NEW GUINEA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5635, 22 April 1879, Page 3

NEW GUINEA.

(Prom The Colonics )

• At a meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute, held in December last,, the Rev. G. Lowes gave the following description, the. result of his experience- during a long residence in the island : —Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I had not anticipated taking any part in the proceedings this evening, but if any information I can give to this meeting will be of interest and profit, I shall be glad to 'give it, it you will pardon the disconnected and somewhat rough manner in which it inay be presented. I would say, in the first place, as a guarantee for the correctness of my information, that I have had the opportunity of living in New Guinea for some three years, at Port Moresby, about seventy miles to tho east of Yule Island. With reference to which the paper has been read to-night, I would remind you of a statement made by Dr. Bennett in the introduction of the paper, viz; that New Guinea is such a largo country that it is quite necessary to mention specifically the portion of the country in reference to which tho statement is made. The analogy between a country like that of New Guinea and this country is not borne out at all by the facts of the'easo.' There is no intercourse between the different parts of the island. ' Take Port Moresby for instance, it is really nearer to England than it is to the northern end of the island, and they have no means of transit from one part of the island to the other. We find that that which is truth of one part of. New Guinea, in reference to the race inhabiting it, is untrue when applied to another part at no very great distance from it. It is only such men as the notorious flaptain Lawson who can venture to speak'or write of New Guinea as a whole- (Hear, hear.) The country is an intensely interesting one. I shall not attempt to-night, in the short time at our disposal,'to go at all into details in reference to native customs, and so forth, with which I am acquainted; but even to the noh-scientifie mind the country is full of interest. We found there a state of things which in this. nineteenth century we should have supposed had entirely passed away. We found along the coast the lake villages, still flourishing and the Stone Age still in its prune. When I went for the first time into the interior from. Port Moresby, some twenty-five miles, I confess to some amount of disappointment in the apparent barrenness and poverty of the country, The hills, which appear from the sea to be covered with a lovely verdure and beautiful vegetation, proved to be covered with coarse kangaroo grass, and the open forest studded with stunted gum trees, falling far short of, the rare beauty and the wealth with which New Guinea has been for some time past clothed and painted. But then, again, when you get on the river banks, as for instance the river Laloke, which runs at ■ the head of the hills at Port Moresby, you find your ideas of trspidai beauty and luxuriance more than realised in the beautiful palms, the manycolored am I varied crotons, the splendid orchids, a.id the lovely' ferns beneath' your feet. All these go to make up the beau ideal which one forms of a tropical climate like Ncw - Guinea, its ■ beauty and verdure.; One is disappointed, perhaps, ‘ at hot’ finding the birds of paradise on the coast, as plentiful as sparrows here, but when you get to the hills in the interior, or on the banks of the Laloke, you find the; birds of paradise tolerably plentiful, with other forms of birds and animals very rare, and to be found only in New Guinea. The products of the country—l speak now of Port Moresby, and the coast to the east of it—are disappointing. I have seen lists of the products of New Guinea, which it they were found in any considerable quantities at any one: place, must constitute New Guinea a country of great commercial wealth. Yet we find that practically: these are scattered over a large area. During my residence at Port Moresby I was able, with my colleague, to take one or two voyages along the coast, extending from Port Moresby to the extreme eastern end of the island; and I speak with certainty as to the products which we found among the natives, and which would be available for commercial purposes. Tor-toise-shell may be found in very small quantities ; a species of flax we ' found about Orangerie Bay, but the value which the natives attached to it showed that it was scarce and rare. Spices have been spokenof as abundant in New Guinea; we found some notmegs in the crops of some pigeons we shot; but beyond that we saw no evidence of spices in this part of New Guinea. Purther to tho east wo found some undesirable weapons in the shape of clubs, and of different sorts, made of ebony, and some of the native drums were made of a species of rosewood ; and these exhaust the products of that part of New Guinea which we found among the natives. But it must be remembered that,these were found in different parts of the coast, and in such small quantities as to render their value as articles of commerce very doubtful indeed. Ooooa-nnts are very plentiful about Hood Bay, and might be exported as oobra.. The country is perhaps rich in minerals. I was able to bring down the first specimens of gold which had-been discovered in New Guinea, and these were assayed in Sydney ; and whilst it is undoubted that gold is there, yet the specimens of quartz obtained did not contain it in payable quantities, three pennyweights only in the ton being the result of the assay at Sydney. That found in the alluvial deposits in tho beds of the river proved to be more rich, but what the future may be, of course, remains to be seen. All that has been done at present I believe is, that the existence of the precious metal in New Guinea is preyed, whether it be there in payable quantities or not, remains to be proved. With regard to one matter referred to in the paper of Mr. D’Albertis, it is rather perhaps out of place in connection with this subject; but I may speak of it however—l mean the belief in the future state held by the natives of New Guinea. At Port Moresby, they-believo very strongly in a future state; -'At Lerepunu, a village some sixty miles, to the oast of Port Moresby, they - have the. sagjo belief ; and, so far as we know,

all tho tribes in that part of New Guinea believe in a future state. Their ideas'about death are vague and uncertain. They say if a man dies his spirit goes away into space, and ultimately finds its way back to the place which they associate with the idea of plenty and animal enjoyment—in one place where they get plenty of sago, and in another where betel-nuts abound ; in each case they lead a happy life, in the enjoyment of plenty. The belief in a future state is an element more of fear than of hope with a native. They believe in the power of these spirits to bring calamity upon them, and the departure of a relative is a further cause of trouble to the survivors ; for they believe in their willingness as well as their power to do them harm. Whether it be desirable to have New Guinea as a colony or not, there are two or three facts which should he remembered in reference to it. The resources of the country, whatever they may be, have yet to be developed, so far as the southeast coast is concerned. But tho great-diffi-culty lies here, that the natives do not care for our articles of European commerce, and they meet no felt want. As to clothing, we have given plenty and bartered some to the natives but we find that they generally use it to wrap up their drums in, to prevent tho rats from eating the skins at the end. Then as to our tools, it is generally supposed that they must appreciate them at once, but I have often had a European axe given back to me by a native rather than give up his stone one in exchange. If the resources of tho country are to be developed—and it seems to me that they arethen it must be by some outside agency, by Europeans or some in their employ. The natives have no desire for our articles of commerce, excepting such things as rod beads, pieces of red cloth, and hoop-iron. They will, however, soon learn to appreciate our edge tools, although at first they seem to care little about them The climate must always be a serious obstacle in the colonisation of New Guinea." So far as our experience goes, extending over a period of some five years, fever and ague are prevalent, not only on the coast, but on the higher land in the interior. The extreme heat will always prevent much manual labor by; Europeans. At Port Moresby the maximum temperature for the year was 86.71, while the minimum of the nights was 73.5. This, gives a very high range of temperature, and one in which it is scarcely possible for Europeans to engage in much manual work. Tho difficulty with the native races must-be very great, not however, from'their hostility, for we have found that confidence begets confidence. : I have visited many villages at New Guinea, and my colleagues and successors have visited many more, and in no case have we been molested or interfered with by natives. : We went as Christian missionaries,: but have always tried to uphold tho honor of our country, and render whit assistance we could to tho pursuits of science and commerce. But the natives are so separated, divided,and split up, that there is no recognised authority even over a district. .The district speaking the same language will perhaps be divided, as in the case of Port Moresby, into some ten villages, each one being governed by local chiefs, who have no authority whatever over the next village to them. If you get a native carrier in one place to carry your burdens, he will carry them perhaps five miles, to the limits of his territory, when he would throw them down, and you must either carry them yourself or engage another native of the adjoining state to get over the next district. The difficulties of travel and of scientific research are enhanced by the number and variety of distinct tribes into which the natives are divided. I know of 25 different languages spoken in, tho 300 miles of coast with which I am acquainted. They may be more correctly described as dialects, but they are really so different and distinct from each other, that the natives speaking the one are unable to.understand those speaking another. I am sorry to say the feeling of confidence and goodwill which had been established with the natives in that part of New Guinea has been brought in one district at least to an end by the injudicious, dishonest, and unfair treatment which some of the natives there have received at the hands of-some of our own color and speaking our own language, but who are a disgrace rather than an honor to the English nation. I pointed out in the public Press in Sydney, and also in a letter to The Times at tho beginning, of-this year, the desirability of some judicial authority being established to restrain the lawlessness of adventurers who were likely to go to New Guinea in search of gold.' The fear I expressed then has been realised, and by the last mail we received sad tidings of a native being shot by a white man of this character. Prom this man’s own account, the native simply brandished his spear, at him, which, to anyone who knows the native’s.'meaus no more harm than an umbrellabeing shaken here. But they shot him, and burled h!o body in the sa»d, leaving the teacher in the place in a position of great jeopardy. It is in this way that the interests of science are retarded, and put back for perhaps a century.-• "We could have gone, I believe, through the length and breadth of south-east New Guinea with perfect safety, but others follow in! onri broke and" bring to ah I end this good understanding, and hostilities commence, and then it is impossible to penetrate into unknown districts owing to the hostility of the natives who have been so badly treated by strangers from a" distance.. (Hear, hear.) These remarks are somewhat disconnected and crude, but they have arisen out of the very interesting paper to which 1 have listened, in common wiih you all, with so much pleasure, (Loud cheers.) -