Evening star., 1945-05-20
Incredible Shangri-La
Viewed From Sky by
War Writer for Star
BY w. H. SHIPPEN, Jr.
Star War Correspondent.

HOLLANDIA, New Guinea, April
% fBy Air MaiD The incredible
valley of Shanghai" over which
we cruised at low altitude today,
remains as mysterious and COM
pletely lost to the world outside the
snow-capped Oranje Mountains as
it was on the day Of its discovery
by Army Air Forces pilots.
Our plane climbed over jungle and
jagged limestone peaks, wound
through gap in mountains tower
ing more than 10000 feet and
swooped down to crisscross a vast,
intensively cultivated valley where
dwell from $4,000 to 100000 people
totally cut of from even the can
nibalistic tribes Of the interior.
AS we dragged fields, rice paddles,
irrigation systems and hundreds of
walled villages low enough to ripple
the palm fronds in our propeller
blast, saw big, black men as agile
as apes climbing down from sentry
posts In the top of tall trees to
bound off into the vegetation. One
huge buck crouched and made a
throwing motion, but If he launched
a spear at us we never saw it. Their
ack-ack, the pilots say, is a bit on
the primitive side.
Watered by Palien River.
Our pilot today was one of the
first men to survey this hidden
valley while looking for a site for
an emergency landing strip on a
direct route across New Guinea
from the big supply depots on Biak,
off the northwest coast to Merauke,
southern jump-off point on the air
route down the northeast coast of
Australia. He was Col. Ray T. Els
more, commander OF the 322d Troop
Carrier Wing, and chief of the Air
Cargo Division, Far Eastern Air
Service Command.
Shangri-La is watered by the
Palien River. which heads up at
Lake Queen Wilhelmina in the in
terror, and flowing east and south to
the southern coast, plunges through
a limestone cavern in the valleys
barrier cliffs. The river winds out
of Shangri-La through a tortuous
canyon Of sheer walls which prob
ably has never been traversed by
man. Col. Elsmore thinks this out
let may have been sealed by a vol
canic upheaval centuries ago, totally
isolating the valley.
Thousands of farms in this lost
area are outlined by drainage
bitches, dams and water breaks in
neat geometrical patterns extending
over an area some 20 by miles
and reaching up to the very peaks
Of mountains over 10000 feet tall
Every village and even every farm
is walled in with stone and timbers
and the whole area is studded with
high poles for the lookouts. There
seems to be no interconnecting sys-
tenn Of trails. 1t seems likely that
the big men in the rich valleys are
at constant war with their smaller
neighbors to force them up the
steep, unproductive slopes.
Tribesmen Naked.
Most of the naked tribesmen we
saw today dived into thatched huts
which cluster about oblong dwell
ings that probably house the war
riors and chieftains.
Women. working in the fields,
fled or hid themselves when we
swept over them. The only clothing
they wore was a sort of headpiece
which apparently supported a back
pack for carrying burdens.
The natives rotate crops, lay out
rich banana groves within their
compounds, dam the streams for
what appear to be village SWIM
ming pools or fish ponds, practice
erosion control on the slopes equal
to our most modern methods and
construct intricate concentric cir
cular patterns within great volcanic
craters which resemble our OPEN
air stadiums. 1t is possible these
are burial grounds.
Raise 1,000-Pound Hogs.
The natives raise hogs of some
huge species in their compounds
which must weigh up to 1,O0C
pounds. When I first saw them
scurring about, I thought they were
cattle. The people vary in color
from black to brown. All are either
bald or have shaved their hair far
back from the temples.
It would appear from the vast
amount of work in evidence on the