ADVENTURES IN NEW GUINEA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2248, 4 December 1886, Page 3

ADVENTURES IN NEW GUINEA.

Thk Pall Mall Gazette publishes an interesting account of in interview with the well-known New Guinea missionary, the Rev. James Chalmers. We take from it the following extract : —

LONDON AFTKR THE SOLITUDES. "London must seem strange to you, Mr Chalmers," I said, " after twenty years of roughing it in tropical lands. What strikes you most?" "Well," replied he, "I feel great diffidence in society, as you may readily imagine, for society in New Guinea is limited to some ten white men and one white lady, Mrs Lawes, the wife of my colleague, who is now at Port Moics>by. I have once or twice made a trip southwards to Australia, and then to New Zealand, but tint was a long time ago. It is now between eight and nine years ago that I was desired to go to Now Guinea for the purpose of visiting the missionary stations at Port Moresby, which Mr Lawps had already organised. 1 have been coming home ever since but, you see, I have only just arrived. I hope to stop in England up to May, when my business will be accomplished and then I shall return."

"BOILLD MISSIONARY NOGOCD." It is supposed that the custom of cannibalism in New Guinea was imported fioin some of the neighbouring islands. The lctrend goes on that some sixty years ago, after a certain battle, a chief out of bravado, cut a portion out of another chief, who was slain, threw it into the pot, and ate it. When the burying party came and asked for the dead body, he said, scotfingly, "I have eaten it." This joke led to reprisals, and the custom spread to the mainland. However, that may be, " long pig " is a favourite pint in a State menu." "I found," said Mr Chalmers, " these cannibals of Baldhead Point are the most agreeable fellows in the world. We got on remarkably well." " Then you were not afraid of being put in the pot yourself ?" "Not a bit of it. I went so far as to ask them if they had any such intentions. The chief, with a smile (not a hungry one), said that they did not care for white man. They had tried him, but he was not good. Of course, they might prefer white man to no man at all ; but, as a matter of fact, ' long pig ' orgies are few and far between. They are like plum pudding at Christmas— very good once a year."

IN THE SCULLERIES. " These cannibals are really a fine set of men, both intellectually and physically superior to many of the coastal tribes. Their houses and temples are very remarkable structures. 1 was allowed to visit one of the temples, and a very remarkable place it was. It is here that the saturnalias of human flesh are conducted. When a number of bodies arc taken, they are brought into the temple one by one. At the end of the temple is a dark recess and into this each body is taken. After the obsequies the body is dragged out into the open, the head is chopped off, and the body is cut up into pieces and thrown into the pot for dinner. The flesh on the skull is then very carefully taken off until the skull is clean. The hideous trophy is handed over to a skilled artificer, who carves and paints it. It is then hung up on a peg in the temple. It happened that these skulls had been taken down for their annual dusting, or I should not have been able to make such a close inspection of the Sculleries""

THE FUTURE OF NEW GUINEA. " What is going to happen in New Guinea, Mr Chalmers ?" I asked. "Well, I consider the death of Sir Peter Scratchley was a great loss to the country. He was a peaceful pioneer. I am strongly in favour of a protectorate ; but it should le a protectorate, not predatory, but peaceful, instituted on behalf of the natives. I, for one, could never bear to favour the oppression of the native races. You point to the murders. I am a man of peace, but I should say that every man deserved his fate. When I walk about your streets I constantly see the sign "Trespassers will be prosecuted." So they should be in New Guinea. Now, it is quite an easy matter to obtain a concession of territory from a chief, if you go the right way about it. You land, say, on the coast ; you know the Papuan for ' chief.' The chief comes, you negotiate by signs, and you find him a very decent fellow. But suppose you squat without permission, and cut a clearing, can you be surprised if he is angry when he visits his property, and goes for you ? What I should advise is that the English territory, which is far the best, should be divided into districts, over each of which an English officer should be appointed as the director or governor. I should like to 3ee these offices fall into the hands of young gentlemen of the Universities, who could rough it withont losing their refinement ; good manners and politeness are potent factors in dealing with natives. Beach combers have no moral influence over them. They know them too well. Well, having put my young man in power, I would then let him induce the natives to cultivate their 1-md by bounties in the way of loans of seed and produce, which would be repayable. At present there is uo trade, though the country i* splendidly adapted for tobacco and cotton. The Germaus are only a few in number. Uoder German government Germans are not good colonists. Under English Government they are a* good colonists as you would wish to have for a new country."

THE GOLDFILLDS. " Nothing," says Mr Chalmers, < 'would induce me to subordinate m> missionary work to exploration, though, of course, in my case one is the complement of the other. I admit that exploration is the pepper and salt of the missionary's life. Kven now I am sighing for the tropical skies of the Southern Hemisphere. I love the natives, I love the work. I generally travel alone, though sometimes I take a native servant, but I am accustomed to ' hump my own swnar,' to steer my own course— not by sextant and chronometer, but by compass and cross bearings. Navigation was one of my hobbies years ago, but a sextant and chrouometer are heavy items in a load which you have to carry. Bhnkets, water (perhaps), tinned meats, and money — that is, hoop iron, beads, cloth, &c. — soon make up a heavy load. Often I am alone, sometimes I have a small party. If possible, we travel by native footpaths, which are well defined ; the ' bush ' is not so dense as that of New Zealand. Did I ever come across gold ? Could I tell it when I saw it ? Yes. I give you the same answer as I made to Sir Peter Scratchley. If I ever find a gold field the secret will go with me into the grave. Some people think I know of one now. But you must excuse me ; I have to catch the Reading train." So I was fain to go, my ears still tingling at the thought of the goldfield, hidden perhaps in Mr Chalmers heart.

"Joseph, C.E." is the proper title of the patriarch of that name described in Genesis if the discoveries (or rather theories) of Mr Cope Whitehouse are hereafter confirmed by independent investigation. The paper written by this gentleman, and to be read at the Congress of Orientalists now sitting at Vienna, goes to show (says the Home correspondent of the New Zealand Tunes) that the son of Jacob constructed a canal of even greater dimensions than that of M. de Lesseps ; for at the season of high Nile over twenty million cubic metres of water passed through it daily. This water way is still partly in existence, and Mr Cope Whitehouse also contends that it fed Lake Morris, the site of which he also claims to have discovered. Indeed, he goes further, and propounds a scheme for refilling the lake (the depression still existing) at a cost of £200,000. This reservoir would provide the means of flooding about 2000 square leagues of desert The ancient lake seems to have been the result of one of the ynndesi 1 engineering schemes of that or aDy other time.