31701-0068-0001

Port Morsby,
Papua.
Aug 19th '41.
My Precious Darling,
This week I have been without the happiness & consolation of your letter. I shalln't netertain any worrying thoughts as I beleive it has missed the 'plane. Jeffs papers & mail arrived during the week - the shipping had become a little more regular. Cold nights still persist - enough in fact to put me off swimming. I warned Herb before he left, not to call before 'phoning you. Any day should see his appearance. A few other of our sick also shared his good fortune.
Sunday I paid that promised visit to the Wyganis Swamps.
Another hicut & myself including two picked boys made the party.
Our armament was the usual; .22 & shot-gun (but no depth charges)
A nine mile walk through a monstory of grass & hills was almost maddening. The sparse dwarfed gums offer no shade & we never allow ourselves the temptation & danger of drinking water. (on a stomach full of water you'd last barely two miles in this heat.)
The swamps were alive with natural life. Birds of every description formed clouds in the air, & hid the marshes. I sized up the valleys to apply all the technique I'd heard of for stalking game.
A party of air-Force chaps were there contenting themselves at shooting anything that make a target, edible or otherwise.
Against all the rules of natural science, a huge stag came