THE CANNIBALS OF NEW GUINEA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1440, 24 December 1886, Page 3

THE CANNIBALS OF NEW GUINEA.

Mr James Chalmers has spent eleven years of his life In the islands of the South Pacific and eight yea's la New Guinea. “I am not,” he has t-dd a contributor to the Paul Mall Gazette. “ I am not one of those who believe thst savages yearn for the Gospel. The goapal of the New Guinean is red beads, tobacco, tomahawks, and hoop iron. W -en I find myself among a stra ige tribe T puli out my pipe, have a smoke, and make friendThe savage is the most conservative being In the world. Yon ask him to plant a pumpkin, but he says, ‘No. Why shonld i ? My father did without pumpkins. So ean I.’ ” Mr Chalmers gives »n amusing account of some recent experiences among the cannibals. He paid a visit to a very prosperous race of these gentlemen at Bald Head Point, which is in the centre of the sago-producing count y. It is supposed that the custom of cannibalism was imported from some of the neighboring islands. The legend goes that some sixty years ago, after a certain battle, a chief, out of bravado, cut a portion out of another chief who was slain, threw it into a p ff, and ate it. When the burytng party came and asked for the dead body, he said scoffup)y, “I have eaten it.” This joke led to reprisal i, and the cn-b m spread to the mainland However that may be, “ long pig ” is a favorite dish in a state menu “I f-mnd ” «aM Mr Chalmers, ‘ these cannibals rf Ball Hoad Point the most agreeable fellows In 'h-> world Wo got on remarkably well,” “ Then you were not afraid r.f Vo'ng pnt Into the pot yourself V “ Not a bit of It. I went as far as to ask them whether they had any snch Intentions The ch ef, with a smile (not a hungry one), said th» they did not care for wi ite mtn. They had tried him, but he was not good Of course, they might prefer white man tc no man at all ; but, as a matter of fact, ‘ long pig’ orgies are few and far between They are like plant pudding at Christmas —very good once a year. These omnibals are realty a fine set of men ; both intellectually and physically, tunerlo to many of the coas'al tribes, Ttelr houses and temples arc very remarkable structures. I was allowed to visi ore of the temples, and a very remarkab'o place it was. It Is here that the satunalia of human flesh are conducted. When a number of bodies are t:kon, they are brought Into tbe temple one by ore. At the end of the temple is a dark rereis, and into this each body Is taken. After the obsequies, the body is dragged out In to the open, the head ia carefully ohoppe d off, and the body is cat np into pl< ce ■ and thrown into a pot for dinner. The flesh on the ssull ia then very carefully taken off until the skull is clean. The hideous trophy ia next handed over to a skilled artificer, who carves and paints it. It is then hnng up on a peg in the temple. It happened that these skulls had been taken down for their annual dusting, or I should not have been able to make such a close inspection of the Sculleries;"