In this essay I will try to uncover an alternative reading to the colonial administration’s reading about Patrol Officer W.J. Brand’s report,[1]—that the carriers ‘lacked stamina’—and suggest four reasons why some carriers wanted to leave the patrol on the third day. Considerations include diet, malarial infection, entering diverse cultural areas and topography. I conclude that…

In June and July of 1951, Patrol Officer (Kiap)[1] S.S. Smith undertook a patrol to the Southern Highlands; specifically, the Mendi Valley. He was accompanied by two Europeans, 10 Indigenous police officers and an average of 40 Indigenous carriers (including translators).[2] The patrol lasted 15 days, with an un-reported rest in between of 5 days….