THE COLOURFUL TROPICS

Shannon News, 4 November 1927, Page 3

THE COLOURFUL TROPICS

LEVINITE’S IMPRESSIONS OF PAPUA. LAND OF GOLD AND LAVISH FERTILITY. (From the Levin Chronicle). Attention is being drawn more and more to New Guinea, a country which, with its wonderful possibilities and its proximity to trade routes, is destined to shine as one of the brightest jewels in the crown of the British Empire. The lure of gold has been responsible for most of the expeditions of the comparatively few white men who have so far penetrated beyond the coast; but one man, and a resident of Levin at that, has been tempted to make a holiday jaunt to the giant island of mystery. He is Mr. John Horne, formerly .of ihakara, who made a trip to Thursday Island a few months ago. in order to renew the acquaintance of an old friend, and while there took the opportunity of classing Torres Straits and familiarising himself with the couiitry adjacent to the Fly River, which is in the western division of British New Guinea. It was of a land of strange people and customs, where cockroaches grow as large frogs and crabs appear in millions, that he had to tell when interviewed by a ‘‘Chronicle” reporter. Before visiting the country it was necessary t.o give a definite reason for going there. Propeily speaking, the territory to which Mr. Horne went is Papua, or British New Guinea, with its seat of administration at Port Moresby; and its coast-line is on the south-eastern portion of the island. It must not be confounded with the old German New Guinea, which is the portion of country with the north-eastern coast-line, and is now. Australian Mandated territory, with headquarters at Rabaul. The western half of New Guinea is owned by the Dutch.

ELECTRICITY AND CAN MEALS. A passage havifi| been booked on the auxiliary ketch Araniia, which maxes the trip from Thursday Island about once a fortnight to Daru, a small island and trading post near the Fly River estuary, Mr Horne arrived at his destination about 8, o’clock in the evening, after a trip that was not without its hardships, owing to commissariat shortage and. the aforesaid cockroaches. The wireless station of the Daru Oil Company was signalled, and the manager and the customs officer met the boat. Op going ashore it wui with a curious sensation that the traveller observed buildings lit by electricity, bearing in mind that only a short distance inland were tribes of headhunting savages. Next day the strange sights of the high tropics burst upon him in all their bewildering array, the chief impression- oeiug , caused by. the prodigality of Nature, as shown in the overwhelming abundance of plant life; the number and size of the cockroaches, prolific ’denizens of" low latitudes, and which in this case were of prodigious size; a*nd literally millions of small crabs, of all conceivable colours, which sought their Ha ing on the mud flats. A warm welcome was given to the visitor by the local trader Mr Maitij ment- and his -wife (now deceased), who invited him to accompany them on a trip up the Oriomo River by motor launch, to a trading station called Mebu. Tljis journey eventuated on the Monday, and in the meantime Mr. Horne spent an interesting time amongst the small community at Daru.

On the Sunday afternoon Mr. Ilorne went to the church and met the missionary. .Mr Riley, who is the author of a book, recently published, entitled “Among the Head Hunters of Papua.” There was a native choir, composed of boys, girls and adults, who sang very sweetly. The native congregation, who squatted on the floor during the address, joined heartily in the hymns, singing both in English and in the Kiwai language. '

UP THE FLY RIVER. The departure for the Fly River was taken at 7 a.m. on the Monday, and the party had a rough passage through the estuary, even the native policeman being sick. It was about this time that a search was being made for a young patrol officer, )Vlr. Ivan Champion, who had been missing for some weeks, having branched off, with a few bearers and provisions, from an expedition which was exploring the hinterland. The Government launch Ulevala which, was to take in tow the Minnetonka, belonging to the party with which Mr. Hoi ne travelled, under Mr. Lambden (assistant Resident Magistrate at Daru) had been despatched to establish a base for a search, but within a few days the welcome news was received that Mr. Champion had turned up. Had (his intelligence not been received, difficulties would have arisen, because the relief expedition would have been travelling up one river while Mr Champion was coming down another. Undeterred by his experiences, Mr Champion is now in a Government expedition which is endeavouring to locate the headwaters of the Ply and Sepik I rivers, high up in the mountainous heart of central New Guinea. EXPLORER MEETS WHITE CHILD.

During the time that he was reported missing, Mr Champion made important discoveries regarding river .courses, which in the past have been wrongly mapped. He met natives who had never seen a white man before, and they brought to him a white child, which, they claimed, had come direct from Heaven. Mr Champion was paid the compliment of having had the same origin, and for the time he enjoyed the deference due to a celestial being. •'I NATIVE PRODUCTION OF SAGO. A stock of trade goods had been laid in by Mr Cowley, of the Mibu plantation, for use up the Barau river. They comprised chiefly calico, tomahawks, knives and tobacco, and were to be traded for sago, the principal native product. It is interesting to know that the sago palm, which somewhat resembles the nikau in appearance, grows wild in the swamp lands

of New Guinea. A vast amount of native labour is%volved in the manufacture of the which is sold t° the traders as a finished article. First the tree is felled, then the trunk is cut into suitable lengths,,and a slit is made through the outer covering, exposing the fibrous pith, from which the sago is obtained. With a hardwood chisel the covering is prised off, leaving the centre of the trunk exposed. This heart is next bruised and is placed in a wooden trough, into which a stream of water flows. The native woman, who does most of the work, kneads the mass, and the sediment, which becomes, practically the staff of life for the natives, settles at the hot; tom of the trough, where it looks much like ground lice. Leaves of the nipa palm, another swamp growth, are used to roll the sago in, the package is, neatly bound with native twine, and m this form the article is passed to the trader. One of the advantages of sago-growing in T’apuu is that no cultivation is required; but' a system of conservation has been established on some of the islands. One of the natural purposes of the palm in its wild state is to reclaim mud-flats, which are notoriously unstable in the absence of vegetation.In this respect it shares honours iu that: part of the world with tlie mangrove, which, although it has earned hard names from navigators in search of u landing-place, has its commercial uses, such as providing a marketable bark ami a breeding-place for oysters. The Papuan sago will not turn sour even in the tropics if the air is excluded from it, although it may be in a damp condition, as is the case when the trader gets it. When the buyer brings it to his depot, he pours the sago into a tank or barrel, presses it tightly, and pours on it three or four inches of water, after which it will keep indefinitely, and without fermenting. A member- of the party pointed out a native house at the junction of the Bainu river with a creek and a story in connection.'with A little while previously, lie said, a native and his wife quarreled; He gpve her a thrashing, but she ran away from }iim, made a bee-line for the river,"and jumped in. An alligator was waiting for her—and there the story ended. WOMAN SHOT WITH AN ARROW. At each of the villages where regular calls are mad 6, the Government has established a rest house for the convenience of natives travelling from one village or island to another. Several natives, wJio had been working on the plantations, weie returning on the Government launch, and they stayed in- one of these buildings. Next morning the Papuan skipper came down to the boat and said, “Native man ;n village Spear his wife through the thigh.” Another account was that it was the woman’sfather who had done the deed, Jus reason (intelligible, perhaps, to the native mind) being that she had not been paid for by her husband. In a large community house, four or five chains long and divided into sections for the different families, tlie party found the woman, who had been wounded by an arrow. It, was ascertained that she was “No. 2 wife,” and that her'lius-<? band had shot her with the arrow, allegedly for some misconduct'. The arrow was observed to be made of a very light reqd, resembling toi-toi, fitted with a hardwood head. The shaft, had broken off, and the woman had been lying in her injured condition for a week. The party had no instruments and the best that could le done was to prepare a report for the Resident Mag-* istrate at Daru.

WHERE LABOUR IS PLENTIFUL A busy time was spent at a trading post, where the currency of barter was handed over for sago. The second-in-command had charge of the issue of tomahawks, knives and calico, and Mi Horne served out,,the tobacco. Scores of native canoes came along to trade, and the amount of labour offering for Ihe plantations was a source of wonder to the visitor. “Me want work,” was the constant cry of the “boys,” wlu, were looking for engagements of one to three years’ duration. “No, got plenty,” war the reply-; bat. the cage.fellows clung to the. sides'of the cutter until they were sent scuttling away in their'canoes by bucketfuls of water being thrown on them. PROUD OF HIS SCAR&.

An ancient warrior, clad in a loincloth, paid his respects to the white men.”' His body was covered with sears, made by spears and arrows, and of which he was as proud as any soldier of his decorations. He was an old campaigner, Polynesian style. It k only on the fringe of the country that the”natives have yet acquired anything approaching civilisation, “At the dis lance of two days’ sail in the cutter,’’ said Hr Horne, “they are waiting for you with bows and arrows.’’

TREES LIKE PUKATEA

During his investigations on the mainland Mr Horne came across trees resembling the pukatea, with immense buttresses. . He remarked on the similarity to the New Zealand species, and fold the party that where the pukatea grew the best land'was to be found. The reply was that, strangely enough, these trees with the buttresses did grow on the best of the New Guinea land. One tree was bristling with arrows, from its high top down to the buttresses, showing that thereabouts was a practice shooting ground. Small bows, only about a foot long, made from split bamboo, and arrows from the midrib of the nipa. palm leaf, are used for practice and for all kinds of games. Far -up the Fly River there are natives who cleverly 'weave a form of wicker armour, which rests on the hips and affords the same protection against the wooden arrows as a suit of mail does against sword-tlnusts. FEROCITY OF WILD PIGS. The diet of the Papuans consisted principally of sago, yams, taro, bananas, sweet potatoes, pork and fish. Wild pigs were abundant, and terrible tales were told of their ferocity and their improve ked attacks on Inman beings. A native woman was one day cutting weeds on Mr Cowling’s property, when a wild pig espied her. The animal charged imm» ""My and in-

dieted terrible flesh wounds Avith its tusks; but the native vitality is strong and after the cuts had been stitched by the white men on the place, to whom a'rough knoAvledge of surgery is indispensable, the Avon*an recovered. She bore many sears to testify to her ordeal, and ever afterwards' .walked Avith a slight limp. A headstone in the burial ground at Mibu records that a native hoy died as the result of an attack by 1 P ' g ‘STRANGE SIDELIGHTS.*

At the Mibu plantation Mr Horne sampled the sago cooked in a very appetising way, by .being baked in a moist condition in a covering of leaves. Variety is given to it by the introduction of crabs, coconut, or sliced bananas. It takes the place of rice, and, unlike polished rice, it does not cause the disease called be?i oeri. A native woman anived at the plantation, one day, carrying a baby which bad died and which s'lie proceeded to bury in ihe cemetery. Alongside the grave she left half a coconut shell containing breast-milk for the child’s spiiit. Among the bush pests which are specially noticeable in Papua are the scrub itch and the leeches. The former has its habitat on certain shrubs, and as Ihe traveller passes beneath them 1 falls on him in showers. The insect is like- a tiny crab; it burrows into the skin,i and at night the irritation almost drives the sufferer crazy. The leeches will make their way through the wayfarer’s socks and the eye-holes of his bools and they make inroads beyond the skin.

LIGHT COMPLEXIONED NATIVES

The 'number of light-coloured- Polynesians was surprising. Seme of them ore almost white, and are referred to as albmoes, but Mr Horne thinks that they are too j umerous to be classed in that Avay.

With, r egard to the gold country, Mr llo]in*-stated that the main approach to it Avas from' Rabaul, in the mandated territory. Goldmines had beer* worked for many years in the Louisiade Archipelago, in tlnAiOuth-eastern division of Ncav Guinea. ’ COPRA AND RUBBER., The chief industry among the settlers on the mainland and adjacent isles was copra. Much rubber 1 Avas also being grown, and both these* products Aver-/ being greatlyi developed around the shores of the Gulf of Papua. Prom Dutch New Guinea birds of paradise and orchids Avere exported, but in the remainder of the country* there Avas an embargo on the export of birds end of most articles of high intrinsic value. A melancholy incident closed the tour. On returning to Daru, Mr Horne Avas informed that Mrs Maifimcnt, Avife of the storekeeper, Avas very ill with black water lever, and her husband, had decided that the only hope for her recovery Afas to send her away from the country, where she had lived for 2(> years. Accordingly she was to have .been taken as c- passenger on the ketch cn the trip following that- on which Mr Horne left for Thursday Island, the boat then being fully loaded Avith copra and Inning no accommodation except amongst, the cargos A very rough passage was experienced, lasting from Thursday night until Sunday afternoon, although the distance is only 128 miles. The boat was alive with copra bugs, and the tortuous loute between r'eefs and islands had to be navi, gated Avith a failing engine, the craft depending chiefly on her fore, main and jibsails. Airs Maidraent passed away at Daru at 10 p.m. on the day of Mr Horne’s arrival at. Thursday Island.