Glimpses of New Gulnear.

Manawatu Herald, 15 August 1899, Page 2

Glimpses of New Gulnear.

la an article by Mr Cf. BossJohnson in Truth on the ab&ve subject we extract a few brief paragraphs. On landing at the wooden jetty

yon gat the first glimpse of tbPapuan — crowds of young girl> engaged in unloading tha lighor. Their brown skins glisten in tb> blazing sun, and their only dress i< a short petticoat of graa?, reaching to tha kne> Bisv .black against their skin* ibow the 'artoo marks which diff rin every tribe. TVy are put. is first whpn the child ie about eight, years old, and art gradually added to, till the finishing touches denote that she ia now con Bidered of marriageable age, and i? in the matrimonial market. In the central and eastern districts the hair of both men and women is long, standing straight up and frizzy ; it is shorter in the west, where the natives also seem to suffer more from a very disagreeable skin disease. Burial cu9toma are generally very gruesome and revolting. One of the main difficulties of the magistrate being to make the people bury their dead outside the village. Ag a rule, this is dona in the house itself. The bones are generally carefully kept, and put on a small platform outside the house. It is sometimes the custom to bedeok the last skull with its dancing ornaments, and when a big danoe is on, the nearest blood relation, carrying the skull in her arm?, will rush into the midst of the laughing throng, and remind them that the dead man was once as gaily bedecked as the best of them . Feasts, of course, always accorapauy any ceremony, either of burial or marriage. In thi3 they closely resemble more civilised nations. In some districts the girl proposed to man, in others the man to the girl, but in neatly all payment has to be made for a wife. Children are sometimes affianced by their parents from their earlist years, or even before birth. In some districts the simulated capture of the bride exists. The bridegroom and his friends, armiDg themselves, pretend to carry off the lady by force. The morals of a girl are not always looked after very closely before marriage, and, in some places, even after marriage, infidelity is not regarded as a very serious offence. Polygamy is practised nearly everywhere. Wives, as a rule, put asidn tbeir ornaments and shave their heads. The women do all the domestic work, collect firewood and water, bring in food and attend to the work in the gardens, the men only clearing the land to make them. To the men falls all the hunting and fishing and trading. Tn hunting, Btrong nets are often used, into which the game is driven. Wild pigs and wallaby are thus caught. THie tame pig ekes out a 'precarious existence as scavenger in his village. Dagong is also caught and eaten in the west. * The Papuan? are not at all averse to having their game "high." It is sometime baktd on hot stones, or else smoked, but is not eaten raw. Cannibalism is not so prevalent in Nfw Guinea as is generally supposed. In many placse after a fight, the victors will eat email piece of a slaughtered foe, but this is only out of bravado. A terrible case wa« reported from the Mambare rivor gome years ago. The Governor and a party of the constabulary overtook a fleet of canoes, the ocoupants of Which immediately fid. They had evidently just attacked and beaten snme other tribe, for in the canoes Ware the spoils of war. Human leg* And arms were found, baked and wrapped up in leave?, and a little girl was found baked whole, and lashed to a pole to be carried home.