Hopeless, miles off target!
0:31:37 > 0:31:39The porters were furious.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41It would be a lot of work climbing around in the bush
0:31:41 > 0:31:43trying to find those bags.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46PORTERS SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
0:31:46 > 0:31:49For the second pass, he came in much lower.
0:31:58 > 0:31:59Bang in the centre.
0:32:18 > 0:32:19One, two, three, four, five.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26Three passes, six bags on each drop,
0:32:26 > 0:32:2818 bags of rice, tinned meat,
0:32:28 > 0:32:32sugar and salt that somehow had got to be found.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36That day, our spirits were high.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39We had been on short rations for some time past,
0:32:39 > 0:32:43and everyone was looking forward to an enormous meal that evening.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47The next morning, things didn't look quite so good.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49The loads, which over the past few days
0:32:49 > 0:32:52had been getting lighter and lighter as we ate our way through them,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55had suddenly become crushingly heavy again
0:32:55 > 0:32:58with all the stores from the airdrop.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01Always, as we marched, Laurie took bearings on mountains
0:33:01 > 0:33:05and river bends to check where we were on the air photographs
0:33:05 > 0:33:07and build up a detailed map of our progress.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16One of the least attractive experiences of walking
0:33:16 > 0:33:19through forest like this are these creatures.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22Eugh.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24A leech.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26Fortunately, I managed to get it this time,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29before it started sucking my blood.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32But there are plenty more of its brothers around here
0:33:32 > 0:33:34just waiting for me to pass their way.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36I can see them even here, on the leaves.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43The existence of the leeches in this forest is, to me, really, a puzzle,
0:33:43 > 0:33:47because they are creatures which are very specially modified
0:33:47 > 0:33:50to live only on blood -
0:33:50 > 0:33:53say a human being's blood or pig's blood -
0:33:53 > 0:33:56but there are very, very few pigs in these forests
0:33:56 > 0:33:59and even fewer human beings.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02And yet, wherever we walk, every day,
0:34:02 > 0:34:05we see dozens and dozens and dozens of leeches.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07How they survive, I don't know.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10Where they get their food from, I have no idea.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12I just wish that they themselves realised
0:34:12 > 0:34:16that their existence and survival is an impossibility.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21And this, on the other hand, is one of the most engaging,
0:34:21 > 0:34:25indeed slightly lunatic inhabitants of the forest - the echidna.
0:34:25 > 0:34:26An amiable, myopic creature
0:34:26 > 0:34:30which has the same nonsensical group of characteristics
0:34:30 > 0:34:31as the duck-billed platypus.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35It's got warm blood, feeds its young on milk and lays eggs.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41There are poisonous snakes in New Guinea,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43and undoubtedly, they exist in some numbers.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46But they are very hard to find, and usually,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49they slither away before you have a decent chance to look at them.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53This one is quite harmless. A beautiful emerald green tree python.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07And then, once more, we came across signs of human beings.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09This is a pig trap.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11The pig would come down this corridor
0:35:11 > 0:35:15and trigger off a log hanging above it with a spear in it.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17The trap was old and long since sprung,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20but at least it was a sign that the forest was inhabited.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Day after day, we trudged on.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37We made careful notes of all the rivers that we crossed -
0:35:37 > 0:35:40which way they flowed and how far apart they were -
0:35:40 > 0:35:43of the different kinds of rocks we saw on the river beds
0:35:43 > 0:35:46and the kinds of trees in the forests.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49We took altitude readings and natural history notes,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52and compass bearings of prominent peaks and rivers.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54Certainly, we left behind us a trail through the bush
0:35:54 > 0:35:56that would make it much easier
0:35:56 > 0:35:59for anyone who ever had to come this way again.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04As we made camp on the 25th night of the patrol,
0:36:04 > 0:36:08it was no good denying that we were feeling pretty depressed.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11We had all hoped to get some glimpse of the shy people
0:36:11 > 0:36:12who we knew lived here.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16But we were now within three days of coming out on the other side of
0:36:16 > 0:36:19the blank on the map into known country,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22and we haven't seen anything of them.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25PORTERS SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
0:36:26 > 0:36:29Laurie reckons that we must be in the territory of a tribe
0:36:29 > 0:36:31known to their neighbours as the Biami.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36Their name was the only word of their language that we knew.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39So that evening we sent out a porter
0:36:39 > 0:36:41to call that name over and over again.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43Biami!
0:36:44 > 0:36:45Biami!
0:36:48 > 0:36:50Biami!
0:36:52 > 0:36:54Biami!
0:36:56 > 0:36:58Biami!
0:36:58 > 0:37:00It was very cold that night.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Next morning, it was drizzling, and no-one was anxious to move -
0:37:03 > 0:37:07until suddenly, a porter called out "Biami", and there they were.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16Biami, huh?
0:37:16 > 0:37:18- Biami.- Biami.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24Biami. Biami.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
0:37:28 > 0:37:33Bia-ma, Bia-ma, Bia-ma, Bia-ma...
0:37:35 > 0:37:38Bia-ma, Bia-ma.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52- Siti.- Siti. - LAURIE:- Sitifa?
0:37:52 > 0:37:54Sitifa is the name of a river.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00THEY CONTINUE IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:38:17 > 0:38:19'We tried to ask them, by gestures,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23'to bring in their women and children and to bring us food.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26'It was not that we really needed their taro or bananas,
0:38:26 > 0:38:29'but trade is a proper and decent relationship
0:38:29 > 0:38:32'with dignity and respect on both sides.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35'We didn't want our meeting to become a question of the rich
0:38:35 > 0:38:38'handing out gifts to the poor.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40'Perhaps, too, they might persuade their neighbours,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44'who had run away from us, the Bukaru, to come in as well.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47'But with no common words between us except for proper names,
0:38:47 > 0:38:50'the message wasn't easy to get across.'
0:38:50 > 0:38:52TRIBESMEN SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
0:38:57 > 0:38:59Bukaru, Bukaru...
0:39:53 > 0:39:56'One of the most popular gifts in the remoter parts
0:39:56 > 0:39:57'of New Guinea is newspaper.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00'It is used for smoking the raw, powerful tobacco
0:40:00 > 0:40:02'that every village grows.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06'Some people will carry a load for a day for a couple of sheets or so.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09'But these people normally use dried leaves as cigarette wrapping,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12'and had no idea what to do with the paper.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15'They took it rather as though it was some sort of useless memento.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24'This plainly was not a success, so Laurie tried salt instead.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31'This was much better received, and what with that, and cigarettes
0:40:31 > 0:40:36'made for them from newspaper by the police, all looked well.'
0:40:37 > 0:40:39- Bikaru...- Bikaru.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46- Lalu.- Lalu, Lalu... Bukaru.- Bukaru.
0:40:48 > 0:40:49Bukaru.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03PORTER ATTEMPTS TO TRANSLATE
0:41:07 > 0:41:10'After about an hour, when they started to leave,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14'they seemed to be as delighted with the meeting as we were ourselves.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37'That night, we reported back to base
0:41:37 > 0:41:39'in a much happier frame of mind.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41'Except for the fact that the radio was giving serious trouble.'
0:41:41 > 0:41:43FEEDBACK
0:41:43 > 0:41:45I'll go ahead, I think that's through to base.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49Our position is I1, the bottom of I1.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52If you've got that, give us a long roger, would you?
0:41:52 > 0:41:54- MUFFLED REPLY:- Roger, roger...
0:41:57 > 0:41:59Strength at half, strength at half,
0:41:59 > 0:42:01we've got a broken wire in the set, over.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07MUFFLED REPLY
0:42:09 > 0:42:13I think you said you had nothing for us, I didn't hear properly.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17If you're writing in to the DC, you could let him know
0:42:17 > 0:42:21that we have found our first group of people,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23first group of people, we will stay here tomorrow
0:42:23 > 0:42:25and maybe some of them will come in.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30But would they?
0:42:30 > 0:42:32Would they be sufficiently convinced of our goodwill
0:42:32 > 0:42:34to risk another visit?
0:42:34 > 0:42:36Certainly, they had seemed happy enough when they were with us,
0:42:36 > 0:42:39but no-one was taking any bets.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49But the next morning, there they were again.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52And what is more, they were carrying loads of food.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09TRIBESMEN SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
0:43:18 > 0:43:20'There wasn't much of it.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22'Certainly not enough to make much difference
0:43:22 > 0:43:23'to the rations of 100 men.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26'But it was a proper basis for trade.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38'Now they seemed sufficiently confident for me
0:43:38 > 0:43:40'to look at their personal ornaments,
0:43:40 > 0:43:44'and perhaps in the process discover a few Biami words.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48'In his ear, he had what I recognised as a cassowary quill
0:43:48 > 0:43:49'bent into a ring.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53'Every one of them had two ritual punctures in his nose,
0:43:53 > 0:43:56'and he had pegs in them. What were they?
0:44:05 > 0:44:08'It turned out they were just little wooden pegs.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22'There was a bone through his ear as well, but from what?'
0:44:22 > 0:44:24- Kokomo, kokomo.- Kokomo.
0:44:26 > 0:44:27- Kokomo?- Mm.
0:44:27 > 0:44:28DAVID SQUAWKS
0:44:28 > 0:44:30'Hornbill.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39'This was the claw of a tree kangaroo.'
0:44:39 > 0:44:41Salam?
0:44:43 > 0:44:44Uh?
0:44:44 > 0:44:48'So the Biami word for tree kangaroo is "salam".
0:44:48 > 0:44:50'And now, trading began.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19'This time, one of the police offered glass beads.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21'Again, highly valued by other tribes.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46'But again, though they accepted them, they didn't seem overjoyed.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03'So we went back to salt.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:46:40 > 0:46:43'Laurie now tried to put local names
0:46:43 > 0:46:45'to some of the rivers on his sketch map.'
0:47:09 > 0:47:11I suppose it's Setifa.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16'But then the Biami decided that we wanted to count
0:47:16 > 0:47:18'how many rivers there were.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22'The gestures used in counting vary considerably from tribe to tribe.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24'If we could discover their method,
0:47:24 > 0:47:26'we might learn something of their tribal connections,
0:47:26 > 0:47:30'so Laurie listed the names of rivers he had already discovered.'
0:47:31 > 0:47:34- Hiyami.- Hiyami.- 'Six.'
0:47:35 > 0:47:38- Lalu.- Lalu.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42'Eight.'
0:47:47 > 0:47:49- Harifa.- Harifa.
0:47:49 > 0:47:50'Nine.'
0:48:05 > 0:48:06Samo.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10Sao. Sao, Sao!
0:48:10 > 0:48:12Sao, Sao, Sao...
0:48:14 > 0:48:15'11.'
0:48:25 > 0:48:30The cost of bringing about this meeting has been quite considerable.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33Over 100 men have marched for other four weeks.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35There have been at least three cases of pneumonia
0:48:35 > 0:48:40and a great number of bruises and abrasions and cuts.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Not to mention an airdrop. Is it worth it?
0:48:44 > 0:48:48Well, nobody knows what are in these valleys.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50It may be that there is gold here.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53It may be, like a valley less than 100 miles away,
0:48:53 > 0:48:54it is rich with copper.
0:48:54 > 0:49:00If it is, and if the West, European man, moves in here
0:49:00 > 0:49:04with all his technology, the fate of these people
0:49:04 > 0:49:07is likely to be a very unhappy one.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11All we know in the past of people like this
0:49:11 > 0:49:14who have come face-to-face with Western technology
0:49:14 > 0:49:18leads us to suppose that it is very difficult for them
0:49:18 > 0:49:20to survive that clash.
0:49:21 > 0:49:26And so, the only chance of bringing these people to terms
0:49:26 > 0:49:31with the world outside is a gradual process over years,
0:49:31 > 0:49:32over tens of years,
0:49:32 > 0:49:34in which, gradually, they get to know
0:49:34 > 0:49:37what happens in the outside world.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Gradually, they get to believe that people like ourselves
0:49:40 > 0:49:43are their friends and not their enemies.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46Gradually, they have enough confidence in us to allow us
0:49:46 > 0:49:49to give them medical help and educational help.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52It would have been easy, I daresay,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55for us to have tried to dazzle them now
0:49:55 > 0:49:58with some of our technological conjuring tricks,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01to have played back their recorded voice
0:50:01 > 0:50:05or to have taken their picture on an instant camera.
0:50:05 > 0:50:10But when you are faced with encounters like this,
0:50:10 > 0:50:14such tricks seem tawdry and trivial.
0:50:15 > 0:50:20It's not that we can do those tricks,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23that they have got cassowary quills through their nostrils,
0:50:23 > 0:50:27or that we happen to live on bits of cow's meat wrapped up
0:50:27 > 0:50:30in a cunning way in bits of metal.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33It is not the differences between us that are important,
0:50:33 > 0:50:35it is the similarities.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38It is the fact that when one of us laughs,
0:50:38 > 0:50:40the other knows what he's feeling.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43That is when one of us hit his stomach and scowls,
0:50:43 > 0:50:46the other knows that he's hungry.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49These are the things that are the bond between us,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53and these are the things that we want to emphasise.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57I cannot suppose that they will give as their full confidence.
0:50:57 > 0:51:02The next step we are going to try is to ask them to take us
0:51:02 > 0:51:07down to their house. Whether they will or not, I don't know.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09That at least is the next step.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20'They led off and we followed.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23'Though whether they had really understood what we wanted,
0:51:23 > 0:51:25'we couldn't tell.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27'But suddenly, our relationship seemed to have
0:51:27 > 0:51:30'become a little uneasy, a little strained.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33'Perhaps we were pushing things a little too much.'
0:51:50 > 0:51:52Oi! Biami-o!
0:51:54 > 0:51:57'They had gone. They had simply vanished into thin air.'
0:52:00 > 0:52:03- Biami!- Biami-o!
0:52:03 > 0:52:05'There was nothing to do but go on.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08'100 yards beyond, we found a house.'
0:52:17 > 0:52:19Biami-o!
0:52:48 > 0:52:52Two days later, we were in known country again.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56In a year's time, perhaps another patrol would come through again,
0:52:56 > 0:52:59following in our steps and camping in our campsites.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01Maybe by then the Biami,
0:53:01 > 0:53:04remembering that we had not forced ourselves on them,
0:53:04 > 0:53:06would give in return more of their confidence,
0:53:06 > 0:53:08and perhaps their world and ours
0:53:08 > 0:53:11might get a little closer to one another.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15And meanwhile, that empty blank on the map now contained,
0:53:15 > 0:53:19for the first time, a few river names and altitudes,
0:53:19 > 0:53:22and a thin, erratic line drawn across it.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29I know that because of...
0:53:29 > 0:53:31Well, I have spoken to Laurie since then,
0:53:31 > 0:53:33but he was very sceptical
0:53:33 > 0:53:35as to whether we were going to make the grade.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39And it was hard, hard work keeping up,
0:53:39 > 0:53:43but equally, I think all three of us were determined to show
0:53:43 > 0:53:46that these poms weren't as soft as all that,
0:53:46 > 0:53:48or at least could keep going.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54When we saw the house, we were very excited,
0:53:54 > 0:53:58because this was the first sign of any human habitation
0:53:58 > 0:53:59in this vast wilderness.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03Laurie hollered, you know, "Hello!" and all of that. Nothing.
0:54:03 > 0:54:04Oi!
0:54:06 > 0:54:10But we knew perfectly well that there had been, on occasions,
0:54:10 > 0:54:15other patrol officers had found such things and had advanced
0:54:15 > 0:54:18and got a spear or an arrow straight through their chest.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23And there was no way in which you could tell.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26And I was very apprehensive, personally.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29I'm surprised, actually, I think in the film we rather play it down,
0:54:29 > 0:54:32but I was much more nervous than I let on in the film.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36So we made our way inside,
0:54:36 > 0:54:40and I thought I ought to make a record of it.
0:54:40 > 0:54:46Of what was in the house, which is... I drew it in my journal.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50And it's quite detailed, really.
0:54:50 > 0:54:54"Piglet jaws, cassowary bone dagger...
0:54:54 > 0:54:57"suspended bead rattles."
0:54:57 > 0:55:03Here was this very intimate living place of people
0:55:03 > 0:55:06who knew nothing of you, and you knew nothing of them.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09As though you had landed from the moon,
0:55:09 > 0:55:13and trying to work out how they live.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22We were within two or three days' march of coming out
0:55:22 > 0:55:25of the other side of the blank on the map, as it were.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30And we had almost given up hope of finding any people at all.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33We have found footprints, and we had followed trails,
0:55:33 > 0:55:36but we'd seen nobody.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39We went to sleep rather depressed.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43And then when I was woken up,
0:55:43 > 0:55:47I opened my eyes and there was this extraordinary little man,
0:55:47 > 0:55:51with his headdress and so on, and black teeth,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54looking at me as though I was a ghost or something.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56Standing there, peering at me.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59And I got up and tried to be
0:55:59 > 0:56:04welcoming and unaggressive and so on.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06- Biami, huh?- Biami.- Biami.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12Marvellously, Hugh Miles always slept with his camera
0:56:12 > 0:56:14underneath the camp bed.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18And he was already there filming, he was absolutely on it.
0:56:21 > 0:56:22There was always a possibility
0:56:22 > 0:56:25that these people wouldn't welcome strangers,
0:56:25 > 0:56:28and in the history of the exploration of Guinea,
0:56:28 > 0:56:31there are plenty of examples of people who were met with arrows.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35These people didn't meet us with arrows, they were puzzled,
0:56:35 > 0:56:37they were baffled by us.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40But they weren't aggressive about it.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46One was bending over backwards -
0:56:46 > 0:56:50if one could show that you were friendlily disposed,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53and you do that with jokes, actually.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58Just raising your eyebrows to something,
0:56:58 > 0:57:01you can tell a joke, with those sorts of gestures,
0:57:01 > 0:57:03with hardly any common vocabulary at all.
0:57:07 > 0:57:13Well, on the third day, they turned up with some fruit and stuff.
0:57:13 > 0:57:18And we gestured, said, "Why don't you take us to your village?"
0:57:18 > 0:57:21And after a bit, they decided yes, and they beckoned us.
0:57:21 > 0:57:26And so we moved off, and we could see them
0:57:26 > 0:57:30ahead of us in the forest, and then, after about, I don't know,
0:57:30 > 0:57:32half an hour, quarter of an hour,
0:57:32 > 0:57:36I came round a big tree and they weren't there.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39And Laurie then called - "Biami, Biami!"
0:57:41 > 0:57:42Biami-o!
0:57:42 > 0:57:43Nothing.
0:57:45 > 0:57:51And then we came to a shelter, and there was a fire,
0:57:51 > 0:57:54it was still warm.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58But there was also a stick with a skull, a human skull on it.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01And, uh... HE LAUGHS
0:58:01 > 0:58:04"Mm..."
0:58:04 > 0:58:08Whether we had walked into a trap or not, you didn't know.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11But we stayed there for a bit, calling for them.
0:58:11 > 0:58:12Biami-o!
0:58:12 > 0:58:15And then we tried to find their trail and couldn't.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19So we went back to the main camp.
0:58:19 > 0:58:20And that was it.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31TRIBESMEN SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE