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diff --git a/old/53384-0.txt b/old/53384-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1680b59..0000000 --- a/old/53384-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12581 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pygmies and Papuans, by A. F. R. Wollaston - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Pygmies and Papuans - The Stone Age To-day in Dutch New Guinea - -Author: A. F. R. Wollaston - -Release Date: October 27, 2016 [EBook #53384] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PYGMIES AND PAPUANS *** - - - - -Produced by deaurider, Turgut Dincer and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -[Illustration: A TAPIRO PYGMY. - - [_Frontispiece._] - - - PYGMIES & PAPUANS - - THE STONE AGE TO-DAY - - IN DUTCH NEW GUINEA - - - BY - - A. F. R. WOLLASTON - - AUTHOR OF “FROM RUWENZORI TO THE CONGO” - - - WITH APPENDICES BY - - W. R. OGILVIE-GRANT, A. C. HADDON, F.R.S. - AND SIDNEY H. RAY - - - _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS_ - - - NEW YORK - STURGIS & WALTON - COMPANY - 1912 - - - PRINTED BY - WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED - LONDON AND BECCLES - - - _TO - ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, O.M. - THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED_ - - - - -PREFACE - - -The Committee who organised the late expedition to Dutch New Guinea, -paid me the high compliment of inviting me to write an account of our -doings in that country. The fact that it is, in a sense, the official -account of the expedition has precluded me—greatly to the advantage of -the reader—from offering my own views on the things that we saw and -on things in general. The country that we visited was quite unknown -to Europeans, and the native races with whom we came in contact were -living in so primitive a state that the second title of this book -is literally true. The pygmies are indeed one of the most primitive -peoples now in existence. - -Should any find this account lacking in thrilling adventure, I will -quote the words of a famous navigator, who visited the coasts of New -Guinea more than two hundred years ago:—“It has been Objected against -me by some, that my Accounts and Descriptions of Things are dry and -jejune, not filled with variety of pleasant Matter, to divert and -gratify the Curious Reader. How far this is true, I must leave to the -World to judge. But if I have been exactly and strictly careful to -give only _True_ Relations and Descriptions of Things (as I am sure -I have;) and if my Descriptions be such as may be of use not only to -myself, but also to others in future Voyages; and likewise to such -readers at home as are desirous of a Plain and Just Account of the -true Nature and State of the Things described, than of a Polite and -Rhetorical Narrative: I hope all the Defects in my Stile will meet with -an easy and ready Pardon.” - -To Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, who has allowed me to inscribe this -volume to him as a small token of admiration for the first and greatest -of the Naturalists who visited New Guinea, my most sincere thanks are -due. - -To Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Dr. A. C. Haddon, and Mr. Sidney Ray, who -have not only assisted me with advice but have contributed the three -most valuable articles at the end of this volume, I can only repeat my -thanks, which have been expressed elsewhere. - -To my fellow-members of the expedition I would like to wish further -voyages in more propitious climates. - - - A.F.R.W. - - LONDON, - _May, 1912_. - - -CONTENTS - - - - PAGE - - PREFACE vii - - INTRODUCTION xix - - - CHAPTER I - - _The British Ornithologists’ Union—Members of the - Expedition—Voyage to Java—Choice of Rivers—Prosperity - of Java—Half-castes—Obsequious Javanese—The - Rijst-tafel—Customs of the Dutch—Buitenzorg - Garden—Garoet_ 1 - - - CHAPTER II - - _Expedition leaves Java—The “Nias”—Escort—Macassar—Raja - of Goa—Amboina—Corals and Fishes—Ambonese - Christians—Dutch Clubs—Dobo_ 13 - - - CHAPTER III - - _New Guinea—Its Position and Extent—Territorial - Divisions—Mountain Ranges—Numerous Rivers—The Papuans—The - Discovery of New Guinea—Early Voyagers—Spanish and - Dutch—Jan Carstensz—First Discovery of the Snow - Mountains—William Dampier in the “Roebuck”—Captain Cook - in the “Endeavour”—Naturalists and later Explorers_ 21 - - - CHAPTER IV - - _Sail from the Aru Islands—Sight New Guinea—Distant - Mountains—Signal Fires—Natives in Canoes—A British - Flag—Natives on Board—Their Behaviour—Arrival at - Mimika River—Reception at Wakatimi—Dancing and - Weeping—Landing Stores—View of the Country—Snow - Mountains—Shark-fishing—Making the Camp—Death of W. - Stalker_ 35 - - - CHAPTER V - - _Arrival of our Ambonese—Coolie Considerations—Canoes - of the Natives—Making Canoes—Preliminary Exploration of - the Mimika—Variable Tides—Completing the Camp—A Plague - of Flies—Also of Crickets—Making “Atap”—Trading with the - Natives—Trade Goods_ 50 - - - CHAPTER VI - - _Difficulties of Food—Coolies’ Rations—Choice - of Provisions—Transporting Supplies up the - Mimika—Description of the River—A Day’s Work—Monotonous - Scenery—Crowned Pigeons—Birds of Paradise and - Others—Snakes, Bees, and other Creatures—Rapids and Clear - Water—The Seasons—Wind—Rain—Thunderstorms—Halley’s Comet_ 65 - - - CHAPTER VII - - _Exploration of the Kapare River—Obota—Native - Geography—River Obstructions—Hornbills and - Tree Ducks—Gifts of Stones—Importance of Steam - Launch—Cultivation of Tobacco—Sago Swamps—Manufacture of - Sago—Cooking of Sago—The Dutch Use of Convict Labour_ 82 - - - CHAPTER VIII - - _Description of Wakatimi—The Papuan House—Coconut - Palms—The Sugar Palm—Drunkenness of the Natives—Drunken - Vagaries—Other Cultivation—The Native Language—No - Interpreters—The Numerals—Difficulties of - Understanding—Names of Places—Local Differences of - Pronunciation_ 95 - - - CHAPTER IX - - _The Papuans of - Wakatimi—Colour—Hair—Eyes—Nose—Tattooing—Height—Dress—Widows’ - Bonnets—Growth of Children—Preponderance of Men—Number - of Wives—Childhood—Swimming and other Games—Imitativeness - of Children—The Search for Food—Women as Workers—Fishing - Nets—Other Methods of Fishing—An Extract from Dampier_ 109 - - - CHAPTER X - - _Food of the Papuans—Cassowaries—The Native Dog—Question - of Cannibalism—Village Headman—The Social System of the - Papuans—The Family—Treatment of Women—Religion—Weather - Superstitions—Ceremony to avert a Flood—The Pig—A Village - Festival—Wailing at Deaths—Methods of Disposal of the - Dead—No Reverence for the Remains—Purchasing Skulls_ 124 - - - CHAPTER XI - - _Papuans’ Love of Music—Their Concerts—A Dancing - House—Carving—Papuans as Artists—Cat’s Cradle—Village - Squabbles—The Part of the Women—Wooden and Stone - Clubs—Shell Knives and Stone Axes—Bows and Arrows—Papuan - Marksmen—Spears—A most Primitive People—Disease—Prospects - of their Civilisation_ 141 - - - CHAPTER XII - - _The Camp at Parimau—A Plague of Beetles—First Discovery - of the Tapiro Pygmies—Papuans as Carriers—We visit the - Clearing of the Tapiro—Remarkable Clothing of Tapiro—Our - Relations with the Natives—System of Payment—Their - Confidence in Us—Occasional Thefts—A Customary - Peace-offering—Papuans as Naturalists_ 155 - - - CHAPTER XIII - - _Visit of Mr. Lorentz—Arrival of Steam Launch—A - Sailor Drowned—Our Second Batch of Coolies—Health of - the Gurkhas—Dayaks the Best Coolies—Sickness—Arrival - of Motor Boat—Camp under Water—Expedition moves to - Parimau—Explorations beyond the Mimika—Leeches—Floods on - the Tuaba River—Overflowing Rivers—The Wataikwa—Cutting a - Track_ 169 - - - CHAPTER XIV - - _The Camp at the Wataikwa River—Malay Coolies—“Amok”—A - Double Murder—A View of the Snow Mountains—Felling - Trees—Floods—Village washed Away—The Wettest Season—The - Effects of Floods—Beri-beri—Arrival of C. Grant—Departure - of W. Goodfellow_ 184 - - - CHAPTER XV - - _Pygmies visit Parimau—Description of Tapiro - Pygmies—Colour—Hair—Clothing—Ornaments—Netted Bags—Flint - Knives—Bone Daggers—Sleeping Mats—Fire Stick—Method - of making Fire—Cultivation of Tobacco—Manner of - Smoking—Bows and Arrows—Village of the Pygmies—Terraced - Ground—Houses on Piles—Village Headman—Our Efforts - to see the Women—Language and Voices—Their - Intelligence—Counting—Their Geographical Distribution_ 196 - - - CHAPTER XVI - - _Communication with Amboina and Merauke—Sail in the - “Valk” to the Utakwa River—Removal of the Dutch - Expedition—View of Mount Carstensz—Dugongs—Crowded - Ship—Dayaks and Live Stock—Sea-Snakes—Excitable - Convicts—The Island River—Its Great Size—Another Dutch - Expedition—Their Achievements—Houses in the Trees—Large - Village—Barn-like Houses—Naked People—Shooting Lime—Their - Skill in Paddling—Through the Marianne Straits—An - Extract from Carstensz—Merauke—Trade in Copra—Botanic - Station—The Mission—The Ké Island Boat-builders—The - Natives of Merauke described—Arrival of our Third Batch - of Coolies—The Feast of St. Nicholas—Return to Mimika_ 209 - - - CHAPTER XVII - - _Difficulty of Cross-country Travel—Expedition moves - towards the Mountains—Arrival at the Iwaka River—Changing - Scenery—The Impassable Iwaka—A Plucky Gurkha—Building a - Bridge—We start into the Mountains—Fording - Rivers—Flowers—Lack of Water on Hillside—Curious - Vegetation—Our highest Point—A wide View—Rare - Birds—Coal—Uninhabitable Country—Dreary Jungle—Rarely any - Beauty—Remarkable Trees—Occasional Compensations_ 229 - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - _Departure from Parimau—Parting Gifts—Mock - Lamentation—Rawling explores Kamura River—Start for the - Wania—Lose the Propeller—A Perilous Anchorage—Unpleasant - Night—Leave the Motor Boat—Village of Nimé—Arrival of - “Zwaan” with Dayaks—Their Departure—Waiting for the - Ship—Taking Leave of the People of Wakatimi—Sail from New - Guinea—Ké Islands—Banda—Hospitality of the Netherlands - Government—Lieutenant Cramer—Sumbawa—Bali—Return to - Singapore and England—One or two Reflexions_ 246 - - - APPENDIX A - - _Notes on the Birds collected by the B.O.U Expedition to - Dutch New Guinea. By W. R. Ogilvie-Grant_ 263 - - - APPENDIX B - - _The Pygmy Question. By Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S._ 303 - - - APPENDIX C - - _Notes on Languages in the East of Netherlands New - Guinea. By Sidney H. Ray, M.A._ 322 - - - INDEX 347 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - -(_Except where it is otherwise stated, the illustrations are from -photographs by the Author._) - - A TAPIRO PYGMY _Frontispiece_ - - FACING PAGE - - NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE MIMIKA RIVER 4 - - A CONVICT COOLY OF THE DUTCH ESCORT 12 - - A MALAY COOLY FROM BUTON 12 - - DOBO, ARU ISLANDS 20 - - CAMP OF THE EXPEDITION AT WAKATIMI (Photo by C. G. RAWLING - and E. S. MARSHALL) 48 - - A HOUSE FOR CEREMONIES, MIMIKA (Photo by C. G. RAWLING and - E. S. MARSHALL) 48 - - MAKING CANOES 50 - - CANOES, FINISHED AND UNFINISHED 54 - - MAKING “ATAP” FOR ROOFING 60 - - PAPUAN WOMAN CANOEING UP THE MIMIKA 64 - - JANGBIR AND HERKAJIT, (Photo by C. G. RAWLING - and E. S. MARSHALL) 68 - - HAULING CANOES UP THE MIMIKA 70 - - TYPICAL PAPUANS OF MIMIKA 74 - - UPPER WATERS OF THE KAPARE RIVER 82 - - VEGETATION ON THE BANKS OF THE KAPARE RIVER 86 - - PAPUAN WOMAN CARRYING WOODEN BOWL OF SAGO 90 - - PAPUAN HOUSES ON THE MIMIKA 96 - - PAPUAN OF THE MIMIKA 100 - - PAPUAN OF THE MIMIKA 100 - - A PAPUAN MOTHER AND CHILD 106 - - CICATRIZATION (Photo by C. G. RAWLING and E. S. MARSHALL) 112 - - PAPUAN WITH FACE WHITENED WITH SAGO POWDER 112 - - WOMEN OF WAKATIMI 114 - - PAPUAN WOMAN AND CHILD 120 - - A PAPUAN OF MIMIKA 128 - - A PAPUAN OF MIMIKA 134 - - DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD: A COFFIN ON TRESTLES 139 - - SPLITTING WOOD WITH STONE AXE, (Photo by C. G. RAWLING and - E. S. MARSHALL) 148 - - A TRIBUTARY STREAM OF THE KAPARE RIVER 159 - - TYPICAL JUNGLE, MIMIKA RIVER 178 - - AT THE EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 182 - - CAMP OF THE EXPEDITION AT PARIMAU 184 - - THE CAMP AT PARIMAU: A PRECAUTION AGAINST FLOODS 188 - - THE MIMIKA AT PARIMAU: LOW WATER 190 - - THE SAME IN FLOOD 190 - - A TAPIRO PYGMY 196 - - MAKING FIRE (1) 200 - - MAKING FIRE (2) 202 - - WAMBERI MERBIRI 204 - - A HOUSE OF THE TAPIRO 206 - - MOUNT TAPIRO FROM THE VILLAGE OF THE PYGMIES 208 - - TYPES OF TAPIRO PYGMIES 212 - - A PAPUAN WITH TWO TAPIRO 216 - - NATIVES OF MERAUKE 226 - - LOOKING UP THE MIMIKA FROM PARIMAU 232 - - BRIDGE MADE BY THE EXPEDITION ACROSS THE IWAKA RIVER 234 - - LOOKING WEST FROM ABOVE THE IWAKA (Photo by C. H. B. GRANT) 238 - - COCKSCOMB MOUNTAIN SEEN FROM MT. GODMAN (Photo by C. G. - RAWLING and E. S. MARSHALL) 238 - - SUPPORTS OF A PANDANUS 242 - - BUTTRESSED TREES 246 - - SCREW PINES (PANDANUS) 250 - - AT SUMBAWA PESAR 252 - - NEAR BULELING 256 - - - COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS - - (_from Drawings by G. C. Shortridge_) - - CARVED WOODEN CLUBS AND STONE CLUBS 36 - - HEAD-DRESSES, WORN AT CEREMONIES 78 - - STONE AXE, HEAD-RESTS AND DRUMS 142 - - BLADES OF PADDLES, AND BAMBOO PENIS-CASES 144 - - BOW, ARROWS AND SPEARS 150 - - ORNAMENTS OF PAPUANS 222 - - - MAPS - - A LANGUAGE MAP OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA 342 - - MAP OF THE DISTRICT VISITED BY THE EXPEDITION _at End_ - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - -The wonderful fauna of New Guinea, especially the marvellous forms -of Bird- and Insect-life to be found there, have long attracted the -attention of naturalists in all parts of the world. The exploration -of this vast island during recent years has brought to light many -extraordinary and hitherto unknown forms, more particularly new Birds -of Paradise and Gardener Bower-Birds; but until recently the central -portion was still entirely unexplored, though no part of the globe -promised to yield such an abundance of zoological treasures to those -prepared to face the difficulties of penetrating to the great ranges of -the interior. - -The B.O.U. Expedition, of which the present work is the official -record, originated in the following manner. For many years past I had -been trying to organise an exploration of the Snow Mountains, but -the reported hostility of the natives in the southern part of Dutch -New Guinea and the risks attending such an undertaking, rendered the -chances of success too small to justify the attempt. - -It was in 1907 that Mr. Walter Goodfellow, well-known as an experienced -traveller and an accomplished naturalist, informed me that he -believed a properly equipped expedition might meet with success, and -I entered into an arrangement with him to lead a small zoological -expedition to explore the Snow Mountains. It so happened, however, -that by the time our arrangements had been completed in December, -1908, the members of the British Ornithologists’ Union, founded in -1858, were celebrating their Jubilee, and it seemed fitting that -they should mark so memorable an occasion by undertaking some great -zoological exploration. I therefore laid my scheme for exploring -the Snow Mountains before the meeting, and suggested that it should -be known as the Jubilee Expedition of the B.O.U., a proposal which -was received with enthusiasm. A Committee was formed, consisting of -Mr. F. du Cane Godman, F.R.S. (President of the B.O.U.), Dr. P. L. -Sclater, F.R.S. (Editor of the _Ibis_), Mr. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, Mr. -W. R. Ogilvie-Grant (Secretary), and Mr. C. E. Fagan (Treasurer). At -the request of the Royal Geographical Society it was decided that -their interests should also be represented, and that a surveyor and -an assistant-surveyor, to be selected by the Committee, should be -added, the Society undertaking to contribute funds for that purpose. -The expedition thus became a much larger one than had been originally -contemplated and included:— - - Mr. Walter Goodfellow (Leader), - - Mr. Wilfred Stalker and Mr. Guy C. Shortridge (Collectors - of Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, etc.), - - Mr. A. F. R. Wollaston (Medical Officer to the - Expedition, Entomologist, and Botanist), - - Capt. C. G. Rawling, C.I.E. (Surveyor), - - Dr. Eric Marshall (Assistant-Surveyor and Surgeon). - -To meet the cost of keeping such an expedition in the field for at -least a year it was necessary to raise a large sum of money, and this -I was eventually able to do, thanks chiefly to a liberal grant from -His Majesty’s Government, and to the generosity of a number of private -subscribers, many of whom were members of the B.O.U. The total sum -raised amounted to over £9000, and though it is impossible to give here -the names of all those who contributed, I would especially mention the -following:— - - S. G. Asher, - E. J. Brook, - J. Stewart Clark, - Col. Stephenson Clarke, - Sir Jeremiah Colman, - H. J. Elwes, - F. du Cane Godman, - Sir Edward Grey, - J. H. Gurney, - Sir William Ingram, - Lord Iveagh, - Mrs. Charles Jenkinson, - E. J. Johnstone, - Campbell D. Mackellar, - G. A. Macmillan, - Mrs. H. A. Powell, - H. C. Robinson, - Lord Rothschild, - Hon. L. Walter Rothschild, - Hon. N. Charles Rothschild, - Baron and Baroness James A. de Rothschild, - P. L. Sclater, - P. K. Stothert, - Oldfield Thomas, - E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, - Rowland Ward, - The Proprietors of _Country Life_, - The Royal Society, - The Royal Geographical Society, - The Zoological Society of London. - -The organization and equipment of this large expedition caused -considerable delay and it was not until September, 1909, that the -members sailed from England for the East. Meanwhile the necessary -steps were taken to obtain the consent of the Netherlands Government -to allow the proposed expedition to travel in Dutch New Guinea and -to carry out the scheme of exploration. Not only was this permission -granted, thanks to the kindly help of Sir Edward Grey and the British -Minister at the Hague, but the Government of Holland showed itself -animated with such readiness to assist the expedition that it supplied -not only an armed guard at its own expense, but placed a gunboat at -the disposal of the Committee to convey the party from Batavia to New -Guinea. - -On behalf of the Committee I would again take this opportunity of -publicly expressing their most grateful thanks to the Netherlands -Government for these and many other substantial acts of kindness, -which were shown to the members of the expedition. The Peninsular and -Oriental Steam Navigation Company did all in their power to further -the interests of the expedition, and to them the Committee is very -specially indebted. To the proprietors of _Country Life_ the thanks -of the Committee are also due for the interest and sympathy they have -displayed towards the expedition and for the assistance they have given -in helping to raise funds to carry on the work in the field. - -In various numbers of _Country Life_, issued between the 16th of April, -1910, and the 20th of May, 1911, a series of ten articles will be found -in which I contributed a general account of New Guinea, and mentioned -some of the more important discoveries made by the members of the -expedition during their attempts to penetrate to the Snow Mountains. - -In Appendix A to the present volume will be found a general account of -the ornithological results. A detailed report will appear elsewhere, as -also, it is hoped, a complete account of the zoological work done by -the expedition. - -As the reader will learn from Mr. Wollaston’s book, the great physical -difficulties of this unexplored part of New Guinea and other unforeseen -circumstances rendered the work of the B.O.U. Expedition quite -exceptionally arduous; and if the results of their exploration are -not all that had been hoped, it must be remembered that they did all -that was humanly possible to carry out the dangerous task with which -they had been entrusted. Their work has added vastly to our knowledge -of this part of New Guinea, and though little collecting was done -above 4000 feet, quite a number of new, and, in many cases, remarkably -interesting forms were obtained. - -There can be no doubt that when the higher ranges between 5000 and -10,000 feet are explored, many other novelties will be discovered -and for this reason it has been thought advisable to postpone the -publication of the scientific results of the B.O.U. Expedition until -such time as the second expedition under Mr. Wollaston has returned in -1913. - -The death of Mr. Wilfred Stalker at a very early period of the -expedition was a sad misfortune and his services could ill be spared; -his place was, however, very ably filled by Mr. Claude H. B. Grant, who -arrived in New Guinea some six months later. - -As all those who have served on committees must know, most of the work -falls on one or two individuals, and I should like here to express -the thanks which we owe to our Treasurer, Mr. C. E. Fagan, for the -admirable way in which he has carried out his very difficult task. - - - W. R. OGILVIE-GRANT. - - -PYGMIES AND PAPUANS - - - - -PYGMIES AND PAPUANS - - - - -CHAPTER I - - - _The British Ornithologists’ Union—Members of the - Expedition—Voyage to Java—Choice of Rivers—Prosperity - of Java—Half-castes—Obsequious Javanese—The - Rijst-tafel—Customs of the Dutch—Buitenzorg - Garden—Garoet._ - -In the autumn of 1858 a small party of naturalists, most of them -members of the University of Cambridge and their friends and all of -them interested in the study of ornithology, met in the rooms of the -late Professor Alfred Newton at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and -agreed to found a society with the principal object of producing a -quarterly Journal of general ornithology. The Journal was called “The -Ibis,” and the Society adopted the name of British Ornithologists’ -Union, the number of members being originally limited to twenty. - -In the autumn of 1908 the Society, which by that time counted four -hundred and seventy members, adopted the suggestion, made by Mr. W. -R. Ogilvie-Grant, of celebrating its jubilee by sending an expedition -to explore, chiefly from an ornithological point of view, the unknown -range of Snow Mountains in Dutch New Guinea. A Committee, whose -Chairman was Mr. F. D. Godman, F.R.S., President and one of the -surviving original members of the Society, was appointed to organise -the expedition, and subscriptions were obtained from members and their -friends. The remote destination of the expedition aroused a good deal -of public interest. The Royal Geographical Society expressed a desire -to share in the enterprise, and it soon became evident that it would -be a mistake to limit the object of the expedition to the pursuit -of birds only. Mr. Walter Goodfellow, a naturalist who had several -times travelled in New Guinea as well as in other parts of the world, -was appointed leader of the expedition. Mr. W. Stalker and Mr. G. C. -Shortridge, both of whom had had wide experience of collecting in the -East, were appointed naturalists. Capt. C. G. Rawling, C.I.E., 13th -Somersetshire Light Infantry, who had travelled widely in Tibet and -mapped a large area of unknown territory in that region, was appointed -surveyor, with Mr. E. S. Marshall, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., who had just -returned from the “Furthest South” with Sir E. H. Shackleton, as -assistant surveyor and surgeon; and the present writer, who had been -medical officer, botanist, and entomologist on the Ruwenzori Expedition -of 1906-7, undertook the same duties as before. - -Prolonged correspondence between the Foreign Office and the Dutch -Government resulted, thanks largely to the personal interest of Sir -Edward Grey and Lord Acton, British Chargé d’Affaires at the Hague, in -permission being granted to the expedition to land in Dutch New Guinea -on or after January 1, 1910. The date of landing was postponed by the -Government until January in order that there might be no interference -with the expedition of Mr. H. A. Lorentz, who it was hoped would be -the first to reach the snow in New Guinea by way of the Noord River, a -project which he successfully accomplished in the month of November, -1909. - -[Sidenote: VOYAGE TO JAVA] - -On October 29th four of us sailed from Marseilles in the P. & O. S.S. -_Marmora_. Mr. Stalker and Mr. Shortridge, who had already proceeded -to the East, joined us later at Batavia and Amboina respectively. At -Singapore we found the ten Gurkhas, ex-military police, who had been -engaged for the expedition by the recruiting officer at Darjiling; -though some of these men were useless for the work they had to do, the -others did invaluable service as will be seen later. We left Singapore -on November 26th, and as we passed through the narrow Riou Straits we -saw the remains of the French mail steamer _La Seyne_, which had been -wrecked there with appalling loss of life a few days earlier. It was -believed that scores of persons were devoured by sharks within a few -minutes of the accident happening. Two days’ steaming in the Dutch -packet brought us to Batavia in Java, the city of the Government of the -Netherlands East Indies. - -We had hoped that our ten Gurkhas would be sufficient escort for the -expedition and that we could do without the escort of native soldiers -offered to us by the Dutch Government, but the local authorities -decided that the escort was necessary and they appointed to command it -Lieutenant H. A. Cramer of the Infantry, a probationer on the Staff of -the Dutch East Indian Army. The Government also undertook to transport -the whole expedition, men, stores, and equipment, from Java to New -Guinea. The undertaking was a most generous one as the voyage from -Batavia by mail steamer to Dobo in the Aru Islands would have been -most costly, and from there we should have been obliged to charter a -special steamer to convey the expedition to the shores of New Guinea. - -When we left England we had the intention of approaching the Snow -Mountains by way of the Utakwa River, which was the only river shown -by the maps obtainable at that time approaching the mountains. After -a consultation with the Military and Geographical Departments at -Batavia it was decided that, owing to the bad accounts which had been -received of the Utakwa River and the comparatively favourable reports -of the Mimika River, the latter should be chosen as the point of our -entry into the country. This decision, though we little suspected it -at the time, effectually put an end to our chance of reaching the Snow -Mountains. - -During the month of December, while stores were being accumulated, -and the steamer was being prepared for our use, we had leisure to -visit, and in the case of some of us to revisit, some of the most -interesting places in Java. A large German ship filled with fourteen -hundred American tourists arrived at Batavia whilst we were there, -and the passengers “did” Java, apparently to their satisfaction, in -forty-eight hours. But a tourist with more time could find occupation -for as many days and still leave much to be seen. Germans and Americans -outnumber English visitors by nearly fifty to one, and it is to be -deplored that Englishmen do not go there in larger numbers, for they -would see in Java, not to mention the beauty of its scenery, perhaps -the most successful tropical dependency in the world, a vast monument -to the genius of Sir Stamford Raffles, who laid the foundation of its -prosperity less than one hundred years ago. - -[Illustration: NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE MIMIKA RIVER.] - -[Sidenote: PROSPERITY OF JAVA] - -Some idea of the progress which has been made may be learnt from the -fact that, whereas at the beginning of the last century the population -numbered about four millions, there are to-day nearly ten times -that number. Wherever you go you see excellent roads, clean, and -well-ordered villages and a swarming peasant population, quiet and -industrious and apparently contented with their lot. - -There are between thirty and forty volcanoes in the island, many of -them active, and the soil is extraordinarily rich and productive, three -crops in the rice districts being harvested in rather less than two -years. So fertile is the land that in many places the steepest slopes -of the hills have been brought under cultivation by an ingenious system -of terracing and irrigation in such a way that the higher valleys -present the appearance of great amphitheatres rising tier above tier -of brilliantly green young rice plants or of drooping yellow heads of -ripening grain. The tea plantations and the fields of sugar-cane in -Central Java not less than the rice-growing districts impress one with -the unceasing industry of the people and the inexhaustible wealth of -the island. - -One of the features of life in the Dutch East Indies, which first -strikes the attention of an English visitor, is the difference in -the relation between Europeans and natives from those which usually -obtain in British possessions as shown by the enormous number of -half-castes. Whilst we were still at Batavia the feast of the Eve of -St. Nicholas, which takes the place of our Christmas, occurred. In the -evening the entire “white” population indulged in a sort of carnival; -the main streets and restaurants were crowded, bands played and -carriages laden with parents and their children drove slowly through -the throng. The spectacle, a sort of “trooping of the colours,” was a -most interesting one to the onlooker, for one saw often in the same -family children showing every degree of colour from the fairest Dutch -hair and complexion to the darkest Javanese. It is easy to understand -how this strong mixture of races has come about, when one learns that -Dutchmen who come out to the East Indies, whether as civilian or -military officials or as business men, almost invariably stay for ten -years without returning to Europe. They become in that time more firmly -attached to the country than is the case in colonies where people go -home at shorter intervals, and it is not uncommon to meet Dutchmen who -have not returned to Holland for thirty or forty years. It is not the -custom to send children back to Europe when they reach the school age; -there are excellent government schools in all the larger towns, and it -often happens that men and women grow up and marry who have never been -to Europe in their lives. Thus it can be seen how a large half-caste -population is likely to be formed. The half-castes do not, as in -British India, form a separate caste, but are regarded as Europeans, -and there are many instances of men having more or less of native blood -in their veins reaching the highest civilian and military rank. - -[Sidenote: THE RIJST-TAFEL] - -One or two curious relics of former times, which the visitor to Java -notices, are worth recording because they show the survival of a spirit -that has almost completely disappeared from our own dominions. When a -European walks, or as is more usual, drives along the country roads, -the natives whom he meets remove their hats from their heads and their -loads from their shoulders and crouch humbly by the roadside. Again, -on the railways the ticket examiner approaches with a suppliant air -and begs to see your ticket, while he holds out his right hand for it -grasping his right wrist with his left hand. In former times when a man -held out his right hand to give or take something from you his left -hand was free to stab you with his _kris_. Nowadays only a very few -privileged natives in Java are allowed to carry the _kris_. - -Another very noticeable feature of life in the Dutch East Indies, which -immediately attracts the attention of a stranger, is the astonishing -number of excessively corpulent Europeans. If you travel in the morning -in the steam tramcar which runs from the residential part of Batavia -to the business quarter of the town, you will see as many noticeably -stout men as you will see in the City of London in a year, or, as I -was credibly informed, as you will see in the city of Amsterdam in a -month. It is fairly certain that this unhealthy state of body of a -large number of Europeans may be attributed to the institution of the -Rijst-tafel, the midday meal of a large majority of the Dutchmen in the -East. - -This custom is so remarkable that it is worth while to give a -description of it. The foundation of the meal, as its name implies, is -rice. You sit at table with a soup plate in front of you, a smaller -flat plate beside it and a spoon, a knife and a fork. The first servant -brings a large bowl of rice from which you help yourself liberally. The -second brings a kind of vegetable stew which you pour over the heap of -rice. Then follows a remarkable procession; I have myself seen at an -hotel in Batavia fourteen different boys bringing as many different -dishes, and I have seen stalwart Teutons taking samples from every -dish. These boys bring fish of various sorts and of various cookeries, -bones of chickens cooked in different ways and eggs of various ages, -and last of all comes a boy bearing a large tray covered with many -different kinds of chutneys and sauces from which the connoisseur -chooses three or four. The more solid and bony portions find a space on -the small flat plate, the others are piled in the soup plate upon the -rice. As an experience once or twice the Rijst-tafel is interesting; -but as a daily custom it is an abomination. Even when, as in private -houses, the number of dishes is perhaps not more than three or four, -the main foundation of the meal is a solid pile of rice, which is -not at all a satisfactory diet for Europeans. The Rijst-tafel is not -a traditional native custom but a modern innovation, and there is a -tendency among the more active members of the community to replace it -by a more rational meal. - -[Sidenote: CUSTOMS OF THE DUTCH] - -The houses of the Europeans are of the bungalow type with high-pitched -roofs of red tiles and surrounded by wide verandahs, which are actually -the living rooms of the house. The Dutch are good gardeners and are -particularly fond of trees, which they plant close about their houses -and so ensure a pleasant shade, though they harbour rather more -mosquitoes and other insects than is pleasant. In strange contrast -with the scrupulous cleanliness of the houses and the tidiness of the -streets, you will see in Batavia a state of things which it is hard to -reconcile with the usual commonsense of the Dutch. Through the middle -of the town runs a canalised river of red muddy water, partly sewer and -partly bathing place and so on of the natives, and in it are washed all -the clothes of the population, both native and European. Your clothes -return to you white enough, but you put them on with certain qualms -when you remember whence they came. The town has an excellent supply of -pure water, and it is astonishing that the authorities do not put an -end to this most insanitary practice. - -Dutch people in the East Indies have modified their habits, especially -in the matter of clothing, to suit the requirements of the climate, and -while they have to some extent sacrificed elegance to comfort, their -costume is at all events more rational than that of many Englishmen -in the East, who cling too affectionately to the fashions of Europe -and often wear too much clothing. The men, who do the greater part of -the day’s work between seven in the morning and one o’clock, wear a -plain white suit of cotton or linen. The afternoon is spent in taking -a siesta and at about five o’clock they go to their clubs or other -amusements in the same sort of attire as in the morning. The ladies, -except in the larger towns where European dress is the custom, appear -in public during the greater part of the day in a curiously simple -costume. The upper part of the body is clothed in a short white cotton -jacket, below which the coloured native _sarong_ extends midway down -the leg. Low slippers are worn on bare feet, the hair hangs undressed -down the back and the costume is usually completed by an umbrella. It -must be admitted that the effect is not ornamental, but the costume is -doubtless cool and comfortable, and it prevents any risk there might be -of injury to the health from wearing an excessive amount of clothing. -They appear more conventionally dressed about five o’clock, when the -social business of the day begins. The ladies pay calls while the men -meet at the club and play cards until an uncomfortably late dinner at -about nine o’clock. - -[Sidenote: BOTANIC GARDEN] - -About an hour’s journey by railway from Batavia is the hill station of -Buitenzorg. Although it is hardly more than eight hundred feet above -the sea the climate is noticeably cooler (the mean annual temperature -is 75°), and one feels immediately more vigorous than down in the low -country. The palace of the Governor General, formerly the house of -Sir Stamford Raffles, stands at the edge of the Botanic Garden, which -alone, even if you saw nothing else, would justify a visit to Java. -Plants from all the Tropics grow there in the best possible conditions, -and you see them to advantage as you never can in their natural forest -surroundings, where the trunks of the trees are obscured by a tangle -of undergrowth. Every part of the garden is worth exploring, but one -of the most curious and interesting sections is the collection of -Screw-pines (_Pandanus_) and Cycads, which have a weirdly antediluvian -appearance. Another very beautiful sight is the ponds of Water-lilies -from different parts of the world. The native gardener in charge -of them informed me that the different species have different and -definite hours for the opening and closing of their flowers. I tested -his statement in two instances and found the flowers almost exactly -punctual. There was no cloud in the sky nor appearance of any change in -the weather, and the reason for this behaviour is not easy to explain. -At Sindanglaya in the mountains a few miles distant is an offshoot -from the Buitenzorg garden, where plants of a more temperate climate -flourish, and experiments are made on plants of economic value to the -country. - -A few hours’ journey east from Buitenzorg is Garoet (2,300 feet above -the sea), which lies in a beautiful fertile valley surrounded by -forest-covered mountains. The climate is an almost ideal one, the -nights are cool and the days are not too hot. A very remarkable feature -of the country about Garoet is the great flocks, or rather droves, of -ducks which you meet being driven along the roads from the villages to -their pastures in the rice fields. These ducks differ from the ordinary -domestic duck in their extraordinary erect attitude, from which they -have been well called Penguin ducks. Whether their upright posture -is due to their walking or not I do not know, but they are excellent -walkers and are sometimes driven long distances to their feeding -grounds. When a duck is tired and lags behind, the boy who herds them -picks it up by the neck, and you may sometimes see him walking along -with a bunch of two or three ducks in either hand. - -Others of our party visited Djokjakarta and the Buddhist Temples of -Boro-Boder in Central Java and the mountain resort of Tosari in the -volcanic region of Eastern Java. Tosari is more than five thousand feet -above the sea, and is of great value to the Dutch as a sanatorium for -soldiers and civilians from all parts of the Archipelago. The rainfall -is comparatively scanty and the climate is like that of Southern Europe -at its best. - -[Illustration: A CONVICT COOLY OF THE DUTCH ESCORT.] - -[Illustration: A MALAY COOLY FROM BUTON.] - - - - -CHAPTER II - - - _Expedition leaves Java—The “Nias”—Escort—Macassar—Raja - of Goa—Amboina—Corals and Fishes—Ambonese - Christians—Dutch Clubs—Dobo._ - -On December 21st we left Batavia, and on Christmas Day, 1909, we sailed -from Soerabaja in the Government steamer _Nias_, Capt. Hondius van -Herwerden. The _Nias_, a ship of about six hundred tons, formerly a -gun-boat in the Netherlands Indies Marine, is now stripped of her -two small guns and is used by the Government as a special service -vessel. Her last commission before embarking us has been to transport -Mr. Lorentz on his expedition to the Noord River in New Guinea three -months earlier. Now she was full to the brim of stores and gear of all -sorts and her decks were crowded with men. There were five of us and -ten Gurkhas. The Dutch escort consisted of Lieutenant H. A. Cramer -in command, two Dutch sergeants and one Dutch medical orderly, forty -native Javanese soldiers and sixty convicts, most of them Javanese. The -convicts were nearly all of them men with more or less long sentences -of imprisonment and some of them were murderers in chains, which were -knocked off them to their great relief the day after we left Soerabaja. -One of the best of the convicts, a native of Bali, was a murderer (see -illustration, page 12), who did admirable service to the expedition, -and was subsequently promoted to be _mandoer_.[1] - -At Macassar we stopped a few hours only to add to our already -excessive deck cargo, and to hear a little of the gossip of Celebes. -I was interested to learn that the power of the Raja of Goa, whom -I had visited a few years before, had come to an end. That monarch -was an interesting survivor of the old native princes of the island. -His kingdom extended to within three miles of Macassar, and he was -apparently not answerable to any law or authority but his own. The -place became a refuge for criminals fleeing from justice, and it was a -disagreeable thorn in the side of the Dutch authorities, who were at -last compelled to send a small expedition to annex the country. The -Raja himself, it was said, came to a very unpleasant end in a ditch. - -There had also been a small war on the east side of the island, which -resulted in the pacification of the large and prosperous district -of Boni. Now the Island of Celebes, which only a few years ago was -dominated by savage tribes and where it was unsafe for an European -to travel, has been almost completely brought within the Dutch -administration, and it seems likely that its enormous mineral and -agricultural wealth will soon make it one of the most prosperous -islands of the Archipelago. - -[Sidenote: AMBOINA] - -On December 30th we anchored in the harbour of Amboina, where we were -joined by the last member of the expedition, Mr. W. Stalker, who had -been for some months collecting birds in Ceram, and recently had been -engaged in Amboina in recruiting coolies for the expedition. It had -been expected that he would go to engage coolies in the Ké Islands, -a group of islands about three hundred miles to the south-east of -Amboina, where the natives are more sturdy and less sophisticated than -the people of Amboina; but circumstances had prevented him from going -there, and we had to put up with the very inferior Ambonese, a fact -which at the outset seriously handicapped the expedition. We stayed for -two days at Amboina, or, as the Dutch always call it, Ambon, buying -necessary stores and making arrangements with the Dutch authorities, -who agreed to send a steamer every two months, if the weather were -favourable, to bring men and further supplies to us in New Guinea. - -Amboina is an exceedingly pretty place, and a very favourite station -of the Dutch on account of its climate, which is remarkably equable, -and its freedom from strong winds or excessive rain. There is a volcano -at the north end of the island which has slumbered since 1824, and the -place is very subject to earthquakes. A very serious one occurred as -recently as 1902, which destroyed hundreds of lives and houses, whose -walls may still be seen lying flat in the gardens, but as in other -volcanic places the inhabitants have conveniently short memories, and -the place has been re-built ready for another visitation. - -Like most of the other Dutch settlements in the East, Amboina has been -laid out on a rectangular plan, but the uniformity of the arrangement -is saved from being monotonous by the tree-planting habits of the -Dutch. The roads and open spaces are shaded by Kanari trees, which -also produce a most delicious nut, and the gardens are hedged with -flowering Hibiscus and Oleander and gaudy-leafed Crotons. Roses, as -well as many other temperate plants, in addition to “hothouse” plants, -flourish in the gardens, and the verandahs of the houses themselves are -often decorated with orchids from Ceram and the Tenimber Islands. Birds -are not common in the town itself except in captivity, and you see, -especially in the gardens of the natives’ houses, parrots and lories, -and pigeons from the Moluccas and New Guinea, and you may even hear the -call of the Greater bird of paradise. Attracted by the many flowering -plants are swarms of butterflies, some of them of great beauty. One of -the most gorgeous of these is the large blue _Papilio ulysses_, which -floats from flower to flower like a piece of living blue sky. - -[Sidenote: THE AMBONESE] - -The harbour of Amboina is a wide deep channel, which nearly divides -the island into two, and in it are the wonderful sea-gardens, which -aroused the enthusiasm of Mr. Wallace.[2] They are not perhaps so -wonderful as the sea-gardens at Banda and elsewhere, but to those who -have never seen such things before the many coloured sea-weeds and -corals and shells and shoals of fantastic fishes seen through crystal -water are a source of unfailing interest. The sea is crowded with fish -of every size and form and colour. Nearly eight hundred species have -been described from Ambonese waters, and it is worth while to visit -the market in the early morning, when the night’s haul is brought in, -and before the very evanescent colours of the fish have faded. Nearly -every man in the place is a fisherman during some part of the day or -night, and nobody need starve who has the energy to throw a baited -hook into the sea. Most of the fish are caught either in nets very -similar to our seine-net or in more elaborate traps which are mostly -constructed by Chinamen. - -The market is also worth visiting to see the variety of fruit and -spices that grow in the island. Amboina has a peculiar form of banana, -the _Pisang Ambon_, with white flesh, dark green skin, and a very -peculiar flavour. Besides this there are many other kinds of bananas, -mangoes, mangostines, guavas, sour-manilla, soursop, pineapples, -kanari nut, nutmeg, cloves, and a small but very delicious fruit, the -garnderia. - -The native inhabitants of Amboina are a curious mixture of the -aboriginal native with Portuguese, Dutch, and Malay blood. There is -a strong predominance of the Portuguese type, which shows itself in -the faces of many of the people, who still use words of Portuguese -origin, and preserve many Portuguese names. A large number of them -are Christians, and they rejoice in such names as Josef, Esau, Jacob, -Petrus and Domingos. - -New Year’s Eve was celebrated by a confusion of fireworks and -gun-firing, which lasted from sunset until the small hours of 1910, -and by an afternoon service in the Church attended by many hundreds -of people. The women, who are usually in Amboina dressed entirely -in black, wore for the occasion long white coats, black _sarongs_ -and white stockings. The men went more variously clad in straw hats, -dinner jackets, low waistcoats, white or coloured starched shirts, -coloured ties, black trousers, and brown boots. We were interested to -find that the great bulk of the stuff from which clothes are made in -Amboina is imported from England, and we were assured by a merchant who -was interested in the trade that a man can dress himself in so-called -European fashion as cheaply in Amboina as he can in this country. - -An agreeable feature of life at Amboina, as at other places in the -Netherlands Indies, is the hospitality of the Dutch people. A stranger -of at all respectable social position is expected to introduce himself -to the club, and the residents in the place feel genuinely hurt if he -fails to do so. The Societat, or “Soce,” as it is everywhere called, is -more of a café than a club according to English ideas, and it exists -for conviviality and gossiping rather than for newspaper reading and -card playing. It is not even a restaurant in the sense that many -English clubs are; the members meet there in the evening but they -invariably dine, as they lunch, at home. On the verandah in front of -the club is a round table, at which sit after dark large men in white -clothes smoking cigars and drinking various drinks. The foreigner -approaches with what courage he may and introduces himself by name -to the party severally. They make a place for him in the circle and -thereafter, with a courtesy which a group of Englishmen would find -difficulty in imitating, they continue the conversation in the language -of the foreigner. An Englishman is at first a little staggered by -the number of _pait_ (_i.e._ bitter, the name for gin and bitters) -and other drinks that his hosts consume, and which he is expected -to consume also, but, as I remember noticing in the case of their -neighbours the Belgians in the Congo, it appears to do them little if -any harm. - -[Sidenote: THE ARAFURA SEA] - -In the larger places there is a concert at the club once or twice a -week—at Bandoeng in Java I heard a remarkably good string quartette—and -in almost every place there is a ladies’ night at the club once a week, -when the children come to dance to the music of a piano or gramophone, -as the case may be. It is a pretty sight and one to make one ponder on -the possible harmony of nations—“Harmonie” is commonly a name for the -clubs in the Netherlands Indies—to see small Dutch children dancing -with little half-castes and, as I have more than once seen, with little -Celestials and Japanese. - -We left Amboina on New Year’s Day in a deluge of rain, and all that day -we were in sight of the forest-covered heights of Ceram to the North. -On January 2nd we passed Banda at dawn, and at sunset we got a view -of the most South-west point of New Guinea, Cape Van de Bosch. On the -morning of January 3rd we dropped anchor in the harbour of Dobo in the -Aru Islands. For several miles before we arrived there we had noticed a -marked difference in the appearance of the sea. Since we left Batavia -we had been sailing over a deep sea of great oceanic depths, sometimes -of two or three thousand fathoms, which was always clear and blue or -black as deep seas are. Approaching the Aru Islands we came into the -shoal waters of the Arafura Sea, which is yellowish and opaque and -never exceeds one hundred fathoms in depth. We were, in fact, sailing -over that scarcely submerged land, which joins the Aru Islands and New -Guinea with the Continent of Australia. - -Dobo has doubtless changed a good deal in appearance since Mr. Wallace -visited it in 1857, the majority of the houses are now built of -corrugated iron in place of the palm leaves of fifty years ago; but -it cannot have increased greatly in size, for it is built on a small -spit of coral sand beyond which are mangrove swamps where building is -impossible. The reason of its existence has also changed since the time -when it was the great market of all the neighbouring islands, for now -it exists solely as the centre of a pearl-fishing industry controlled -by an Australian Company, the Celebes Trading Company. Messrs. Clarke -& Ross Smith, the heads of this business, rendered us assistance in -very many ways, and the sincerest thanks of the expedition are due to -them. The primary object of pearl-fishing is of course the collection -of pearl-shell which is used for knife handles, buttons, and a hundred -other things. Shell of a good quality is worth more than £200 a ton. -The pearls, which are occasionally found, are merely accidentals -and profitable extras of the trade. Some idea of the extent of this -business may be learnt from the fact that more than one hundred boats -employing about five thousand men are occupied in the various fleets. - -We left Dobo, the last place of civilisation that many of us were to -see for a year and more, on January 3rd; and here, as we are almost -within sight as it were of our destination, it may be opportune to -state briefly the geographical position of New Guinea, and to give a -short account of its exploration. - -[Illustration: DOBO. ARU ISLANDS.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - - - _New Guinea—Its Position and Extent—Territorial - Divisions—Mountain Ranges—Numerous Rivers—The Papuans—The - Discovery of New Guinea—Early Voyagers—Spanish and - Dutch—Jan Carstensz—First Discovery of the Snow - Mountains—William Dampier in the “Roebuck”—Captain Cook - in the “Endeavour”—Naturalists and later Explorers._ - -The island of New Guinea or Papua lies to the East of all the great -islands of the Malay Archipelago and forms a barrier between them and -the Pacific Ocean. To the South of it lies the Continent of Australia -separated from it by the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait, which at its -narrowest point is less than a hundred miles wide. To the East is the -great group of the Solomon Islands, while on the North there are no -important masses of land between New Guinea and Japan. The island lies -wholly to the South of the Equator, its most Northern point, the Cape -of Good Hope in the Arfak Peninsula, being 19´ S. latitude. - -The extreme length of the island from E. to W. is 1490 miles, and its -greatest breadth from N. to S. is rather more than 400 miles. New -Guinea is the largest of the islands of the globe, having an area of -308,000 square miles (Borneo has about 290,000 square miles), and it is -divided amongst three countries roughly as follows: Holland 150,000, -Great Britain 90,000, and Germany 70,000 square miles. The large -territory of the Dutch was acquired by them with the kingdom of the -Sultan of Ternate, who was accustomed to claim Western New Guinea as a -part of his dominions: it is bounded on the East by the 141st parallel -of East longitude and partly by the Fly River and thus it comprises -nearly a half of the island. - -The Eastern half of the island is divided into a Northern, German, -and a Southern, British, part. The German territory is called Kaiser -Wilhelm Land, and the islands adjacent to it, which have received -German substitutes for their old names of New Britain, New Ireland, -etc., are known as the Bismarck Archipelago. British New Guinea, which -is now administered by the Federal Government of Australia, has been -officially renamed the Territory of Papua, and with it are included -the numerous islands at its Eastern extremity, the D’Entrecasteaux and -Louisiade Archipelagoes. - -Only in the British territory has a serious attempt been made at -settling and administering the country; the headquarters of the -Government are at Port Moresby, and the country is divided into six -magisterial districts. - -The German possessions are governed from Herbertshöhe in Neu Pommern -(New Britain), which is the centre of a small amount of island trade, -but the settlements on the New Guinea mainland are few and far between, -and it cannot be pretended that the country is German except in name. - -The Dutch territory has been even less brought under control than the -German. For more than half a century there has been a mission station -at Dorei in the N.W. but until 1899 when the Dutch assumed the direct -control of the country, which was till that time nominally governed by -the Sultan of Tidor (Ternate), there was no sign of Dutch rule in New -Guinea. Now there are Government stations with small bodies of native -soldiers at Manokware, an island in Dorei Bay, and at Fak-fak on the -shore of MacCluer Gulf; more recently a third post has been established -at Merauke on the South coast near the boundary of British New Guinea, -with the object of subjugating the fierce Tugere tribe of that region. - -[Sidenote: MOUNTAIN RANGES] - -The most important physical feature of New Guinea is the great system -of mountain ranges, which run from West to East and form the back-bone -of the island. The Arfak Peninsula in the N.W. is made entirely by -mountains which reach an altitude of more than 9000 feet. In the great -central mass of the island the mountains begin near the S.W. coast with -the Charles Louis Mountains, which vary in height from 4000 to 9000 -feet. Following these to the East they are found to be continuous with -the Snowy Mountains (now called the Nassau Range, the objective of -this expedition) which culminate in the glacier-covered tops of Mount -Idenberg (15,379 feet), and Mount Carstensz (15,964 feet), and to the -East of these is the snow-capped Mount Wilhelmina (15,420 feet), and -Mount Juliana (about 14,764 feet). - -Leaving Dutch New Guinea and proceeding further to the East we come to -the Victor Emmanuel and the Sir Arthur Gordon Ranges, which lie near -the boundary of German and British New Guinea. Still further East is -the Bismarck Range, often snow covered, and extending through the long -Eastern prolongation of the island are the great range of the Owen -Stanley Mountains, which reach their highest point in Mount Victoria -(13,150 feet), and the Stirling Range. - -As might be expected in so mountainous a country there is a large -number of rivers and some of them are of great size. On the North -coast the Kaiserin Augusta River rises in Dutch territory and takes -an almost Easterly course through German New Guinea to the sea, while -the Amberno (or Mamberamo) rises probably from the slopes of the Snowy -Mountains and flows Northwards to Point d’Urville. On the South coast, -in British New Guinea besides the Purari, Kikor and Turama Rivers, the -most important is the Fly River, which has been explored by boat for a -distance of more than five hundred miles. In Southern Dutch New Guinea -there are almost countless rivers: chief among them are the Digoel, -which has been explored for more than four hundred miles; the Island -River, by which a Dutch expedition has recently reached the central -watershed of New Guinea; the Noord River by which Mr. H. Lorentz -approached Mount Wilhelmina; the Utakwa and the Utanata. - -[Sidenote: THE NATIVES OF NEW GUINEA] - -The natives of New Guinea are Papuans and the island is indeed the -centre of that race, which is found more or less mixed with other races -from the island of Flores as far as Fiji. Though the Papuans in New -Guinea itself have been in many places altered by immigrant races, -for instance by Malays in the extreme West, and by Polynesian and -Melanesian influences in the South and East, there yet remain large -regions, particularly in the Western half of the country, including -the district visited by this expedition, where the true Papuan stock -holds its own. - -The name Papua, it should be said, comes from the Malay wood _papuwah_, -meaning “woolly” or “fuzzy,” and was first applied to the natives on -account of their mops of hair; later the name was applied to the island -itself. - -Even among those Papuans who are pure-blooded—in so far as one may -use that expression in describing any human race—there are very -considerable varieties of appearance, but it is still possible to -describe a type to which all of them conform in the more important -particulars. The typical Papuan is rather tall and is usually -well-built. The legs of the low country people are somewhat meagre, -as is usually the case among people who spend much of their time in -canoes, whilst those of the hill tribes are well developed. The hands -and feet are large. The colour of the skin varies from a dark chocolate -colour to a rusty black, but it seems to be never of the shining ebony -blackness of the African negro. The lips are thick but not full, the -teeth are strong but not noticeably good, and the jaws are strong but -they can hardly be called prognathous. The forehead is receding, the -brows are strong and prominent, and the shape of the face is somewhat -oval. The hair is black and “frizzly” rather than “woolly,” it is crisp -and hard to the touch, and in some tribes it is grown to a considerable -length and dressed in a variety of ornamental fashions. Short hard hair -is also found frequently on the chest and on the limbs, but on the -face it is scanty and frequently altogether absent. - -The most characteristic feature is the nose, which is long and fleshy -and somewhat “Semitic” in outline, but flattened and depressed at the -tip. But these characteristics of the nose would not alone suffice to -distinguish the Papuans from others were it not for the fact that the -_alae nasi_ are attached at a remarkably high level on the face, and so -an unusually large extent of the _septum_ of the nose is exposed. It is -owing to this curious formation of the nose that the Papuan is enabled -to perform his almost universal practice of piercing the _septum nasi_ -and wearing there some ornament of bone or shell. - -Apart from physical characteristics many observers have found mental -qualities in which the Papuans differ from, and are superior to, -neighbouring races; but these things are so difficult to define, and -they vary so much according to local circumstances, that it is not wise -to use them as conclusive evidence. It may, however, be said without -fear of contradiction that no person, who has had experience of Malays -and of Papuans, could believe for a moment that they are anything -but two very distinct races of men. The origin of the Papuans is not -definitely known, and the existence in different parts of the island -of small people, who are possibly of Negrito stock, suggests that the -Papuans were not the original inhabitants of New Guinea. - -[Sidenote: EARLY SPANISH NAVIGATORS] - -The history of the earliest discovery of New Guinea is not precisely -known, but it is safe to disregard the legends of navigators having -found the island before the Portuguese reached the Moluccas and founded -a trading centre at Ternate in 1512. The earliest authentic record -is of the Portuguese Don Jorge de Meneses, who was driven out of his -way on a voyage from Goa to Ternate in 1526, and took refuge in the -island of Waigiu. Two years later a Spaniard Alvaro de Saavedra taking -spices from the Moluccas to Mexico appears to have reached the Schouten -Islands in Geelvink Bay. From there he sailed North and discovered the -Carolines and the Mariana Islands, but unfavourable winds drove him -back to the Moluccas. In 1529 he set out again, and sailed along a long -expanse of coast, which was doubtless the North coast of New Guinea. - -In 1546 Ynigo Ortiz de Retes sailed from Ternate to Mexico in his ship -_San Juan_. He touched at several places on the North coast where he -hoisted the Spanish flag, and called the island Nueva Guinea, because -the natives appeared to him to resemble the negroes of the Guinea coast -of Africa. The name, spelt Nova Guinea, appears printed for the first -time on Mercator’s map of 1569. - -The last important Spanish Expedition was that of Luis Vaz de Torres, -who sailed with two ships from Peru, and in 1606 reached the south-east -corner of New Guinea. He sailed along the South coast from one to the -other end of the island, of which he took possession in the name of -the King of Spain. Torres’ voyage through the strait which now bears -his name was the first to show that New Guinea was an island, but the -account of the voyage was not published and the fact of his discovery -remained unknown until after 1800. - -The seventeenth century was chiefly notable for the explorations of the -Dutch, whose East India Company proclaimed a monopoly of trade in the -Spice Islands to the exclusion of people of other nationalities. In -1605, Willem Jansz sailed from Banda to New Guinea in the _Duyfken_. -The Ké and Aru Islands were visited and the Cape York Peninsula of -Australia was reached, but the importance of that discovery was not -realised. On the mainland of New Guinea nine men of the ship’s company -were killed and eaten, and the expedition returned to Banda. - -Jacques Le Maire and Willem Schouten made an important voyage in 1616 -in the _Eendracht_. Sailing from Europe by way of Cape Horn they -crossed the Pacific and discovered New Ireland, where they had trouble -with the natives, who (it is interesting to note) gave them pigs in -exchange for glass beads. The Admiralty and Vulcan Islands were seen -and then, after reaching the coast of New Guinea, they discovered the -mouth of the Kaiserin Augusta River and the Schouten Islands. - -[Sidenote: THE VOYAGE OF JAN CARSTENSZ] - -The next important voyage, and in this chronicle the most important -of all, was that of Jan Carstensz (or Carstenszoon) who sailed from -Amboina in 1623 with the ships _Pera_ and _Arnhem_. After visiting -Ké and Aru they reached the S.W. coast of New Guinea, where they -met with trouble. “This same day (February 11) the skipper of the -yacht _Arnhem_, Dirck Meliszoon, without knowledge of myself or the -sub-cargo or steersman of the said yacht, unadvisedly went ashore -to the open beach in the pinnace, taking with him fifteen persons, -both officers and common sailors, and no more than four muskets, for -the purpose of fishing with a seine-net. There was great disorder in -landing, the men running off in different directions, until at last a -number of black savages came running forth from the wood, who first -seized and tore to pieces an assistant named Jan Willemsz Van den -Briel who happened to be unarmed, after which they slew with arrows, -callaways, and with the oars which they had snatched from the pinnace, -no less than nine of our men, who were unable to defend themselves, at -the same time wounding the remaining seven (among them the skipper, -who was the first to take to his heels); these last seven men at last -returned on board in very sorry plight with the pinnace and one oar, -the skipper loudly lamenting his great want of prudence, and entreating -pardon for the fault he had committed.” - -The incautious skipper died of his wounds on the following day and so -he did not take a part in the most momentous discovery of the voyage. -“In the morning of the 16th (February) we took the sun’s altitude at -sunrise, which we found to be 5° 6´; the preceding evening ditto 20° -30´; the difference being divided by two comes to 7° 42´; increasing -North-easterly variation; the wind N. by E.; we were at about one -and a half mile’s distance from the low-lying land in 5 or 6 fathom, -clayey bottom; at a distance of about 10 miles by estimation into the -interior we saw a very high mountain range in many places white with -snow, which we thought a very singular sight, being so near the line -equinoctial. Towards the evening we held our course E. by S., along -half-submerged land in 5, 4, 3, and 2 fathom, at which last point we -dropped anchor; we lay there for about five hours, during which time we -found the water to have risen 4 or 5 feet; in the first watch, the wind -being N.E., we ran into deeper water and came to anchor in 10 fathom, -where we remained for the night.” - -That is the brief account of the first discovery of the Snow Mountains -of New Guinea by Jan Carstensz, whose name is now perpetuated in the -highest summit of the range. Very few ships have sailed along that -coast in three hundred years, and there are very many days in the year -when not a sign of the mountains can be seen from the shore, so it is -not very astonishing to find ships’ captains sailing on those seas who -still disbelieve the story of the snow. On the same voyage Carstensz -crossed the straits and sailed a considerable way down the Cape York -Peninsula believing that the land was still New Guinea. - -In 1636 Thomas Pool explored a large tract of the S.W. coast; Pool -himself was killed by natives, but the expedition discovered three -large rivers, the Kupera Pukwa, Inabuka (? Neweripa), and the Utakwa. -Tasman sailed along the North coast of New Guinea in 1642 after his -discovery of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania); and in 1644 he was sent to -find out whether there was a passage between New Guinea and the large -“South Land” (Australia). Apparently he cruised along the coast about -as far as Merauke, and also touched Australia, but the strait was not -discovered. - -Throughout the seventeenth century the Dutch East India Company -maintained their monopoly of the cloves and nutmegs of the Moluccas, -and great consternation was caused when the English tried to obtain -these spices direct by sending ships to the Papuan islands. The -Moluccas were protected by forts and their harbours safe, therefore -in order to prevent the English from obtaining the spices outside the -sphere of direct Dutch influence, all trees producing spices were -destroyed. - -[Sidenote: DAMPIER AND COOK] - -The most important of the English voyages was that of Capt. William -Dampier in the _Roebuck_. He sailed by Brazil and the Cape of Good -Hope to Western Australia and thence to Timor. On January 1, 1700, he -sighted the mountains of New Guinea; he landed on several islands near -the coast, captured Crowned pigeons and many kinds of fishes, which he -described in his book. Rounding the N.W. corner of the island he sailed -along the North coast and discovered that New Britain was separated -from New Guinea by a strait to which he gave his own name. - -After the voyages of Philip Carteret, who proved that New Ireland is -an island, and of de Bougainville in 1766 the most important is that -of Captain James Cook in the _Endeavour_. He sailed from Plymouth -in August 1768, rounded Cape Horn, reached and charted New Zealand, -reached the East coast of New Holland (Australia) in April 1770, and -sailed along the coast to Cape York, which he named. Looking Westward -he decided that there was a channel leading from the Pacific to the -Indian Ocean, and after sailing through it he came to the coast of -New Guinea to the N.W. of Prince Frederick Henry Island, where he was -attacked by natives and thence he sailed to Batavia. Thus Captain Cook -by sailing through his Endeavour Strait, now called Torres Strait after -the original navigator, repeated the discovery of Torres after an -interval of more than a century and a half, and the general position -and outline of New Guinea became known to the world. - -After the voyage of Cook many important additions were made to -the charts of New Guinea and its neighbouring islands, notably -by the voyages of La Perouse (1788), John MacCluer (1790-1793), -D’Entrecasteaux (1792-1793), Duperrey (1823-1824), D. H. Kolff (1826), -and Dumont d’Urville (1827-1828). - -But during all this time New Guinea was practically no man’s land, and -except at Dorei and about the MacCluer Gulf explorations were limited -to views from the deck of a ship. Flags were hoisted now and then and -the land taken possession of in the name of various sovereigns and -companies, amongst others by the East India Company in 1793, but no -effective occupation was ever made. The Dutch regained their title -to the Western half of the island, but it was not until 1884 that -a British Protectorate was proclaimed over the S.E. portion of the -island, and over the remainder by Germany in the same year. - -[Sidenote: RECENT EXPLORATION] - -Although numerous naturalists, notably Dr. A. R. Wallace, Von -Rosenberg, and Bernstein, and missionaries had spent considerable -periods of time in the country, no very serious attempt was made to -penetrate into the interior until 1876, when the Italian naturalist, -d’Albertis, explored the Fly River for more than five hundred miles. -Since that time a very large number of expeditions have been undertaken -to various parts of the island, and it will only be possible to mention -a few of them here. In 1885 Captain Everill ascended the Strickland -tributary of the Fly River. In the same year Dr. H. O. Forbes explored -the Owen Stanley range, and in 1889 Sir William Macgregor reached the -highest point of that range. - -In Dutch New Guinea very little exploration was done until the -beginning of the present century. Professor Wichmann made scientific -investigations in the neighbourhood of Humboldt Bay in 1903. Captains -Posthumus Meyes and De Rochemont in 1904 discovered East Bay and the -Noord River, which was explored by Mr. H. A. Lorentz in 1907. - -During the period from 1909 to 1911, whilst our party was in New -Guinea, there were six other expeditions in different parts of the -Dutch territory. On the N. coast a Dutch-German boundary commission was -penetrating inland from Humboldt Bay, and a large party under Capt. -Fransse Herderschee was exploring the Amberno River. On the West and -South coasts an expedition was exploring inland from Fak-fak, another -was surveying the Digoel and Island rivers, and a third made an attempt -to reach the Snow Mountains by way of the Utakwa River. But the most -successful of all the expeditions was that of Mr. Lorentz, who sailed -up the Noord River and in November 1909 reached the snow on Mount -Wilhelmina, two hundred and eighty-six years after the mountains were -first seen by Jan Carstensz. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - - _Sail from the Aru Islands—Sight New Guinea—Distant - Mountains—Signal Fires—Natives in Canoes—A British - Flag—Natives on Board—Their Behaviour—Arrival at - Mimika River—Reception at Wakatimi—Dancing and - Weeping—Landing Stores—View of the Country—Snow - Mountains—Shark-Fishing—Making the Camp—Death of W. - Stalker._ - -[Sidenote: ARRIVAL IN NEW GUINEA] - -When we left the northernmost end of the Aru Islands behind us the -wind rose and torrents of rain descended, and the Arafura Sea, which -is almost everywhere more or less shoal water, treated us to the first -foul weather we had experienced since leaving England. At dawn on the -4th January we found ourselves in sight of land, and about five miles -south of the New Guinea coast. A big bluff mountain (Mount Lakahia) -a southern spur of the Charles Louis range determined our position, -and the head of the _Nias_ was immediately turned to the East. As we -steamed along the coast the light grew stronger, and we saw in the -far North-east pale clouds, which presently resolved themselves into -ghostly-looking mountains one hundred miles away. Soon the rising -sunlight touched them and we could clearly see white patches above -the darker masses of rock and then we knew that these were the Snow -Mountains of New Guinea, which we had come so far to see. Beyond an -impression of their remoteness and their extraordinary steepness we -did not learn much of the formation of the mountains from that great -distance and they were quickly hidden from our view, as we afterwards -found happened daily, by the dense white mists that rose from the -intervening land. - -Following the coast rather more closely we soon found that our approach -was causing some excitement on shore. White columns of the smoke of -signal fires curled up from the low points of the land and canoes -manned by black figures paddled furiously in our wake, while others, -warned doubtless by the signals, put off from the land ahead of us and -endeavoured to intercept us in our course. - -In some of the larger canoes there were as many as twenty men, and very -fine indeed they looked standing up in the long narrow craft which -they urged swiftly forward with powerful rhythmic strokes of their -long-shafted paddles. At the beginning of each stroke the blade of the -paddle is at right angles to the boat. As it is pulled backward the -propelling surface of the paddle is a little rotated outward, a useful -precaution, for the stroke ends with a sudden jerk as the paddle is -lifted from the water and the consequent shower of spray is directed -away from the canoe. - -[Illustration: 1. 2. 3. CARVED WOODEN CLUBS. 4-10. STONE CLUBS.] - -The shore was low and featureless, and it was impossible to identify -the mouths of the rivers from the very inaccurate chart. It was not -safe for the _Nias_ to approach the land closely on account of the -shoal water, so Capt. Van Herwerden dropped anchor when he had been -steaming Eastwards for about eight hours, and sent the steam launch -towards an inlet, where we could see huts, to gather information. A bar -of sand prevented the launch from entering the inlet, so they hailed -a canoe which ventured within speaking distance, and by repeating -several times “Mimika,” the only word of their language that we knew at -that time, learnt that we had overshot our destination by a few miles. -That canoe, it should be noted, was remarkable on account of two of -its crew. One of them held aloft an ancient Union Jack; the other was -conspicuously different from the scores of men in the canoes about us, -who were all frankly in a bare undress, by wearing an old white cotton -jacket fastened by a brass button which was ornamented with the head -of Queen Victoria. How the flag and the coat and the button came to -that outlandish place will never be known, but it is certain that they -must have passed through very many hands before they came there, for -certainly no Englishman had ever been there before. - -When the launch returned to the ship a crowd of natives, fifty or sixty -at the least, came clambering on board leaving only one or two men in -each canoe to paddle after the steamer as we slowly returned towards -the Mimika. Two men were recognised by Capt. Van Herwerden as having -belonged to a party of natives from this coast, who had been taken some -years earlier to Merauke, the Dutch settlement near the southernmost -point of New Guinea. At Merauke they had got into mischief and had -been put in prison from which nine of them escaped, and these two men, -probably the only survivors of the party, had contrived to find their -way along four hundred miles of coast, peopled by hostile tribes, back -to their own country. - -The behaviour of our new fellow passengers was very remarkable and -different from what one expected, though it was obvious enough at the -first glance that these were people totally different from the Malayan -races both in appearance and demeanour; yet there was none of that -exuberance of spirits, child-like curiosity and exhibition of merriment -and delight in their novel surroundings described by Wallace[3] and -Guillemard[4] and which I had myself seen on the coast of German New -Guinea. A few of them shook hands, or rather held hands, with us and -talked loudly and volubly, while the rest stared dumbly at us and -then wandered aimlessly about the ship seeking a chance to steal any -loose piece of metal. They showed no fear nor did they betray any -excitement nor any very keen curiosity about the marvellous things that -they were seeing for the first time. They were quite unmoved by the -spectacle of the windlass lifting up the anchor, and a casual glance -down the skylight of the engine room was enough for most of them. They -appeared to take everything for granted without question, and a stolid -stare was their only recognition of the wonderful works of the white -man’s civilisation. In one respect it is true they were not quite so -apathetic and that was in their appetite for tobacco, which they begged -from everyone on board, brown and white alike. When they had obtained a -supply, they sat in groups about the deck and smoked as unconcernedly -as though a passage in a steamship were an affair of every-day -occurrence in their lives. - -[Sidenote: MOUTH OF THE MIMIKA] - -By the time that we eventually anchored off the mouth of the Mimika -River it was beginning to grow dark, and Capt. Van Herwerden ordered -the natives on board to leave the ship, not having noticed that the -canoes had already departed towards the shore. No doubt this was a -preconcerted scheme of the natives who wanted to stay on board, but by -dint of much shouting two canoes were persuaded to return and take away -some of our passengers. It was then quite dark and there was a white -mist over the sea, and the spectacle of the procession of black figures -passing down the gangway into an apparent abyss, for the canoes were -invisible in the gloom, was singularly weird. There was not room for -all in the canoes, so about a score of fortunate ones had to stop on -board, where they slept in picturesque attitudes about the deck. Five -young men chose a place where the iron cover of the steering chain made -a pillow a few inches high; they lay on their sides all facing the same -way, their arms folded across their chests and their bent knees fitting -into the bend of the knees of the man in front, and so close together -that the five of them occupied a space hardly more than five feet -square. - -Soon after daylight on the following day the steam launch left the -ship with a party to proceed up the Mimika and find a suitable place -for a base-camp. The river has a fine wide mouth about a mile across -guarded by a sand bar, through which runs a narrow channel navigable at -all stages of the tide except during rough weather. For some distance -the river is a noble stream two or three hundred yards wide winding -in fine sweeps between low mangrove-covered banks. About three miles -from the sea the river divides into an East and West branch. The East -branch, the Mimika proper, brings down not more than one-quarter of -the volume of water of the West branch, of which it may be said to be -a tributary. It is remarkable that the party who visited the Mimika in -1902 apparently overlooked the fact that the West branch is actually -the main river. Above the junction of the two branches the water of -the Mimika is of a brown chocolate colour which proclaims it, though -we did not know it at the time, to be a mere jungle stream rising from -comparatively low ground. The water of the West branch on the contrary -is pale in colour and at times of flood almost milky-white, being -charged with lime-stone from the high mountains where it rises. - -[Sidenote: A WELCOME OF TEARS] - -Proceeding for two or three miles up the Mimika, which had become above -the junction a comparatively insignificant stream forty or fifty yards -across and very tortuous, the exploring party in the steam launch -arrived at the village of Wakatimi situated on the right bank of the -river. The village was crowded with natives, numbering perhaps one -thousand people, who gave the visitors a most remarkable reception. As -soon as the boat appeared in sight the natives crowded down to the bank -and shouted shrilly, men, women and children. When they came nearer -the people threw themselves into the shallow water and many of them -plastered themselves with mud, while the women performed their curious -dance, if dance it can be called. It is not a concerted performance, -but rather a _pas seul_ executed by each woman independently of the -others, and it is a peculiarly ungraceful exhibition. The body is bent -forward from the hips, the hands rest on the knees or on the hips, and -then with a shuffling movement of the feet the woman swings herself -from side to side or up and down, always presenting her back and the -narrow strip of barkcloth, which usually hangs down like a tail behind, -to the astonished gaze of the spectator. She sings all the while a -monotonous whining chant and occasionally looks back over her shoulder, -as if to see that the onlooker is properly appreciative of her charms. -Many of the people both men and women on this and other occasions of -great excitement were so overcome with emotion that they actually shed -tears of rapture.[5] For many days after this boats were constantly -coming up the river from the ship, and they were always welcomed in a -similar manner by the natives. - -The river was explored for a few miles further up, but the only -suitable place for a camp was found to be on the left bank of the river -immediately opposite to Wakatimi. Lieut. Cramer and a party of his -soldiers established themselves there the same afternoon and the work -of clearing the ground and landing the stores was immediately begun. -The _Nias_ was anchored about two miles outside the river and the -launch went very slowly when it had two or three heavily laden boats -to tow against the strong current of the river, so the business of -landing the expedition was a very slow one, and as there was at first -but very little space for pitching tents on the camping ground some -of us remained for a few days on board. During those days that were -spent on the ship outside the Mimika we had opportunities in the early -morning of getting a general idea of the broad features of the country. - -At the top of the white sandy beach was in most places a narrow belt of -_Casuarina_ trees, which are accustomed to grow on sandy or stony soil. -They resemble pines and their pale stems have a fresh green foliage, -which is a pleasing contrast to the dense monotonous green of the -majority of the trees in the country. Behind the _Casuarina_ belt dense -jungle, for the first few miles consisting entirely of Mangroves and -beyond that of various trees, extends with hardly any rise of altitude -to the foot of the mountains thirty miles away. This last observation -was one of supreme importance and it affected the whole prospect and -conduct of the expedition. Those of us who had been to New Guinea -before had been accustomed to seeing a steep shore rising very quickly -to the hills. This is the usual formation along practically the whole -of the North coast of the island, also along a considerable extent of -the South-east coast and again on the West coast in the neighbourhood -of MacCluer Gulf. It was known of course that the South coast on both -sides of the mouth of the Fly River and about Prince Frederick Henry -Island was low swampy country, but it was assumed that, considering the -fact that the highest peaks of the Snow Mountains were known to be not -more than seventy miles from the sea, the foothills would certainly -extend to within a short distance of the coast. - -[Sidenote: VIEW OF THE MOUNTAINS] - -Before we had reached the country we had had the idea that in a few -days’ march we should find ourselves in the hills at perhaps three or -four thousand feet above the sea, but the view of the country which we -saw from the _Nias_ effectually put an end to any hopes of that kind. -It is probable that more searching enquiries made at Batavia would have -revealed the existence of this wide belt of low land, but it seldom -occurs to you to question the truth of such an assumption. However that -may be, a serious mistake was made and we paid for it dearly enough. -The mountains appeared to rise very steeply from the low ground, and -seen from a distance they appeared to be composed of parallel ridges -lying one behind the other, each one successively higher than the one -in front of it. It was only in certain lights, and more particularly -when the clouds began to form on them, that you could distinguish deep -and narrow valleys running into the mountains. The nearer ranges rose -steeply enough, but were not too steep to be covered with dense forest -easily discernible from a distance. The furthermost ridge on the other -hand rose in huge precipices of bare rock, which showed reddish yellow -in the morning sunlight with here and there downward stripes of black -colour, presumably water, and in other places streaks of pure white -rock. This precipice, of which more will be said later, grew smaller -towards the West until it ended at the deep valley, which divides the -Snow Mountains from the range of the Charles Louis Mountains. - -In the opposite direction towards the East the range rises gradually, -until at a point about North-east from the Mimika three snow-capped -tops are seen. I use the word “top” advisedly, for these three points -are not peaks but are elevations on an otherwise fairly even mountain -outline. The vertical extent of the snow is not very great, a few -hundred feet at the most, the South face of the mountain being so steep -that snow cannot lie on it save on the horizontal terraces of the -strata, which could plainly be distinguished. Continuing the ridge East -from the three snow tops (Mount Idenburg) is a long plain of almost -level snow about three miles long. From the East end of the snow plain -a ridge of shattered rock, looking like Dolomite towers from that great -distance, forms a connection with Mount Carstensz, the highest point of -the range. - -Seen from afar, Mount Carstensz appears to be of a different formation -from the rest of the range. Mr. Dumas of the Dutch Expedition to the -Utakwa River clearly identified masses of slate on the Southern face -from a distance of twenty miles, and this would quite account for its -different appearance. There are two principal tops, a Western black and -irregular rock with scattered patches of snow, and an Eastern top more -even in its outline and entirely covered with snow. Between the two a -glacier of moderate size flows down the South face of the mountain. -Still further East from Mount Carstensz could be seen yet other ridges, -apparently a continuation of the Carstensz ridge. Occasionally these -were covered with snow in the early morning, but no other points of -permanent snow could be seen from the Mimika, and indeed there is no -other until Mount Wilhelmina is reached more than one hundred miles -to the East. But studying the mountains with field glasses was an -occupation which could only be pursued for a short time, for the clouds -formed early on the ridges and by nine o’clock at the latest all the -higher mountains were hidden from view. - -During the first two days that we lay off the Mimika we were visited by -numbers of natives in canoes, who came some to trade and some merely -to stare at the ship and the people on board. The articles that they -brought for sale consisted chiefly of fish, coconuts and bananas of -a very poor kind, though we afterwards came to regard these latter -as a delicious luxury. They also brought a few young pigs, young -cassowaries, and other birds and they received payment in beads, scraps -of cloth, empty bottles and tins and pieces of metal. It is worth while -to record, as showing the indolence of these people, that on the third -day no natives came to visit us. Those who had before come to look at -us had presumably satisfied their curiosity, while the others who had -come to barter were content with the treasures they had won, although -they might have added greatly to their wealth if they had had the -energy to catch a few fish or pick a few more coconuts. - -[Sidenote: FISHING FOR SHARKS] - -Another occupation, which served to pass the time, was fishing for -the sharks with which that shallow sea abounds. They are blunt-nosed -animals with large dusky patches on the skin. It is very seldom that -you see them at the surface of the water, and they appear to feed -always at the bottom. The first that was caught was found to be full of -fragments of large crabs. Nobody on board was found willing to eat the -flesh, though it is probable that a few months afterwards they would -have been less fastidious, so the fish was thrown overboard, and an -hour or two later a second shark, a monster about twelve feet long, was -hauled, on board, and on being opened it was found to be full of large -undigested lumps of (presumably) the first. - -On January 8th those of us who had remained on the _Nias_ left the ship -and proceeded to Wakatimi, where we found that Lieut. Cramer and his -men had already done an immense amount of work in clearing the ground -for the camp. It appeared that the place chosen had been cleared of -forest at some time, for there were no large trees growing on it, but -it was covered with a dense jungle of shrubs and small trees, a foot or -so in thickness and a tangle of creepers. Already in four days a strip -along the river bank about eighty yards long and thirty yards wide had -been cleared of bush, and as time went on the clearing was gradually -extended until there were twenty acres or more of open ground about the -camp. - -During the first two or three days the natives, who had assembled -in large numbers at the village of Wakatimi, helped a good deal in -clearing the ground and landing the stores. When the steam launch -towing the laden boats arrived at the camp they fell upon the boats -in hordes and quickly carried everything up the steep mud bank, but -this amusement palled upon them very soon, and they stood about doing -nothing and hampered the men at their work of unpacking. Accordingly a -stout wooden fence was built about the landward side of the camp and -over this they were content to gaze from morning till night. They stood -packed together five or six deep, and the press of those at the back -trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on was so great that two -or three times the fence fell bodily inwards, and with it a struggling -mass of black humanity; but it was not many days before their curiosity -was satisfied, and though they did not afford us very much assistance -it was fortunate that they were not inclined to molest or interfere -with us in any way. - -[Sidenote: OUR FIRST LOSS] - -We had only been in our camp at Wakatimi for one day and it already -seemed as if the place was beginning to show some sign of order, when -a melancholy tragedy threw a gloom over the spirits of the whole -expedition. On the afternoon of January 9th Mr. Wilfred Stalker, who -had had plenty of experience of tropical and Australian jungles, went -out from the camp taking his collecting gun to shoot some birds. The -usual daily rain began at about four o’clock, but as we were all busy -with various occupations in our tents his absence was not noticed until -after six o’clock, when it was already pitch dark and the rain was -falling in torrents. Beyond the camp was dense jungle intersected by -creeks and pools of water, difficult enough to traverse by day but -absolutely impassable in darkness, so there was nothing to be done that -night but to hope anxiously that Stalker’s bushcraft had prompted him -to make a shelter of some kind, if disaster had not already overtaken -him. At dawn Lieut. Cramer sent out parties of soldiers in all -directions, and soon all of us, Europeans, Gurkhas, and native soldiers -were out searching and shouting and firing shots. With some difficulty -we explained to the natives what had happened, and we offered them -large rewards if they were successful in finding him, and many of them -joined with us; but though the ground was carefully quartered and the -search was continued all that day and a part of the next not a trace -of him was found anywhere, and it was evidently hopeless that he could -ever be found alive. On the second day, when the search had been -abandoned, the natives were convinced of his fate, and two of the more -important people came over from the village and wailed loudly outside -his empty tent. - -On January 12th all doubts as to his end were set at rest when a canoe -manned by four Papuans, smeared with mud as their custom is in such -circumstances, brought back his body from a creek about half a mile -from the camp, where it had been found. Up to that moment there had -been present in our minds the horrid suspicion that he might perhaps -have fallen the victim to foul play. We thought that natives finding -him wandering alone might have been tempted by his possessions and have -murdered him, but it was evidently not so and we could only hope that -by drowning death had come swiftly to him. - -[Illustration: CAMP OF THE EXPEDITION AT WAKATIMI.] - -[Illustration: A HOUSE FOR CEREMONIES, MIMIKA.] - -[Sidenote: WILFRED STALKER] - -We buried him under a tree about one hundred yards behind the camp, and -in the absence of the leader of the expedition, who had gone away with -Rawling and Cramer to reconnoitre the river above Wakatimi, I read the -short burial service. Besides Marshall and Shortridge and myself there -were a Dutch soldier, two convicts and about fifty Papuans, who stood -quietly in a wide circle about the grave. I think the ninetieth psalm -was never read to a more remarkable congregation. The grave was the -first of the graves of many who left their bones in New Guinea. - -Wilfred Stalker was in his thirty-first year when he died. Previously -he had spent many years as a naturalist in Australia and several months -in New Guinea. Early in 1909 he returned to the East where he spent a -part of his time in engaging coolies for the New Guinea Expedition, -and he had time to make an interesting journey in the Island of Ceram, -where he made a remarkable zoological collection. He joined us at -Amboina on January 1st so that we had not time to know him well, but -his unflagging energy in the preparations at the base-camp, where -he landed with the first party, showed that he was a man whom the -expedition could ill afford to lose. - - - - -CHAPTER V - - - _Arrival of our Ambonese—Coolie Considerations—Canoes - of the Natives—Making Canoes—Preliminary Exploration of - the Mimika—Variable Tides—Completing the Camp—A Plague - of Flies—Also of Crickets—Making “Atap”—Trading with the - Natives—Trade Goods._ - -After all the stores and equipment of the expedition had been landed -at Wakatimi, an operation which took six days and some ten or more -journeys of the steam launch towing many boats to accomplish, the -_Nias_ returned to Dobo, and brought back from there on the 14th -January our Ambonese coolies, who had arrived there by mail steamer -from Amboina. To those of us who had had experience of native carriers -in other countries, the appearance of the ninety-six Ambonese came as -something of a shock. When the boats crowded with them came within -sight of the camp the natives cried out that our women were coming, and -they might well be excused for their mistake. With their wide straw -hats and coloured coats and shirts and gay _sarongs_ they had not much -the appearance of men, and we wondered what sort of people they would -be to force a way through the trackless country. When they landed, our -first impression of their unsuitableness was rather strengthened than -otherwise. Every man (to give them a dignity which very few of them -deserved) had a large wooden or tin box as well as a huge bundle of -bedding and mats. Their average age appeared to be about sixteen years, -and though they were said to be the best men obtainable in Amboina, the -physique of most of them was wretched. It was evidently useless to keep -so many feeble creatures, so it was decided to keep fifty of the more -promising and send the rest back to Amboina by the _Nias_, which was -waiting at the mouth of the Mimika until the following day. The whole -gang was paraded and a more hopeless looking lot it would be hard to -imagine. With great difficulty we picked out fifty who, though they had -little appearance of strength, were not obviously crippled by disease, -and the forty-six others were sent away without having done a single -day’s work. - -[Illustration: CANOE-MAKING: ROUGHLY SHAPING THE FELLED TREE.] - -[Sidenote: AMBONESE COOLIES] - -The question of coolies, as we were to find by bitter experience during -the ensuing months, is the point that determines the success or failure -of an expedition. Mr. Stalker had left England charged with the duty -of engaging coolies for this expedition. It was hoped that he would be -able to get a number of men in the Ké Islands, but failing to engage -them there he had seen in Amboina his only chance of recruiting a -sufficient number of men. No blame can be attached to him, for he had -had no experience of the kind before and his instructions were not very -detailed, but it was a mistake which seriously delayed the progress of -the expedition. - -As well as the trouble involved in trying to make a silk purse of -efficient coolies out of the sow’s ear of the Amboina rabble we were -confronted by another difficulty of transport. It has been mentioned -above (page 43) that before we arrived in the country it was expected -that we should find rising ground close to the sea, and that in a few -days’ journey at the most we should reach an altitude of three thousand -feet or upwards, but the discovery that there was a tract of level -country hardly above sea level extending from the coast to the foot of -the mountains thirty miles inland entirely upset our calculations. Had -we known this before we should necessarily have brought a launch and -boats to tow our stores up the many miles of navigable river, and by so -doing we should have saved ourselves many weeks of valuable time and -an infinity of labour. It is worth while to record this fact, not for -the object of drawing attention to any deficiencies in the organisation -of the expedition, but to demonstrate the uselessness of entering an -unknown country without having made a preliminary reconnaissance. - -An urgent message was despatched to the Navy Department in Java begging -them to supply us with a steam launch at the earliest opportunity, but -communications are slow in that part of the world, and it was not until -ten weeks afterwards that the launch arrived at the Mimika. Its career -was brief and inglorious. It made two or three journeys at snail’s pace -up the river before it finally broke down altogether and was sent back -to Java. - -In June we purchased from the pearlfishers at Dobo a petrol -motor-boat, which made several successful trips up the river towing -large quantities of stores, and then it was badly damaged by coming -into violent contact with a sunken tree, and it was several months -before it could be repaired sufficiently to float. Thus it happened -that nearly all the river transport of the expedition was laboriously -carried out in canoes. - -[Sidenote: THE NATIVE CANOE] - -The canoes used by the natives on the Mimika and neighbouring rivers -are simple “dug-outs,” that is they are made from one tree trunk -without any joinery at all. They vary considerably in size but the -length of an average canoe is about thirty-five feet. The sides curve -inward towards the gunwale so that in section the canoe forms a large -segment of a circle. The breadth at the gunwale is about eighteen -inches and the breadth at the widest part from eighteen to twenty-four -inches. The gunwales are almost horizontal, though in some boats there -is a considerable “sheer” towards the end of the canoe. They end in a -square bow and at the stern they come together to a fine point. The -bottom of a canoe—there is no keel—slopes finely up from the middle -towards the ends so that when the canoe is afloat several feet of its -length at bow and stern are out of water. - -The square bow of the canoe is carved in a more or less symmetrical -fashion and there is usually a narrow margin of ornamental carving at -intervals along the sides. A common feature of this carving, as also of -the other native ornaments, is an object which is intended to represent -the human eye. Occasionally they attach to the bow of the canoe, one -on either side and one in the middle, three long boards carved in a -sort of fretwork manner and painted red and white. These project about -four feet in front of the bow and give it somewhat the appearance of a -bird’s beak. The inside of the canoe is sometimes whitened with lime -or sago powder but is otherwise not ornamented. A few feet from the -stern, where the bottom begins to slope upwards, a low partition of -wood is left forming as it were a sort of bulkhead; the space behind -this is filled with sand on which a fire is kept burning. - -Before we came to the country the whole business of canoe-making -from the first felling of the tree to the final hollowing out of -the inside was done with stone axes and the carving was done with -sharpened shells, a labour which it is difficult to realise, so it is -not surprising that the natives take very great care of their boats. -They never allow water to stand in them for long, and at the end of -a storm of rain the first thing they do is to go to the river and -bail the water out of their canoes, which they do by scooping it out -with the blade of a paddle. They also take good care of the outside -and frequently char them with fire to kill the worms, which otherwise -quickly destroy wood in brackish water. - -The tree most commonly used for making canoes is _Octomeles moluccana_, -which has a smooth pale trunk devoid of branches for a long way above -the ground. When they can do so they choose a tree growing close to the -river bank, but this is not always possible and we found a place where -a tree for a canoe had been felled fully three hundred yards from the -water. The trunk is roughly shaped where it lies and is then hauled -with immense toil over logs laid on a rough track to the river; thence -it is towed to the village where the hollowing and shaping is done at -leisure. We saw a large number of canoes made at Parimau, and in -nearly every case the balance was perfect when they were first put into -the water. - -[Illustration: CANOES, FINISHED AND UNFINISHED.] - -The canoes are usually propelled by paddles with long thin shafts and -wide blades which are often beautifully carved, but in shallow places -or rapid water the natives generally employ a long pole in the use of -which they are very expert. It is easy enough to stand up and paddle or -pole in large canoes, but the smaller craft are very top-heavy, and the -natives perform wonderful feats of balancing in navigating them. Their -education begins early for we saw in one of the villages small canoes -three or four feet long, in which the children begin to learn the craft -of the waterman almost before they have learned to walk. - -[Sidenote: PURCHASING CANOES] - -Though the people value their canoes very highly they were anxious -enough to part with them in exchange for our knives and pieces of -metal, of which they had none at all, and we very soon had a small -fleet of canoes. The first two were bought for a knife apiece, but the -price soon rose to an axe for a canoe, and in the course of several -months it had still further risen to two axes or even two axes and a -knife. - -Within a few days of the arrival of our coolies we had purchased half -a dozen canoes and preparations were made to send an exploring party -up the river. At that time we were none of us skilful canoe-men and it -was considered safer to use the canoes as rafts by lashing two side by -side and securing a platform of bamboos across the top. This was a most -cumbrous arrangement which added enormously to the labour of paddling, -and after the first journey it was never repeated. - -On the 18th January, Goodfellow, Rawling, and Shortridge with -twenty-four coolies, six Gurkhas, and a small party of Javanese -soldiers in the charge of a Dutch sergeant started up the river. They -took with them about a dozen natives, hoping that they would work -hard at paddling and would be useful in other ways, but they were a -perpetual nuisance calling out for their wives and wanting to stop to -eat or sleep; they finished by stealing one of the canoes and deserting -the night before they would have been sent back to their homes. With -them went another of our cherished illusions that we should be able to -get a great deal of assistance from the natives of the country. The -party proceeded up the river at an incredibly slow rate on account of -the clumsy rafts, and for four days saw no signs of inhabitants. On the -fifth day they found one isolated hut, and two days later after passing -a few scattered huts they arrived at the village of Parimau, above -which place the river appeared to be hardly navigable. - -The welcome accorded to the party by the natives of Parimau was as -enthusiastic as that at Wakatimi described above, the people showing -their delight by smearing themselves with mud and shedding copious -tears. During the following days, when a camp was being made, hundreds -of natives flocked into the place to see the strange white men, who -were exhibited to the new-comers with a sort of proprietary air by the -natives of Parimau. - -[Sidenote: TIDES OF THE RIVER] - -In the meantime a great deal of work was necessary to put in order -the base-camp at Wakatimi, and to render it secure against an attack, -should the natives ever alter their friendly attitude towards us. The -bush was completely cleared for some distance and a stout fence built -about the camp. Then it was found that at high tide, and especially at -spring tide, a large part of the camp was flooded and this necessitated -a great amount of levelling and trenching and banking, a task which -appealed to the fenland instinct of Cramer. The tide made itself felt -in the river for several miles above Wakatimi, where there was a rise -and fall of about ten feet, but the exact tidal movements were very -difficult to recognise. On some days two tides were distinctly seen, -while on many others there appeared to be only one. Their movements -were further complicated by the very variable amount of water brought -down by the river. Sometimes the river was almost stagnant, but at -other times it swept down bank-high with a strong current for days at a -time, and no flow of the tide could be noticed. The river Watuka, which -joins the Mimika a few miles below Wakatimi, had a much greater volume -of water than the latter river, and often when the tide was rising its -waters were easily recognisable by their white colour floating up past -the camp and holding back the waters of the Mimika in the same way that -the Blue Nile, when it is in flood, forms a pond of the White Nile. - -It was unfortunate that no suitable place for the base-camp could be -found above the tidal water, because it increased the difficulty of -supplying the camp with drinking water, and at times when there was -not much fresh water coming down the river the ebb and flow of the tide -washed the refuse backwards and forwards in front of the camp. Water -was boiled and filtered every day in quantities large enough for every -man in the camp to have as much as he wished, but the value of this -precaution was to a large extent neutralised by the Malay habit of -washing out the mouth with the water in which the man bathes. - -A wooden landing stage for canoes was built out over the muddy bank, -and a bathing place was cut off from the river by a wooden fence -to protect bathers from crocodiles and sharks, both of which were -occasionally seen, but as the natives bathed constantly without showing -any fear of either animal the precaution was perhaps needless. - -[Sidenote: FLIES AND CRICKETS] - -At that time when the ground was being cleared we began to be plagued -by large blue-bottle flies, which swarmed about the camp and laid their -eggs everywhere. One of their favourite laying grounds was in our -bedding, which in a hot damp climate must always be hung out to air -when the sun shines. You would find two folds of your blanket stuck -together with horrible masses of eggs and if, as sometimes happened, -you did not scrape them all away you would wake up at night and find -yourself crawling with maggots. There are some people who are afraid of -spiders, but the most timorous of mortals must find the homely spider -preferable to the loathsome blow fly. The house where we mostly lived -at Wakatimi and where we had our meals was immediately filled with -blue-bottles the moment our food was brought in, so we encouraged the -larger sort of spider to live there and one old fellow who lived under -the corner of the table used to come out at meal times and take his -toll of flies, and in the course of time he became so tame that he -would take a living fly out of your fingers. - -At the same time, and indeed during the whole of our stay in the -country, we were greatly annoyed by the depredations of very large -crickets. Not content with making a most distracting noise by night -these horrible creatures did endless damage to our eatable possessions. -They invaded the sacks in which we kept our scanty garments, socks, -vests and the like, and riddled them into holes, and they appeared to -have a special partiality for sponges and brushes, which they devoured -completely. Even more serious were their attacks on folded tents or -sacks of rice and flour, which had to be constantly taken out of the -store houses and repaired. When these things were taken out of the -house a large number of crickets were taken out too, and then was the -chance for the Kingfishers (_Halcyon sanctus_) which darted down and -snapped them up. A pair of these beautiful little birds haunted the -camp and became so tame that they would fly down from the roof of a -house and pick up a cricket within a foot or two of a man. - -[Sidenote: BUILDING MATERIAL] - -When the ground had been well cleared and levelled, we set about the -business of building barracks for the men and store houses for the -provisions and equipment. The Dutch contingent had brought with them -regulation army barrack frames, pieces of seasoned wood of definite -lengths which are fitted together by bolts and screws, and form the -skeleton of excellent houses. We had nothing of the kind, but the -jungle supplied plenty of wood and our houses, though less regular than -those of the Dutch, were very soon built. It is easy enough to put up -the framework of a house in a place where there is plenty of timber, -but the walls and the roof are a more difficult matter. Fortunately the -natives were adepts in the art of making “atap,” which they use for -roofing their own huts, and they were soon eagerly making it for us in -exchange for our trade goods. - -[Illustration: MAKING “ATAP” FOR ROOFING.] - -The best “atap” is made from the leaves of the Nipa palm (_Nipa -fruticans_) which grows abundantly in the swampy country. Almost -equally good “atap” can be made from the Sago palm, but the leaves of -the Coconut palm shrivel quickly and are of no use for the purpose. The -method of the manufacture of “atap” is briefly as follows: Leaflets of -the palm are stripped from the stem, which is then split into three or -four sticks of about an inch and a half in diameter and five or six -feet in length. The man begins by taking up a leaf and folding it in -the middle, thus breaking the mid-rib of the leaf. He then frees the -mid-rib from the surrounding leaf for a short distance and breaks off -a piece about three inches long for use presently. Then holding the -stick near the end he pushes the free end of the mid-rib, which is -separated from the leaf, into the soft substance of the stick and folds -the leaf once round the stick in such a way that its two free ends lie -one upon the other. He then clips together the free ends with the -short piece he had broken from the mid-rib. He then repeats the process -with another leaf, making each one slightly overlap the last, until the -stick is completely covered with folded leaves. It should be said that -each leaf is about three inches wide and four feet long so that the -free ends, when the leaf is folded, lie about two feet from the stick. -“Atap” is always made by the men, never by the women, and a quick -worker will make a complete piece in about ten minutes. - -The method of roofing with “atap” is very simple. Pieces are fixed by -strands of rattan to the timbers of the roofing beginning from below -and overlapping each other like tiles. The stick end of the “atap” is -uppermost and the free ends point downwards. When there is no lack of -“atap” and the pieces can be laid on the roof very closely together it -forms a most efficient thatch, which keeps the house tolerably cool in -the hot weather and is impervious to the heaviest downfall of rain. - -The demand for “atap” started our regular trade with the natives, it -brought us into friendly relations with them and they soon discovered -that they could put confidence in us. When they found that we really -paid them, as we promised, in beads and cloth, there was keen -competition in the “atap” trade and they brought us as much as we -wanted. For a few pieces only they received beads, while for ten pieces -and upwards we paid them in cloth and they adopted various tricks to -obtain cloth, when they knew that the amount they brought was only -worth beads. One of their dodges was to bring old pieces of “atap” -from their own houses to increase the size of the pile, and sometimes -a man would steal two or three pieces from the pile of another man -who had already been paid, but they were always found out and were -not in the least ashamed of themselves. It was important to keep the -price low, because we very well knew that when the people had obtained -as much cloth and as many beads as they wanted they would never do -any more work, and that did occur after a few months. They greatly -enjoyed a little foolery. For instance, when you were paying them in -cloth it was much more appreciated if you wound it artistically about -the recipient’s head than if you merely thrust it into his hands; and -in paying a man in beads it was thought a great joke if you let them -slowly trickle into his palm out of your closed fist. His smile would -grow with the pile of beads in his hand, and he always hoped to find -some more concealed between your fingers. - -In addition to “atap” they also brought other things for trade, -sometimes fish from the sea which were generally uneatable, and -sometimes delicious prawns six or eight inches long from the river -estuary. There was a constant trade in coconuts which grew in some -numbers about Wakatimi, and occasionally we bought a bunch of bananas. -Living birds of many kinds, cassowaries, pigeons, kingfishers, lories -and parrots were often brought for sale, but the poor creatures were -generally taken straight from the nest, and the soldiers and coolies -who bought them quickly stuffed them to death with rice. Some of the -lories throve and became tame enough to fly about at liberty, and the -cassowaries became quite a pest in the camp. - -[Sidenote: TRADING WITH THE NATIVES] - -So keen did the people become on trading that they would barter all -their worldly possessions for European goods. Stone clubs and axes, -bows and arrows, spears and drums, the skulls of their forebears, -indeed all their moveable goods were brought to us for exchange. It may -sound rather a mean transaction to buy from a Papuan a stone axe, which -has probably been in his family for generations, for a small knife or -coloured handkerchief, but he was always delighted with the exchange -and when both parties to it are satisfied a bargain may be considered a -just one. - -Our trade goods consisted mostly of coloured beads, red cloth, knives -of various sizes, and axes. Of these the red cloth was by far the most -useful and the most sought after. The Dutch had cloth of various shades -and patterns, but the natives, with a true eye for colour, knew that -our red stuff suited their dark skins better than any shade of green -or blue. The axes were given in exchange for canoes, and knives were -mostly used to pay the men who carried for us in the interior. Fish -hooks were greatly appreciated by the natives of the coast villages, -but the Jews’ harps of which we had a large quantity, though they -are greatly in demand among the Papuans of British New Guinea and in -some of the Pacific Islands, were of no use to us for trade, and the -few we gave away were used either as ornaments round the neck or as -ear-rings. There was always a great demand for cast-off clothing, but -a Papuan wearing a pair of tattered trousers or a fragment of a shirt -was so unpleasant to look at and he generally became so demoralised -in character, that we made it a rule not to give them any of our -rags. Empty bottles were of course greatly sought after and the many -thousands of tins which we emptied during the course of the expedition -were wealth untold to a people, who up to that time had possessed no -sort of vessel. - -[Illustration: PAPUAN WOMAN CANOEING UP THE MIMIKA. - -(_Smoke is seen from the fire in the stern._)] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - - _Difficulties of Food—Coolies’ Rations—Choice - of Provisions—Transporting Supplies up the - Mimika—Description of the River—A Day’s Work—Monotonous - Scenery—Crowned Pigeons—Birds of Paradise and - Others—Snakes, Bees and other Creatures—Rapids and Clear - Water—The Seasons—Wind—Rain—Thunderstorms—Halley’s Comet._ - -One of the principal obstacles in the way of successful exploration -in Dutch New Guinea is the lack of food in the country itself. It is -true that in the low-lying swampy districts near the coast there are -plenty of Sago-palms, but the majority of Malays are not sago eaters -except under compulsion, and the preparation of sago to make it only -tolerably palatable is a tedious business. Moreover the first object of -an expedition to the mountains is to leave the swamps behind as soon -as possible. So it follows that every scrap of food, for the coolies -as well as for the Europeans, has to be brought into the country from -outside, and it will be evident that, when the means of transport -are distressingly slow, the provisions must diminish considerably in -quantity as they are carried towards the interior. - -[Sidenote: SUPPLIES] - -The mainstay of the food of Malay coolies and soldiers is rice, of -which the daily ration is one _katti_ (1-1/3 pounds); to this is -added about a quarter of a pound of dried meat or dried fish. Once or -twice a week the rice was replaced by _kachang ijau_, a small round -green bean, which is supposed to be of use in preventing the onset of -beri-beri, though it is very doubtful whether this is the case; the -beans are boiled and are eaten either with salt or with brown Javanese -sugar. A full ration for a coolie also includes tea, coffee, salt and -chillies. When it is remembered that the numbers of the expedition -were never less than one hundred and twenty and were often more than -one hundred and sixty, and since it was considered advisable always -to have a supply for several months in advance in the eventuality of -communication with Amboina becoming impossible, it can be imagined that -the amount of stores necessary for the whole party was no small thing. -The management of the stores of Cramer’s party alone, of which every -detail had to be accounted for to the Government, occupied the full -time of a Dutch sergeant and a native clerk. - -Not only was a great deal of labour involved in dealing with such -an immense bulk of stores, but there was considerable difficulty -in preserving them from the ill effects of the climate. Our first -consignment of rice arrived in sacks, and the futility of that method -of packing was apparent, when a great quantity of it was spoilt by a -shower of rain between the steamer and the base-camp. The next lot -was packed in tins with lids; when these were turned upside down the -rice trickled out or water trickled in, and again a large quantity was -lost or spoilt. After that it was put into tins of which the tops were -soldered down, but even that was not quite successful, for it often -happened that a pin-hole was left unsoldered, through which moisture -would eventually find its way and the rice be spoilt. - -Even more difficult than the rice to keep dry were the dried fish -and dried meat, which were sent to us packed in wooden boxes; the -stuff quickly became sodden from the moisture-laden atmosphere, and -although we kept coolies constantly employed in drying it in the sun, -an enormous amount of it became rotten and was thrown away. The only -effectual method of preserving the dried meat and fish is to seal it up -like the rice in soldered tins. The tin always used for this purpose -is the rectangular tin in which kerosene oil is imported to the East; -filled with rice it weighs about forty pounds. - -In writing the history of this expedition I should not be honest if I -were to refrain from mentioning the fact that some of our own stores -were, to say the least, ill-chosen. It appeared that a large quantity -of stores had been bought from the Shackleton Expedition, which had -returned from the Antarctic a few months before we left England. -However suitable those provisions may have been for a Polar expedition, -they were not the sort of thing one would have chosen for a journey in -the Tropics. For instance, large tins of “bully-beef” are excellent in -a cold climate, but when you open them near the Equator you find that -they consist of pallid lumps of pink flesh swimming in a nasty gravy. -Pea-soup and pea-flour, of which we had nearly four hundred pounds’ -weight, strike terror into the stoutest heart, when the temperature is -86° in the shade. Pickles are all very well in their way for those that -like them, but one hundred and sixty bottles was more than a generous -allowance. _Punch_, in commenting on a newspaper misprint which stated -that “the British Ornithologists Union Expedition to Papua was joined -at Singapore by ten pickled Gurkhas,” suggested that it was “no doubt -a misprint for gherkins.” We were glad that Mr. Punch was mistaken and -that we had not increased our store of pickles at Singapore. - -The packing was almost as remarkable as the choice of the stores -themselves: they were secured in strong packing cases of large and -variable size fastened with bands of iron and an incredible number of -nails, suitable enough to withstand the banging of Polar storms, but -not well adapted to their present purpose. The boxes were all too big -for convenient transport, and as each one was filled with food of one -kind only every box had to be opened at once and a selection made from -them. - -[Sidenote: SUPPLIES] - -Here it must be said that, in response to our comments on the stores -and the packing, the Committee sent out to us an excellent supply of -provisions from Messrs. Fortnum and Mason, properly packed in light -“Vanesta” cases. These reached us at the end of August and during the -rest of our stay in the country we fared well. - -[Illustration: JANGBIR AND HERKAJIT, GURKHAS.] - -We took with us a small supply of whisky and brandy, which was often -acceptable, and I believe that in an excessively damp climate a small -quantity of alcohol may be beneficial. The Dutch took with them dry -Hollands gin, which is drunk with a small quantity of bitters before -dinner; it certainly has the effect of coaxing your appetite for tinned -foods, all of which, when you have lived on them for a few months, have -the same dull taste. - -It may be thought that the above discourse on the subject of food -is unduly long, but I shall make no apology for it, because equally -with the question of transport the question of food is of paramount -importance. The recital of some of the mistakes that we made may -serve as a warning to others, who wish to visit a similar district. -In countries like Africa and many parts of Asia, where the people -cultivate the soil and where there are numbers of game animals, you may -always look forward to varying your fare with some fresh food, either -animal or vegetable; but when you go to New Guinea you must be prepared -to live wholly on dried and tinned foods, and that is only possible -when they are varied and of the best manufacture. - -[Sidenote: THE MIMIKA RIVER] - -During the first months of our stay in New Guinea most of the energies -of the expedition were spent in transporting supplies from the -base-camp at Wakatimi to the camp at Parimau up the Mimika River. And -indeed it may be said that this was one of the principal occupations of -the expedition from beginning to end; for our coolies were very soon -worn out by sickness and the unaccustomed labour, so that they had to -be sent back to their homes, and by the time that a fresh batch of -coolies arrived in the country the store of provisions at Parimau was -exhausted and the process of taking up a fresh supply had to be begun -again. - -It was not until our third batch of coolies came at the end of -December, that we were able to accumulate enough stores at Parimau -to serve as a base for a moderately long expedition from that place. -Before that time it had never been possible to make a longer march than -three days from Parimau, and there had been long periods when from -lack of coolies everything had been at a standstill. Those times were -of course excessively trying both to the health and to the tempers of -the members of the expedition. It was irksome beyond words to see day -after day the mountains in the distance and to be unable to move a step -nearer to them. - -[Illustration: HAULING CANOES UP THE MIMIKA.] - -The distance from Wakatimi to Parimau, though only twenty-two miles as -the crow flies, was about forty miles by water, and it took from five -to seven days, according to the state of the river, to accomplish the -journey in canoes. While the coolies were still comparatively fresh, -we sometimes sent off as many as six canoes at a time from Wakatimi to -Parimau, but with sickness and fatigue their numbers quickly diminished -and two or three canoes laden with stores, accompanied by one “escort” -canoe manned by Javanese soldiers and convicts, was the size of the -usual river “transport.” The larger canoes were paddled by five or six -and the smaller by four men; the average load carried by one canoe was -about eight hundred pounds’ weight, of which a considerable amount -was consumed on the journey. The men were given one day’s rest at -Parimau, they came down the river in two days and rested for two days -at Wakatimi before starting up the river again. One of us accompanied -them on nearly every journey with a view to preventing the men from -lingering too many days on the voyage and partly as a protection from -the natives, who paid great respect to us but were inclined to behave -rudely to the coolies, if they were not accompanied by an European. - -Those days of canoeing up the Mimika River were some of the most -monotonous of my life and I shall never forget them. For the first -few miles above Wakatimi the river is about as wide as the Thames at -Windsor, the banks are covered with smallish trees with here and there -clumps of palm trees, from which fresh young coconuts may be gathered. -Occasionally the rising tide helps you on your way, and if you are -particularly fortunate you may even see at the end of a straight -reach of the river a glimpse of the distant mountains. But very soon -the river narrows to half its width, the huge trees of the regular -New Guinea jungle shut out all except a narrow strip of sky, and the -river twists and meanders towards all the points of the compass, -until you wonder whether it will not eventually bring you back to the -point whence you started. There was one bend of the river which was -particularly remarkable; it made an almost complete circle of about a -mile and a half in circumference, ending at a point exactly forty yards -distant from its commencement, so that by landing and walking across a -narrow neck you could wait for more than half an hour for the canoes to -overtake you. - -The rate of travel varied with the efficiency of the coolies and -according to the strength of the current in the river, which was -sometimes very sluggish, and at other times came swirling down at three -or four miles an hour. We cleared camping places at various points -along the river, and, if the pace was good, the average stage was about -six hours, though it often took ten or even twelve hours when the river -was in flood. The pleasantest camping places were on mudbanks, where -the coolies could bathe and pitch their tents without trouble, but they -were very liable to be flooded by a sudden rise of the river during the -night, and we generally had our own tents pitched on a space cleared in -the jungle at the top of a steep bank. - -[Sidenote: CANOEING UP THE MIMIKA] - -It will be convenient to describe a day’s voyage up the Mimika by -taking an extract from my diary:— - - - “May 13. The monotony of the river is beyond words, and - one day is almost exactly like another. I get up at - six o’clock and breakfast off cocoa and biscuits and - butter, whilst the camp is coming down, _i.e._ tents, - etc., being packed. Spend the next hour or rather more - in hurrying on the coolies with their food, which they - ought always to begin to cook half an hour earlier than - they do. See everything put into the canoes and then - start with the last. After that anything from five to - twelve hours’ sitting on a damp tent with one’s feet in - more or less (according to the weather) water swishing - from side to side of the canoe. Sometimes I paddle, but - not so much now as I did the first time I came up the - river, not from laziness but because the irregular - time is so horribly irritating. If the coolies would - only paddle lazily but regularly all would be well, but - they will not; they paddle all together furiously for - perhaps twenty or thirty strokes and then vary between a - haphazard rag-time and doing nothing at all. - - “Most of the time I watch the banks go by and wonder - how long it will take us to get to the end of this - reach, which bears a remarkable resemblance to the last - and to the next. The jungle is as ugly as it can be, - rank undergrowth, trailing rattans and scraggy rotting - trees. In forty miles I do not think there are half a - dozen big trees worth looking at. Very occasionally you - see a flowering creeper, one with clusters of white - flowers is here and there, and I have seen a few of the - gorgeous flaming D’Albertis creeper (_Mucuna pruriens_). - Butterflies are seldom seen and birds one hardly hears at - all. The banks are steep slimy brown mud, littered with - the trunks and limbs of rotten trees, which also stick up - all over the river like horrid muddy bones. - - “Altogether it is as gloomy and depressing as it can - be, there is no view, not even a glimpse to shew that - we are getting near a mountain range. In the midst of - all this it generally rains hard and you arrive in - camp soaking wet. Then see everything taken out of the - canoes, tents pitched, canoes securely moored, food - given out to the coolies, and by that time it is well - on into the afternoon. Wet wood is somehow coaxed into - boiling a kettle and I get a cup of tea, very good. At - six o’clock the meal of the day, rice or a tin, but one - eats very little on these journeys. After dinner a book - and tobacco and to bed about nine o’clock, or earlier - if the mosquitoes are troublesome. It does not compare - favourably with being ‘on safari’ in Africa, and I - frequently wish myself back on one of those interminable - roads which I have so often cursed.” - -[Sidenote: BIRDS] - -But it must not be supposed that there were not occasional pleasant -moments, which to some extent were compensation for the monotony of -those days. Sometimes you saw a Crowned Pigeon (_Goura sclateri_) by -the water’s edge, and by paddling quietly you could approach within -a few yards before it flew lazily across the river and alighted on a -low branch. The Crowned Pigeon is one of the handsomest of New Guinea -birds; it is as big as a large domestic fowl, of an uniform mauve grey -colour with a large white patch on the wings, and on its head is a -crest of delicate grey plumes, which it opens and shuts like a fan. -These birds feed mostly on fruits, but they also eat small molluscs -and crabs, which they pick up on the river bank. As they were almost -the only eatable birds in the country, we killed a good many of them, -but their numbers appeared to be in no way diminished when we left the -country; the flesh is white and excessively dry. - -[Illustration: A PAPUAN OF MIMIKA WITH CLOSELY PLAITED HAIR.] - -The little red King Bird of Paradise (_Cicinnurus regius_) is heard -calling everywhere, and from the upper waters of the river you -hear the harsh cry of the Greater Bird of Paradise (_Paradisea novae -guineae_), but both of these are birds of the dense forest and I do not -remember ever having seen one from the river. - -Green and red Eclectus Parrots (_Eclectus pectoralis_) and white -Lemon-crested Cockatoos are fairly numerous and their harsh screams, -though sufficiently unpleasing are a welcome interruption of the -prevailing silence. - -Lories were not often seen on the river journeys, but they were -extremely common near Wakatimi, where a certain clump of trees was used -by them as a regular roosting-place. For an hour or more before sunset -countless hundreds of Lories (_Eos fuscata_) flew in flocks from all -directions towards the roosting-trees, chattering loudly as they flew -and even louder after they had perched. Often a branch would give way -under the living weight and then the whole throng would rise in the air -again and circle round and round before they alighted once more and the -shouting and chattering continued until it was dark. - -Crocodiles were very seldom seen, but Iguanas of two or three feet -in length were often seen sunning themselves on a log or a stump, -from which they would splash hurriedly into the water as the canoes -approached. Several times at night I heard a splash as loud as the -plunge of a man into water, but I could never discover what was the -animal that caused it; there may yet possibly be some large unknown -reptile in the river. Snakes were sometimes seen curled up in the -overhanging vegetation and very commonly they were found swimming in -the water; one day I counted eleven small harmless snakes swimming -within half a mile of the same place. - -On many days during the months of May and June the river swarmed with -large bright yellow flies very similar to, but about twice the size -of, the Green Drake of the fly-fisher. They hatched out about mid-day -and took longer or shorter flights over the water, rising from it and -alighting again like miniature aeroplanes. Many of them fell a prey -to swallows and bee-eaters and other insect-eating birds, while the -rest were quickly drowned, and I have seen long stretches of the river -completely covered by the dead insects. - -At some of the camps on the river and elsewhere we were a good -deal bothered by small bees, the Stingless Honey-bee (_Melipona -praeterita_). These annoying little creatures—they are about half the -size of the common house-fly—buzzed about you in swarms and strove most -persistently to settle on any exposed part of your body in pursuit of -the sweat, which is never absent from you in those places. No matter -how you beat about and killed them they were back again immediately and -once, while writing, I kept my hands quite still on the book and in a -few moments I counted forty-six on my two hands before their crawling -became unbearable. They have a disagreeably sticky feeling as they -crawl over you and your hands, when you have squashed a number of them, -become sticky too. - -[Sidenote: NIGHT ON THE RIVER] - -At night, when the rain was not drumming ceaselessly on the roof of -the tent, the silence was broken now and then by the grating call of a -Brush Turkey (_Talegallus fuscirostris_)[6]; or a flock of Pale Crows -(_Gymnocorax senex_), which are curiously nocturnal in their habits, -would fly over the camp cawing like muffled rooks. Lizards and frogs -uttered all sorts of strange cries and whistles, and the mournful -unbirdlike note of the Frogmouth (_Podargus papuensis_) was heard on -every side. - -Sometimes, even when there was no wind stirring, you would hear at -night a noise like thunder as some great tree went crashing down. Most -of the trees in the jungle do not attain a very great girth, but they -grow up very rapidly to reach the light and in their upper branches -there is soon accumulated a dense mass of climbers and parasitic -plants, which in the course of time become too heavy for the tree and -cause it to collapse. The floor of the jungle is strewn with the limbs -and trunks of fallen trees and the smell of rotting wood is everywhere. - -The last, usually the fifth, day of the journey up the river was always -pleasant, partly because one knew that there were only a few more hours -of the tedious voyage, and partly because the scenery was beginning -to change. Beautiful Tree-ferns appeared upon the banks and the soil, -firmer than in the swampy lands near the coast, supported trees of -finer growth. Scattered pebbles and then banks of clean sand and -shingle began to take the place of the hideous mud of the lower river, -and after spending, as frequently happened, many weeks at Wakatimi, -where the smallest pebble would have been an object of wonder, it was a -peculiar pleasure to feel the grit of stones under your feet again. At -the same time the cocoa-brown water became clear and sparkling and one -drank it for the very pleasure of drinking. Going further we came to -rapids, where the river ran over stones, or piled-up barriers of fallen -trees. Passages were cut through many of these obstacles, but every -succeeding flood brought down more trees and new barriers were formed. - -When the river was low, the last four miles to Parimau were covered by -wading and hauling the canoes over or under the great logs. Every man -had to get out of the canoe and do his share of the work, and sometimes -we had to take the cargo out as well, when the canoe had to be dragged -over a particularly high obstacle. When the river was in flood, the -last day’s journey was the most arduous of all, and it sometimes took -twelve or fourteen hours’ hard labour to accomplish it. The water was -then too deep for poling, and the current was so swift that vigorous -paddling hardly did more than prevent the canoe from following the -stream, and it was only by dodging from one side of the river to the -other and by hauling on overhanging branches that progress was made. - -[Illustration: HEAD-DRESSES MADE OF PLAITED FIBRES, WORN AT FESTIVALS -AND CEREMONIES. 1. IS ORNAMENTED WITH TUFTS OF PLUMES OF THE GREATER -BIRD OF PARADISE.] - -Considering the want of skill of the coolies and the great number of -journeys that were made up and down the river, it was wonderful that -no accidents of any consequence occurred. It is true that a good -many canoes capsized—I think all of us had at least one involuntary -ducking—but a well-laden canoe is comparatively steady, and most of -the upsets happened to empty canoes going down the river and nothing -was lost but coolies’ scanty baggage, which was easily replaced. The -Javanese coolies of the escort, who were even less skilled watermen -than ours, suffered rather more accidents, but one boat-load of -provisions and two rifles were the total of their losses. - -[Sidenote: THE LONG WET SEASON] - -There were periods, lasting for several weeks, when the river was -almost continually in flood, and there were other, but always shorter, -periods when the river was low; but though we spent fifteen months in -New Guinea the time was not long enough to determine at all accurately -the limits of the seasons, for the first three months of 1911 differed -considerably from the corresponding months of the previous year. -Speaking generally, it may be said of the Mimika district that the -weather from mid-October to the middle of April is finer than the -weather from the middle of April to the middle of October. These two -periods correspond more or less with the monsoons, but it is notable -that whereas in British New Guinea the period of the Eastern monsoon, -May to November, is the drier, here the reverse is the case. The finest -weather appears to be in November and December, and the wettest weather -is in July, August and September. The terms “fine” and “wet” are used -only relatively, for it is almost always wet. In the first twelve -months of our stay rain fell on three hundred and thirty days. It was -very unfortunate that we did not provide ourselves with rain-gauges -for use at Wakatimi and Parimau, where interesting observations -might have been recorded for a year or more. A roughly constructed -rain-gauge, which was used for a short time, more than once recorded -a fall of over six inches of rain in one night, and that was in the -comparatively dry season of March. - -A great deal of the rain fell in thunderstorms. From January 4th, 1910, -to January 4th, 1911, I heard thunder on two hundred and ninety-five -days, not including days on which I saw distant lightning but did not -hear the thunder. - -Before we left England it was thought that the party ought to include -a geologist, but it was impossible to add to our numbers, which -were already sufficiently great. As it fell out, we hardly reached -geological country at all and a geologist would have spent an idle -time, but there would have been plenty of occupation for a well -equipped hydrologist. - -The winds, whether from the East or from the West, were very variable -both in force and constancy. Sometimes there would blow a fierce wind -for two or three days followed by several days of calm. At other times -a steady wind would blow for two or three weeks and so great would be -the surf on the sea-shore that no ship could approach the mouth of the -river. The wind usually dropped before sunset and the nights were calm. - -[Sidenote: HALLEY’S COMET] - -It followed naturally from the heavy rainfall that the nights were -seldom clear, and at one time Marshall waited for three months before -he could take an observation from a star. But there were times even -in the wet weather, when the rain poured down during the day and at -night the heavens were clear. One of these times fortunately occurred -in May, when Halley’s Comet was approaching the Earth. On May 9th the -comet, looking like a muffled star, was seen in the East and its tail, -a broad beam of brilliant light, extended upwards through about thirty -degrees. Below the comet and a little to the South of it Venus shone -like a little moon, appearing far bigger than any planet I have ever -seen. The comet grew enormously and in the early morning of May 14th, -the last time that we saw it completely before it had passed the Earth, -the tail blazed across the heavens like an immense search-light beam to -the zenith and beyond. On May 26th it appeared again in the evening, -reduced in size to about forty-five degrees, and several nights we -watched it growing always smaller, until it vanished from our sight. -Superlative expressions will not describe Halley’s Comet as we saw -it in New Guinea; it was a wonderful appearance and one never to be -forgotten. Our coolies and the Javanese declared that it portended much -sickness and death. Though we tried to question them about it, we never -learnt how it impressed the minds of the natives. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - - _Exploration of the Kapare River—Obota—Native - Geography—River Obstructions—Hornbills and - Tree Ducks—Gifts of Stones—Importance of Steam - Launch—Cultivation of Tobacco—Sago Swamps—Manufacture of - Sago—Cooking of Sago—The Dutch Use of Convict Labour._ - -Towards the end of January Capt. Rawling, who had gone up the Mimika -River with the first party to Parimau, made an excursion to the N.W. of -that place, and at a distance of about four miles he came to a river, -which we afterwards learnt to know as the Kapare, of much greater -volume than the Mimika, and therefore likely to spring from mountains -much higher than those that gave rise to the Mimika. Had we known at -the time that our real objective, the highest mountains of the range, -lay far to the N.E., we should have neglected the Kapare River, and -by so doing we should have spared ourselves many weeks of labour; but -at the same time we should have missed seeing a wide area of unknown -country, and we might possibly have failed to make the discovery of the -pygmy tribe, who inhabit the hilly country between the Kapare and the -upper waters of the Mimika River. - -[Illustration: UPPER WATERS OF THE KAPARE RIVER. MOUNT TAPIRO IN -DISTANCE.] - -It appeared that the Kapare might offer a better route to the higher -mountains than the Mimika, so it was decided that we should explore -its lower waters and see whether it was possible to reach it from our -base-camp. Accordingly on February 14th Lieut. Cramer, Marshall and -I set out in three canoes, taking with us provisions sufficient for a -week’s journey. Two miles below Wakatimi we entered and began to ascend -the Watuka River, of which, as has been noted above (p. 40), the Mimika -is but a tributary. After proceeding a mile or two up the Watuka we -came to another junction of two rivers, and for the first time we began -to realise the extraordinary network of waterways, which traverse the -low-lying lands of that part of New Guinea. We learnt afterwards that -there are inland channels joining several of the rivers to the East of -the Mimika in such a way that it is possible to travel by water from -Wakatimi to villages far distant along the coast without going by sea, -and no doubt the same is true in a Westerly direction. - -The junction we had then reached was formed by a wide river coming, -apparently, from due North and a much smaller branch, not more than ten -yards wide, but deep and swift, joining it from the West. It appeared -to be quite certain that the river we were in search of must be the -Northern branch, and we should have followed it at once had not a -number of natives appeared on the bank, and asked us to go and visit -their village, which, they explained, was a short distance up the -Western branch. - -[Sidenote: VISIT TO OBOTA] - -We soon reached Obota, as the village was called, a collection of -about one hundred huts on both banks of the narrow river, and there we -were accorded the usual welcome by a large crowd of people. As it was -still early in the day we were anxious to continue our journey, and we -proposed to go up the Northern branch, but the natives assured us that -that led to nowhere and broke up into branches in the jungle, while -the small stream which flowed through the village was the river flowing -directly from the mountains. - -It should be explained that this information was conveyed to us partly -by long speeches of which we understood little or nothing, but chiefly -by means of maps drawn on the ground. Some of the men drew their rivers -crossing one another in a rather improbable manner, but many of them -drew charts very intelligently, and at different times we obtained -from the natives a good deal of geographical information which was -substantially correct. On this occasion their maps all agreed in -tracing the big river to branches in the jungle, and the small river -to the mountains, so we were rather reluctantly persuaded that they -were right, and we tried to induce some of them to go with us. Many -of them offered to go the next day, but not one would start then—it -was too late, it was going to rain, they had not eaten, and many other -excuses—so we got into our canoes and attempted to paddle up the stream -and found, what the natives doubtless knew, that we could not advance -at all. Several times we tried, but were always driven back by the -strong current, to the great delight of the natives who lined the banks -and laughed at our feeble efforts, so there was nothing for it but to -make a camp near the village and wait till the next day. - -[Sidenote: RIVER OBSTACLES] - -There was some difficulty about inducing the men to start in the -morning, for it was raining, and, like other naked peoples, the -Papuans dislike being wetted by rain, but we got off eventually with -two natives, one at the bow and one at the stern, in each canoe, in -addition to the crews of four Javanese soldiers and convicts. It was -soon evident that without the help of the natives we could not possibly -have ascended the river. For a mile or two above Obota the water ran -like a mill-race in a very narrow channel full of rocks and sunken -trees, and it was only by the most skilful poling and, when a chance -occurred, by hauling the canoes along a side channel that we were able -to proceed. When we returned a few days later, we skimmed in fifteen -minutes down the rapids which we had taken more than three hours to -ascend. - -Above the rapids the river widened to about forty yards and the -strength of the current was proportionately less, but in a few miles -we met with another difficulty. At a sharp bend of the river the whole -channel was blocked by an enormous barrier of huge trunks and limbs of -trees piled high upon each other and wedged below into a solid mass. -For larger boats this might have meant a delay of many days spent -in cutting a channel, but the dug-out canoe is narrow and, if not -flexible, it can be squeezed through the most unlikely openings, so -that we passed the barrier without the loss of many hours. - -When we started from Obota we had been doubtful whether it was possible -that so small a river could possibly come from the mountains; but a -little way above the barrier of logs our doubts were set at rest, when -we found that our river was a mere off-shoot from another more than -twice its volume, which flowed down to the sea at a village called -Periepia. The main river, the Kapare, where we joined it, was more -than a hundred yards wide, and in the next two days’ journey it hardly -diminished at all in size. The character of the river differed markedly -from that of the Mimika; its bed was of sand, denoting its mountain -origin, in contrast to the brown mud of the Mimika and other jungle -rivers, and its course was a procession of magnificent bends, quite -unlike the paltry windings of the Mimika. - -Paddling slowly up the river we disturbed companies of Hornbills -(_Rhytidoceros plicatus_) which were feeding at the tops of the trees. -These peculiarly hideous birds bark like dogs, and the loud “swishing” -of their wings, as they slowly take flight, has been likened (not -inaptly) to the starting puffs of a railway train. On this and on the -other rivers we were often pleasantly reminded of home by the note of -the Common Sandpiper (_Totanus hypoleucus_) which seemed to be quite as -much at home in New Guinea as in its northern haunts. The last of these -were seen in early April, and they began to reappear before the end of -July. Very interesting birds, of which we saw a great number on this -river, are the black and white Tree Ducks (_Tadorna radjah_). They have -the curious habit of perching very cleverly on the topmost branches of -the trees, and they make a pretty whistling by night. - -[Illustration: VEGETATION ON THE BANKS OF THE KAPARE RIVER.] - -There were no signs of human habitation along the banks, until on the -third day we came to a small village of a dozen huts, in the middle -of which was a tall house built of bamboos, used for ceremonials and -dancing. The few people inhabiting the place were of a very low -order of intelligence, if one may judge from the apathy with which -they received us and saw us go on our way. - -As we proceeded further, on the fourth day the river became a good deal -smaller, having derived several tributaries from the low hills which -were by that time not far distant on the right bank, and as the current -became increasingly swifter it was evident that the Kapare did not -promise a better means of approach by water to the mountains than the -Mimika. - -[Sidenote: THE FIRST PEBBLES] - -We were rather amused, when we came to the first bank of shingle, by -the natives who were with us bringing us gifts of stones, as though -they were something new and rare: probably they thought that as we -came, for all they knew, from the sea, we had never seen such things -before. - -On the fifth day we left the baggage behind and went on in one unladen -canoe, hoping to reach the point where Rawling had met the Kapare River -by walking overland from the Mimika, but we were stopped a few miles -short of that place by heavy rapids, which effectually prevented any -further investigation of the river. - -The excursion up the Kapare was a further illustration, if one had been -needed, of the futility of undertaking an expedition in that country -without a steam launch or motor-boat. When it was found that the Mimika -was only an insignificant river, which the first excursion up it would -have shown, the Kapare River might have been explored from Periepia, -a matter which could have been done in two days instead of the seven -occupied by the journey in canoes, and after that other rivers to the -East might have been explored until one convenient for approaching the -mountains had been found. - -After spending a night on a sand bank from which we were very nearly -washed away by a sudden flood, we paddled leisurely down the river -and came in one day again to Obota. Though the two places are so -close together and communication between them is very frequent, the -inhabitants of Obota are a much better lot of people than those of -Wakatimi. The Obota men, who came up the river with us, worked steadily -for several days, a thing we never could persuade the Wakatimi men to -do, and, a more striking sign of their superiority, the Obota people -cultivate the soil, whereas the Wakatimi people never do anything of -the kind. - -[Sidenote: TOBACCO] - -Many acres of ground on both sides of the river were cleared of bush -and planted with bananas and sweet potatoes; we never succeeded in -obtaining any of the latter, but bananas were brought for us to buy -and in the circumstances they seemed to us to be excellent. The most -extensive crop cultivated at Obota is tobacco; they plant out the -seedlings and shelter them with a low roof of bent sticks covered with -leaves, until the young plants are strong enough to bear the full force -of the sun and rain. Almost every native smokes, men and women, and -very often the children. A small handful of the dried leaves is taken -and very carefully rolled up in the form of a cigar, and then wrapped -round with a _sirih_ leaf, which has been previously warmed over the -fire; the ends are bitten square, and sometimes the leaf is tied round -the middle with a thread of fibre to prevent its unrolling. The -tobacco is strong in flavour, but not at all unpleasant to smoke. The -only other place, except among the pygmy people of the hills, where we -found cultivation was up the Keaukwa River, a few miles to the E. of -the Mimika River. - -The distribution of tobacco in New Guinea is rather a puzzling -question. There are many places on the coast where its use was unknown -until quite recently, while at the same time the mountain people, for -example, in the Arfak Mountains and on the upper reaches of the Fly -and Kaiserin Augusta Rivers, have been accustomed to cultivate it and -to barter it with their neighbours in the lowlands. The Tapiro pygmy -people, who live in the mountains, cultivate tobacco and exchange -it with the Papuans of the upper Mimika who grow none themselves. -These facts have led some people to suppose that the tobacco plant is -indigenous in New Guinea. - -The people of Obota were rich in worldly possessions, for as we -walked through the village we saw two Chinese brass gongs and a large -porcelain pot, which they told us came from “Tarete.” It may be that at -some time a Malay or Arab trader from Ternate came over to this part of -the coast, but it is impossible to know; perhaps the things had been -stolen and exchanged from one village to another, from the West end of -the island, which is often visited by Ternate traders. - -[Sidenote: SAGO] - -But the chief reason for the prosperity of Obota is the fact that it -lies at the edge of an extensive sago swamp, and sago is the mainstay -of the food of the Papuans. Sago is made from a palm (_Sagus rumphii_) -which always grows in wet places, generally in low ground near the -sea, and it will even grow where the water is brackish.[7] The palm is -thicker than a man’s body, and its height is about 25 or 30 feet. The -trunk is covered with large leaves bearing long hard spines. A mature -tree produces a large vertical spike of flowers and then dies. When -they wish to collect sago, the natives cut down a full-grown palm and -clear it of its leaves and leaf-sheaths. A wide strip of the bark is -then cut off from the side of the tree which lies uppermost and the -sago is exposed. The bark of the tree is really nothing more than a -shell about an inch in thickness, enclosing the pith or sago, which is -a brownish pulpy substance separated by fibrous strands. The pith is -separated from the bark by means of the sago-beater, which is a sort -of wooden hammer made in two pieces, a handle about a foot and a half -long, carrying a head about twelve inches long; the hitting face of the -head is about two inches in diameter, and it often bears a rather sharp -rim which is useful in clearing the pith from the bark. - -[Illustration: PAPUAN WOMAN CARRYING WOODEN BOWL OF SAGO.] - -When all the pith has been beaten out of the shell of the tree it is -carried away to the nearest water, where the sago is extracted. A -trough made of two wide basin-like leaf-bases of the sago palm is set -up on crossed sticks about three feet from the ground in such a way -that one basin is a little higher than the other. Lumps of the pith -are then kneaded in the upper part of the trough with water which -is constantly poured into it; the water carries away the sago into the -lower part of the trough, and nothing remains above but the coarse -fibrous stuff which is thrown away; the lower trough gradually becomes -filled with sago and the water flows away. The sago, a dirty white -substance with a rather sour smell, is made into cylindrical cakes of -about 30 lbs. weight, and neatly wrapped up in leaves of the palm to -be carried back to the village. Most of the work of collecting and -preparing the sago is done by the women. - -According to Mr. Wallace, one fair-sized sago palm will supply one man -with food for a year, so it will be seen that the amount of labour -required to feed a community in a district where sago is plentiful is -not very overwhelming. - -The usual method of cooking employed by the Papuans is to roll the -sago into lumps about the size of a cricket ball and roast them in the -embers of a fire. On one or two occasions I saw them prepare it in a -different way, which was to wrap up the sago in banana leaves and cook -it on hot stones; the result was probably more wholesome food than the -charred lumps that they usually eat. - -Very often the natives of the Mimika eat the crude sago, that is to -say, the pith simply as it is cut out of the tree, without having -been washed or pounded. The stuff is roasted in the usual way and the -separation of the sago is done in the mouth of the eater, who spits out -the uneatable fibre. - -As well as providing the Papuans with the bulk of their food, the sago -palm supplies them with excellent building poles in the mid-ribs of the -leaves, which are straight and very strong, and are sometimes fifteen -to twenty feet long, and the leaflets themselves are used for making -“atap” in the districts where the _Nipa_ palm is not found. - -It was mentioned above that the crews of our canoes on the excursion up -the Kapare River were made up of Javanese soldiers and convicts. Our -first batch of Ambonese coolies had by that time failed us, so Lieut. -Cramer very kindly lent us some of his men for the occasion, and we had -an opportunity of testing their worth. Speaking generally, it is not -unfair to them to say that the Javanese are wholly unsuited to rough -work in a savage country; they are a peaceful race of peasants and -their proper place is in the rice fields. As soldiers they appear to -the civilian eye to be clodhoppers masquerading in (usually misfitting) -uniform. They have no military bearing and no alertness, and one ceases -to wonder that when the Netherlands East Indian native army is almost -exclusively composed of Javanese, the war-like people of Atjeh have -kept the field for so many years. It is a matter for surprise that -the Dutch do not enlist more of the warlike Bugis of Celebes, and -natives of the Moluccas, and even the Achinese prisoners themselves; -ten thousand of such men would surely be of more worth than the 30,000 -Javanese who fill the ranks of their native army. Of course there are -exceptions; there are men among them who have performed splendidly -valorous deeds in time of war; but the majority are of a stuff of -which it would be impossible to make soldiers, they are soft and -unathletic and of a curiously feminine form of body, as a glance at a -group of bathing Javanese will show. - -[Sidenote: CONVICT LABOUR] - -The Javanese convicts were the same sort of material, but their case -was not quite the same as that of the soldiers, for they had not -voluntarily entered a profession (if the condition of convict can -be called a profession) that involved service in foreign lands. The -justice of the Dutch practice of employing convicts as coolies in -military and exploring expeditions is very much open to question, -but it need not be discussed at length here. The transport for the -military operations in Atjeh is carried out almost entirely by convict -labour, and all the Dutch exploring parties in New Guinea have made -use of convict coolies, assisted in two instances by paid Dayaks. -It is intended officially that only long-sentence men shall go on -expeditions, so that by good behaviour they may earn some substantial -remission of their sentences, but that is not invariably the case, -for several young men left our expedition because their terms had -expired. It is also supposed that only men shall be sent on expeditions -who volunteer to go; but the supply of convict volunteers is not -inexhaustible, and there were men with us whose last wish would have -been to come to New Guinea. - -But even if they were all volunteers and all long-service men, it is -doubtful whether it is justifiable to send any but free men to work in -a country so full of risks as New Guinea. The native of Java is a poor -creature, particularly susceptible to beri-beri and other diseases of -the tropics, and when I saw convicts die, as did unfortunately happen, -I came to the conclusion that the balance went heavily against the -system. It must, however, be recorded that the convicts are extremely -well treated. Except in the matter of pay—convicts on expeditions -receive about one guilder (1_s._ 8_d._) a month—they are treated -in all essentials exactly like the native soldiers; they have the -same rations of food and the same tent accommodation, and many of -them enjoy themselves a good deal more than if they were occupied in -sweeping the roads in a town in Java. Their hours of labour in camp -are comparatively short, and the loads they are given to carry on the -march are by no means excessive. Nothing could exceed the kindness of -Cramer’s treatment of the men under his command, and I have no doubt -that the same may be said of the treatment of convicts elsewhere. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - - _Description of Wakatimi—The Papuan House—Coconut - Palms—The Sugar Palm—Drunkenness of the Natives—Drunken - Vagaries—Other Cultivation—The Native Language—No - Interpreters—The Numerals—Difficulties of - Understanding—Names of Places—Local Differences of - Pronunciation._ - -The native village of Wakatimi lay directly opposite to our base-camp -on the W. bank of the Mimika, which was there about 150 yards broad. -Beyond the margin of the river was a strip of grass intersected by -muddy creeks, where the natives moored their canoes, and beyond that -was Wakatimi. The village consisted of a single street about two -hundred yards long lined on one side by huts, which usually numbered -about sixty. But occasionally, as for instance when we first arrived, -and once or twice subsequently when large crowds of natives from other -villages visited the place, it happened that the street was a double -row of houses, and every available spot of dry ground was occupied. - -Shifting house is a very simple affair, as most of the building -materials are carried about in the canoes, and the canoes come and -go in the most casual and unaccountable manner. Sometimes there were -perhaps a thousand people at Wakatimi, and then there would be days -when there was not a soul in the village. There were times when for -weeks together there were large villages at the mouth of the river, and -there were other times when the coast was utterly deserted and hardly -a trace of the villages remained. We were never able to learn what it -was that prompted these migrations of the natives, but it is probable -that the pursuit of food was the guiding motive. The wandering habits -of the people will certainly make it very difficult to administer the -country and civilise the people, if an attempt to do so is ever made. - -[Sidenote: THEIR HOUSES] - -The typical native house of the Mimika district is a simple rectangular -structure with a framework of light poles driven into the ground, the -cross-pieces and roof pole being tied to the uprights by strands of -rattan. In some houses the roof is a simple slope downwards from front -to back, but in most cases there is a central ridge pole from which -the roof slopes to the back and front, that at the back being longer -and going lower than that in front. The height of the ridge is about -eight feet; after we had been for some time in the country the people -improved their building in imitation of our houses and built their huts -ten, and even twelve feet high. The roof is made of “atap,” the thatch -described above (p. 60), and the walls are mats made from the leaves of -a Screw-pine (_Pandanus_). The area of an average hut is about 9 by 12 -feet, the longer dimensions being from front to back. - -[Illustration: PAPUAN HOUSES ON THE MIMIKA.] - -The floor is covered with sand to a depth of several inches, which is -prevented from escaping into the street by a board placed on its edge -along the front of the hut. The sand is brought from the seashore and -must be of great value in preserving the health of the people: the huts -are frequently under water in the big floods and without the sand, -which quickly dries, it would be impossible for them to live there. -Unfortunately the sand aggravates the sores and ulcers from which too -many of them suffer, but that is perhaps a lesser evil than always -sleeping on sodden ground. Racks made of sticks, on which are stowed -bundles of arrows, spears, clubs, tobacco, sago and all the other -portable property of the family, extend from one wall to another, so -that it is almost impossible to stand upright inside a hut. The door is -an opening about two feet square in the front wall; as well as being -the means of entrance for the members of the household the door serves -as the principal means of escape for the smoke of the fire, which is -constantly kept burning inside. - -It is only rarely that a house remains for long separated from others; -when a second house is built it is attached to the side of the first, -and the dividing wall is removed. In a large village the houses are -built in rows of varying length, according to the nature of the ground, -and there may be as many as fifty or sixty joined together. If you go -inside you find that it is a single long house without any dividing -walls, but each family keeps to its own particular section and use -its own private entrance. When the place is crowded with people, and -a number of fires are burning, the atmosphere inside the house may be -more readily imagined than described. - -The feature that most distinguishes Wakatimi from all the other -villages that we saw is its fine grove of coconut palms. The village -street is bordered with them on the side opposite to the houses, and -there must be three or four hundred trees in all. They afford a very -pleasant shade to the village, and their graceful trunks curving this -way and that are really picturesque and conveniently relieve the -ugliness of the Papuan houses. It is rather dangerous to live so close -to coconut trees, and sometimes when the wind blew in gusts before the -rain we heard warning shouts and the heavy thud of a nut falling to the -ground; but accidents never seemed to happen. The nuts are, of course, -a source of great wealth to the Wakatimi people, who exchange them for -bananas and tobacco with the people of Obota, and while we were in the -country they brought us altogether thousands of nuts for which they -received riches undreamt of before. At one or two places near the sea, -and at several places on the Mimika River we found coconut palms, but -far up the river they did not occur, nor did we see any on the Kapare -River; and I believe all those we saw were planted by the natives, and -that none of them were self-sown. - -The method of cultivation is extremely simple. A ripe nut is left out -on the roof of a hut and allowed to sprout; when the shoot is about a -foot or more in length, a small patch of ground is cleared, preferably -in a sandy place on the river bank or near the sea shore, a hole is dug -and the sprouting nut is planted. From time to time, if he remembers to -do so, the native will clear away the strangling vegetation from the -young plant, and in about five years, under favourable conditions, the -palm begins to bear fruit. - -[Sidenote: DRUNKENNESS] - -Growing commonly near Wakatimi is another species of palm, which, -though it has not the value of the coconut palm, is yet more prized -by the natives. This is the Sugar palm (_Arenga saccharifera_), and -from it is made a very potent and intoxicating liquor. When the palm is -in fruit—it bears a heavy bunch of dark green fruit—a cut is made in -the stem below the stalk of the fruit, and the juice trickles out and -is collected in the shell of a coconut. Apparently the juice ferments -very rapidly without the addition of any other substance, for it is -drunk almost as soon as it is collected and the native becomes horribly -intoxicated. - -During the first few weeks of our stay in the country the people were -on their good behaviour, or else they found sufficient amusement in -coming to see us and our works, but they soon tired of that and went -back to their normal habits. Many of them went to the drinking places -by day, and we often saw them lying or sitting at the foot of the -tree, while one of their party stood at the top of a bamboo ladder -collecting the palm wine. But the worst was a small gang of about a -dozen men, the laziest in the village, whose custom it was to start off -towards evening in canoes to their favourite drinking tree, where they -spent the night drinking and making night hideous with their songs and -shouts. In the morning they returned raving to the village and as often -as not they started quarrelling and fighting and knocking the houses to -pieces (a favourite occupation of the angry Papuan) before they settled -down to sleep off the effects of their potations. - -As a rule, the men were the worst offenders, and the women drank but -seldom, but I well remember one day seeing a man and his wife both -hopelessly drunk come over to our camp. It was pouring with rain and -their canoe was several inches deep in water, but they danced up and -down in it and sang a drunken ditty; it was a ludicrous and at the same -time heart-rending exhibition. The man, when we first knew him, was -a fine fellow who one day climbed up a palm tree to get us coconuts, -a feat which no man out of condition can perform; a few months later -he was hardly ever seen sober, and in January he died. A smiling -round-faced youth called Ukuma, who was one of our particular friends -at first and was privileged to wander where he liked about the camp, -attached himself to the drinking party, and before we left the country -he looked an old man, and I had difficulty in recognising him. - -[Illustration: A PAPUAN OF THE MIMIKA.] - -[Illustration: A PAPUAN OF THE MIMIKA.] - -Though the drunken vagaries of the natives were usually food for tears, -they sometimes provided us with amusement. One afternoon one of the -principal men of Wakatimi came down to the river bank quite intoxicated -and took a canoe, which he paddled out into mid-stream and there moored -it. From there he proceeded to shoot arrows vaguely and promiscuously -at the village, raving and shouting what sounded to be horrible curses. -Some of the arrows fell into the village and some sailed over the palm -trees, and now and again he turned round and shot harmlessly into our -camp, but nobody took the slightest notice of him except his wife, who -went down to the river bank and told him in plain language her opinion -of him. This caused him to turn his attention to her, but his aim -was wild and the arrows missed their mark, so he desisted and went -back to the shore, where the woman broke across her knee the remainder -of his bundle of arrows, while he cooled his fevered brow in the river. -Then, while she delivered a further lecture, he followed her back to -their hut looking like a whipped and ashamed dog. It can hardly be -doubted that palm wine shortens the lives of many of the Papuans, but -one must hesitate before condemning an absolutely untaught and savage -race for excessive indulgence in one of the pleasures that vary their -monotonous lives. - -[Sidenote: FRUITS] - -As well as coconuts the Mimika people have also bananas, papayas -(_Carica papaya_), water-melons and pumpkins, all of them of a very -inferior kind. It cannot be said that they cultivate these fruits; -they occasionally get a banana shoot and plant it in the ground by the -riverside, where it may or may not grow and produce fruit, but they -make no clearings and take very little trouble to ensure the life of -the plant. The papayas and the melons and pumpkins are sometimes seen -growing about the native dwellings; but they, too, seem to be there -more by accident than by any design on the part of the people. At Obota -we found a few pineapples, which were probably the descendants of some -that were brought to the Mimika by M. Dumas a few years earlier. - -[Sidenote: LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES] - -It has been stated in the previous chapters that the natives told us -this or that, and that we asked them for information about one thing or -another. From this the reader must not conclude that we acquired a very -complete knowledge of the native language, for that, unfortunately, -was not the case, and even at the end of the fifteen months that -we spent in their country we were not able to converse with them. -Lieutenant Cramer and I compiled a vocabulary of nearly three hundred -words,[8] and we talked a good deal with the people, but we never -reached the position of being able to exchange ideas on any single -subject. - -In the Eastern and Northern parts of New Guinea it has always been -found possible to communicate with the natives through the medium of -some known language; even if there were many differences noticed in the -language of a new district, there were always some common words which -formed the foundation of a more complete understanding. The Western end -of New Guinea has been for centuries visited by traders speaking Malay -dialects, some of whom have settled in the country; or Papuans from -those parts have travelled to Malay-speaking islands and have returned -with a sufficient knowledge of the language to act as interpreters to -people visiting those districts. - -But the long stretch of the South-west coast from the MacCluer Gulf -as far as the Fly River has been quite neglected by Malay-speaking -traders, partly on account of the poverty of the country and partly by -reason of the shallow sea and the frequent storms which make navigation -difficult and dangerous, so that the Malay language was of no use to us -as a means of talking with the natives. It is true that two men from -the Mimika district had been taken a few years previously to Fak-fak, -the Dutch Government post on the South side of the MacCluer Gulf, but -though they spent two years there and attempts were made to teach them -Malay, in 1910 the extent of their knowledge of the language was the -two words _Tida, tuan_ (No, master). - -It is unfortunate that there is no common language along the S. coast, -nor even a language with words common to all the dialects in use. We -were visited on one occasion by the Dutch Assistant Resident from -Fak-fak; the native interpreter who came with him, and who knew all the -native dialects of the Fak-fak district, could not understand one word -of the Mimika language. On another occasion some natives from Mimika -were taken down by steamer to Merauke, the Government post in S.W. New -Guinea, not far from the boundary of British Papua, and there they -found the language of the natives quite unintelligible to them. - -So we found ourselves confronted with the task of learning a language -with neither grammar, dictionary nor interpreter. This may not seem to -be an insuperable difficulty, nor is it perhaps where Europeans and -educated people are concerned, but with Papuans it is a very different -problem. The first thing to do—and very few of them would even grasp -the idea—is to make them understand that you wish to learn their -words. You may point at an object and look intelligent and expectant, -but they are slow to take your meaning, and they soon tire of giving -information. The facial expression, which amongst us conveys even to a -deaf man an interrogation, means nothing to them, nor has the sideways -shake of the head a negative meaning to Papuans. - -In trying to learn a new language of this kind most people (I imagine) -would begin, as we did, with the numerals. But our researches in -this direction did not take us very far, for we made the interesting -discovery that they have words for one and two only; _ínakwa_ (one), -_jamaní_ (two). This is not to say that they cannot reckon beyond two, -for they can, by using the fingers and thumbs, and beginning always -with the thumb of the right hand, reckon with tolerable accuracy up -to ten. For numbers above ten they use the toes, never, so far as -we observed, two or three toes, but always all the toes together to -indicate a large but uncertain number. Sometimes they opened and closed -the fingers of both hands two or three times and uttered the word -_takirí_, which appeared to mean “many.” They did not, as some people -do, use the word which means “hand” to indicate five or a quantity of -about that number. - -With patience we learnt a great number of substantives, the names of -animals, the parts of the body, the various possessions of the natives -and so forth, and with more difficulty we learnt some of the active -verbs. But when we came to abstract ideas, our researches ceased -abruptly for lack of the question words, who, how, where, when, etc.; -these we were never able to learn, and it is impossible to act them. - -Thus we were never able to find out what they thought of various -things; we could point to the moon and be told its name, but we were -never able to say, “What is the moon?” We learnt the names of lightning -and thunder, but we never knew who they thought produced them. We -could not find out where their stone axes came from, nor how old they -were, nor who made them; and a hundred other questions, which we should -have liked to put, remained unanswered. - -[Sidenote: OBTAINING INFORMATION] - -These limitations of our knowledge of the language were particularly -annoying when we tried to find out the simplest ties of relationship. -It may be thought very unintelligent of us that we never learnt the -word for father, in spite of many attempts to do so. If you pointed to -a child and asked a man, knowing him to be the father, what the child -was, he would slap himself on the chest and answer, “_Dorota kamare_” -(my penis); then if you pointed to himself he would tell you his own -name, but never any word that could possibly be construed as father. If -you tried the same thing with the mother she would point to the child -and say, “_Dorota auwë_” (my breast). The child on being questioned -pointed to the father and always said his name, the mother it would -call _Aína_ (woman), but perhaps this word also means mother. - -There were two men at Parimau so much alike as to be unmistakably -brothers; we learnt their names and that they were _Inakwa kamare_ (one -penis), but we never found out the name of their relationship. - -Seeing that some of the people have a very good idea of drawing on -the ground a map of the country, I tried one day a graphic method of -obtaining the relationships of a man whose name and whose wife’s name -and son’s name I knew. I put sticks on the ground to represent him and -his wife and son, and then in a tentative sort of way put in a stick to -represent his father, whose name he mentioned, but the game did not -interest him and my researches came to an end. - -Even the apparently simple matter of enquiring the names of places -is not so easy as one would think. When the first party went up the -Mimika to Parimau they pointed to the huts and asked what the village -was called; the answer given was “Tupué,” meaning I believe, the name -of the family who lived in the huts pointed at. For several months we -called the place Tupué, and the name appeared in various disguises in -the English newspapers. When I was at Parimau in July, it occurred to -me to doubt the name of Tupué, which we never heard the natives use, so -I questioned a man elaborately. Pointing in the direction of Wakatimi, -I said in his language: “Many houses, Wakatimi,” and he nodded assent; -then pointing in the direction of another village that we had visited -I said: “Many houses, Imah,” to which he agreed; then I said. “Many -houses,” and pointed towards Parimau. This performance was repeated -three times before he understood my intention and supplied the word -“Parimau,” and then he shouted the whole story across the river to the -people in the village who received it with shouts of laughter, and -well they might. It was as if a foreigner, who had been living for six -months in a place which he was accustomed to call Smith, enquired again -one day what its name was and found that it was London. - -[Illustration: A PAPUAN MOTHER AND CHILD. - -(_On the right is seen a fishing net._)] - -[Sidenote: LANGUAGE OF MIMIKA] - -The language spoken by the people of Mimika is by no means unpleasant -to listen to, and with the customary sing-song intonation it would be -almost musical, if it were not for the harsh voices of the natives, -both men and women. There are many agreeably soft gutterals, and there -is no hissing sound in the language, as they are unable to pronounce -the letter “s.” Many of their words are really very pleasing, notably -some of their names, such as “Oonabë,” “Inamë,” “Tébo,” “Magena,” -“Awariao,” “Idoriaota,” “Poandio,” and “Mareru,” to mention only a few; -some of the names were so long that I never succeeded in writing them -correctly. - -The people who lived near the upper waters of the Mimika appeared -to speak the same dialect as those living near the coast, with one -noticeable difference. Those words containing a “k” in the language -of the people at the coast lose the “k” in the mouths of the up-river -natives, thus: _Ké_ (rain) in the Wakatimi language becomes _’é_ at -Parimau; _Kie_ (a leech) becomes _’ie_, _Pokanë_ (an axe) becomes -_Po’anë_. - -The only rule of grammar that we learnt was the simple method of -constructing the possessive case by adding the suffix _ta_. Thus from -_doro_ (I) you have _dorota_ (mine); from _oro_ (you), _orota_ (your), -and in the same way _Tebota_ (Tebo’s); _Mareruta_ (Mareru’s), and so on. - -They were curious to know our names and liked to address us by them; -Goodfellow’s and Rawling’s names baffled them completely; Marshall’s -became “Martë”; they made a good attempt at mine in “Wollatona,” and -Cramer’s they pronounced perfectly. - -So far as I know, they never finish a word with a consonant, and when -they adopted a Malay or Dutch word which ended in a consonant, they -always added a vowel; for instance, _tuana_ (master), _Kapítana_ -(Captain), _maíora_ (Major). - -Some of their newly-constructed words will puzzle future philologists -who go there; for instance, the Malay word _písau_ (a knife) they -called _pítau_, substituting “t” for the “s” which they cannot -pronounce; _petau_ was found easier to say than _pítau_, and eventually -it became changed to _pauti_, which was the finally accepted version. - -Probably the best means of learning the local dialect would be to -encourage an intelligent child to visit your camp daily, where it would -learn Malay and in course of time might be able to act as interpreter; -but the process of education would be a slow one, and it would be -constantly interrupted by the wandering habits of the natives. The time -that we spent in the country was too short for any such attempt to be -made, and indeed it was not until we had been there for several months -that the children came fearlessly into our camp. But now that the -natives have full confidence in Europeans a patient scholar might make -a complete study of a quite unknown language. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - - - _The Papuans of - Wakatimi—Colour—Hair—Eyes—Nose—Tattooing—Height—Dress—Widows’ - Bonnets—Growth of Children—Preponderance of Men—Number of - Wives—Childhood—Swimming and other Games—Imitativeness - of Children—The Search for Food—Women as Workers—Fishing - Nets—Other Methods of Fishing—An Extract from Dampier._ - -The Papuans of the Mimika district may be divided into two classes or -tribes: those who live in the villages on the lower waters of the river -and make periodical migrations to the sea; and those who live on the -upper waters of the river near the foot of the mountains and who never -go down to the coast. There is a wide interval of uninhabitable country -between the regions occupied by these two tribes, and communication -between them, if it takes place at all, is very rare; but they resemble -each other so closely, both in physical characters and in their manners -and customs, that a single description will suffice for both.[9] The -other native race of the district, the pygmy people who live in the -mountains, will be described in a later chapter. - -[Sidenote: FEATURES OF THE PAPUANS] - -The skin of the Mimika native is a very dark brown, almost rusty black, -but a dark colour without any of the gloss seen in the skin of the -African negro. Not infrequently we saw men of a lighter, nearly yellow, -colour, and in the Wakatimi district there were three pure albinos, a -man, a woman and a child. The man and woman were covered with blotches -of a pinkish pigment and were peculiarly disagreeable to look at, the -child, a sucking infant, and the offspring of black parents, was as -white as any European baby, and was called, out of compliment to us, -“Tuana.”[10] - -The hair is black and thick and frizzly; it never, or seldom grows -long, so you do not see the ornamental coiffures characteristic of the -natives of some other parts of the island; but they are skilful in -plaiting what there is of it and take some pride in the result. Three- -or four-pronged combs are worn in the hair more as a means of carrying -a useful article than as ornaments. The hair of young children is often -quite fair, but it becomes dark as they grow up; some of the adults -have the custom, common in other places, of dyeing the hair yellow with -lime. - -The eye of the Papuan child is the eye of any bright dark-eyed child -here or elsewhere; the white of the eye is white and the iris dark -and clear. But very soon the white becomes bloodshot and yellow, and -the iris blurred. The expression in the eyes is a thing that haunts -one by its forlornness and hopelessness; it cannot be described, but -you may see it in the eyes of certain animals. They show a strong -disinclination to look you straight in the eyes, and when you rarely -make them do so you seem to be looking into an unlighted and empty -space. - -The teeth are strong, but not conspicuously white and perfect like -those of some other black races. A good many men file or chip the -upper incisors to a point, but this has not, so far as we know, any -particular significance. - -The nose is almost bridgeless and is of a somewhat hooked and fleshy -type with wide nostrils. The _septum_ of the nose is pierced when the -boys are young, and the hole is kept open by a rolled-up leaf thrust -through it; in this way it is gradually dilated until the man is -able to wear a carved ornament of a piece of the bill of a hornbill -or a curved boar’s tusk, with which he decorates himself on festal -occasions. The nose-piercing is attended with a good deal of ceremony, -but we were never fortunate enough to see it; it is done when the child -is about five years old, and the operation is made (according to native -accounts) with a piece of sharpened bone heated in the fire. Small -ornaments are sometimes worn in holes in the _alae nasi_ which are -pierced in all the children, both boys and girls, when they are small -infants. - -Many of the people pierce the lobes of the ear, but the custom is not -universal. The ornaments worn in the ear are strings of two or three -beads, or small rings of plaited fibres or rattan, or the claw of a -cassowary. We took with us a large number of Jew’s harps as trade -goods, but the natives did not care for them, and two (the only two, I -believe) that we did succeed in making the people accept, were worn -by them as ear-rings. Another man, a constant smoker, in default of a -better cigar case always carried a cigar in the lobe of his ear. - -Tattooing, in the proper sense of the term, is unknown to the Mimika -Papuans, but a great number of them practise cicatrisation or scarring. -The usual places for these markings are the buttocks and the outer -side of the upper (usually the left) arm. On the buttocks the marks -are almost always the same, a cross, about two inches square, on the -left buttock, and a cross surrounded by a circle on the right. The -mark on the arm is about four inches long and sometimes represents a -snake and sometimes a scorpion or a crayfish, but the meaning of it, -and whether or not it had some totemistic significance we were unable -to learn. Some of the women affect a scar between the breasts, which -makes a very unsightly contraction, and we occasionally saw people with -irregular scars all over the upper part of the breast and back, but it -is probable that most of them were the signs rather of former quarrels -than due to a spirit of coquetry. - -They are fond of painting their faces with a bright red earth, lumps of -which they sometimes find and prize very highly, and not infrequently -we saw men with their faces smeared black with a mixture of fat and -charcoal, or whitened with powdered sago, but the reason, if there were -any but vanity, for this adornment we did not discover. - -[Illustration: CICATRIZATION.] - -[Illustration: PAPUAN WITH FACE WHITENED WITH SAGO POWDER.] - -The average height of men measured at Wakatimi and Parimau is 5 feet 6 -inches. No women were measured, but it would probably be found that -the average height of the women was about two inches less than that of -the men. Such a height is small compared with that of many races, but -the first impression you get of the Papuans is that they are tall, for -they hold themselves well, and all naked people look taller than those -who go clothed. Their legs are thin and rather meagre, due in a great -measure to the large proportion of their lives that is spent in canoes, -but they walk with a good swinging gait and cover the ground easily. - -[Sidenote: DRESS] - -It is a curious thing that a black man never looks naked; a white man -undressed looks a naked man, so too does a yellow man, but a Papuan—and -nobody could wear much less in the way of clothes than he does—always -seems to be sufficiently clad. The dress of the Papuan men, as has been -suggested above, is scanty in the extreme. They have, or had before -we visited them, no cloth except a very inferior bark cloth made from -the bark of a species of fig tree. Some of the men wear a narrow strip -of this bark cloth, which hangs down in front from a string round the -loins and keeps up an ineffectual pretence of decency. - -The more usual covering is the bamboo penis-case, which is kept in -position by pulling the preputium through a hole in the lower end of -the case. There are three or four different patterns of penis-cases, -and they are always ornamented with carved designs. Another equally -common fashion of covering is the shell; this is an oval or roughly -squared segment of a large white sea shell, sometimes as much as six -inches in diameter. It is worn on a string which passes through two -holes bored in it, and is tied tightly round the loins. The convex -surface of the shell faces forwards, and the preputium is pulled -upwards and clipped under the lower margin of the shell. Both the -bamboo case and the shell are useful as a protection against the -leeches and thorns of the jungle. - -Small boys go quite naked until they reach the time of puberty, when -for a short period they wear a sort of skirt made from the shredded -leaves of the _pandanus_. Though the men like very much to wear round -their heads strips of our coloured cloth, they do not normally use any -kind of head-gear except on ceremonial occasions, when the men who beat -the drums wear elaborate hats ornamented with the plumes of birds of -paradise. Many of the men wear arm-bands above the elbow and leg-bands -below the knee, made of tightly woven fibre or of fine strips of rattan. - -The women are rather more clothed than the men, but it cannot be said -that they are at all overdressed. The usual garment consists of a -narrow belt of bark cloth or grass round the waist, from which there -hang a narrow strip of bark cloth in front, reaching about half way -down the thigh, and a wider strip, somewhat after the fashion of the -tail of an Englishman’s evening coat, extending as far as the knee -behind. In addition to this, many of the women wear a sort of short -waistcoat or sleeveless bodice made of plaited grass or fibre with -tags or tassels hanging down in a sort of fringe from its lower edge. -Newly-married women wear a sort of apron, or rather a long fringe of -shredded leaves, which hangs down from the waist. - -[Illustration: WOMEN OF WAKATIMI. - -(_On the left is a widow wearing the bonnet._)] - -[Sidenote: WIDOWS’ WEEDS] - -The best dressed, or in any case the most dressed, members of the -community are the widows, who wear, in addition to the other articles -of female attire, what can only be described as a poke bonnet. In some -cases the bonnet projects so far in front of the face as to obscure the -features, in some it is of a conical design, and in others it resembles -in shape nothing so much as the morion of a mediaeval man-at-arms. - -Like the waistcoats worn by the women, the bonnets are made of -ingeniously plaited fibre, and both of these look well when they are -newly made, but they very quickly become hideous with damp and dirt, -and the wearer is a person to be shunned. The small girls, unlike the -boys, wear a narrow strip of bark cloth tucked between the legs almost -as soon as they can walk. It is perhaps worth mentioning that these -people have the art of sewing; they make eyed needles out of sharp fish -bones, and with strands of fibre they contrive to sew pieces of bark -cloth very neatly together. - -There are no milk-producing domesticated animals in the country, so -the women suckle their infants for a very long time, and you may -occasionally see children of (apparently) three or four years old at -their mothers’ breasts; but whether young or old, it is very difficult -to estimate the age of these people. In the course of a year we saw -little children grow into active boys and we saw young men become -middle-aged. I should say—but this is pure speculation—that a man -is old at forty years and a woman at an even earlier age; it seems -probable, too, that the life of a woman is shorter than that of a man. - -Partly on account of the migratory habits of the natives, and partly -owing to the fact that at no hour of the day until nightfall are all -the people in or about the houses, it was never found possible to take -a census of a village, but from our observations we arrived at the -conclusion that the number of men was decidedly greater than that of -women. - -The number of a man’s wives was a favourite subject for boasting and -they often assured us that they had two or even three wives, but we -only knew two men who certainly had two wives; on the other hand we -knew a considerable number of men who had no wives at all. It appears -that a man may take a wife from his own village or from a village in -the same district; thus a Wakatimi man may take a wife from Obota -or Periepia, and a Parimau man from Kamura. There were two women at -Parimau who were said to come from Wakatimi, but whether they had been -voluntarily exchanged or were the spoils of war we were not told. - -It was unfortunate that we learnt nothing about the customs and -ceremonies connected with marriage. A wedding took place at Wakatimi -when we all happened to be absent, and the only definite description -that we were able to get of it was that the bride, who arrived from -another village by canoe, crawled on her hands and knees from the -water’s edge to the village, a distance of about a hundred yards, and -most of it through mud. - -Beyond question, the happiest time in the lives of the Papuans is their -childhood, when they are free to play from morning to night and need -not take part in the ceaseless search for food, which occupies so much -of the time of their elders. As infants they are carried on the backs -of their mothers and very often of their fathers, secured by a wide -strap of bark cloth, the ends of which are tied across the carrier’s -chest. It is very seldom that you hear them cry and they appear to give -very little trouble; their mothers are very careful of the cleanliness -of the infants. Very early in life they begin to walk and almost as -soon they learn to swim. In fine weather they often spend the greater -part of the day in the river and it is a very pretty sight to see a -crowd of little Papuans playing together in the water. Sometimes they -are joined by the women, who seem to enjoy the fun quite as much as the -children. One of their favourite games is to pretend to be a school of -porpoises, whose rolling headers they imitate admirably. They very soon -become powerful swimmers, and I remember one day seeing a small boy, -who cannot have been more than eight years old, swim across a river in -tremendous flood, while the party of men who were with him had to seek -a place where they could safely swim across half a mile lower down. - -[Sidenote: GAMES OF THE CHILDREN] - -There are a number of games too that they play on dry land: they -play the universal game of lying in wait for your enemy and suddenly -pouncing out on him; they have great battles in which they are armed -with miniature bows and arrows, and reed stems take the place of -spears, and shrill yells make up for the lack of bloodshed. There is -another game which I saw played three or four times in exactly the same -manner, and which, by reason of it somewhat resembling a children’s -game called “Nuts in May,” is perhaps worth describing. Eight little -boys, each one carrying a long flowering grass, stood in two parties -of four facing each other a few yards apart. At first they waved their -grasses and then danced towards each other, crossed and took the places -that had been opposite to them; this they repeated twice. Then they -ran round and round in a circle about five yards wide waving their -grasses and shouting until they stopped suddenly and sat down in a -bunch together. After a rest of about half a minute, they jumped up and -ran round again in the same circle, now shouting and grabbing as they -ran handsful of sand, which they threw over their heads into the air or -between their legs into the face of the one behind; then a sudden stop -and again they all sat down in a bunch. After this they jumped up, ran -all together for a few yards shouting loudly, hurled all their grasses -as high into the air as they could, and the game was ended. - -Like the children of more civilised races, the young Papuans are fond -of imitating their elders. The boys like to be seen walking about -with men, to copy their swaggering walk, and to sit about smoking -idly and watch the women at work. The little girls sometimes contrive -to make grass garments like those worn by the women; they make small -dolls’ houses in which they themselves, or infants still smaller than -they, are the dolls, and they like to be seen baling out the canoes -or carrying sand for the houses. But in their case pretence is soon -changed to reality, and when they are quite young they are made to -accompany their mothers in the serious business of life, while the -boys are still leading a gay life with no responsibilities. Both boys -and girls very early become proficient in the management of canoes, and -a child of tender years will confidently steer a canoe through rough -water which would end in certain shipwreck for one of us. - -[Sidenote: THE BUSINESS OF LIFE] - -The chief business in the lives of the Papuans is that of all animals, -human and others, namely, the search for food. But while the civilised -races have learnt to foresee wants of the future, and have established -a system of agriculture which provides food for everybody and leaves a -part of the population free to pursue other occupations, the Papuans -take no thought for the morrow, and the search for food becomes -literally a hand to mouth business, which occupies the attentions of -every member of the community. - -They have no cultivation in the Mimika villages, and even at those -places such as Obota (see p. 88) where there is some cultivation, -the crops that they raise are not nearly sufficient for the whole -population, so it can easily be imagined that an improvident people -living in a country constantly liable to sudden floods, which swamp -the land for weeks at a time, is frequently faced with a prospect of -complete starvation. At first you are inclined to think that the whole -of the business of collecting food falls on the shoulders of the women, -while the men sit at home and do nothing. This is certainly true of a -great many days in the year, but certain tasks can only be performed by -the men, such as hunting for game in the jungle, and felling trees to -make the canoes, without which the people must inevitably starve. - -Their working day begins fairly early, and by about eight o’clock the -village is almost deserted by the women, who have all gone off in -canoes to fish or collect sago. As a rule, two or three women go in -each canoe, taking with them a few children, a dog or two, several -fishing nets, rolls of matting, some spears and arrows, a little food, -a bamboo filled with fresh water, if they are going down to the river -mouth, and always a fire burning in the stern of the boat. The usual -destination of the women is the muddy creeks among the mangrove swamps -not far from the sea; there where the water is brackish and the tide -rises and falls several feet they find in the mud banks large mussels -(_Cyrena_ sp.), which contain a good deal of food, and the shells of -which are useful as knives and scrapers. Hopping all over the mud are -seen hundreds of curious little fish (_Periophthalmus_ sp.), whose eyes -seem to be starting out of their heads; these little creatures climb up -the steepest mud banks, and even up the stumps of trees. - -[Illustration: PAPUAN WOMAN AND CHILD.] - -[Sidenote: FISHING] - -The commonest type of fishing net is made in an oval framework of -wood, or strips of rattan, about 5 feet long by 2 feet wide; the net -is a close mesh of native string stretched tightly across the frame, -except at the middle, where it sags a little. The usual method of using -this kind of net is to grasp it at both ends and by wading through the -shallow water to scoop up small fish much in the same way as shrimps -are caught. There is another more ingenious method of using it, which -sometimes results in large capture of little fish. When the tide -is high the bushes along the river bank and many of the drooping -branches of the trees are submerged; the natives approach quietly in -their canoes, cautiously push the net under the submerged vegetation, -and then with a sudden jerk lift it up out of the water, in this way -capturing numbers of small fish which had been sheltering or looking -for food among the leaves. - -Another form of fishing net—though there is no netting in its -construction—is made of long, thin strips of bamboo tied parallel to -each other at intervals of about half an inch, forming a sort of screen -or trellis-work, which can be rolled up if necessary. Strong wooden -stakes are driven into the mud at the mouth of the creeks which join -the river in many places, and at high water the screens are fastened to -the stakes in such a way as to touch the bottom and close the entrance -of the creek; the water can run back when the tide falls, but not the -fish which are sometimes caught in considerable numbers. - -The larger fish are all obtained by the men, who either catch them with -a hook and line, or spear them in the shallow water near the river -mouth, or along the sea shore. We saw very few hooks; one or two were -made of rough metal, the others were neatly fashioned from fish bones, -and all of them were plain without barbs. Now they have a large number -of steel fishhooks, which they greatly value. - -The commonest types of fish-spear are made of thin bamboo or a light -wood about ten feet long, and they end in three or four sharp prongs -of bamboo or hardened wood. They also use a barbed spear of which -the head becomes detached from the shaft, when it becomes fixed in a -fish; a light line connecting the shaft with the head causes the shaft -to act as a drag on the movements of the fish, which can easily be -followed up and killed; this kind of spear is only used for the larger -fish, saw-fish and the like, but I never saw it in use. Considering the -enormous number of fish that there are—at the mouth of the river the -water is sometimes seen to be seething with large fish—it cannot be -said that the men are very clever with their spears. - -They also shoot fish, using single- or three-pointed arrows; you may -see a man standing quietly in a pool of water like a heron waiting for -the fish to come up to him, or stalking a shoal of fish stealthily -from the bank; in either case he will probably shoot arrow after arrow -without effect, for they are absurdly indifferent marksmen with the bow. - -The most primitive methods of all of catching fish I saw practised one -day coming down from Obota. A native paddling in the bow of my canoe -saw a large fish near the bank, towards which he steered the canoe. -When he judged that he was near enough to it, he hurled himself flat on -to the water with a resounding splash that drenched everything in the -boat, and a thud that would have stunned the fish at once had it not -darted off an instant earlier. - -The sight of a fish, however small it is, always rouses a Papuan to -action. When we were travelling with natives, we sometimes came to -pools where small fish had been left by some receding flood. Instantly -their loads were thrown down and everyone darted into the water with -sticks and stones and shouts and as much enthusiasm as if the fish had -been salmon and a full meal for everyone. - -There is another method of fishing which was observed by the navigator, -Captain Dampier, in use by the natives of this region. It is so -remarkable that, although we did not see it employed by the people of -the Mimika district, I shall make no excuse for repeating it here:— - -“They strike Fish very ingeniously with Wooden Fiss-gigs and have a -very ingenious way of making the Fish rise: For they have a piece of -Wood curiously carv’d and painted much like a Dolphin (and perhaps -other Figures;) these they let down into the Water by a Line with a -small weight to sink it; when they think it low enough, they haul -the Line into their Boats very fast, and the Fish rise up after this -Figure; and they stand ready to strike them when they are near the -Surface of the Water.”[11] - -There are times when the natives get more fish than they know what to -do with, and other times when no fish can be caught; but they have no -idea of laying up a store for the lean times. It is true that they char -some in the fire and keep them for a few days before the fish putrify, -but if they learnt to smoke some of their surplus supply, they need -never go hungry. - - - - -CHAPTER X - - - _Food of the Papuans—Cassowaries—The Native Dog—Question - of Cannibalism—Village Headman—The Social System of the - Papuans—The Family—Treatment of Women—Religion—Weather - Superstitions—Ceremony to avert a Flood—The Pig—A Village - Festival—Wailing at Deaths—Methods of Disposal of the - Dead—No Reverence for the Remains—Purchasing Skulls._ - -[Sidenote: FOOD OF THE NATIVES] - -The search for food furnishes occasionally some very curious scenes. -One of the most remarkable occurs when the river in flood brings down a -tree-trunk in a suitable stage of decay. A canoe is sent out with men -to secure it and tow it to the bank. When it has been left stranded by -the falling water, the people, men, women and children come out and -swarm around it like bees about a honey-pot, and you wonder what they -can be doing. When you go close you find that some are splitting up -the log with their stone axes and others are cutting up the fragments -with sharpened shells in the same way that their ancestors—and perhaps -ours too—did centuries ago. The objects of their search are the large -white _larvæ_ of a beetle, about the size of a man’s thumb; I have seen -natives eat them just as they cut them out of the wood, but usually -they roast them in the fire and consider them a great delicacy. - -Nothing that can by any means be considered eatable comes amiss to the -Papuans; there are two kinds of water tortoises which they like to eat, -and rats, lizards, frogs and snakes, and the eggs of crocodiles they -devour greedily. A number of different kinds of fruits, most of them -disagreeable to European tastes, are found growing in the jungle and -form a welcome addition to their fare. Birds they get occasionally, but -their skill with the bow and arrow is not remarkable. - -Most of their meat is obtained by hunting with dogs the wild pig, the -wallaby and the cassowary. The pig (_Sus papuensis_), though it is not -really a native of New Guinea, was introduced into the island so long -ago that it has become as well established as the rabbit has become -in this country. In some places, particularly near the foot of the -mountains, pigs are fairly numerous, and the natives kill a good many; -they are very savage beasts, and I saw a native terribly gashed by a -large boar, which was shortly afterwards shot by one of our Gurkhas. - -The Wallaby (_Dorcopsis lorentzii_) is a small kangaroo, about two -feet in height when it stands upright; it seems to be fairly evenly -distributed all over the district. When the natives bestir themselves -they seem to be able to catch the wallaby fairly easily; in four -consecutive days we saw the remains of thirteen brought into the -village of Parimau. The flesh is coarse and has a very strong musky -flavour. - -There are two kinds of Cassowary in the Mimika district, a small -species new to science (_Casuarius claudi_), which was discovered in -the mountains at an altitude of about 1500 feet, and a large species -(_Casuarius sclateri_), which was fairly abundant everywhere. We -frequently heard their curious booming cry at night and we often saw -their tracks in the mud of the jungle or on the river bank, but they -are very shy birds and are seldom seen. - -Once I had the luck to see an old cassowary with two young birds -walking about in a stony river bed, a place which they particularly -affect, and it was a very pretty sight to see how the mother bird, -after she had caught sight of me, drove away the chicks to a place of -safety and all the time kept herself between them and me. The natives -hunt and kill and eat a good many cassowaries; the feathers are used -for ornamental head-dresses and belts and for decorating spears and -clubs, and the claws are often used as the points of arrows. - -[Sidenote: THE NATIVE DOGS] - -The Papuan Dog, without whose help the native would seldom, if ever, -be able to get any meat, is a sharp-nosed prick-eared creature about -the size of a Welsh terrier. The colour is yellow, brown or black, and -the tail, which is upstanding, is tipped with white. Usually the hair -is short and smooth, but we saw one dog, brought down to Parimau by a -party of pygmies, which had a thick furry coat like a chow dog, which -it also resembled in the carriage of its tail. The dogs in the village -of the pygmies which we visited, were smooth-coated like those of the -Papuans, so it is possible that that thick-coated animal came from some -remote district where the natives live at a higher altitude. - -The Papuan dogs are very sociable creatures, and they like to accompany -the natives on their journeys. They are particularly fond of going in -canoes on the river, and two or three are seen in nearly every canoe -even when the people are only out fishing. Their food is generally -given to them by the women and it consists of raw meat, when there -is any, and lumps of sago. A remarkable peculiarity about them is -that they never bark, but they make up for this defect by their -extraordinary power of howling. Sometimes in broad daylight, if there -was no wind, but more often on still fine nights, a party of dogs -would sit together, usually on the river bank, and utter a chorus of -the most piteous and blood-curdling howls. No amount of stone-throwing -or beating with sticks, freely administered by their masters, had the -smallest effect on them; they would only move away a few yards and -begin again, apparently carried away by an ecstasy of sorrow. - -The natives value their dogs highly, as they well may do, for they -provide the whole of their meat supply, and they use them to exchange -for articles of which they have great need. The people at Parimau have -a small piece of iron about the size of a chisel, used for carving -their canoes and paddles, for which the enormous price of three dogs -had been paid, so they informed us, to the people of the Wakatimi. -One day one of our “boys” shot a dog, which had been in the habit of -stealing food from our camp. When the natives knew that it was dead, -all the people of the village began to wail in the same manner as they -do when a person dies, and the owner of the dog smeared himself with -mud and mourned bitterly. No doubt the display was somewhat exaggerated -in the hope of getting a compensation from us, but at the back of it -there was genuine emotion. - -Before leaving the subject of the food of the Papuans and their means -of obtaining it, a word must be said on the question of cannibalism. -It is popularly supposed that all the natives of New Guinea are -cannibals, and fears were expressed by many of our friends that some, -if not all, of us would end in a Papuan feast. But we saw no signs of -cannibalism, and we have no reason to suppose that it is practised by -the people of the Mimika district. Men whom we questioned about it -denied it and showed expressions of disgust at the suggestion; but that -is not a complete proof of their innocence, for I have known people -elsewhere, who were undoubtedly cannibals, deny it in the same manner. -The question of cannibalism is always difficult to decide without -direct evidence, and in the case of these Papuans the verdict must be -one of “Not proven.” - -[Sidenote: SOCIAL SYSTEM OF THE PAPUANS] - -The account given in a preceding chapter of the difficulties we -experienced in learning the language of the Papuans will serve to -explain how it was that we learnt so little about the nature of their -social system. The people of Wakatimi were called _Wakatimi-wé_ (people -of Wakatimi), the people of Obota were _Obota-wé_, and the people -of other villages in like manner, but we never heard one word that -included them all, nor indeed do we know whether or not they consider -themselves all to belong to the same tribe. - -In every village that we visited there were one or two or even more -men who called themselves _natoo_, a word signifying “chief.” But in -no case did the _natoo_ appear to have any authority over the other -people; their houses were no bigger than the rest, and (except in one -instance) they had no more personal property than the other members of -the community. - -[Illustration: A PAPUAN OF MIMIKA.] - -The exceptional case was a man of unusual intelligence who became our -intimate friend and gave us much information for which he was always -well rewarded, so that before we left the country his house was filled -with tins and bottles, and he was the possessor of axes and knives, -yards of cloth and countless beads. In all the ordinary affairs of life -the “chiefs” and their families have to work like everybody else, but -it is possible that in their wars, of which we saw nothing at all, they -may be persons of more consequence. - -Generally speaking, one would say that the society of the Mimika -Papuans is a group of small families. It cannot by any means be -described as a socialistic community; with one exception there is no -sign of community of property, but it is rather a case of every man -for himself, or (more accurately) of every family for itself. A canoe -belongs to the family of the man who made it; the coconut trees, which -grow here and there along the lower Mimika, do not belong to the -community but to individuals, presumably the men or some of the men -who planted them. Sometimes the trees are protected by a fence, a very -flimsy structure of three or four sticks, placed across the track which -leads to the trees; in other cases a few palm leaves or some pierced -shells threaded on a string are tied round the tree itself; both of -these devices appear to be enough to ensure the security of the trees. -The exception mentioned is seen when game is brought in by the hunters; -the meat, as I observed on several occasions, is distributed to every -house in the village. - -As I have described above (p. 97) the houses in a village are joined -together under a common roof, but each family enters by its own -doorway, and, except for the publicity resulting from the lack of -dividing walls or partitions, it finds itself in its own private house. -It is difficult to say exactly of what the “family-group” consists. -There are the man and his wife and the children, and sometimes an extra -man or two, and, rarely, an extra woman, who is, I believe, always a -second wife of the man of the house; but the position of the extra men -and their relationship to the rest of the family I cannot define. At -the village of Obota a detached house, rather larger than the rest, -was said to be occupied by young men only; we did not see any other -instance of this elsewhere. - -Families are small, as might be expected from the severity of their -conditions of life and the long period of suckling by the mothers, -and we did not know definitely of any couple who had more than three -living children. Though the women do a large amount of the work of the -community they are not mere drudges; they do a great deal of talking, -and the men appear to pay considerable respect to their opinion. This -was frequently noticeable when we wanted to buy something, such as -canoes, from a native; he would say that he must first of all go and -consult his wife, and when he returned it often happened that, prompted -by his wife, he insisted on a higher payment than he had asked before. - -On one occasion only did we see a woman ill-treated, and the -performance was a particularly brutal one. Two men and a woman walked -down from the village of Wakatimi to the river bank, dragging another -woman, who shrieked and struggled violently. After throwing her into -the mud they dragged her into the shallow water and tried to drown her -by holding her down under a fishing-net. We shouted at them, and were -just going with some soldiers in a canoe across the river to rescue the -woman, when they desisted and allowed the poor creature to crawl out on -to the bank, where she lay for some time exhausted. Some natives who -came over to us shortly afterwards laughed about it and treated the -whole affair as a joke. - -[Sidenote: PAPUAN SUPERSTITIONS] - -With regard to the superstitions and beliefs of the Papuans, owing -to our unfortunate difficulties with the language we learnt nothing -whatever. Religion, in the accepted sense of that term, I am sure they -have not. It is true that they make curious carved effigies, but these -are not idols, and there is no evidence to show that they ever consult -or worship them; on the contrary, they treat them with contempt and -often point to them with laughter. These images are ingeniously and -skilfully carved out of wood, and they represent a human figure always -grotesque and sometimes grossly indecent. They vary in size from a few -inches to twelve or fourteen feet, and when they are not neglected they -are ornamented with red and white paint. - -We had opportunities of observing the outward signs of what were -probably superstitions in connection with certain phenomena of the -weather. For instance, the first peal of thunder that was heard in -the day—it occurred almost every day—was greeted by the men with a -long-drawn tremulous shout. On the occasion of a particularly alarming -thunderstorm, when the lightning flashes were almost unceasing, the -men came out of doors and with long sticks beat the ground in front -of their huts; then they waved the sticks in the air, shouting loudly -meanwhile. Curiously enough the rare whistle of a certain bird, which -we never identified, was always greeted by the men of Parimau with a -shout precisely similar to that with which they greet the thunder. - -The first sight of the new moon was signalised by a short sharp bark -rather than a shout. Several times on the day following the first sight -of the new moon I noticed a spear decorated with white feathers exposed -conspicuously in the village, but whether it had any connection with -the kalendar I cannot say. - -When the first drops of rain of the day began to fall, the men were -sometimes seen to snap their fingers four times towards the four -quarters of the compass. - -A curious ceremony was twice observed at a time of heavy rain, when the -Mimika was rising rapidly and threatening to sweep away the village -of Parimau. A party of men walked down to the edge of the river, and -one of them with a long spear threshed the water, while the others at -each stroke shouted, “_Mbu_” (water, flood). Then they went up to the -village, and in front of each door they dug a hole, into which they -poured a coconut-full of water; again they shouted “_Mbu_,” and then -filled up the hole with sand. - -That they have some belief in the supernatural is certain. We learnt a -word _niniki_, which undoubtedly means ghosts; they described _niniki_ -as things which you could not see but were here and there in the air -about you. When they were asked where a dead man had gone to, they -talked of _niniki_, and pointed vaguely to the horizon, saying the word -which means “far.” - -[Sidenote: PIGS] - -If there is one thing in heaven or earth to which it may be said that -the Papuans pay some sort of respect it is the pig. They hunt and kill -a good many wild pigs in the jungle and eat their flesh, but the lower -jaw of each animal is carefully cleaned and hung up on a sort of rack -in front of the houses; on one of these racks I counted no fewer than -thirty-two pigs’ jaws. The grass and leaves in which the animal is -wrapped and the ropes used for tying it up when it is carried home from -the jungle, are not thrown away but are hung up on a similar sort of -rack in a conspicuous place in the village. - -In every village there may generally be seen two or three pigs running -about freely; they are probably not bred in the village, but are caught -in the jungle, when they are young. They very soon become quite tame -and accompany the people on their migrations from one place to another -until they are full grown, when they provide food for a festival. The -only elaborate popular ceremony that took place while we were in the -country happened early in May at Parimau, and the principal feature -of it was the slaughter of pigs. Unfortunately for me I was at the -base-camp at the time and did not see the festival, so I will make -extracts from Marshall’s graphic account.[12] - -[Sidenote: A VILLAGE FESTIVAL] - -“Yesterday the natives gave us an excellent show. For some days -previously natives had been arriving from distant parts until the small -village of 40 huts contained 400 people, and it was evident from the -tomtomming and other signs that something of importance was about to -take place. On the night of the 3rd inst. they lit a big bonfire, and -all night long they were howling and yelling as if to drive away evil -spirits. Soon after daybreak they came over to fetch us, and, expecting -something unusual, I slipped a film into my cinematograph camera and -went over. They gave me every opportunity of obtaining a good picture, -keeping an open space for me in the best positions. First of all the -women, draped in leaves, slowly walked down the beach, driving two -full-grown boars in front of them, and then disappeared in the jungle. -About 150 men with faces painted and heads and spears decorated with -feathers, formed up in three sides of a square, one end of which was -occupied by a band of tomtoms. A slow advance on the village then -commenced, the men shouting in chorus and the women dancing on the -outskirts. The centre of the square was occupied by single individuals, -who, following each other in quick succession, gave a warlike display, -finally shooting arrows far over the trees. - -[Illustration: A TYPICAL PAPUAN OF MIMIKA.] - -“The next scene took place around a large sloping erection which we -soon found was an altar, on which the two boars were about to be -sacrificed. The women and boars who had disappeared into the forest -now marched from the jungle at the far end of the village. The -boars were seized, and a struggle with the animals ensued, but the two -huge brutes were bound up with rattan, chalk meanwhile being rubbed -into their eyes, apparently in order to blind them. The women set up -a tremendous wailing, and appeared on the scene plastered in wet mud -from head to foot. The two boars, on each of which a man sat astride, -were now hoisted up and carried to the altar, on which the animals were -tightly lashed. Then amid much shouting, tomtomming, and fanatical -displays, the boars were clubbed to death. As soon as life was extinct, -the women cut the carcases free, and, pulling them to the ground, -threw themselves on the dead bodies, wailing loudly, and plastering -themselves with wet mud in ecstasies of grief. This continued for some -ten minutes, when the men, many of whom were covered with mud and -uttered strange dirges, picked up the bodies, and the whole assembly -following suit marched into the river, where a much-needed washing -took place. Just previous to this a three-year-old child, painted red -and crying loudly, had been roughly seized and dragged towards the -dais, and for a moment we thought something more serious than a boar -sacrifice was about to take place. But we were much relieved to see -that it was only having its ears pierced. The whole performance lasted -about an hour and a half. - -“The afternoon was given over to innocent play, the women and -girls—many of them quite pretty—chasing the men up to the river side -and into the water. This is one of the few ceremonies when the -women are allowed to beat the men, the latter not being permitted to -retaliate. The damsels finally became so bold that they stormed the -camp.” - -Of ceremonies connected with birth, if any take place, we saw nothing -at all. The only marriage ceremony that took place during our stay in -the country has been referred to on a preceding page. - -Deaths were unfortunately more frequent, and if they were not -accompanied by any elaborate ceremonial they were, at all events, -widely advertised, sometimes indeed even before the event itself. A -wretched man became very ill at Parimau in August, and it was soon -evident that his days were numbered. Members of his family carried -him out of the house and laid him in the sunlight for a time, and -then took him back into the house again at least half a dozen times -a day. Now and again, when he dozed, they set up the dreadful wail -that is customary when a person dies, and he had to wake up and -assure them of his continued life. At night his hut was crowded with -sympathetic watchers, and with the smoke of the fire and much tobacco -the atmosphere must have been nearly insupportable. As our own house -was distant only about forty yards across the river we could plainly -hear his laboured breathing, and when it grew softer they wailed again -until the wonder was that he did not die. On the third day they dug a -grave for him, but still he lingered on, and it was not until the fifth -night, when a tremendous flood came down and swept away the village so -that all the people had to take refuge in their canoes, that he died. - -[Sidenote: WAILING AT DEATH] - -When a death occurs the people in the hut at once begin to wail, -then the people in the neighbouring huts join in and soon the whole -village is wailing. It is a very peculiar and very striking chorus. -Each individual wails on one note, and as there are perhaps five -notes ranging from a very high pitch to a deep murmured bass being -sung at once, the effect is most mournful. The occasional beat of -a drum adds not a little to the general effect of lamentation. It -must be admitted, however, that the wailing is not always a musical -performance. Sometimes the mourning man behaves in the way that a child -does when it is described as “roaring”; he puckers up his face in the -most extraordinary contortions, “roars” at the top of his voice with -occasional heart-breaking sobs, while the tears course down his face, -and the complete picture is ludicrous in the extreme. - -The disposal of the dead nearly always takes place just before dawn, -but the method of it is not always the same. The most common practice -is to bury the body in a shallow grave dug in the nearest convenient -spot, sometimes within a few yards of the huts. The body is wrapped in -mats and laid flat in the grave, which is then filled up, and its place -is perhaps marked by a stick, but in a day or two it is forgotten and -people trample on it without heed. - -We observed one instance of a more elaborate kind of burial. The -corpse, wrapped in leaves and mats, was taken out into the jungle and -placed on a platform about four feet high, which had been put up for -the purpose. After placing the body on the platform the men who had -carried it walked down to the river, shouted once in unison, and then, -having received an answering shout from the men in the village, one of -them threw a small triangular piece of wood out into the stream. In -the meantime the family of the dead man disappeared into the jungle, -from which they soon emerged quite naked, plastered all over with mud -and decorated with wisps of climbing plants. The next two days were -spent in digging a grave and making a coffin shaped like a small canoe; -this however was found to be too small and was not used. On the third -day the body was placed in the grave, and an ornamental post placed in -the ground at each end, but contrary to our hopes (for the state of -that man was becoming very offensive) they did not fill in the grave. -They merely covered the body with leaves and turned it over every day. -At intervals the widow, quite naked, save for a plastering of mud, -crawled on hands and knees from her hut, which was less than five yards -distant, and visited the grave. In a few days a providential flood came -and filled up the grave and put an end to what had become for us an -almost intolerable nuisance. - -Both at Wakatimi and at Parimau our camp commanded a good view of the -native village, and a death always provided us with the mild excitement -of wondering in what new way they would celebrate the event. On one -occasion when a woman died, the bereaved husband and another man walked -slowly down to the river and waded out into about three feet of water. -There the widower submitted to being washed all over by the other man -and finally to being held under water by him for half a minute or -more, after which they walked solemnly back to the village. - -[Sidenote: DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD] - -Early in the morning of the day after the death of the _natoo_ of -Wakatimi all the women and girls of the village, to the number of sixty -or seventy, came down to the river, all of them without a vestige of -clothing, and in the shallow water a foot or two deep they swam and -crawled and wriggled up the river for a hundred yards or more, wailing -loudly all the time. Sometimes they came out on to the bank and rolled -in the mud, and finally they all went out of the water and stood -wailing in front of the dead man’s house. - -Another method of disposing of the dead, which is very frequently -adopted, is to place the body wrapped in mats in a rude coffin, which -is usually constructed from pieces of broken canoes. The coffin -containing the body is supported on a trestle of crossed sticks about -four feet from the ground (see illustration opposite), and there it -remains until decomposition is complete. As these coffins are often -placed within a yard or two of the houses, it can be imagined that a -Papuan village is not always a pleasant place to visit. - -At the village of Nimé we saw two or three pathetic little bundles -containing the remains of infants exposed on racks within a few feet of -the houses, from which they doubtless came. - -[Illustration: DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. A COFFIN ON TRESTLES.] - -When decomposition is complete no account is taken of the bones, -excepting the skull, which is taken and preserved in the house. -Sometimes it is buried in the sand of the floor of the house, and -sometimes it is tied up in a sort of open basket-work of rattan and -hung up in the roof, where it becomes brown with smoke and polished -by frequent handling. - -Though the people take the trouble to bring the skulls into their -houses, they show no real respect for them, and they are eager enough -to part with them if a chance occurs. Two of us went one day to Obota, -a village a few miles from Wakatimi, in the hopes of buying some -bananas. In one of the huts we saw a skull and offered to buy it, not -at all expecting that the owner would be willing to sell, but the offer -of (I think) a piece of cloth was gladly accepted and the skull was -ours. In a few minutes, when it became known that we had given good -cloth for a common skull, everybody was anxious to sell his family -remains, and outside every doorway were placed one or two or even three -grinning skulls. They do not treat the skulls very carefully, and a -good many were damaged, so we only bought about half a dozen that were -perfect. - -One day a man walked into our camp at Wakatimi carrying a skull under -his arm. He stood outside our house for some time, grinning and saying -nothing, then he gave us unmistakably to understand that it was the -skull of his wife, who, as we knew for a fact, had only died a short -time previously. The skull was indeed so fresh that we declined the -offer. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - - - _Papuans’ Love of Music—Their Concerts—A Dancing - House—Carving—Papuans as Artists—Cat’s Cradle—Village - Squabbles—The Part of the Women—Wooden and Stone - Clubs—Shell Knives and Stone Axes—Bows and Arrows—Papuan - Marksmen—Spears—A most Primitive People—Disease—Prospects - of their Civilisation._ - -The most pleasing characteristic of the Papuans is their love of music. -When a number of them are gathered together and when they have eaten -well, or are for any other reason happy, they have a concert. Sometimes -the concerts take place in the afternoon and continue till nightfall, -but more often they begin after dark and go on almost through the -night. The orchestra is simple and consists of two or three men who -beat drums and sit before a small fire in the middle. Round them are -grouped the chorus all sitting on the ground. The drums are hollowed -cylinders of wood, which are often elaborately carved; one end is -open, the other is closed by a piece of lizard’s or snake’s skin (see -illustration p. 142). When this skin becomes slack, as it very quickly -does, the drummer holds it towards the fire until it regains its -pitch. It is not the custom to tune up both drums, when there are more -than one, to the same pitch, usually an interval of about half a tone -is left between them. The leader of the orchestra sometimes wears a -remarkable head-dress made of plaited fibre and ornamented with bunches -of plumes of the Bird of Paradise (see illustration p. 78). The effect -of these plumes waving backwards and forwards as the man moves his head -to mark the phrases of the song is exceedingly striking, and it must -be admitted that if there is anybody, who can becomingly wear those -gorgeous plumes, it is the naked black man. - -The most usual kind of song begins with a slow tapping of the drums, -then these are beaten quicker and the singer (one of the drummers) -begins a sort of recitative song, to which the chorus contributes a -low humming accompaniment. Then the drums are beaten very loudly and -rapidly, all the men in chorus sing, or rather growl, a deep guttural -note, followed by a prolonged musical note at about the middle of the -register of a normal man’s voice, and the song ends with one or more -short sharp barks, “Wah! wah! wah!” with a loud drum accompaniment. The -song, or probably different verses of it, is repeated very many times. -The final shouts of the song, which for want of a better word I have -called “barks,” are uttered by all the men in unison and recall, as was -pointed out by Mr. Goodfellow, the harsh croaking call of the Greater -Bird of Paradise, which is heard almost daily in the jungle. It is -possible that the song is in some way connected with the bird and that -there is an intentional imitation of its note. - -The scheme of all these songs is the same, viz., a recitative with -drums and a humming accompaniment, but some of them have really -rollicking choruses, and we used to listen to them at night with -extreme pleasure as they came, somewhat softened by distance, over the -water to our camp at Wakatimi. The voices of the men are often rich, -and they have a true musical ear. Their intervals are very similar to -ours and not at all like those of the Malays and many other Eastern -singers, who recognize perhaps five notes where we have only two. -Beside the drum the only instrument of music they have is a straight -trumpet made from a short piece of bamboo. This produces only a single -booming note and is not used at the concerts. - -[Illustration: 1. STONE AXE. - -2. 3. 4. HEAD-RESTS FOR SLEEPING. - -5. 6. 7. DRUMS.] - -[Sidenote: A DANCING HOUSE] - -As an amusement of the Papuans even more important than singing is -dancing, of which they often talked, but though we saw some of their -dancing halls (see illustration p. 48), we never had the good fortune -to witness a performance. At the coast village of Nimé, a few miles -to the East of the Mimika River, there was a very elaborate dancing -house, which must have cost an immense amount of labour to build. The -length of the house from front to back was about 100 feet, the width -about 25 feet, and it rested on poles which were about 8 feet high in -front, rising up to about 14 feet high at the back. The side walls and -the back were of “atap” as was also the roof, which sloped from a long -ridgepole running the whole length of the house. The ridgepole was -remarkable as being made from a single tree trunk (_Casuarina_) shaved -down very smoothly to a uniform thickness of about 10 inches; the ends -of it, which projected about 8 feet both at the front and back of the -house, were carved in very lifelike representations of the head of a -crocodile and were painted red. The weight of the beam must have been -immense and one wondered how it had been hoisted into position. Between -the ridge of the roof and the eaves there projected both in front and -at the back six other smaller poles grotesquely carved to represent -fish and reptiles and hideous human heads. The front of the house was -open, and when you had climbed up the supporting poles and had stepped -over a low fence you found yourself in a spacious hall with a floor -well made of sheets of bark, which sloped up gradually from front to -back. Along either side at regular intervals on the floor were sand -fireplaces and above these were wooden racks, from which it was evident -that something was hung to be cooked. Round the walls on all sides -was a strip of carved and painted wood, and exactly in the middle of -the hall, fixed to the floor and the roof were two posts about 3 feet -apart and tied between them, at about half the height of a man, was an -elaborately carved and painted board about twelve inches wide. In the -middle of this board was carved the eye, which is a familiar feature of -the ornamental carving on the canoes and drums, and it appeared that -this eye is the centre of the ceremonies which take place in the house. - -So far as I could understand from the description of the natives who -accompanied me in my visit to the house, the people, both men and -women, who take part in the ceremony, dance slowly upwards from the -front of the house singing as they go, and when they reach the carved -board each one in turn touches the eye, while all the people shout -together. But what the object of the whole performance is and what the -people cook and eat, are questions to which I was unable to find an -answer. - -[Illustration: 1-7. BAMBOO PENIS-CASES. 8-12. CARVED BLADES OF PADDLES.] - -[Sidenote: PAPUAN ARTISTS] - -I have had occasion above to mention the artistic carvings on the -canoes and drums. Their paddles too show a very good idea of design, -as will be seen from the illustration p. 144. Nothing amused them more -than to be provided with a pencil and pieces of paper and to attempt -to draw figures. Their efforts were not always very successful, and -some of the drawings which I have kept would be quite unrecognisable -for what they are, if I had not labelled them at the time. Like the -young of civilised races they always preferred to draw the figures of -men and women, and some of these are remarkable for having the mouth -near the top of the head above the level of the eyes. The method of -drawing is very simple; the pencil is held almost upright on the paper -and the outline of the figure, begun at an arm or leg or anywhere -indifferently, is drawn in one continuous stroke without removing the -pencil from the paper. The end is always rather exciting, like the feat -of drawing a pig when you are blindfolded, for the artist is never -quite certain of finishing at the point whence he started. Besides -human figures they liked drawing dogs, pigs, birds and fishes. Two -pictures of a dog and a bird both done by the same man are peculiarly -interesting, because they were both drawn upside down. I watched the -man making the drawings, and when they were finished I saw that the -legs of the creatures were uppermost; so I turned the papers the right -way round and handed them back to him, but he inverted them again and -admired them in that position. Curiously enough the same man drew human -figures in the correct attitude, head uppermost, so that the state of -his mental vision offers rather a puzzling problem. - -[Illustration: _a._ Cockatoo. _a_{1} b_. Designs for scarification. -_b._ Hornbill. _c._ Pig. _d._ Dog. _e._ Bird. _f._ Man. _g._ Woman.] - -Most of them had a keen appreciation of pictures and they were -surprisingly quick in identifying photographs of themselves; in this -respect they showed a good deal more intelligence than some of our -Gurkhas, who held a photograph sideways or upside down and gazed at it -blankly, as if they had not the faintest idea of what it portrayed. -The illustrated papers were a source of endless delight to them, and -the portraits of beautiful ladies, who they felt sure were our wives, -were greatly admired. Horses, sheep, cattle and all other animals were -declared to be dogs. - -[Sidenote: CAT’S CRADLE] - -Another amusement—it can hardly be called an art—of the Papuans is -the game of cat’s cradle, at which many of them are extraordinarily -proficient. It is not, as with us, a game played by two persons; with -them the part of the second person is performed by the player’s teeth, -and he contrives to produce some wonderfully intricate figures, none of -which, I regret to say, we had patience or skill enough to learn. The -most elaborate figure I saw was supposed to represent a bird, and when -the features of it had been pointed out some resemblance was certainly -apparent. - -But it must be admitted that their amusements are not always so -innocent as drawing pictures and playing cat’s cradle. I have referred -above to the gang of drunkards, who used to create such turmoil -at Wakatimi. The people of Parimau, who had no means of getting -intoxicated, were just as quarrelsome as the Wakatimi people, and -fights were of frequent, almost daily occurrence. Some one does -something, it matters not what, to offend some other person, and -in an instant the village is in an uproar. Spears fly through the -air—we never saw anybody touched by one—and stone clubs are brandished -furiously, the combatants all shout horrible threats at the tops of -their voices, while a few people look on stolidly or hardly take any -notice at all. There seems to be a certain etiquette about the use of -clubs, for the person about to be hit generally presents a soft part of -his person, the back or shoulders, to the clubber, and we never saw a -man intentionally hit another on the head, a blow which might easily be -fatal; but blood flowed in plenty from the flesh wounds. - -The part of the women in these village squabbles is always to scream -loudly and generally to begin by banging the houses with sticks or -spears and to end with pulling them to pieces. In a fight at Wakatimi -we saw a party of infuriated women absolutely demolish three or four -houses. The fights end almost as suddenly as they begin and in a short -time the village settles down to its usual tranquillity. Neither the -sight nor the sound of these village quarrels is very agreeable, but -they have no regularly organised games and, at the worst, not a very -great amount of damage is done. - -The clubs used in these village fights and doubtless also in their -tribal wars—but of those we know nothing—are of two kinds, wooden and -stone-headed. The wooden clubs are about four feet long and consist of -a plain shaft, of which the last foot or rather more is carved into -a saw-like cutting edge; some of these are made of a very heavy wood -and they are exceedingly formidable weapons. A more simple type of -wooden club is a plain wooden shaft rather thinner at the handle end -than at the other, round which is fixed a piece of shark’s skin or -the prickly skin from the back of the Sting Ray and often with it is -tied the saw of a small Saw fish; such a club appears to be capable of -inflicting a very nasty wound. - -[Illustration: SPLITTING WOOD WITH A STONE AXE.] - -[Sidenote: STONE CLUBS] - -There is a great variety of stone-headed clubs, but they are all alike -in being furnished with a wooden shaft, which is usually a plain piece -of wood, but occasionally carved near the club end. The stone head -is pierced in the middle by a round hole about an inch in diameter, -through which the shaft is passed and fixed firmly by wedges. Most of -the heads are made of a rather soft limestone, but where the people -obtain it we do not know, for there is no stone of any kind near the -coast. The simplest type is merely a round water-worn pebble with a -hole bored through it. More commonly they are worked and the labour of -producing them must have been considerable. Some are flat discs with -sharp cutting edges or blunt and roughly milled edges, and some are -cut into the form of five or six or more pointed stars; rarely they -are triangular. Others again are round or oval and are cut into more -or less deep teeth, or they have small bosses left projecting here and -there, but no two of them are exactly alike. The weight of the club -head is usually two or three pounds. The most savage-looking club we -saw was simply a rough lump of coral, not trimmed in any way. It was -pierced and mounted on a finely carved shaft of extremely heavy wood, -and the whole thing must have weighed fifteen or twenty pounds. - -Not a little credit is due to the Papuans for their industry in -making these elaborate weapons, for it must be remembered that until -we visited the country they had no metal tools whatever, with the -exception of two or three scraps of soft iron, and all their work was -done with shell knives and stone axes. The knives are simply the shells -of a common freshwater bivalve (_Cyrena_ sp.); when these are rubbed -down on a stone, they take on an exceedingly sharp edge and are used -by the natives for carving the canoes and drums and sharpening their -spears and arrows. - -The stone axes used in the Mimika district are all of the same type, -though they vary greatly in size from about four inches to large ones -of nearly twelve inches in length. The stone of which they are made is -always the same, a quartzite. The shaft is about two feet long and is -invariably made of the butt end of a bamboo. A hole is bored and burnt -in the lower end of the bamboo, that is to say in the solid part of -the wood below the first joint, and the pointed end of the stone is -jammed into the hole. The stone is always fixed axe-fashion, _i.e._ -with its broad surface and cutting edge in the same plane with the long -axis of the handle, and not adze-fashion, as is the custom in some -other parts of New Guinea (see illustration p. 142). The axes quickly -become blunt with use and they are sharpened by being rubbed upon -another stone. At Wakatimi stones are very rare and one man appeared -to be the stone-smith of the village. I remember seeing him one day -sitting outside his hut sharpening an axe, with three or four others -lying beside him waiting to be done, while a few yards away a woman was -splitting a log of wood with a stone axe. It struck me as being one -of the most primitive scenes I had ever witnessed, really a glimpse of -the Stone Age. - -[Illustration: - - 1. BOW. - 2, 7. WOODEN FISH SPEARS. - 3. PLAIN WOOD-POINTED ARROW. - 4. NOTCHED WOOD-POINTED ARROW. - 5. ARROW TIPPED WITH CASSOWARY CLAW. - 6. BAMBOO-POINTED ARROW. - 8. HUNTING SPEAR, POINTED WITH SHARP BONE. - 9, 10. WOODEN SPEAR USED AT CEREMONIES.] - -[Sidenote: BOWS AND ARROWS] - -The bows of the Mimika natives are about five feet long and are made -of a simple straight piece of a very hard wood (usually a species of -_pandanus_), tapering towards the ends, which are sometimes ornamented -with the claw of a cassowary or a tuft of feathers and shells or the -claw of a crab. The “string” is a piece of rattan and it requires -a strong arm to bend the bow. The arrows are of various types (see -illustration p. 150); they are all made of reed stems, and none are -ever feathered nor have they nocks. They vary only in their points, -which are sometimes merely the sharpened end of the reeds themselves -and sometimes a plain sharpened tip of hard wood or bamboo. Some are -tipped with the sharpened claw of a cassowary or with the spine that -lies along the back of the Sting Ray, and the arrows used for shooting -fish have often three points of sharp bamboo. - -Most people have the idea that the savage man performs prodigies of -skill with his bow and arrows, but whenever I saw the Papuans shooting, -they made astonishingly bad practice. I remember seeing two Papuans -trying to kill an iguana in a tree not more than twenty feet above the -ground; they shot arrow after arrow at it, but the creature, which was -as long and almost as thick as a man’s arm, climbed slowly up from -branch to branch until it was lost to view. - -The hunting spears are of two kinds, a plain straight shaft of heavy -wood, very sharp and hardened by fire at the tip; and a straight shaft -of a lighter wood, to the end of which is fixed part of a straight bone -(generally the _tibia_) of a pig, sharpened to a fine point. There is -another kind of spear made of a soft wood, finely pointed and with a -wide blade carved in a sort of open-work fashion (see illustration p. -150); the blade and the point are painted red with clay and the shaft -is generally decorated with feathers or plaited fibre. Spears of this -sort are of no use in hunting but are employed at dances and other -ceremonial functions. - -Two more pieces of furniture, the head-rest and the sago bowl, complete -the list of articles made by the Papuans. The head-rests, which were -seen only in the villages of Obota and Nimé, are made of a strip of -elaborately carved wood four or five inches wide and between two and -three feet in length, and are supported at each end by a stout wooden -prop, which raises the head-rest about four inches above the ground. -The longer head-rests are supposed to support the heads of two sleeping -persons. - -Fire is nearly always taken by the Papuans wherever they go; in almost -every canoe a fire is kept burning, and when they travel through the -jungle the men carry a smouldering stick. There must be occasions when -all these fires are extinguished, but how they produce them we were -unable to learn; the Papuans of Parimau could not make fire with the -friction stick and rattan used by their neighbours, the Tapiro Pygmies. - -From the description of them which has been given in this and the two -preceding chapters it will be seen that the conditions of life of the -Papuans are as primitive as those of any people now living in the -world. There are very few other places, where you can find a people -who neither make nor possess any metal and who have no knowledge -of pottery. The only vessels that they have for holding water are -scraped-out coconuts and simple pieces of bamboo. Water boiling they -had never seen before we came among them. Their implements and weapons -are, as I have shown, of the most primitive kind, and their ornaments -are of the rudest possible description. - -Cultivation of the soil is only practised by the people of one or two -villages, and even then it produces but a very small proportion of -their food, so it follows that most of their time and energies are -devoted to procuring the necessaries of life. - -[Sidenote: STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE] - -The struggle for existence is keen enough, the birth-rate is low and -the rate of infant mortality is, I believe, very high. Nor do diseases -spare them; syphilis is exceedingly prevalent, and was probably -introduced by Chinese and Malay traders to the West end of the island, -whence it has spread along the coast. Tuberculosis is happily absent, -but two natives of Wakatimi were suffering from what appeared to be -certainly leprosy. Skin diseases, notably _tinea imbricata_, are very -common; and almost every person appears to suffer occasionally from -fever of one sort or another. - -But in spite of all these drawbacks the Papuans of the Mimika are not -such a very miserable people. They are strong, those of them that -survive the ordeals of infancy and sickness; they have food in plenty -to eat, if they choose to exert themselves sufficiently to obtain it; -they have their amusements, songs and dances; and the manner of their -lives is suited to the conditions of the country in which they live. -It is this last consideration which ought ultimately to determine their -fate: they live in a wretchedly poor country which is constantly liable -to devastating floods, and their habit of wandering from one place to -another, where food may be obtained, is the only way of life suitable -to the physical and climatic conditions of the country. - -Any attempt to “civilise” them must inevitably destroy their primitive -independence, and if it succeeded in establishing the people in -settled communities it would reduce them at many seasons to absolute -starvation. We were visited once by the Director of the Sacred Heart -Mission at Toeal, which has done admirable work amongst the natives -of the Ké Islands and at one or two places in New Guinea itself. When -he had seen the people and the nature of the country and had been -told something of their habits, he decided that the Mimika was not, -at present at all events, a proper field for missionary enterprise. -Setting aside all other considerations, one dares to hope that such -an interesting people may for a long time be left undisturbed; they -do no harm to their neighbours and the effects on them of civilising -influences would be at the best uncertain. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - - - _The Camp at Parimau—A Plague of Beetles—First Discovery - of the Tapiro Pygmies—Papuans as Carriers—We visit the - Clearing of the Tapiro—Remarkable Clothing of Tapiro—Our - Relations with the Natives—System of Payment—Their - Confidence in Us—Occasional Thefts—A Customary - Peace-offering—Papuans as Naturalists._ - -While it was the business of some of us during the early months of the -expedition to stop at the base-camp and despatch canoes laden with -stores up the river, others remained at Parimau to establish there a -second permanent camp and to find, if possible, a way of approaching -the higher mountains. It should be said that Parimau is some distance -from the mountains—the high point nearest to it. Mount Tapiro (7660 -ft.) is some twelve miles to the North, but it was no longer possible -to travel in the direction of the mountains by way of the Mimika River, -which had dwindled to a very small size at Parimau, therefore it was -necessary to find a new route from there onward. - -The first camp at Parimau was made on the shallow sandy side of the -river close to the native village; the Papuans generally place their -villages on gently sloping rather than on steep banks for convenience -in hauling up their canoes. The coolies, such as there were of them, -were occupied on the river, the natives for the first few months were -of little or no assistance in building, and the work was done almost -entirely by half a dozen of the Gurkhas. Their greatest achievement was -the construction of a log-house in the best Himalayan style, probably -by far the solidest building that was ever put up in Dutch New Guinea. -The floor was raised about three feet above the ground and it was well -that the workmanship was good, for it had not been finished many weeks -before a flood swept over the camp and everyone took refuge in the -house, the floor of which was just awash. Afterwards the camp was moved -to the high bank across the river and the subsequent floods swamped the -house and carried it away piecemeal, but two of the uprights survived -and were still standing a year later. - -We were a good deal annoyed at Parimau by the _larvæ_ of a small -red and black beetle, which infested the wood of which the frames -of our huts were made. These _larvæ_, which look like small hairy -caterpillars, were continually dropping from the roof and when they -were killed, or even touched, they emitted the most disagreeable musky -smell. They sometimes dropped upon you during the night and the smell -of them would wake you from your sleep. The beetle itself too, if -crushed or irritated, has the same disgusting peculiarity. - -[Sidenote: DISCOVERY OF THE PYGMIES] - -It has been mentioned above (Chapter V.) that Captain Rawling in -exploring to the N.W. of Parimau came to the big river Kapare, which -we unsuccessfully tried to navigate in canoes from below to the point -where he had met it. While he was walking up the river bed one day, the -Papuans who were with him caught after an exciting chase two small -men, whose build and dress and appearance proclaimed them to belong -to another race than the Papuan. A day or two later two more were -captured, while they were crossing the river; they were kindly treated -and presents were given to them, but they showed no inclination to -conduct strangers to their home, a large clearing in the jungle on the -hill side, which could be plainly seen from the Kapare River. We learnt -from the Papuans that these little people were called Tapiro.[13] - -At the beginning of March I accompanied one of the food-transports -up the Mimika and went with Rawling out to the Kapare, where he had -made a camp and was occupied with some of the Gurkhas in cutting a -track through the jungle. By that time we had no coolies available for -land transport; in six weeks our fifty coolies had diminished to ten, -who were all wanted for the canoes, so we were entirely dependent on -native assistance for land journeys. There was not much difficulty in -persuading people to carry loads for us from Parimau to the nearest -point of the Kapare River, for they were accustomed to go over there to -fish. But it was a different business on the second day, when we wanted -to push the camp a few miles further up the river so as to be in a -better position for reaching the clearing of the Tapiro. At first they -resolutely refused to start at all and retired to the shelters they had -made at a little distance from the camp. From there they had to be led -back by the hand one by one and then be severally introduced to their -loads, but even so a number of them ran away again, and it was hours -before we moved from the camp. - -When once they were started they went steadily enough for about a -mile and then they all put down their loads and refused to go on, -but as they had stopped in the middle of the bed of the river it was -impossible to remain there, so with promises of cloth and beads we -urged them on a little further. The same performance was repeated a -dozen times at intervals, which became shorter and shorter until our -coaxing and cajoling availed no longer and there was nothing for it -but to stop and make a camp. It had taken us more than four hours to -cover less than three miles, most of which was easy going over sand -and stones in the bed of the river. We should have been awkwardly -situated if they had all gone away and left us to carry the loads, as -they did a few weeks later to Marshall, who was deserted by them and -forced to leave some of his baggage behind him. Needless to say, these -misfortunes would not have occurred if our Malay coolies had been -suited to their work. As it was, there were considerable periods when -we had either to make use of what help the natives consented to give -us, or else be content to do nothing at all. - -When it suits them to do so, the Mimika Papuans can carry very heavy -loads and they manage to cover the ground at a very respectable pace. -They wrap up the load in the mat made of _pandanus_ leaves, which every -man always carries with him to serve both as a sleeping mat and as a -shelter from the rain. The mat is securely tied by ropes of rattan or -any of the other innumerable creepers of the jungle, and two strong -loops are made to pass over the shoulders so that the load may be -carried on the back, ruck-sack fashion. The women carry loads as well -as the men and sometimes also the children, when the whole family is -making a journey. - -From our upper camp on the Kapare River Rawling and I made two attempts -to reach the forest clearing of the Tapiro, which could be easily seen -from the camp at a distance of about three miles in a straight line; -but though careful bearings of its direction were taken, it turned -out to be a most puzzling place to reach. Not more than a mile above -the camp the Kapare emerges from a deep and narrow gorge in the foot -hills—or rather the spurs of the mountains, they are too steep to call -foot hills—which descend very abruptly to the almost level country -below. Just after it emerges from the gorge, the river is joined by a -stream of the clearest water I have ever seen, which we afterwards came -to call the White Water (see illustration opposite). - -[Sidenote: BIRDS OF PARADISE] - -In our first attempt to reach the clearing we wandered in the jungle -for ten hours and came nowhere near to it. But the day was not -altogether wasted, for we climbed up the hillside to about fifteen -hundred feet and by cutting down some trees we obtained a wonderful -view across the plain of the jungle to the distant sea. The air of the -jungle was heavy with the scent of the wild Vanilla, and all around us -were calling (but we could not see them) Greater Birds of Paradise; -sometimes we were within sound of as many as six at one time. On that -day too I first saw the Rifle Bird (_Ptilorhis intercedens_), one of -the most beautiful though the least gaudy of the birds of Paradise, -whose long-drawn whistle can never be mistaken or forgotten. - -[Illustration: A TRIBUTARY STREAM OF THE KAPARE RIVER.] - -In our second attempt we profited by some of the mistakes made on the -former, but even so the irregularity of the ground and the complexity -of the watercourses nearly succeeded in baffling us. “Rawling and I -left camp early with two Gurkhas. A mile and a half up the left bank of -the river we struck off N.E. from the path we followed the other day. -Cut a new path through the jungle for about a mile until we came to a -faint native track, which we followed for another mile or so, chiefly -along fallen tree trunks overhung by a network of rattan and other -creepers, a fearful struggle to get through. Then for a mile or more up -the bed of a stony stream encumbered with the same obstructions, dead -trees and rattans, until we came to a deep gorge with a torrent about -three hundred feet below us and on the opposite side the steep slope of -another great spur of the mountain, on which the clearing presumably -lay. We slithered and scrambled down to the river, which was full of -water and only just fordable. Then up the other slope, not knowing at -all accurately the direction of the clearing. Very steep and the jungle -very dense with rattan and tree-ferns, so the leading Gurkha was kept -busily occupied in cutting with his _kukrí_ and progress was slow. - -[Sidenote: WE VISIT THE PYGMIES] - -“About one o’clock, when we had been going for nearly six hours, the -clouds came down and it began to rain and we were ready to turn back. -Luckily the Gurkhas were convinced that the clearing was not far ahead -and when we found a pig-trap, a noose of rattan set in a faint track, -it seemed that they might perhaps be right. So we went on and in a -few minutes we came out of the forest into the clearing. About thirty -yards from us was a hut with three men standing outside it. We called -out to them and they waited until we came up. A minute or two later -two more men came out from the forest behind us, no doubt they had -been following us unseen. The hut was a most primitive structure of -sticks roofed with leaves, leaning up against the hillside. There was a -fire in the hut and beside it was sitting an old man covered with most -horrible sores. We went on up the hill for a couple of hundred yards -to a place (about 1900 feet above the sea) where we had a fine view. -Rawling put up the plane-table and got angles on to several points for -the map. - -“During the hour or more that we stayed there, eight men came to see -us. Excepting one rather masterful little man, who had no fear of us, -they were too shy to approach us closely and remained about ten yards -distant, but even so it was plainly evident from their small stature -alone, that they were of a different race from the people of the low -country. - -“The most remarkable thing about them is the case that each man wears, -his only article of clothing; it is made of a long yellow gourd, about -two inches in diameter at the base and tapering to about half an inch -at the pointed end. It is worn with the pointed end upwards and is kept -in position by a string round the waist. As the length of the case—some -of them measure more than fifteen inches—is more than a quarter of -the height of the man himself, it gives him a most extraordinary -appearance. Every man carries a bow and arrows in his hand and a -plaited fibre bag of quite elaborate design slung on his back. Two men -wore necklaces of very rough scraps of shell and one had a strip of fur -round his head. Two others wore on their heads curious helmet-like hats -of grass ornamented with feathers. - -“One man had a diminutive axe made of a piece of soft iron about three -inches long, set in a handle like those of the stone axes. They must -have some bigger axes, as they have cut down some very large trees and -the marks on the stumps look as if they had been made with fairly sharp -instruments. The clearing altogether is very considerable, probably -fifty acres or more. The ground is covered with the sweet-potato plant, -and in many places ‘taro’ has been carefully picked out. They have a -few coarse-looking bananas, some of which they offered to us. - -“Their voices are rather high-pitched and one of them, who met us first -and called several of the others to come and see us, ended his calls -with a very curious shrill jodelling note. When we came away we offered -them cloth and beads to come with us and show us a better way, but -they were either too frightened or too lazy to do so. We got back to -camp after ten hours’ hard going, drenched with rain and covered with -leeches, but well-pleased with the success of the day.”[14] - -That was the last that we saw for a long time of the Tapiro pygmies, -for it was evident that the Kapare River was useless as a means of -approach to the Snow Mountains and we had to turn our attention to -the country to the N.E. of the Mimika. Moreover, it was impossible to -keep the camp there supplied with provisions, as we were at that time -entirely dependent for transport on the goodwill of the Papuans. - -[Sidenote: NATIVES AS CARRIERS] - -Generally speaking we always remained on excellent terms with the -natives and very rarely had any trouble with them. Except that we -bought from them the “atap” for our houses, we got little or no help -from the people of Wakatimi, but the people of Parimau assisted us -in a number of ways. At first, as I have shewn, we had considerable -difficulty in persuading them to work for us as carriers; but when they -found that they really did receive the payment they were promised, they -were willing and sometimes even anxious to carry loads for us, though -we often had to wait a few days until it suited their convenience to -start. It was a pity that they were never willing to travel further -than about three days’ march from their village, but as there were long -periods when we were entirely dependent on them for land transport, we -counted ourselves lucky in their agreeing to work at all. - -Chiefly owing to the help of the natives we were able to make and -keep supplied for several months another camp on the Wataikwa River, -three days’ march north-east from Parimau. When they went out there -first, they were accustomed to receive their pay, cloth and beads or -a small knife at the end of the journey; but later, when wages rose, -as they inevitably did with every successive journey, it seemed to be -absurd to waste perhaps half a load by carrying axes and knives to -be given in payment at the end of the march. So a plan was adopted of -giving them at the Wataikwa camp a paper authorising them to demand -payment on their return to Parimau, and it was a gratifying tribute to -the confidence that they had in us that they readily fell in with the -scheme. Before starting they were shewn the knife or axe or whatever it -was that they would receive for their labour, and at the end they raced -back with their scraps of paper to Parimau, covering in a few hours the -distance that had taken them three days on the outward journey. Some -of the less energetic people in the village, when they saw that their -friends received a knife or an axe by merely presenting a small piece -of paper to the man in charge of the camp at Parimau, thought that they -might easily earn the same reward, and they were rather astonished to -find that the small scraps of paper, which they handed in, produced -nothing at all or only a serious physical rebuff. But they were so -childlike in their misdemeanours that one could not be seriously angry -with them. - -[Sidenote: OUR RELATIONS WITH THE NATIVES] - -They shewed their confidence in our honesty in another very flattering -way. During the period of the most frequent floods at Parimau, when -they were liable to be washed away at any moment, the people took most -of their movable possessions out of their houses and hid them in safe -places in the jungle. But many of them merely brought their goods -across to our side of the river and deposited them without any attempt -at concealment within a few yards of our camp, apparently knowing that -there they would be perfectly secure from theft. - -They are by nature unconscionable thieves and a chance of stealing is -to them merely a chance of acquiring property in the easiest way. On -one occasion, when a party of our coolies were returning alone from -Parimau to Wakatimi, they were waylaid at a narrow place in the river -by some Papuans, who relieved them of their baggage and disappeared -into the jungle; most of the stolen goods were subsequently returned, -when the natives were threatened with punishment. The same thing -happened another time when the coolies were accompanied by armed -Javanese soldiers, who apparently forgot the use of their rifles until -the thieves had got away. But they had a proper respect for a white man -and whenever one of us, armed or not, was with the canoes, the natives -never tried to molest us. They occasionally stole from the camps a -knife or an axe, but though they were constantly about our houses and -often inside them for hours at a time, we never lost anything of value. - -A temptation, which often proved too strong for them, was our fleet of -canoes. At Wakatimi the canoes were moored in front of the camp at the -place where the natives, who came to visit us, were accustomed to land. -They came mostly in the late afternoon and stayed till sunset, and it -happened several times that when they went away they contrived to put -two or three men into one of our canoes and slip away with it unnoticed -in the dusk. But when on the following day we made a fuss, the canoe -was generally brought back with a long story of its having been found -floating down the river towards the sea. - -An opportunity of looting, which was not to be resisted, occurred one -day when a party of discharged coolies were leaving the country. The -boat, in which they were being taken off to the ship, capsized as it -came alongside the steamer and thirty coolies and all their belongings -were upset into the sea. The captain of the ship was only anxious to -save his boat and the coolies hastened to escape from the sharks. In -the meantime a crowd of natives, who had come down in their canoes -to visit the ship, lost no time in picking up the floating boxes and -bundles of clothing, and before anybody was aware of their action they -were fast paddling away to their villages. - -On such occasions and at other times when we had reason to be angry -with them, the people of Wakatimi observed a curious custom. There -was in the village a coloured china plate and a piece of bent silver -wire, which was sometimes used by the owner as an ear-ring. On the -morning following their misdemeanour two men came over from the village -bringing the ear-ring on the plate, which they gave to us, shook hands -and departed. Later in the day they returned and we gave them back -their gifts; this happened several times. - -At one time there was a serious epidemic of drunkenness among the -people of Wakatimi and they shewed their ill-manners by shooting -arrows into the camp. This was of no consequence when only one person -misbehaved himself. But when one day a number of men waded half-way -across the river and began to send arrows into the camp, it had to -be stopped. The Dutch sergeant, who was alone in charge of the place -at the time, held up his rifle, a weapon the use of which they very -well understood, and signalled to them that unless they went away he -would fire. As they took no notice of his warning he fired, aiming at -the legs of the ringleader, but unfortunately he hit him in the groin. -Shortly afterwards, so little animosity did they show and so complete -was their confidence in us, they brought the wretched man over to our -camp, but nothing could be done for him and in a few hours he died. - -They were very appreciative of medical treatment and at different times -we were able to do a good deal for them. One man actually went so far -as to pay a fee of half a dozen coconuts for the saving of his little -daughter’s ulcerated foot, which was rapidly going from bad to worse -under native treatment. They often cut themselves severely with our -axes and knives before they learnt their sharpness, and their wounds -healed astonishingly quickly with ordinary clean methods; the only -trouble was that they liked to take off the bandages and use them for -personal adornment. - -As well as acting as carriers for us, the people at Parimau did a -considerable amount of work for us about the camp in cutting down -trees, an occupation which they always enjoyed, and in helping to build -some of the houses. They were even more useful to us as naturalists -and, thanks mainly to them, we made a very complete collection of the -reptiles of the district. They were particularly adept at catching -snakes and often five or six men in a day would stroll into the camp -carrying a deadly poisonous snake wrapped up in leaves. One day -Goodfellow was walking through the jungle with some natives and the -man in front of him stooped down and picked up a poisonous viper -without even pausing in his stride. - -We always encouraged the natives to bring us snakes in the hope of -getting new species, and when we did not want those that they brought, -they were quite content to take them away and eat them. They seemed -to have a peculiar knack of catching poisonous things, for besides -snakes they often brought scorpions and centipedes in their parcels -of leaves. With the more delicate creatures such as lizards they were -less successful and among the hundreds that they brought us there were -very few which they had not damaged. They always assumed an air of -importance and somewhat of mystery, when they brought some animal for -sale, and you always knew that when you had bought, or refused, as the -case might be, the creature that was offered, the man would instantly -produce something else, but the puzzle was always to know whence he -produced it, for his scanty costume does not admit of pockets. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - - - _Visit of Mr. Lorentz—Arrival of Steam Launch—A - Sailor Drowned—Our Second Batch of Coolies—Health of - the Gurkhas—Dayaks the best Coolies—Sickness—Arrival - of Motor Boat—Camp under Water—Expedition moves to - Parimau—Explorations beyond the Mimika—Leeches—Floods on - the Tuaba River—Overflowing Rivers—The Wataikwa—Cutting a - Track._ - -A pleasant interlude in the monotony of the early part of the -expedition occurred one day towards the end of March, when the natives -of Wakatimi signalled in the usual way the approach of a boat and -presently a steam launch appeared with Europeans on board. They turned -out to be the Dutch explorer, Mr. H. A. Lorentz, who was on his way -back from his second and successful expedition to Mount Wilhelmina by -way of the Noord River, with his companions Captain J. W. van Nouhuys -and Lieutenant Habbema, and the Captain of the Government steamer -_Java_, which had anchored off the mouth of the Mimika. Mr. Lorentz -looked like a man hardly returned from the dead, as indeed he well -might, for after climbing to the snows of Mount Wilhelmina he had -fallen down a cliff on his return, with a result of two broken ribs and -serious concussion of the brain, and he had endured untold sufferings -on his way back to the foot of the mountain. But he had achieved the -principal object of his expedition, and his spirits were in better -condition than his body. They stayed for the night with us and at -dinner, though I was in a minority of one to six, with characteristic -courtesy they all spoke English; the entertainment, assisted by -luxuries brought from the _Java_, lasted until the small hours, and it -was the pleasantest evening I spent in New Guinea. - -The _Java_ brought for us the long-expected steam launch, and its -career began, as it ended, with disaster. Before dawn one of the men -of the boat wished to fetch something that he had left on the launch, -which was moored in the river about fifteen yards from the bank. The -sentry on duty did his best to prevent him, because it was a rule -of the camp that no man was allowed to bathe before sunrise, but he -insisted on swimming out to the launch. In a few yards he found that -the current was stronger than he had expected, he called for help, and -in a few moments a canoe set out in the gloom to look for him, but no -more was seen of him until his body was recovered by the natives at -the mouth of the Mimika a few days later. Shortly after the accident -happened our guests left us on their way back to Europe, and we watched -their departure with somewhat envious eyes. - -[Sidenote: COOLIES AND GURKHAS] - -The history of the middle period of the expedition, that is to say, -from April to December, is chiefly a history of floods and sickness and -disappointment. In the middle of April Goodfellow, who had gone away -early in March, returned with a fresh batch of forty-eight coolies, -whom he had recruited in Banda and Amboina. About a half of these men -were natives of the island of Buton, and the rest were Ambonese, and -though they were the best men that could be found at such short notice, -and were greatly superior to our first batch of coolies, they were -really not fit for the work they had to do, and the majority of them -soon became useless to us. - -The steam launch towed the canoes for a short distance up the river -once or twice, but it very soon broke down and thenceforward until the -middle of June all the transport between Wakatimi and Parimau was done -by the coolies themselves. For them it was literally a killing work; -in the first few weeks two men died, one of pneumonia, the other of -dysentery, both causes resulting from the circumstances of their work, -while several others developed the first signs of beri-beri and had to -be sent away at the earliest opportunity. - -About the same time one of the Gurkhas died; he was from the beginning -a very unhealthy man, who ought not to have been engaged for the -expedition. Of the other nine Gurkhas three were invalided home before -the end of the year and the remaining six stayed with us until we left -the country. Although they came from the highlands of Darjeeling—or -perhaps for that very reason—our Gurkhas, who were by no means a -carefully selected lot, withstood the trials and the climate of the -country better than any of the other “native” people in the expedition -and, if expense were no drawback, it is probable that an expedition to -New Guinea would have the best chance of success if coolies were taken -from Northern India. - -That is, however, rather a counsel of perfection, and an expedition -to New Guinea must make use of natives of the Malay Archipelago. The -Ambonese and the Butonese have been tried and have been found wanting, -so also have the Ké Islanders and the Sundanese from the mountains -of central Java. Possibly the wild hillmen of Timor, if enough of -them could be engaged, would work well, but the only people who have -hitherto worked successfully as coolies in Dutch New Guinea are the -hill-Dayaks of Borneo. Mr. Lorentz, who took with him eighty Dayaks, -most of them from the Mendalen River, on his expedition to Mount -Wilhelmina, spoke with enthusiasm of the admirable behaviour of his -men, and if Indian or other Asiatic coolies are not available, it may -be said that an expedition to the mountainous districts of Dutch New -Guinea can only be properly conducted with Dayaks. - -Our coolies were not the only people in the expedition who began to -feel the ill effects of the climate; the Javanese soldiers and convicts -quickly filled the hospital which had been put up at Wakatimi, and in -May and June there were many mornings when I saw more than forty sick -men. Most of them suffered from fever and a more or less severe form of -dysentery, and a good many cases of beri-beri occurred. Unfortunately -sickness was not confined to our native followers only; the Europeans -began also to suffer from the very adverse conditions in which they -found themselves. One or two of the Dutch non-commissioned officers -became seriously ill; Goodfellow, who returned with the second batch -of coolies from Banda about the middle of April, was never free from -fever for more than a few days from that time until he left the -country in October; and Shortridge became such a wreck from almost -continuous fever, which began about the beginning of March, that by -the end of May he had to be sent away for three months’ change of -air to Australia. Soon after his return in August he succumbed again -to the evil climate, and though he pluckily pretended that there was -nothing the matter with him, he went from bad to worse, and I am fully -persuaded that his almost forcible deportation at the end of November -saved his life. - -At the end of May, Goodfellow and Rawling went over to Dobo, and -after about eight days returned with the motor boat, which had been -bought from the pearl-fishers. Like most things of which a great deal -is expected the motor boat turned out to be a disappointment, and it -eventually led us into serious difficulty, but for a short time it -did good service in towing boats up the river, and it considerably -shortened the voyage from Wakatimi to Parimau. - -[Sidenote: THE FIRST FLOOD] - -The day of the arrival of the motor boat was memorable for being the -occasion of the first of the really serious floods that beset us. Late -in the evening a party of our coolies on their way back from Parimau, -who were not due to arrive until the following day, reached the camp at -Wakatimi, most of which was by that time under water. The journey down -the river usually occupied two days, but they had found all the usual -camping places, some of which were high above the ordinary river bed, -under water, and they had been unable to find any safe resting-place. - -The three following days were among the most unpleasant that I had -ever spent, though worse were to follow later. On the morning of the -first day the water fell a little and we spent laborious hours in -piling up our stores and movable gear on to the top of empty boxes, and -when those were all used on posts driven into the ground. All through -the afternoon the water rose, the coolies’ and soldiers’ houses were -quickly flooded, and our own house, which was on the highest part of -the camp, was nearly a foot under water. On the two succeeding days the -conditions were much more serious, and we had two feet of water in our -house. The river took a short cut over the neck of land formed by a -wide bend of the river on which the camp was placed and flowed straight -through the camp. Our beds were raised up on empty kerosene-tin boxes, -and when these were submerged there was a mild excitement in guessing -how far up the frame-work of the bed the water would rise. Fires were -put out and cooking was impossible, so the coolies and soldiers, who -depended on their boiled rice, had rather a hungry time. Our own -food consisted of biscuits and cold tinned stuff, which is not very -exhilarating when you have been in water all day long. An unprejudiced -observer looking in upon us from the outside in the evening might well -have wondered what kind of lunatics we were to come to New Guinea. -Goodfellow was lying in bed very sick with fever, while Rawling and I, -up to our knees in water, were making a poor pretence at having dinner. -The only humour that we managed to extract from the situation was in -the novel experience of being able, without moving from our seats, -to wash our plates between the first course of biscuits and sardines -and the second course of biscuits and marmalade; the Mimika river was -flowing under our chairs and we had only to lower our plates into it -to clean them. - -On the fourth day the water fell, and the camp was not flooded again -for several weeks, but there was left everywhere a thick deposit of -mud, which kept the houses sodden for a long time afterwards. In spite -of all our precautions, a quantity of stores were irreparably spoilt -and, worse still, the flood left behind it an increased amount of -sickness, and indeed the wonder was that the prolonged soaking had not -ill effects on every one of us. - -At the beginning of July Cramer and I arrived at Parimau, bringing with -us the last loads of provisions to complete the store, which we had -been working hard for three months with our second batch of coolies -to accumulate at that place. It was hoped that that store would be -sufficient to enable us to use Parimau as a second base camp for making -a prolonged expedition into the mountains without wasting any more time -on transports up the river; but in that we had reckoned without the -vagaries of the New Guinea climate and the consequent diminution of the -effective strength of our coolies, who were already too few for our -purpose. - -[Sidenote: EXCURSIONS BEYOND MIMIKA] - -In the meantime Rawling and Marshall had been making excursions to -the North-east of Parimau, in the direction of the high mountains. -About five miles from Parimau they had come to the Tuaba River and -about the same distance further on they had come to the Kamura River, -a few miles above its junction with the Tuaba. Continuing in the same -direction they came to another river, bigger than either of the others, -the Wataikwa, which was so often impassable that it seemed likely to -prevent any further progress. But a short excursion up the valley of -the Wataikwa showed the impossibility of reaching the highest mountains -by that route, and a camp was accordingly established on the Wataikwa -with a view to crossing that river when an opportunity should occur. - -These excursions were all made with the assistance of natives, without -whose assistance no advance beyond Parimau would have been possible, -so long as all the coolies were occupied in the work on the river. -Very little reliance could be placed on the natives, when they were -working as carriers alone without coolies, and most of us at one -time or another had the disagreeable experience of being deserted by -them and left unable to move either backwards or forwards. It was in -circumstances such as these that the Gurkhas, some of whom always -accompanied us in journeys through the jungle, shewed to the best -advantage. - -When the store of provisions at Parimau was completed, the next step -was to establish a further depôt of provisions at the Wataikwa camp. -Though the distance between the two places was less than fifteen miles -in a straight line, it was a three days’ march for a loaded coolie and -two camping places were made on the way, one on an island in the Tuaba -River, the other on the bank of the Kamura. The first day’s march from -Parimau began by crossing and recrossing the Mimika several times and -here and there wading up the river itself. About three miles up the -river we struck off Eastwards through the jungle along a hardly visible -native track used by the people going to the village of Ibo; this was -the only regular native track we used, and these few miles across from -the Mimika to the Tuaba were the only place where we had not to cut our -own path. The mud in that part of the jungle was quite exceptionally -bad, even for New Guinea; in the comparatively dry weather it was like -walking through porridge, and in the wet weather you were continually -struggling through liquid slime almost up to your knees. - -[Sidenote: LEECHES] - -We were very much annoyed there, though not more in that than in -other parts of the jungle, by the leeches which swarmed everywhere. -These hateful little creatures sit on the leaves or twigs stretched -out to their fullest length and expectant of the passer-by. It is -not necessary to believe, as some people do, that they jump or even -that they fall upon you as you pass beneath them; there are so many -that as you brush through the jungle you must inevitably touch many -outstretched heads and as soon as they are touched they attach -themselves immediately to you. They are extremely rapid in their -movements, and their touch is so delicate that you do not feel their -presence until they have nearly gorged themselves with blood. Your -legs, unless they are well protected with putties, are most liable to -their attacks, but you find leeches on all parts of your body, and -I have found them in my eyes and in my mouth and once just captured -one as it was preparing to enter one of my nostrils. They are able to -consume an astonishingly large quantity of blood, and when, as often -happens, they open a small vein, the bleeding continues after they -have dropped from their feeding place. It is not advisable to pull a -leech from your body; it often results in the creature leaving behind -a part of its clasper, which may give rise to a serious sore. Pigs do -not appear to be attacked by leeches, but the soft parts of the heads -of some of the cassowaries that were shot were found to be covered with -them. Cassowaries are few and far between, and there must be millions -of leeches that go through life without once tasting blood. Some of the -leeches are prettily marked with stripes of yellow and brown, but none -that we saw in the jungle were of large size; the longest were perhaps -two inches in length. - -Besides leeches there was not much to distract or to amuse us in -passing through that stage of the march—certainly there were always -plenty of the Greater Birds of Paradise to be heard calling, but they -were very seldom to be seen—and we were chiefly anxious to struggle to -the end of it ourselves and to push the coolies along until we heard -the welcome sound of heavy water and light showed through the trees -ahead. The Tuaba, at the place where we were accustomed to cross it, is -a wide river flowing in about half a dozen channels, which extend over -half a mile or more of ground. All of these channels are considerable -torrents even in the most favourable conditions and it is by no means -easy to cross them, but in the very frequent times of flood they are -absolutely impassable. The camping place was made on an island across -the first channel, as the river bank proper was covered with very dense -jungle, and at low water the island was surrounded by a stretch of dry -sand and shingle, which afforded us a pleasant drying ground after -struggling through the sweltering jungle. - -[Illustration: TYPICAL JUNGLE, MIMIKA RIVER.] - -[Sidenote: A DANGEROUS FLOOD] - -But it was not always a place of calm; it could be quite a dangerous -place, and I had a very unpleasant experience the first time I camped -there. I was on my way out to the Wataikwa river with a Gurkha, four -coolies and about twenty natives of Parimau laden with tins of rice. -The river was comparatively low when we pitched our camp, but it began -to rain in the afternoon, and the almost continuous thunder and the -black clouds in that direction showed us that it was raining heavily -in the mountains. By nightfall the rising flood had completely covered -the sandbank in front of the camp, and before midnight the river was -flowing right through the camp. The coolies were taking refuge like -birds in the trees, and the water had just covered my piece of ground, -which was an inch or two higher than any other spot. The Gurkha came -and helped me to secure the stores from the water, which was still -rising fast. We arranged all the rice tins upright, and on them we -placed my bed; on the bed we placed all the other stores and baggage, -and finally I took refuge there myself. The water rose above the top -of the rice tins and about half way up the framework of my bed and -then happily it began to fall rapidly, and in an hour or two the camp -was land again. Shoes of mine and odd garments of the coolies were -washed away, but we had been in no danger of being swept away, for the -current was not rapid enough over the comparatively shallow water of -the island; the only risk was from the large logs and trees which came -sweeping down on the flood. The Papuans, who were encamped on another -island a short distance below ours, had kept up all night a constant -and most melancholy wailing, which did not at all add to the humour of -the situation. - -For three more days we stayed on that sandbank, while the rain poured -down and the river swept past us on both sides, unable either to -proceed or to retreat. I made two attempts to cross the river, but -found it impossible to struggle across the flood. In the meantime the -natives, who were well able to swim naked across the first channel, -threatened all the time to return to Parimau. A few of them did leave -me, but the rest by constant cajoling and by liberal gifts of rice, for -which they had acquired a great liking, I persuaded to stay with me -until after four days we were able to get away. - -[Sidenote: OVERFLOWING RIVERS] - -From the Tuaba to the Kamura river, a distance of about four miles, -a track had been cut by Marshall and the Gurkhas. It was a curious -piece of country, almost level and covered with not very dense jungle, -but remarkable for the number of streams flowing through it. Between -the two rivers we crossed eighteen streams of various sizes; some -were rivulets, and others swift and strong so that one was glad of a -supporting Papuan on either hand. The Kamura river is of less size -than the Tuaba, but it is still a large river and subject to heavy -and sudden floods. It flows in a bed of sand and shingle two or three -hundred yards from bank to bank, though, except at times of flood, it -only occupies a narrow channel. Mostly it runs swiftly over the stones, -but here and there are long stretches of still water like the pool of -a salmon river; unluckily there are no big fish in it, or New Guinea -would be a pleasanter place than it is. - -It was an agreeable change to come out on to the bank of the Kamura, -for from there we had our first wide view of the mountains that we -hoped to reach. The foothills, if mountains eight or nine thousand -feet high may be so described, sloped down to within a few miles of -us to the North, and behind them and stretching far to East and West -rose range beyond range of steep and precipitous ridges, culminating -in the snowy top of Mount Carstensz, thirty miles to the North-east. -Our route took us for several miles along the course of the Kamura; it -was certainly not comfortable walking over the big and often slippery -stones and wading waist-deep across the river three or four times to -cut off big bends, but it was pleasant indeed to have a wide free space -about us after having been for so long hemmed in by trees, and anything -was preferable to the mud and leeches of the jungle. - -A few miles up the Kamura we left the main river and turned off up the -bed of a smaller river, which joins it from the East. This is actually -a branch of the Wataikwa connecting the two rivers, and down it comes a -great volume of water when the Wataikwa is full, while at other times -it becomes almost dry. The rivers of this district of New Guinea are -somewhat peculiar in this respect; they are very numerous, and they -flow out from the mountains in a North to South direction, with not -many miles intervening between one river and the next. As soon as they -emerge from the mountains they find themselves on quite low ground and -with forty or more miles to run to the sea. There are no outlying hills -or depressions to guide them in any particular course, thus it happens -that they overflow in convenient directions, and connections are -established between one river and another. As well as in the case of -the Wataikwa this was observed on the Utakwa river, close to the foot -of the mountains, and I believe the same thing happens on the Kapare -river. Further on in their courses, when they approach the mangrove -swamps near the sea, the rivers again break up into an extraordinary -network of branches. Judging from the appearance of the country and -from the considerable changes, which we observed in the case of the -Wataikwa during a period of only a few months, it is probable that -these great rivers change their courses very often. - -[Sidenote: CUTTING A TRACK] - -Whilst parties of coolies, rapidly diminishing in numbers, were -occupied at lengthening intervals in transporting stores from Parimau -to the camp on the Wataikwa river, Rawling and Marshall had found a -way of crossing that river. It is true that there were a great many -days when it was quite impossible to cross it, and there was always -a certain amount of risk of being swept away, not to mention the -discomfort of beginning your day’s work by getting wet up to your -chest; but it was absolutely necessary to continue cutting the track, -wet or dry. On the other side of the river, they had tried to continue -in the North-east direction and had come to broken lumpy ground covered -with the densest jungle that we met with in any part of the country. -The trees were not so very big, indeed most of them were quite small, -but they were of a peculiarly hard wood, which quickly blunted the -_kukris_ of the Gurkhas and they grew so close together that it was -quite impossible to push your way between them. Eventually a track was -cut to the Iwaka River, five miles to the east of the Wataikwa. - -[Illustration: AT THE EDGE OF THE JUNGLE.] - -Some idea of the difficulty of cutting this track may be learnt, -when it is said that Rawling and Marshall with three Gurkhas and five -natives were occupied for three weeks in cutting five thousand yards of -the way, and the whole distance of five miles was cut in five weeks. -Unfortunately it was labour in vain, the path when finished was too -difficult for men to traverse with loads. We cut another track, which -avoided the hilly ground and brought us to the Iwaka close to the point -reached by the first; by the new track, which was cut in a week, we -were able to reach the Iwaka in three hours’ walk from the Wataikwa. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - - - _The Camp at the Wataikwa River—Malay Coolies—“Amok”—A - Double Murder—A View of the Snow Mountains—Felling - Trees—Floods—Village washed Away—The Wettest Season—The - Effects of Floods—Beri-beri—Arrival of C. Grant—Departure - of W. Goodfellow._ - -If I were to write a true and complete account of the expedition, -I should fill many pages with repeated stories of rain and floods, -sickness among the coolies and our consequent inaction; but that would -be as wearisome to the reader as it was trying to our own patience. -During July and a part of August we sent out parties of coolies to the -Wataikwa camp, where a considerable depôt of food was formed, but about -the middle of the latter month the number of our coolies was reduced -to twenty, of whom not more than half were capable of any hard work, -and it became quite evident that any further progress in the direction -of the mountains was out of the question until we should get a fresh -supply of men. - -As the number of coolies grew fewer we sent natives with them to -carry stores out to the Wataikwa, but the supply of willing natives -was very uncertain and it became a matter of some difficulty to -keep up a regular communication with that camp. Two Gurkhas and two -Javanese soldiers remained always at the Wataikwa and one or other of -us went out there and stopped to make natural history collections or -to superintend the cutting of the road on the other side of the -river for a few weeks at a time, while the others were at Parimau or -at Wakatimi. We managed to continue this arrangement until the end of -October, when it became no longer possible to keep an European supplied -out there; thenceforward until the beginning of January the camp at -the Wataikwa was occupied only by the guard of Gurkhas and Javanese, -who in the meantime consumed nearly all the stores that had been so -laboriously accumulated there. - -[Illustration: CAMP OF THE EXPEDITION AT PARIMAU.] - -[Sidenote: MALAY COOLIES] - -We often said hard things to and of our Malay coolies, but the poor -wretches were not to blame for being such incompetent carriers. At -their proper occupations of carrying cargo to and from the ships at -Macassar, or working on the boats of the pearl-fishers, or doing odd -jobs in their native places, no doubt they excelled; but at struggling -through the New Guinea jungle with even the lightest of loads they were -hopeless failures and the wonder was that they survived as long as they -did. Taking them all round, the majority of them worked as well as they -could, and some of them even became quite attached to us. - -To a large number of people the name of Malay immediately suggests -a savage person who runs _amok_, but you may live for years in a -Malay country and never see a single _amok_. Fortunately our Malays -never behaved in this dangerous fashion, though one day a man who -was suffering from fever went suddenly mad and inflicted a serious -knife-wound on the body of another coolie; the wounded man was -successfully treated by Marshall, who was happily but seldom required -in this way to exercise his vocation as surgeon. Malays are indeed -rather too handy with their knives and a more serious encounter took -place one day between two of Cramer’s convicts. These two men, a -_mandoer_ (head man) and another, quarrelled one morning about some -trifle connected with their food, and before anybody knew what was -amiss, knives were out and one was chasing the other through the camp. -By a clever backward thrust the pursued man dealt the pursuer a deep -wound under the heart, but he was unable to escape before the pursuer -had given him too a mortal wound. One died in a few minutes and the -other during the course of the day, fortunately perhaps for both of -them. - -But ordinarily our Malays were most quiet and peaceable fellows. -Certainly they were liars and thieves when it suited their convenience -to be so, but these two faults are almost universal in the East. They -were enthusiastic fishermen (a sure sign of grace) and spent many hours -of their leisure time in angling for small fish, which they very seldom -caught. Another of their virtues, though it sometimes became a little -wearisome, was their love of singing, in which they indulged on fine -evenings. The Ambonese used to sing, accompanied by a soloist on a sort -of penny whistle, some really pretty songs, possibly of Portuguese -origin, to which one could listen with real pleasure. But the singing -of the Javanese, usually in a high falsetto voice, was a burden hardly -to be borne. - -In dealing with people like the Malays it is essential to keep them -constantly occupied in order to prevent them from brooding too much -over their untoward circumstances and becoming, as they easily do, -physically ill. Accordingly, during the times when for one reason or -another they were not carrying out loads to the Wataikwa camp, we set -them to clearing the jungle about the camp at Parimau, and in the -course of time some ten or twelve acres were cleared. Apart from the -object of drying and letting light into the camp, this clearing was -made with the purpose of obtaining from Parimau a view of the Snow -Mountains. This latter object was ultimately attained and proved of -great service to the surveyors, who were enabled to fix more definitely -the various points of the range seen from a place of which they had -already determined the position by astronomical observations. To the -non-surveyor too the view of the mountains was a boon, though rather -a tantalising one, and I used to spend many hours in the mornings, -before the mists had hidden them, in scanning the snows of Idenburg and -Carstensz and planning routes by which they might be reached. - -[Sidenote: FELLING TREES] - -Cutting down trees in the New Guinea jungle differs from cutting -down trees here in that the tree does not always fall, even when the -trunk is cut completely through. Amongst the tops of the trees grows -an extraordinary network of rattans and other creepers of sufficient -strength to support a tree, even if it is inclined to fall. We spent -some time one day in firing shots with a rifle at a single creeper, -thicker than a man’s arm, which was holding up a tree without any -other support; though I believe we sometimes pierced the creeper with -bullets, it held on and only gave way some hours later. As a rule we -did not take the trouble to cut the creepers, but if a tree did not -fall we cut down those about it until they all fell together in one -splendid crash. On sloping ground the best method of felling trees is -to cut their trunks only half way through and leave them, and then to -cut completely through a big tree above them in such a way that it will -fall down hill and complete the felling of those below it. - -Some of the trees that we cut down in our clearing fell in the most -unexpected directions, but though there were some narrow escapes, there -were no accidents. The most unpleasant was a tree which fell midway -between two houses, one full of coolies and the other full of stores, -and shaved off the projecting roof of both; it might easily have killed -half-a-dozen sleeping men, but the only harm it did was to fill the -camp with a swarm of large and furiously biting ants, which had had a -nest in its topmost branches. The natives, who never tired of using our -steel axes, helped a good deal in felling the trees and in this way -some of them earned large quantities of coloured beads. - -Another occupation for the coolies in their idle moments, and at the -same time a very necessary work, was the business of keeping the camp -in a state of repair. When the high river bank opposite the village of -Parimau was chosen for a camping ground, it was thought that floods at -all events could do no harm. The houses nearest to the river were built -five or six yards back from the edge of the bank, which was there about -fifteen feet above the usual level of the water, and it seemed quite -out of the question that the river could ever invade the camp. It was -necessary, in order to prevent it from becoming the dumping ground -of camp-refuse, to clear away the rank vegetation that grew on the bank -down to the water’s edge, and this was the beginning of what almost -ended in our downfall. After the tangle of creepers had been removed, -the first rains began to wash the bank away, and when the river rose -three or four feet, as it speedily did after a few hours’ downpour, it -undermined the lower part of the bank and large landslips took place -from above. - -[Illustration: THE CAMP AT PARIMAU. A PRECAUTION AGAINST FLOODS.] - -[Sidenote: SECURING THE CAMP] - -In the course of a few weeks several yards of land disappeared, and -the safety of our houses, which had come to be almost overhanging the -river, was seriously imperilled. To save them we erected a strong -palisade of long poles thrust deeply into the bottom of the bank and -secured them by rattan ropes, which passed through our house and were -attached to posts at the back. The interval between the palisade and -the bank was laboriously filled up with shingle from the river bed, and -this provided a never-ending occupation, because the stones were always -trickling through the palisade and required to be renewed. The natives -were of great assistance to us in this work, and on one occasion—it -was the only time that we ever persuaded them to come into our camp, -although we lived within a few yards of their village—the women and -children came and helped in the work and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. - -[Sidenote: FLOODS] - -It was well that we took these precautions, for as the weather grew -steadily wetter and wetter (though that seemed hardly possible) -through July and August, so the river rose higher and higher and -each succeeding flood was greater than the last. The night of the -18-19th of August was one that I shall never forget: it had been -raining steadily for some days and the river was fairly full, but -about sunset on the 18th the rain really began to come down solidly, -as it does in the Tropics. About midnight a terrific thunderstorm -began, which continued with almost incessant thunder and lightning -until dawn, but long before this the river had risen many feet and was -already threatening the village. As soon as the waters began to rise -the natives appeared at the edge of the river with blazing torches, -while canoes were baled out and brought nearer to the shore. When the -flood, rising visibly by that time, reached the lowest house, a most -extraordinary Bedlam broke loose and it sounded as if all the people in -the village were being drowned. The men all shouted at once, the women -and children screamed and the dogs whined and howled. By the light -of the flashes of lightning we could see them scurrying hither and -thither, bundling all their belongings into the canoes and trying to -save the roofs and matting walls of their huts by throwing them among -the branches of the trees at the back of the village. In a very short -time all the houses were swamped and the people were in their canoes, -about twenty in all, moored to the branches of the trees along the edge -of the jungle, where they kept up an unceasing turmoil until daylight. - -[Illustration: THE MIMIKA AT PARIMAU. LOW WATER.] - -[Illustration: THE SAME IN FLOOD. THE VILLAGE HAS DISAPPEARED AND THE -PEOPLE ARE IN CANOES.] - -In the meantime our own position was not very secure. The river was -swirling down at ten or twelve miles an hour and bringing with it huge -tree-trunks, which carried away our fleet of canoes and threatened to -destroy our protecting palisade. If that had gone nothing could have -prevented our houses from falling into the river, but happily it -held well. The whole of the jungle on our side of the river was under -water and all sorts of creatures sought the shelter of our houses, -which occupied the highest position. When even these were flooded, -armies of ants and beetles and other insects climbed up our beds and -other furniture to escape from drowning, moths washed out of their -resting places fluttered aimlessly about, and a family of rats, which -inhabited my hut, ran about squeaking in terror. - -Beyond the loss of our canoes, some of which were afterwards recovered, -no great damage was done, and the flood fell almost as quickly as it -had risen. Soon after daybreak the ground, on which the village had -been, began to appear above the falling water, and it was seen that not -one stick of the huts was standing. But the natives were anxious to -get out of their canoes, and by mid-day half the huts in the village -were re-built with the fragments that they had crammed into the canoes -or had put up into the trees. During the next two or three days they -brought back quantities of housing materials, which had been carried -for miles down the river, and very soon the village resumed its normal -appearance. - -On two subsequent occasions in the following month the village was -completely swept away by floods, and it was a matter of surprise to -us that they did not adopt the custom of their neighbours the Tapiro -pygmies and build their houses on piles. The third great flood swept -away the sandbank on which the village stood, and they were accordingly -compelled to build their houses on the top of a high bank further down -the river. Such a place as that necessitated cutting down a number of -big trees, but now that a great many of them have the steel axes, which -we gave them, it is to be hoped that they have learnt to place their -dwellings in safer positions, even though it costs them a little extra -labour. - -The wet season, which we hoped had reached its maximum of wetness -in July, when sometimes for days together the rain hardly ceased, -continued in a series of greater or less floods through the months of -August and September. Often it was impossible to move a yard from the -camp, and without books life would have been almost insupportable. On -one of the wettest of those days I came across the following passage, -which seemed to describe the situation exactly:— - - “With five ... what we call qualities of bad, - Worse, worst, and yet worse still, and still worse yet.” - -It need hardly be said that this very disagreeable season produced ill -effects on all the members of the expedition. The Europeans became -depressed, and if we were not sick of life itself, we were certainly -sick of New Guinea, while in the case of the coolies and soldiers, who -were accustomed to sunnier climates, and who had no interest or goal -to look forward to in the country, the results were disastrous indeed. -Hardly a man escaped fever of greater or less severity and chills -brought on by the unceasing rain and the consequent impossibility -of securing a change of dry clothing. Several men suffered too from -dysentery of a very intractable type, which completely incapacitated -them from any further service. - -[Sidenote: BERI-BERI] - -But worse than either fever or dysentery was the beri-beri, which -made its appearance after we had been in the country for a few months. -This is not the place to give a scientific account of beri-beri; it -will suffice to say that it is a disease, of which the most important -feature is a degeneration of the nervous system. The results of this -are seen in the curious and characteristic walk, loss of sensation -in various parts of the body, interference with the circulation and -swelling of the body and particularly of the face and limbs, and in -very many cases sudden heart failure. It is almost conclusively proved -now that the cause of the disease is an error of diet, and it appears -to be certain that the fine milling and polishing of the rice, which -forms the staple food of the natives of so many countries in the East, -deprives the rice of a very necessary constituent as a food. Those -people, who grind their own rice and do not mill or polish it finely, -but leave a small portion of the husk still adhering to the grain, are -free from beri-beri. The disease varies in severity from time to time -and from place to place, but at its best it is a very deadly scourge -and it causes a very large number of deaths. Occasionally it occurs in -an epidemic form, but fortunately that did not happen to our expedition. - -In the six months from the beginning of June to the end of November, -thirty-nine men shewed definite symptoms of beri-beri, and seven deaths -were directly attributable to this cause. Our coolies, who came from -the Eastern islands of the Archipelago, were much less susceptible to -the disease than were the convicts and soldiers, most of whom came from -Java and Sumatra; these latter contracted the disease in a much more -serious form and most of the fatal cases took place among them. It was -a curious circumstance that at Parimau, which was in most respects by -far the healthier place, many more cases of beri-beri occurred than at -Wakatimi, where it is doubtful if any cases originated. - -[Sidenote: SICKNESS] - -Still more remarkable was the case of the camp on the Wataikwa River, -which ought to have been the healthiest place we occupied anywhere in -the country. For several months a guard of two Javanese and two Gurkhas -was kept there to look after the store of food, and though they were -very frequently changed and replaced by others, several of the Javanese -developed beri-beri and two of them died. The Gurkhas, perhaps because -they led more active lives than the Javanese, remained free of the -disease until one of them, Havildar Mahesur, a most useful man, had -the misfortune to damage one of his eyes; it was necessary for him to -remain in the darkness of his tent for some days and within a fortnight -he developed all the signs of beri-beri so that he had to be sent away -from the country. - -A welcome interruption in those dreary months was caused by the arrival -at Parimau on August 26 of canoes bringing Mr. C. H. B. Grant, who had -come out from England as naturalist to the expedition in the place of -W. Stalker. He brought with him two Dayak collectors[15] and a quantity -of various and excellent stores, and a large mail, the first we had -received since the end of May. Shortridge had arrived in the country by -the same ship on his return from Australia, but his change of air had -not completely cured him and he was compelled to leave the country at -the end of November. Goodfellow, whose fever continued almost without -interruption, became so weak that he also was obliged to leave the -country early in October. From that time we had only a dozen men and -no forward movement was possible until the arrival of our third batch -of coolies on the 22nd December. By the same boat that brought the new -coolies in December came instructions to Captain Rawling to take over -the command of the expedition. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - - - _Pygmies visit Parimau—Description of Tapiro - Pygmies—Colour—Hair—Clothing—Ornaments—Netted Bags—Flint - Knives—Bone Daggers—Sleeping Mats—Fire Stick—Method - of making Fire—Cultivation of Tobacco—Manner of - Smoking—Bows and Arrows—Village of the Pygmies—Terraced - Ground—Houses on Piles—Village Headman—Our Efforts - to see the Women—Language and Voices—Their - Intelligence—Counting—Their Geographical Distribution._ - -[Sidenote: THE TAPIRO PYGMIES] - -The Pygmy people—or Tapiro as they are called by the Papuans—whom we -saw in March, visited us occasionally in small parties of three or four -at Parimau and later we went to one of their villages in the hills, -to which they were reluctantly persuaded to show us the way. When -they come down to Parimau they were warmly welcomed by the Papuans, -with whom they seemed to be on very friendly terms, and stayed in -their houses for two or three days. They appeared to be particularly -attractive to the women, one of whom we saw affectionately embrace a -Tapiro on his arrival; it was said that she kissed him, but if that was -so it was the only occasion on which that form of endearment was seen -practised by the Papuans. It was noticeable that when they arrived at -Parimau they had not their bows and arrows, which they always carry -elsewhere; probably they had left them hidden in the jungle before they -came to the village. Similarly, when we went up to visit the Tapiro, -the Papuans who were with us left their spears behind them at the -last camp before we reached their village. - -[Illustration: A TAPIRO PYGMY.] - -Their visits were always very welcome because they brought with them -from the hills quantities of tobacco to exchange with the natives of -Parimau, who grow none themselves. At first they were very shy of -crossing the river, but by the offer of gifts we persuaded them to come -into our camp, where we had better opportunities of observing them than -in the crowded village. - -At one time or another we took measurements of 40 adult men, most of -them men in the prime of life, and their average height was found to -be 144·9 cm. (4 ft. 9 in.). It is possible that one or two rather tall -men of 150 cm. and upwards, whose appearance led us to suspect that -they were Tapiro-Papuan half-breeds, may have been included among those -measured, but the correction of that error will not appreciably reduce -the true average height. The height of the smallest man measured was -132·6 cm. By contrast with the Papuans they looked extremely small and, -what was rather a curious thing, though many of our Malay coolies were -no taller than they, the coolies looked merely under-sized and somewhat -stunted men, while the Tapiro looked emphatically _little_ men. They -are cleanly-built, active-looking little fellows, rather big in the -buttocks as mountain people are apt to be, and their well-made calves -are noticeable in contrast with the long, straight legs of the Papuans. -They walk with an easy swinging gait, the knees a little bent and the -body slightly leaning forwards. - -The colour of their skin is paler than that of the Papuans—some of -them indeed are almost yellow—but they are so indescribably dirty that -it is not easy to know what is their true colour; they have also an -ugly habit of smearing their faces with a black oily mixture. Neither -tattooing nor cicatrization appears to be practised by them. The -_septum_ of the nose is always pierced and in it they occasionally wear -a curved boar’s tusk planed down to a thin slip, or a short piece of -straight bone; the _alae nasi_ are not pierced. The nose is straight -and very wide at the nostrils. The upper lip of many of the men is long -and curiously convex. - -The hair is short and woolly and black; many of the men give a lighter -shade to the hair with lime or mud, and in two or three cases it seemed -to be of a brown colour without any artificial treatment. They appear -to begin to grow bald at a comparatively early age. The younger men -grow whiskers and the older have short bushy black beards. There is a -good deal of short downy black hair scattered about the body. Their -eyes are noticeably larger and rounder than those of the Papuans, and -there is in them something sleepy and dog-like which gives a pathetic -expression to their faces.[16] - -[Sidenote: DRESS AND ORNAMENTS] - -When we first saw them one or two men wore curious helmet-like caps -of plaited fibres and another had a strip of fur round his head; -otherwise they are completely naked except for the remarkable gourd -case described above (p. 161). Strangely enough they are extremely -modest and unwilling to expose themselves; when with some difficulty we -had persuaded a man to part with his case, he would not remove it then -and there, but always disappeared into the jungle and returned after an -interval decently covered with leaves. - -Their ornaments are few and simple; a number of men wear arm-bands and -leg-bands of plaited fibre similar to those worn by the Papuans, and -several of them wear necklaces of seeds, short pieces of bamboo, scraps -of broken shell, teeth of wallabies and (in one instance) the bones of -a small mammal. The lobes of both ears are pierced and a few men wear -in one ear an ornament made of a small piece of gourd to which are -attached seeds, scraps of fur, claws of birds and other ornamental odds -and ends. One young man, with more originality than the rest, thrust -through his front hair a piece of sharpened bone, which projected -downwards over his face and gave him a most distinguished appearance -(see Frontispiece). - -The most elaborate and ornamental of their possessions are the bags, -which every man carries. Most of them carry two, a large bag like a -haversack slung across the shoulders and usually hanging down the back, -and a small bag only a few inches square slung round his neck and -hanging down on the chest. They are made of fine fibres of different -colours, cleverly netted[17] in ornamental patterns, and they show the -best attempt at decorative art that we saw in the country. In these -bags the Pygmy man keeps all his portable property. The small wallet -round the neck contains his bone and shell ornaments when they are not -in use, and his knives; these latter are sharp flakes of a flint-like -stone shaped exactly like the flint-knives and scrapers that are found -in this country; they are used for scraping down the wood of their bows -and for pointing and ornamenting their arrows as well as for other -cutting purposes, and it is profoundly interesting in these days of -steel to see people still using the implements of prehistoric man. -One or two men also carried in their wallets a short dagger made of a -pointed cassowary’s bone, and they explained to us by graphic gestures -how they were accustomed to shoot a cassowary with their arrows and -then after a long chase to stab it with the dagger. - -The contents of the larger bag usually are the sleeping mat, the -fire-stick and rattan, and tobacco. The sleeping mat is a fabric of -_pandanus_ leaves, which can be used either as a mat to lie upon or as -a shelter from the rain; it measures usually about six by three feet -and is neatly folded to be carried in the bag. The manufacture of these -mats is always the work of the women and is a very ingenious process. -The long ribbon-like leaves of the _pandanus_ are split horizontally -into two strips; the shiny upper one alone is used and the lower is -thrown away. Strips of two leaves are placed with their split surfaces -together and their shiny surfaces outwards, and then numbers of these -pairs of split leaves are sown together, edge to edge, until the mat -is of the required size. Thus the mat is made entirely of the outer -surfaces of the leaves; it is very strong and is quite impervious to -rain. - -[Illustration: MAKING FIRE: (1) BY THE FRICTION OF WOOD AND RATTAN.] - -[Sidenote: MAKING FIRE] - -By far the most interesting of the possessions of these people is -the apparatus for making fire, which consists of three different parts, -the split stick, the rattan, and the tinder. The split stick is a short -stick of wood an inch or so in diameter, which is split at one end and -is held open by a small pebble placed between the split halves. The -rattan is a long piece of split rattan wound upon itself into a neatly -coiled ring (see illustration p. 202), and the tinder is usually a lump -of the fibrous sheath of a palm shoot and sometimes a piece of dried -moss. - -The method of making fire is as follows: In the split of the stick, -between the stone which holds the split ends apart and the solid stick, -is placed a small fragment of tinder. The operator—if one may use so -modern a word in describing so ancient a practice—places the stick -upon the ground and secures the solid, _i.e._ the unsplit end with his -foot. Then, having unwound about a yard of the rattan, he holds the -coil in one hand and the free end in the other and looping the middle -of it underneath the stick at the point where the tinder is placed he -proceeds to saw it backwards and forwards with extreme rapidity. In a -short space of time, varying from ten to thirty seconds, the rattan -snaps and he picks up the stick with the tinder, which has probably -by this time begun to smoulder, and blows it into flame. At the point -where the rattan rubs on the stick a deep cut is made on the stick, -and at each successive use the stick is split a little further down -and the rattan is rubbed a little further back, so that a well-used -fire-stick is marked with a number of dark burnt rings. It was only -with the greatest difficulty and after many attempts that we succeeded -in producing fire in this manner, but the Tapiro do it with the utmost -ease and they scorned our boxes of matches, which we offered them in -exchange for their apparatus, and showed no signs of surprise at a -suddenly kindled match.[18] - -The most frequent use of the fire-stick is in lighting the tobacco, of -which nearly every man carries a supply in his larger bag. These people -cultivate tobacco in sufficient quantities to be able to supply the -Papuans of the low country. The leaves are dried and neatly rolled up -into long bundles weighing three or four pounds; the flavour is strong -and rather bitter, but it is not unpleasant to smoke. The Tapiro smoke -tobacco chiefly as cigarettes, using for the wrapper a thin slip of dry -_pandanus_ leaf. When, as is often the case, the wrapper is very narrow -and the tobacco is inclined to escape, the man smokes his cigarette in -a peculiar manner; he holds the unlighted end in his fingers and with -his mouth draws out the smoke from between the edges of the wrapper -in the middle of the cigarette, this he continues to do until the -cigarette is about half consumed when he puts the end in his mouth in -the ordinary way. - -The Tapiro also smoke tobacco in a pipe in a fashion of their own. The -pipe is a simple cylinder of bamboo about an inch in diameter and a -few inches in length. A small plug of tobacco is rolled up and pushed -down to about the middle of the pipe, and the smoker holding it upright -between his lips draws out the smoke from below. The Tapiro never -make large cigars like those of the Papuans of the Mimika, and the -Papuans never smoke pipes, nor did they take readily to those that we -gave them. - -[Illustration: MAKING FIRE: (2) BLOWING ON THE SMOULDERING TINDER.] - -[Sidenote: WEAPONS OF THE PYGMIES] - -Besides the bone daggers mentioned above the only weapon of the Tapiro -are the bow and arrows, which they always carry. The bows are a very -little shorter than those of the Papuans, but otherwise they are very -similar, viz.: straight tapered strips of hard wood “strung” with -a slip of rattan. The arrows are shorter and lighter and of finer -workmanship than those of the Mimika Papuans, but like those they -have neither feathers nor nocks. The best, which they were not at all -anxious to sell to us, are ornamented with simple carvings and are -tipped with a very sharp point of black wood. An arrow which ended in -a curious blunt lump of wood was used, so we understood, for shooting -birds. - -The Tapiro have no spears and neither they nor the Mimika Papuans know -the use of the sling. They set quantities of little nooses for small -animals, and we once found a rattan noose fixed to a root of a tree and -evidently set with the purpose of catching a pig. - -Many of them carry in their bags a small Jew’s harp, made of a thin -piece of bamboo, from which they extract faint music that is pleasing -to their ears. Two men possessed instruments of a more original -design: these were made of pieces of polished bone fitting together in -such a way that when one was turned round over the other it produced -peculiarly discordant squeaks, which were highly appreciated by the -player. - -Wamberi Merbiri or Wamberimi, the village of the Tapiro which was -visited by different members of our party on three separate occasions, -is situated on the lower slopes of Mount Tapiro, the mountain nearest -to Parimau, at about 1800 feet above the sea. It is in fact within a -stone’s throw of that large clearing which Rawling and I had reached -with so much difficulty, but when approached by the track used by the -people themselves it is an easy walk of two or three hours from the -Kapare River. - -The track climbs by a steep almost knife-edged ridge densely covered -with forest to the rounded shoulder of the hill where the village -lies. The first sign of the village is a flimsy fence of tall poles, -which bars the track and extends for a short distance on either side -of it. Passing through a narrow opening in the fence you come to a -cleared space occupied by three or four houses. A couple of hundred -yards beyond these and separated from them by a small gully, which is -bridged by an enormous fallen tree, is a second group of six houses, -constituting the village of Wamberi Merbiri. - -The houses are scattered about over three or four acres of steeply -sloping ground, from which most of the trees have been cleared. Between -the houses the ground has been levelled in three places to form almost -level terraces, measuring about fifteen by five yards, completely -cleared of vegetation and covered with small stones. These terraces are -held up on the lower side by logs and stumps of trees, and the labour -of making them by people whose only tools are stone axes and pieces -of wood is difficult to imagine; they are used, so far as we could -understand, for dances and other ceremonies. - -[Illustration: WAMBERI-MERBIRI, THE VILLAGE OF THE TAPIRO PYGMIES.] - -[Sidenote: HOUSES OF THE PYGMIES] - -The houses are greatly superior to those of the Mimika Papuans, from -which they differ in every respect. They are built on piles, which -raise the floor of the house from four to ten feet above the ground -according to the steepness of the slope underneath. The walls are made -of long laths of split wood with big sheets of bark fastened on to -the outside. The roof is a fairly steep pitched angular structure of -split wood covered with over-lapping leaves of the Fan-palm. The floor -is made like the walls and covered with large sheets of bark; in the -middle of the floor is a square sunken box filled with sand or earth in -which a fire is kept burning, and over the fire hanging from the roof -is a simple rack, on which wood is placed to dry. The house consists -of one nearly square compartment, measuring about ten feet in each -direction. The way of entering is by a steep ladder made of two posts -tied closely together, which leads to a narrow platform or balcony -in front of the front wall of the house. There are no notches on the -posts, but the lashings of rattan, which tie them together, answer the -purpose of steps or rungs for the feet. As well as in the excellence -of their houses, the Tapiro show another point of superiority over the -neighbouring Papuans in their habit of using a common retiring place at -the edge of a small stream. - -There was an old man in the village, bald and white-bearded, and -horribly disfigured by disease,[19] who appeared to be unquestionably -the headman of the place. He sat in one of the huts all day and shouted -shrilly to the other men who were constantly going in and out to speak -to him, and I think it was due to him that we were never allowed to see -the women. We were particularly anxious to see some of the women of -the tribe, and we offered them large rewards of knives and axes merely -for the sight of them. The other men were willing enough to produce -the women, and several times they were on the point of fetching them, -but were always prevented by the old man. Finally we had a personal -interview with him, and held out three bright axes, which made his one -eye glisten with greed, but he still remained obdurate. - -Though we never saw the women I have no doubt that they saw us; at -night we saw their camp fires up on the hillside opposite the village, -and when we departed we heard their shrill voices quite close to us -before we had gone a quarter of a mile from the place. They had no -reason to distrust us when we assured them that our only wish was to -see their women, and I think the reason for their keeping them hidden -was the presence of the Papuans who accompanied us from Parimau. The -supply of Papuan women is very scanty, and it is likely enough that the -men would seize any chance of abducting a Tapiro woman, as indeed they -boasted of having done. - -The language of these Tapiro pygmy people is certainly different -from that of the Papuans, but I regret to say that we were unable -to make even the smallest vocabulary of it. Their voices are rather -high-pitched and nasal, and many of their words contain curious throat -sounds, which I was not able to spell much less to imitate. In talking -they have a curious habit of protruding the lips, which recalls in a -striking manner a familiar grimace of the anthropoid apes. - -[Illustration: HOUSE OF THE TAPIRO.] - -They appeared to understand a good deal that the Papuans said to them, -but I doubt if the latter understood them when they were talking -amongst themselves. When we were trying to persuade the headman to -allow the women to be produced, it was a strange experience to be -using the Papuans, of whose language we knew only the rudiments, as -interpreters to an even less known people. - -In consequence of our entire lack of knowledge of their language we -were not able to form a very reasonable estimate of their intelligence. -When they were seen in company with the Papuans, the latter, who -usually looked dull and expressionless, appeared by contrast to be full -of life and animation. The Tapiro, as a rule, looks blank and rather -sad, and when a smile does appear upon his face, it dawns slowly and -reluctantly. - -[Sidenote: COUNTING] - -A rough test of an uncivilised man’s intelligence is the extent to -which he is able to count, but in the case of the Tapiro there is an -unfortunate difference of evidence in this respect. Capt. Rawling -(_Geograph. Journal_, Vol. xxxviii., page 246) affirms that they are -able to count up to ten. If this is so, it is a very interesting and -remarkable fact. On several occasions I tried to make these people -count, with a view to learning their numeral words, and I found that -like the Papuans they only had words for one and two, and that those -two words were the same as the Papuan words; but it appeared that, -unlike the Papuans, they had not the custom of using their fingers and -toes for the higher numbers. - -On the credit side of their intelligence must be placed their admirably -constructed houses, their decorated arrows and ingeniously woven bags, -and their cultivation. - -As well as the village and clearing of Wambiri Merbiri we saw other -small patches of cleared ground on the spurs of Mount Tapiro, and on -the slopes of Mount Tuaba we saw from a distance another large clearing -which we were never able to reach. Further to the East we saw no sign -of them and we were informed by the Papuans that there were no more -in that direction. That is probably true, for the mountains are so -excessively steep to the East of Mount Tuaba that there appears to be -no country suitable for them. It seems likely that we were fortunate -enough to meet these people at the Eastern limit of their range and -that more of them would be found living in the hills N.W. from the -Kapare River towards the Charles Louis Mountains, where the slopes are -less steep than in the Nassau Range. The thick-coated dog, which was -brought down to Parimau by the Tapiro (see p. 126), might suggest that -they have dealings with other natives living high up in the mountains, -but so far we have no definite knowledge of the existence of such a -people. - -This account of our observations, which were necessarily very -superficial, will suffice to show that there is a most promising field -for some future investigator, who has opportunity and time to spend -among these most interesting people. - -[Illustration: MOUNT TAPIRO, FROM THE VILLAGE OF THE PYGMIES.] - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - - - _Communication with Amboina and Merauke—Sail in the - “Valk” to the Utakwa River—Removal of the Dutch - Expedition—View of Mount Carstensz—Dugongs—Crowded - Ship—Dayaks and Live Stock—Sea-Snakes—Excitable - Convicts—The Island River—Its Great Size—Another Dutch - Expedition—Their Achievements—Houses in the Trees—Large - Village—Barn-like Houses—Naked People—Shooting Lime—Their - Skill in Paddling—Through the Marianne Straits—An - Extract from Carstensz—Merauke—Trade in Copra—Botanic - Station—The Mission—The Ké Island Boat-builders—The - Natives of Merauke described—Arrival of our Third Batch - of Coolies—The Feast of St. Nicholas—Return to Mimika._ - -It has been mentioned in the preceding chapters that after the -expedition landed in New Guinea, a more or less regular communication -was kept up between the Mimika and Amboina. The South-west coast of -New Guinea as far East as the Utanata River is in the administrative -district of Amboina, and beyond that, as far as the boundary of British -New Guinea, the country is nominally under the control of the station -of Merauke. Thus the Mimika is actually within the Merauke district, -but it was for many reasons found more convenient for the Government -to communicate with the expedition directly from Amboina rather than -by way of Merauke; accordingly the soldiers forming our escort were -attached as an outpost to the garrison of Amboina and communications -were established with that place. - -For several months a steamer came from Amboina to the Mimika, bringing -men and stores and letters and taking away invalids; usually it came -every six or eight weeks, and the longest interval that occurred was -twelve weeks, during which for one reason or another it was found -impossible to send a ship to the Mimika. In October an alteration was -made, and it was decided that the Merauke steamer, which was in regular -communication with the Dutch expeditions on the Utakwa and Island -rivers, should visit the Mimika also. It was in consequence of this -new arrangement on the part of the Government that I was enabled to -make the journey described below, and although these places do not fall -strictly within the sphere of our expedition, yet they are so little -known that I shall make no apology for giving a short description of -them here. - -Towards the end of November, the Government steamer _Valk_ called at -the Mimika on its way to the Utakwa and Island rivers to take away -our sick men, who had accumulated in some numbers during the last two -months. Our work was practically at a standstill, and nothing more -could be done until our next batch of coolies arrived, so it was agreed -that I should go down to Merauke in company with Shortridge, who was -going home an invalid, and bring back our new coolies who were due to -arrive there by the next boat early in December. - -[Sidenote: THE UTAKWA RIVER] - -A few hours’ steaming from the Mimika brought us to the mouth of the -Utakwa, where we lay outside the bar all night waiting for daylight to -find our way into the channel. When we had entered the river it was -evident that the Utakwa was something very different from the Mimika, -which is a mere ditch in comparison with it; it is indeed to the Mimika -as the Severn is to the Wye. It was tantalising to remember that this -was the river by which we had originally intended to enter the country, -and one could not help regretfully wondering what would have been the -result if we had followed out that plan; but it was at the best an -unprofitable speculation, and one had to rest content (or as content -as possible) with the course we had taken. In any case it was certain -that even if we had taken the Utakwa as our point of entering into the -country, we could not possibly have reached any considerable height in -the Snow Mountains with the means, i.e. the men, at our disposal. - -Near its mouth and for some miles inland the Utakwa is about half a -mile wide and bounded by low banks of Mangrove and Nipa-palm. The -_Valk_ was a ship of about five hundred tons drawing twelve feet of -water. We steamed up the river for about seventeen miles and there -anchored, not from lack of water, but on account of the risk of turning -the ship round against a strong current in the somewhat narrowing -channel. From the anchorage a steam launch and boats were sent on to -the base camp of the Government expedition, which had been established -rather more than thirty miles further up the river. - -We waited for three days while that expedition was being brought away, -and after the first day the _Valk_ went down to the mouth of the river -on account of the mosquitoes at the anchorage; they were a small black -species, and they came out of the swamps by day as well as by night in -swarms, and attacked everybody on board so furiously that life became -quite intolerable. Before we left the anchorage up the river we saw -a magnificent view of the snows of Mount Carstensz towering up over -the morning mists. From there the Snow Mountains, making as it were a -steep wall across the view to the North, appear far more imposing than -they do in the rather sidelong view from the Mimika; and the different -aspect of the precipices as seen from the Utakwa was most instructive. - -Whilst we were waiting at the mouth of the river we were visited by -several parties of natives in canoes, who came, they informed us, from -a large village on the Kupera Pukwa, the next river to the west of the -Utakwa. They appeared to use the same, or almost the same, language as -the people of Mimika, and they were very anxious that we should go and -visit their village, but unfortunately we had no means of doing so. - -An interesting sight at the mouth of the Utakwa were the Dugongs -(_Halicore australis_), which were seen feeding on the weeds in the -shallow water and occasionally rose up and stared at us in a curiously -human manner. They are about eight feet long and are perfectly -inoffensive creatures, but they have been “fished” for with nets and -almost exterminated in many places on account of their valuable oil. - -[Illustration: TYPES OF TAPIRO PYGMIES.] - -[Sidenote: DUTCH EXPEDITION] - -The Dutch expedition came down to us in detachments during the three -days that we waited at the mouth of the river. There were Captain -Van der Bie, in command; Mr. J. M. Dumas, surveyor and naturalist; -three white sergeants, about fifty native soldiers and convicts, -and twenty Dayaks of Dutch Borneo, who came down the river in the -long canoes they had built themselves. There was also an Australian -collector, Mr. Meek and two assistants, who had been attached to the -Dutch expedition to make collections of birds and butterflies for a -private museum in England. With Mr. Meek were ten natives of Port -Moresby in British New Guinea, little brown, fuzzy-headed fellows full -of life and merriment; they were in every way so different from the -sombre and unemotional Papuans that it was difficult to realise that -they were both natives of the same island. - -The Utakwa expedition had been in the country for seven months and -had traversed a considerable extent of country, but those months -coincided with the period of the worst weather—one cannot talk of wet -and dry seasons in that region—and like us they had suffered from the -shortcomings of their coolies; the Dayaks had reached them too late -to be of much service to the expedition. From their base camp at the -head of steam-launch navigation they had gone two days further up the -river in canoes, and then had gone a distance of seven marches towards -Mount Carstensz. The furthest point they reached was at an altitude of -about 3000 feet, and was less than twenty miles distant from the snow, -but the views of the country that they saw were not sufficient to show -whether that was the best route to the highest mountains. One of the -principal objects of the Government in despatching that expedition to -the Utakwa was to discover a convenient way of crossing New Guinea, -and when it was found that the Utakwa led apparently to the highest -mountain in the island, it was decided to withdraw the expedition, and -to concentrate all the exploring energies on the Island River, which -seemed to offer a better prospect of accomplishing that purpose. - -When all these people had been taken on board the _Valk_, the decks -of the little ship were crowded to overflowing with gear and men and -wild animals. They had brought some young wild pigs, a number of -crowned and other kinds of pigeons, and several young cassowaries. -Mr. Dumas brought on board three eggs, from which were hatched pretty -little cassowary chicks during the next few days. We were particularly -struck by the appearance of the Dayaks, any one of whom looked more -than a match for three of our Malay coolies. Apart from their apparent -strength, they differed noticeably from the Malays, who like to spend -their days in sleeping between meals, in their unceasing industry; they -had brought on board quantities of bamboo, from which they at once -started making bird cages, and pieces of hard wood, out of which they -carved handles for their knives and other ornamental objects. - -The ship was so heavily laden that it was impossible to take on -board all the boats that had been used by the Utakwa expedition, and -three or four were towed in a long string astern. Fortunately the -sea was exceptionally smooth, but even so one of these, an almost -new “long-boat,” broke adrift, and we lost a day in searching for it -unsuccessfully. - -[Sidenote: CONVICT LUNATIC] - -Whilst we were cruising about looking for the lost boat, one of our -passengers, a fever-stricken soldier from the Mimika, caused some -excitement by stabbing with his knife another man and then jumping -hastily into the sea. The sudden plunge cooled his fever and the -appearance of a sea-snake swimming not far from him made him as anxious -to return to the ship as he had been to leave it. - -During the voyage down the coast we saw a number of sea-snakes, -sometimes as far as thirty or forty miles from land, but there was no -opportunity of catching one; they appeared to be yellowish with dark -markings and were about three or four feet in length. I was told that -they sometimes travel in large numbers together and will climb up the -sides of ships at anchor, but I cannot vouch for the correctness of -this statement. - -Another episode, which enlivened the voyage down to Merauke, was caused -by the strange behaviour of one of the convicts, who was being taken -away from the Mimika. This man had suffered from the common form of -delusion that everybody was against him, and after he had run away -from the camp at Wakatimi and had spent thirty-six hours in the jungle -without food I certified that he was of unsound mind and recommended -that he should be sent back to Java. He was found prowling about the -ship with an exceedingly sharp knife, with which (so he said) he -intended to murder me, so he was promptly secured in chains. We made -friends in a day or two and he was set at liberty again before we -reached Merauke, but I confess I was not sorry when we were no longer -together in the same ship. - -[Sidenote: THE ISLAND RIVER] - -On the second day after leaving the Utakwa we entered the Island River -by one of its many mouths, and after we had gone up it a few miles we -realised that in the matter of size it is to the Utakwa as that river -is to the Mimika. The banks are low and swampy and mostly covered -with mangroves for several miles from the coast. Further on the banks -are a few feet above the level of high water and we saw many trees -that looked like good timber trees and others of considerable beauty, -notably a wide-spreading acacia-like tree (_Albizia moluccana_), and -a very graceful palm (_Oncosperma filamentosum_) like a Betel-nut -palm growing in clumps by the waterside. We noticed also a number -of Bread-fruit trees (_Artocarpus_ sp.) bigger than any I have seen -elsewhere, but none of them appeared to bear fruit. - -We steamed up the river for one hundred and twelve nautical miles to -the _Swallow_, the depôt ship and base camp of the Dutch exploring -expedition. The river at that point is about three hundred yards wide, -but the current is swift and there are many shallow sand banks, which -make further navigation impossible for a ship as large as the _Valk_. - -[Illustration: A PAPUAN WITH TWO TAPIRO PYGMIES.] - -The Dutch expedition had been established for several months in the -country and had made very considerable progress towards the North. -From the _Swallow_ they had proceeded up the river two days’ journey -by steam launch and six days beyond that by canoes as far as the river -was navigable, a distance of more than one hundred miles. Thence they -had gone North, and in nine marches they had reached a height of ten -thousand feet at a point which appeared to be on the watershed of the -main mountain range of the island. One of the principal objects of -the expedition was to cross New Guinea from South to North, and it was -hoped that from the furthest point they had reached they would soon -arrive at one of the upper tributaries of the Kaiserin Augusta, the -large river which enters the sea in German territory. They were at that -time busily occupied in transporting supplies up to their furthest -camp with a view to continuing the journey, but shortly afterwards the -expedition was crippled by sickness and the project was abandoned. -We spent two days alongside of the _Swallow_ transferring to her the -stores and many of the men that we had brought from the Utakwa and -taking away the sick and time-expired members of the Island River -expedition, amongst them being Lieut. Van der Wenn of the Netherlands -Navy, who was attached to the expedition as surveyor. - -On our way down the Island River we saw many things which we had missed -on the way up, because we had entered the river and steamed up through -several hours of darkness. First we came to isolated houses by the -river bank of the same type as the Mimika houses, but larger and better -built; near them we saw a few natives, who appeared to be very shy and -retreated hastily into the jungle when the steamer approached. - -Lower down, when we were within about thirty miles of the sea, we came -to a large village of fifty or sixty houses, some of which were raised -on piles near the edge of the river and the others were built in the -trees, where they presented a most astonishing appearance. They are -square and apparently well-made houses with ridgepole roof and walls of -“atap,” the entrance is by a hole in the floor which is reached by a -vertical ladder of bamboo from the ground. One house was at a height of -certainly not less than sixty feet above the ground in a very slender -tree, and the position of the inhabitants, when the wind blew, must -have been far from enviable. Unfortunately the sun was low and directly -behind the village so that I was unable to obtain photographs of the -tree-dwellings. The people there showed no fear of us, but stood on the -bank and shouted and waved their spears. - -A few miles further down the river we came to another large village of -yet a different character. The houses there were all built on piles, -but while a few of them were of the usual small size, the majority were -quite unlike anything else we had seen in that part of New Guinea. They -were huge barn-like structures raised on piles ten or more feet above -the ground, and the length of some of them must have been from one -hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. It was quite evident that these -were communal dwellings, indicating a social system entirely different -from that of the surrounding districts, and it was very tantalising -to pass them within a few yards and not to be able to visit them. The -village extended for about a mile along the East bank and the natives -that we saw must have numbered at least a thousand. The men were all -entirely naked and the women were only dressed in the scantiest strip -of bark-cloth. In other respects they appeared, as far as one could -tell from such a rapid survey of them, to be very similar to the Mimika -Papuans in their features and their short hair and their absence of -adornments. - -[Sidenote: INTERESTING PEOPLE] - -Crowds of people lined the river bank and some of them, holding short -bamboos in their hands, jerked them in our direction and from the end -came out a white cloud of powdered lime, which looked like smoke. This -custom was noticed by Rawling when he first visited the village of -Nimé, and it was recorded by some of the early voyagers,[20] but the -meaning of it has not yet been explained. The suggestion that it is a -means of imitating the appearance of fire-arms is ingenious, but it can -hardly be seriously considered. - -While most of the people stood on the bank to see us pass, a number -of men jumped into their canoes and came racing after us. The current -of the river was about two, and the speed of the _Valk_ was seven -knots, so they had to move quickly, but they easily overtook us and -followed us for some distance down the river. Their canoes are simple -“dug-outs,” but they differ from those of the Mimika in coming to a -fine point at both ends. The bow is roughly notched on the upper side, -which gives it somewhat the appearance of a bird’s beak. They seem also -to be considerably lighter than the Mimika craft, and so narrow that a -man could hardly sit down in them. The usual number of a crew is nine -or ten men, who all stand up and all paddle on the same side of the -canoe. The regular swing of their bodies and the perfect precision of -the paddling was a sight prettier than any “eight” I have ever seen. -They called to us and waved bundles of arrows, evidently anxious to -trade with us, but the captain of the _Valk_ was unable to stop, so we -threw overboard for them empty tins and bottles, and it was marvellous -to see how they raced up to these things, and with a sudden backward -stroke of their paddles brought the canoes to a standstill, while they -recovered the prize, and then raced on again. - -From the mouth of the Island River, as we went out to sea, we saw -through a break in the clouds to the far North the snow on Mount -Wilhelmina, which was reached by Mr. H. A. Lorentz in November, 1909. -Steaming in a south-easterly direction we kept some way out from the -land, which is so low as to be invisible at a distance of a few miles. -When we were opposite the Digoel, the greatest (excepting the Fly) of -all the South New Guinea rivers, we found the sea strewn with logs and -trees, in some places so many together as to form floating islands, on -which crowds of gulls and terns were seen to settle at nightfall. - -The tide favouring us, we chose the Marianne Strait between the -mainland and Prince Frederick Henry Island. Sometimes, when the -south-east monsoon has been blowing regularly for a few days, it is -quite impossible for a ship of only moderate power to steam through -it against the current. The Strait is a winding channel about ninety -miles long and has an average width of about two miles, and it is not -surprising that early voyagers, even as late as Kolff, in the Dutch -brig-of-war, _Dourga_, in 1826, mistook it for a river. The banks are -low and forest-covered, and we only saw two small clusters of houses. -From one of these some men put off in a canoe to intercept us and -followed us for some distance, calling “_Kaya-Kaya_” (friend).[21] -They were tall and powerful-looking men, entirely naked except for a -small shell attached to a string about the middle, and their great mats -of hair extending down to the shoulders and beyond showed most clearly -that we had come to yet another tribe quite distinct from the people of -the Island River. - -[Sidenote: JAN CARSTENSZ] - -Jan Carstensz, who visited this coast in 1623, gives a good description -of the land and the people:[22] “It is impossible to land here with -boats or pinnaces owing to the clayey and muddy bottom into which a man -will sink up to the waist, the depth of the water being no more than -three or four fathoms at three or four miles distant from the land. The -land is low-lying and half submerged, being quite under water at high -tide; it is covered with wild trees, those on the beach resembling the -fir-trees of our country, and seemingly bear no fruit. The natives are -coal black like the Kaffirs and they go about stark naked. They have -two holes in the midst of the nose, with fangs of hogs or sword-fishes -through them, protruding at least three fingers’ breadth on either -side, so that in appearance they are more like monsters than human -beings, they seem to be evil-natured and malignant. The lands which we -have up to now skirted and touched at not only are barren and inhabited -by savages, but also the sea in these parts yields no other fish than -sharks, sword-fishes, and the like unnatural monsters, while the birds -too are as wild and shy as the men.” Further to the East he found the -people “cunning and suspicious, and no stratagem on our part availed -to draw them near enough to us to enable us to catch one or two with -nooses which we had prepared for the purpose.” Suspicion of the unknown -is in the nature of savage people, and when we read that “in order to -frighten them the corporal fired a musket, which hit them both, so that -they died on the spot,” we no longer wonder that they appeared to Jan -Carstensz to be “evil-natured and malignant.” But times have changed -and the Dutch navigator of to-day is not less humane than any other. - -[Sidenote: MERAUKE] - -After coming out of the Marianne Straits we noticed a change in the -appearance of the land; the smoke of villages appeared at frequent -intervals and the shore was seen to be fringed by a continuous belt of -coco-palms in place of the mangrove to which we had become accustomed. -In a few hours from the Marianne Straits we came to the mouth of the -Merau River and after steaming up it for about four miles we dropped -anchor opposite the Dutch station of Merauke, where we left the ship -and went ashore. - -[Illustration: - - 1. ARM-BAND OF FIBRES, ORNAMENTED WITH COWRY SHELLS. - 2. PART OF WAIST-BAND, ORNAMENTED WITH SHELLS AND SEEDS. - 3. ARM-BAND OF FIBRE. - 4. BASKET OF PLAITED STRIPS OF LEAVES. - 5. BAMBOO ORNAMENT WORN ON THE NECK. - 6. COLLAR MADE OF FIBRE AND CASSOWARY FEATHERS. - 7. BAMBOO TOBACCO-PIPE, USED BY THE TAPIRO PYGMIES. - 8. BASKET OF FIBRE. - 9. PART OF THE BILL OF A HORNBILL, WORN IN THE NOSE.] - -The Dutch people have an inborn preference for low-lying land on which -to place their stations, but not the most enthusiastic fenman would -have voluntarily chosen Merauke as a place for a settlement. The reason -of its existence is a political one. Formerly the natives of the -district, the Tugeri, a very fierce and warlike people, used to have -the habit of making raids to the Eastward into British territory, -whence they brought slaves and the heads of their fallen enemies. -This became such a nuisance that the Australian Government addressed -protests to the Dutch about the lawless behaviour of their subjects, -and in 1902 the Dutch made the station of Merauke, and established -there a small garrison of about one hundred men. The place was chosen -partly because it was in the centre of the district of the Tugeri, and -partly because on that shallow coast the Merau River alone offered a -safe harbour for ships. It is a dreary enough place on the muddy bank -of the river and surrounded on the other sides by swamps, but the Dutch -have made the best of a bad job, and by laborious ditching and dyking -they have made the place fairly secure from floods; in spite of all -their draining, however, there are more mosquitoes there than in any -other inhabited place I have ever visited. - -Like other Dutch settlements Merauke is laid out on a regular and -spacious plan, plenty of room being left between the houses of the -officials and the quarter occupied by the shops of the Chinese, of -which there are about a dozen. There are (or were in 1910) sixteen -Europeans[23] in the place, all of them in the employment of the -Government except two, the representatives of an European trading firm. -The principal trade of the place is in copra obtained from the hundreds -of thousands of coco-palms, which line the neighbouring sea-shore. -These palms are the property of the natives, who are too lazy to take -advantage of the wealth that lies (or rather hangs) at their doors, -and they do not encourage other people to come and make use of it. - -There is a small force of native police under a Dutch officer, and a -few convicts are employed in keeping the station in order. It may not -be out of place to remark here that the nearest Dutch settlement is at -Fak-fak on the S.W. corner of the MacCluer Gulf, seven hundred miles in -a straight line from Merauke. Besides these two places the only other -Dutch garrison is at Manokwari (Dorei Bay) on the north coast, where -there has been a mission station for more than fifty years. Apart from -civilian and military officials, missionaries and two or three agents -of a commercial firm there are no settlers in the huge territory of -Dutch New Guinea. - -A former Resident of Merauke, who had somewhat inflated ideas of the -future of the country, established an experimental botanic garden on -the only patch of dry ground near Merauke. Attached to the garden is -a large building containing rooms for three Europeans, laboratories, -a dark room and so on, which (it was hoped) would attract scientific -agriculturists and botanists from other countries to come and study -the local _flora_. But no sane person wishes to study the _flora_ of -New Guinea in the middle of a swamp, and already the scanty soil was -showing signs of exhaustion at the roots of the experimental bananas, -and the practically-minded Resident was considering the removal of -the house to Dobo or elsewhere as a dwelling for himself, when the -contemplated abandonment of Merauke as a “Residency” should take place. - -Another interesting building at Merauke is the house of the Mission -of the Sacred Heart, an offshoot from the mission at Toeal. It must, -I am afraid, be admitted that Merauke is not a favourable field for -missionary enterprise, and the most notable achievements of the good -fathers there are the admirable house they have built, and the herd -of cattle which they contrive to keep. They teach a very small class -of the native children, but nearly all of them relapse again very -soon into savagery, and the adults, who have remained faithful to the -mission, are very few, and they are not the best specimens of their -race. - -[Sidenote: BOAT BUILDERS] - -Recently the ubiquitous Chinese have discovered that the sea in the -neighbourhood of Merauke is a most profitable fishing ground, and the -results of their labours are spread abroad to dry in the sun, so that -there are times when the air is almost too strong to be breathed. -The fishery has attracted some men from the Ké Islands, who are the -best boat builders in the Eastern Archipelago, and I spent many hours -watching them at their work. Their tools consist only of an axe, an -adze and an auger, and no nails or metal are used in the construction -of a boat. The planks are about three inches thick and are made each -from a single tree hewn to the required shape. Holes are bored at -intervals along the edge of the plank, and into these are fixed pegs of -wood which fit into corresponding holes in the edge of the succeeding -plank. When the shell of the boat is completed, the ribs, each made -from a single piece of bent wood, are fitted to the inside. The -fitting of the planks is so accurate that the boats require little or -no caulking, and they are ready to take the water as soon as they are -built. - -[Sidenote: NATIVES OF MERAUKE] - -But by far the most interesting feature of Merauke are the natives of -the place, whose independent mien and conservative customs fill the -observer with admiration if not with approval. It is now nearly ten -years since the Dutch settled at Merauke, but in all that time, apart -from curbing somewhat their head-hunting propensities, they have made -very little impression on the natives, who still cling (if one may use -somewhat of an Irishism) to their scanty costume of nothing at all, -and refuse absolutely the beads and cloth and other “trade-goods” of -the invading white man. They stroll about the place in a most lordly -manner, and they like to visit the houses of the Europeans, where they -spend hours disdainfully watching other people at their work. - -In appearance they differ from the Papuans of the Mimika in their -somewhat paler skin and in their features, which are markedly of the -(so-called) “Semitic” type with prominent eyes and long, curving, -fleshy nose. They are very fond of personal adornment and paint their -faces with white, red, and yellow colours; a fashionable but very -unsightly decoration is to paint the eyelids and eyelashes white. -Through the _septum_ of the nose is thrust a long piece of white bone -or shell, and in the _alae nasi_, which are also pierced, are often -worn the claws of a large eagle which project forwards, and give the -man a most ferocious aspect (see illustration opposite). - -[Illustration: A NATIVE OF MERAUKE. - -(_Wearing the claws of an eagle in the nose._)] - -[Illustration: NATIVES OF MERAUKE.] - -Some of the more dandyfied individuals are loaded with necklaces of -shells or teeth of dogs, sharks and crocodiles, and bands or belts of -the same things are crossed on the chest. Rings of boars’ tusks -and plaited fibres almost cover the upper arms, and in the ears are -worn bunches of large rings of tortoiseshell and bamboo. The hair is -long and is plaited with a mixture of mud and grass and feathers into -a solid bunch, which hangs down beyond the level of the shoulders. In -some of these head-dresses I saw plumes of the Greater, the Red and the -King birds of Paradise; it appears that when once they are made these -head-dresses may be added to, but they can never be undone, and they -are accordingly indescribably dirty. These people are characterised by -a pungent and most disagreeable odour, quite different from the sickly -sweet smell of the sago-eating Mimika people. - -Another curious custom of the Merauke natives is their habit of wearing -round the waist a belt of pigskin, which cannot be removed, and is -so tight that it constricts the man to an (apparently) most painful -degree; the women of the tribe do not indulge in this practice. - -Two days after our arrival the monthly mail-steamer came bringing -our forty-eight new coolies from Macassar, and on the following day -it sailed again, taking Shortridge on his way back to England. For a -week longer I received the most kind hospitality from the Resident, -Mr. E. Kalff, until we returned to the Mimika. During that week of -waiting our new coolies, who had heard terrible stories of the Mimika, -declared that they would never go there, and they attacked with knives -the guards who were placed to keep them in order. When I told them -that if they had no liking for the Mimika they were perfectly at -liberty to go and live near Merauke, the stories they heard of the -habits of the Tugeri put an immediate end to the strike, and they came -contentedly enough to the Mimika. They were more fortunate than some of -their predecessors, and all returned to their homes at the end of the -expedition. - -The Dutch have a pleasant sentiment with regard to the customs of -their native land, and at Merauke, the most remote outpost of Holland, -the feast of S. Nicholas was celebrated with due ceremony. All the -Europeans in the place, as well as the Javanese sergeants and clerks -and their children, assembled to meet the Saint, a huge Dutchman -disguised out of all recognition, and all of us, brown and white alike, -received at his hands a present or a mock flogging according to our -deserts. - -After spending ten very agreeable days at Merauke we sailed on December -18th and going by way of the Island River, where we landed fresh -men for that expedition, we arrived again at the Mimika on the 22nd -December. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - - - _Difficulty of Cross-country Travel—Expedition moves - towards the Mountains—Arrival at the Iwaka River—Changing - Scenery—The Impassable Iwaka—A Plucky Gurkha—Building - a Bridge—We start into the Mountains—Fording - Rivers—Flowers—Lack of Water on Hillside—Curious - Vegetation—Our highest Point—A wide View—Rare - Birds—Coal—Uninhabitable Country—Dreary Jungle—Rarely any - Beauty—Remarkable Trees—Occasional Compensations._ - -When our third and last batch of forty-eight coolies reached the -Mimika towards the end of December, it was at once evident from their -appearance that the majority of them would not last very long, and as -we had ourselves been already for a year in the country, it was agreed -that we should make a final effort to penetrate as far as possible -towards the mountains, and that when our means of transport came to an -end we should take our departure from New Guinea. - -We had long realised the impossibility of reaching the Snow Mountains -from our present base. If we had possessed an efficient steam-launch or -motor boat, the Mimika was still too small a river and too frequently -unnavigable to be useful as a route for water transport. Another -consideration even more important than this was the fact that had the -Mimika been ten times the size it was, it would still have taken us in -a direction many miles to the West of the mountains we hoped to reach. -The result of these two circumstances was that we travelled by water -with great labour to a place (Parimau), which was still in low and -often flooded country, and from there we had to travel across country -for many miles before we came to the first rising ground. - -[Sidenote: CROSS-COUNTRY JOURNEYS] - -It is difficult enough in New Guinea to make a way up a river valley, -but you always have the comforting reflection that the river itself -leads you back to your base, when stores are exhausted and it is time -to return. But when you attempt to make a cross-country journey, not -only is the trouble of cutting a track much greater than it is in a -river bed, but there is the difficult and often somewhat dangerous -business of crossing the rivers; added to this is the risk, which -increases with every river you cross, of being cut off for a longer -or shorter period from your base camp and supplies by a sudden flood -in those same rivers. For this reason, when coolies were sent back -from an advanced camp to the base, they had to be supplied with an -extra allowance of food in the event of their being stopped by floods -on the way; such a proceeding meant diminishing to some extent the -store of food they had carried out and a consequent waste of labour. -It is essential, therefore, in trying to make a long journey in such a -country, to discover beforehand the river valley which will take you -nearest to your goal and thus avoid the risks of a long cross-country -journey. - -No time was lost in sending a fleet of canoes heavily laden with stores -up the river from Wakatimi, and early in January the whole expedition -was assembled at Parimau with supplies sufficient for three months. -On the 14th January Marshall and Grant with two Dayak collectors, -forty-six coolies, thirty-one Papuans, and about forty soldiers and -convicts, by far the largest number of men we had ever sent off at one -time, set out for the Wataikwa river. A few of them went on with the -Europeans to the Iwaka, where a track was cut for two marches up the -valley of that river, while the rest, after leaving their loads at the -Wataikwa depôt, returned to Parimau to fetch more loads of stores. From -the Wataikwa the coolies carried on the stores to the upper camp on -the Iwaka river, a three days’ march, and at the beginning of February -Cramer and I went up there with the last party. About a hundred and -fifty loads of one kind or another had been carried up from Parimau in -these various excursions, but unhappily the coolies ate up a good many -of the loads on the way, and still more unhappily many of the coolies -fell sick, so that if we had wished to send back to Parimau for yet -another transport of stores, it would probably have ended in our having -no coolies to carry them any further. - -The nett result of all this carrying was that when we arrived with -the last loads at the Iwaka depôt we found that we had only twelve -days’ provisions for our party of three Europeans, two Dayaks and -the twenty-two coolies who survived from the forty-eight of a month -earlier. Cramer had food for about the same number of days for his -party of soldiers and convicts. Such a meagre supply of provisions as -that obviously made it out of the question for us to penetrate far -into the mountains; but you must in New Guinea, as elsewhere, cut your -coat according to your cloth. - -The Iwaka at the place where we first came to it is a tremendous -torrent flowing in rather a narrow stony bed. A little way further down -it spreads out into a wider channel like that of the Wataikwa, but it -is much larger than that river and though we searched down stream for -three or four miles, we found no place where it was possible to cross. - -As we went up the river we very soon found that the river banks became -steeper, and it was soon evident that we were at last among the hills. -There was a peculiar satisfaction in bending one’s legs to go up hill -after having been for so many months on almost level ground. The track -was not at all easy, for it appeared that in many places large slices -of the hillside had slipped down, bringing with them a chaos of dead -and living trees over which we had to pick a precarious way. In some -places we crept along the edge of the torrent, and in others we climbed -high up the hillside to avoid a precipice where the river ran through -a narrow gorge; but it was all a pleasant change from the monotonous -jungle of the plains. There was more variety in the vegetation too as -we went on; creepers arranged themselves prettily on the rocky river -bank, and Fan-palms, which we had not seen before, grew in groups in -the more level places. There was a tree growing in many places whose -lower branches were covered at that season with small pink flowers, -which lent a grateful splash of colour to the usually gloomy green -of the jungle. There was an invigorating air of mountains in the river -as it came thundering over the huge boulders in its bed, and now -and again we even got a glimpse through the trees of the mountains -themselves, apparently not so very far distant from us. - -[Illustration: LOOKING UP THE MIMIKA RIVER FROM THE CAMP AT PARIMAU.] - -[Sidenote: THE UNFORDABLE IWAKA] - -Two days’ scrambling up the valley brought us to the rest of the -party at the depôt camp, and there we learnt the very unwelcome news -of a discovery, which seemed likely to put an immediate end to our -explorations. The advanced party had climbed up a spur to the west -of the river and had seen that the Iwaka, instead of flowing (as we -imagined) from the North-east by an apparently wide valley, actually -flowed from the North through a deep, and in some places precipitous -gorge, which we could not possibly attempt to traverse with our feeble -coolies in the short time that remained to us. - -If we were to advance at all, it was necessary for us to go in a -North-easterly direction, but there we seemed to be completely cut off -by the torrent of the Iwaka River. Attempts were made both upstream -and downstream to wade across, but nobody succeeded in doing it, and -no better luck attended those who tried to make a bridge by felling a -tree across the river, the bridge was at once swept away. As a last -expedient a large reward of money was offered to the first man who -should find a way across the river, and again they all set out full -of hope and armed with axes. The luck fell to two of the Gurkhas, who -cleverly felled a large tree straight across the river. Had it fallen a -few feet to one side or the other it would not have been long enough -to reach the other bank, and if it had bent a little more in the -middle, the water would have snatched it up like a straw and carried -it away in a moment. But it kept just clear above the water and made a -safe temporary bridge by which they could cross, and before nightfall -a single rope of rattan was securely tied across the narrowest part of -the river. - -[Sidenote: A RATTAN BRIDGE] - -During the night the river rose and carried away the tree, and it -seemed that with only one strand of rattan across the river the -prospect of our reaching the other side was not very good. Nobody -seemed inclined to risk the passage, even with the promise of a large -reward, until one of the Gurkhas, Jangbir by name, said he would go. -“There was only one way to go over—hand over hand, with a rattan round -his waist held by us in case the bridge strand broke, a very likely -thing, for it was extremely flimsy. Again the rope to hold him had to -be very thin, or the weight would tear him from his hold. He got across -finely, being dragged out straight by the torrent, until nearly over, -when he could make no more headway. The rope tied to his waist was paid -out fast, but was caught by the current, and then it was touch and go. -Thus he hung for half a minute, dragged out in a horizontal position. -If both rattans gave, it meant certain death; if he let go, the great -strain would snap the rope round him with a like result. The rope was -pulled in as quickly as possible, and then the lucky thing occurred. -The strain was too great, and the rope we were pulling on snapped. -This freed him, and he pulled himself up further and gained the -bank.”[24] - -[Illustration: BRIDGE MADE BY THE EXPEDITION ACROSS THE IWAKA RIVER.] - -When once a man was on the other side, it was simple to throw over -another rattan, and so to pull over many more which he tied to the -trees on his bank. On our side of the river was a large boulder with a -hole conveniently bored through it, into which stout posts were jammed -Y-fashion, and over them the rattans were strained and fastened to the -trees behind. When more men were able to cross the river, a similar -structure was erected on the other bank. - -The plan of the bridge was very simple, two hand-rails made of a -number of twisted rattans, and a foot piece made of a long thin tree, -which was secured to the hand-rails by loops of rattan. The span -of the bridge was about one hundred feet, and there must have been -several hundred yards of rattan used in its construction. The credit -of the idea and of most of the work in making the bridge is due to the -Gurkhas, without whose help we should never have crossed the Iwaka. - -But all this work had occupied valuable time, and when the bridge was -finished we found that we had provisions left for only eight days -longer. On February 8th Rawling, Marshall and I, with three Gurkhas and -nineteen coolies, and Cramer with a small party of convicts, crossed -the Iwaka and made a way Eastwards. After crossing a moderately steep -ridge we came down to a stream of marvellously clear water, which -brought us in a short time to another large river flowing out of the -mountains in a Southerly direction. - -So many rivers are there in this region that this was in some places -separated by less than two miles from the Iwaka; it was eventually -found that this was a branch of the Wania, a large river which enters -the sea in a common mouth with the Kamura, of which the Iwaka is a -tributary. It was evident that this river came from the slopes of Mount -Godman (9,500 ft.) a huge mass immediately to the North of us, and it -was our intention to climb up on to the ridge of that mountain in the -hopes of obtaining a view of the country to the North of it, and of the -Snow Mountains. - -Going up the valley we found ourselves in the midst of really beautiful -scenery. The mountains soon closed in about us, and the river, though -not running through an actual gorge, was walled by precipices of white -limestone rock, now on one side and now on the other. This necessitated -our frequently crossing the river, a task by no means easy even when -the water is low, as it happened to be at that time. The best way of -crossing those rapid rivers is not to fight your way upwards and across -the stream, but to go rather with the stream in a sloping direction -towards the other bank, and to go as quickly as may be. The bottom is -made of very slippery stones, and a false step means disaster, as we -all found at different times, but in that way you cross with far less -exertion than by breasting the stream. - -In this valley, for the first time since we came to New Guinea, we -found several flowering plants; among the rocks by the river grew -clumps of a large pink Balsam, and on the moss at the foot of the tree -trunks was a beautiful scarlet _Begonia_ with a remarkably hairy leaf. - -There was a curious green-flowered aroid with a large blotched leaf, -and growing everywhere over the cliffs and the tree trunks were Pitcher -plants (_Nepenthes_) of two species. - -On the second day we camped on a sort of shelf on the hillside, two or -three hundred feet above the river, and as our progress up the valley -had been so slow, it was certain that we should not be able to reach -the summit ridge before we were obliged to turn back by lack of food. -So it was decided to go straight up the spur on which we then were -in the hope that from the top we might see a view of the surrounding -country. On the following day we climbed up about two thousand feet; -the hillside was exceedingly steep, and the men had to haul themselves -up by the roots of the trees above them. - -[Sidenote: LACK OF WATER] - -At our camp on the hillside—there was not a square yard of level -ground—we were troubled for the first time in New Guinea by a lack of -water. No rain had fallen for two days, and the ground was so steep -that all the water had run off, and it was a long time before the -Gurkhas found a trickle of water in a gully some distance away, whence -a supply was laboriously fetched to the camp. - -On the fourth day we climbed up about two thousand feet further, but -with a great deal more difficulty. The trees became smaller as we went -up, but infinitely denser, and for a great part of the way we scrambled -up, not along the ground, but over a fantastic network of roots and -trunks of dead and living trees, all of them covered with mosses and -festooned with a wonderful variety of creepers. In some places we -were clambering over the topmost branches of the tangle of vegetation, -and in others we were burrowing into mossy caves and grottoes among -the roots. It was a weird and rather uncanny place and, except that it -lacked the beauty of colour that is found there, it recalled the forest -at ten thousand feet in Ruwenzori more than any other place I have seen. - -At 5,000 feet we found ourselves on the ridge, a narrow knife-edged -spur of Mount Godman, and there we camped. It was a most unlikely -looking spot for a camp, but the ridge beyond was a great deal worse—it -took the Gurkhas many hours to cut the narrowest track along it for -half a mile—so we had to make the best of the place that we had -reached. A number of trees were cut down and the irregularities of -the ground were more or less filled up with the branches, and there -we pitched our tents and spread our beds. There was a small shrub -(a species of _Erica_, I think), which, when burnt, filled the air -with a delicious smell of incense, strangely out of keeping with our -surroundings. - -Though we had been surrounded by dense clouds since we reached the -ridge, it obstinately refused to rain for the third day in succession, -a thing quite unprecedented in our experience of the country. Happily -the mosses, which clothed everything, were full of moisture and we had -only to squeeze them like sponges to get water in plenty; the coolies -of course complained of the dirty colour of their rice when it was -cooked in mossy water, but we found that it gave to ours an unfamiliar -and not unpleasant taste. - -[Illustration: LOOKING WESTWARDS FROM ABOVE THE IWAKA RIVER.] - -[Illustration: THE COCKSCOMB MOUNTAIN (10,050 FT.) SEEN FROM MOUNT -GODMAN.] - -[Sidenote: A WIDE VIEW] - -The greater part of the next day was spent in cutting a way along the -ridge to a point (5800 ft.) from which it was hoped that a view of the -country might be seen. Long before the track was cut the clouds were -down upon us, and no view could be seen, so we decided to stay for -another day, although we had only one day’s food remaining. But the -view that we saw on the following day was more than compensation for -our rather scanty fare. - -Due North of us, and rising from the spur on which we stood, was the -great mass of Mount Godman, and to the West of that the even more -imposing peak of Wataikwa Mountain (9923 ft.). Between the two could be -seen a part of the tremendous cliffs of Mount Leonard Darwin (13,882), -the southern face of which appears to show an almost vertical precipice -of upwards of ten thousand feet. To the West ridge beyond ridge of -forest-covered heights stretched away to the ranges of the Charles -Louis Mountains in the far distance. To the East rose the beautiful -three-topped mountain called the Cock’s Comb (10,050 ft.), behind and -to the North of which heavy banks of clouds showed where the snows of -Mount Carstensz lay hidden. Five thousand feet below us the mountains -ended almost abruptly, and the southern half of the circuit of our view -was occupied by the hideous plain of dull green jungle to a hazy line -of the sea forty miles away. Here and there the sunlight caught the -waters of innumerable rivers, and we could distinctly see those that we -had crossed, the Tuaba, Kamura, Wataikwa, and the Iwaka. Further to the -East was a still bigger river, the Wania, which we could trace down -to its lagoon-like estuary, and beyond it was the Aiika, and a very -distant river, possibly the Newerip. - -Nobody who has not spent a year and more in a dreary jungle country, -where you are seldom more than a yard or two from the nearest tree, and -where the limit of your view is the opposite bank of a stagnant river, -can realise the rest, to the mind and to the eye alike, that a wide -horizon gives. Although there were points of interest to be seen by the -cartographical eye, there was nothing, excepting the outlines of some -of the nearer mountains, of beauty in that view; there were no striking -features of the land and no gorgeous effects of colour, but one will -always treasure a recollection of the physical delight of seeing far -and wide to the horizon, and of the feeling of satisfaction in looking -down godlike on the world that we had so painfully traversed. - -But views, like all other good things, have their ends, and ours was -all too soon interrupted by the daily thick blanket of white cloud, -which rolled up and enveloped us until nightfall. We groped our -way back to the camp where we found our coolies very miserable and -shivering with cold—poor wretches, they had never before endured, nor -even imagined, a temperature so low as 50° F. To us the coolness was -very pleasant, and it provoked a hunger to which we had long been -strangers; very small quantities of boiled rice, and _chupatties_ made -by the Gurkhas of mildewed and weevilly flour, only served to stimulate -our appetites for more. - -[Sidenote: RARE BIRDS] - -On the following day we retreated hastily downhill by the way we had -come, and by forced marches, perhaps a little accelerated by our lack -of food, in two days we arrived at the Iwaka camp. In the meantime -Grant had been camped with the two Dayak collectors on a hill about -three thousand feet high above the Iwaka, where they had made a very -fine collection of birds. Among them was a new dwarf species of -Cassowary (_Casuarius claudi_) and specimens of the rare Six-plumed -Bird of Paradise (_Parotia meeki_). Another bird very characteristic -of the Iwaka and neighbouring valleys is the Moustached Swift -(_Macropteryx mystacea_), which measures more than two feet across the -wings, and is remarkable for its long pointed tail and its tapering -white moustache. This bird seldom appears until late in the afternoon, -when it is seen sailing majestically with outstretched wings at a -height over the river. - -Near the Iwaka on a hillside laid bare by a landslip we found two seams -of coal a few inches in thickness; it was poor stuff and only burnt -with difficulty when put into a fire. Mr. Lorentz found combustible -coal in the hills near Mount Wilhelmina, and it is probable that a -careful search would reveal the existence of better coal in this region -too. Near the same place, as well as in one or two other localities, we -found indications of petroleum, but all our searches for gold and other -precious metals resulted in nothing except occasional traces of copper. - -During the following days, while we were stumbling back to Parimau -along the now familiar track, we wondered whether we should be the -last as well as being the first Europeans to penetrate into that -forsaken region. It has been mapped now, and our wanderings have shown -that it is not the way by which any sane person would go who wished -to explore the Snow Mountains. It is a region absolutely without -inhabitants, and the Papuans, who live on the upper waters of the -Mimika and Kamura rivers, shun it even as a hunting ground. There are -no precious metals or other products of the soil to be won, and not -until all the other forests in the world are cut down will its timber -be of value. So it may safely be supposed that it will long be left -untouched; the Birds of Paradise will call by day, the cassowaries will -boom by night, and the leeches will stretch themselves anxiously on -their leaves, but it will be a long time before another white man comes -to disturb them. - -[Sidenote: THE DREARY JUNGLE] - -Many people have the idea that a tropical forest is full of gorgeous -flowers, about which brilliant butterflies are constantly flitting -and birds of splendid plumage flash from tree to tree. This idea is -no doubt due in a great measure to the habit of gathering together in -hothouses the flowering plants of all the Tropics, though they may -have come from Central America, from Africa and from Borneo or Java. -It is true that there are many splendid birds, but the vegetation is -so dense that you seldom, if ever, see them; the brilliant butterflies -are mostly out of sight near the topmost branches of the trees; and you -may travel for days together without seeing a single flowering plant. -Many of the trees are covered with orchids on all their branches, but -they very seldom flower, and the flowers of most of them are so -insignificant that they do not attract your attention. - -[Illustration: THE SUPPORTS OF A PANDANUS (30 FEET HIGH).] - -Occasionally you may see high above your head the white flower of a -_Dendrobium_ or the long spike of the gigantic _Grammatophyllum_, but -I have only once (in a small island on the North coast of New Guinea) -seen such a mass of flowering orchids as to make a splash of colour in -the view. In the Tropics there is nothing comparable in colour with the -blue hyacinths, the fields of buttercups, or the gorse and hawthorns of -this country. - -But if there is little that is beautiful in the jungle vegetation, -there is a great deal that is curious and interesting. The ubiquitous -Rattans, climbing Palms, are a constant source of wonder for their -snake-like meanderings through the jungle until they climb to the -top of some tree where they end in a bunch of leaves. We found three -species of Screw Pines (_Pandanus_), fantastic trees on stilts, and -branching like irregular candelabra. The wood of the _Pandanus_ is very -tough, and is used by the natives for making bows and spears; the long -ribbon-like leaves are used for mats and the walls of their huts, and -the fruits of some are eatable, but exceedingly hard. One species bears -a cluster of small red fruit about the size of a banana; and another -bears a huge melon-shaped fruit of a brilliant scarlet colour and -weighing as much as thirty pounds and upwards. - -Equally remarkable are the trees which stand propped on a number of -aerial roots and seem, as Mr. Wallace noted,[25] to have started -growing in mid air; where several of these trees grow together, it is -difficult to say where one ends and another begins. Too rarely you -come across a magnificent forest tree (usually, I believe, a species -of _Dammara_) supported on huge buttresses, which begin twenty or more -feet above the ground and spread out for many yards from the foot of -the tree. We had occasion to cut down some of these trees, and found -the wood intensely hard; if there were seven or eight buttresses a -single one would still hold up the tree after all the rest had been -cut. When the tree had been felled, the stump looked like a great -starfish sprawling over the ground with a centre not more than a foot -across, while the trunk a few feet up had been a yard or more in -thickness. - -It has happened to me to walk through many hundreds of miles of forest -in different parts of the world, but I have never seen any so dreary as -that New Guinea jungle with its mud, its leeches, its almost unbroken -stillness, and its universal air of death. Happily the mind of man -is of a curiously selective habit, and it chooses to retain only the -more pleasant things; you forget the long wet weeks of rain and mud, -the hunger and the nasty food, and remember rather those glorious -moments when you came out of the twilit jungle into an open river bed -and saw the distant mountains, or those rare sunny afternoons when the -“implacable cicala” creaked in the treetops above your tent. - -[Sidenote: FUTURE TRAVELLERS] - -There are indeed a thousand things to interest one in the jungle, -however blank and monotonous it may seem to be. The trouble is that so -much of your attention in these places must be devoted to the trivial -duties of the day, the eternal question of food, the care of the sick, -the precautions against floods, and so on, that but little time is -left over for studying the hidden wonders of the world about you. The -geographers and the naturalists of the future will live in comfortable -ships on the coast, whence they will fly daily into the heart of New -Guinea where they will find things undreamt of now. But the time for -that is not yet, and in the meantime those who plod on foot do the best -they can. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - - - _Departure from Parimau—Parting Gifts—Mock - Lamentation—Rawling explores Kamura River—Start for the - Wania—Lose the Propeller—A Perilous Anchorage—Unpleasant - Night—Leave the Motor Boat—Village of Nimé—Arrival of - “Zwaan” with Dayaks—Their Departure—Waiting for the - Ship—Taking Leave of the People of Wakatimi—Sail from New - Guinea—Ké Islands—Banda—Hospitality of the Netherlands - Government—Lieutenant Cramer—Sumbawa—Bali—Return to - Singapore and England—One or Two Reflexions._ - -After our return to Parimau in February, Rawling and Grant went down to -Wakatimi, while Marshall and I spent a week in visiting the village of -the Tapiro in a last but vain attempt to see the pygmy women. The first -few days of March were occupied in packing up the accumulated odds and -ends of our year’s occupation and on the 9th of March we were ready to -depart. We had told the natives that we were going away and for days -before we went they pestered us with questions as to whether we were -coming back and what we would give them when we went, and they quickly -decided which of our houses they intended to occupy. - -[Illustration: BUTTRESSED TREES.] - -[Sidenote: PARTING WITH THE NATIVES] - -On the morning of our departure from Parimau we allowed no natives to -come into the camp until all the canoes were loaded up and ready for -a start. Then we called out to them to come over and about forty men -and boys splashed across the river and came swarming into the camp. We -had kept for them a number of axe-heads, knives and other pieces -of steel and iron, and when the people saw what they were going to be -given they became a crowd of madmen. I distributed the things, while -Marshall stood by with a big piece of wood and kept them from rushing -into the place and seizing everything at once. They shouted and raved -and screamed and grew almost pale with excitement, and the various -expressions of greed and cunning and anger and delight in their faces -were most interesting to watch. - -After we had given them their presents we walked towards the canoes, -and then they began to set up their horrible wail. A few of them picked -up pieces of cloth and matting, through the middle of which they thrust -their heads and then began to howl with their hands over their eyes. -I took a last look round the houses to see that nothing of value had -been left behind and on going to the store-house I met a man, one of -our best friends, coming out of it with a tin of rice under his arm. He -immediately put down the tin, tore off from a climbing bean that grew -by the house a trail of leaves a yard or two long, and wound them about -his head and body. Then he burst into tears and the most heartrending -sobs, which changed in a moment, when he caught my eye, into a shout of -laughter. - -When we finally got into the canoes all the men came down to the -water’s edge and wailed, while some of them sat down in the water and -smeared themselves with mud. In the meantime we could see their women -going off into the jungle carrying tins full of their possessions to -hide there, and it is probable that after we left there was a good -deal of quarrelling and fighting over the spoil. The wailing is a -purely perfunctory politeness, but I think there were a few men who -were genuinely sorry to lose us. On the following day a strong ebb-tide -bore us quickly down to Wakatimi and our navigations of the upper -Mimika river were at an end. - -In the meantime Rawling had made an interesting exploration of the -coast and of the river mouths to the East of the Mimika. The motor -boat, which had been badly damaged some months earlier, had been -repaired by two Dutch pioneer soldiers and was more or less sea-worthy. -In a four days’ trip he had entered the Atuka river, or rather the -Atuka mouth of the Kamura river, a few miles up which he came to Atuka, -a large village of about six hundred huts surrounded by coconut palms -and tobacco plantations. Proceeding up the river into the main Kamura -river he went on almost to the junction with the Wataikwa river, thus -filling in a large gap of unknown river. On his way back he chose the -left (East) branch and after passing the village of Kamura, where -the inhabitants showed an inclination to plunder the boat, he came -to the lake-like estuary of the Kamura and Wania rivers and entered -the sea by a deep channel. It is worth noting that the inhabitants of -Atuka and Kamura villages, many of whom visited us two or three times -at Wakatimi, are of a decidedly lower type (in appearance) than the -people of the Mimika district, though the distance that separates them -is only a few miles. They have a fiercer and more brutal aspect and -many of them, both men and women go completely naked, a habit which is -never practised by the people of Wakatimi. Scarcity of petrol and an -irregularly sparking plug brought that excursion to an untimely end, -before the lower waters of the Wania had been investigated. - -[Sidenote: EXCURSION TO THE WANIA] - -From our hill-top (see p. 239) the Wania was evidently by far the -most considerable of all the rivers of the district, and apart from -our desire to see the people of the Wania, of whom the Mimika natives -always spoke with great respect, we felt bound to explore that river -as far as possible. Accordingly on March 14, Rawling, Marshall and I, -with a Dutch pioneer, two Gurkhas and three coolies, set off in the -motor boat towing the yawl, a ship’s boat about twenty feet long, laden -with tents and provisions for a week. In a few hours we arrived at the -mouth of the Wania river and found that owing to the low tide there -was no way of crossing the sand-bar that lay across the entrance. This -circumstance was the more remarkable, because only a few days earlier -Rawling had come through this bar by a very deep channel. The frequent -changes in the banks make the navigation of this coast and particularly -of the river mouths exceedingly difficult. - -On this occasion the sea was already rather rough, so that we could not -anchor and wait until the tide rose, and as the wind was increasing in -force there was nothing for it but to turn back and try to take shelter -in one of the rivers between the Wania and the Mimika, if not in the -Mimika itself. All went well for a few miles and then, as happened -frequently, the leather band jumped off the driving wheel and the -engine was stopped. When it was replaced and the engine was started -again, there was no churning of water in the stern and we realized -with some consternation that we had lost our propeller. We were about -twelve miles from the mouth of the Mimika, in a shallow sea of less -than three fathoms, with a strong wind blowing towards the shore where -the waves began to break within a few hundred yards of us, and we were -ten men with a heavy motor boat and a heavily-laden yawl to get along -somehow. We put four men into the yawl to row and they tried to tow, -but the current was so strong against them that they made no headway at -all, so we had to anchor where we were and hoped for better things. We -pitched and rolled and bumped about most horribly and soon most of the -party were deadly sea-sick, perhaps luckily for them, because in that -condition one cares nothing for the prospect of shipwreck. - -[Illustration: SCREW PINES (_Pandanus_).] - -[Sidenote: AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE] - -Our anchor rope was short and none too strong, and the rope between us -and the yawl was thoroughly rotten—it had snapped once earlier in the -day—and we expected that every sudden jerk of the lumpy sea would break -it again. Had that happened, there might have been a nasty accident, as -the men were too sick to row, even if they had known the art, and their -chances of swimming ashore through a sea swarming with sharks were -not very bright. Our own predicament in the helpless motor boat would -have been unpleasant too, if the yawl had gone adrift, but happily the -ropes held. Another drawback was that the motor boat leaked like a -sieve, so that a man was kept constantly at work baling her out, and we -did not know that the strain might not open her old timbers even more. -There was a glorious full moon which one would have enjoyed seeing -from the smooth deck of a steamer, but there we could only think how -uncomfortable it was lying (without having had dinner) on boxes and -tins and gear of all sorts huddled in the bottom of the boat. - -The wind continued all through the night and the sea did not moderate, -so at daylight, after having been for sixteen hours at anchor, we -decided to leave the motor boat hoping that it would not be swamped -before we were able to come back and fetch it. We all got into the -yawl, which we pulled through quite a nasty sea for about three miles -to a sand-bank in the estuary of the Timura river, where we camped -until the rising tide enabled us to reach the mainland about midnight. -On the following day, the sea having become calmer, we rescued the -motor boat, which was by that time half full of water, and towed it -slowly to the Timura. - -But it was a most arduous business and without the help of a party -of natives, who fortunately came along the coast in canoes and were -prevailed upon to assist us in paddling, we should never have been -able to bring back both of the boats. The arrival of the motor boat at -the Mimika on the fifth day, propelled by native paddles instead of by -its own power, was not a very dignified affair—it resembled rather the -formerly familiar sight of the motor-car in tow of a horse from the -plough—but it was a piece of good fortune that it and we returned at -all. - -We stopped for a night on the way at Nimé, a village at the mouth of -the Keaukwa River. This is a very large village—I counted four hundred -and thirty huts—but there were hardly a dozen people in the place, the -whole population having gone off on one of their periodical migrations -to a vegetable diet up the river. It was evident from the immense piles -of fishbones and empty shells about the houses that the inhabitants -must live largely by fishing, when they are there. The houses are -better made than those at Wakatimi, and they are arranged in terraces -and crescents along the water’s edge. It was there that we saw the -elaborate dancing-houses described above (p. 143). - -Just as we paddled laboriously into the Mimika estuary we saw far -down on the horizon the smoke of a steamer, and in an hour or two a -white painted vessel, which turned out to be the Dutch Government -ship _Zwaan_, drew inshore and anchored outside the bar. We naturally -supposed that this was a ship that had come to take away the -expedition, as we had informed the Government some months earlier that -we hoped to be ready to leave the country by the end of March. But -that communication had taken a long time, as everything does in those -regions, in reaching its destination, and the _Zwaan_ had come, not -to take away the expedition, but to bring the means of prolonging the -expedition still further. - -[Illustration: AT SUMBAWA PESAR.] - -[Sidenote: LATE ARRIVAL OF DAYAKS] - -It appeared that in the previous December the Committee of the -Expedition at home, hearing of our scarcity of coolies some months -earlier, had decided that a further supply of coolies should be sent -to us without delay. Though cables work quickly enough between London -and Singapore, communications beyond that are matters of days and -weeks, and it was not until the 18th of March that the party of Dayak -coolies, who had been engaged in Sarawak by the kind permission of -H.H. the Raja, arrived at the Mimika. They were in the charge of Mr. -C. B. Kloss, Curator of the Government Museum at Kuala Lumpor, who had -brought with him six months’ provision for himself and the men. Almost -at the same time that the Committee in England had taken this step, we -in New Guinea had decided that three months more was as long as we were -prepared to stay in the country, and a request had been sent to the -Dutch Government to take us away at the end of that time. - -When the _Zwaan_ arrived we were all ready to depart, and Cramer’s -party, numbering more than a hundred men, were chafing with impatience -to get away; it would have been impossible for the Government to keep -them there yet another six months. Even if there had been a possibility -of our staying on in the country, the number of Dayaks, thirty-eight, -was quite insufficient for a long journey into the interior and the -prospect of reaching the moderately high ground of Tapiro Mountain, the -best that could be hoped for, was not sufficient inducement to tempt -any one to paddle again up the Mimika river. Added to this was the -further consideration that in a week or two the more rainy season would -begin and that for five or six months very little progress would be -possible even with an unlimited supply of the best coolies. - -So there was nothing for it but for Mr. Kloss and the Dayaks to go -back in the _Zwaan_, which sailed for Amboina on the following day, -taking also Marshall, as many sick and useless coolies and soldiers as -could be crammed on board, and an urgent request to the authorities -to remove us as soon as might be. The Dayak episode was altogether an -unfortunate one; had the men reached us six months earlier, we should -have made a very good use of them, few though they were; but coming as -they did when we were on the point of leaving the country they merely -illustrated the uselessness of attempting to conduct an expedition from -the other side of the world. - -During the next three weeks we waited for the ship with what patience -we could. By that time we were all somewhat stale and disinclined for -any exertion, and those days of waiting at Wakatimi seemed interminably -long. The only pleasant moments were when on fine evenings we could -sit outside and watch the sun go down behind the palm trees across -the river and hope each time that that would be the last. There were -times when for two or three days a strong wind blew and we could hear -the surf thundering on the beach, and we knew that even if the ship -came it could not approach the shore. Then there were false alarms of -whistles having been heard, or of boats seen coming up the river, but -our suspense at last came to an end on April 5th, when a steam-launch -towing a string of empty boats came puffing up to the camp, where -they were received with immense enthusiasm. They came from the Dutch -gunboat _Mataram_, which had been despatched to take away the native -escort, and the next day came boats from the _Zwaan_, which had come to -transport us and our men and the remaining stores of the expedition to -Amboina. There followed two days of busy loading and coming and going -of boats, during which our impatience to be off was a little allayed -by the forethought of one of the officers of the _Mataram_, who stayed -ashore with us and had brought with him that rare luxury, bread, and -one or two other welcome delicacies. - -[Sidenote: DEPARTURE FROM WAKATIMI] - -Before sunset on April 7th the last boat was loaded and ready to go, -and we had an amusing leave-taking with the people of Wakatimi. It -was known that we were going to depart and for some days people from -other villages had been crowding into Wakatimi. A large number of men -were waiting outside the fence of the camp, but when we invited them -to come inside they became unaccountably shy and would not venture. -So I went outside and took one bolder fellow, a man whom we knew -well, and led him by the arm to a hut, where there were a quantity -of old mosquito nets; he seized one and bolted as fast as he could -run, apparently thinking that there was something suspicious in this -unwonted generosity. Then a few more came very warily after him and -then fifty or sixty men dashed into the house and out again as soon as -they had snatched up something, it mattered not what. Most of them were -armed with spears or bows and arrows, and as there were men fighting to -get into and out of the house at the same time it was wonderful that -nobody was damaged. - -When the people in Wakatimi saw what was going on in the camp they -began to yell with excitement, and in a few seconds twenty or more -canoes packed with men came paddling madly across the river; they were -so excited that some of them upset the canoes, a thing they very seldom -do, and they had to swim to the shore. For ten minutes or so the camp -was a pandemonium. About two hundred raving lunatics were dashing madly -from one house to another and carrying off boxes, sacks, mosquito nets, -cases of empty bottles, bits of iron, tables, beds, mats and everything -they could possibly move. They howled and raved and fought like wild -beasts in a manner horrible to see. - -Several women came over and danced and sang in a canoe just in front -of the camp, while the crowd of people who had not been able to find a -place in the canoes shrieked from the opposite bank. When they could -carry no more, they loaded their canoes to the brim with miscellaneous -cargoes and went back across the river to the village. There they -at once began to squabble over the spoils, and the last we heard of -Wakatimi, as darkness came down, were the shrill shrieks of quarrelsome -women and the angry shouts of men. - -[Sidenote: THE LAST OF NEW GUINEA] - -New Guinea treated us kindly in farewell, and we steamed down the river -in a glorious starlight, the kind of night which many people think is -usual in the tropics, but is in fact most lamentably rare. We left -Cramer on board the _Mataram_ and went on to the _Zwaan_, where we -soon were lulled to sleep by the pleasant music of the screw. Early the -next morning a dull cloud on the northern horizon was our last view of -New Guinea, and before night we had reached civilisation again in the -anchorage of Dobo. - -[Illustration: NEAR BULELING. ISLAND OF BALI.] - -Two days later we came to the Ké Islands and went ashore to visit the -Catholic Mission at Toeal. There is nothing of great interest to see -there except the magnificent “iron wood” timber, which is cut in the -forests of the larger island, and is used for boat-building; it is -obtained in larger pieces than teak, and it is said to be equally good. -The fathers occupy themselves with carpentry and boat-building and with -teaching a class of small children. The few people whom we saw appeared -to be of a mixed Malay-Papuan race and were dressed in unspeakably -dirty clothes. - -From Toeal we went on to Banda, where we spent a day of pouring rain, -a great pity, for a walk through the nutmeg woods of Banda is one of -the pleasantest excursions in the islands, and a day later we dropped -anchor in the harbour of Amboina. - -It will be fitting to remark here that on the outward journey from Java -to New Guinea and on our return from the Mimika to Amboina, the members -of the expedition were the guests of the Netherlands Government. The -thanks of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs have been conveyed -to the captains of the ships and to the other officials, who helped the -expedition in a hundred different ways. - -At Amboina, where we waited a few days for the arrival of a steamer -to Singapore, we parted with Cramer, who was prevented by a sharp -attack of fever from coming with us. He was the one other man, beside -Rawling, Marshall and myself, who remained with the expedition from -the beginning to the end, and it is not paying him an empty compliment -to say that few other people would have managed more successfully than -he did to live with a party of foreigners in circumstances, which were -often exceedingly difficult. - -We sailed from Amboina on April 17th in the mail steamer _Van -Riebeeck_, and amongst our fellow-passengers we found Captain Van der -Bie and Lieut. Van der Wenn (Netherlands Navy), both of whom were -returning to Java invalided from the expedition to the Island River in -New Guinea. The expedition had penetrated a long way into the interior -of the country, but all the Europeans fell ill and the expedition was -withdrawn a few months later. - -After calling at Macassar we went South past the Postilion Islands to -the little known island of Sumbawa, where we went ashore for a few -hours at Sumbawa Pesar. It looked a pretty country with well-wooded -hills and level cultivated plains. We were much struck by the -appearance of the natives, who have a longer type of face and a much -fairer skin than any other of the Malay races I have seen. The men all -go armed with a _kris_, and they smoke cigars of an incredible length. - -[Sidenote: ISLAND OF BALI] - -From Sumbawa we steamed along the Northern shore of Lombok, from whose -Peak (12,000 feet), the clouds rolled off magnificently at sunset, and -early the next morning we came into the harbour of Buleling in the -island of Bali. There we took a native carriage (_sado_), and drove a -few miles out into the country to see a very interesting Hindu temple, -where there are some remarkable good stone carvings, which shew signs -of being carefully tended. The Hindu religion still survives, though -it cannot be said to flourish, both in this island and in Lombok. The -native villages that we saw have quite characteristic features of their -own; they are surrounded by a high mud wall with a brick coping and -are guarded by a swarm of fiercely barking dogs. Inside the wall, if -you are bold enough to enter, you find a neatly swept compound, round -the sides of which are well-made dwelling-houses, and in the middle -are granaries of rice; both the houses and the granaries are raised on -posts several feet above the ground and all are neatly thatched with -rice straw. In the corner of the compound is a place set apart for a -number of little stone shrines, some of them very elaborately carved, -in which votive offerings of flowers and fruit are placed. - -The Balinese seem to be a sturdy and industrious people; they have -a free and independent appearance, very different from that of -their somewhat grovelling neighbours, the Javanese. The roads are -picturesquely lined with shady trees, and a very pleasant feature -of them is the number of little mouse-coloured ponies, which carry -panniers on a high-peaked saddle and are the coolies of Bali; most of -them have an elaborate leather harness and many carry a large number of -little bells, which make a pretty music along the roads. They appear to -be hungry little animals, and they have the rare and valuable faculty -of being able to eat out of a basket tied round their necks as they -walk along. The country, what little we saw of it, looks extremely -prosperous, and the beauty of the cultivated lands, interrupted here -and there by groves of trees and backed by mountains, is beyond dispute. - -From Bali to Java is only a few hours’ steaming, and from Batavia -another ship brought us to Singapore, where we arrived on May 2nd. A -month later we landed in England and the English Expedition to Dutch -New Guinea, 1910-11, was a thing of the past. - -[Sidenote: THE END] - -It is not easy to put down in words what were our thoughts on our -homeward journey from the Mimika River to Plymouth Sound. Naturally -enough there were feelings of pleasant anticipation in returning to -the comforts of civilised life, and there were feelings of profound -thankfulness that we had left behind us neither our bones nor our -health, as too many others less fortunate had done. There was also -a sense of (I think pardonable) satisfaction at having accomplished -something; the surveyors had made an accurate map of a large tract of -quite unknown country; the naturalists had made valuable collections -of birds and animals, and some most interesting races of men had been -visited and studied. - -But beneath these was another feeling of vague disappointment. We -had set out full of hope, if not of confidence, of reaching the Snow -Mountains, and the disappointment of not having set foot on them was -aggravated by the fact that we had been so long in sight of them. It -was exasperating beyond words to see the mountains month after month -only forty miles away and not to be able to move a foot in their -direction; to study them so that we came to know the changing patches -of lower snow and almost the very crevasses in the glaciers, and still -to be forced to be content with looking and longing for “the hills and -the snow upon the hills.” - -To look for fifteen months at that great rock precipice, and those long -fields of snow untrodden yet by foot of man, to anticipate the delight -of attaining to the summits and to wonder what would be seen beyond -them on the other side, those were pleasures that kept one’s hopes -alive through long periods of dull inaction. The aching disappointment -of turning back and leaving the mountains as remote and as mysterious -as they were before words of mine cannot express; but happily there is -always comfort to be found in the reflexion that - - “Some falls are means the happier to arise.” - - - - -APPENDIX A - - -NOTES ON THE BIRDS COLLECTED; BY THE B.O.U. EXPEDITION TO DUTCH NEW -GUINEA - -BY W. R. OGILVIE-GRANT - -Our knowledge of the Birds of New Guinea is based mainly on Count -T. Salvadori’s monumental work _Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle -Molluche_, which appeared in three large volumes in 1880-82, and on -his _Aggiunte_ to the above work published in three parts in 1887-89. -Since that date our knowledge of the avi-fauna has vastly increased and -a very large number of splendid Birds-of-Paradise and other remarkable -new species have been discovered. - -A list of the principal works subsequently published, placed in -chronological order, will be found at the end of this chapter, -the most important papers being no doubt those by the Hon. Walter -Rothschild and Dr. E. Hartert, which have appeared from time to time -in the Tring Museum periodical _Novitates Zoologicæ_. Mr. Rothschild -is to be congratulated on the success which has attended the efforts -of his various collectors in New Guinea and on the energy which he -has displayed in obtaining birds from unknown districts of the most -interesting island in the world. - -To give in a single chapter a brief and partly scientific, partly -popular, summary of the ornithological work accomplished by our -Expedition in Dutch New Guinea is a more difficult task than might be -imagined, for there is not only an immense number of species to be -dealt with, but in most instances very little is known about their -habits. The jungles of South-western New Guinea are so dense that -white men can scarcely traverse them, and most of the collecting had -to be done by the trained natives from the Malay Peninsula, kindly -supplied by Mr. H. C. Robinson, and by the Gurkhas who accompanied the -Expedition. - -By dealing with each family in turn, I shall endeavour to refer to all -the more important species in the collection in their proper scientific -order, briefly describing some of the more beautiful, so that those -without any special knowledge of birds may, if they care to do so, form -some idea of the marvellous types which have been brought home from the -interior of South-western New Guinea. - -It is certain that the resources of that wonderful island are not -nearly exhausted: on the contrary, every fresh collecting expedition -sent to the interior produces remarkable novelties, and large chains -of high mountains are still unexplored. The members of our Expedition -were fortunate in procuring no less than 2,200 skins of birds in -New Guinea, representing about 235 species, of which ten proved to -be new to Science. A number of new birds were also obtained by the -late Mr. Wilfred Stalker in the mountains of Ceram, which he visited -before joining the main Expedition at Amboina. His premature death by -drowning, a few days after he landed in New Guinea, was an immense -loss to the Expedition, though his place was ably filled by Mr. Claude -Grant, who worked with his characteristic zeal and enthusiasm. - -It will be noticed that the great bulk of the birds inhabiting New -Guinea belong to a comparatively small number of families, but that -each of these is represented by a large number of different species, -especially in such groups as the Pigeons, Parrots, Flycatchers, and -Honey-eaters. - -Amongst the Pigeons of which no fewer than twenty-seven different kinds -were obtained, it would seem as though, in some instances at least, -Nature had almost come to the end of her resources in devising new -and wonderful arrangements of colour and markings; for in some of the -smaller Fruit-Pigeons, such as _Ptilopus gestroi_ and _P. zonurus_ we -find two perfectly distinct species, occurring side by side, possessing -almost exactly the same remarkable scheme of colouration, and only -differing in certain minor points to be found in the markings of the -wing-coverts. Another very similar instance is to be seen in _Ptilopus -coronulatus_ and _P. nanus_ almost the same colours and pattern being -repeated in both. - -The collection obtained by our expedition is a very valuable one, -and has added many new and interesting forms of bird-life to the -incomparable series in the Natural History Museum, to which the bulk -of the specimens have been presented by the subscribers. A large -proportion of the birds were obtained at low elevations from sea-level -to 2,000 feet, only a comparatively small number being procured at -from 3000-4000 feet. It is to be regretted that the immense physical -difficulties encountered and other causes prevented our collectors from -reaching a higher zone between 5000 and 10,000 feet, where no doubt -much of interest remains to be discovered by those who are fortunate -enough to get there. - -TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF SPECIES COLLECTED AND THE FAMILIES TO WHICH -THEY BELONG - - - No. of - Family. species. - - _Corvidæ_ Crows 2 - _Paradiseidæ_ Birds-of-Paradise, Bower-Birds and Manucodes 13 - _Eulabetidæ_ Tree-Starlings 4 - _Dicruridæ_ Drongos 2 - _Oriolidæ_ Orioles 1 - _Ploceidæ_ Weaver-Finches 1 - _Motacillidæ_ Wagtails 2 - _Meliphagidæ_ Honey-eaters 26 - _Nectariniidæ_ Sun-birds 2 - _Dicæidæ_ Flower-peckers 2 - _Zosteropidæ_ White-eyes 1 - _Laniidæ_ Shrikes 8 - _Prionopidæ_ Wood-Shrikes 4 - _Artamidæ_ Swallow-Shrikes 1 - _Timeliidæ_ Babblers 4 - _Campophagidæ_ Cuckoo-Shrikes 11 - _Muscicapidæ_ Flycatchers 30 - _Hirundinidæ_ Swallows 2 - _Pittidæ_ Pittas or Ant-Thrushes 2 - _Cuculidæ_ Cuckoos 11 - _Cypselidæ_ Swifts 4 - _Caprimulgidæ_ Nightjars 2 - _Podargidæ_ Frog-mouths 3 - _Bucerotidæ_ Hornbills 1 - _Meropidæ_ Bee-eaters 1 - _Coraciidæ_ Rollers 2 - _Alcedinidæ_ Kingfishers 11 - _Psittacidæ_ Parrots } 22 - _Loriidæ_ Lories or Brush-tongued Parrots} - _Bubonidæ_ Horned and Wood-Owls 1 - _Falconidæ_ Eagles and Hawks 7 - _Phalacrocoracidæ_ Cormorants 1 - _Anatidæ_ Ducks 2 - _Ibididæ_ Ibises 1 - _Ardeidæ_ Herons 4 - _Œdicnemidæ_ Stone-Plovers 1 - _Charadriidæ_ Plovers 8 - _Laridæ_ Gulls and Terns 2 - _Rallidæ_ Rails 1 - _Columbidæ_ Pigeons 26 - _Megapodiidæ_ Megapodes or Mound-builders 3 - _Casuariidæ_ Cassowaries 3 - —- - Total 235 - - -From the above table it will be seen that out of 235 species procured, -150 are included in eight of the Families; _viz._ Birds-of-Paradise -13; Honey-eaters 26; Cuckoo-Shrikes 11; Flycatchers 30; Cuckoos, 11; -Kingfishers 11; Parrots, 22; Pigeons, 26. - - -FAMILY _CORVIDAÆ_—CROWS. - -Though the true Crows are never brightly coloured birds, many are -extremely handsome, but this epithet cannot be applied to the -Bare-faced Crow (_Gymnocorax senex_) which is common on the Mimika -River and distributed over New Guinea generally. - -The adult is brownish-black with a slight purplish or bluish gloss -on the wings, but is generally in worn and shabby plumage. Even when -freshly moulted it is rather a disreputable looking bird, its naked -pink face, pale watery blue eyes, slate-coloured bill and livid feet -adding to its dissipated appearance. Young birds in their first year’s -plumage are even plainer than their parents, being dull drab-brown -inclining to brownish-white on the head and neck, and appear to be clad -in sackcloth and ashes. They have a weak uncrow-like call pitched in a -high key and their flight is feeble and seldom sustained. - -In addition to this Crow of unprepossessing appearance, there is -a handsome Raven (_Corvus orru_), much like our familiar bird but -smaller, which was met with in pairs on the coast. - - -FAMILY _PARADISEIDÆ_—BIRDS-OF-PARADISE AND BOWER-BIRDS. - -Closely allied to the well-known Greater Bird-of-Paradise (_Paradisea -apoda_) from the Aru Islands is the New Guinea form _P. novæ-guineæ_, -the males being distinguished by their smaller size and by having the -long ornamental side-plumes of a much richer orange-yellow. Though -the call of this bird was frequently heard on the upper parts of the -Mimika, it was rarely seen; but on the Wataikwa quite a number were -procured in all stages of plumage. The species was, however, nowhere -plentiful and confined to the foot-hills. - -The Pygmies often brought plumes of the Lesser Bird-of-Paradise (_P. -minor_) to Parimau and traded them with the natives, but the species -was not found on the Mimika, the Charles Louis mountains probably -forming its southern boundary. - -My account of the display of that species, as witnessed in the -Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, will be found in the _Ibis_, 1905, -p. 429, accompanied by various drawings and a coloured plate by Mr. G. -E. Lodge. The display resembles that of the Greater Bird-of-Paradise -(_P. apoda_) and the Red Bird-of-Paradise (_P. raggiana_) and no doubt -also that of _P. novæ-guineæ_. It is a wonderful and beautiful sight to -see these birds erect their splendid side-plumes in an arch over the -back, which is concealed in a shivering cascade of colour, orange and -white, or red according to the species. - -Numbers of the beautiful little King Bird-of-Paradise (_Cicinnurus -regius_) were brought home in all stages of plumage from the young to -the fully adult male, with its scarlet head, shading into glittering -carmine on the back and wings and into purplish-carmine on the throat, -which is bordered below by a rich dark green band. The sides of the -chest are ornamented with fan-like arrangements of grey feathers -tipped with glittering golden green; the breast and the rest of the -under-parts are of the purest white: the outer tail-feathers are -earthy-brown edged with orange-red, while the middle pair, which cross -one another, have the bare shafts enormously lengthened, and terminate -in a tightly curled disc, golden green above and reddish-brown beneath. - -These beautiful ornaments are seen to the greatest advantage when -the King is displaying, the green-tipped fan-like feathers on the -sides and the white feathers of the breast being spread out to form a -circular shield in front of the bird, while the green metallic discs -of the long middle tail-feathers are erected and waved overhead. An -interesting description of the display of this species is given by Sir -William Ingram in the _Ibis_, 1907, p. 225, with a coloured plate and -figures drawn by Mr. G. E. Lodge from a living specimen. - -Mr. Walter Goodfellow made an interesting observation on the habits of -this species. While watching some Pigeons on the opposite bank of the -river through his glasses he saw a small bird rise from the top of a -tree and soar into the air like a Sky-Lark. After it had risen about 30 -feet, it suddenly seemed to collapse and dropped back into the tree as -though it had been shot. It proved to be a King Bird-of-Paradise and -probably this soaring habit is a part of the display not indulged in by -captive birds confined in comparatively small cages. - -A Rifle-Bird (_Ptilorhis magnifica_) was fairly common both on the -coast and near the mountains and its call consisting of two long-drawn -notes, one ascending, the other descending, might be heard at all -hours of the day. Its plumage is mostly velvety black on the head and -upper-parts, but the crown, middle of the throat and chest, as well as -the middle pair of tail-feathers, are metallic blue and a bronze-green -band separates the chest from the deep purplish-maroon under-parts. The -outer flight feathers are curiously pointed and strongly falcate and -some of the side-feathers terminate in long, narrow decomposed plumes. -The long curved bill and the legs are black, while the inside of the -mouth is pale apple-green as is the case in several other species of -Paradise-Birds. - -Though a well-known species, we must not omit to mention the splendid -Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise (_Seleucides niger_). The plumage of the -male is like dark brown plush shot with bronze-green on the back and -deep violet on the wings, while the long dark breast-feathers are -edged with rich metallic emerald-green. The long ornamental side-plumes -and the rest of the under-parts are beautiful bright cinnamon-yellow -when freshly moulted, but this colour is so volatile that it soon fades -to nearly white in skins which have been kept for a few years. The -shafts of six of the long side-plumes on either side extend far beyond -the vane of the feather and look like twelve recurved wires, hence -the bird’s popular name. The eye is crimson, the bill black, the gape -bright apple-green, and the legs and toes yellowish flesh-colour. - -The Expedition procured three examples of a new form of _Parotia_ or -Six-plumed Paradise-Bird on the Iwaka River, but unfortunately did not -succeed in shooting a fully adult male. Simultaneously A. S. Meek, who -was collecting for Mr. Rothschild, procured specimens of the same bird -on the Oetakwa River a few miles to the east, but he likewise did not -secure the fully adult male. The species has been named _Parotia carolæ -meeki_ by Mr. Rothschild. - -The plumage of this bird is like brownish-black plush and equally soft -to the touch. The head is ornamented very wonderfully; on either side -behind the eye there are three long racket-like plumes on long bare -shafts, (a character common to all the members of this remarkable -genus of Paradise-Birds): the middle of the crown is of a beautiful -“old” gold colour in a setting of silvery white and golden brown: on -the occiput there is a marvellous patch of stiff metal-like feathers, -golden-green bordered with deep violet; the sides of the head before -and behind the eye are golden-brown, the chin and upper part of the -throat deep brown, and the lower part whitish, spotted with rufous. -A lovely metallic breast-plate of bronze-green and violet feathers -with dark middles covers the chest and the long flank-feathers are -white. The two outer flight feathers are curiously attenuated near the -extremity and terminate in a sharp point, the shaft bearing only a very -narrow web. No doubt all these ornaments are displayed in a similar -manner to those of _P. lawesi_ from British New Guinea, males of which -have been living for some years in the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s -Park. - -Another very handsome species is the Golden-winged _Diphyllodes -chrysoptera_. The male has the bill and a bare space behind the eye -bluish-white, the inside of the mouth apple-green and the feet Prussian -blue. The head is clad in short velvety reddish-brown feathers with -two metallic green spots between the eyes; the nape bears a frill of -lengthened brown-tipped plumes; the mantle is light golden-yellow like -spun glass and forms a lengthened tippet; the inner secondary quills -and shoulder-feathers are orange-yellow, and the back carmine and dull -orange shading into sooty black on the upper tail-coverts. The throat -is deep velvety brown, the neck and breast rich dark green bordered -below with metallic bluish-green, and with a row of metallic green -bars like steps down the middle of the neck and chest; the rest of the -under-parts are black. The short outer tail-feathers are sooty brown, -while the middle pair which cross one another are very long and narrow -and of a metallic bluish-green. The female is very soberly clad, dull -brown above and narrowly barred with brown and buff below. - -The Bower-Birds have received their name from their peculiar habit of -constructing bowers or runs where the males meet to play or pay their -court to the females. The bowers are built long before the birds begin -to build their nests which are placed in trees. - -One of the most noteworthy species procured by the Expedition was the -gorgeously coloured Bower-Bird, _Xanthomelus ardens_. The male has the -eye yellow and the head, sides of the neck and mantle orange-scarlet, -the feathers of the latter being very long and loose and forming -a dense cape; the rest of the plumage is orange-yellow above and -golden-yellow below: the ends of the quills and the tail-feathers, -being black. - -The female has the iris brown and is more sombrely clad, the head and -upper-parts, including the wings and tail, being earthy-brown, while -the under-parts, under wing-coverts and wing-lining, are yellow, like -those of the male, but less bright. - -This beautiful species was originally described from an imperfect -native-made skin obtained by the Italian naturalist, D’Albertis, on -the Fly River. Subsequently, Dr. H. A. Lorentz shot two adult males on -the Noord River, which were described and figured by Dr. Van Oort. Our -expedition was fortunate enough to secure not only adult males, but -also the immature male and adult female, these latter being hitherto -unknown. - -The display of the male bird must be a very beautiful sight, his -scarlet cape being no doubt erected, and forming a great hood over the -head. - -Among the Bower-Birds, one of the most interesting was a remarkable -female example of a species of _Chlamydodera_ procured on the Kamura -River. Unlike any of the allied forms, it has the under-surface washed -with yellow, and appears to be the female of _C. lauterbachi_, of which -the brilliantly coloured male was described by Dr. Reichenow from an -example procured in German New Guinea. - -The male has the crown and sides of the face golden-orange, the -upper-parts olive-brown, edged with yellowish, and the under-parts -bright yellow. It is a very striking bird and much the most brightly -coloured member of the genus. - -Though the two specimens were obtained in localities so far apart, -there seems to be no reason why they should not be male and female of -the same species. The female obtained by the Expedition possesses many -characteristics in common with the male type of _C. lauterbachi_ and -the differences in plumage are just what one would expect to find in -the female of that species. - -The beautiful Cat-bird (_Ælurœdus stonei_) was fairly plentiful, and -is remarkable on account of its peculiar colouring. The cap is brown, -the back grass-green, and the neck and under-parts buff, spotted with -black, or green on the longer flank-feathers. The eye is hazel and the -bill and legs slate-blue. The sexes are alike in plumage. It derives -its popular name from its peculiar hissing alarm note, not unlike the -sound made by an angry cat. - -Of the Manucodes, four different kinds were met with. They are all -crow-like birds with brilliant metallic black plumage glossed with -purple, green or blue, and form a link between the Paradise-Birds and -the true Crows. The Purple-and-Violet Manucode (_Phonygama jamesi_) is -distinguished by possessing tufts of long, narrow metallic green plumes -behind the eye, and by having the neck-feathers similarly lengthened; -while the other three belonging to the genus _Manucodia_ have the head -and neck covered with short curly feathers. These curly-headed species -are much alike in general appearance, but _M. orientalis_ has the short -curly feathers on the chest and breast glittering golden-green, while -in _M. jobiensis_ and _M. altera_ the same parts are dark steel-blue. -_Inter se_ the two latter kinds differ considerably, both structurally -and in colour. _M. jobiensis_ is smaller and has the feathers of -the throat rounded and crinkled, and the upper-parts glossed with -a strong shade of violet; while _M. altera_ is larger and has the -throat-feathers short but rather pointed, and the general colour above -purplish-blue or steel-blue. - -In most of the Manucodes the trachea is very long and convoluted, that -of the Purple-and-Violet species possessing no fewer than twelve coils -which lie between the skin and the pectoral muscles. In spite of this -marvellous instrument its cries are not nearly so loud as those of the -Birds-of-Paradise of the genus _Paradisea_. - -Mr. Claude Grant discovered a nest of _M. altera_ with two eggs at -Parimau, an interesting find, as no properly authenticated eggs of that -species had hitherto been obtained. - - -FAMILY _EULABETIDÆ_—TREE-STARLINGS. - -Among the smaller Glossy Starlings we must specially mention a new -species, _Calornis mystacea_, discovered by the Expedition. It has the -plumage purplish-bronze and is especially remarkable in having long -semi-erect plumes on the forehead as well as long neck-hackles. Three -specimens were obtained flying in company with large flocks of _C. -metallica_, a rather widely distributed species, which ranges to North -Australia, the Moluccas and the Solomon Islands. - -The Grackles or Talking Starlings are represented by two lovely -species, the first being the well-known Dumont’s Grackle (_Mino -dumonti_) a dark glossy greenish-black bird with a yellow belly and -white under tail-coverts. It has a brown eye surrounded by a large -naked orange patch partially covered with short stiff filaments. The -second species Robertson’s Golden Grackle (_Melanopyrrhus robertsoni_) -is an equally handsome, but much rarer bird, and the fine series of -adults obtained by the Expedition proves that it is a species quite -distinct from _M. orientalis_, the form found in British New Guinea -which has a large black patch on the occiput. - -Robertson’s Grackle has the cheeks and upper part of the throat, as -well as the back, wings and breast, black glossed with green; the rest -of the head, neck and chest, as well as the lower back, rump, upper -tail-coverts and belly, are orange-yellow. In the adult there is no -trace of a black patch on the occiput, but the quite young bird has the -entire crown black and specimens which have not assumed the fully adult -plumage and still retain some black feathers on the occiput might be -mistaken for _M. orientalis_. That they have been is proved by the fact -that Count Salvadori and many others have regarded _M. robertsoni_, -Sharpe, as a synonym of _M. orientalis_, Schlegel, but they are really -quite distinct. - -A few very high trees left standing near the huts at Wakatimi were -the resort, morning and evening, of these Starlings and various other -species of birds. For a long time during the hot mid-day hours Mr. -Goodfellow had observed that some bird, possessing a remarkably sweet -Thrush-like song, rested there, and, after many days of watching, he -found it to be Robertson’s Golden Grackle. He says that the notes of -this Starling would not pass unnoticed, even in countries where the -birds, as a rule, have sweeter voices than those inhabiting New Guinea. - - -FAMILY _DICRURIDÆ_—DRONGOS. - -The Drongos, small Crow-like Flycatchers with pugnacious habits, are -represented in the collection by two species—_Chibia carbonaria_ and -_Chælorhynchus papuensis_. - - -FAMILY _ORIOLIDÆ_—ORIOLES. - -The Orioles are represented by one species only, _Mimeta striata_, -belonging to the dull coloured brown-backed group with heavily -streaked under-parts and the sexes alike in plumage. It was commonest -in the mangrove swamps near the coast. - - -FAMILY _PLOCEIDÆ_—WEAVER-BIRDS. - -This widely distributed group of Weaver-Finches is not very numerous in -New Guinea and the only representative met with was a small species, -_Munia tristissima_, which was common in the clearing round the camp at -Wakatimi. - - -FAMILY _MOTACILLIDÆ_—WAGTAILS. - -The Grey Wagtail (_Motacilla melanope_) and the Blue-headed Wagtail -(_M. flava_) were both met with on the Mimika and other rivers. It -is interesting to note that both species are included in the British -List, the former being a regular breeding-species in our islands. The -birds wintering in far-off New Guinea, no doubt formed part of the -eastern colonies of these species which nest in Siberia and visit the -Indo-Malayan Islands in winter. - - -FAMILY _MELIPHAGIDÆ_—HONEY-EATERS. - -The Honey-eaters are very numerously represented in South-western New -Guinea and no fewer than twenty-seven species were met with by our -Expedition. - -The family is divided in two sections, the first including the -comparatively brightly coloured genus _Myzomela_ the members of which -resemble true Sun-birds (_Nectariniidæ_) in general appearance. -Seven species were met with; the most brilliantly coloured being _M. -cruentata_ which has the plumage of the body scarlet and the wings -washed with the same colour, another species _M. obscura_ has the -entire plumage smoky-grey, and four forms are intermediate between -these two types of colouration, being partly scarlet and partly grey. -The seventh is a very small and very rare species (_Œdistoma -pygmæum_), which was described by Count Salvadori from the Arfak -Peninsula. - -The other section contains a number of larger species, mostly with -dull greenish or brownish plumage and nearly all with a yellow tuft or -patch on the ear-coverts. Though rather uninteresting-looking birds -several are really of great scientific value, being new to the National -Collection, and one, _Ptilotis mimikæ_ proved to be new to Science. -The largest form is the curious Friar-bird (_Philemon novæ-guineæ_) -with the bare sides of the face and neck black and a swollen knob on -the base of the bill. It was generally met with in pairs and inhabited -the tops of the tallest forest trees whence its peculiar cry might -constantly be heard. - - -FAMILY _NECTARINIIDÆ_—SUN-BIRDS. - -The Sun-birds are represented by two species _Cinnyris aspasiæ_ and _C. -frenata_. The male of the former is deep black with a dark metallic -green cap, shoulders and lower back, and purple throat, while the -female is olive above, and dull yellow below, with a grey head and -throat. The latter species is dull yellow above, brilliant yellow -below, with a purple throat in the male, which is absent in the female. - -Mr. Goodfellow tells us that among the riot of parasitic plants which -covered the trees a few Sun-birds and Honey-eaters might always be -seen. The nests of the former, suspended from fallen and partially -submerged dead trees, were continuously swinging from side to side, -the strong current in the river keeping the trees in perpetual motion. -These nests might easily be mistaken for a handful of drift left there -by the river. - - -FAMILY _DICÆIDÆ_—FLOWER-PECKERS. - -_Dicæum diversum_ and _Melanocharis chloroptera_, a dull-looking -greenish-grey species described by Count Salvadori, were the only -Flower-peckers met with. They are small Tit-like birds allied to the -Sun-birds, but with a short bill serrated along the edges of the -mandibles. Both species were very common everywhere except on the coast -and were extremely tame. - - -FAMILY _ZOSTEROPIDÆ_—WHITE-EYES. - -_Zosterops chrysolæma_, a beautiful little species with the upper-parts -golden-olive, the throat and under tail-coverts yellow, and the breast -and belly pure white, was the only species met with of this most -numerous and widely distributed group. The popular name White-eye is -derived from the ring of tiny white plumes which encircles the eye in -all. They resemble Titmice both in their mode of life and notes. The -only pair observed were met with on the Iwaka River, and the species is -probably more numerous in the higher parts of the mountains. - - -FAMILY _LANIIDÆ_—SHRIKES. - -The large Shrike-like birds with powerful hooked bills known as the -Piping-Crows are represented by two members of the genus _Cracticus_; -_C. cassicus_, a black and white species, and _C. quoyi_, with -uniform black plumage. Both are much like their well-known Australian -representatives, but smaller. _C. cassicus_ was much the commoner bird -and was generally observed feeding on berries and fruits in high trees, -its actions being very Crow-like. - -The Pachycephaline group of birds allied to the true Shrikes is -represented by half-a-dozen species, two of which proved to be -undescribed: a grey form with a white throat _Pachycephala approximans_ -and a black species with a white breast and belly, _P. dorsalis_. -Brilliantly coloured orange-yellow and black, or orangeyellow and -grey species were represented by _Pachycephala aurea_ and _Pachychare -flavogrisea_. - - -FAMILY _PRIONOPIDÆ_—WOOD-SHRIKES. - -This group is represented by _Rhectes cristatus_ and _R. ferrugineus_ -in which both sexes are rufous and by _R. nigripectus_ with the -sexes different, the male being partly black and partly chestnut. -_Pinarolestes megarhynchus_, an allied species with the sexes alike, -is brown above and dull rufous below. Some of these Wood-Shrikes lay -peculiar looking eggs of a long oval shape and large for the size of -the bird. The ground-colour is purplish- or pinkish-grey with scattered -spots or small blotches of dark purplish-brown or maroon-brown, often -blurred at the edges and running into the ground-colour. These eggs -have on several occasions been palmed off on travellers in British New -Guinea as eggs of the Red Bird-of-Paradise, which they do not in any -way resemble. - - -FAMILY _ARTAMIDÆ_—SWALLOW-SHRIKES. - -These birds which closely resemble Swallows in their mode of life are -represented by one species only, _Artamus leucopygialis_, a grey bird -with the breast and rump white. It was common along the coast, and was -generally seen either perched on some dead tree or skimming swiftly -over the sands. - - -FAMILY _TIMELIIDÆ_—BABBLERS. - -We now come to the Timeline group of birds: of these we may mention two -striking-looking species of _Eupetes_. One, _E. nigricrissus_, with the -plumage slate-blue and the throat white, edged with black, was met with -on the Mimika; the other, _E. pulcher_, was only seen further east on -the Wataikwa River. It is very similar to the above, but has the crown -and back rich-chestnut, instead of slate. Both species are ground-birds -and usually found in pairs; they are rather difficult to procure as, -when disturbed, they instantly conceal themselves among the trunks of -the trees and vegetation. The Scimitar Babblers were represented by the -reddish-brown _Pomatorhinus isidori_. - - -FAMILY _CAMPOPHAGIDÆ_—CUCKOO-SHRIKES. - -The Cuckoo-Shrikes are well represented in the collection, no fewer -than eleven species having been obtained. They belong to four genera -and vary much in colour: the large _Graucalus cæruleogrisea_ has -the entire plumage bluish-grey, except the axillaries and under -wing-coverts which are pale cinnamon and the male has a black patch in -front of eye. Another genus _Edoliisoma_ is represented by _E. melas_ -of which the male is entirely black, and the female chestnut and brown. -A very attractive and brilliantly coloured species is _Campochæra -sloetii_, forming a marked contrast to other members of the group. The -greater part of its plumage is orange-yellow, the forehead white, the -middle of the crown yellow and the wings black and white; the male has -the cheeks, throat and chest black glossed with dull green, while in -the female these parts are dull grey. Several examples of this very -rare Cuckoo-Shrike were procured on the Mimika River. It is no doubt -most nearly allied to the Minivets (_Pericrocotus_) which inhabit the -Indo-Chinese countries and islands, the predominant colour of most of -the males being scarlet and of the females yellow. - - -FAMILY _MUSCICAPIDÆ_—FLYCATCHERS. - -Flycatchers are very numerously represented and among them two -new forms were discovered, a Fantailed Flycatcher (_Rhipidura -streptophora_) and a broad-billed species _Myiagra mimikæ_. Among the -more notable forms we may mention _Monarcha aruensis_, a brilliant -yellow and black species; _Todopsis bonapartei_, the male being vivid -ultramarine-blue, purple and black, while the female differs in -having the back and sides dark chestnut and the breast mostly white; -lastly _Peltops blainvillei_, a black bird with the rump, vent and -tail-coverts scarlet, a large white patch on each side of the head and -another on the middle of the mantle; the sexes are alike in plumage. - -The Fan-tailed Flycatchers were commonly seen on the Mimika River -in May and June when numbers were busy hawking the canary-coloured -May-flies which swarmed at that time. - -The Black-and-white Flycatcher (_Malurus alboscapulatus_) frequented -the tall grasses near the camp on the Wataikwa River. It was a -delightful little bird, very tame and might constantly be seen crossing -the open spaces with an undulating flight. - - -FAMILY _HIRUNDINIDÆ_—SWALLOWS. - -Two species of Swallows were met with _Hirundo javanica_ and _H. -gutturalis_. - - -FAMILY _PITTIDÆ_—PITTAS OR ANT-THRUSHES. - -Of the Ant-Thrushes or Pittas two species were met with, both -brilliantly plumaged birds. _Pitta mackloti_ which was far the commoner -of the two, has a dark crown, reddish-chestnut nape, and greenish-blue -upper-parts; the throat is black, the chest shining greyish-blue and -the breast and belly scarlet, divided from the chest by a wide black -band. - -The other species, _Pitta novæ-guineæ_, which was much less frequently -met with, has the head and neck black and the rest of the plumage -dark green washed with bluish on the breast, which is black down the -middle. The shoulders are shining silvery-blue and the vent and under -tail-coverts scarlet. - -These long-legged Thrush-like birds are entirely terrestrial in their -habits and frequent the depths of the forests. They can hop with great -agility and escape on the slightest alarm, but are easily taken in -snares. - - -FAMILY _CUCULIDÆ_—CUCKOOS. - -Among the Cuckoos, the largest is a species of “Crow-pheasant” or -“Lark-heeled” Cuckoo, _Centropus menebiki_, a bird of black plumage -glossed with dark green, with a large whitish-horn bill and heavy -slate-coloured legs and toes. - -An allied, but smaller and rarer species, _C. bernsteini_, was met -with near the mouth of the Mimika. It is very similar in plumage to -the above, but is easily distinguished by its smaller size, black -bill and long, nearly straight hind-claw. Both are almost entirely -ground-birds of skulking habits. Several other species of Cuckoo were -met with, and among these _Cuculus micropterus_, the eastern form of -the Common Cuckoo, closely resembling our familiar bird. The rarest -species obtained was _Microdynamis parva_, a remarkable little Cuckoo -about the size of a Thrush, first described by Count Salvadori in 1875. -The origin of the type specimen is uncertain, but it is believed to -have been obtained by Beccari in the Moluccas. Subsequently, Dr. H. O. -Forbes procured female examples in the Astrolabe Mountains. Mr. Claude -Grant obtained an adult male and female which form a valuable addition -to the National Collection. The general plumage is brown, but in the -male the top of the head and the malar stripe are black, glossed with -steel-blue and the cheeks and throat are cinnamon. In both sexes the -bill is short, thick and curved. The male has the eye bright red, while -in the female it is hazel. - - -FAMILY _CYPSELIDÆ_—SWIFTS. - -The Swifts, though of especial interest, are not very numerously -represented in the collection. The commonest species was that known as -the Esculent Swiftlet (_Collocalia fuciphaga_) which produces the best -kind of edible nest. - -A very interesting discovery was the existence in New Guinea of the -large fork-tailed species _Collocalia whiteheadi_ originally described -by myself from the highlands of Luzon, Philippine Islands. - -A remarkable Spine-tailed Swift (_Chætura novæ-guineæ_) is new to the -National Collection. It was fairly common on the Mimika River and -originally described by Count Salvadori from specimens procured by -D’Albertis on the Fly River. - -A pair of the magnificent Moustached Swift (_Macropteryx mystacea_) -with a wing expanse of more than two feet were also procured. The -plumage of this bird is mostly grey, but the crown, wings, and long -deeply-forked tail are black glossed with purplish-blue. The eye-brows -and moustache-stripes as well as the scapulars are white, the two -former being composed of lengthened, narrow, pointed plumes. The male -has a small chestnut spot behind the ear-coverts which is absent in the -female. The nesting-habits of this species are very curious, it makes a -very small exposed half-saucer-shaped nest of bark and feathers gummed -by saliva to a branch or stump barely large enough to contain the -single white egg, and ridiculously small in comparison with the size of -the bird. When incubating, the greater part of the bird’s body must -rest on the branch to which the nest is attached. - - -FAMILIES _CAPRIMULGIDÆ_ AND _PODARGIDÆ_—NIGHTJARS AND FROG-MOUTHS. - -The common Nightjar of the country found along the shingly banks of -the rivers was _Caprimulgus macrurus_, a widely distributed species. -After the ground had been cleared for the base camp at Wakatimi it was -visited every evening by a number of Nightjars, which no doubt found -such a large open space an admirable hunting-ground and the members -of the Expedition derived great pleasure from watching their graceful -evolutions. Another very rare Nightjar was _Lyncornis papuensis_, -not previously included in the National Collection. Frog-mouths were -represented by the larger species _Podargus papuensis_ and the smaller, -_P. ocellatus_. At some of the stopping places on the river night was -made hideous by their mournful cries repeated to distraction on every -side, and ending up with a sharp snap. - -A single example of the rare Wallace’s Owlet-Nightjar (_Ægotheles -wallacei_) was collected by Mr. G. C. Shortridge on the Wataikwa River. -It has a peculiar uniform blackish upper plumage, without any trace of -a distinct nuchal collar. No doubt, like its Australian ally, it roosts -in holes in trees during the daytime and captures its prey on the wing -at night, like the true Nightjars, though the flight is said to be less -tortuous. - - -FAMILY _BUCEROTIDÆ_—HORNBILLS. - -The only representative of the _Bucerotidæ_ is the Wreathed Hornbill -(_Rhytidoceros plicatus_) a large bird with a casque formed of -overlapping plates on the base of the upper mandible. The male is -black with the head and neck chestnut and the tail white, while the -female differs in having the head and neck black. It was plentiful -everywhere and its flesh was reported to be good eating. It frequented -the fruit-bearing trees in company with various species of Pigeons and -Mr. Claude Grant on one or two occasions observed pairs at what he -took to be their nesting-holes high up in the bare trunks of very tall -trees. Their heavy noisy flight and raucous call, continually repeated, -renders these birds difficult to overlook. - - -FAMILY _MEROPIDÆ_—BEE-EATERS. - -A species of Bee-eater, _Merops ornata_, was common about the base -camp. It ranges to Australia, the Moluccas and westwards to the Lesser -Sunda group. Mr. Goodfellow says it swarmed in some places after the -month of April; though previous to that date none had been met with. - - -FAMILY _CORACIIDÆ_—ROLLERS. - -Two species of Rollers inhabit the Mimika district _Eurystomus -crassirostris_, a greenish-blue species with brilliant ultramarine -throat, quills and tail-feathers and vermilion bill and feet; and -a smaller species _E. australis_ with brownish-green upper-parts, -verditer-blue breast and bluish-green bases to the tail-feathers. - -Both Bee-eaters and Rollers were common in flocks along the banks of -the Mimika during April and May when preying on the canary-coloured -May-fly, which swarmed on the waters at that season. - - -FAMILY _ALCEDINIDÆ_—KINGFISHERS. - -Kingfishers were well represented in the Mimika district and Mr. -Goodfellow says that the Sacred Kingfisher (_Halcyon sanctus_) was -undoubtedly the most conspicuous bird about the base camp, where -its harsh cry could be heard all through the hot hours of the day. -The huts and storehouses were infested by myriads of black crickets, -which take the place of the cockroaches found in other countries -and commit fearful havoc among stores and personal possessions. The -constant packing up of goods to send up river drove thousands of these -insects to seek shelter in other parts of the camp, and, at such times, -Kingfishers became very tame and darted in and out among the buildings, -taking advantage of the feast thus afforded. Mr. Claude Grant shot a -single specimen of the lovely Kingfisher _H. nigrocyanea_, the only one -obtained. It has the crown, wings, upper tail-coverts, tail, and breast -dark ultramarine blue, the rump cobalt-blue, the throat and a band -across the breast pure white, and the remainder of the plumage black. -Another species met with at the base camp was _H. macleayi_ with purple -head, wings and tail, verditer-blue back, white lores, collar and -under-parts, and cinnamon flanks. Only one example of this fine bird -was procured. Others were the dark purplish-blue and chestnut _Alcyone -lessoni_, about the size of our Common Kingfisher and the much smaller -_A. pusilla_ similarly coloured above, but with the under-parts pure -white. - -_Ceyx solitaria_, a closely allied species, with purple spangled -upper-parts and cinnamon-yellow under-parts was also found on the -Mimika and Mr. Goodfellow was surprised to find this diminutive -species which he had believed to be exclusively a fish-eater, greedily -devouring a canary-coloured May-fly which swarmed on the waters of the -Mimika during April and May. - -On the river a few specimens of the large “Jackass” Kingfisher -(_Dacelo intermedia_) were obtained, but the species was by no -means common. The most conspicuous bird was Gaudichaud’s Kingfisher -(_Sauromarptis gaudichaudi_) and its loud grating call might be heard -in all directions. The adult is a very handsome bird, the black -of the upper-parts being relieved by the electric-blue tips to the -wing-coverts and feathers of the lower back and rump, the wings and -tail are washed with dull purplish-blue, the throat is white and -extends in a buff collar round the neck, the under wing-coverts are -buff and the breast and rest of the under-parts deep chestnut. The -natives brought numbers of the half-fledged young of this species -to the base camp during May and June and many were purchased by -the Javanese soldiers and convicts; but as they fed them on boiled -rice only, their lives were brief. The great Shoe-billed Kingfisher -(_Clytoceyx_) was not met with by the members of our Expedition, but -Dr. Van Oort has described a new form which he calls _Clytoceyx rex -imperator_, from a specimen procured by Dr. Lorentz on the Noord River. -Another large species, _Melidora macrorhinus_, with a curious brown -spotted plumage above was not uncommon; it usually frequented the lower -branches and undergrowth within a few feet of the ground and when -disturbed merely mounted to a more conspicuous perch. - -The lovely Racquet-tailed species of the genus _Tanysiptera_ were not -procured, though Dr. H. A. Lorentz met with a specimen on the Noord -River. - - -FAMILIES _PSITTACIDÆ_ AND _LORIIDÆ_—PARROTS AND LORIES. - -Another very numerously represented group is the Parrots of which -twenty-two different species were procured, varying in size from the -Great Black Cockatoo (_Microglossus aterrimus_), which is about the -size of a Raven and has an enormously powerful bill, to the tiny -Pygmy Parrot (_Nasiterna keiensis_) which is about the size of a -Golden-crested Wren. This latter species has recently been described -by Mr. Walter Rothschild as new, under the name of _Nasiterna -viridipectus_ from specimens obtained by A. S. Meek in the Oetakwa -district, but they do not seem to differ from the birds found on the -Kei and Aru Islands and also in the neighbourhood of the Fly River. The -plumage is green, paler below, the crown dull orange, the shoulders -spotted with black, the middle-tail feathers blue and the outer pairs -black with yellow and green tips. A few solitary Black Cockatoos might -be seen on the lower River, sitting on the tops of the highest trees; -their loud whistle always attracted attention and even on their high -perches their red faces and erect crests were conspicuous. The Common -Cockatoo of the country was _Cacatua triton_, a moderate sized species -with a yellow crest which was met with in small numbers throughout the -mangrove belt, but it was a shy bird and when approached always flew -away, screaming. Lories of different kinds were numerous and included -some of the most brilliantly coloured species, _Lorius erythrothorax_ -combining in its plumage black, crimson, scarlet, purple, blue, green -and bright yellow. The adult has the under wing-coverts uniform scarlet -in marked contrast to the bright yellow inner webs of the primary -quills, but in younger birds the smaller under wing-coverts are mottled -with scarlet, blue, black, green and yellow and the long outer series -are yellow with greyish-black ends, making a dark band at the base of -the quills. In this stage the bird has been described by Dr. A. B. -Meyer as _Lorius salvadorii_. - -A less brilliantly coloured and more common species in the -neighbourhood of the Mimika was _Eos fuscatus_ which has the general -colour above sooty-black shaded on the middle of the crown, neck, etc. -with reddish-orange and the under-parts widely banded with scarlet. -A lovely species with a longer tail was _Trichoglossus cyanogrammus_ -which is green with a blue face and greenish-yellow collar, and has the -scarlet chest-feathers edged with purple, while the belly and flanks -are yellow barred with green. - -The tiniest Lory is _Loriculus meeki_, a minute species, about the -size of a Blue Titmouse, with brilliant green plumage, orange-yellow -forehead, and the rump and upper tail-coverts as well as a spot on the -throat scarlet. The female differs in having the forehead and cheeks -verditer-green. - -The genus _Geoffroyus_ is represented by two species: the commoner _G. -aruensis_ with the plumage green, the male having the crown and nape -violet-blue and the rest of the head and neck scarlet, while in the -female these parts are brown; also the much rarer _G. simplex_ which is -entirely green with a dull lilac blue ring round the neck. This latter -is a very rare bird in collections, but was seen on the higher parts -of the mountains above the Iwaka River in flocks of upwards of twenty -individuals. - -Other small and brilliantly coloured species of Lories are -_Charmosynopsis pulchella_ and _C. multistriata_, the latter a -remarkable new species with green plumage, and the whole of the -under-parts streaked with bright yellow. It was recently described -by Mr. Rothschild from a male, shot by A. S. Meek on the Oetakwa -River; a second specimen, a female, was obtained on the Mimika by -Mr. Goodfellow. We must also mention _Chalcopsittacus scintillans_, -_Hypocharmosyna placens_, _Charmosyna josephinæ_, the rare -_Glossopsittacus goldiei_, and three species of _Cyclopsittacus_, viz. -_C. melanogenys_, which is green with a white throat, black cheeks, -deep orange breast, and ultramarine wings; _C. diophthalmus_; and _C. -godmani_, a new and handsome species with the general colour green, -the head and nape orange-scarlet, the upper mantle orange-yellow, the -cheeks covered with long, pointed, yellowish feathers, and the chest -verditer-blue. - -Behind the camp at Wakatimi lay a swamp which Mr. Goodfellow tells -us was every night the roosting-place of thousands of Lories, chiefly -_Eos fuscatus_, and there were also smaller flocks of _Trichoglossus -cyanogrammus_. Long before sunset and until it was quite dusk flocks -of many hundred birds coming from all directions flew over with a -deafening noise. Often some weak branch would give way under their -weight, causing a panic just as the noise was beginning to subside, -and clouds of these birds would again circle around, seeking a fresh -roosting place and keeping up a continual din. - -One of the most peculiar Parrots, and bearing a marked external -resemblance to the Kea of New Zealand, is the Vulturine Parrot -(_Dasyptilus pesqueti_) which has the black skin of the face almost -entirely bare, the plumage black and scarlet on the wings, rump and -belly, the breast feathers having pale sandy margins. Its hoarse, -grating call, quite unlike that of any other species, could be heard -a long way off, and was continually uttered when on the wing. Mr. -Goodfellow says it usually moves about in parties of four or five -individuals, and that occasionally as many as seven may be seen -together. When not feeding they always select the tallest trees to -rest in, preferring dead ones which tower about the general level of -the jungle, and in which they remain for hours at a time in rain or -sunshine. They do not climb after the usual manner of Parrots, but jump -from branch to branch with a jerky movement, like the Lories, and with -a rapid flicking movement of the wings. They feed entirely on soft -fruits, chiefly wild figs. Apparently the species feeds on the plains -and retires to the mountains to roost, for every evening flocks or -pairs were observed passing high over the camp at Parimau, and making -their way towards the Saddle-peak range. - -A handsome new Parroquet of the genus _Aprosmictus_ was discovered, and -has been named _A. wilhelminæ_, in honour of the Queen of Holland. The -male has the head, neck and under-parts scarlet, the wings green, with -a pale yellow green band across the coverts, the mantle and back mostly -deep purplish-blue, and the tail black tinged with purplish. - -Finally, the Eclectus Parrot (_Eclectus pectoralis_) was common. The -remarkable difference in the colouration of the sexes might lead some -to believe that they belonged to quite different species, the male -being mostly green with scarlet sides and under wing-coverts, while -the female is maroon with the head, neck and breast scarlet, and the -mantle, belly, sides and under wing-coverts blue. - - -FAMILIES _BUBONIDÆ_ AND _STRIGIDÆ_—WOOD-OWLS AND BARN-OWLS. - -The only Owl of which examples were obtained was a small species of -Brown Hawk-Owl (_Ninox theomaca_), with the upper-parts, back, wings -and tail uniform dark brown, and the under-parts deep chestnut. It was -a strictly nocturnal species, and confined to the jungle along the -base of the mountains, where its weird double call “yon-yon” might -constantly be heard after dark. - -A form of the Barn-Owl (_Strix novæ-hollandiæ_), which occurs in the -district, was not obtained by the Expedition. - - -FAMILY _FALCONIDÆ_—EAGLES AND HAWKS. - -New Guinea possesses a very remarkable Harpy-Eagle (_Harpyopsis -novæ-guineæ_) allied to the Harpy Eagles of America and to the Great -Monkey-eating Eagle (_Pithecophaga jefferyi_) which inhabits the -forests of the Philippine Islands. The New Guinea bird is like a -large Goshawk, having a long tail and comparatively short and rounded -wings; the feet are armed with very powerful claws, but in strength -and power it is far inferior to its great Philippine ally or to the -still more powerful species inhabiting Central America. Mr. Claude -Grant says that this species was seldom met with; it has a rather -loud cry and a beautiful soaring flight, often in ascending circles. -Besides this large Eagle, two species of Goshawk _Astur etorques_ -and _A. poliocephalus_ were met with, likewise a small chestnut and -white Brahminy Kite (_Haliastur girrenera_). A small Sparrow-Hawk was -obtained near the mouth of the Mimika River, but being in immature -plumage its identification is at present uncertain. Reinwardt’s -Cuckoo-Falcon (_Baza reinwardti_) with a crested head and banded -breast, was rather a rare bird and appears to feed largely on insects. - - -FAMILY _PHALACROCORACIDÆ_—CORMORANTS. - -The small black-backed white-breasted species _Phalacrocorax -melanoleucus_ is the only representative of this group. Several -specimens were shot on the upper waters of the Mimika, at Parimau and -at the base camp at Wakatimi. - - -FAMILY _ANATIDÆ_—DUCKS. - -The handsome white-necked Sheld-duck (_Tadorna radjah_) differs from -the Australian form in being much darker on the back, the plumage being -practically black with indistinct mottlings of dull rufous on the -mantle. This dark form, found also in the Moluccas, was common about -the mouth of the Mimika River. The more rufous-backed Australian form -has been named _T. rufitergum_ by Dr. Hartert. - -The only other species of duck brought home was an immature male -Garganey (_Querquedula discors_) shot on the Kapare River. - - -FAMILY _IBIDIDÆ_—IBISES. - -The Eastern form of the Sacred Ibis (_Ibis stictipennis_) was met with -at the mouth of the Mimika. It is easily distinguished from its western -ally by having the innermost secondaries mottled with black and white. - - -FAMILY _ARDEIDÆ_—HERONS. - -Several different species of Herons were procured including the Night -Heron (_Nycticorax caledonica_); the Yellow-necked Heron (_Dupetor -flavicollis_); the White Heron (_Herodias timoriensis_); and a -Tiger-Bittern (_Tigrisoma heliosylus_). The last named is a very fine -bird with the general colour above black boldly barred with rufous and -buff; the under-parts buff barred on the neck and chest with black. The -feathers on the neck and chest are very long and broad and no doubt -form a most imposing ruff when the bird is displaying. - - -FAMILIES _ŒDICNEMIDÆ_, _CHARADRIIDÆ_ AND _LARIDÆ_—STONE-PLOVERS, -PLOVERS, AND GULLS. - -A number of small wading birds were also procured near the mouth of -the river, and two species of Terns, but as all belong to well-known, -widely distributed species, there is no special interest attaching to -them. I may however mention that the great Australian Curlew (_Numenius -cyanopus_), and the large Australian Thicknee (_Esacus magnirostris_) -were among the species found at the mouth of the Mimika. - - -FAMILY _RALLIDÆ_—RAILS. - -The only Rail met with was an example of _Rallina tricolor_ which has -the head, neck and chest bright chestnut, and the rest of the plumage -dark brown with white bars on the wing-feathers. It is also met with in -some of the Papuan Islands and in North-eastern Australia. - - -FAMILY _COLUMBIDÆ_—PIGEONS. - -Pigeons were very numerously represented, no fewer than twenty-six -different species being obtained by the Expedition. Some of the smaller -forms are among the most beautifully coloured birds met with in New -Guinea. The Crowned Pigeons (Goura) are represented by _G. sclateri_ -which was fairly common near the base camp and met with in all places -visited by the Expedition. In spite of the numbers shot for food during -the whole time the Expedition remained in the country, the supply did -not appear to diminish. This fine Pigeon and a few others afforded the -only fresh meat to be had. On the canoe-journeys up the river Sclater’s -Goura was frequently met with in the early mornings in parties of -two or three searching for aquatic life along the muddy banks. When -disturbed they did not immediately take flight, but with raised wings -pirouetted around for a few seconds and then flew to the nearest high -tree. Mr. Goodfellow found the remains of small crabs in their stomachs -and a large percentage of the birds shot were infested by a small red -parasite, the same, or similar to that which is known in other parts of -New Guinea as “Scrub-itch.” - -Another very handsome bird is the Ground-Pigeon (_Otidiphaps nobilis_) -with the head bluish-black, the nape dull metallic green, the mantle -and wings purplish-chestnut and the rest of the plumage deep purple, -all being more or less metallic. Its long legs and the upward carriage -of its long tail give it much the appearance of a Bantam hen. It was -fairly common, but being extremely shy was rarely met with. - -Among the larger Fruit-Pigeons we must specially mention _Carpophaga -pinon_ which has the general appearance of a large Wood-Pigeon. It was -met with in large flocks and proved an excellent bird for the table. -Another very striking species, of rather lesser proportions and very -much rarer, was Muller’s Fruit-Pigeon (_Carpophaga mulleri_) easily -distinguished by its white throat, the bold black ring round its neck -and its shining chestnut mantle. Among the handsomest was _Carpophaga -rufiventris_, a bird with the breast cinnamon and the wings and back -metallic green, copper and purple. Lastly a very striking form was the -large creamy-white Pigeon (_Myristicivora spilorrhoa_) with the flight -feathers, tips of the tail-feathers and under tail-coverts blackish. It -appears to be entirely confined to the mangrove swamps and was observed -breeding in May along the creeks near the mouth of the river, no less -than seven nests being found in one tree. - -As already stated among the smaller Fruit-Pigeons many are very -beautifully marked and brilliantly coloured, but always with the most -harmonious shades. It would seem as though Nature had almost exhausted -her scheme of colouration in dealing with some of these birds; for -we find two totally different species, _Ptilopus zonurus_ and _P. -gestroi_, occurring together in which the markings and colours of the -plumage are almost identical; on the under-surface the two species -are practically alike, both have the chin and throat pale lavender, -extending in a ring round the neck, the throat orange, the chest -washed with vinous and the remainder of the under-parts green; on the -upper-surface, the top of the head and nape are greenish-yellow and -the rest of the upper-parts green, but in _P. zonurus_ the median -wing-coverts are green with a subterminal spot of bright pink, while -in _P. gestroi_ the least wing-coverts are crimson and the next -series grey fringed with greenish-yellow. Another parallel case of -close resemblance is found between the small _Ptilopus nanus_ and the -larger _P. coronulatus_. Though really extremely distinct species -the under-parts are very similarly coloured both being green with a -bright magenta patch on the middle of the breast and the belly and -under-tail coverts mostly bright yellow: viewed from the upper surface -the two birds are, however, very different, _P. coronulatus_ having the -crown lilac-pink, edged posteriorly with bands of crimson and yellow, -while _P. nanus_ has the head green, but the ends of the scapulars and -secondaries are deep shining bluish-green, tipped with bright yellow. -Even more brilliantly coloured species than the above are _Ptilopus -pulchellus_, _P. superbus_, _P. aurantiifrons_ and _P. bellus_. - -Near the camp at Wataikwa large flocks of D’Albertis’ Pigeon -(_Gymnophaps albertisii_) were observed coming in every evening from -their feeding-grounds on the high mountains to roost on the plains -below. Mr. Goodfellow tells us that their flight is extremely rapid and -that their strange aerial evolutions remind one of the common “Tumbler” -Pigeons. - -The Long-tailed Cuckoo-Doves were represented by the very large -_Reinwardtœnas griseotincta_ and the smaller chestnut-plumaged -_Macropygia griseinucha_; the former being a large and abnormally -long-tailed bird with the head, mantle and under-parts grey, and the -back and tail chestnut. - - -FAMILY _MEGAPODIIDÆ_—MEGAPODES OR MOUND-BUILDERS. - -The Game-birds are represented by three species of Mound-builders, -two being Brush-Turkeys and the other a true Megapode (_Megapodius -freycineti_). The fact that two closely allied species of Brush-Turkeys -are found in the same district is of considerable interest. The common -species of the country _Talegallus fuscirostris_ has a very wide -coastal range, being also found in S.E. New Guinea and extending along -the north coast to the middle of Geelvinck Bay. The other species -_T. cuvieri_ is of western origin being hitherto known from the -Arfak Peninsula, and the islands of Salwatti, Mysol and Gilolo. Its -occurrence on the Iwaka river was quite unexpected and no doubt the -range of the two species overlap in the neighbourhood of the Mimika in -the south and in the vicinity of Rubi on Geelvinck Bay in the north. In -both the plumage is black, but _T. cuvieri_ is a larger bird than _T. -fuscirostris_ and is easily recognised by having the tibia feathered -right down to the tibio-tarsal joint and the bill orange-red instead of -sooty-brown. - -All these species are of the greatest interest on account of their -remarkable nesting habits, and their nesting mounds of decaying -vegetable matter were conspicuous objects in the jungle. The eggs, -which are very large for the size of the birds, are buried among the -débris which the birds rake together into a large heap, the young being -hatched, as in an incubator, by the warmth of the decaying leaves. The -parent bird, after burying its eggs, takes no further notice of them, -but the young on leaving the shell are fully feathered and able to fly -and take care of themselves. - - -FAMILY _CASUARIIDÆ_—CASSOWARIES. - -The discovery made by Mr. Walter Goodfellow that two distinct forms -of two-wattled Cassowary occur side by side on the Mimika River has -greatly modified Mr. Rothschild’s views on the classification of the -genus, and he now finds that the ten forms possessing two wattles, when -placed side by side fall naturally into two groups, one consisting -of the Common Cassowary (_Casuarius casuarius_), divisible into six -sub-species or races, and the other of _C. bicarunculatus_ which may -be divided into four sub-species. The large forms found on the Mimika -are _C. sclateri_, representing the first group, and _C. intensus_ -representing the second. Both these birds have a large elevated casque -or helmet and differ chiefly in the pattern and colouration of the bare -neck-wattles. - -These Cassowaries were seen at various times searching for food -in the pools and shallow waters of the river-beds, and during the -cross-country marches would sometimes dash across the trail, affording -but a momentary glimpse. - -The natives have distinct names for the male and female birds and -judging from the quantities of feathers in their possession must often -succeed in capturing them. Eggs and newly-hatched chicks were brought -in during January and February. On one occasion at Parimau some eggs -must have been kept by the natives for a few days before they hatched, -for young were brought to the camp which had evidently just emerged -from the shells. - -A very interesting discovery was made by Mr. Claude Grant on the -foot-hills, where he met with a new dwarf species of Cassowary, _C. -claudii_. It is allied to _C. papuanus_, but has the hind part of the -crown and occiput black instead of white. Like that bird it has a low -triangular casque and belongs to a different section of the genus from -the two larger species already mentioned. - -_C. claudii_ has very brilliantly coloured soft parts. The occiput and -sides of the head are entirely black; between the gape and the ear is -a patch of deep plum-colour; the upper half of the back of the neck is -electric-blue, shading into violet-blue on the sides and fore-part of -the neck including the throat; the lower half of the back of the neck -is orange-chrome, this colour extending down the upper margin of a bare -magenta-coloured area situated on each side of the feathered part of -the neck. This fine bird is now mounted and on exhibition in the Bird -Gallery at the Natural History Museum. - - - LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL PAPERS RELATING TO THE BIRDS OF NEW - GUINEA, INCLUDING THE KEI AND ARU ISLANDS. - - 1875-88. _Gould._ Birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands. - (Completed by R. B. Sharpe) (1875-88). - 1880-82 _Salvadori._ Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molluche. Vols. I-III. - & 1889-91. (1880-82). Aggiunte, pts. I.-III. (1889-91). - 1883. _Ramsay._ Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. VIII. pp. 15-29 (1883). - 1884. _Sharpe._ Journ. Linn. Soc. Zool. XVII. pp. 405-408 (1884). - _Meyer._ Zeit. Ges. Orn 1. pp. 269-296, pls. XIV.-XVIII. (1884). - 1885. _Finsch and Meyer._ Zeit. ges. Orn. II. pp. 369-391, pls. XV.-XXII. - (1885). - _Guillemard._ P.Z.S. 1885, pp. 615-665, pl. XXXIX. - 1886. _Meyer._ Monat. Schutze Vogelw. 1886, pp. 85-88, pl. - _Meyer._ P.Z.S. 1886, pp. 297-298. - _Finsch and Meyer._ Zeit. ges. Orn. III. pp. 1-29, pls. I.-VI. (1886). - _Meyer._ Zeit. ges. Orn. III. pp. 30-38 (1886). - _Salvadori._ Ibis 1886, pp. 151-155. - 1887. _Ramsay._ Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (2) II. pp. 239-240 (1887). - _Bartlett._ P.Z.S. 1887, p. 392. - _Oustalet._ Le Nat. I. pp. 180-182 (1887). - 1888. _Meyer._ Reisen in Kaiser Wilhelms-Land und Englisch New-Guinea - in dem Jahren 1884 u. 1885 an Bord des Deutschen Damfers - “Samoa.” Leipsig, 1888. - _Cabanis._ J.f.O. 1888, p. 119. - 1889. _Cabanis._ J.f.O. 1889, p. 62, pls. 1 & 2. - _Meyer._ J.f.O. 1889, pp. 321-326. - _De Vis._ Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland VI. pp. 245-248 (1889). - 1890. _De Vis._ British New Guinea. Report of the Administration for the - period 4th Sept. 1888 to 30th June, 1889. - App. G. Report on Birds from British New Guinea, pp. 105-116 - (1890). - (Reprinted, Ibis 1891, pp. 25-41). - _Goodwin._ Ibis 1890, pp. 150-156. - _Meyer._ Ibis 1890, p. 412, pl. XII. - _Salvad._ Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov. (2) IX. pp. 554-592 (1890). - 1891. _Oustalet._ Le Nat. V. pp. 260-261 (1891). - _Sclater._ Ibis 1891, p. 414, pl. X. - _Meyer._ Abh. Zool. Mus. Dresden 1891, No. 4, pp. 1-17. - 1891-98. _Sharpe._ Monogr. _Paradiseidæ_ and _Ptilonorhynchidæ_ (1891-98). - 1892. _De Vis._ Ann. Queensland Mus. II. pp. 4-11 (1892). - _De Vis._ Annual Report Brit. New Guinea, 1890-91. App. CC. - pp. 93-97. pl. (1892). - _Salvad._ Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov. (2) X. pp. 797-834 (1892). - _Meyer._ J.f.O. 1892, pp. 254-266. - _Crowley._ Bull. B.O.C. 1. p. XVI. (1892). - 1893. _Meyer._ Abh. Zool. Mus. Dres. 1892-93, No. 3. pp. 1-33, pls. 1 & 2. - _Oustalet._ Nouv. Archiv. Mus. Paris, (3) IV. pp. 218-220, pl. XV.; - V. pp. 295-299, pl. VI. - _Sclater._ Ibis 1893, pp. 243-246, pl. VII. text fig. - _Finsch._ Ibis 1893, pp. 463-464. - _Meyer._ Ibis 1893, pp. 481-483, pl. XIII. - 1894. _De Vis._ Annual Report, Brit. New Guinea, 1894, pp. 99-105. - _Salvad._ Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov. (2) XIV. pp. 150-152 (1894). - _Meyer._ Bull. B.O.C. IV. pp. VI., VII., XI., XII. (1894). - 1894. _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. IV. p. XI. (1894). - _Sharpe._ Bull. B.O.C. IV. pp. XII.-XV. (1894). - _Reichenow._ Orn. Monatsb. II. p. 22 (1894). - _Meyer._ Abh. Zool. Mus. Dres. 1894-95. No. 2. pp. 1-4. pl. (1894). - _Büttikofer._ Notes Leyden Mus. XVI. pp. 161-165 (1894). - _Mead._ Amer. Natural. XXVIII. pp. 915-920. pls. XXIX.-XXXI. - (1894). - 1895. _Meyer._ Bull. B.O.C. IV. p. XVII. (1895). - _Meyer._ Abh. Zool. Mus. Dres. 1894-95, no. 5. pp. 1-11. pls. 1 & 2. - No. 10. pp. 1-2, pl. I. figs. 1-4 (1895). - _Rothschild._ Nov. Zool. II. pp. 22, 59, 480, pls. III. & V. (1895). - _Hartert._ Nov. Zool. II. p. 67 (1895). - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. IV. pp. XXI., XXVI., XLII. (1895). - _Ogilvie-Grant._ Bull. B.O.C. V. p. XV. (1895). - _Mead._ Amer. Natural. XXIX. pp. 1-9, 409-417, 627-636, 1056-1065, - pl. VII. (1895). - _Sanyal._ P.Z.S. 1895, pp. 541-542. - _Oustalet._ Bull. Mus. Paris. 1895, pp. 47-50. - _Sclater._ Ibis 1895, pp. 343, 344, pl. VIII. - 1896. _Rothschild and Hartert._ Nov. Zool. III., pp. 8, 252, 530, 534, pl. I. - (1896). - _Rothschild._ Nov. Zool. III., pp. 10-19 (1896). - _Salvadori._ Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) XVI., pp. 55-120 (1896). - _Salvadori._ Bull. B.O.C. V. p. XXII. (1896). - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. VI. pp. XV.-XVI. (1896). - _Oustalet._ Nouv. Archiv. Mus. Paris (3) VIII. pp. 263-267, pls. XIV. - & XV. (1896). - 1897. _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. VI. pp. XV., XVI., XXIV., XXV., XL., - XLV., LIV. (1897). - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. VII. pp. XXI.-XXII. (1897). - _Reichenow._ Orn. Monatsb. V. pp. 24-26, 161, 178, 179 (1897). - _Kleinschmidt._ Orn. Monatsb. V. p. 46 (1897). - _Kleinschmidt._ J.f.O. 1897, pp. 174-178, text-fig. - _Reichenow._ J.f.O. 1897, pp. 201-224, pls. V. & VI. - _Rothschild._ Nov. Zool. IV. p. 169, pl. II. fig. 2 (1897). - _Hartert._ Nov. Zool. IV. p. 396 (1897). - _De Vis._ Ibis 1897, pp. 250-252, 371-392, pl. VII. - _Madarasz._ Termes, Füzetek XX. pp. 17-54, pls. 1 & 2 (1897). - _Mead._ Amer. Natural. XXXI. pp. 204-210 (1897). - 1898. _Hartert._ Bull. B.O.C. VIII. pp. VIII. & IX. (1898). - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. VIII. p. XIV. (1898). - _Rothschild._ Das Tierreich _Paradiseidæ_, 52 pp. Berlin, 1898. - _De Vis._ Annual Report, New Guinea, App. AA. Report on birds for - 1896-97, pp. 81-90 (1898). - _Finsch._ Notes Leyden Mus. XX. pp. 129-136 (1898). - _Rothschild._ Nov. Zool. V. pp. 84-87, 418, 509, 513, pl. XVIII. (1898). - _Reichenow._ J.f.O. 1898, pp. 124-128, pl. 1. - _Caley-Webster._ Through New Guinea and the Cannibal Countries. - Appendices on birds by Messrs. Rothschild and Hartert (1898). - 1899. _Salvadori._ Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov. (2) XIX. pp. 578-582 (1899). - _Rothschild._ Nov. Zool. VI. pp. 75 & 218, pls. II. & III. (1899). - _Hartert._ Nov. Zool. VI. p. 219, pl. IV. (1899). - _Madarasz._ Termes, Füzetek. XXII. pp. 375-428, pls. XV.-XVII. - (1899). - 1900. _Finsch._ Notes Leyden Mus. XXII. pp. 49-69 & 70 (1900). - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. X. pp. C. CI. (1900). - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. XI. pp. 25, 26, 30 (1900). - _Madarasz._ Orn. Monatsb. VIII. pp. 1-4 (1900). - _Renshaw._ Nature Notes XI. pp. 164-167 (1900). - _Currie._ P.U.S. Nat. Mus. XXII. pp. 497-499, pl. XVII. (1900). - 1900. _Le Souëf._ Ibis 1900, pp. 612, 617, text-fig. 1. - 1901. _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. XII. p. 34 (1901). - _Reichenow._ Orn. Monatsb. IX. pp. 185-186 (1901). - _Madarasz._ Termes Füzetek, XXIV. p. 73 (1901). - _Hartert._ Nov. Zool. VIII. pp. 1, 93 (1901). - _Rothschild and Hartert._ Nov. Zool. VIII. pp. 53, 102, pls. II.-IV. - (1901). - 1902. _Weiske._ Ein Beitrag zur Naturgeschichte der Laubenvogel. Monat. - Schutze Vogelw. XXVII. pp. 41-45 (1902). - _Sclater._ Bull. B.O.C. XIII. p. 23 (1902). - 1903. _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. XIII. p. 32 (1903). - _Finsch._ Orn. Monatsb. XI. p. 167 (1903). - _Renshaw._ Avicult. Mag. (2) II. pp. 26-27, fig. (1903). - _Rothschild and Hartert._ Nov. Zool. X. pp. 65-89, pl. I. 196-231, - 435-480, pls. XIII. & XIV. (1903). - _Hartert._ Nov. Zool. X. pp. 232-254 (1903). - 1904. _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. XIV. pp. 38-40 (1904). - _Ogilvie-Grant._ Bull. B.O.C. XIV. p. 40 (1904). - 1905. _Ogilvie-Grant._ Ibis 1905, pp. 429-440, pl. VIII. text-figs. 22-26. - _Pycraft._ Ibis 1905, pp. 440-453. - _Sharpe._ Bull. B.O.C. XV. p. 91 (1905). - _Salvadori._ Ibis 1905, pp. 401-429, 535-542. - 1905-10. _Salvadori._ In Wytsman, Genera Avium. Psittaci, pts. 5, 11, & 12 - (1905-1910). - 1906. _Salvadori._ Ibis, 1906, pp. 124-131, 326-333; 451-465, 642-659. - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. XIX. pp. 7-8, 27 (1906). - _Foerster and Rothschild._ Two new birds of Paradise Zool. Mus. Tring. - 3 pp. Tring. 1st October, 1906. - _Van Oort._ Notes Leyden Mus. XXVIII. p. 129-130 (1906). - _Ogilvie-Grant._ Bull. B.O.C. XIX. p. 39 (1906). - _North._ Vict. Nat. XXII. pp. 147, 156-8, pl. (1906). - 1907. _Salvadori._ Ibis 1907, pp. 122-151; 311-322. - _Ingram, (Sir W.)._ Ibis 1907, pp. 225-229, pl. V. text-figs. 8 & 9. - _Simpson._ Ibis 1907, pp. 380-387, text-figs. - _Rothschild and Hartert._ Nov. Zool. XIV. pp. 433, 447 (1907). - _Rothschild._ Nov. Zool. XIV. p. 504, pls. V.-VII. (1907). - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. XXI. p. 25 (1907). - _Hartert._ Bull. B.O.C. XXI. p. 26 (1907). - _North._ Vict. Nat. XXIV. p. 136 (1907). - _Ingram_, (C.). Avicult. Mag. (2) V. p. 364, pl. (1907). - _Le Souëf._ Emu. VI. p. 119-120 (1907). - 1908. _Van Oort._ Notes Leyden Mus. XXIX. pp. 170-180, 2 pls. pp. 204-206 - 1 pl. (1908). - _Van Oort._ Notes Leyden Mus. XXX. pp. 127-128 (1908). - _Rothschild._ Nov. Zool. XV. p. 392 (1908). - _Sharpe._ Bull. B.O.C. XXI. p. 67 (1908). - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. XXIII. p. 7 (1908). - _Goodfellow._ Bull. B.O.C. XXIII. pp. 35-39 (1908). - 1909. _Beaufort._ Nova Guinea V. Zoologie Livr. 3, pp. 389-420 (1909). - _Van Oort._ Nova Guinea IX., Zoologie Livr. 1. Birds from South-western - and Southern New Guinea, pp. 51-107, pl. III. (1909). - _Van Oort._ Notes Leyden Mus. XXX. pp. 225-244 (1909). - _Horsbrugh_, (C. B.). Ibis, 1909, pp. 197-213. - _Sassi._ J.f.O. 1909, pp. 365-383. - _Nehrkorn._ Orn. Monatsb. XVII. p. 44 (1909). - _Astley._ Avicult. Mag. (2) VII. pp. 156-158 (1909). - 1910. _Van Oort._ Notes Leyden Mus. XXXII. pp. 78-82, 211-216 (1910). - _Madarasz._ Ann. Hist. Nat. Mus. Nat. Hung. Budapest VIII., pp. 172-174, - pl. II. (1910). - _Goodfellow._ Avicult. Mag. (3) 1, pp. 277-286 (1910). - 1910. _Ogilvie-Grant._ Bull. B.O.C. XXVII. p. 10 (1910). - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. XXVII. pp. 13, 35, 36, 45 (1910). - _Hartert._ Nov. Zool. XVII. p. 484, pl. X. (eggs) (1910). - 1911. _Rothschild._ Ibis 1911, pp. 350-367, pls. V. & VI. - _Rothschild and Hartert._ Nov. Zool. XVIII. pp. 159-167 (1911). - _Ogilvie-Grant._ Bull. B.O.C. XXVII. pp. 66, 68, 83, 84 (1911). - 1912. _Rothschild._ Ibis 1912, pp. 109-112, pl. II. - _Ogilvie-Grant._ Ibis 1912, pp. 112-118, pl. III. - _Hartert._ Nov. Zool. XVIII. p. 604. pls. VII. & VIII. (1912). - _Rothschild._ Bull. B.O.C. XXIX. pp. 50-52 (1912). - - - - -APPENDIX B - - -THE PYGMY QUESTION - -BY DR. A. C. HADDON, F.R.S. - -Pygmies, as their name implies, are very short men, and the first -question to decide is whether this short stature is normal or merely a -dwarfing due to unfavourable environment. Although stature cannot be -taken as a trustworthy criterion of race, since it is very variable -within certain limits among most races, there are certain peoples who -may be described as normally tall, medium, or short. The average human -stature appears to be about 1·675 m. (5 ft. 6 ins.). Those peoples who -are 1·725 (5 ft. 8 ins.) or more in height are said to be tall, those -below 1·625 m. (5 ft. 4 ins.) are short, while those who fall below -1·5 m. (4 ft. 11 ins.) are now usually termed pygmies. One has only to -turn to the investigations of the Dordogne district by Collignon and -others to see how profoundly _la misère_ can affect the stature of a -population living under adverse conditions, for example in the canton -of Saint Mathieu there are 8·8 per cent. with a stature below 1·5 m. -But when one finds within one area, as in the East Indian region, -distinct peoples of medium, short and pygmy stature, living under -conditions which appear to be very similar, one is inclined to suspect -a racial difference between them, and the suspicion becomes confirmed -if we find other characters associated with pygmy stature. - -Pygmy peoples are widely distributed in Central Africa, but these -Negrillos, as they are often termed, do not concern us now. - -Asiatic pygmies have long been known, but it is only comparatively -recently that they have been studied seriously, and even now there -remains much to be discovered about them. There are two main stocks on -the eastern border of the Indian Ocean, who have a very short stature -and are respectively characterised by curly or wavy hair and by hair -that grows in close small spirals—the so-called woolly hair. - -(i.) The Sakai or Senoi of the southern portion of the Malay Peninsula -are typical examples of the former stock, their average stature is -slightly above the pygmy limit, but they need not detain us longer -as they belong to a different race of mankind from the woolly-haired -stock. It may be mentioned however that cymotrichous (curly-haired), -dolichocephalic (narrow-headed), dark-skinned peoples of very short -stature, racially akin to the Sakai, have been found in East Sumatra -and in Celebes (Toala) more or less mixed with alien blood; and quite -recently Moszkowski, as will be mentioned later, has suggested that -the islands of Geelvink Bay, Netherlands New Guinea, were originally -inhabited by the same stock. All these peoples together with the Vedda -and some jungle tribes of the Deccan are now regarded as remnants of a -once widely distributed race to which the term Pre-Dravidian has been -applied; it is also believed by many students that the chief element in -the Australians is of similar origin. - -(ii.) For a long time it has been known that there are three groups -of ulotrichous (woolly-haired), brachycephalic (broad-headed), -dark-skinned, pygmy peoples inhabiting respectively the Andaman -Islands, the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines; to this race the -name Negrito is universally applied. We can now include in it a fourth -element from New Guinea. The physical characters of these several -groups may be summarised as follows: - -1. The ANDAMANESE, who are sometimes erroneously called Mincopies, -inhabit the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Their head _hair_ -is extremely frizzly (woolly), fine in texture, lustreless and seldom -more than two or three inches long, or five inches when untwisted, its -colour varies between black, greyish black, and sooty, the last perhaps -predominating. Hair only occasionally grows on the face and then but -scantily. There is little or no hair over the surface of the body. The -_skin_ has several shades of colour between bronze or dark copper, -sooty, and black, the predominating colour being a dull leaden hue -like that of a black-leaded stove. The average _stature_ of 48 males -is 1·492 m. (4 ft. 10-3/4 ins.), the extremes being 1·365 m. (4 ft. -5-3/4 ins.) and 1·632 m. (5 ft. 4-1/4 ins.). The _head_ is moderately -brachycephalic, the average _cranial index_ (_i.e._ the ratio of the -breadth to the length, the length being taken as 100) in male skulls -is 81, thus the _cephalic index_ of the living would be about 83. The -_features_ may be described as: face broad at the cheek-bones; eyes -prominent; nose much sunken at the root, straight and small; lips full -but not everted; chin small; the jaws do not project. - -2. The SEMANG live in the central region of the Malay Peninsula, some -of them are known under the names of Udai, Pangan, Hami and Semán. The -_hair_ of the head is short, universally woolly, and black. Skeat says -it is of a brownish black, not a bluish black like that of the Malays, -and Martin alludes to a reddish shimmer when light falls on it, but -says there is not a brownish shimmer as in the Sakai. Hair is rare and -scanty on face and body. Skeat describes the _skin_ colour as dark -chocolate brown approximating in some Kedah Negritos to glossy black, -and Martin says the skin of the chest is dark brown with reddish -tinges, while that of the face is mainly dark brown, the remainder -being medium brown, with reddish or pure brown tinges. The data for -the _stature_ are not very satisfactory, the best are a series of 17 -males by Annandale and Robinson, the average being 1·528 m. (5 ft. -0-1/4 in.), with extreme, of 1·372 m. (4 ft. 6 ins.) and 1·604 (5 ft. -3 ins.). The average _cephalic index_ is about 78 or 79, the extremes -ranging from about 74 to about 84. The Semang are thus mesaticephalic -on the average. According to Skeat the _face_ is round; the forehead -rounded, narrow and projecting, or as it were “swollen”; the nose short -and flattened, the nostrils much distended, the breadth remarkably -great, five adult males having an average nasal index of 101·2, the 20 -measured by Annandale and Robinson varied from 81·3 to 108·8 with an -average of 97·1, but four men measured by Martin had an average index -of 83·5. The cheek-bones are broad; jaws often protrude slightly; lips -not as a rule thick, Martin remarks that very characteristic of both -the Semang and the Sakai is the great thickening of the integumental -part of the upper lip, the whole mouth region projecting from the lower -edge of the nose; this convexity occurs in 70 per cent., and is well -shown in his photographs. - -3. The AETA live in the mountainous districts of the larger islands and -in some of the smaller islands of the Philippines. It is convenient to -retain this name for the variously named groups of Philippine Negritos, -many of whom show admixture with other peoples. The _hair_ of the head -is universally woolly except when mixture may be suspected or is known; -Reed says it is uniformly of a dirty black colour, sometimes sunburnt -on the top to reddish brown; Worcester describes it as usually black -but it may be reddish brown, and Meyer as a dark seal-brown to black. -Reed says that the beard is very scanty but all adult males have some -and that there is very little body hair, but Worcester states that the -men often have abundant beards and a thick growth of hair on the arms, -chest and legs. The _skin_ is described as being of a dark chocolate -brown, rather than black, with a yellowish tinge on the exposed parts -(Reed), sooty black (Sawyer), or dark, sooty brown (Worcester). The -average _stature_ of 48 men is 1·463 m. (4 ft. 9-1/2 ins.), ranging -from 1·282 m. (4 ft. 2-1/2 ins.) to 1·6 m. (5 ft. 3 ins.), but some -of these were not pure breeds (Reed); other observations also show -a considerable range in height. The _cephalic index_ of 16 males -averages 82·2, ranging from 78·8 to 92·3, ten range between 80 and 85 -(Reed). _Features_: typically the nose is broad, flat, bridgeless, with -prominent arched alæ and nostrils invariably visible from the front. -Of 76 persons measured by Reed 4 males and 3 females had nasal indices -below 89, 10 and 3 of 90-99, 20 and 13 of 100-109, 7 and 7 of 110-119, -6 and 3 above 120; the median of the males is 102, the extremes being -83·3 and 125, the median of the females is 105, their extremes being -79·5 and 140·7; in other words they are extremely platyrhine. The -eyes are round. The lips are moderately thick, but not protruding. A -somewhat pronounced convexity is sometimes seen between the upper lip -and the nose in the photographs of Meyer’s and Folkmar’s Albums. Meyer -says the projecting jaw gives an ape-like appearance to the face, but -Reed says the Aeta have practically no prognathism, a statement which -is borne out by his and Folkmar’s photographs. - -4. The discovery of pygmies in Netherlands New Guinea by the Expedition -has drawn public attention to a problem of perennial interest to -ethnologists. Nearly twenty-five years ago Sir William Flower stated, -“that it (the Negrito race) has contributed considerably to form the -population of New Guinea is unquestionable. In many parts of that -great island, small round-headed tribes live more or less distinct -from the larger and longer-headed people who make up the bulk of -the population.” (Lecture at the Royal Institution, April 13, 1888, -reprinted in _Essays on Museums_, 1898, p. 302.) No further information -is given, nor are his authorities mentioned. Perhaps he was alluding to -the following statement by de Quatrefages, “L’extension des Négritos en -Mélanésie est bien plus considérable. Ici leurs tribus sont mêlées et -juxtaposées à celles des Papouas probablement dans toute la Nouvelle -Guinée” (_Rev. d’Ethn._, 1882, p. 185); subsequently he wrote, “La -confusion regrettable (namely the confusion of the brachycephalic -Negrito-Papuans with the dolichocephalic Papuans, of which Earl, -Wallace, Meyer and others have been guilty) est cause que l’on n’a -pas recherché les traits differentiels qui peuvent distinguer les -Negritos-Papous des vrais Papouas au point de vue de l’état social, -des mœurs, des croyances, des industries.” (_Les Pygmées_, 1887, p. -97, English Translation, 1895, p. 62.) Dr. A. B. Meyer, from whose -essay these quotations have been taken, adds, “No, the confusion has -not been in this case in the heads of the travellers; a Negritic race, -side by side with the Papuan race, nobody has been able to discover, -just because it does not exist, and it does not exist because the -Papuan race, in spite of its variability, is on the one hand a uniform -race, and on the other as good as identical with the Negritos.” (_The -Distribution of the Negritos_, 1899, p. 85.) When reviewing this essay -in _Nature_ (Sept. 7, 1899, p. 433), I stated that I was inclined to -adopt the view that the various types exhibited by the natives of -New Guinea “point to a crossing of different elements,” and do not -“simply reveal the variability of the race,” as Dr. Meyer provisionally -believed. While agreeing with Dr. Meyer that the “different conditions -of existence” (p. 80) in New Guinea probably have reacted on the -physical characters of the natives (about which, however, we have -extremely little precise information), we have now sufficient evidence -to prove that the indigenous or true Papuan population has been -modified in places by intrusions from elsewhere, and of late years -data have been accumulating which point to the existence of a pygmy -population. Shortly before his death, Dr. Meyer drew my attention to -a more recent statement of his views, in which he says, “Although I -formerly stated (_Negritos_, p. 87) that the question whether the -Papuans, _i.e._ the inhabitants of New Guinea, are a uniform race -with a wide range of variation or a mixed race is not yet ripe for -pronouncement, I am now more inclined, after Mr. Ray’s discovery of -the Papuan linguistic family, to look upon them as a mixed race of -‘Negritos’ and Malays in the wider sense. I am eagerly looking forward -to the exploration of the interior of that great island, for may it not -be possible there to discover the Negrito element in that old and more -constant form in which it persists in the Philippines, Andamans, and -in Malakka.” (_Globus_, XCIV., 1908, p. 192.) This later view appears -to me to be less tenable than his earlier one, as it is difficult to -see how a mixture of pygmy, woolly-haired brachycephals with short, -straight-haired brachycephals (Malays) could give rise to the taller, -woolly-haired dolichocephalic Papuans. - -The racial history of New Guinea has proved to be unexpectedly -complicated. We are now justified in recognising at least two -indigenous elements, the Negrito and Papuan; the effect of the island -populations to the east has not yet been determined, but in the -south-west two immigrations at least from Melanesia have taken place, -which, with Seligmann, we may term Papuo-Melanesian. (_Journ. R. Anth. -Inst._, XXXIX. 1909, pp. 246, 315; and _The Melanesians of Brit. New -Guinea_, 1910.) It is, however, almost certain that future researches -will reveal that the problem is not so simple as that just indicated. - -Writing in 1902, Dr. Weule states (_Globus_, LXXXII. p. 247) that he -has no further doubts as to the existence of pygmies in New Guinea, -though it is not yet clear whether they live in definite groups or -as scattered remnants among the taller peoples. He points out that -information as to the pygmies was of necessity scanty, as expeditions -had always followed the course of rivers where encounter with them -might least be expected, since they are for the most part mountain -people. Through the activity of Sir William MacGregor and others, -British New Guinea is “the least unknown” part of the whole island; -there is therefore more likelihood of pygmy peoples being discovered in -German or Netherlands New Guinea, the latter being entirely a _terra -incognita_ from the geographical standpoint. Dr. Weule’s article -contains various references to previous literature on the pygmy -question, and three photographs of pygmies from the middle Ramu are -reproduced, which show three men well under 142 cm. (4 ft. 8-3/4 ins.) -in height. - -The later history of the discovery of a pygmy substratum in the -population of parts of New Guinea is as follows:— - -Dr. M. Krieger had visited the Sattelberg and the neighbourhood of -Simbang where he heard reports of dwarfs from natives, but no European -had seen them (_Neu Guinea_, 1899, p. 143); subsequently Dr. R. Pöch -stayed from December 1904 to February 1905 in the Kai area, which -lies inland from Finschhafen in German New Guinea. In the _Mitt. aus -den deutschen Schutzgebieten_, 1907, he writes (p. 225): “During the -first part of the time I remained chiefly on the Sattelberg itself, -and observed and measured the various Kai frequenting the Mission -Station. In them I became acquainted with a mountain tribe entirely -different from the coast peoples previously visited. In fifty men I -found the average height to be 152·5 cm. (5 ft.); the skulls are, as -a rule, mesocephalic to brachycephalic. Towards the coast (Jabim) -dolichocephaly becomes more usual and the type also changes. Very -small people are not infrequently met with among the Kai.” Among 300 -adult males he found twelve ranging from 133 to 145·6 cm. (4 ft. 4-1/2 -ins. to 4 ft. 9-1/4 ins.). “For the present,” he adds, “it cannot be -determined whether this is merely a variation in stature or whether we -have here survivals of an older smaller race not yet entirely merged -in the Kai” (_cf._ also _Sitzungsber. der Anth. Gesellschaft in Wien_, -1905, pp. 40 ff.). In the _Zeitschr. f. Ethnol._ XXXIX., 1907, p. -384, he states that on the north coast of British New Guinea and in -Normanby Island he often came across very small people. Dr. O. Reche, -in describing a journey up the Kaiserin-Augusta river, says that, “the -population consists of three clearly distinguishable types or races, -two of which have long, very narrow skulls, and one a short broad -skull. Inland from the river bank there seems to be in addition to -these a pygmy-like people of small growth; at all events, I found in -some of the villages situated on the upper river, among other skulls, -some which were remarkably small and of a special type, and which must -have been taken from enemies living further inland.” (_Globus_, XCVII. -1910, p. 286.) - -Neuhauss studied the Sattelberg natives and is very certain that -a pygmy element occurs there. He notes the stockiness of certain -individuals, who have a long powerful trunk and short limbs, whereas -the Papuans are lean and slender; the shortest man measured by him was -1·355 m. (4 ft. 5-1/2 ins.). Again, the _cephalic index_ of 260 Papuans -averages 76·8, while that of thirty-two short individuals averages -78·8, and on the Sattelberg 79·7, some even ranging from 83-84·6. He -also noticed that the ears were short, wide and without lobe; the -hands and feet were unusually small. Von Luschan draws attention to the -convexity of the whole upper lip area as in African pygmies. Neuhauss -insists that the pygmies are almost merged into the rest of the -population, and that their low stature is not due to poor conditions. -(_Zs. f. Ethnol._ XLIII., 1911, p. 280.) - -Dr. M. Moszkowski found that in Geelvink Bay the hair is not always -ulotrichous (woolly), as is usual with Papuans, especially on Biak and -Padeido Islands the hair often recalls the cymotrichous (curly) hair -of Veddas. Other points of resemblance with wild tribes of Further -Asia are:—A very dainty graceful bone-structure, small hands and -feet, relatively short limbs compared to the trunk, low stature, few -being above 156 cm. and most below 150 cm. (4 ft. 11 ins.), and now -and then the characteristic convex upper lip of the wild tribes (_Zs. -f. Ethnol._ XLIII. 1911, pp. 317, 318). On these grounds Moszkowski -inclines to think that the islands of Geelvink Bay were originally -peopled by pre-Malayan wild tribes allied to the Vedda, Sakai, Toala, -etc., and thus the present population is the result of crossing between -these and immigrant Melanesians; true Malays came later. Moszkowski -has not yet published any head measurements of these interesting -people, and the evidence is insufficient to decide whether this is a -Pre-Dravidian or a Negrito element in the population of these islands, -the curly character of the hair may be due as elsewhere in New Guinea -to racial mixture; the photograph of a “Vedda-type” from Padeido island -is by no means convincing (_l.c._ p. 318). - -Finally Guppy, Ribbe and Rascher report the occurrence of very -short people in the interior of the larger islands of the Bismarck -Archipelago and of the Solomon Islands; recently Thurnwald refers to -very small people in the mountainous interior of Bougainville who speak -a non-Melanesian language, one man from Mari mountain had a stature -of 1·39 m. (4 ft. 6-1/2 ins.). In the mountains the mixed population -consists of types recalling the Solomon Islanders and “representatives -of a small short-legged, broad-faced, short-skulled, very hairy, -wide-nosed people.” (_Zs. f. Ethnol._ XLII. 1910, p. 109.) - -Discussing the pygmies of Melanesia von Luschan referred in 1910 (_Zs. -f. Ethnol._ XLII., p. 939) to bones brought a century ago from the -Admiralty Islands which must have belonged to individuals 1·32-1·35 m. -(4 ft. 4 ins.-4 ft. 5 ins.) in stature; it is unlikely that the type -persists, though Moseley mentions an unusually short man, a little -over 5 ft. (_Journ. Anth. Inst._ 1877, p. 384). In the collection -made by the German Marine Expedition there are a number of extremely -small skulls from New Ireland, which von Luschan is convinced belong -to pygmies. Finsch brought from New Britain over thirty years ago the -smallest known skull of a normal adult person; it came from the S.W. -coast of Gazelle Peninsula. Like four other extremely small feminine -skulls from New Britain this one is dolichocephalic (ceph. index 73). -Von Luschan is of opinion that the small people of Melanesia represent -an older stratum of population than their tall neighbours. - -While other travellers have come across what is now accepted as a pygmy -element in the population, the members of this Expedition have for -the first time proved the existence of a pygmy people, known as the -_TAPIRO_, who may be regarded as predominantly Negritos. The _hair_ -is short, woolly and black, but seemed brown in two or three cases, -there is a good deal of hair on the face and of short downy hair -scattered about the body. The _skin_ is of a lighter colour than that -of the neighbouring Papuans, some individuals being almost yellow. The -_stature_ averages 1·449 m. (4 ft. 9 ins.), ranging from 1·326 m. (4 -ft. 4-1/4 ins.) to 1·529 m. (5 ft. 0-1/4in.). The _cephalic index_ -averages 79·5, varying from 66·9 to 85·1. _Features_: The nose is -straight and though described as “very wide at the nostrils,” the mean -of the indices is only 83, the extremes being 65·5 to 94. The eyes are -noticeably larger and rounder than those of Papuans. “The upper lip of -many of the men is long and curiously convex.” - -At the same time that the Expedition discovered pygmies in Netherlands -New Guinea, Mr. R. W. Williamson was investigating the Mafulu, a -mountain people on the upper waters of the Angabunga river in the -Mekeo District. He has shown (_The Mafulu Mountain People of British -New Guinea_, 1912) that in all probability these and some neighbouring -tribes are a mixture of Negritos, Papuans and Papuo-Melanesians. Their -invariably woolly _hair_ is generally dark brown, often quite dark, -approaching to black and sometimes perhaps quite black, but frequently -it is lighter and often not what we in Europe should call dark; a -beard and moustache are quite unusual. The _skin_ is dark sooty-brown. -The average stature is 1·551 m. (5 ft. 1 in.) ranging from 1·47 m. (4 -ft. 10 ins.) to 1·63 m. (5 ft. 4 ins.). They are fairly strong and -muscular, but rather slender and slight in development. The average -_cephalic index_ is 80 and ranges from 74·7 to 86·8. _Features_: The -average nasal index is 84·3, the extremes being 71·4 and 100. The eyes -are dark brown and very bright. The lips are fine and delicate. - -It is worth noting that Pöch had in 1906 measured two Fergusson Island -men with statures 1·403 and 1·425 m. (4 ft. 7-1/4 ins., 4 ft. 8 ins.), -who told him that “all the people in that tribe were as small or -smaller.” (_Zs. f. Ethnol._ XLII. 1910, p. 941.) - -On reading through the brief synopses which I have given it is -apparent that, with the possible exception of the Andamanese, each -of the Negrito peoples shows considerable diversity in its physical -characters and this is more evident when more detailed accounts and -photographs are studied. There appears to be sufficient evidence -to show that a very ancient ulotrichous, low brachycephalic, pygmy -population once extended over the Malay Peninsula and a great part -(at least) of Melanesia and New Guinea, but the existing groups do -not appear to be homogeneous judging from the diversity in stature, -head index and nasal index. Stature, as has already been stated, is -always recognised as subject to considerable variation, but the bulk -of the measurements of these peoples fall below 1·5 m., and therefore -indicate a predominant very short population. The head indices mainly -show low brachycephaly; the occasional very low indices may be due -either to a Pre-Dravidian mixture or in New Guinea, at all events, to -a Papuan strain. The former existence of a Pre-Dravidian stock in New -Guinea is highly probable, nor must it be overlooked that there may -have been a hitherto undescribed pygmy or very short dolichocephalic -ulotrichous stock in New Guinea and Melanesia. The nasal index of these -Negrito peoples is very suggestive of racial complexity. Judging from -photographs, in the absence of measurements, the Andamanese have by no -means a broad nose, and a mesorhine index is found in all the other -groups, some of the Tapiro and Mafulu are even leptorhine. A constantly -recurring feature is the convex upper lip, but that also occurs among -the Sakai. The problem now is to determine what foreign elements have -modified these pygmies, and whether the Negrito stock itself will not -have to be subdivided into at least two groups. - -The Negritos have certain cultural characters more or less in common, -some of which differentiate them from their neighbours. There is very -little artificial deformation of the person. The Tapiro and Mafulu -alone do not tattoo or scarify the skin; Skeat says that the Semang -“do not appear as a race to tattoo or scarify,” and the Aeta scarify -only occasionally. The nasal septum is not pierced for a nose-stick -by the Andamanese and Aeta nor among the purer Semang tribes, but the -Tapiro and Mafulu do so. The Semang women possess numerous bamboo combs -which are engraved with curious designs of a magical import, similar -combs are possessed by nearly every Aeta man and woman. The Andamanese -have no combs. - -With regard to clothing, the male Andamanese are nude, the females wear -a small apron of leaves or a single leaf, but one tribe, the Jarawa, go -nude. The male Semang frequently wear a loin-cloth, or simply leaves -retained by a string girdle, sometimes the women wear this too or a -fringed girdle made of the long black strings of a fungus, but more -usually a waist-cloth. The Aeta men wear a loin-cloth and the women -a waist-cloth. The Mafulu men and women wear a perineal band of bark -cloth, while the Tapiro men wear a unique gourd penis-sheath. A gourd -or calabash is also worn by men on the north coast of New Guinea, but -not further west than Cape Bonpland, in this case the hole is in the -side and not at the end as among the Tapiro. - -The Negritos are collectors and hunters, and never cultivate the soil -unless they have been modified by contact with more advanced peoples. - -The Andamanese make three kinds of simple huts on the ground and large -communal huts are sometimes built. The Semang construct “bee-hive” -and long communal huts and weather screens similar to those of the -Andamanese. They also erect tree shelters, but direct evidence is very -scanty that pure Semang inhabit huts with a flooring raised on piles; -they sleep on bamboo platforms. The Aeta usually make very simple huts -sometimes with a raised bamboo sleeping platform inside. The pile -dwellings of the Tapiro have evidently been copied from those of other -tribes in the interior. The Mafulu build a different kind of pile -dwelling which has a peculiar hood-like porch. - -All the Negritos have the bow and arrow. The Great Andamanese bow is -peculiar while that of the Little Andamanese appears to resemble that -of the Semang. The Great Andamanese and the Tapiro have very long bows. -Harpoon arrows with iron points are used by the Andamanese and Aeta, -the arrows of the Andamanese, Semang and Aeta are nocked, but only -those of the two latter are feathered. No nocked or feathered arrows -occur in New Guinea. Only the Semang and Aeta are known to poison their -arrows, and they may have borrowed the idea from the poisoned darts of -the blow-pipe. Some Semang have adopted the blow-pipe. - -The Andamanese appear to be one of the very few people who possess fire -but do not know how to make it afresh. The Semang usually make fire -by “rubbing together short blocks of wood, bamboo or cane. A common -method consists in passing a rattan line round the portion of a dried -branch, and holding the branch down by the feet whilst the line is -rapidly worked to and fro with the hands.” Flint and steel are also -used. (The Sakai employ similar methods.) (_Skeat and Blagden_, I, pp. -111-114, 119.) Among the Aeta flint and steel have almost replaced -the old method of making fire by one piece of split bamboo being -sawed rapidly across another piece. Semper collected from Negritos of -N.E. Luzon, a split stick, bark fibre and a strip of rattan used in -fire-making, these are described and figured by A. B. Meyer (_Publ. der -K. Ethn. Mus. zu. Dresden_, IX, _Negritos_, p. 5, pl. 11, fig. 7 a-c). -It is interesting to find that the Tapiro employ the same method and -apparatus (p. 200). Thus there occurs among Negritos in the Philippines -and New Guinea the method of making fire by partly splitting a dry -stick, keeping the ends open by inserting a piece of wood or a stone -in the cleft, stuffing some tinder into the narrow part of the slit and -then drawing rapidly a strip of rattan to and fro across this spot till -a spark ignites the tinder. Pöch found it among the Poum, dwelling in -the mountains inland from the Kai (_Geog. Jnl._ XXX, 1907, p. 612, and -_Mitt. Anth. Ges. in Wien_, XXXVII. 1907, p. 59, fig. 2, 3). Precisely -the same method was described by the Rev. Dr. W. G. Lawes who found -it among the Koiari of Tabure on Mt. Warirata (_Proc. R. Geog. Soc._ -V, 1883, p. 357). Finsch collected the apparatus from the same people -(_Ann. des K.K. naturhist. Hofmus. in Wien_, III, 1888, p. 323; Leo -Frobenius, _The Childhood of Man_, 1909, fig. 313, but Frobenius is -mistaken in representing the rattan as going twice round the stick). -Dr. H. O. Forbes had found it at Ubumkara on the Naoro, also in the -Central Division (_P.R.G.S._ XII. 1890, p. 562). Mr. C. A. W. Monckton -noticed it in 1906 among the Kambisa tribe, in the valley of the -Chirima, Mt. Albert Edward (_Ann. Rep. Brit. New Guinea_, 1907). Pöch -suggests that N. von Miklucho-Maclay was wrong in thinking that the -strip was rubbed in the split of a stick (_l.c._ p. 61); this is the -earliest Papuan record (1872). - -From the above account it is possible that the split stick and rattan -strip method of fire-making may be a criterion of Negrito culture, but -it should be noted that the stick is not reported as split among the -Semang, and that the unsplit stick is found among the Sakai and the -Kayans and Kenyahs of Sarawak who are not Negritos. Also the split -stick is found at several spots in the mountainous interior of the -south-east peninsula of New Guinea where Negrito influence has not yet -been recorded, but Mr. Williamson’s observations are very suggestive -in this respect. Pöch (_l.c._ p. 62) points out that this method -is nearest akin to “fire-sawing with bamboo, both in principle and -distribution,” of which he gives details. A somewhat similar method -is that described by W. E. Roth. A split hearth-stick is held by the -feet, but fire is made by sawing with another piece of wood, a device -which appears to be widely spread in Queensland and occurs also on the -Lachlan River, N.S.W. (_N. Queensland Ethnogr. Bull._ 7, 1904, sect. 9, -pl. II. figs. 17, 18). - -So far as is known the social structure of the Negritos is very simple. -Among the Andamanese there is no division of the community into two -moieties, no clan system nor totemism, neither has a classificatory -system of kinship been recorded; the social unit appears to be the -family, and the power of the head-man is very limited. Our knowledge -concerning the Semang and Aeta is extremely imperfect but they probably -resemble the Andamanese in these points. The Andamanese and Semang are -strictly monogamous, polygyny is allowed among the Aeta, but monogamy -prevails. The only restriction at all on marriage appears to be the -prohibition of marriage between near kindred, and divorce is very -rare. All bury their dead, but it is considered by the Andamanese more -complimentary to place the dead on a platform which is generally built -in a large tree, and the more honourable practice of the Semang is to -expose the dead in trees. The Mafulu bury ordinary people, but the -corpses of chiefs are placed in an open box either on a platform or -in the fork of a kind of fig tree. Nothing is known about the social -life of the Tapiro, and Williamson says, “The very simple ideas of -the Mafulu, as compared with the Papuans and Melanesians, in matters -of social organization, implements, arts and crafts, religion and -other things may well, I think, be associated with a primitive Negrito -origin” (_l.c._ p. 306). - - - - -SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY. - - -This is not the place to attempt to give a record of the very -voluminous bibliography of the Negritos, and most of the works here -recorded are those from which the foregoing facts have been collected. -Books referred to in the text are, with one or two exceptions, not here -repeated. - -_The General Question._ - -Danielli, G., “Studi di Antropogeografia generale.” _Memorie - Geografiche_, N. 18. Vol. VI. 1912. - -Flower, W. H. _The Pygmy Races of Men._ Royal Inst. Lecture, 1888, - reprinted in _Essays on Museums_, 1898. - -Lapicque, L. “La Race Negrito.” _Ann. de Géographie_, 1896, p. 407. - -Meyer, A. B. _The Distribution of the Negritos_, 1899; translation with - additions from _Publikationen d. K. Ethn. Mus. zu Dresden_, IX. 1893. - -Quatrefages, A. de. _The Pygmies_, 1895. (English Translation). - -Schmidt, W. _Die Stellung der Pygmäenvölker in der - Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen_, 1910. - - Pater W. Schmidt has gone into the whole pygmy question - with great thoroughness. He extends his comparison to - the African pygmies (Negrillos), between whom and the - Asiatic pygmies he attempts to prove a connection through - Southern India. Emphasis is laid on the “infantile” - physical characters of both African and Asiatic pygmies - and the extremely primitive features of their culture. He - is inclined to regard the Pre-Dravidian Vedda, Senoi and - Toala as of mixed pygmy origin, finding support for this - theory in the proximity of the Senoi to the Semang in the - Malay Peninsula. The eastward extension of the pygmies - into Melanesia and New Guinea is not dealt with. - -Tyson, E. _A Philological Essay concerning the Pygmies of the -Ancients_, 1699. Edited by B. C. A. Windle, 1894. - - -_The Andamanese._ - -Dobson, G. E., “On the Andamans and Andamanese.” _Journ. Anth. Inst._ - IV. 1875, p. 457. - -Flower, W. H., “On the Osteology and Affinities of the Natives of the - Andaman Islands,” _J.A.I._, IX. 1879, p. 108, _cf._ also X., p. 124, - XIV., p. 115, XVIII., p. 73. - -Lane Fox, A., “Observations on Mr. Man’s Collection of Andamanese and - Nicobarese Objects,” _J.A.I._, VII. 1877, p. 434. - -Man, E. H., “On the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands,” - _J.A.I._, XII. 1882-3, pp. 69, 117, 327, _cf._ also VII. p. 105, XI. p. - 268. - -Portman, M. V., “Notes on the Andamanese,” _J.A.I._, XXV. 1896, p. 361. - - -_The Semang._ - -Skeat, W. W., and Blagden, C. O., _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, - 1906. - -Martin, R., _Die Inlandstämme der Malayischen Halbinsel_, 1905. - -Annandale, N., and Robinson, H. C., _Fasciculi Malayensis_, - Anthropology, Part I, 1903, p. 105. - - -_The Aeta._ - -Folkmar, D., _Album of Philippine Types_, Manila, 1904. - -Koeze, G. A., “Crania Ethnica Philippinica,” _Publicatiën uit ’s rijks - ethnographisch Museum_, Serie II. No. 3, Haarlem, 1901-1904. - -Meyer, A. B., _Album of Filipino Types_, 1885, Vol. II., 1891, and Vol. - III., 1904, with photographs taken by Dr. A. Schadenberg. - -Meyer, A. B., “Die Philippinen, II., Negritos,” _Publikationen des K. - Ethnogr. Mus. zu Dresden_, IX. 1893 (and _cf._ _J.A.I._, XXV. p. 172). - -Reed, W. A., “Negritos of Zambales,” _Department of the Interior, - Ethnological Survey Publications_, II. Manila, 1904. - -Sawyer, F. H., _The Inhabitants of the Philippines_, 1900. - -Worcester, Dean C., “The Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” _The - Philippine Journal of Science_, I. 1906, p. 791. - - -Measurements of 22 Tapiro Pygmies (Males). - - KEY: - A. No. of man. - B. Height of stature. - C. Girth of chest. - D. Vertexto tragus. - E. Head length. - F. Head breadth. - G. Face breadth. - H. Bigonial breadth. - I. Face length. - J. Nose length. - K. Nose breadth. - L. Interocular breadth. - - Indices. a. {Head index. - b. {Face Index. - c. {Nasal Index. - - —————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+————————————————— - | | | | | | | | | | | | Indices - A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. | I. | J. | K. | L. | a. | b. | c. - —————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+————— - 17 |152·7| 80·5| 13·0| 18·2| 14·1| 13·6| 12·7| 10·7| 5·1 | 3·9 | 3·4 | 77·5| 78·7| 76·5 - 18 |148·0| 77·5| 12·7| 17·7| 13·8| 13·4| 12·7| 10·0| 4·7 | 4·1 | 2·8 | 78·0| 74·6| 87·2 - 19 |142·5| 71·0| 11·2| 18·1| 13·9| 13·1| 11·1| 11.5| 5·5 | 3·6 | 3·4 | 76·8| 87·8| 65·5 - 20 |142·1| 71·5| 11·0| 17·2| 11·5| 13·0| 12·0| 10·3| 4·8 | 4·1 | 3·1 | 66·9| 79·5| 85·4 - 21 |147·9| 78·0| 12·6| 17·4| 13·7| 12·5| 9·3| 11·7| 6·0 | 4·5 | 3.2 | 78·7| 93·6| 75·0 - 22 |140·2| 74·0| 11·2| 17·7| 14·2| 13·0| 10·7| 10·6| 5·2 | 4·2 | 3·4 | 80·2| 81·5| 80·8 - 23 |145·4| 74·5| 12·9| 17·8| 14·3| 13·6| 12·5| 10·6| 4·5 | 3·9 | 3·3 | 80·3| 77·9| 86·7 - 24 |152·9| 78·5| 12·1| 17·7| 14·3| 12·7| 11·1| 11·6| 5·2 | 4·4 | 3·2 | 80·8| 91·3| 84·6 - 25 |138·9| 74·5| 12·6| 16·7| 14·1| 11·8| 9·6| 10·4| 5·0 | 4·4 | 2·8 | 84·4| 88·1| 88·0 - 26 |149·0| 72·7| 12·6| 17·4| 13·6| 12·3| 11·8| 10·7| 4·8 | 3·9 | 3·2 | 78·2| 87·0| 81·3 - 27 |148·2| 81·4| 11·3| 18·5| 13·9| 12·8| 11·0| 11·3| 5·2 | 4·4 | 3·2 | 75·1| 88·3| 84·6 - 28 |132·6| 72·8| 12·8| 17·5| 14·7| 12·8| 9·8| 11·2| 5·1 | 4·1 | 3·0 | 84·0| 87·5| 80·4 - 29 |150·7| 79·5| 13·6| 17·4| 14·8| 13·6| 12·3| 11·1| 5·5 | 4·4 | 3·4 | 85·1| 81·6| 80·0 - 30 |148·8| 74·0| 13·0| 18·1| 14·1| 12·6| 11·0| 10·6| 4·9 | 4·4 | 3·3 | 77·9| 84·1| 89·8 - 31 |150·1| 79·0| 13·5| 17·8| 14·8| 13·1| 11·0| 12·2| 5·5 | 4·4 | 3·1 | 83·2| 93·1| 80·0 - 32 |139·8| 76·5| 12·5| 17·4| 14·7| 13·4| 10·8| 10·4| 5·5 | 4·1 | 3·1 | 84·5| 77·6| 74·6 - 33 |134·3| 71·8| 12·2| 16·2| 13·4| 13·2| 11·7| 10·6| 4·8 | 4·1 | 3·1 | 82·7| 80·3| 85·4 - 34 |150·6| 78·0| 12·8| 18·2| 14·6| 13·8| 11·4| 11·6| 5·9 | 5·0 | 3·6 | 80·2| 84·1| 84·8 - 35 |144·2| 79·0| 12·0| 17·8| 13·7| 13·5| 12·8| 11·2| 4·8 | 4·1 | 3·1 | 77·0| 83·0| 85·4 - 36 |144·8| 77·7| 11·1| 18·1| 13·9| 13·0| 12·2| 11·0| 5·1 | 4·8 | 3·3 | 76·8| 84·6| 94·1 - 37 |140·5| 71·3| 12·2| 18·4| 14·6| 13·0| 9·7| 12·5| 5·5 | 3·9 | 3·3 | 80·7| 96·2| 70·9 - 38 |142·8| 79·0| 11·5| 18·1| 14·2| 13·4| 11·9| 12·1| 6·1 | 4·3 | 3·0 | 78·5| 90·3| 70·5 - —————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+————— - - - - -APPENDIX C - - -NOTES ON LANGUAGES IN THE EAST OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA - -BY SIDNEY H. RAY, M.A. - - -I. INTRODUCTION - -In considering the languages of Netherlands New Guinea it is convenient -to divide the territory into six geographical divisions. These are:— - - 1. The North-western Coast and Islands (Waigiu, Salawati, - and Misol). - - 2. The Western shore of Geelvink Bay and the islands - adjacent (Mefor, Biak, and Jobi). - - 3. The Peninsula of Kumava (Orange Nassau) with the - islands between Ceram and the Ké group. - - 4. The Southern and Eastern Shores of Geelvink Bay. - - 5. The North Coast from Kurudu Islands to Humboldt Bay. - - 6. The South-eastern Coast from Kamrau Inlet to the - Bensbach River on the boundary between Netherlands and - British territory. - - -The present notice only refers to languages in the three last of these -divisions. - -At the Western end of the South shore of Geelvink Bay is the district -of Wandammen, of which the language is fairly well known. For this -we have a vocabulary with grammatical examples (9),[26] and also for -Windessi, which is the same language, a mission text-book. Eastward -from Wandammen the numerals only are recorded (7), but at the Southern -point of the Bay, in the district around Jamur Lake we have the -collections made by Van der Sande during the Wichmann Expedition of -1903 (8). He gives a vocabulary of Angadi, an island in the Jamur Lake, -some words of the Nagramadu dialect on the North-west, and the numerals -of Goreda on the South of the lake. The languages of the Western Shore -of Geelvink Bay are represented only by numerals (7) but there is more -information of the language of Pauwi at the mouth of the Wamberam -or Amberno or Mamberamo River, where F. van Braam Morris collected -a vocabulary published by Robidé van der Aa in 1885 (6). This was -considered faulty by de Clercq.[27] - -Westward along the Northern coast very little linguistic material is -available, and the few words recorded show great differences. The -places of which the speech is known are, on the mainland: Takar, Tarfia -and Tana Merah, and on the islands: Liki (in the Kumamba Group), Moar -(called also Wakde), Masimasi and Jamna (4, 5). - -For the region about Humboldt Bay we have short vocabularies of Jotafa -by various collectors, and a fuller one by G. L. Bink (2), also Sentani -lists by P. E. Moolenburg (3) and van der Sande (8). Moolenburg also -gives a list from Seka, West of the Bay. - -For the Southern shore of Netherlands New Guinea, we have nothing but -vocabularies, none of very large extent, the most extensive being that -of Merauke in the extreme West (15) which has also been ably discussed -by Dr. N. Adriani.[28] - -Commencing at Kamrau Inlet, the languages of the shore and islands -are illustrated by the Kowiai vocabularies of Miklucho-Maclay (13), -the papers of G. W. Earl[29] and the lists of S. Muller (10), the -last two being derived from the collections made during the voyage of -the _Triton_ under Lieut. Modera in 1828. The following languages are -named:— - - Lobo at Triton Bay (including Namatote, Aiduma, Mawara, and Kaju-Mera). - Wuaussirau, inland on the Kamaka-Wallar Lake. - Mairassis, inland from Lobo. - Lakahia, on Telok Lakahia. - Kiruru, on Telok Kiruru. - Utanata, on the Utanata River. - -Westward of the Utanata a vocabulary of the language spoken on -the Mimika River people was obtained by Mr. Wollaston in 1910-11. -A list of the same language is given also in the account of the -South-west New Guinea Expedition of the Royal Netherlands Geographical -Association.[30] The latter work contains a few words of the language -used at the mouth of the Kupĕra Pukwa River. - -The language of Mĕraukĕ has been recorded by J. Seijne Kok (15), and by -J. C. Montague and E. F. Bik,[C] that of Toro by S. Bik.[31] - - -II. CLASSIFICATION OF THE LANGUAGES. - -Of the three languages in the northern part of Eastern Netherlands New -Guinea that of the Jotafa of Humboldt Bay has been ably discussed by -Dr. Kern,[32] who decides that in phonology, construction, numeration -and word store it presents many points of agreement with the Mefoor or -Nufor of the North-west. But it undoubtedly also contains many words -which are of non-Indonesian origin. The Sentani and Pawi languages -seem to have very few or no words similar to the Indonesian, and may -probably be found to be Papuan languages. But nothing is known of the -grammar. The language of Wandammen presents agreements with the Mefoor -(or Nufōr) in vocabulary and also in some points of grammar. It will -probably be found to fall into the same class as the Nufōr and Jotafa. -The languages of the north coast and islands also show a mixture of -Indonesian with other words. So little is known of the structure of the -languages in the Kumava Peninsula that their place cannot be determined -with certainty. The numerals and much of the vocabulary appear to be -Indonesian,[33] but there are Papuan forms in the Grammar. - -The Lobo languages of the Kowiai district on the south coast appear -to be Indonesian, but those inland and south of Geelvink Bay have a -distinct connection with those on the south coast west of the Kowiai -district, and with those at the Utanata River and beyond the Mimika, -at least as far as the Kupera Pukwa River. Beyond this point nothing -is recorded until Princess Marianne Strait is reached, and here of two -words known, one is Mĕraukĕ.[34] The latter language extends to the -Boundary. All west of the Lobo appear to be Papuan. - -Using the scanty means available, the languages of the Eastern part of -Netherlands New Guinea may be thus provisionally classified:— - -NORTH COAST AND ISLANDS (INCLUDING EAST AND SOUTH SHORE OF GEELVINK -BAY). - - - _Papuan._ Seka West of Lake Sentani. - Sentani Lake Sentani. - Moki (?) Hinterland of Tana Mera Bay. - ... Tana Mera. - Tarfia (?) Coast West of Tana Mera Bay. - Takar Mainland East of Mamberamo R. - Wamberan ? Mamberamo R. - Pauwi Villages on Lower Mamberamo R. - Angadi Island in Jamur Lake. - Goreda South of Lake Jamur. - Nagramadu North-West of L. Jamur. - Manikion North of McCleur Inlet (Telok Berau). - _Indonesian_[35] Jotafa Humboldt Bay. - Jamna Island opposite Takar. - Masimasi Island West of Jamna. - Moar Islands West of Masimasi. - Kumamba Islands and Coast West of Moar and Takar. - Waropin East shore of Geelvink Bay. - Mohr Island opposite Waropin. - Tandia Coast South of Waropin. - Jaur South-West shore of Geelvink Bay. - Dasener West of Jaur. - Wandammen North of Dasener. - - -SOUTH COAST. - - _Papuan._ Mairassis Inland from Lobo. - Wuaussirau On Kamaka Wallar Lake. - Lakahia On Telok Lakahia. - Kiruru On Telok Kiruru. - Utanata Inland from Utanata River. - Mimika Inland from Mimika River. - Kupera Pukwa Kupera Pukwa River. - Mĕraukĕ Coast between the Kumbĕ River and the - British Boundary. - Toro Bensbach R. - _Indonesian._ Onin North of Kumava Peninsula. - Kapauer North-West of Kumava Peninsula. - Karufa South of Kumava Peninsula. - Lobo Kowiai Coast and Islands of Namatote, - Mawara, Aiduma, and Kaju-mera. - - -III. COMPARATIVE NOTES ON THE ANGADI-MIMIKA GROUP OF LANGUAGES. - -This group consists of the Angadi, Nagramadu, Goreda, Utanata, Lakahia, -Mimika and Kupera Pukwa dialects, and perhaps also Kiruru. - -1. _Sound changes._[36] - -A comparison of vocabularies shows a certain amount of sound change -between the dialects. Thus Angadi _m_ becomes _b_ in Utanata and Mimika -and _vice versa_.[37] - - Ex. Angadi _muti_, Mimika and Utanata _buïti_, bamboo. - Angadi _mopere_, Nagramadu _mobere(bu)_, Mimika _bopere_, navel. - Angadi _mirimoi_, Utanata _birimbu_, Mimika _birim_, nose. - Angadi _mau_, Utanata _mouw_, Mimika _bauwe_, foot. - Angadi _tohoma-pare_, Mimika _to-mari_, arm. - -The Angadi _m_ is represented sometimes by _mb_ in Mimika, but is -retained in Lakahia and Kiruru. Utanata examples are not found. - - Ex. Angadi _mi_, Lakahia _mu_, Kiruru _mi_, Mimika _mbi_, _mbu_, water. - Angadi _metaho_, Mimika _mbatau_, spit. - Angadi _imiri_, Mimika _imbiri_, shin. - Mimika _amuri_ is Kupera Pukwa _ambori_. - -Angadi in some words loses _k_ or _g_ which appears in Mimika and -Lakahia. - - Ex. Angadi _irĕa_, Mimika _irĕka_, Utanata _eriki_, fish. - Angadi _kauwa_, Mimika _kaukwa_, woman. - Angadi _maare_, Mimika _makarĕ_, armlet. - Angadi _măe_, Mimika _mbage_, Utanata _make_, cry, weep. - Angadi _hehe_, Lakahia _eika_, finger-nail. - Angadi _(nata)pairi_, Mimika _pigeri_, skin. - -A few words show an interchange of _r_ and _n_ between Mimika and -Lakahia. - - Mimika _marĕ_, Lakahia _mana_, finger. (Utanata _to-mare_, Angadi - _mahare_, hand.) Mimika _iribu_, Utanata and Angadi _iripu_, Lakahia - _ini-fa_, knee. Mimika _amuri_, Utanata _amure_, Angadi _amore_, - Lakahia _amuno_, bow, Kupera Pukwa _ambori_. - - -2. _Vocabulary._ - -The great likeness of the dialects may be illustrated by the following -examples:— - - _Angadi._ _Utanata._ _Mimika._ - - Arm. _to_ (in compounds) _tō_ _to_ Lakahia _esu-rua_ (?) - Arrow. _ka-tiaro_ (in bundle) _tiăre_ _tiari_ - Boat. _ku_ _ku_ _ku_ - Chin. _kepare_ .. _kepare_ - Coconut. _utiri_ _uteri_ _uteri_ Kupera Pukwa _otiri_. - Dog. _uwiri_ _wuri_ _wiri_ Lakahia _iwora_, Nagramadu - _iwŏra_, Kupera Pukwa - _uweri_. - Ear. _ihani_ _iänī_ _ene_ - Eye. _măme_ _mame_ _mame_ - Fire. _utămai_ _uta_ _uta_ Lakahia _ŭsia_, Kiruru _uta_, - Nagramadu _uha_. - Give. _kema_ .. _kema_ - Hair. _rup-ere_ _uirī_ _viri_ Kupera Pukwa, _uïri_ - Hand. _mahare_ _tu-mare_ _marĕ_ Lakahia, _mana_ (finger). - Head. _rupau_ _upauw_ _kapa-uĕ_ Lakahia _uwua_. - House. _kăme_ _kamī_ _kamĕ_ - Iron. _jau_ (pot) (_puruti_) _tau_ - Laugh. _oko_ _oku_ _oko_ - Lip. _iri_ _iri_ (mouth) _iri_ Kiruru _uru_ (mouth). - Moon. _pură_ _uran_ _pura_ Lakahia _bura_. - Mountain .. (_pamogo_) _pukare_ Lakahia _bugura_, Wuaussirau - _wara_. - Neck. _amoiï_ _ema_ _ima_ Lakahia _umia_, Nagramadu - _umeke_. - Paddle. _pá_ _pō_ _poh_ Lakahia _boa_. - Pig. _ŏhŏ_ _ū_ _u_ Lakahia _u(fa)_, Nagramadu - _ŏhă_, Kupera Pukwa _uwĕ_. - Rain. _keke_ _komak_ _ke_ Lakahia _ge(fa)_, Kiruru _kē_. - Sago. _amata_ (_kinani_) _amota_ Lakahia _ama_, Nagramadu - _ĕma_, Kupera Pukwa _amĕta_. - Sleep. _ete_ _ete_ _ete_ Kupera Pukwa _ete_. - Sugarcane. .. _mone_ _mŏni_ Lakahia _moni(fa)_. - Sun. _jăū_ _youw_ _yau_ Lakahia _aya_. - Tongue. _mere_ _mare_ _malī_ Lakahia _mara_. - Tooth. _titi_ _titi_ _titi_ Nagramadu _si_. - Wind. _kimiri_ _lowri_ _kimire_ Kiruru _kemuru_. - - - -3. _Pronouns._ These are given only in Mimika for the singular number, -and in Utanata for the first person singular, but the words for “I,” -Mimika _doro_ and Utanata _area_ are unlike. In Mimika the possessive -is shown by the suffix _-ta_, which is used also with other words. -_Dorota_, mine, _oro-ta_, yours, _amare-ta_ his, _wehwaída-ta_ of -another man. _Wehwaída_ is compounded apparently of _uwe_ (_rí_) man -and _awaída_ other. In Mairassis “I” is _omona_. - - -4. _Numerals._ No numerals are given by Müller or Earl for Utanata. -“People of Utanata had very little knowledge of counting. When wishing -to make known any number, they made use of the word _awerí_ and -counted on their fingers and toes.”[38] In Angadi, Nagramadu, Goreda, -Lakahia and Mimika, the numbers appear as follows: - - Angadi. Nagramadu. Goreda. Lakahia. Mimika. - 1. _janăūwă_ _nadi_ _unakwa_ _onarawa_ _inakwa_ - 2. _jaminatia_ _ăbåmă_ _jămanini_ _aboma_ _yamani_ - 3. _jaminati-janăūwa_ _ăbåmă-nadi_ .. (_torua_) _yamani-inakwa_ - 4. _awaitămă-jaminatia_ _abama-båmŏ_ .. _(fāt)_ _ama-yamani_ - 5. _măhăre-ajăherauri_ _măma-riba_ _maheri-herori_ (_rim_) .. - 6. _măhăre-janăūwa_ _mariba-nadi_ .. _rim-onarawa_ .. - 10. _măhăre-jăminatia_ _măma răbåmă_ _tăoru_ .. .. - -These show a numeration only as far as two. “Three” and “four” are -made by additions, 2 + 1 = 3 and 2 + 2 = 4, except in Angadi where -_awaitămă-jaminatia_ means “another two” with which cf. the Mimika -_awaida_, other. _Măhăre_, _maheri_, _mari_ in the words for “five” -also mean “hand,” abbreviated to _mă_ in _măma_ of Nagramadu. The -Goreda _tăoru_ given for “ten,” is the Angadi _tăöru_, much, Mimika -_takiri_, many. In Lakahia the words for “three,” “four,” “five,” “six” -have the Ceram numerals which are also used in Lobo and Namatote. The -Mairassis and Wuaussirau numerals agree with one another, but differ -entirely from those of the Angadi-Mimika group. - - - One Two Three Four Five Six Ten - Mairassis _tangauw_ _amoōi_ _karia_ _āi_ _iworo_ _iwora-mōi_ _werowa-mōi_ - Wuaussirau _anau_ _amōi_ _karia_ _aiwera_ _iworo_ _iwor-tanau_ _iwor-toki-tani_ - -The low numeration in all these languages may be regarded as an -indication of their Papuan character. - - -5. _Construction._ - -A few grammatical forms which appear to be indicated in the -vocabularies may be noted here. - -_a._ The possessive with pronouns and pronominal words is indicated -by a suffix _-ta_. Mimika, _doro-ta_, of me, mine; _oro-ta_, thine; -_amare-ta_, his; _wehwaída-ta_, of another man. In Angadi several -compound words end in _nata_, which thus appears to be a noun, _na_ -(thing?), with the possessive suffix; and it seems possible to explain -such words as _ută-nata_, firewood; _kara nata_, head of javelin—_i.e._ -fire-thing-of, javelin-thing-of. Cf. also _nata pairi_ given by v. d. -Sande for “skin,” with Mimika _pīgīri_, skin, which suggests that _nata -pairi_ means skin of something. - -_b._ The adjective follows the noun. Utanata _warari napetike_, water -big, river. - -_c._ A noun in the genitive relation precedes its substantive. Mimika -_bau mame_, leg’s eye, ankle; _iwau makarĕ_, belly’s band. Angadi -_mahare hehe_, finger nail; _māū hehe_, toe nail; _mirimoi ipa_, nose -hole, nostril; _ihani ipa_, hole in ear lobe; _ămore eme_, bow’s -rattan, bowstring. - -_d._ The subject precedes the verb. Angadi _jăū hinau-mara_, sun rises -(?), morning; _jăū emapojemia_, sun sets (?), evening. - -_e._ The object also precedes the verb. Angadi _ihani aimeri_, ear -pierce; _mirimoi aimeri_, nose pierce. - -These five points indicate a Papuan structure of the languages. - - -6. _Comparison with Merauke and the Languages of British New Guinea -West of the Fly River._ - -The Papuan languages usually show so few agreements in vocabulary that -the likeness of words, unless frequent, cannot be held to establish -relationship. In the comparative vocabulary, words and numerals are -added from the languages on British Territory.[39] These show a few -likenesses, which may, however, be accidental. - - - Arm. Mimika _to_, Dungerwab _tond_, Dabu _tang_, Miriam _tag_, Kiwai _tu_ - Arrow. Mimika _tiari_, Kiwai _tere_. - Arrow barb. Mimika _imari_, Kiwai _were_. - Basket. Mimika _temone_, Kunini _diba_, Jibu _dimba_, - Mimika _eta_, Kiwai _sito_, Mowata _hito_. - Bird. Mimika _pateru_, Bugi _pa_ (?), Dabu _papa_ (?). - Earth. Mimika _tiri_, Bangu _tiritari_. - Eat. Mimika _namuka_, Bangu _jamukwa_. - Elbow. Mimika _to-mame_, Mowata _tu-pape_. - Fire. Mimika _uta_, Miriam _ur_. - Forehead. Mimika _metar(re)_, Bangu _mithago_, Miriam _mat_. - Head. Mimika _kapane_, Bangu _kambu_. - Iron. Mimika _tau_, Dungerwab _tod_. - Nose. Mimika _birim_, Dabu _murung_, Saibai, Miriam _pit_. - Pig. Mimika _ap_, Meranke _sapi_. - Rat. Mimika _kemako_, Bugi _makata_, Saibai _makas_, Miriam _mokeis_. - Shore. Mimika _tiri_, Dungerwab _tredre_. - Sleep. Mimika _ete_, Bangu _ete-betha_, Dungerwab _eda-bel_, Miriam _ut-eid_. - Tree. Mimika _uti_, Kiwai _ota_. - - -IV. MALAYAN INFLUENCE ON THE SOUTH COAST OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA. - - -In a discussion of the languages of the south-eastern shores of -Netherlands New Guinea, the extent of Malay influence in that region -must be taken into account. Mr. William Churchill has lately put -forward a theory that the Polynesian people entered the Pacific not -only by coasting along the northern shores of New Guinea to the Solomon -Group, but also by a passage through Torres Straits, and thence along -the south-eastern coast of British New Guinea to the New Hebrides.[40] -On tracing the languages westward from Polynesia, it is an indisputable -fact that many words which are identical with Polynesian are found -in use along the shores of British New Guinea, though they are not -used in a Polynesian syntax, or in the simplified forms usual in the -Eastern tongues. It is also a fact that many of these same words are -current also in the western islands of Indonesia. For example, _hua_, -fruit; _ina_, mother; _lala_, blood; _lau_, leaf; _au_, I; _ruma_, -house; _inu_, drink; _utu_, louse; _tohu_, sugar cane, and many other -words are identical in the south-east of British New Guinea and in -Ceram. But in British New Guinea the languages which show likeness to -Polynesian end abruptly at Cape Possession, and are not found west -of that point.[41] Hence it becomes important to inquire how far the -similar tongues of Amboyna and Ceram have influenced the New Guinea -languages to the east of them. That there is such an influence is plain -from the vocabularies of the languages. Indonesian words, such as the -Onin (10) _kayu_, wood; _tanigan_, ear; _nifan_, tooth; _fenu_, turtle; -_mani_, bird; _afi_, fire, are of common occurrence in the islands of -the Arafura Sea, and on the coast of the mainland. But these words -are more common in the west, and gradually disappear towards Torres -Straits, and are not found beyond. In Rosenberg’s Karufa list (12) we -find such characteristically Indonesian words as _ulu_, hair; _mata_, -eye; _uhru_, mouth; _taruya_, ear; _nima_, hand; _ora_, sun; _uran_, -moon; _niyu_, coconut. Words of this kind are found also in Lobo (10) -and Namatote (13), as, for example, _wuran_, moon; _labi_, fire; -_nima_, hand; _nena_, mother; _rara_, blood; _metan_, black; _tobu_, -sugar cane; _wosa_, paddle; _matoran_, sit; _mariri_, stand. Some of -these words seem to have passed into Utanata (10) and Lakahia (13), and -apparently, though not so freely, into Wuaussirau (13), Mairassis (10), -and Mimika (14). The Kiruru vocabulary of Maclay does not appear to -show any words of this kind. The following are examples of Indonesian -or Ceram words in the Utanata-Mimika group of languages. - - Utanata _uran_, Lakahia _bura_, Mairassis _furan_, Mimika - _pura_, Ceram _wulana_, moon. The Angadi has also _pura_. - - Lakahia _bugura_, Wuaussirau _wara_, Mimika _pukare_, - Ceram _uhara_, mountain. Utanata has _pamogo_. - - Utanata _pō_, Lakahia _boa_, Mimika _poh_, Ceram _wosa_, - paddle. - - Utanata _kai_, Ceram _kai_, wood. For this the Mimika is - _uti_. - -A word of much interest in this region is _turika_ or _turi_. This is -given by Muller in his Ceram list as _turika_, knife, in Lobo _turi_, -Onin _tuni_. Maclay gives the Ceram (Keffing) as _turito_, Namatote and -Wuaussirau _turi_, also for “knife.” The word does not appear in Angadi -or in the list of Ekris (19). Though not apparently used in Merauke -_turik_ has travelled eastward as far as Torres Straits and the Fly -River, and even to the borders of the Papuan Gulf. Thus Bangu _turik_, -Dabu _turikata_, Sisiami (Bamu R.) _turuko_, and Tirio _turuko_ mean -“knife” (_i.e._ iron knife). In Bugi, Saibai, Mowata and Kiwai, -_turika_ and in Murray Island _tulik_ mean “iron.”[42] - -Dr. N. Adriani has pointed out some words adopted from Malay in Merauke -and also some apparent agreements between that language and Indonesian -languages generally,[43] but there is no evidence of any language from -Ceram having passed through the Torres Straits. Agreements between the -Merauke and Papuan languages to the east are also pointed out by Dr. -Adriani[44] but these are no evidence of the passage of a Polynesian -fleet, as they are not Polynesian words, and the languages using them -have no Polynesian syntax. Mr. Churchill’s theory of the Polynesian -entry into the Pacific by way of Torres Straits cannot therefore be -maintained. - - -V. A COMPARATIVE VOCABULARY OF LANGUAGES IN THE NORTH EAST AND SOUTH -EAST OF NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA AND OF BRITISH NEW GUINEA WEST OF THE -FLY RIVER. - -The following vocabulary is arranged strictly in Geographical order. -The North Eastern Languages follow from East to West, from Seka to -Manikion, and the South Eastern from Onin to the Boundary and thence -along the South Coast of British Territory to the Western or Right Bank -of the Fly River. - -The following authorities have been quoted:—[45] - - - 1. _Seka._ P. E. Moolenburg. Tijd. v. Indische Taal - xlvii. 1904. - - 2. _Jotafa_ [and _Sentani_ in ( )]. G. L. Bink in ibid. - xlv. 1902. - - 3. _Sentani._ P. E. Moolenburg. Bijdragen. t.d. Taal. Ned - Indië (7) v. 1906. - - 4. _Tanah Merah_, _Tarfia_, _Takar_, _Jamna_, _Masimasi_, - _Moar_ (i.e. _Wakde_) and _Kumamba_. G. G. Batten. - Glimpses of the Eastern Archipelago, 1894. - - 5. _Arimoa._ A. B. Meyer. Über die Mafoor’sche, 1874. - - 6. _Pauwi._ P. J. B. C. Robidé v. d. Aa. “Reisen van - Braam Morris.” Bijd. t.d. Taal. Ned. Indië. (4) x. 1885. - - 7. _Wamberan_, _Waropin_, _Mohr_, _Tandia_, _Dasener_, - _Jaur_. Fabritius. Tijd. v. Indische Taal. iv. 1885. - - 8. _Angadi_, _Goreda_, _Nagramadu_, _Manikion_. G. A. J. - v. d. Sande in “Nova Guinea.” Vol. III. 1907. - - 9. _Wandammen._ G. L. Bink. Tijd. v. Indische Taal. - xxxiv. 1891. - - 10. _Onin_, _Lobo_, _Mairassis_, _Utanata_. S. Muller. - Reisen, 1857. - - 11. _Kapaur._ C. J. F. le Cocq d’Armandville. Tijd. v. - Indische Taal. xlvi. 1903. - - 12. _Karufa._ H. v. Rosenberg. Der Malayische Archipel. - 1878. - - 13. _Namatote_, _Wuaussirau_, _Lakahia_, _Kiruru_. N. v. - Miklucho Maclay. Tijd. v. Indische Taal. xxiii. 1876. - - 14. _Mimika._ MS. Dr. A. F. R. Wollaston. - - 15. _Merauke._ J. Seijne Kok. Verband. v. h. Batav. - Genootsch. v. Kunsten lvi. 1906. - - 16. _Bangu_, _Bugi_, _Dabu_, _Mowata_, _Kunini_, - _Jibu_, _Tagota_. Reports of Cambridge Anthropological - Expedition. Vol. III. 1907. - - 17. _Parb_, _Saibai_, _Kiwai_, and _Tirio_. MSS. S. H. - Ray. - - 18. _Nufor._ J. L. v. Hasselt. Hollandsch. Noefoorsch - Woordenboek, 1876. - - 19. _Ceram._ A. v. Ekris. Woordenlijst v. Ambonsche - Eilanden. Mededeel. v. h. Ned. Zendings Genoots, viii. - 1864-65. - - 20. _Tuburuasa_, _Karas_. (_Islands between Ceram and - Onin._) P. J. B. C. Robidé v. d. Aa. Reisen naar Ned. - Nieuw-Guinea, 1879. - - -COMPARATIVE VOCABULARY. - - - ———————————+——————————————+————————————————-+——————————+———————————————+—————————————— - | Man. | Woman. | Head. | Eye. | Ear. - | Man. | Vrouw. | Hoofd. | Oog. | Oor. - ———————————+——————————————+—————————————————+——————————+———————————————+—————————————— - Seka | ... | ... | subi | rutja | re - Jotafa | tante | moi | rabunadu | windu | tĕni - Sentani | doh | mī | farem, | yŏrå, (yeroh | anggei, - | | | (panem | | (angei - Arimoa | kabun | ... | dabro | masamana | seroro - | (_white_) | | | | - Pauwi | maomba | nedba | ... | kikia | knĭperemba - Angadi | were | kauwă | rupau | măme | ihani - Nagramadu | ... | ... | yabimă | ... | ehăra - Wandammen | mua | babien | rupai | rĕne | tatelajau - ———————————+——————————————+—————————————————+——————————+———————————————+—————————————— - Onin |marara | matapais | onimpatin| matapatin | tanigan - Kapaur | neméhār | tombŏhār | kenda | kendep | per - Karufa | mutangki | maisoida | umuh | mata | taringa - Namatote | murwana | merwine | umu | matatungu | zingangu - Lobo | marowana | mawina | monongo, | matalongo | tringango - | | | umun | | - Mairassis | fatakowa | ewei | nanguwu | nambutu | newirana - Wuaussirau | taturobu | ewei | kotera | obiatu | obiru - Lakahia | odacira | yama | uwua | managa | yawana - Kiruru | ... | ... | ... | ... | yawatsha - Utanata | marowana | kuranī | upauw | mameh | ianī - Mimika | uweri | kaukwa, | kapane | mame | ene - | | aina | | | - Merauke | amnangga | bubtī, savĕ, | pa | kīndĕ | kambīt - | | īsus(?) iwogĕ | | | - Bangu | ... | ... | kambu | ti | taroba, tarup - Parb | ar | temarb | mor | taramb | tongal - Bugi | la | mala | beneqet | kalye | laandra - Dabu | rabu | mure | bunkut | ikapa | ran, ika - Saibai | garakazi | ipökazi | kuikö | dan, purka | kaura - Mowata | auana | orobo | epuru | damari | hepate, gare - Kunini | binam, ima | magebi, ule | mope | ireu | tablame - Jibu | vientete,rega| konga | mopu | yere | yekrom - Kiwai | dubu | orobo | epuru | damari | sepate, gare - Tirio | amiami | kinasu | yapuru | pariti | pamata - Tagota | ... | moream | kana | pari | tuap - ———————————+——————————————+—————————————————+——————————+———————————————+—————————————— - Nufōr | snun | bien | rewuri | mgasi | knasi - Ceram | malona, | mahina, | uru, ulu | mata, maa | tarina, talina - | mandai, | bina, leuto, | | | - | makwai, | pepina | | | - | manawal | | | | - Tuburuasa | maruana | mapata | unīn | matanpuon | taningan - Karas | kianam | paas | nakalun | kangiri | kulokeim - ———————————+——————————————+————————————————-+——————————+———————————————+—————————————— - - ———————————+——————————————+————————————————-+————————————+———————————————+———————————— - | Nose. | Tongue. | Tooth. | Hand. | Sun. - | Neus. | Tong. | Tand. | Hand. | Zon. - ———————————+——————————————+—————————————————+————————————+———————————————+——————————-— - Seka | hā | ... | ... | na (nabērā, | ... - | | | | _arm_) | - Jotafa | su | meriki | ñoh | tibimi | tap - Sentani | yoi | fēuw | je, (tje | megeragera, | su - | | | | (posadi | - Arimoa | sirino | mataro | umata | ... | ... - Pauwi | kimparia | kimsiba | kabrua |kibawia (_arm_)| tebia - Angadi | mirimoi | mere | titi | mahare | yăū - Nagramadu | ... | yămănărai | si | ... | ... - Wandammen | swŏnê | taperê | derĕnesi | waraba | wor - ———————————+——————————————+—————————————————+————————————+———————————————+——————————-— - Onin | wirin | eri | nifan | nemien | rera - Kapaur | kănomba, | gengabu | mĕhien-tāb | tān | kĕmina - | kănunga | | | | - Karufa | sikai | ... | ... | nimang-uta | ohra - Namatote | iyaongu | yaeiyongu | zwiutiongu | siŭsiongu | oro-matawuti - Lobo | sikaiongo | kariongo | ruwotongo | nimango-uta | orah - Mairassis | nambi | nenegun | sika | okorwita | onguru - Wuaussirau | ombi | onsabi | oras | uadu | unguru - Lakahia | onoma | mara | ifa | esurua | aya - Kiruru | unuga | ... | uru | ... | yauburawa - Utanata | birimbu | mare | titi | mareh | dyauw - Mimika | bīrim | malī | titi | marĕ | yau - Merauke | anggīp | unum | manggat | sangga | katŏnī - Bangu | ... | thamina | ter | tambia | epotha - Parb | mebele | penji | tol | tond | abiard - Bugi | wede | dangamai | lenge | trang-qab | yabada - Dabu | murung | dogmar | ngui, ngoia| tang-kor | yabada - Saibai | piti | nöi | dang | get | goiga - Mowata | wodi | watotorope | ibuanara | tu-pata | - | | | | (_palm_) | iwio - Kunini | keke | weta | giriu | imwe | bimu - Jibu | soku | vrate | orkak | yema | loma - Kiwai | wodi | wototorope | iawa | tu-pata | - | | | | (_palm_) | sai - Tirio | norose | ima | sū | tikiri | uainea - Tagota | miu | uo | kam | ... | dari - ———————————+——————————————+—————————————————+————————————+———————————————+——————————-— - Nufōr | snŏri | kaprēndi | nasi | rwasi | ori - Ceram | hiru, inu, | mei, mē, mā | niki, niri,| rima, lima, | rematai, - | ninu, ili | | nityi, nio | barau | leamatai, - | | | | | leamanyo, - | | | | | deamatae - Tuburuasa | nirīng | kwēri | ... | tangan | nera - Karas | bustang | belein | ... | taan | ïōn - ———————————+—————————————-+—————————————————+————————————+———————————————+——————————-— - - - ———————————+———————————————+——————————————————+————————————-+————————————-+———————————— - | Moon. | Star. | Rain. | Stone. | Fire. - | Maan. | Ster. | Regen. | Steen. | Vuur. - ———————————+——————————————-+——————————————————+—————————————+—————————————+———————————— - Seka | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... - Jotafa | sembi | endor | tāb | āt | aijări - Sentani | ara, (aroh | ... | (ya | tuga, (duwa | ī - Arimoa | ... | ... | ... | fati | ... - Pauwi | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... - Angadi | pură | ... | kehe | ... | ută-mai - Nagramadu | ... | ... | emoya | ... | uhă - Wandammen | sembai | siberere | rama | rebuki | adia, adyat - ———————————+——————————————-+——————————————————+————————————-+—————————————+———————————— - Onin | punono | apatin-no-farere | unano | pāti | api - Kapaur | koba, keba, | mbāb | kĕri | wār | tōm - | kabah | | | | - Karufa | uran | ŏma | kama | langerah | lawi - Namatote | wuran | omoma | omo | ... | labi - Lobo | furan | komakoma | komah | ... | lawi - Mairassis | furan | waniwani | yamo | ... | iworo - Wuaussirau | angane | onburi | yamu | ... | iworo - Lakahia | bura | mawena | gefa | ... | ŭsia - Kiruru | ... | imaru | kē | ... | uta - Utanata | uran | ... | koma | ... | uta - Mimika | pura | mako | ke | omanī | uta - Merauke | mandau | ovom, uvum | heĕ | katarĕ | takavĕ - Bangu | ... | ... | narunjar | tan | meni - Parb | tugiu | ... | nou | ... | pend - Bugi | kak | qatai | yugula | dader | iu - Dabu | qar, qak | piro | igurai | dadar | yu, dumbrel - Saibai | mulpal, kizai | titui | ari | kula | mui - Mowata | ganume | zogubo | wiari | nora-api | era - Kunini | mabie | wale | ngupe | magezuli | muie - Jibu | mobi | guje | piro | nora | para - Kiwai | sagana | gugi | mauburo, | kuraere | era - | | | wisai | | - Tirio | korame | apapa | iōuko | kuma | suze - Tagota | mano | durupa | ... | tamaga | jau - ———————————+———————————————+——————————————————+—————————————+—————————————+———————————— - Nufōr | paik | ătaruwa, | mĕkem, | kĕru | fōr - | | samfari | miun | | - Ceram | huran, ulano, | marit, kolomali, | uran, ulan, | hatu, batu | hau, au - | buran | kamali, umalio | kial | | - Tuburuasa | puna | finma | unang | pati | lawi - Karas | pak | masseer | kekal | jaar | dien - ———————————+———————————————+——————————————————+—————————————+————————————-+———————————— - - - ———————————+————————————+———————————+——————————+——————————————+——————————— - | Water. | Pig. | Fish. | Coconut. | House. - | Water. | Varken. | Visch. | Kokos-noot. | Huis. - ———————————+————————————+——————————-+——————————+——————————————+——————————— - Seka | ... | ... | ... | ... | pā - Jotafa | nanu | por | igeh | nīno | duma - Sentani | bu | (yoku | ka | koh | ime - Arimoa | dano | ... | ... | niwi | ... - Pauwi | memba | ... | ... | ... | hŭsia - Angadi | mi | ŏhŏ | ireă | utiri | kãme - Nagramadu | ... | ŏhă | ... | măgrabe | ya - Wandammen | kambu | pisai | diya | ankadi | anio - ———————————+————————————+———————————+——————————+——————————————+—————————— - Onin | weari | papio | sairi | ruroh | rumaso - Kapaur | kĕra | ndur, | heir | no’ur | wuri - | | kalapaji,| | | - | | măma | | | - Karufa | ualar | ... | dohndi | niyu | tsaring - Namatote | wălar | boi | dondi | niu (?) | sarin - Lobo | walar | bōi | donde | niu | sarin - Mairassis | wata | bemba | kuratu | owah | watara - Wuaussirau | kai | wembe | kuratu | obo | wata - Lakahia | mura | ufa | nema | wuina | yafa - Kiruru | mi | ... | ... | ... | ... - Utanata | warari | uh | erika | uteri | kami - Mimika | mbi, mbu | u, api | irĕka | utēri | kamĕ - | | | | | - Merauke | daka | basikĕ | pararĕ, | misĕ, | sava, aha - | | | parara | onggat, | - | | | | wīmap | - Bangu | tauqar | rougu | thaua | nangar | boot, munka - Parb | nou | kimb | angur | argh, kwogh, | mongo - | | | | keu | - Bugi | ngi | simbel | galba | nge | māē - Dabu | ine | mule, | pudi | ngoi, guvi | ma - | | chimela, | | | - | | sasa | | | - Saibai | nguki | burum | wapi | urab | mud - Mowata | obo | boromo | arimina | oi | moto - Kunini | nīe | blome | ibu | ia | mete - Jibu | nia | woroma | waji | u | meta - Kiwai | obo | boromo | irisina | oi | moto - Tirio | opa | sepera | kopoma | sapu-mutira | turie - Tagota | mauka | minao | ... | ... | ... - ———————————+————————————+———————————+——————————+——————————————+——————————— - Nufōr | wār | beyen | iyen | srabon | rum - Ceram | waer, wael,| hahu, apal| ian, iano| niwer, niwel,| ruma, luma - | kwael | | | nimel, | - | | | | nikwel, | - | | | | noolo | - Tuburuasa | wêre | ... | se | ... | kapalla - Karas | pere | ... | soor | ... | kawe - ———————————+————————————+———————————+——————————+—————————————-+——————————— - - -COMPARATIVE VOCABULARY, NUMERALS. - - - ———————————+——————————————————+————————————————+——————————————————+————————————-————— - | One. Een. | Two. Twee. | Three. Drie. | Four. Vier. - ———————————+——————————————————+————————————————+——————————————————+————————————-————— - Seka | ahi (ari?) | hitjun | hetun | nabu - Jotafa | the | ros | for | au - Sentani | imbai | be | name | gŭri - Tana Merah | ogosarai | saibona | ondoafi | soronto - Tarfia | tukse | arho | tor | fauk - Takar | afateni | nawa | nawa-jengki | nawa-nawa - Jamna | tes | ru | tau | fau - Masimasi | kīs | ru | tou | fo - Moar | hibeti | ru | tou | fau - Kumamba | tès | lu | taur | fau - Pauwi | pa-sari | pa-ri | pa-rosi | pa-rasi - Wamberan | tenama | bisa | ... | ... - Waropin | wo-sio | wo-ruo | wo-ro | wo-ako - Mohr | tata | ruru | oro | ao - Angadi | janăūwă | jăminatia | jaminati-janăūwă | awaitămă-jaminatia - Goreda | unakwa | jămanini | ... | ... - Nagramadu | nadi | ăbåmă | ăbåmă-nadi | ăbåmŏ-båmŏ - Tandia | nei | rusi | turusi | attesi - Dasener | joser | suru | toru | ati - Jaur | rebe | redu | reü | rea - Wandammen | siri | mondu | tŏru | atê - Manikion | hom | hŏai | homoi | hŏku - ———————————+——————————————————+————————————————+——————————————————+————————————-————— - Onin | sa | nuwa | teni | fāt - Kapauer | hĕre-wo | hĕre-rīk | hĕre-terī | hère-ngara - Karufa | simoksi | rueiti | tohru | bahdi - Namatote | samosi | rueiti | toru | fāt - Lobo | samosi | rueti | tuwru | fāt - Mairassis | tangauw | amōi | karia | āi - Wuaussirau | anau | amoi | karia | aiwera - Lakahia | onarawa | aboma | torua | fāt - Mimika | inakwa | yamani | yamani-īnakwa | ama-yamani - Merauke | zakod | iena | iena-zakod | iena-iena - Bangu | nambu, nambi | yethombi, | yetho | asar - | | kethembi | | - Parb | ambiur | tumbi | lambi | tutubiar - Bugi | tarangesa | metakina | gingi-metakina | topea - Dabu | tupi-dibi | kumi-rivi | kumi-reriga | kumi-rivi-kumi-rivi - Saibai | wara, urapon | uka, ukasar | uka-modobigal | uka-uka - Mowata | nau | netoa | ... | ... - Kunini | iepa | neneni | nesae | neneni-neneni - Jibu | yepa | kuraiepa | kuraiepa | kuraiepa - | | (_finger_) | | - Kiwai | nau | netewa | netewa-nau | netewa-netewa - Tirio | oroka | miseka | misorako | miseka-miseka - Tagota | uradaga | mitiga | nan | mitiga-mitiga - ———————————+——————————————————+————————————————+——————————————————+——————————————-——— - Nufōr | sai, ŏsēr | dui, suru | kior | fiak - Ceram | isa, sā | rua, lua, dua, | teru, telu, tolu,| haa, hata, ata, - | | roti | toru | fāt - ———————————+——————————————————+————————————————+——————————————————+—————————————-———— - - - ———————————+—————————————————————+————————————————————+—————————————————————+————————————————— - | Five. Vijf. | Six. Zes. | Ten. Tien. | Twenty. Twintig. - ———————————+—————————————————————+————————————————————+—————————————————————+————————————————— - Seka | naplan | naplahi | amplahari | amplanaplan - Jotafa | mimiām | măndŏsīm | ronduminarōs | manisayām - Sentani | mehembai | mehinimbai | mehinmehembai | megohri - Tana Merah | ogosarai | demean | ... | ... - Tarfia | rim | mana-tuksi | mafarufaru | ... - Takar | nawa-nawa-jengki | ... | ... | ... - Jamna | jim, rim | ... | sinafui | ... - Masimasi | rim | ... | sanafu | ... - Moar | rim | ... | ... | ... - Kumamba | lim | ... | sanafun | ... - Pauwi | pa-rinisi | ponensi | putaonsi | ... - Wamberan | ... | ... | ... | ... - Waropin | rimo | ... | ... | ... - Mohr | rimo | ... | ... | ... - Angadi | măhărè-ajăhe-rauri | măhărè-jană-ūwă | măhăre-jămi-natia | ... - Goreda | mahère-hèrori | ... | tăóru | ... - Nagramadu | măma-riba | mariba-nadi | măma-răbåmă | ... - Tandia | marasi | ... | ... | ... - Dasener | rimbi | ... | ... | ... - Jaur | breiare | ... | ... | ... - Wandammen | rīm | rīmi-siri | sura | snun-tupesi - Manikion | sirkem | ... | ... | ... - ———————————+—————————————————————+————————————————————+—————————————————————+————————————————— - Onin | nima | nem | pusua | puti-nuwa - Kapauer | hĕre-tembu | here-tembu-here-wo | pra’a | to mdijowo - Karufa | rimi | rom-simoksi | putja | siúmput-rueiti - Namatote | rim | rim-samoti | futsa | ombutueti - Lobo | rimi | rim-samosi | wutsya | sekumat-rueti - Mairassis | iworo | iwora-mōi (? 7) | werowa-moi | yauw-nat-makia - Wuaussirau | iworo | iwor-tanau | iwor-toki-tani | toki-amoi - Lakahia | rim | rim-onarawa | ... | ... - Mimika | ... | ... | ... | ... - Merauke | iena-iena-zakod | ... | ... | ... - Bangu | tambothoi | nimbo | ... | ... - Parb | tumbi-tumbi-yambia | ... | ... | ... - Bugi | manda | gaben | dala | ... - Dabu | tumu | ... | ... | ... - Saibai | ... | ... | ... | ... - Mowata | ... | ... | ... | ... - Kunini | imegube | matemate (_wrist_) | dare (_breast_) | ... - Jibu | kuraiepa | ribenda (_wrist_) | mua (_breast_) | ... - Kiwai | ... | ... | ... | ... - Tirio | miseka-miseka-oroka | ... | ... | ... - Tagota | uradaga (?) | moti-taba-nan | moti-tatan | ... - Nufōr | rīm | onem | samfur | samfur-di-suru - Ceram | rima, lima, dima | nē, nena, nō, onam | husane, husā, | huturua - | | | utsya | - ———————————+—————————————————————+————————————————————+—————————————————————+————————————————— - - -[Illustration: LANGUAGE MAP - -of the Eastern Part of Netherlands New Guinea - -Sidney H. Ray] - -LIST OF WORDS USED BY THE PAPUANS IN THE DISTRICT OF THE MIMIKA RIVER, -S. W. DUTCH NEW GUINEA. - - - Above Opo - - {Tite - Acid {Imakemàn - - Animal Irĕka (also - “fish”) - - Ankle Bau-mámĕ - - Ant Wámé - - Arm {To-marī - {To - - Arm-band Maka-rĕ - - Arrive Mainaumà - - Arrow Tīari - (barb of) Imari - - Atap Wurī - - Axilla Emmabu - - - Back (of man) Ata - - Bamboo Búiti - - Banana Kau - (plantation of) Kauti - - Band (of rattan worn - round middle) Iwau-mákarĕ - - Bandicoot Púruga - - Bark (of tree) Pīkī - - Basket {Temme - {Eta - - Beads Kamburi - - Bean Kawetī - - {Keparise - {Kepa bíri - Beard {Burídi - {Pakúti - - Bed (mat) Kápiri - - Bee Imoho - - Beetle Buruta - - Belch Mbau - - Belly Iwau - - Big {Atwa - {Iwáko - - Bird {Páteru - {Páturu - (of Paradise {Yamuku - {Yau - - Bitter {Tite - {Imakemàn - - Black Ikako - - Blood Maréte - - Blunt Yamenà - - Boat Ku - - Bodice (of woven fibre) Paitĕ - - Body Nata - - Bottle Kárepa - - Bow Amúri - - Bow-string Kima - - Breast (of woman) Auwĕ - (of man) Pītī - - Breathe Túa - - Broken Táka - - Butterfly Wīrī - - Buttock Atabú - - - Calf (of leg) Ewambugu - - Canoe Ku - - Cap (worn by widows) Ubauta - - Carve (to) Maramu - - Cassowary Tu - - Centipede Arowī - - Coconut Utēri - - Cheek Awár(re) - - Child Aidru - - Chin Kepáre - - Cicada Wéako - - Cloth Pīkī - - Club Moánne - - Clouds Apu - - Cockatoo Pukī - - Cold Yu - - Comb Ta - - Copulate Ipĕ - - Cough Otah - - {Peja - Crab {Epor(re) - {Bī - - Crayfish Bĭ - - Crocodile Tīmaku - - Cry (weep) Mbágĕ - - Cut (to) Embe - - Cuscus (Phalanger) Apui - - - Dance Dirin-dirin - - Deep Emúku - - Dog Wīrī - - Drink Tomagu - - Drum Emmĕ - - - Ear Éne - - Ear-ring Tīrawōnĕ - - Earth (sand) Tīrī - - Eat Namúka - - Eel Mbatarúbia - - Egg Tareté - - Elbow To-mámé - - Exchange Akóra - - Eye Mámé - - Eyebrow Mambīrī - - - Far Awakopíre - - Fat Atwa - - Feather Idī - - Finger Márĕ - - Finger-nail Marē - - Fire Utá - (stick) Utamau - - Fish Irĕka - - Flower (orchid) Idarōnĕ - - Fly (insect) Oboö - - Flying-fox Iéa - - Foot Bauwe - - Forehead Métár(re) - - - Ghost Níniki - - Give Kéma - - Grass Umetir(re) - - Grasshopper Atŏkŏ - - Green Otopu - - - Hair Vīrī - - Hand Marĕ - - He Amárepa - - Head Kapa-uĕ - - Heavy Ikīti - - Heel Mbautep(e) - - His Amareta - - Hiccough Urri - - Hornbill Kumai - - Hornet Imŏkŏ - - House Kámĕ - - - I Doro - - Ill Namúti - - Image (carved) Betoro - - Iron Tau - - - Knee Irību - - - Lance Uruna - - Laugh Oko - - Leaf E - - Leg Atīrī - - Lightning Marapiti - - Lips Irī - - Little Mimiti - - Lizard Inamo - - Lizard (frilled) Wago - - Loins Yaïmi - - - Man Uweri - - Many Tákiri - - Mat (of pandanus) Au - - Melon Anĕtĕ - - Mine Dorota - - Moon Pura - - Mosquito Itjī - - Mountain Púkare - - Mouth Ba - - Moustache Mbu-tīrĭ - - - Navel Boporĕ - - Neck Ima - - New Aigu - - Nod Kiparu - - Nose Bīrim - (secretion of) Bīndī - - - Old man of village Natu - - One Inakwa - - Orchid Idarōnĕ - - Other Awaida - - Other man Wehwaida - - Other man’s Wehwaidata - - - Paddle Poh - - Palate Tībanne - - Papaya Tĕnà - - Parrot Akīma - - Pearl Omab(e) - - Penis Kamàrē - (case) Kamare-po(ko) - - Pig {U - {Api - - Pigeon Parúa - - Pillow (wooden) Yamate - - Pine-apple Makadĕtĕ - - Prawn Mbi - - Pumpkin Nabru - - Python Pīmī - - - Rain Ke - - Rainbow Parakĕta - - Rapids Kamáwa - - Rat Kemako - - Rattan Kima - - Red Epĕró - - Ribs Párĕrŏ - - Rice Wátē - - Ripe Pu - - River Iuata - - Road (track) Mako - - Rope Temmà - - - Sacrum Wagamau(e) - - Sago Amŏta - (beater) Wapúri - - Sago-bowl Pámagu - - Sap Namī - - Scorpion Purumbaä - - Sea Takarī - - Shallow Taparī - - Sharp Yánakŏ - - Shell Parau - - Shell-fish Uwo - - Shin Imbīrī - - Shore Tīrī - - Shoulder Ta-rī - - Shoulder-blade To-bābŭ - - Skin Pīgerī - - Skull Upau - - Sleep Eté - - Snail Tapoko - - Snake Apako - - Sneeze Yaiē - - Spear Uruna - (wooden) Potaku - - Spit Mbatau - - Star Mako - - Steal Otemu - - Stick (of club) Wu - - Sting-ray Kaū - - Stone Omanī - - Suck Au - - Sugar-cane Mŏnī - - Sun Yau - - Sweat Papitī - - Sweet potato Pamu - - Swim Tīmago - - - Tear (a) Bágumbú - - Thigh I - - Throat Kīmárĭ - - Thumb } Ipau - Great Toe} - - Thunder Uraki - - Tired Toh - - Tobacco Kapakī - - To-day Wauwà - - Toes Bauwē - - To-morrow Kaúmuta - - Tongue Malī - - Tooth Tītī - - Tree Uti - - Turtle Mbiambu - - Two Yamani - - - Upset Pīro - - - Viper Mágu - - Vomit Mbau - - - Water Mbi - Mbu - (make) Gīgī - - Wet Nata - - Whistle Wiramogo - - White Naputiàre - - Wind Kīmīr(e) - - Woman Kaukwa - Aina - - Wound Natŭ - - Wrist Marapŭmĕ - - - Yawn Mbápoh - - Yellow Taier(re) - - You Oro - - Your Orota - - - - -INDEX - - - - A - - Acton, Lord, 2 - - Albinos, 110 - - Alcohol, 68 - - Amberno River, 24 - - Amboina, 14, 257; - communication with, 209; - inhabitants of, 17; - market at, 17 - - Ambonese coolies, 50 - - Ambonese, dress of, 17; - names of, 17 - - _Amok_, 185 - - Arafura Sea, 19, 35 - - Arfak Mountains, 23 - - Arrows, 151 - - Aru Islands, 19 - - _Atap_, method of making, 60 - - Atuka River, 248 - - Atjeh, 92 - - - B - - Balfour, H., 202 - - Bali, 259 - - Bamboo, throwing lime from, 219 - - Banana, 17, 88 - - Banda, 16, 19, 257 - - Batavia, 3; - washing in, 9 - - Bees, stingless honey-, 76 - - Beetles, as food, 124; - larva of, 156 - - Beri-beri, 66, 193 - - Bird of Paradise, 74, 142, 159, 178, 227, 261 - - Birds, collection of, 241 - - Boat-builders, 225 - - Boni, 14 - - Bonnets of widows, 115 - - Borneo, 21 - - Boro-Boder, 11 - - Botanic station at Merauke, 224 - - Bougainville, de, 31 - - Bows, 151 - - Bridge, building a, 235 - - British New Guinea, 22 - - British Ornithologists’ Union, 1 - - Brush Turkey, 76 - - Buddhist Temples, 11 - - Buitenzorg garden, 10 - - Buleling, 258 - - Butonese, 170 - - Butterflies, 16 - - - C - - Camp, health of, 58; - repairing, 188 - - Cannibalism, 127 - - Canoes, 219; - building of, 53; - description of, 53; - method of paddling, 36; - the price of, 55 - - Carstensz, Mt., 23, 44, 181, 212 - - Carstensz, Jan, 28, 221 - - Cape York, 28, 32 - - Carteret, Philip, 31 - - Cassowaries, 200, 214 - - Cassowary, 125, 241 - - Casuarina trees, 42 - - Cat’s cradle, 147 - - Celebes, 14 - - Celebes Trading Company, 20 - - Ceram, 14 - - Ceremonies, 131 - - Charles Louis Mountains, 23, 35, 44 - - Chief, 128 - - Children, games of, 117 - - Chinese, 17, 223, 225 - - Christians at Amboina, 17 - - Cicatrisation, 112 - - Clothing of Dutch, 9; - of natives, 113 - - Clouds on mountains, 45 - - Clubs, Dutch, 18; - stoneheaded, 149; - wooden, 148 - - Coal, 241 - - Coast, description of, 42; - navigation of, 249 - - Coconuts, 98, 223 - - Comet, Halley’s, 81 - - Convicts, 13, 93; - madness of, 215 - - Cook, Captain, 31, 219 - - Coolies, 15, 170, 227; - Ambonese, 50; - failure of, 231; - feebleness of, 51; - sickness of, 184 - - Corals, 16 - - Counting, 104 - - Cramer, H. A., 3, 13, 41, 46, 57, 92, 102, 231, 258 - - Crickets, a plague of, 59 - - Crocodiles, 75 - - Crowned pigeon, 74 - - Crows, pale, 77 - - Cultivation, 88; - in Java, 5 - - - D - - Daggers of bone, 203 - - d’Albertis, 33 - - Dampier, Captain, 31, 123 - - Dancing, 143; - houses, 143 - - Darwin, Mt. Leonard, 239 - - Dayaks, 172, 194; - arrival of, 253; - industry of, 214 - - Dead, disposal of, 137-140 - - Death, 136 - - Digoel River, 24 - - Disease, 205 - - Djokjakarta, 11 - - Dobo, 19, 257 - - Dog, Papuan, 126 - - Dorei, 22 - - Drawing, 145 - - Drowning of sailor, 170 - - Drums, 141 - - Ducks, penguin, 11; - perching in trees, 86 - - Dugongs, 212 - - Dumas, J. M., 212 - - Dumas, Mr., 44 - - Dutch, Government, 3, 257; - food of, 7; - house of, 8; - habits of, 9; - tree-planting by, 15; - hospitality of, 18; - rule in New Guinea, 23; - explorations of, 28; - East India Company, 31; - Expeditions, 213, 216 - - - E - - Earthquake at Amboina, 15 - - Effigies, carved, 131 - - _Endeavour_, voyage of, 31 - - Escort, 3, 13 - - Expedition, members of, 2; - leave Java, 13 - - - F - - Fak-fak, 224 - - Families, 129 - - Festival, 134 - - Fiji, 24 - - Fire, 152 - - Fire-making, 200 - - Fish, many coloured, 16 - - Fishing-net, 120 - - Flies, a plague of, 58; - on water, 76 - - Flint knives, 200 - - Flood, 132, 156, 173, 178, 189 - - Flores, 24 - - Flowers, 206, 242 - - Fly River, 33, 42 - - Food of natives, 119, 124 - - Forbes, H. O., 33 - - Forest, 242-245 - - Fortnum and Mason, 68 - - Frogmouth, 77 - - - G - - Garden at Amboina, 16 - - Garoet, 11 - - Geographical Society, Royal, 2 - - German New Guinea, 22 - - Ghosts, 133 - - Goa, Raja of, 14 - - Godman, F. D., 1 - - Godman, Mt., 239 - - Goodfellow, W., 2, 142, 167, 170, 172, 195 - - Grant, C. H. B., 194, 231, 241 - - Grant, W. R. Ogilvie, 1 - - Grey, Sir E., 2 - - Guillemard, 38 - - Gurkhas, 3, 156, 160, 171, 179, 194, 233 - - - H - - Habbema, Lieut., 169 - - Half-castes, 6, 223 - - Halley’s Comet, 81 - - Head-rests, 152 - - Herwerden, Captain, 13 - - Hindu Temple, 259 - - Hornbills, 86 - - Houses of the natives, 96; - in trees, 217; - communal, 218 - - Humboldt Bay, 33 - - - I - - _Ibis_, 1 - - Iguanas, 75 - - Intoxication of natives, 99 - - Incense, smell of, 238 - - Island River, Dutch Expedition, 60; - description of, 216 - - Iwaka River, 231 - - - J - - Java, prosperity of, 5; - half-castes in, 6 - - Javanese soldiers, 62 - - Jew’s harp, 203 - - Jungle, clearing the, 46 - - - K - - Kaiserin Augusta River, 24, 28 - - Kalff, Mr. E., 227 - - Kamura River, 175, 248 - - Kapare River, 82 - - Ké Islands, 15, 51, 257; - natives of, 225 - - Kingfishers, 59 - - Kloss, C. B., 253 - - Kolff, 220 - - Kris, abolition of, 7 - - - L - - Language, difficulty of, 103 - - La Perouse, 32 - - _La Seyne_, wreck of, 3 - - Leeches, 177 - - Le Maire, Jacques, 28 - - Lombok, 258 - - Lorentz, H. A., 2, 13, 33, 34, 169, 172, 241 - - Lories, 75 - - - M - - Macassar, 14 - - MacCluer Gulf, 42 - - MacCluer, John, 32 - - Macgregor, Sir W., 33 - - Malays, 185; - food of, 65; - music of, 143 - - Mangrove, 42 - - Marianne Strait, 220 - - Marriage, 116 - - Marshall, E. S., 2, 80, 82, 133, 175, 185, 231 - - Medical treatment, 167 - - Meek, Mr., 213 - - Megapode, 77 - - Meneses, Don Torge de, 27 - - Merauke, 31, 37, 222; - communication with, 209; - natives of, 226 - - Mimika, first voyage on, 39; - description of, 40, 71; - water of, 40; - tides on the, 57; - obstacles in, 78 - - Mission at Dorei, 22 - - Missions, 154 - - Mosquitoes, 211, 223 - - Motor-boat, 52, 173, 248 - - Murderer, 13, 186 - - Music, 141 - - - N - - Natives, trading with, 61; - communicating with, 84, 102; - dislike of rain, 84; - migrations of, 95; - drink of, 99; - language of, 102, Appendix C; - description of, 109; - height of, 112; - clothing of, 113; - age of, 115; - food of, 119, 120; - social system of, 128; - property of, 129; - music of, 141; - dancing of, 143; - as artists, 145; - mock sorrow of, 247; - quarrels of, 148; - as marksmen, 151; - health of, 153; - as carriers, 158; - our relations with, 163; - as thieves, 165 - - Naturalists, explorations by, 32 - - New Guinea, position of, 21; - size of, 21; - mountains of, 23; - natives of, 24; - discovery of, 26; - name of, 27; - recent explorations of, 33; - first sight of, 35; - shore of, 36; - lack of food, 65; - rivers of, 24, 83, 181; - departure from, 257 - - Newton, Professor Alfred, 1 - - _Nias_, 13, 35 - - Nimé, dancing house at, 252 - - Noord River, 2, 13, 33, 34 - - Nouhuys, J. W. van, 169 - - Numerals, 104 - - - O - - Obota, 83 - - Ogilvie-Grant, W. R., 1 - - - P - - Palm, coconut, 98 - - Pandanus, 10, 243 - - Papua, 22; - meaning of, 25 - - Papuans, description of, 25, 109; - behavior of, 37; - dress of, 37, 113; - apathy of, 38, 45; - asleep, 39; - dancing, 41, 143; - as traders, 45; - communicating with, 84; - dislike of rain, 84; - food of, 91; - migrations of, 95; - drink of, 99; - language of, 102, Appendix C; - height of, 112; - age of, 115; - social system of, 128; - property of, 129; - music of, 141; - as artists, 145; - quarrels of, 148; - as marksmen, 151; - health of, 153 - - Paradise, bird of, 74, 142 - - Parimau, arrival at, 56, 155; - departure from, 247 - - Payment of natives, 163 - - Peace-offering, 166 - - Pearls, 20 - - Pearl-shell, 20 - - Penguin ducks, 11 - - Periepia, 85 - - Petroleum, 241 - - Pickles, 68 - - Pig, 125, 133-136 - - Pigeons, crowned, 31, 74 - - Pineapples, 101 - - Plants, 231 - - Plants at Buitenzorg, 10 - - Ponies, 259 - - Pool, Thomas, 30 - - Port Moresby, natives of, 213 - - Portuguese, remains of, 17; - navigators, 27 - - Precipice, 239 - - Prince Frederick Henry Island, 220 - - Propeller, loss of, 250 - - Provisions, storing of, 66; - packing of, 68; - depôt of, 176 - - Pygmies, discovery of, 157; - visit to, 159; - dress of, 161; - description of, 161, 197; - voices of, 162; - visit Parimau, 196; - measurements of, 197, Appendix B; - ornaments of, 199; - possessions of, 199; - methods of smoking, 202; - village of, 203; - houses of, 205; - women of, 206; - intelligence of, 207; - distribution of, 208 - - - R - - Races, mixture of, 6; - harmony of, 19 - - Raffles, Sir Stamford, 5, 10 - - Rain, 79 - - Rattan, 243 - - Rawling, C. G., 2, 82, 156, 174-5, 195, 219, 248 - - Relationship, 105 - - Reptiles, 168 - - Retes, Ynigo Ortiz de, 27 - - Rice, 65; - cultivation in Java, 5 - - Rifle bird, 159 - - Rijst-tafel, 7 - - Rivers, branching, 83; - crossing, 236; - in New Guinea, 24 - - Robinson, H. C., 194 - - _Roebuck_, voyage of, 31 - - Ruwenzori, 2, 238 - - - S - - Sago, 65, 89-92 - - St. Nicholas, feast of, 6, 228 - - Sandpiper, 86 - - Sarawak, H. H. the Raja of, 253 - - Sarong, 10 - - Schouten Islands, 27 - - Schouten, Willem, 28 - - Screw-pines, 10, 243 - - Sea, depth of, 19 - - Sea-snakes, 215 - - Seasons, 79; - wet, 192 - - Shackleton Expedition, 67 - - Sharks, fishing for, 46 - - Shortridge, G. C., 2, 172, 194, 210 - - Sickness, 171-192 - - Sindanglaya, 11 - - Skulls, preservation of, 139 - - Smith, Stamford, 90 - - Snakes, 167 - - Snow Mountains, 1, 23, 33; - discovery of, 29; - first sight of, 35; - distant view of, 43; - attempt to reach, 229 - - Social system, 128 - - Soldiers, native, 92 - - Songs, 142 - - Spanish navigators, 27 - - Spears, 151 - - Spices, Dutch monopoly of, 31 - - Spiders, tameness of, 58 - - Stalker, W., 2, 14, 51; - death of, 47; - funeral of, 49 - - Steam-launch, 52, 170 - - Stone Age, 151 - - Stone implements, 150 - - Stones, gifts of, 87 - - Sugar-palm, 99 - - Sumbawa, 258 - - Superstitions, 131 - - Swift, Moustached, 241 - - Swimming, 117 - - - T - - Tapiro (_see_ Pygmies) - - Tasman, 30 - - Tattooing, 112 - - Tears, a welcome of, 41 - - Temples at Boro-Boder, 11 - - Ternate, Sultan of, 22; - traders of, 89 - - Thunderstorms, 79, 132 - - Tides of the river, 57 - - Timura River, 251 - - Tobacco, 38, 202; - cultivation of, 88 - - Torres, Luis Vaz de, 27 - - Torres Strait, 32 - - Tosari, 12 - - Track, used by natives, 176; - cutting a, 183 - - Trade goods, 63 - - Transport, difficulty of, 52 - - Travelling, difficult, 230 - - Trees, 216, 243; - falling at night, 77; - cutting down, 187; - houses in, 217 - - Tuaba River, 175 - - Tugeri, 23 - - Tugeri tribe, 222 - - - U - - Utakwa, Dutch expedition to, 210 - - Utakwa River, 4, 33, 210 - - - V - - Van der Bie, 212 - - Vanilla, 159 - - - - - Vegetation, 237 - - View, a rare, 240 - - Volcano, 15 - - Volcanoes in Java, 5, 12 - - - W - - Wailing at death, 137 - - Wakatimi, arrival at, 40; - camp at, 46; - description of, 95; - departure from, 255 - - Wallaby, 125 - - Wallace, A. R., 16, 20, 33, 38, 91, 244 - - Wamberi Merbiri, 203 - - Wania, excursion to, 249 - - Wania River, 236, 239, 249 - - Wataikwa, 231 - - Wataikwa River, 175 - - Water, lack of, 237; - squeezed from moss, 238 - - Water-lilies, 10 - - Weather, 79 - - Wilhelmina, Mt., 23, 45, 169, 220 - - Wives, number of, 116 - - Women, 148; - clothing of, 114; - treatment of, 130; - dress of Dutch, 9; - Pygmies, 206 - - - -THE END - - -PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES. - -[Illustration: PART OF - -DUTCH NEW GUINEA - -drawn by - -Captain. C. G. Rawling, C.I.E. and M^r. E. Marshall, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. - -to illustrate the explorations of - -THE BRITISH EXPEDITION - -1909-11. - -—Note— - -_This map is based on a plane table survey, adjusted to points fixed -by theodolite angles, and astronomical observations for latitude and -azimuth. Heights of peaks are from theodolite vertical angles._] - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] _i.e._ leader of a gang. - -[2] _Malay Archipelago_, Chapter XX. - -[3] _Malay Archipelago_, Chapter XXIX. - -[4] F. H. H. Guillemard, _The Cruise of the “Marchesa,”_ Chapter XXI. - -[5] A note in the _Geographical Journal_, Vol. xxxviii. p. 211, points -out the interesting fact that this custom of shedding tears in welcome -was observed by some of the early travellers in many places on the -American Continent, both North and South. It has also been noticed -among the Andamanese and other Negroid inhabitants of South-Eastern -Asia and Australasia. - -[6] Like the Megapodes the Brush Turkeys are most interesting birds, -which have the habit of making large mounds of rubbish in which they -place their eggs, where they are hatched by the heat of fermentation. -This species is about the size of a domestic hen, and its large brown -egg is very good eating. - -[7] The very interesting discovery was made by Mr. Staniforth Smith of -sago growing at an altitude of 3500 feet in the region of Kikor River, -British New Guinea.—_Geog. Journal_, vol. xxxix. p. 329. - -[8] See Appendix C. - -[9] The number of individuals examined was not very great and the -difference in their measurements are so insignificant, that they may be -considered all to belong to one race. - -[10] _Tuan_ = master, v. p. 103. The natives always addressed us as -“Tuana,” and many babies, of whom their parents were particularly -proud, were called “Tuana.” - -[11] _A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland, etc., in the year -1699_, by Captain William Dampier. - -[12] _Standard_, 4, 8, 1910. - -[13] The accent is placed on the first syllable—Tápĭro. - -[14] Extract from diary, 12th March 1910. A.F.R.W. - -[15] The services of these two men were secured to the expedition -through the generosity of Mr. H. C. Robinson, Director of the Museums -of the Federated Malay States. - -[16] For their cranial measurements see _Appendix_. - -[17] The stitch used is a “figure of eight.” An exactly similar pattern -is used by the natives near Humboldt Bay, North Dutch New Guinea, in -making caps. See Van der Sande, _Nova Guinea_, Vol. III. Illustration, -p. 37. - -[18] I am informed by Mr. H. Balfour, of the Pitt Rivers Museum, -Oxford, that a similar method of making fire is employed by people in -Assam, the Chittagong Hills, at certain places in the Malay Peninsula, -in Borneo, at numerous places in different parts of New Guinea, and at -one place in West Africa. - -[19] I saw three men who showed unmistakable signs of syphilis. - -[20] “Capt. Cook, H.M.S. _Endeavour_, 1770.” “Kolff’s Voyages in Dutch -Brig of War _Dourga_, 1825-6.” - -[21] This is the usual friendly greeting of the people in the Merauke -district. The word is now used by the Dutch as a slang name for the -natives of any part of New Guinea. - -[22] Voyage of the ships _Pera_ and _Arnhem_, under command of Jan -Carstenszoon or Carstensz, 1623. - -[23] Here, as elsewhere in the Dutch colonies, half-castes in official -positions are reckoned as Europeans. - -[24] Capt. C. G. Rawling. _Country Life._ 20 May, 1911. - -[25] _Malay Archipelago._ Chapter V. - -[26] The numerals in brackets refer to the list of authorities prefixed -to the comparative vocabulary. - -[27] _Cf._ Translation by G. G. Batten in “Glimpses of the Eastern -Archipelago,” 1894. - -[28] Dr. N. Adriani. Eenige opmerkingen over de Mĕraukĕ-Taal naar -aanleiding der Woordenlijst van Contr. J. Seijne Kok, in “De Zuidwest -Nieuw-Guinea-expeditie van het Kon. Ned. Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, -1904-5.” - -[29] G. W. Earl, Native Races of the Indian Archipelago, Papuans, 1853, -Appendix, and Jour. Roy. Geographical Society, 1837, p. 393-395. - -[30] De Zuidwest Nieuw-Guinea-expeditie van het Kon. Ned. -Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, 1904-5. Leiden, 1908. - -[31] _Cf._ Internat. Archiv. für Ethnographie, 16, 1905, and Reports of -Cambridge Anthropological Expedition, III., p. 387. - -[32] H. Kern. Over de taal der Jotafa’s aan de Humboldtbaai, Bijdragen -tot de Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde van Ned. Indië, 6 Volg. deel VII. - -[33] _Cf._ G. von der Gabelentz und A. B. Muller, Melanesischen -Sprachen, 1882, p. 536-541. Also C. J. F. le Cocq d’Armandville in -Tijds. v. Taal, etc., 46, 1903. - -[34] P. J. B. C. Robidé van der Aa in Bijdragen tot de Taal etc., 1883, -p. 197. The word is _mes_, coconut, the Mĕraukĕ _mise_. - -[35] The term “Indonesian” is used here only to imply that the -languages so designated appear to contain some words and constructions -which are found commonly in the languages of the Indian Archipelago. -The data are too few for definite classification. The term “Papuan” may -be taken to mean “non-Indonesian” or “Non-Malayo-Polynesian” with a -similar limitation. - -[36] In the Examples following, the vowels should be sounded as in -Italian, and the consonants as in English. The Dutch _oe_ and _ie_ are -written _u_ and _ī_. - -[37] This interchange is very common in the languages of the Papuan -Gulf. _Cf._ Reports of Cambridge Anthropological Expedition, III., pp. -325, 334. - -[38] G. W. Earl in Jour. Royal Geographical Society, 1837, p. 394. - -[39] Those quoted are: _Dungerwab_ (or _Parb_) on Wai Kasa R., _Bangu_, -Morehead River; _Bugi_, Mai Kasa River, _Dabu_, Paho R., _Mowata_, -mouth of Binaturi R., _Saibai Is._ in Western Torres Straits, _Miriam_, -Murray Is. Torres Straits, _Kunini_ and _Jibu_ West shore of Fly Delta, -_Kiwai Is._ in Fly Delta. - -[40] William Churchill, “The Polynesian Wanderings.” Washington. 1911. -Pp. v., 147. - -[41] Reports of Cambridge Anthropological Expedition, III, p. 290. - -[42] The writer was however told by Murray Island natives that “tulik” -was the name of the old shell axe. - -[43] Eenige opmerkingen over de Mĕraukĕ-taal, in “De Zuidwest -Nieuw-Guinea-expeditie van het Kon. Ned. Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, -1904-5,” p. 661-2. - -[44] Op. cit., p. 664-665. - -[45] The number prefixed is that by which these authorities have been -referred to in the preceding pages. - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Pygmies and Papuans, by A. F. R. 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