LITTLE BLACK PIGMIES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 924, 17 September 1910, Page 13

LITTLE BLACK PIGMIES.

STRANGE SACRIFICIAL CEREMONY. NEW GUINEA EXPLOREBS AGAIN. The : • little black ■ New, Guinea pigmies are not the only strange discovery made lately, in Dutch New Guinea. ' In', the "Sydney/Daily Telegraph" a month or two ago Mr. Shortridge; invalided back to Sydney from .the British expedition, described the finding of these, tiny , creatures, hiding in. little villages away up on the ihountain 6ides. But .the expedition also , saw, a most extraordinary'eacri.ficial ceremony among the life-sized Papuans.' • What .is more, they actually kinematographed it. - The film should be worth something. ' ' '

. Accounts o! the .whole, business, havo found, their . way to England, and are .printed in tlie London. "Daily Telegraph" of, August 4. The following description uf tlie 'sacrificial festival was written, . sajs/ that paper, by.-Dr. Eric Marshall (oiiii/ of; the expedition) in the British camp at Tipoue: "For swuo days," he Says, "the natives had been t arriving from distant- parts, until the:'small village' of forty : huts contained .400 people. It was evident from the tom-toming"arid; other signs that something of (mportimce - was about to take place. 1 That evening ithoy lit, a big bonfire, and all night long they were howlingr-' and yelling as if .to drive ■ away evil spirits. ■ Soon,after daybreak they came over to fetch us, and expecting sbmething unusual I slipped a, film into my /'- kinematograph camera, and' went, gave iw every ojjportunity of obtoining' u good picture; keeping ,an open space for me in; tho best' positions.: I'liMt ot all the womon,; draped in leaves, I slowly walked', down the /lieach, driving two' full-grown' boars in front,,of'them, and then disappeared in the jungle. About ,150/-men, with faoes painted and heads ind 6pears decprated -'with' feathers formed: up in" three : sides ,of ,'a square, one. /eiid. ; of which was occupied by .a band of tom-toms. A . slow advance on :.ihe village' then commenced, the men shouting in chorus and the women dancing oil. the outskirts. . The contre of the. sijuaro was' occupied/by single ,imliviiiials, who, follnwiug effoh" other in'quick Succession, gave a .warlike finally shooting arrows' far over the trees/ The next scene took place around a ;-large, sloping s altar,': on : 'which "the two boars ,wer« about! to, be ' sacrificed. •. ' "The womoh And boars, who, had disappeared into the"~forest, now marched irom the jungle at. tho far :end. of the village.' ; The boars were seized, and a •struggle'-'with the.animals followed. The nVo.. huge blrutes . were ' bound;. up with ratlin, ohalk meanwhile / being - rubbed : into their eyes, apparently to;blind them. The wonien'set; up a tremendous wailing, and appeared on the scene plastered in wet/ihiud, from head'.to foot..Tlie; two boars," on each of 1 which' man sat-astride, were now hoisted" up and carried to' the altar,: on which they were tightly lashed, i'lien,- amid muoh shouting, tom-toming, and fanatical displays, tho . boars ' were clubbed to death. As . soon as life, was extinot,- the women cut the carcasses free, and pulling them to- the- ground, threw themselves on the dead bodies, wailing loudly and, plastering themselves with wet mud in ecstasies of grieiV This continued- for some ten. minutes," . when tlm men; many -of whom were covered with mud and uttered strange ,- dirges, •picked up the bodies, and, the whole assembly following,-, marched into/ the river, where a much-needed washing took 'place.] .'. The whole performance lasted ftbout an hour and a half." ; ' , Til© annoying point about/this is that no attempt whatever seems to havß, been" made to find out the meaning of . this extraordinary ceremony. What did . the slain boars' typify ? • What; did the • whole thing mean?' Students of myth.and custom will be .waiting .for more news of this queer symbolism. Dr. Marshall continues:— .;/'

"The afternoon was given over to innocent, play, tho women and girls, many, of them'quito pretty, chasing the men up to the river-side and into the water. This is one of tho few. ceremonies. when •the women are, allowed-, to;beat tho men, who are not permitted to retaliate. The damsels finally became so bold that they stormed the camp. The day was not to close, however, in the same state of, merriment, for canoes appeared from the base camp with the Dutch officer on- board, who told us that the last tiro fleets,'of canoes with our coolies, when returning from this place,, had been' robbed by the natives. . .-. -Later,,-.in the day the people returned to,tho camp, where Rawlings and' I had been waving leaves and ferns as a sign of pcace. About half tho stolen articles were recovered, and a promise was given that the remainder would be forthcoming later." While Mr. Shortridge was shaking his fever off in Sydney, the ..expedition was making slowly forward over the marshy country, for the great Snow, Mountains. They haven't got very far; only about GO miles inland. And they'have come to the conclusion that-'the-Mimika River, up which they have travelled .so far and meant to follow tothe mountains, will boof no use. They must, shift their whole base camp to another river eastward. In that 6ort.of country it will be a, heavy job. In April, /two moro big rivers and three villages were discovered by a small exploring party. But it bad to hurry back through want of food. Besides.tho British, there are two Dutch expeditions on foot. They are all having the same trouble, difficult country, and the fevor.^ "One Dutch expedition from the north, safa a momber of-the British ono, "for the same 'goal (as ourselves) has failed, owing to the bad health of the members. Dr. Lorentz's expedition, after a third attempt, has succeeded in reaching a most to the top of Wilhelmina Peak (15,000 feet), and has mado a fine collection. He could see nothing of Cftrsteng Peak our objective (18,000 feet). Captain Raw hngs and Dr. Marshall have discovered . a large river 12 miles to the east of the British camp flowing down from th 6 Snow Mountains."