AMONG SNAKE EATERS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 294, 8 June 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

AMONG SNAKE EATERS

NEW GUINEA TRIBESMEN. Dr. Gunnar Landtman, Professor of Sociology in the University of Hclsingfors, Finland, who recently passed through Wellington, gave some interesting information to a Times representative concerning the habits of British New Guinea tribesmen. For the last two years he has been studying the life and customs of the people, and collecting material for a work on ethnology. The professor -was not quite at home in English, but for a Finn spoke it remarkably well. Like many of his foreign collaborators in the domain of sociology, lie has spent some time in England, studying the science under Professor A. C. Haddon, who occupies the chair of ethnology in the Unive- ,ity of Cambridge, and who led a scientific expedition to New Guinea twelve ; (l ears ago. Dr. Landtman will spend , while in Cambridge for the purpose of ): 'omparing notes with the distinguished professor before proeeedins to Finland.

"Mv in New (.'uinea \vr.. conlined to one tribe," ..said the doctor, "and J think better results may be obtained from faithful and systematic work amoiig iv limited number of these natives than from promiscuous efforts among the whole population. Though the number of natives in New Guinea is not known with any precision, a careful estimate places it at about half a million. The tribe I studied inhabits a good district near the mouth of the Fly river, and they were quite hospitable. 1 found it expedient always to carry arms when moving about amongst them, but am pleased to be able to say that on no occasion was' it necessary to use firearms. It was enough to keep the n<v tives under close observation, #

TOTEM WORSHIP. "These New Guinea natives have a number of very curious customs and their whole lives are governed by superstitious 'beliefs. Their religion—if it may be described as such—is a form of totemworship. Their deities are benign and malicious, and are propitiated by various sacrifices. Even food is placed where they are supposed to dwell, with a view of driving away ill-fortune .or securing a bounty of fruit and meat. The totems are often emblems of a clan or family, and consist of hideous carved representations in wood. On one occasion I went in company with ,a white tradesman up the Aird river to the Goribari charmers, who are cannibals. Their houses were full of skeletons of natives killed in intertribal wars, giving the whole village a gruesome and savage look. My companion and I were fully armed, but I succeeded in my mission without molestation.

"Morality as understood by us is unknown among the New Guinea tribes. On the coast the natives have more touches of civilisation than those of the interior, owing to contact with European traders, but the great majority are simply immoral/ At certain seasons of the year they have gluttonous and sensual orgies, with promiscuous indulgence m polygamy. Unnatural practices are indulged in by a number of interior tribes, while certain of the customs could scarcely be described. They spring from sexual excesses. While these festivals are not in progress the tribes are monogamous, and the germ of a crude common law is seen in the penalty visited on those who depart from the custom at this time. He is invariably killed. ''lmmense log-houses are used as dwellings; one of them I visited was 450 feet ong. Here a whole clan or tribe may live together, and in one house there may be several hundred people herded promiscuously. Snakes and roots are freely eaten, while sweet potatoes, bananas, yams and taro (a plant with a starchy root) provide the chief means of subsistence. The coastal natives also hu®t the dugong or seacow, the flesh of which is not unlike beef. Harpoons and spears are used in the process, and other produets from this mammal are leather ivory and oil. Wild pig and boar-hunt-mg also provide them with exciting chase, and the natives become expert in shooting the arrow. Though coarse and tough, the flesh is relished. Snakes are also eaten: the natives cut them into small sections and roast the flesh over fires.

EFFECT OF MISSION WORK. ''Missionary work has done a good deal in improving the New Guinea natives, but effects are only outward so far. It is difficult to produce any radical change in their religious beliefs. Perhaps the wildest and most inhospitable tribe is the Tagerri people, in Dutch New Guinea, the greater portion of which is unknown land. These people make daring raids into the British territory, plundering and robbing as they go. The natives of the British section are afraid of them, and even the whites are much concerned at their depredations. Very little indeed is known about the interior of New Guinea. On the western coast are extensive swamps with miasmatic and malarial exhalations. The malarial danger, however, has been a good deal exaggerated, and the climate, provided proper precautions are taken, is not altogether unhealthy. The whites living in British New Guinea number onlv a few hundred. "There are certain pests to be encountered, notably snakes and centipedes. The caipet snake sometimes attaiiy a length of ten feet, and it-bites like a do" when annoyed. It is not poisonous, however, though unpleasant to find in the house.'' lrade was satisfactory when the doctor left New Guinea, though in the hands of a comparative few. Rubber and cocoanuts are the chief exports, and he thought there was a good deal of room for further enterprise in developing the country.-