PAPUAN CANNIBALS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 265, 18 March 1911, Page 9

PAPUAN CANNIBALS.

"POLISHED MAX-EATING MONSTROSITIES." i Mr. John Slieeivhan, of Gore Hill, who has had about 12 years' experience in Papua and the islands, writes to the Sydney Sun interestingly of New Guinea, the natives, and their habits. He considers that the Press reports concerning tho missing explorers are somewhat Coi_illii'ting. ■'l returned to Sydney recently aflci' four years' residence among the evergreen cannibals of New Guinea," lie writes, ''where, during my stay, I saw much of the natives, both in the British and the foreign territory, while travelling among traders, fossicking for gold, and exploring for rubber. "On one gold camp in the Yodda Yodda field, which lies inland from Moresby, I had in my employ at various times from eight to twelve boys of different tribes, who were fair to good workers while you faced them; but treacherous, unreliable devils once your back was turned.

The idea that the poor savage is a kind, trustworthy fellow once a portion of civilisation is drummed into him is an entirely and greatly mistaken one. Certainly they must be termed 'tamed,' but the taming only serves to make them polished man-eating monstrosities of the first water. Experience with the Papuan native has led to my firm conviction that you can bring him up in Sydney University to a refined and noble citizen, but once let him get a glimpse of the picturesque, silent, forest-clad mountains, and a breath of tropical odors, and he is a 'gonner.' Never again will he sleep in comfort between white sheets, or sit at ease on a chair at the dinner-table. All traces of civilisation will become a blank, for the sight and scent of wild, glorious Nature will revive the slumbering instinct of war and blood. His passion will become a murderous dream, until it manufactures in his mind an ambition that become a gloating love of hunt-ing-fields, where he can get human heads to decorate his shack, and human bodies to fill his cannibal stomach.

"Regarding the swamps that one writer thinks might have proved a deathtrap to Administrator Smith and party, personally I do not think there is any need for alarm in that direction, as the swamps, taking the country on the whole, would not be very bad at the time Mr. Smith went forth. The. bad season for rivers and swamps is now starting, and will be at its top until about April. As for fever, of course that is always on the menu. But I don't think ithas attacked the present missing party, as the new 3 or accidents or fever usually comes to hand. I think the spear is the instrument of death if the Administrator is dead.

"The Goaribari natives are quick and clever with the spear, and in the region traversed by the Administrator they are in thousands. His position would be, putting it in a mild but comprehensive manner, the same as Australia's present chance with the Japanese. "As far as'the supposed human beings with tails are concerned, I think, whilst allowing it to be swallowed with a grain of salt, there is a possible chance of such a race being in existence, for when we come to review and sum up various natives and human-looking animals that inhabit most parts of tho tropical world, it makes one stop and think the second time that there is something in the theory of the ape having played a great prominence in our origin.

"I might venture that it is my belief that there will be a web-footed race discovered when explorers penetrate the in» terior, judging from various rumors, and what a Tjoy' from the 'far away' once told me. His story was something like this: 'Ye-i-a, Copra Chief. Me like 'em float and the dive like puru.' And with many gestures of his arms and movements of his body as he shot fiery glances from the schooner to the mountains, describing the meaning of bis words, continued, 'Oe-riee-e. Oc-e-e-r-r-r-r. The big fellow Fly a wash the big water the pie-pie.'

"This, in conjunction with the gesticulations, means that far away to the north-west of the Fly river, in a lake in the mountains, a web-footed floating race lived. He told me that they floated about continually on flat-decked wedged canoets cut o otu bfigOnqbn-gCHs 2 shaped canoes cut out of big solid trees, and that they were all great oarsmen, their sculls being made out of stout forked branches bound with bark and eooca-nut threads. The upper portions of their bodies were abnormally developed, probably from the continually healthy mountain out-door life and sporting exercise. They live practically on fish and waterfowl, are extraordinary divers, and can do some fishy tricks in the water. Their hands, like their feet, are webbed, their nails being sharped and hooked like the talons of a hawk. Protruding from a big coarse face and head are their red eyes, which enable them to see nearly all around t'hem, whilst their voice, strange to say, is sweet-toned, and their language is similar to the chatter of pigeons. "In conclusion, I would like to inform some of your correspondents and readers of this subject, who have only a vague idea of the nature of a Papuan blackfellow, never for a moment let him walk behind you, and always drive him with a watchful eye at least six feet in front of you. New Guinea is a land rich beyond dreams, but she has yet to be won, and to gain that victory the Governments that control her will find there is nothing to do it with' but white troops with a free hand to use explosives unlimited.