NEW GUINEA. (BY THE AUCKLAND " STAR'S " CORRESPONDENT. )

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 84, 10 January 1885, Page 5

NEW GUINEA. (BY THE AUCKLAND " STAR 'S " CORRESPONDENT. )

Food, Cooking, Plantations, Draining, Trading, Fishing, Smoking, Kava Drinking and Dress.

The natives are mostly vegetarians ; occasionally they get somo fish, kangaroos, or human flesh, but this is rare, except at a few fishing villages on the coast, Their food consists of yams, taro, bananas, cocoanuts, sugarcane, and sago, the last-named article being cultivated chiefly in the Papuan Gulf, and where there is plenty of fresh water. It is the chief export from the Gulf, being exchanged with the tribes about Port Moresby for pottery. We also purchased a good deal from the natives of the Fly River for food for our Papuan Institute. This very useful palm lias a creeping stem-root like a nipa palm. When it is fifteen years old it sends up an immense terminal spike of flowers, after which it dies. It is not so tall as a cocoanut tree, but is thicker and larger. The mid-ribs of its immense leaves are twelve or fifteen feet long, and sometimes the lower part is as thick as a man's leg. They are very light, consisting of a firm pith, covered with a hard rind. The pith in the upper part is of snowy whiteness, and of the consistency of a hardish pear, with woody fibres running through it, a quarter of an inch from each other. The pith is pounded by a club while still in the trunk. It is then washed in a kind of trough formed of the large sheathing bases of the leaves. A net-like strainer is made from the fibrous covering from the leaf-stalks of the cocoanuts. The trough being deep at the centre and shallow at the ends, the starch which is dissolved sinks down to the bottom of the trough, while the water runs away from the upper part. It is then made into bundles of 60 or SOlbs. each, encased in the sheathing bases of the leaves, and kept for use or barter. It has a reddish tinge, and being made up wet soon spoils. Rewashed and thoroughly dried, it makes good sago, and keeps a long time. The natives have also abundance of wild fruits and edible roots, among which may be mentioned the breadfruit, mango, wild date, rose apple, and native plum. Nature bountifully supplies them with the necessaries of life. For plates they use wooden platters, plaited cocoanut leaves, and the beautiful banana leaf. Knives and forks are easily made from bamboos, and spoons from pearl and cocoanut shells. Some cook in earthenware pots, others on hot stones. Their plantations are carefully cultivated, and well fenced in. I have seen miles of them, looking like well-kept gardens. The soil is turned over with pointed sticks by the men, the women following breaking it up and throwing out the weeds. The jams, bananas, etc., are planted in straight rows, for which purpose they use a line, and the bunches of bananas are carefully preserved from the birds by being neatly encased in dried banana leaves. In the vicinity of the Fly River they drain the land by means of deep trenches, which reveal to the stranger the great depth of the rich alluvial soil. These trenches are well made and carefully kept, and bridged over by planks or trees wherever there is a road. In visiting a village off one of the arms of the Fly River, about thirty miles from the coast, I was surprised to find such luxuriant vegetation, well cultivated plantations, numerous deeply-dug trenches, and apparently abundance of food everywhere. Some of these inland tribes trade with those on the coast, bartering vegetables, paradise birds' feathers, etc., in exchange for fish and salt. The women generally do the bartering, and are very noisy and acute in the transaction. In Hood Lagoon there is a village of agriculturists close to one of fishermen, where there is a regular market for the almost daily exchange of their fish and vegetables. It is a regular Billingsgate. J To see the women exhibiting their fish to the be st advantage is really amusing. The chief articles of barter amongst the natives, however, are pottery, sago, pearshells, and canoes. The last-named are generally obtained in exchange for armlets and pearlshell, one large size armlet being the price of a fully equipped canoe, or equivalent to a man ie, it a person is killed an armlet will generally atone for the offence and prevent a war The armlets are made Irom the heads of conical shells found in Torres Straits, and off the east end of New Guinea.

Modes of Fishing.— Catching a Turtle. Fish are mostly caught by nets, though often by line and hook, and sometimes by spear. I have seen them catching sardines in a very ingenious way. These small fish move about on the reef in immense shoals. They keep close together, and move on very slowly in a compact body. The natives have a hand basket, which is strongly, neatly, and lightly made in the shape of an extinguisher. The fisherman stands with this in his hand opposite the shoals, which are near the beach. On each side of him stands a man with a long bamboo, on the end of which is fixed a light ball. When all are ready, these two men rapidly push their poles into the shoal at an angle, allowing them to meet at the ends, which, of course, causes the sardines to retreat suddenly from the pole heads, and as they dart towards the beach, the man with the basket at the same instant plunges in and scoops them out. This is repeated along the beach following the sardines until they have got as many as they want. Dugong are speared from a platform erected on the reef. Turtle are very cleverely caught at sea. On our way to and from the Fly River, we often catch them. When seen lying listlessly on the surface, the boat is steered towards it, a native fastens a small rope to his arm, others stand by ready to haul in, and there is perfect silence whilst the boat glides up to the monster. It generally gets close up to the turtle before it is aware, the moment it dives, the man with the rope fastened to his arm plunges in, and as he can dive quicker than the turtle he soon catches it, and seizes the shell firmly with both arms, giving the signal to pull. Now the excitement on deck becomes intense as the natives haul in the rope. Presently there is a most ludicrous scene : man and turtle both appear, the one on the top of the other, holding on as for dear life, both turning over and over like a patent log, as they are dragged along by the boat. Another native jumps in and fastens a rope to the arm of the turtle, by which those on board haul him on deck. Green turtles weigh from three to six^ hundred pounds each. The students in the Papuan Seminary caught sixteen last year fo* the Christmas feast. The eggs are considered a great delicacy by the natives. Sandbanks and uninhabited islands are the most likely places to find them. Whenever we anchor for the night at such places, the natives go ashore with pointed sticks or smalHron bars, with which they probe the sand in likely places, examining the points carefully to see if they #re wet. As soon as they see any indica-

tion of having probed an egg, they quickly remove the sand, and often nnd as many as a hundred and fifty or two hundred eggs in a nest. It is at these places where the turtles are most easily and plentifully caught. The natives remain on shore during the night, and when the turtles come up on the beach beyond high-water mark to lay their eggs, the natives go quietly and turn them over on their backs, which renders them helpless. They sometimes get half a dozen in a night in this way.

Hunting.-Scarcity of Animals. Their hunting is confined to the kangaroo, wild pig, and cassowiry, being tho onlyanimals there are to hunt in New Guinea. Kangai-oos aro caught with strong nets, into which they are driven by setting fire to the long grass in front of tho nets, the natives guarding the sides to prevent their escape, and so driving them into the semicircle formed by tho net. Tho ends are then drawn together, and the circl© gradually lessened, surrounded by the natives, who, when the circle becomes small enough, commence a general slaughter. They catch as many as forty at once in this way. The cassowiries are more difficult to obtain. To secure them the natives use spears and bows and arrows. The wild boar hunt is the most dangerous and exciting, in which spears are almost exclusively used. This i animal often turns upon his pursuers, and is not unfrequently victorious in tho encounter. I know of two instances where the struggle proved fatal to both hunted and hunted. JSot long ago a war party were proceeding to an inland near the Fly Kiver on a skull-hunting expedition. Their road lay through a forest of tall trees, where wild pigs abound. They had not gone far when one crossed their path, Bpears and arrows instantly flew after it, but missed. Some of the men pursued, but, being intent on the business of war, soon returned. One man, however, continued the chase, whom they found on their return lying at the root of a tree, gored to death, and the boar also lying dead not far off. The condition of both showed that there must have been a fearful struggle for life.

Smoking a Newly Acquired Habit. The smoking practised by the natives is worthy of remark. When it was introduced v>e cannot say. In IS7I we iound the natives at Saibai and Katau smoking from bamboo pipe?, and on our voyages up the Baxter and Fly Rivers we found tobacco plantations far in the interior. On the S E. peninsula, however, it is a recently-acquired habit. They did not know the use of tobacco when we Jirst met them. They have learst to smoke from foreigners. It is also veiy probable that the natives of the Fly River di&tvict acquired the habit from the Torres Straits natives, who most likely were taught by the early beche-de-mer fishers. Wherever it came from, the habit is now universal amongst all the tribes with which we are acquainted. Men, women, and children, old and young, all smoke ; and tobacco is the most eagerly sought article of trade. They use bamboo pipes from two to four feet in length, which aro ornamented with fanciful designs burnt in. All the sections of tho bamboo are opened except the end one, near which a small hole is made, giving it the appearance of a flute. On the peninsula in the vicinity of Port Moresby, the tobacco is rolled in a leaf and inserted in the small hole, and the smoke inhaled from the end of the bamboo. In the gulf they place the tobacco in a small bamboo about four inches long and three-quarters of an inch in diameter, in appearance like a large cigar ; this they insert in the small hole of the pipe, and placing the lighted end in their mouth, as boys place a lighted candle, they blow the large bamboo full of smoke, then take out the small bamboo and inhale the smoke from the small hole, taking one pull and handing it on. When empty, it is handed back to the young man who is manipulating, and he repeats the performance.

Kava Drinking and Tattoo. The well-kno%vn Fijian custom of kava drinking is not practised on the S.E. peninsula at all, so far as we know, but I find that it exists amongst the natives of the great body of the island near the Fly River, although there is a difference, if no improvement, in the way in which it is prepared. In the South Sea Islands it is the girls v ho make it ; here it is the boys who chew the root. The gulf tribes also tatoo differently from those on the peninsula. The latter do it in the ordinary way by painting and pricking the skin like the New Zealanders, whilst the former do it by cutting and inserting into the wound powdered shell, which gives it, when healed, a swollen, rib-like appearance. This custom is practised also amongst the aborigines ot Australia. The cut? vary in length according to the part of the body where they are made. The natives of both sexes are as fond of ornamenting their bodies as the belles and swells in our own country. They do not wear much clothing in their heathen state, nor do they require it in such a hot climate, but they use a profusion of ornaments and paint. The hair is frizzed out carefully and cut in fantastic shapes. Sometimes it is done up in scores of small curls like whipcords, from which are suspended portions of human bones. I have a segment of the backbone that I cut from the back hair of a young cannibal. They use a variety of head-dress, made chiefly from paradise birds' plumes and cassowiry feathei'S. Their necklaces are made of while and red coral beads of their own manufacture, which involve an immense amount of labour, and are greatly prized. Some are made of dogs' and kangaroos' teeth. A large pearlshell cut in the form of a crescent, and ornamented, is worn on the breast suspended from the neck. Earrings are made from turtle-shell. I have got as many as twenty-five small rings from the lobe of one ear. They have many ways of decorating their ears. The lobe is generally pierced, and the hole greatly distended by inserting bits of wood and a piece of the strong part of the cocoanut leaf, which acts like a spring. When the orifice has become large and set it is filled with earrings. In some cases it is severed, and a weight attached to the end, which is worn till the elongated lobe hangs like a tassel from the ear. This is then pierced with small holes, which extend all round the edge of the ear, and coral beads are laced along both sides, which they consider looks very handsome. The middle part of the nose is also pierced and a neatly prepared piece of shell like a clay pipe-stem slightly curved, from four to eight inches long, 'inserted. The arms are decorated with bracelets and shell armlets, and white cowries are tied to the legs just under the knee. Add to all this a painted face, flowers, and gay crotons fastened to the arms and legs, and you will form an idea of a New Guinea native in full dress, ready for the dance, of which they seem never to get tired. Night after night you hear the drums beating, which often continues till daybreak.

Government of the Tribes. t We have not yet found any chiefs in New I Guinea worthy the name. Those repre- t sented as such are simply leaders in time of f war — head men who, compared with the 1 chiefs of the South Sea -Islands with which fi I am acquainted, are powerless in time of i

peace. They cannot impose a tax of any kind, and have no control over the people beyond their own family. I was particu larly impressed with this fact when we established a mission station at the village of one of these head men, who had been represented to us as the biggest chief in New Guinea, and who has been exhibited as such in Queensland to the wondering community of Cooktown The fact is that he, like the rest, has no authority except as a war leader. Physically, he is a big man, certainly one of the most powerfullooking men I have seen in New Guinea, and he greatly boasts of his strength and exploits, and is feared as the bully of a village is feared. His name is Kuapino. When wo arrived at his village, according to arrangement, with two South Sea Island teachers and their boxes, he met us on the beach with a crowd of natives. To see the man and hear him talk, one would suppose that he was a powerful and despotic chicf — indeed, this was our first impression ; but when it came to carrying the teachers' luggage up to his house, his true position became ludicrously evident. We begged him to ask some of his men to carry the goods, and we would pay them. He spoke to them, ho entreated, he stormed, but they only laughed at him, and told him to carry them himself. Finally, in a rage, he and his own sons shouldered the boxes and walked off with them amidst the laughter of the crowd. When in hia house we wore crowded almost to suffocation, and begged him to send some of the people out that we might get a little fresh air. Here again lie seomod utterly powerless even to send the boys out of his own house; and, to complete his humiliation in our estimation, when we made him a present, those around snatched the things out of his hand and bore them away in triumph, notwithstanding his protostations. It was quite evident that this great man, of whom we had heard so much, was no chief at all, but simply a noted warrior, who, by physical strength and daring, had forced himself to the front. Those head men live and dress just liko their neighbours. They have to make their own plantations and build their own j houses, also iish and hunt for themselves. It is only when thoro is a council of war'or an actual engagement that they come to the front and speak with authority. If cannibals, they suporintond the cutting up and dividing of the victims. Amongst most of the tribes the head-man-ship is hereditary ; sometimes, however, the tribos become dissatisfied with his leadership, and he is deposed and another appointed in his place, though this seldom happens. His badge and sourco of authority is really his club, which is generally a very superior one made of stone. The absence of powerful chiefs, as amongst the South Sea Islands, has beon seriously felt by us in establishing mission stations amongst the people. The interest and protection of a powerful chief (which it is not difficult to secure by presents and kindness) is not only a source of security, but of advancement for the mission. Whereas there is little advantage in having a New Guinea chief for your friend, his influence being so small that he can neither protect your life nor property. You may be attacked by any man in the village without his asking the sanction or fearing the frown of the head man, or anybody else, except the party attacked and his friends. Still, these head men may be descendants of chiefs who were as powerful and despotic as those now roigning zn the South Seas, for not only do the sons succeed to the office, but they generally succeed also to the name. Query therefore : Is democracy a sign of advancement or retrogression ? In their Government, the natives of New Guinea, so far as we know them, are patriarchal and democratic. All important matters are decided in a genoral council of the village, at which the head mon and sacred men, or priests, have most to say, md whose advice is generally followed. I mean by head men the heads of families, a iamily boing a combined group of sons, daughters, uncles, cousins, nieces, etc. Ihe sacred men are the doctors und sorcor-31-s of the village.

Land Tenure and Social Usages. All land, both cultivated and uncultivated, is owned by the heads of families. Having no written language, they, of course, had no written laws. The boundaries of their lands are, however, well defined, and their land laws strictly observed. Any disputes about land boundaries (which rarely occur) are settled, like all our grievances, by public opinion in a genenal council of tho people. Crimes, such as stealing, adultery, &c, are dealt with very summarily, the offender being punished by the person injured. Club law prevails, sustained by public opinion. Death is the usual punishment for murder, and often for adultery, the injured party being at liberty to seek rovenge on the brother, son, or any momber of the family to which the guilty party belonged. Sometimes the culprit and his family seek refuge in another village, which proves a city of refuge. It is seldom anyone dares pursue them and risk hostilities with the village that protects them. The revenge then takes the form of burning down their houses and plundering their plantations.

Wars and Weapons. Wars generally originate about women, or in somo private quarrel between two individuals, which the village takes up. Their weapons are clubs, spears, bows and arrows, stones, and wooden swords, which are generally made of ebony and artistically earned. Some of their short spears are also well carved. Their bows are mostly made from bamboos, and are very powerful, their arrows being made from reeds and pointed with bone, which is often a human bone saturated with poison. In war they never stand up in orderly ranks and shoot at each other. According to their notions, that would be the height of folly. Their favourite tactics are rather of the surprise and skirmishing order. I remember one of the chiefs questioning me about our mode of warfare, and his look of amazement when I described the rows of men placed opposite each other and firing at one another with guns. He eagerly inquired whether the men wero within range, and when I replied in the affirmative, he exclaimed, "Then you are great fools ! We thought you were wise men, but it seems you are fools." Then he asked where the chief stood. " Oh," I said, "he remains at home, and sends his men to fight." At which there was a burst ! of laughter, the chief remarking proudly that New Guinea chiefs not only accompanied the fighting men, but kept in front, and it occurred to me that if we were to adopt a similar custom our wars would pro bably be less sanguinary. The heroes are those who obtain the greatest number of human heads. They are often, like Achilles, swift of foot, who dash towards the enemy and hurl a spear with great precision. Their great ambition is to signalise themselves by the number of heads hanging in their houses. The hero in the Grecian games rejoiced more over his chaplet than does the young Papuan glory in the distinction of having cut off a man's head. I remember the pride with which the young chief of Saibai pointed out to me five skulls hanging in front of his house. His bravery was the subject of a village song. He is now a devoted and leading, member of the church there. <

Their wars are not very sanguinary. They have not yet learnt the art of killing by hundreds and thousands. A dozen slain at a battle is a large number. It s usually two or three on each side, and a few wounded, both sides claiming the victory. The women sometimes accompany the warriors, and whilst the men are fighting or skirmishing the women are plundering the plantations of. the enemy, and when they return twift their husbands with sheer want of success, pointing to tho baskets full of yams, and asking them where the skulls are which they have brought.

A Tribe of Pirates. Of all the tribes with which I am acquainted in New Guinea, there are none equal, either in bravery or cruelty, to the Tugarians — a piratical tribe of cannibals near the Baxter River, who make periodical voyages along the coast in a fleet of swift canoes, attacking villages and robbing plantations as they go. These savages practise the horrible custom of breaking the arms and legs of their victims as soon as taken,? so as to prevent their resistance or escape, and then cook them by one or two at a time as required. I have in my possession a battle-axe from this tribe, the only iron weapon I have seen amongst the savages of New Guinea along the six hundred miles of coast line with which 1 am acquainted. It is evidently made from a piece of iron from some wreck, and is more like a small pickaxe than an ordinary axe. So far as we know, the natives of New Guinea have no idea of working the minerals with which their country abounds, so that the absence of gold ornaments by no means indicates the absence of gold, any more than it did in Australia. They value iron of any kind very highly, especially thick hoop iron, which they sharpen and use as axes. Long knives are great y prized, being used for clearing the scrub for their plantations, and as swords in war.

Carving and Canoe-building. They possess very few and very inferior tools, which are made from stones, flint, and bones ; yet their carving is sur- ) priaingly well done, showing considerable artistic skill, both in the design and in the execution. They carve images of birds, fish, and men, and ornamont thoir canoes, paddles, houses, drums, clubs, &c, with tolerably well executed drawings and carvings A large nuil is to them quite a treasure. They sharpen it and use it as a small chisel. I have seen a cannibal native execute some very good work on his canoe with a pike nail that I gave him. There is a good deal of ingenuity dis1 played by the natives in the construction and ornamentation of their canoes. Anyone can tie a bundle of bamboos together and form a raft as the natives in the interior do for crossing rivers. Nor does it require much skill to fell a tree, cut off the branches, and hollow out the log, as many of the inland tribes do, who live on the banks and creeks and arms of the large rivers. But to construct a war canoe, with its single or double outrigger, and its artistically carved stem and stern posts.its carved images, and handsome steering paddle, and well executed drawings of fish, etc., on its sides, is the work of a distinct and not very numerous class of professional carpenters and painters. The lalcatoi, or large trading canoe, used by the natives in the barren district of Port Moresby for obtaining food from the fertile Papuan Gulf, is a kind of raft, made by lashing six or eight canoes together, upon which a platform is raised, made from pieces of old canoes, the sides being made in the same way as their houses, of leaves sewn together, and the whole propelled by an immense mat sail. Of course, they can only go with a fair wind, and so leave for the gulf at the end of the S.E. monsoon, and return Avith the first of the N.W. The best canoes I have seen in New Guinea are those at the east end, which are really well built boats, consisting of two or three planks sewn to the sides of a log neatly hollowed out. Timbers and thwarts are fitted and the whole ornamented with carved work, drawings, shells, streamers, &c. They have an outrigger, and are propelled by a large mat sail, which they handle mast dexterously in beating to windward. These canoes will outsail an ordinary whaleboat and go to windward of it. Their sails, like their canoes, differ widely, from a plaited cocoanut leaf to a well-made mat sail, like an immense kite, the top being concave instead of convex, The canoe paddles of £he cannibals at the eastern end of the S.E. Peninsula are the best I have ever seen. They are generally made of cedar, smaller than an ordinary paddle, prettily shaped, and regularly cut the top of the handle being neatly carved.

Dwellings. Native hou3es, like native canoes, differ very much amongst different tribes. Some are like gigantic bee-hives, others are like a row of cottages without any partitions. I have walked through and measured one of this kind at an inland ■\ illage thirty miles up the My River, and found it to be 512 feet in length. Some are built on posts, all sizes and all shapes, often like a boat turned bottom upwards. I noticed amongst the inland tribes in the Papuan Gulf near the Fly River that the houses wore enclosed with bark, instead of grass or leaves, as is generally the case. Still, like those of the inland tribes on the peninsula, they are inferior to the houses on the coast. The hill tribes often build their houses, for safety, in tho forks of trees. They first make a platform, which not only bears the house, but also a quantity of stones which are always kept handy to defend it from the enemy. They live on the ridges of the hills, which are sometimes very narrow. I romember spending a night at one of these places. We had more than one reason for preferring camping out to sleep in one of thoir houses. My hanviock was alung between two posts, but it seemed so dangerous as I lay and looked down the steep sides of the mountain, which was over a thousand feet high, that I got out and lay on the ground. The most peculiar and interesting are the villages built on posts in the lagoons, and on some parts of the coast, varying in distance up to a mile from the beach, reminding one of the old Lake dwellings. These houses are much like large rickety pigeon cots, along the floors and platforms of which you thread your way with fear and trembling, expecting every moment to drop through into the sea. The interior of many of the native houses is both clean and comfortable. The better class consist of a platform or portico, then the large living room, and above a sleeping apartment. They are well thatched and enclosed by leaves neatly sewn together, and stand upon strong posts 6 or 8 feet high.

The following advertisement, it is sad, appeared recently in a French paper:— " Found, on Sunday last, a lace mitten, embroidered with pearls. If the person who lost it will be kind enough to leave the other one at the office of this paper she will greatly oblige the person who found the first." A pretty girl came in the oar. And she was fair, as most girls arc. The oar just then, by some one's work, Was shaken by a frightful jerk. And this fair maid by strange mishap, Sat in the bold conductor's Tap. "What do you mean ?" the maiden cries, As from his lap she tried to rise. 11 Exouse me," said the rogue, " I pray, I always take the fair that way."