AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1669, 8 February 1913, Page 9

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

A MAN FROM THE OUTER MARCHES. 1

OUDA, THE PAPUAN

(Br -Win Lawson.)

His name is Ouda and ho oomes from Papua, sometimes called Now Guinea, as tho body servant of Mr. Harold Johnstone, a planter from Tulo' Island, in tho Central Division of Papua, who is in Sydney just now, on business. '

Would you prefer to interviow me or Ouda? Mr. Johnstone asked.. We were sitting in chairs in his drawing room, 'and Ouda was squatting, native fashion, on the polished floor behind his master's chair. The Papuan is a good-looking man, or ' ns ' he is called. Ho wore a white singlet and a loose v nativo kilt of white, and a broad leather belt. These, and his stock of finely-combed, wiry hair, constituted his adornment. And the self- . abnegating smilo upon his face was not what one expected to see' on the face of a man whose ti?ibe were, recently cannibals.

"I would like to interview Ouda," I said, ''that is if ho will answer."

'Try him," said Mr. Johnstone. "What is your name?" I asked. Ouda," came the answer in soft musical tones.

How do you like thi3 place?" Ouda only smiled.

'He'doesn't understand much English," said his master. Then he said something to the boy in Papuan, and tho answer came in quick, clear tones \ _ says he cannot say, exccpti that it is like all the white man's magic." So wo left Ouda out of the talk, though he listened, all tlio timo watching ■ his masters face as a*dog. would, Whenever Ins name was mentioned ho smiled selfconsciously. The natives of Papua, Mr. Johnstone said, ( are coming rapidly under tho white man s rule and are realising how beneficial that rule and the trading opportunities it offers, aro to thein. Such boys as uuda take a couple of years to train as. /° yS " j.I*"? 1 * Iley are milcll addicted, to petty theft and other mild lawJessness, but they rapidly appreqjato kind • and firm treatment. Their pay, at first, mi- in ■ a , mo . ntll: k°ys in tho plantation KOt .109., and rise to 15s. and £1 a month. y i one ' h „?? to 15s ' a month 1 n house-boy. Iho minimum rates are fixed by-law. But the Papuan is no fool; lie gives nothing for nothing rind ho need ,t w>rk unless he wishes to. ' Most of the Labour is dono by 'tho na--of n,» c i oa - sts and plains - The .men of tho mountains aro a different class lamfc TM' > 50011 of tho level lands. Through constantly living and wonting on tho mountains—such mountains as they are, too—sharp, steep ridges -lII™ V"? W stand with one foot on each watershed—they are quite deformed, r? " t T ll ® rL na expedition is penetrating these fastnesses, a friendly mountain tr-iba «_w°rHi its weight in gold. • So steep are the paths, tho plainsman lias hard work to get himself up and 1? ecll , vlt l n ® must hold-on' with both .'.ands. Iho mountaineer, however, carries a 401b. or 501b'. pack without distress, and all he demands as payment lor a day s work is an cunce of salt. Salt is an unknown quantity away. from; the coasti; and their longing for it is-intense. Among the mountain tribes much blood- , shed .constantly goes. on. Reprisals' for, murders frequently involve, wholo tribes in a feud.

. -Tho natn-es aro now beginning to see that it is better to appeal to tho Government when an inter-tribal crimo is committed, Then tho Government sond out ft'forco to apprehend the murderers. Such expeditions liavo not, up to dato, been: very successful, according to Mr. Johnstone, but the, importance of having their" causo taken up by the white man impresses the natives. liecently S, number of mountain rnon came to Air. Johnston's ' plantation,'hiid, through Ilia interpreter, stated Ih-syAvere going down to the- Government because of a raid'.'i-aving been made upon them •by a' caulnbal tribe, in whicn twenty ,'people were.:killed.' As ; proof of their, story, '.they carried 20 fingers cut from tho dead hands, all tied to a long string. The Government 6ent a strong force out to capture tho murderers, but all they 'got wero two old men who had lagged in the flight from justice. Frequently, tho 'whito men were within two hundred .yards of the natives, but always a deep gorgo intervened, and when tho whites descended and ascended ito the opposite ridge, the were brandishing spears and shouting uefiance from the nest ridgo. They could easily liavo been shot, but that is against tho policy of the Government, a wise one, since tho natives are a wild lot, and full of fight. , It is the quiet persistence of tho Whites-and'their

( "magic" which is subduing tho' warlike . spirits; the wish, to be friends with such • .wonderful beings. . ~' . | Sorcery, it appears, is rife in tho moun- • tain villages.. If. a-man is bitten by a | snake it is put down to sorcery, and the \ victim is always asked what lie saw at ! itho time ho was bitten. If ho eecs men, ; it is the work of a eorcorer. Mr. Johnstone says that he; has seen . a native, !' Svprking. with a dozen others, bitten by ; a'snake, and when, asked what he saw ! will reply: - "Two men."' , These aro men who are not really there, but only exist in his imagination. , Not .long ago Ouda was bitten, and .when asked what ho saw, replied "A'snake." . He has beoomo civilised out of the belief in sorcery of that kind, though since leaving . Port Moresby ho has seon so many marvellous things, his belief in tho magie of the white man is deeply rooted. : At Brisbano he saw a train for the first time. After much consideration, he pronounced it' to bo a "ground steamer." The kinematography has deeply, impressed him. In one film ho saw depicted aii elephant which chased people upstairs. To this he had no criticism to offer. But" when he saw a real elephant carrying children in tho grounds of tho Sydney Zoo, \he Was dumbfounded'. And when tho .elephant reachcd up with his trunk and took'an apple from a child sitting on its back, Ouda was in a state of collapse. In a oouple of weeks ho returns to Papua with Mr. Johnstono. "And I don't think he will be sorry, will you, Ouda?" Ouda smiled, and followed his master to the door, apparently fearful of "allowing this one link with his far away home' to pass from his sight. . •