Several years ago an exploration and scientific expedition chartered the schooner Culwalla of 22 tons and made a comprehensive investigation of the North-West coast from Broome to Wyndham. Alliga

tors abound in the rivers, and the country is mostly heavily timbered.

Port George IV. Mission Station, which it is believed was sighted by the missing a¢iators, is conducted by Messrs. Wilson and

Paton, who with their wives have done valuable pioneering work and produced a veritable garden of Eden with tropical fruits. flowers, and vegetables. The surrounding country is described as being well grassed and fed by fresh running streams.

According to members of the expedition the natives in this section were reputed to be quarrelsome, but Mr. Wilson re. ported that their quarrels were tribal affairs, and he had never been molested. These aborigines carry a distinct strain of Malay blood, which is the case with

many tribes on the northern coast of Australia, as IMalays hlave frequented the northern seaboard for centuries in search

of pearl shell and trepang, which find a ready sale in the markets of the Far East.

Giant turtles are soon on the beaches. coming ashore to lay their eggs in the sand Fish abound in the water. If the airmen have alighted neat: the coast they will thus have ample opportunity to obtain food. F’arther inland plenty of game should be available.

The exploration expedition mentioned previously was able to ‘converse with the aborigine only by means of signs, and even the black men withll the party could not make themselves understood.. The inhabitants of one small island lived entirely in the open, having no huts. When first approached by the white men they disappeared into the scrub,, and later appeared armed with spears.

At a small mission station on the shores of Napier Broome Bay, founded a quarter of a century ago by Spanish Catholic Brothers, it was ascertained that the Brothers,had often been attacked by hostile black men.  Two of them bore marks of spear wounds received in the encounter

on the Forrest River, which runs into Cambridge Gulf, near Wyndham. is an

Anglican mission, which was under the charge of Rev. E. R. Gribble for 15 years until last December.

The blacks of the coast are described as particularly well set up and well

nourished by the ample food supplies available. Hundreds of them are said to

be nearly seven feet tall.

There is practically no settlement in the wild area between Fort George and Wyndham, a distance of 200 miles in a direct line, and it might be possible for the missing airmen to remain in the bush for some time before getting in touch with civilization.