TREK THROUGH PAPUA.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 225, 23 September 1929, Page 9

TREK THROUGH PAPUA.

GOLD-SEEKERS' ADVENTURES. ATTACKED BY HEAD-HUNTERS 100 ARROWS FOUND NEXT DAY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, September 18. Adventures through which a party of Australian prospectors passed in Papua on a recent vis.it, as told to interviewers on their return, reveal that the silent or talking screen does not produce thrills more gripping than are to be had in skirmiehes with the tollmen and headhunters of Papua. The party was led by Mr. J. Miller, manager of the Mount Lawson New Guinea Goldlands, and he had with him Messrs. Gordon Coghill and J. O. Reid, of Sydney, and veteran Papuan prospectors in the persons of Charles Nelson and A. E. Bethune. They crossed to Kukupi, 120 miles from Moresby, and then proceeded along the Tauri River, establishing a base b0 miles along that waterway. From their base the work became increasingly difficult. They had to cut tracks across swamps to reach the limestone ranges of Papua, which tower 4000 or 5000 feet above sea level and are so constructed that they resemble masses of coral thrown up from the ocean bed. So sharp !is tho formation of these precipitous mountains that a pair of boots are worn out in a day's travel. "Only by constant perseverence in the face of greatest difficulties were we able to cross," said Mr. Miller. "We had to hack paths on the side of the crags, and ! invariably finished each day with hands I bleeding and torn from the work."

Ominous Warning. Although the natives outwardly appeared friendly at first, they eoon gave evidence of their hostility. An ominous sign was the of bunches of arrows left standing in a patch, of scrub through "which they had to pass. Old hands rightly took this to mean "get out," but they persevered with their trek and, as anticipated, soon struck trouble with the fighting natives. Two attacks were made on the party in quick euccession. "Wβ were lucky to repel them without loss of life o"n our own side," said Miller. "But we opened fire and later found the body of one native, and we have reason to believe another was mortally wounded. Ho was dragged away by his comrades, according to information we gleaned later." A magistrate held an inquiry and found the white men's actions justified. They discovered more than 100 arrows round the camps tho morning after the attacks, and also found a number of bows. It was established that tho tribe concerned in the attack was one known locally as the Kukukus, norcads living in the mountains, and reputed head-hunters.

taunch Capsizes oa Bar. At the headwaters of the Tauri they found several places which would have beeu of value t,o individual prospectors, but were not sufficiently large for company exploitation, so they returned to the base and made for Mount Lawson. On the Oba River they struck a patch and subsequently took out leases there. Miller and Coghill set out for Port Moresby to register the claims. The journey war adventurous, the launch capsizing on a bar, necessitating a swim of a mile to safety. They saved a, wooden box containing the company's record, and achieved their objective after a long struggle. They spoke, of the prospects of dredging being excellent, and the question of transport not so difficult jjow that the trail has been biased. With an aeroplane service it should be simplified.