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Wilfrid Walker</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Wanderings Among South Sea Savages And in Borneo and the Philippines</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: H. Wilfrid Walker</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March, 2001 [eBook #2564]<br /> +[Most recently updated: October 29, 2022]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Jeroen Hellingman</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOUTH SEA SAVAGES ***</div> + +<div class="front"> +<div class="div1"> +<div class="figure" id="p01"><img src="images/p01.jpg" alt= +"Belles of Papua" width="317" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">Belles of Papua</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="titlePage"> +<h1 class="docTitle">Wanderings Among South Sea Savages</h1> + +<h2 class="docTitle">And in Borneo and the Philippines</h2> + +<h2 class="byline">By<br/> + <span class="docAuthor">H. Wilfrid Walker</span><br/> + Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society<br/> + With forty-eight plates from photographs by the author and others</h2> + +<h2 class="docImprint">London Witherby & Co. 1909</h2> +</div> + +<div class="div1"> +<p class="aligncenter">To<br/> + My brother Charles<br/> + This record of my wanderings<br/> + in which he took so deep an interest,<br/> + is affectionately dedicated. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e105" +href="#xd0e105">v</a>]</span></p> +</div> + +<div id="xd0e106" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">Preface</h2> + +<p>In a book of this kind it is often the custom to begin by making +apologies. In my case I feel it to be a sheer necessity. In the first +place what is here printed is for the greater part copied word for word +from private letters that I wrote in very simple language in Dayak or +Negrito huts, or in the lonely depths of tropical forests, in the +far-off islands of the Southern Seas. I purposely made my letters home +as concise as possible, so that they could be easily read, and in +consequence have left out much that might have been interesting. It is +almost unnecessary to mention that when I wrote these letters I had no +thought whatever of writing a book. If I had thought of doing so, I +might have mentioned more about the customs, ornaments and weapons of +the natives and have written about several other subjects in greater +detail. As it is, a cursory glance will show that this book has not the +slightest pretence of being “scientific.” Far from its +being so, I have simply related a few of the more interesting +incidents, such as would give a <i>general impression</i> of my life +among savages, during my wanderings in many parts of the world, +extending over nearly a score of years. I should <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e114" href="#xd0e114">vi</a>]</span>like to have written +more about my wanderings in North Borneo, as well as in Samoa and +Celebes and various other countries, but the size of the book precludes +this. My excuse for publishing this book is that certain of my +relatives have begged me to do so. Though I was for the greater part of +the time adding to my own collections of birds and butterflies, I have +refrained as much as possible from writing on these subjects for fear +that they might prove tedious to the general reader. I have also +touched but lightly on the general customs of the people, as this book +is not for the naturalist or ethnologist, nor have I made any special +study of the languages concerned, but have simply jotted down the +native words here used exactly as I heard them. As regards the +photographs, some of them were taken by myself while others were given +me by friends whom I cannot now trace. In a few cases I have no note +from whom they were got, though I feel sure they were not from anyone +who would object to their publication. In particular, I may mention +Messrs. G. R. Lambert, Singapore; John Waters, Suva, Fiji; Kerry & +Co., Sydney; and G. O. Manning, New Guinea. To these and all others who +have helped me I now tender my heartiest thanks. I have met with so +much help and kindness during my wanderings from Government officials +and others that if I were here to mention all, the list would be a +large one. I shall therefore have to be content with only mentioning +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e116" href="#xd0e116">vii</a>]</span>the principal names of those in the countries +I have here written about.</p> + +<p>In Fiji:—Messrs. Sutherland, John Waters, and McOwan.</p> + +<p>In New Guinea:—Sir Francis Winter, Mr. C. A. W. Monckton, +R.M., The Hon. A. Musgrave, Capt. Barton, Mr. Guy O. Manning, and Dr. +Vaughan.</p> + +<p>In the Philippines:—Governor Taft, afterwards President of the +United States, and Mr. G. d’E. Browne.</p> + +<p>In British North Borneo:—Messrs. H. Walker, Richardson, Paul +Brietag, F. Durége, J. H. Molyneux, and Dr. Davies.</p> + +<p>In Sarawak:—H.H. The Rajah, Sir Charles Brooke, Sir Percy +Cunninghame, Dr. Hose, Archdeacon Sharpe, Mr. R. Shelford, and the +officials of The Borneo Company, Ltd.</p> + +<p>To all of these and many others in other countries I take this +opportunity of publicly tendering my cordial thanks for their unfailing +kindness and hospitality to a wanderer in strange lands.</p> + +<p>H. Wilfrid Walker. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e132" href="#xd0e132">ix</a>]</span></p> + +<div class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">Table of Contents</h2> + +<ul> +<li><a href="#xd0e106">Preface</a></li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e136">List of Illustrations</a></li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e336">Part I: Life in the Home of a Fijian Prince.</a> +<ul> +<li><a href="#xd0e341">Chapter I: Life in the Home of a Fijian +Prince.</a></li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e451">Chapter II: My Further Adventures with Ratu +Lala.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e592">Part II: Among Ex-Cannibals in Fiji.</a> +<ul> +<li><a href="#xd0e597">Chapter III: Among Ex-Cannibals in +Fiji.</a></li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e707">Chapter IV: Mock War-Scene at the Chief’s +House.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e774">Part III: My Life Among Filipinos and Negritos +and a Journey in Search of Bearded Women.</a> +<ul> +<li><a href="#xd0e779">Chapter V: At Home Among Filipinos and +Negritos.</a></li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e893">Chapter VI: A Chapter of Accidents.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e973">Part IV: In the Jungles of Cannibal Papua.</a> +<ul> +<li><a href="#xd0e978">Chapter VII: On the War-Trail in Cannibal +Papua.</a></li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e1130">Chapter VIII: We Are Attacked By +Night.</a></li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e1177">Chapter IX: On the War-Trail Once +More.</a></li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e1314">Chapter X: The Return From Dobodura.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e1376">Part V: Our Discovery of Flat-Footed Lake +Dwellers.</a> +<ul> +<li><a href="#xd0e1381">Chapter XI: Our Discovery of Flat-Footed Lake +Dwellers.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e1561">Part VI: Wanderings and Wonders in Borneo.</a> +<ul> +<li><a href="#xd0e1566">Chapter XII: On the War-Path in +Borneo.</a></li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e1680">Chapter XIII: Home-Life Among Head-Hunting +Dayaks.</a></li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e1815">Chapter XIV: Visit to the Birds’-nest +Caves of Gomanton.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li><a href="#xd0e1944">Plates</a></li> +</ul> +</div> + +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e135" href="#xd0e135">xv</a>]</span></div> + +<div id="xd0e136" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">List of Illustrations</h2> + +<ol class="lsoff"> +<li><a href="#p01"><i>Frontispiece</i>—Belles of Papua.</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p02">A Chief’s Daughter and a Daughter of the +People</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p03">A “Meke-Meke,” or Fijian Girls’ +Dance</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p04">Interior of a large Fijian Hut</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p05">A Fijian Mountaineer’s House</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p06">At the Door of a Fijian House</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p07">A Fijian Girl</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p08">Spearing Fish in Fiji</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p09">A Fijian Fisher Girl</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p10">A Posed Picture of an old-time Cannibal Feast in +Fiji</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p11">Making Fire by Wood Friction</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p12">An Old ex-Cannibal</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p13">A Fijian War-Dance</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p14">Adi Cakobau (pronounced “Andi +Thakombau”), the highest Princess in Fiji, at her house at +Navuso</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p15">A Filipino Dwelling</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p16">A Village Street in the Philippines</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p17">A River Scene in the Philippines</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p18">A Negrito Family</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p19">Negrito Girls (showing Shaved Head at back)</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p20">A Negrito Shooting</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p21">Tree Climbing by Negritos</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p22">A Negrito Dance</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p23">Arigita and his Wife</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p24">Three Cape Nelson Kaili-Kailis in War +Attire</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p25">Kaili-Kaili House on the edge of a +Precipice</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p26">“A Great Joke”</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p27">A Ghastly Relic</a> <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e250" href="#xd0e250">xvi</a>]</span></li> + +<li><a href="#p28">Cannibal Trophies</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p29">A Woman and her Baby</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p30">A Papuan Girl</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p31">The Author with Kaili-Kaili Followers</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p32">Wives of Native Armed Police</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p33">A Papuan Damsel</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p34">Busimaiwa, the great Mambare Chief, with his Wife +and Son (in the Police)</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p35">A Haunt of the Bird of Paradise</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p36">The Author starting on an Expedition</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p37">A New Guinea River Scene</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p38">Papuan Tree-Houses</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p39">A Village of the Agai Ambu</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p40">H. W. Walker, L. Dyke-Acland, and C. A. W. +Monckton</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p41">View of Kuching from the Rajah’s +Garden</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p42">Dayaks and Canoes</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p43">Dayak in War-Coat</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p44">Dayak Women and Children on the Platform outside a +long House</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p45">Dayaks Catching Fish</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p46">A Dayak Woman with Mourning Ornaments round +waist</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p47">On a Tobacco Estate</a></li> + +<li><a href="#p48">On a Bornean River</a></li> +</ol> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="body"><span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e335" href="#xd0e335">1</a>]</span> +<div class="div0" id="xd0e336"> +<h2 class="normal">Life in the Home of a Fijian Prince.</h2> + +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e339" href="#xd0e339">2</a>]</span><span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e340" href="#xd0e340">3</a>]</span> +<div id="xd0e341" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">Life in the Home of a Fijian Prince.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>Journey to Taviuni—Samoan Songs—Whistling for the +Wind—Landing on Koro—Nabuna—Samoans and Fijians +Compared—Fijian Dances and Angona Drinking—A Hurricane in +the Southern Seas—Arrival at Taviuni—First Impressions of +Ratu Lala’s Establishment—Character of Ratu +Lala—Prohibition of Cricket—Ratu Lala Offended—The +Prince’s Musical Box.</p> +</div> + +<p>Among all my wanderings in Fiji I think I may safely say that my two +months’ stay with Ratu (Prince) Lala, on the island of Taviuni, +ranks highest both for interest and enjoyment. As I look back on my +life with this great Fijian prince and his people, it all somehow seems +unreal and an existence far apart from the commonplace life of +civilization. When I was in Suva (the capital) the colonial secretary +gave me a letter of introduction to Ratu Lala, and so one morning I +sailed from Suva on an Australian steamer, taking with me my jungle +outfit and a case of whisky, the latter a present for the +Prince,—and a more acceptable present one could not have given +him.</p> + +<p>After a smooth passage we arrived the same evening at Levuka, on the +island of Ovalau. After a stay of a day here, I sailed in a small +schooner which carried copra from several of the Outlying islands to +Levuka. Her name was the <i>Lurline,</i> and her captain was a Samoan, +whilst <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e354" href="#xd0e354">4</a>]</span>his crew was made up of two Samoans and four +Fijians. The captain seemed to enjoy yelling at his men in the Fijian +language, with a strong flavouring of English “swear +words,” and spoke about the Fijians in terms of utter contempt, +calling them “d——d cannibals.” The cabin wag a +small one with only two bunks, and swarmed with green beetles and +cockroaches. Our meals were all taken together on deck, and consisted +of yams, ship’s biscuit and salt junk.</p> + +<p>We had a grand breeze to start with, but toward evening it died down +and we lay becalmed. All hands being idle, the Samoans spent the time +in singing the catchy songs of Samoa, most of which I was familiar with +from my long stay in those islands, and their delight was great when I +joined in. About midnight a large whale floated calmly alongside, not +forty yards from our little schooner, and we trembled to think what +would happen if it was at all inclined to be playful. We whistled all +the next day for a breeze, but our efforts were not a success until +toward evening, when we were rewarded in a very liberal manner, and +arrived after dark at the village of Cawa Lailai,<a class="noteref" id="xd0e358src" href="#xd0e358">1</a> on the island of Koro. On our +landing quite a crowd of wild-looking men and women, all clad only in +sulus, met us on the beach. Although it is a large island, there is +only one white man on it, and he far away from here, so no doubt I was +an interesting <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e364" href="#xd0e364">5</a>]</span>object. I put up at the hut of the +“Buli” or village chief, and after eating a dish of smoking +yams, I was soon asleep, in spite of the mosquitoes. It dawned a lovely +morning and I was soon afoot to view my surroundings. It was a +beautiful village, surrounded by pretty woods on all sides, and I saw +and heard plenty of noisy crimson and green parrots everywhere. I also +learnt that a few days previously there had been a wholesale marriage +ceremony, when nearly all the young men and women had been joined in +matrimony.</p> + +<p>Taking a guide with me, I walked across the island till I came to +the village of Nabuna,<a class="noteref" id="xd0e368src" href="#xd0e368">2</a> on the other coast, the <i>Lurline</i> meanwhile +sailing around the island. It was a hard walk, up steep hills and down +narrow gorges, and then latterly along the coast beneath the shade of +the coconuts. Fijian bridges are bad things to cross, being long trunks +of trees smoothed off on the surface and sometimes very narrow, and I +generally had to negotiate them by sitting astride and working myself +along with my hands. In the village of Nabuna lived the wife and four +daughters of the Samoan captain. He told me he had had five wives +before, and when I asked if they were all dead, he replied that they +were still alive, but he had got rid of them as they were no good.</p> + +<p>The daughters were all very pretty girls, especially the youngest, a +little girl of nine years <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e376" href="#xd0e376">6</a>]</span>old. I always think that the little Samoan +girls, with their long wavy black hair, are among the prettiest +children in the world.</p> + +<p>We had an excellent supper of native oysters, freshwater prawns and +eels, fish, chicken, and many other native dishes. That evening a big +Fijian dance (“meke-meke”), was given in my honour. Two of +the captain’s daughters took part in it. The girls sit down all +the time in a row, and wave their hands and arms about and sing in a +low key and in frightful discord. It does not in any way come up to the +very pretty “siva-siva” dancing of the Samoans, and the +Fiji dance lacks variety. There is a continual accompaniment of beating +with sticks on a piece of wood. All the girls decorate themselves with +coloured leaves, and their bodies, arms and legs glisten as in Samoa +with coconut-oil, really a very clean custom in these hot countries, +though it does not look prepossessing. Our two Samoans in the crew were +most amusing; they came in dressed up only in leaves, and took off the +Fijians to perfection with the addition of numerous extravagant +gestures. I laughed till my sides ached, but the Fijians never even +smiled. However, our Samoans gave them a bit of Samoan +“siva-siva” and plenty of Samoan songs, and it was amusing +to see the interest the Fijians took in them. It was, of course, all +new to them. I drank plenty of “angona,” that evening. It +is <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e380" href="#xd0e380">7</a>]</span>offered you in a different way in Samoa. In +Fiji, the man or girl, who hands you the coconut-shell cup on bended +knee, crouches at your feet till you have finished. In Fijian villages +a sort of crier or herald goes round the houses every night crying the +orders for the next day in a loud resonant voice, and at once all +talking ceases in the hut outside which he happens to be.</p> + +<p>The next two days it blew a regular hurricane, and the captain dared +not venture out to sea, our schooner lying safely at anchor inside the +coral reef. I have not space to describe my stay here, but it proved +most enjoyable, and the captain’s pretty Samoan daughters gave +several “meke-mekes” (Fijian dances) in my honour, and +plenty of “angona” was indulged in, and what with feasts, +native games and first-class fishing inside the coral reef, the time +passed all too quickly. I called on the “Buli” or village +chief, with the captain. He was a boy of fifteen, and seemed a very +bashful youth.</p> + +<p>We sailed again about five a.m. on the third morning, as the storm +seemed to be dying down and the captain was anxious to get on. We had +not gone far, however, before the gale increased in fury until it +turned into a regular hurricane. First our foresheet was carried away; +this was followed by our staysail, and things began to look serious, in +fact, most unpleasantly so. The captain almost seemed to lose his head, +and cursed <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e386" href="#xd0e386">8</a>]</span>loud and long. He declared that he had been a +fool to put out to sea before the storm had gone down, and the <i> +Lurline,</i> being an old boat, could not possibly last in such a +storm, and added that we should all be drowned. This was not pleasant +news, and as the cabin was already half-full of water, and we expected +each moment to be our last, I remained on deck for ten weary hours, +clinging like grim death to the ropes, while heavy seas dashed over me, +raking the little schooner fore and aft.</p> + +<p>Toward evening, however, the wind subsided considerably, which +enabled us to get into the calm waters of the Somo-somo Channel between +the islands of Vanua Levu and Taviuni.</p> + +<p>The wreckage was put to rights temporarily, the Samoans, who had +previously made up their minds that they were going to be drowned, +burst forth into their native songs, and we broke our long fast of +twenty-four hours, as we had eaten nothing since the previous evening. +It was an experience I am not likely to forget, as it was the worst +storm I have ever been in, if I except the terrible typhoon of October, +1903, off Japan, when I was wrecked and treated as a Russian spy. On +this occasion a large Japanese fishing fleet was entirely destroyed. I +was, of course, soaked to the skin and got badly bruised, and was once +all but washed overboard, one of the Fijians catching hold of me in the +nick of time. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e395" href="#xd0e395">9</a>]</span>We cast anchor for the night, though we had +only a few miles yet to go, but this short distance took us eight or +nine hours next day, as this channel is nearly always calm. We had +light variable breezes, and tacked repeatedly, but gained ground +slowly. These waters seemed full of large turtles, and we passed them +in great numbers. We overhauled a large schooner, and on hailing them, +the captain, a white man, came on deck. He would hardly believe that we +had been all through the storm. He said that he had escaped most of it +by getting inside the coral reef round Vanua Levu, but even during the +short time he had been out in the storm, he had had to throw the +greater part of his cargo overboard. From the way he spoke, he had +evidently been drinking, possibly trying to forget his lost cargo.</p> + +<p>Before I left Fiji I heard that the <i>Lurline</i> had gone to her +last berth. She was driven on to a coral reef in a bad storm off the +coast of Taviuni. The captain seemed to stand in much fear of Ratu +Lala. He told me many thrilling yarns about him; said he robbed his +people badly, and added that he did not think that I would get on well +with him, and would soon be anxious to leave.</p> + +<p>I landed at the large village of Somo-somo, glad to be safely on <i> +terra firma</i> once more. It was a pretty village, with a large +mountain torrent dashing over the rocks in the middle of it. The <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e407" href="#xd0e407">10</a>]</span>huts +were dotted about irregularly on a natural grass lawn, and large trees, +clumps of bamboo, coconuts, bread-fruit trees, and bright-coloured +“crotons” added a great deal to the picturesqueness of the +village. At the back the wooded hills towered up to a height of nearly +4,000 feet, and white streaks amid the mountain woods showed where many +a fine waterfall tumbled over rocky precipices.</p> + +<p>Ratu Lala lived in a wooden house, built for him (as +“Roko” for Taviuni), by the government, on the top of a +hill overlooking the village, and thither on landing I at once made my +way. I found the Prince slowly recovering from an attack of fever, and +lying on a heap of mats (which formed his bed) on the floor of his own +private room, which, however, greatly resembled an old curiosity shop. +Everything was in great disorder, and piles of London Graphics and +other papers littered the ground, and on the tables were piled +indiscriminately clocks, flasks, silver cups, fishing rods, guns, +musical boxes, and numerous other articles which I discovered later on +were presents from high officials and other Europeans, and which he did +not know what to do with. Nearly every window in the house had a pane +of glass<a class="noteref" id="xd0e411src" href="#xd0e411">3</a> +broken, the floors were devoid of mats or carpets, and in <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e417" href="#xd0e417">11</a>]</span>places were +rotten and full of holes. This will give some idea of the state of +chaos that reigned in the Prince’s “palace.”</p> + +<p>Ratu Lala himself was a tall, broad-shouldered man of about forty, +his hair slightly grey, with a bristly moustache and a very long +sloping forehead. Though dignified, he wore an extremely fierce +expression, so much so that I instinctively felt his subjects had good +cause to treat him with the respect and fear that I had heard they gave +him. He belongs to the Fijian royal family, and though he does not rank +as high as his cousin, Ratu Kandavu Levu, whom I also visited at Bau, +he is infinitely more powerful, and owns more territory. His father was +evidently a “much married man” since Ratu Lala himself told +me that he had had “exactly three hundred wives.” But in +spite of this he had been a man of prowess, as the Fijians count it, +and I received as a present from Ratu Lala a very heavy hardwood +war-club that had once belonged to his father, and which, he assured +me, had killed a great many people. Ratu Lala also told me that he +himself had offered to furnish one hundred warriors to help the British +during the last Egyptian war, but that the government had declined his +offer. One of the late Governors of Fiji, Sir John Thurston, was once +his guardian and, godfather. He was educated for two years in Sydney, +Australia, and spoke English well, though in a very thick voice. <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e421" href="#xd0e421">12</a>]</span>Not only +does he hold sway over the island of Taviuni, but also over some +smaller islands and part of the large island of Vanua Levu. He also +holds the rank of “Roko” from the government, for which he +is well paid.</p> + +<p>After reading my letter of introduction he asked me to stay as long +as I liked, and he called his head servant and told him to find me a +room. This servant’s name was Tolu, and as he spoke English +fairly well, I soon learned a great deal about Ratu Lala and his +people.</p> + +<p>Ratu Lala was married to a very high-caste lady who was closely +related to the King of Tonga, and several of whose relatives +accompanied us on our expeditions. By her he had two small children +named Tersi (boy) and Moe (girl), both of whom, during my stay (as will +hereafter appear) were sent to school at Suva, amid great lamentations +on the part of the women of Ratu Lala’s household. Two months +before my visit Ratu Lala had lost his eldest daughter (by his Tongan +wife). She was twelve years old, and a favourite of his, and her grave +was on a bluff below the house, under a kind of tent, hung round with +fluttering pieces of “tapa” cloth. Spread over it was a +kind of gravel of bright green Stones which he had had brought from a +long distance. Little Moe and Tersi were always very interested in +watching me skin my birds, and their exclamation of what sounded like +“Esa!” (“Oh look!”) showed <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e427" href="#xd0e427">13</a>]</span>their +enjoyment. They were two of the prettiest little children I think I +have ever seen, but they did not know a word of English, and called me +“Misi Walk.” They and their mother always took their meals +sitting on mats in the verandah. Ratu Lala had two grown-up daughters +by other wives, but they never came to the house, living in an +adjoining hut where I often joined them at a game of cards. They were +both very stately and beautiful young women, with a haughty bearing +which made me imagine that they were filled with a sense of their own +importance.</p> + +<p>As is well known all over Fiji, Ratu Lala, a few years before my +stay with him, had been deported in disgrace for a term of several +months, to the island of Viti Levu, where he would be under the +paternal eye of the government. This was because he had punished a +woman, who had offended him, by pegging her down on an ants’ +nest, first smearing her all over with honey, so that the ants would +the more readily eat her.<a class="noteref" id="xd0e431src" href="#xd0e431">4</a> She recovered afterwards, but was badly eaten. As +regards his punishment, he told me that he greatly enjoyed his exile, +as he had splendid fishing, and some of the white people sent him +champagne.</p> + +<p>His people were terribly afraid of him, and <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e436" href="#xd0e436">14</a>]</span>whenever they passed him +as he sat on his verandah, they would almost go down on all fours. He +told me how on one occasion when he was sitting on the upper verandah +of the Club Hotel in Suva with two of his servants squatting near by, +the whisky he had drunk had made him feel so sleepy, that he nearly +fell into the street below, but his servants dared not lay hands on him +to pull him back into safety, as his body was considered sacred by his +people, and they dared not touch him. He declared to me that he would +have been killed if a white man had not arrived just in time. He was +very fond of telling me this story, and always laughed heartily over +it. I noticed that Ratu Lala’s servants treated me with a great +deal of respect, and whenever they passed me in the house they would +walk in a crouching attitude, with their heads almost touching the +ground.</p> + +<p>Ratu Lala’s cousin, Ratu Kandavu Levu, is a very enthusiastic +cricketer, and has a very good cricket club with a pavilion at his +island of Bau. He plays many matches against the white club in Suva, +and only last year he took an eleven over to Australia to tour that +country. I learned that previous to my visit he had paid a visit to +Ratu Lala, and while there had got up a match at Somo-somo in which he +induced Ratu Lala to play, but on Ratu Lala being given out first ball +for nought, he (Ratu Lala) pulled up the stumps and carried them off +the ground, and henceforth forbade <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e440" href="#xd0e440">15</a>]</span>any of his people to play the +game on the island of Taviuni. I was not aware of this, and as I had +brought a bat and ball with me, I got up several games shortly after my +arrival. However, one evening all refused to play, but gave no reasons +for their refusal, but Tolu told me that his master did not like to +have them play. Then I learned the reason, and from that time I noticed +a decided coolness on the part of Ratu Lala toward me. The fact, no +doubt, is that Ratu Lala being exceptionally keen on sport, this very +keenness made him impatient of defeat, or even of any question as to a +possible want of success on his part, as I afterwards learnt on our +expedition to Ngamia.</p> + +<p>I intended upon leaving Taviuni to return to Levuka, and from thence +go by cutter to the island of Vanua Levu, and journey up the Wainunu +River, plans which I ultimately carried out. Ratu Lala, however, wished +me to proceed in his boat straight across to the island of Vanua Levu, +and walk across a long stretch of very rough country to the Wainunu +River. My only objection was that I had a large and heavy box, which I +told Ratu Lala I thought was too large to be carried across country. He +at once flew into a violent passion and declared that I spoke as if I +considered he was no prince. “For,” said he, “if ten +of my subjects cannot carry your box I command one hundred to do so, +and if one hundred of my subjects <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e444" href="#xd0e444">16</a>]</span>cannot carry your box I tell +fifteen thousand of my subjects to do so.” When I tried to +picture fifteen thousand Fijians carrying my wretched box, it was +altogether too much for my sense of humour, and I burst forth into a +hearty roar of laughter, which so incensed the Prince that he shut +himself up in his own room during the few remaining days of my +stay.</p> + +<p>He had a musical box, which he was very fond of, and he had a man to +keep it going at all hours of the day and night. It played four tunes, +among them “The Village Blacksmith,” “Strolling +’Round the Town,” and “Who’ll Buy my +Herrings” till at times they nearly drove me frantic, especially +when I wanted to write or sleep. Night after night the tunes followed +each other in regular routine till I thought I should get them on the +brain. How he could stand it was a puzzle to me, especially as he had +possessed it for many years. I often blessed the European who gave it +him, and wished he could take my place.</p> + +<p>Whenever a man wished to speak to Ratu Lala he would crouch at his +feet and softly clap his hands, and sometimes Ratu Lala would wait +several minutes before he deigned to notice him. <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e450" href="#xd0e450">17</a>]</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<hr class="fnsep" /> +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e358src" id="xd0e358">1</a></span> C is pronounced as Th.: <i> +e.g.,</i> “Cawa”—“Thawa.”</p> + +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e368src" id="xd0e368">2</a></span> Nabuna, pron. Nambuna.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e411src" id="xd0e411">3</a></span> Panes of glass in a <i> +Fijian</i> house are very unusual, but this house, being +Government-built, was European. I can only recall one other instance, +that of Ratu Kandavu Levu on his small island of Bau, and then it was +only in the native house where he entertained European guests.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e431src" id="xd0e431">4</a></span> These circumstances were a +matter of common knowledge, at the time of my visit, all over Fiji. On +the other hand it must be remembered that Ratu Lala did not think he +was doing any harm, for the woman, having done wrong, required +punishing, and naturally South Sea Island ideas of punishment, +inherited from past generations, differ radically from those of +Europeans.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div id="xd0e451" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">My Further Adventures with Ratu Lala.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>Fijian Huts—Abundance of Game and Fish—Methods of +Capture—A Fijian Practical Joke—Fijian Feasts—Fun +after Dinner—A Court Jester in Fiji—Drinking, Dress, and +Methods of Mourning—A Bride’s Ringlets—Expedition to +Vuna—Tersi and Moe Journey to School—Their Love of +Sweets—Rough Reception of Visitors to Vuna—Wonderful Fish +Caught—Exhibition of Surf-board Swimming by +Women—Impressive Midnight Row back to Taviuni—A Fijian +Farewell.</p> +</div> + +<p>In comparison with Samoan huts, the Fijian huts were very +comfortable, though they are not half as airy, Samoan huts being very +open; but in most of the Fijian huts I visited the only openings were +the doors, and, as can be imagined, the interior was rather dark and +gloomy. In shape they greatly resembled a haystack, the sides being +composed of grass or bunches of leaves, more often the latter. They are +generally built on a platform of rocks, with doors upon two or more +sides, according to the size of the hut; and a sloping sort of rough +plank with notches on it leads from the ground to each door. In the +interior, the sides of the walls are often beautifully lined with the +stems of reeds, fashioned very neatly, and in some cases in really +artistic patterns, and tied together with thin ropes of coconut fibre, +dyed various colours, and often ornamented with rows of large white +cowry shells. The floor of these huts is much like a springy mattress, +being <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e459" href="#xd0e459">18</a>]</span>packed to a depth of several feet with palm +and other leaves, and on the top are strips of native mats permanently +fastened, whereas in Samoa the floor is made up of small pieces of +brittle white coral, over which are loose mats, which can be moved at +will. In Fijian huts there is always a sort of raised platform at one +end of the hut, on which are piles of the best native mats, and, being +the guest, I generally got this to myself. The roof inside is very +finely thatched, the beams being of “Niu sau,” a native +palm,<a class="noteref" id="xd0e461src" href="#xd0e461">1</a> the +cross-pieces and main supports being enormous bits of hard wood. The +smaller supports of the sides are generally the trunks of tree-ferns. +The doors in most of the huts are a strip of native matting or +fantastically-painted “tapa” cloth, fastened to two posts a +few feet inside the hut. In some huts there are small openings in the +walls which answer for windows. The hearth was generally near one of +the doors in the centre of the hut, and fire was produced by rubbing a +piece of hard wood on a larger piece of soft wood, and working it up +and down in a groove till a spark was produced. I have myself +successfully employed this method when out shooting green pigeon +(“rupe”) in the mountains.</p> + +<p>With regard to food, I at first fared very well, although we had our +meals at all hours, as Ratu Lala was very irregular in his habits. Our +chief <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e468" href="#xd0e468">19</a>]</span>food was turtle. We had it so often that I +soon loathed the taste of it. The turtles, when brought up from the sea +were laid on their backs under a tree close by the house, and there the +poor brutes were left for days together. Ratu Lala’s men often +brought in a live wild pig, which they captured with the aid of their +dogs. At other times they would run them down and spear them; this was +hard and exciting work, as I myself found on several occasions that I +went pig hunting. One of the most remarkable things that I saw in +Taviuni, from a sporting point of view, was the heart of a wild pig, +which, when killed, was found to have lived with the broken point of a +wooden spear fully four inches in length buried in the very centre of +its heart. It had evidently lived for many years afterwards, and a +curious kind of growth had formed round the point.</p> + +<p>As for other game, every time I went out in the mountain woods I had +splendid sport with the wild chickens or jungle fowl and pigeons, and I +would often return with my guide bearing a long pole loaded at both +ends with the birds I had shot. The pigeons, which were large birds, +settled on the tops of the tallest trees and made a very peculiar kind +of growling noise. Many years ago (as Ratu Lala told me) the natives of +Taviuni had been in the habit of catching great quantities of pigeons +by means of large nets suspended from the trees. The chickens would +generally get up <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e472" href="#xd0e472">20</a>]</span>like a pheasant, and it was good sport taking +a snap shot at an old cock bird on the wing. It was curious to hear +them crowing away in the depths of the forest, and at first I kept +imagining that I was close to some village. I also obtained some good +duck shooting on a lake high up in the mountains, and Ratu Lala +described to me what must be a species of apteryx, or wingless bird +(like the Kiwi of New Zealand), which he said was found in the +mountains and lived in holes in the ground, but I never came across it, +though I had many a weary search. Ratu Lala also assured me that the +wild chickens were indigenous in Fiji, and were not descended from the +domestic fowl. We had plenty of fish, both salt and fresh water, and +the mountain streams were full of large fish, which Ratu Lala, who is a +keen fisherman, caught with the fly or grasshoppers. He sometimes +caught over one hundred in a day, some of them over three pounds in +weight. The streams were also full of huge eels and large prawns, and a +kind of oyster was abundant in the sea, so what with wild pig, wild +chickens, pigeons, turtles, oysters, prawns, crabs, eels, and fish of +infinite variety, we fared exceedingly well. Oranges, lemons, limes, +large shaddocks, “kavika,” and other wild fruits were +plentiful everywhere.</p> + +<p>During my stay here in August and September the climate was +delightful, and it was remarkably cool for the tropics. I often +accompanied Ratu <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e476" href="#xd0e476">21</a>]</span>Lala on his fishing excursions, and he would +often recount to me many of his escapades. On one occasion he told me +that he had put a fish-hook through the lip of his jester, a little old +man of the name of Stivani, and played him about with rod and reel like +a fish, and had made him swim about in the water until he had tired him +out, and then he added, “I landed the finest fish I ever +got.”</p> + +<p>I added a good many interesting birds to my collection during my +stay here, among them a dove of intense orange colour, one of the most +striking birds I have ever seen. Plant life here was exceedingly +beautiful and interesting, especially high up in the mountains, palms, +<i>pandanus,</i> cycads, crotons, <i>acalyphas, loranths,</i> aroids, +<i>freycinetias,</i> ferns and orchids being strongly represented, and +among the latter may be mentioned a fine orange <i>dendrobium</i> and a +pink <i>calanthe.</i> I found in flower a celebrated creeper, which +Ratu Lala had told me to look out for. It had very showy red, white and +blue flowers, and in the old days Ratu Lala told me that the Tongan +people would come over in their canoes all the way from the Tonga +Islands, nearly four hundred miles away, simply to get this flower for +their dances, and when gathered, it would last a very long time without +fading. I tried to learn the traditions about this flower, but Ratu +Lala either did not know of any or else he was not anxious to tell me +about them. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e495" href="#xd0e495">22</a>]</span></p> + +<p>The coastal natives, like most South Sea Islanders, were splendid +swimmers, but, so far as I was concerned, it was dangerous work bathing +in the sea here, as man-eating sharks were very numerous, and during my +stay I saw a Fijian carried ashore with both his legs bitten clean +off.</p> + +<p>Usually, when out on expeditions, we occupied the +“Buli’s” hut and lived on the fat of the land. At +meal times quite a procession of men and women, glistening all over +with coconut oil, would enter our hut bearing all sorts of native food, +including fish in great variety, yams, octopus, turtle, sucking-pig, +chicken, prawns, etc. They were brought in on banana and other large +leaves, and we, of course, ate them with our fingers. Good as the food +undoubtedly was, I was always glad when the meal was over, as it is +very far from comfortable to sit with your legs doubled up under you. +Afterwards I could hardly stand up straight, owing to cramp. I found it +especially trying in Samoa, where one had to sit in this manner for +hours during feasts, “kava”-drinking and +“siva-sivas” (dances). Sometimes a glistening damsel would +fan us with a large fan made out of the leaf of a fan palm,<a class= +"noteref" id="xd0e500src" href="#xd0e500">2</a> which at times got +rather in the way. I never got waited on better in my life. Directly I +had finished one course a dozen girls were ready to hand me other +dishes, and when I wanted a drink a girl immediately <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e504" href="#xd0e504">23</a>]</span>handed me a +cup made out of the half-shell of a coconut filled with a kind of soup. +We generally had an audience of fully fifty people, and when we had +finished eating, a wooden bowl of water was handed to us in which to +wash our hands. Ratu Lala would generally hand the bowl to me first, +and I would wash my hands in silence, but directly he started to wash +his hands, everyone present, including chiefs and attendants, would +start clapping their hands in even time, then one man would utter a +deep and prolonged “Ah-h,” when the crowd would all shout +together what sounded like “Ai on dwah,” followed by more +even clapping. I never learned what the words meant. In this respect +Ratu Lala was most curiously secretive, and always evaded questions. +Whenever he took a drink, a clapping of hands made me aware of the +fact.</p> + +<p>One day, when they had chanted after a meal as usual, Ratu Lala +turned around to me and mimicked the way his jester or clown repeated +it, and there was a general laugh. This jester, whose name was Stivani, +was a little old man who was also jester to Ratu Lala’s father. +Ratu Lala had given him the nickname of “Punch,” and made +him do all sorts of ridiculous things—sing and dance and go +through various contortions dressed up in bunches of +“croton” leaves. He kept us all much amused, and was the +life and soul of our party, but at times I caught the <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e508" href="#xd0e508">24</a>]</span>old fellow +looking very weary and sad, as if he was tired of his office as +jester.</p> + +<p>The “angona” root (<i>Piper methysticum</i>) is first +generally pounded, but is sometimes grated, and more rarely chewed by +young maidens. It is then mixed with water in a large wooden bowl, and +the remains of the root drawn out with a bunch of fibrous material. It +is then ready for drinking.</p> + +<p>On gala and festal occasions the Fijians were wonderfully and +fantastically dressed up, their huge heads of hair thickly covered with +a red or yellow powder, and they themselves wearing large skirts or +“sulus” of coloured “tapa” and <i>pandanus</i> +ribbons and necklaces of coloured seeds, shells, and pigs’-tusks. +In out-of-the-way parts the “sulus” are still made of +“tapa” cloth, and the women sometimes wear small fibrous +aprons. They also often wear wild pigs’-tusks round their +necks.</p> + +<p>I noticed that many Fijian women were tattooed on the hands and +arms, and at each corner of the mouth (a deep blue colour). Both men +and women gave themselves severe wounds about the body, generally as a +sign of grief on the death of some near relative. I once noticed a +young girl of sixteen or seventeen with a very bad unhealed wound below +one of her breasts, which was self-inflicted. Her father, a chief, had +died only a short time previously. They often <span class="pagenum">[<a +id="xd0e522" href="#xd0e522">25</a>]</span>also cut off the little +finger for similar reasons. Like the Samoans, the Fijians often cover +their hair with white lime, and the effect of the sun bleaches the hair +and changes it from black to a light gold or brown colour.</p> + +<p>A marriageable young lady in Fiji would generally have a great +quantity of long braided ringlets hanging down on <i>one</i> side of +her head. This looked odd, considering that the rest of her hair was +erect or frizzly. It was a great insult to have these ringlets cut. I +heard of it once being done by a white planter, and great trouble and +fighting were the result.</p> + +<p>I accompanied Ratu Lala on several expeditions to various parts of +the island, and we also visited several smaller islands within his +dominions. On these occasions we always took possession of the +“Buli’s,” or village chief’s, hut, turning him +out, and feeding on all the delicacies the village could produce. After +we had practically eaten them out of house and home we would move on +and take possession of another village. The inhabitants did not seem to +mind this; in fact, they seemed to enjoy our visit, as it was an excuse +for big feasts, “meke-mekes” (dances) and +“angona” drinking.</p> + +<p>One of the most enjoyable expeditions that I made with Ratu Lala was +to Vuna, about twenty miles away to the south. A small steamer, the <i> +Kia Ora,</i> which made periodical visits to the <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e536" href="#xd0e536">26</a>]</span>island to collect the +government taxes in copra, arrived one day in the bay. Ratu Lala +thought this would be a good opportunity for us to make a fishing +expedition to Vuna. We went on board the steamer while our large boat +was towed behind.</p> + +<p>At the same time Ratu Lala’s two little children, Moe and +Tersi, started off, in charge of Ratu Lala’s Tongan wife and +other women, to be educated in Suva. It was the first time they had +ever left home, but I agreed with Ratu Lala, that it was time they +went, as they did not know a word of English, and, for the matter of +that, neither did his Tongan wife. When we all arrived at the beach to +get into the boat, we found a large crowd, chiefly women, sitting on +the ground, and as Ratu Lala walked past them, they greeted him with a +kind of salutation which they chanted as with one voice. I several +times asked him what it meant, but he always evaded the question +somehow, and seemed too modest to tell me. I came to the conclusion +that it ran something like “Hail, most noble prince, live for +ever.” The next minute all the women started to howl as if at a +given signal, and they looked pictures of misery. Several of them waded +out into the sea and embraced little Tersi and Moe. This soon set the +children crying as well, so that I almost began to fear that the +combined tears would sink our boat. Their old grandmother waded out +into the sea up to her neck and stayed there, <span class="pagenum">[<a +id="xd0e540" href="#xd0e540">27</a>]</span>and we could hear her +howling long after we had got on board the steamer. When we got into +Ratu Lala’s boat at Vuna there was another very affecting +farewell. Some months later when I returned to Suva, I asked a young +chief, Ratu Pope, to show me where they were at school, and I found +them at a small kindergarten for the children of the Europeans in +Suva.</p> + +<p>They <span class="corr" id="xd0e544" title="Source: semed"> +seemed</span> quite glad to see their old friend again, and still more +so when I promised to bring them some lollies (the term used for sweets +in Australasia) that afternoon.</p> + +<p>When I returned I witnessed a pretty and interesting sight The two +little children were standing out in the school yard while several +Fijian men and women of noble families who had been paying the little +prince and princess a visit, were just taking their leave. It was a +curious sight to see these old people go in turn up to these two little +mites and go down on their knees and kiss their little hands reverently +in silence. All this homage seemed to bore the small high-born ones, +and hardly was the ceremony over when they caught sight of me, and, +rushing toward me with cries of “Misi Walk siandra, +lollies,” they nearly knocked over some of their visitors, who no +doubt were greatly scandalized at such undignified behaviour.</p> + +<p>To return to our visit to Vuna. Sometime previously, Ratu Lala had +warned me that whenever he landed at this place with a visitor it was +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e551" href="#xd0e551">28</a>]</span>an +old custom for the women to catch the visitor and throw him into the +sea from the top of a small rocky cliff. To this I raised serious +objections, but arrayed myself in very old thin clothes ready for the +fray. However, upon landing, very much on the alert, I was agreeably +surprised to find that the women left me alone. Yet in part Ratu +Lala’s story was true, as he assured me that quite recently he +had been forced to put a stop to the custom, as one of his last +visitors was a European of much importance who was greatly incensed at +such treatment, and complained to the government, who told Ratu Lala +that the custom must end.</p> + +<p>We came to fish, and fish we did, just off the coral reef, but it +would take space to describe even one-half of the curious and beautiful +fish we caught. When I took the lead in the number of fish caught, Ratu +Lala seemed greatly annoyed, and I was not sorry to let him get ahead, +when he was soon in a good temper again. The Fijians generally fished +with nets and a many-pronged fish-spear, with which they are very +expert, and I saw them do wonderful work with them. They also used long +wicker-work traps. Ratu Lala, on the contrary, being half-civilized, +used an English rod and reel or line like a white man. Ratu Lala told +the women here to give an exhibition of surf-board swimming for my +benefit. As they rode into shore on the crest of a wave I many times +expected to see them dashed against <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e555" href="#xd0e555">29</a>]</span>the rocks which fringed the +coast. I had seen the natives in Hawaii perform seventeen years before, +but it was tame in comparison to the wonderful performances of these +Fijian women on this dangerous rock-girt coast.</p> + +<p>A great many “meke-mekes” or dances were got up in our +honour, but Ratu Lala detested them, and rarely attended, but preferred +staying in the “Buli’s” hut, lying on the floor +smoking or sleeping. He, however, always begged me to attend them in +his place. After a time I found the performances rather wearisome, and +not nearly so varied and interesting as the “siva-sivas” in +Samoa. There the girls sang in soft, pleasing voices, the words being +full of liquid vowels. Here in Fiji the singing was harsh and +discordant, as k’s and r’s abound in the language.</p> + +<p>When it came to the ceremony of drinking “angona” I +worthily did my part of the performance. Drinking “angona” +is a taste not easily acquired, but when one has once got used to it, +there is not a more refreshing drink, and I speak from long experience. +In Fiji I was often presented with a large “angona” root, +but it would be considered exceedingly bad form did you not return it +to the giver and tell him to have it at once prepared for himself and +his people, you yourself, of course, taking part in the drinking +ceremony.</p> + +<p>After a stay of several days at Vuna we rowed <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e563" href="#xd0e563">30</a>]</span>back by night. It was a +perfect, calm night, and with the full moon, was almost as bright as +day. We rowed all the way close to shore, passing under the gloomy +shade of dense forests or by countless coconuts, the only sound besides +the plash of our oars being the cry of water fowl or some night bird, +while the light beetles<a class="noteref" id="xd0e565src" href="#xd0e565">3</a> flashed their green lights against the dark background +of the forest, looking much like falling stars. There are certain +moments in life that have made a lasting impression on me, and that +moonlight row was one of them.</p> + +<p>We made several expeditions together that were every bit as +interesting and enjoyable as the one to Vuna. <span class="corr" id="xd0e571" title="Source: One">On</span> one occasion we visited the +north part of the island, as well as Ngamia and other islands. We rowed +nearly all the way close into shore and saw plenty of turtles. Ratu +Lala started to troll with live bait, as we had come across several +women fishing with nets, and on our approach they chanted out a +greeting to Ratu Lala, and in return he helped himself to a lot of +their fish. Ratu Lala had fully a dozen large fish after his bait, and +some he hooked for a few seconds. This only made him the keener, and +after leaving the calm Somo-somo Channel, although we encountered a +very rough sea, he had the sail hoisted and we travelled at a great +rate in and out amongst a lot of rocky islets, shipping any amount of +water which soaked us and our <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e574" +href="#xd0e574">31</a>]</span>baggage, and half-filled the boat. I +expected we should be swamped every moment, and from the frightened +looks of our crew I knew they expected the same thing. Hence, I was not +reassured when Ratu Lala remarked that it was in just such a sea, and +in the same place, that he lost his schooner (which the government had +given him) and that on that occasion he and all his crew remained in +the water for five hours. When I explained that I had no wish to be +upset, he said, “I suppose you can swim?” I said +“Yes! but I do not wish to lose my gun and other property,” +to which he replied, “Well, I lost more than that when my +schooner went down.” I was therefore not a little relieved when +he had the sail lowered. He explained that he never liked being beaten, +even if he drowned us all, and all this was because I had bet him one +shilling (by his own desire) that he would not get a fish. I mention +this to show what foolhardy things he was capable of doing, never +thinking of the consequences. I could mention many such cases. We at +length came to some shallows between a lot of small and most +picturesque islands, and as it was low tide, and we could not pass, we, +viz., Ratu Lala, myself, and the other chiefs, got out to walk, leaving +the boat and crew to come on when they could (they arrived at 4 a.m. +the next morning). I was glad to get an opportunity to dry myself, and +we started off at a good rate for our destination, but <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e576" href="#xd0e576">32</a>]</span>unfortunately +we came to a spot where grew a small weed that the Fijians consider a +great luxury when cooked, and Ratu Lala and his people stayed here +fully two hours, till they had picked all the weed in sight, in spite +of the heavy rain. It was amusing to see all these high-caste Fijians +and old Stivani, the jester, running to and fro with yells of delight +like so many children, all on account of a weed which I myself +afterwards failed to enjoy.</p> + +<p>On the way I shot three duck, and later, when it was too dark to +shoot, we could see the beach between the mangroves and the sea was +almost black with them. On the other side of us there was a regular +chorus of wild chickens crowing and pigeons “howling” in +the woods. After four hours’ hard walking we arrived at our +destination, Qelani, long after dark, dead tired, and soaked to the +skin. We put up at the “Buli’s” hut; he was a cousin +of Ratu Lala, and was a hideous and sulky-looking fellow, but his hut +was one of the finest and neatest I had seen in Fiji. As I literally +had not had a mouthful of food since the previous evening, I was glad +when about a dozen women entered bearing banana leaves covered with +yams, fish, octopus, chickens, etc. We stayed here some days, but we +had miserable, wet weather. There was excellent fishing in the stream +here, and Ratu Lala especially had very good sport. Many of the fish +averaged one-and-a-half pounds and more, but he told me that they often +run to five <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e580" href="#xd0e580">33</a>]</span>pounds. There were three kinds, and all +excellent eating. The commonest was a beautiful silvery fish, and +another was of a golden colour with bright red stripes. During the +latter part of my stay in Qelani I suffered from a slight attack of +dysentery, and it was dull lying ill on the floor of a native hut with +no one to talk to, as Ratu Lala always tried to avoid speaking English +whenever possible, and would often only reply in monosyllables. It +would often seem as if he were annoyed at something, but I found that +he did this to all white men, and meant nothing by it. I soon cured +myself by eating a lot of raw leaves of some bush plant, also a great +quantity of native arrow-root.</p> + +<p>In spite of my sickness I managed to shoot a fair number of duck, +wild chickens and pigeon, and also a few birds for my collection. One +day, in spite of the rain, I was rowed over to Ngamia, which is a +wonderfully beautiful island, about three hours from Qelani. It was +thickly covered with a fine cycad which grows amongst the rocks +overhanging the sea. The natives call it “loga-loga,”<a +class="noteref" id="xd0e584src" href="#xd0e584">4</a> and eat the +fruit. I landed and botanized a bit, finding some new and interesting +plants, and then rowed on a few miles to call on the only white man on +the island, an Australian named Mitchell, who has a large coconut +property. He was astonished and pleased to see me, and introduced me to +his Fijian wife, and his two pretty half-caste daughters soon got +together a good <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e587" href="#xd0e587">34</a>]</span>breakfast for me. He seemed glad to see a +white man again, and nearly talked my head off, and was full of +anecdotes about the fighting they had with the Fijian cannibals in +1876. He told me that in the last great hurricane his house was blown +over on to a small island which he owned nearly half-a-mile away.</p> + +<p>To describe all the incidents of my long visit would fill a book, +but I think I have written enough to show what a very interesting time +I spent with this Fijian Prince. It was without doubt one of the most +curious experiences of all my travels in different parts of the globe. +With all his faults, Ratu Lala was a good fellow, and he certainly was +a sportsman. All Fiji knows his failings, otherwise I should not have +alluded to them. The old blood of the Fijians ran in his veins, his +ancestors were kings who had been used to command and to tyrannise; +therefore he could never see any harm in the many stories of his +escapades that he told me, and he seemed much offended and surprised +when I advised him not to talk about them to other Europeans. When I +started off to Levuka I was greatly surprised to see all the women of +Somo-somo sitting on the beach waiting to see me depart, and as I +walked down alone they greeted me in much the same way as they often +greeted Ratu Lala, in a kind of chanting shout that sounded most +effective. It was a Fijian farewell! <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e591" href="#xd0e591">35</a>]</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<hr class="fnsep" /> +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e461src" id="xd0e461">1</a></span> <i>Ptychosperma</i> sp.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e500src" id="xd0e500">2</a></span> <i>Pritchardia +Pacifica.</i></p> + +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e565src" id="xd0e565">3</a></span> <i>Elateridæ</i></p> + +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e584src" id="xd0e584">4</a></span> Pron.: longa-longa.</p> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="div0" id="xd0e592"> +<h2 class="normal">Among Ex-Cannibals in Fiji.</h2> + +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e595" href="#xd0e595">36</a>]</span><span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e596" href="#xd0e596">37</a>]</span> +<div id="xd0e597" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">Among Ex-Cannibals in Fiji.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>Journey into the Interior of Great Fiji—A Guide +Secured—The Start—Arrival at Navua—Extraction of +Sago—Grandeur of Scenery—A Man covered with Monkey-like +Hair—A Strangely Coloured Parrot—Wild Lemon and Shaddock +Trees—A Tropical “Yosemite Valley”—Handclapping +as a Native Form of Salute—Beauty of Namosi—The Visitor +inspected by ex-Cannibals—Reversion to Cannibalism only prevented +by fear of the Government—A Man who would like to Eat my Parrot +“and the White Man too”—The Scene of Former Cannibal +Feasts—Revolting Accounts of Cannibalism as Formerly +Practised—Sporadic Cases in Recent Years—An Instance of +Unconscious Cannibalism by a White—Reception at Villages <i>en +route</i>—Masirewa Upset—Descent of Rapids—Dramatic +Arrival at Natondre (“Fallen from the Skies”).</p> +</div> + +<p>Toward the end of my stay in the Fijian Islands I determined to make +a journey far into the interior of Viti Levu (Great Fiji), the largest +island of the great Fijian archipelago. Suva, the chief town in Fiji, +and the headquarters of the government, is on this island, but very few +Europeans travel far beyond the coast, and my friends in Suva declared +that I would have a fit of repentance before I had travelled very far, +as the interior of the island is extremely mountainous and rough. After +a great deal of trouble I managed to get an interpreter named Masirewa, +who came from the small island of Bau. He was a fine-looking fellow, +and, like most Fijians, possessed a tremendous mop of hair. His stock +of English was limited, and we often misunderstood each other, but he +proved a most amusing <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e608" href="#xd0e608">38</a>]</span>companion, if only on account of his unlimited +“cheek.”</p> + +<p>I ought here to mention that Fijians vary a great deal, both in +colour and language. Fiji is the part of the Pacific where various +types meet, viz., Papuan, Malayan, and Polynesian. The mountaineers +around Namosi, which I visited, who were all cannibals twenty-five +years ago, are much darker in colour than the coast natives, and they +are undoubtedly of Papuan origin.</p> + +<p>I left Suva with Masirewa on the morning of October 12th, and after +a short sea voyage of three or four hours on a small steam launch, we +arrived at the village of Navua. I had a letter to Mr. McOwan, the +government commissioner for that district. He put me up for the night, +and we played several games of tennis, and my stay, though short, was +an exceedingly pleasant one. The whites in Fiji are the most hospitable +people in the world. They are of the old <i>régime</i> that is +dying out fast everywhere.</p> + +<p>The next day I set out on my journey into the interior, Masirewa and +another Fijian carrying my baggage (which was wrapped up in waterproof +cloth) on a long bamboo pole. We followed the course of the Navua River +for some distance. In the swamps bordering the river grew quantities of +a variety of sago palm (<i>Sagus vitiensis</i>) called by the natives +Songo. They extract the sago from the trunk, and the palm always dies +after <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e622" href="#xd0e622">39</a>]</span>flowering. After passing through about four +miles of sugar cane, with small villages of the Indian coolies who work +in the cane fields, we left behind us the last traces of civilization. +We next came to a very beautiful bit of hilly country, densely wooded +on the hills, though bordering the broad gravelly beaches of the river +were long stretches of beautiful grassy pastures. Darkness set in as we +ascended some thickly wooded hills. The atmosphere was damp and close, +and <span class="corr" id="xd0e624" title="Source: mosquitos"> +mosquitoes</span> plentiful, and small phosphorescent lumps seemed to +wink at us out of the darkness on every side. I had to strike plenty of +matches to discover the track, and continually bumped myself against +boulders and the trunks of tree-ferns. It was late when we arrived at +the village of Nakavu, on the banks of the Navua River, where I was +soon asleep on a pile of mats in the hut of the “Buli,” or +village chief.</p> + +<p>The next morning I resumed my journey with Masirewa and two +canoe-men in a canoe, and we were punted and hauled over numerous +dangerous rapids, at some of which I had to get out. We passed between +two steep, rocky cliffs the whole way, and they were densely clothed +with tree-ferns and other rank tropical vegetation, the large white +sweet-scented <i>datura</i> being very plentiful. The scenery was very +beautiful, and numerous waterfalls dashed over the rocky walls with a +sullen roar. Ducks were plentiful, but <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e632" href="#xd0e632">40</a>]</span>my ammunition being limited, I +shot only enough to supply us with food. I felt cramped sitting in a +canoe all day, but I enjoyed myself in spite of the continuous and +heavy rain.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon we arrived at the small village of Namuamua, +on the right bank of the river, with the village of Beka on the other +side. We were given a small hut all to ourselves, and we fared +sumptuously on duck and boiled yams. The next morning I was shown a +curious but ghastly object, viz., a man covered with hair like a +monkey, and I was told that he had never been able to walk. He dragged +himself about on his hands and feet, uttering groans and grunts like an +animal.</p> + +<p>I hired two fresh bearers to carry my baggage, and after we had +crossed the river three or four times we passed over some steep and +slippery hills for some distance. I managed to shoot a parrot that I +had not seen on any of the other islands. It was green, with a black +head and yellow breast. The rain came down in torrents, and I got well +soaked. We went for miles through woods with small timber, but full of +bright crotons, <i>dracænas,</i> bamboos, and a very sweetscented +plant somewhat resembling the frangipani, the flower of which covered +the ground. We passed under the shade of sweet-scented wild lemon and +shaddock trees, but we got the bad with the good, as a horrible stench +came from a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e641" href="#xd0e641">41</a>]</span>small green flowering bush. A beautiful pink +and white ground orchid (<i>Calanthe</i>) was plentiful.</p> + +<p>We travelled along a steep, narrow strip of land with a river on +each side in the valleys below. We met no one until we arrived at the +village of Koro Wai-Wai, which is situated on the banks of a good-sized +river at the entrance to a magnificent gorge of rocky peaks and +precipices. Here we found the “Buli” of Namosi squatting +down in a miserable, smoky hut where we rested for a few minutes, and +the hut was soon filled with a crowd of natives, all anxious to view +the “papalangi” (foreigner). The “Buli” agreed +to accompany me to Namosi, although his home was in another village. +Continuing our journey, we had hard work climbing over boulders, and +along slippery ledges overhanging the foaming river many feet below. +Steep precipices rose on each side of us, and the gorge grew more +narrow as we proceeded. The scenery was grand, and rather resembled the +Yosemite Valley, but had the additional attraction of a wealth of +tropical foliage. Steep rocky spires topped by misty clouds towered +above us and little openings between rocky walls revealed dark green +lanes or vistas of tangled tropical growth which the sun never reached. +We met many natives, who sat on their haunches when the +“Buli” talked to them, and clapped their hands as we +passed. This was out of respect for the “Buli,” who was an +insignificant looking little <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e648" +href="#xd0e648">42</a>]</span>bearded man and quite naked except for a +small “Sulu.”</p> + +<p>We soon arrived at Namosi. It is a large town situated between two +steep walls of rock, and was by far the prettiest place I had seen in +Fiji, and that is saying a good deal. The town is on both banks of the +Waiandina River, with large “ivi” and other beautiful trees +overhanging the water; brilliant coloured crotons, <i> +dracænas,</i> and other fine plants imparted a wealth of colour +to the scene, and many of the grand old trees were heavily laden with +ferns and orchids. During many years’ wanderings all the world +over, I do not think I have ever come across a more beautiful and ideal +spot.</p> + +<p>The “Buli” was greeted with cries of +“m-m-ka-a” in shrill voices by the women, for all the world +like the caw of an old crow. I learned that the “Buli” had +not been here for some time, but I seemed to be the chief object of +interest, and was followed everywhere by an admiring and curious crowd +of dark brown, shiny boys and girls, the former just as they were born +and the latter wearing a strip of “Sulu.” We put up in a +chief’s house, and after getting through the usual boiled yams, I +went on a tour of inspection around the town, but I soon found that I +was the one to be inspected. There was a hum of voices in every hut, +and doorways were darkened with many heads. Groups of young men, women +and children <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e657" href="#xd0e657">43</a>]</span>assembled to see the sight, but scampered away +if I approached too near. No white man but the government agent had +been here for several years, I was told. Thirty-odd years ago they +would not have been satisfied to “look only,” but would +have wished to taste, and many of the present inhabitants would have +made chops of me, and were no doubt peering out of their huts to see if +I was fat or lean, and wishing for days gone by but not forgotten. +Isolated cases of cannibalism still occur in out-of-the-way parts of +Fiji, and it is only fear of the government that stops them, otherwise +these mountaineers would at once return to cannibalism. Masirewa came +out and stood with folded arms among a large crowd talking about me, +and no doubt taking all the credit for my appearance, and staring at me +as if he had never seen me before, so that I felt much inclined to kick +him.</p> + +<p>In the evening, as I skinned the parrot I had shot, Masirewa told me +how one man had said that he would like to eat the parrot, and that he +had replied: “And the white man too.” There was a large and +very interested crowd around me as I worked, and they were very much +astonished when told that the birds in England were different from +those in Fiji, and I was inundated with childish questions about +England. Masirewa seemed to be trying to pass himself off on these +simple mountaineers as a chief, and was clearly beginning to give <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e661" href="#xd0e661">44</a>]</span>himself +airs, so that when he started to eat with the “Buli” and +myself, I had to snub him, and told him sharply to clean my gun and eat +afterwards.</p> + +<p>I slept the next morning till seven o’clock, and Masirewa told +me that the natives could not understand my sleeping so late, and that +they thought I was drunk on “angona,” of which I had +partaken the night before. “Angona” is the same as +“kava” in Samoa, and is the national beverage in Fiji. +Masirewa now only wore a “sulu” and discarded his singlet. +I suppose it was a case of “In Rome do as Rome does,” but +he certainly looked better in the dark skin he wore at his birth. I was +shown the large rock by the river where more than a thousand people had +been killed for their cannibal feasts. They were usually prisoners +captured in the Rewa district, also a few white men. They were cut open +alive and their hearts torn out, and their bodies were then cut up for +cooking on the rock, which I noticed was worn quite smooth. Sometimes +they would boil a man alive in a huge cauldron.</p> + +<p>While staying at Namosi the “Buli” gave me some lessons +in throwing native spears, and in using the bow. Whilst practising the +latter I narrowly missed, by a few inches, shooting a woman who stepped +out suddenly from behind a hut.</p> + +<p>I was out most of the day shooting pigeons <span class="pagenum">[<a +id="xd0e669" href="#xd0e669">45</a>]</span>in the woods close by, +accompanied by the “Buli,” Masirewa, and several boys. The +woods were full of a wonderfully beautiful creeper, a delicate pink and +white <i>clerodendron</i> which grew in large bunches; there was also a +very pretty <i>hoya</i> (wax flower) scrambling up the trees. We filled +ourselves with the juicy pink fruit of the “kavika,” or +what is generally known as the Malacca or rose-apple. The trees were +plentiful in the woods, grew to a large size, and were literally loaded +with fruit, the fallen fruit resembling a pink carpet. Another very +good fruit was the “wi,” a golden fruit about the size of a +large mango. I have seen both cultivated in the West Indies.</p> + +<p>On my return to the village I had a most interesting interview with +these ex-cannibals, one old and two middle-aged men, thanks to +Masirewa, my interpreter. He first asked them how they liked human +flesh, and they all shouted “Venaka, venaka!” (good). Like +the natives of New Guinea, they said it was far better than pig; they +also declared that the legs, arms and palms of the hands were the +greatest delicacies, and that women and children tasted best. The +brains and eyes were especially good. They would never eat a man who +had died a natural death. They had eaten white man; he was salty and +fat, but he was good, though not so good as “Fiji man.” One +of them had tasted a certain Mr. ——, and the meat on his +legs was very fat. They chopped his feet <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e679" href="#xd0e679">46</a>]</span>off above the boots, which they +thought were part of him, and they boiled his feet and boots for days, +but they did not like the taste of the boots. They often kept some of +their prisoners and fattened them up, and when the day came for killing +one, it was the women of Namosi’s duty to take him down to the +large stone by the river, where they cut him open alive and tore his +heart out. Lastly, I asked if they would still like to eat man if they +got the chance, and they were not afraid of being punished, and there +was no hesitation in their reply of “Io” (yes), uttered +with one voice like the yelp of a hungry wolf, and it seemed to me that +their eyes sparkled. They were certainly a very obliging lot of +cannibals.</p> + +<p>Cannibalism is, of course, practically extinct now in Fiji, but in +recent years I am told that there, have been a few odd cases far back +in the mountains. On one occasion a man told his wife to build an oven +and that he was going to cook her. This she did, and he then killed, +cooked, and ate her. Whilst in Fiji I met an Englishman who in the +seventies had tasted human meat at a native feast, he believing it was +pig, and at the time he thought it was very good. I was told that in +the old days when they wanted to know whether a body was cooked enough +they looked to see if the head was loose. If the head fell off it was +thought to be “cooked to perfection,” but I will not vouch +for this story being correct. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e683" +href="#xd0e683">47</a>]</span></p> + +<p>I gave the “Buli” a box of matches, and he seemed as +pleased as if it was a purse of gold; they light all their fires here +by wood friction, Some of the pet pigs around here were very oddly +marked with stripes and spots of brown, black and white. Whilst in Fiji +I often came across natives far from any village who were being +followed by pet pigs, as we in England might be followed by dogs. +Masirewa amused me more each day by his cheek and self-assurance. Once +I asked him what he said to the chief of the hut we were in, and he +replied: “Oh! I tell him Get out, you black fellow.’ +”</p> + +<p>We left Namosi early the next morning, a large crowd seeing us off, +and I was sorry to bid farewell to one of the most beautiful spots in +this wide world. We passed through the villages of Nailili and Waivaka, +where I called at the chiefs’ huts and held a kind of “at +home” for a few minutes, the people simply swarming in to look at +me. The “Buli” of Namosi had sent messengers on in front to +give notice of my approach, and at each village they had the inevitable +hot yams ready to eat, which Masirewa made the most of. At the entrance +to each village there was usually a palisade of bamboo or tree-fern +trunks, and here a crowd of girls and children would often be waiting, +and on my approach they would set up loud yells and scamper off, till I +began to think that I must look a very ferocious kind of +“papalangai.” <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e688" href="#xd0e688">48</a>]</span>At Dellaisakau the natives looked a very wild +lot. Some of the men had black patches all over their faces, and some +had great masses of hair shaped like a parasol. One or two of the women +wore only the old-time small aprons of coconut fibre.</p> + +<p>We followed the Waiandina River amid very fine scenery. The sloping +hills were covered with woods, and we passed under a canopy of bamboo, +the large trumpet flowers of the white <i>datura,</i> tree-ferns, large +“ivi,” “dakua” and “kavika” trees +loaded with ferns and fine orchids in flower. We crossed the river +several times, and I was carried across by a huge Fijian whose head and +neck were covered with lime. Rain soon set in again, and we literally +wallowed in mud and water. I got drenched by the soaking vegetation, so +I afterwards waded boldly through rivers and streams, as it was +impossible to get any wetter.</p> + +<p>At Nasiuvou the whole village turned out to greet me, and I held my +usual reception in the chief’s hut. The chief seemed very annoyed +that I would not stay the night. No doubt he thought that I would prove +a great attraction for his people. The banks of the Waiandina River +were crowded as I got into a canoe, and Masirewa, in trying to show off +with a large paddle, lost his balance and fell into the water, the +yells of laughter from the crowd showing that they were not lacking in +humour. Masirewa did <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e697" href="#xd0e697">49</a>]</span>not like it at all, but I was very glad, as he +had been giving himself too many airs. I dismissed my two bearers and +took only one canoe man and made Masirewa help him. We went down +several rapids at a great pace. It was dangerous but exhilarating, and +we had several narrow escapes of being swamped, as the canoe, being a +small one, was often half-filled with water. We also had several close +shaves from striking rocks and tree trunks. Ducks were plentiful, and I +shot one on the wing as we were tearing down a rapid. The scenery was +very fine; steep wooded mountains, rocky peaks with odd shapes, steep +precipices, fine waterfalls, grand forests, and picturesque villages, +and the scenery as we wound among the mountains was most romantic.</p> + +<p>Toward evening we arrived at the large town of Nambukaluku, where we +disembarked. Except for a few old men and children we found it +deserted, and we learned that the “Buli,” who is a very +important chief, had gone to stay at the village of Natondre for some +important ceremonies for a few days, and most of the inhabitants had +gone with him. Thither I determined to go, and we set off along a +mountain path. The rain was all gone, and it was a lovely, still +evening. Suddenly I heard distant yells and shouts and the beating of +the “lalis” (hollow wooden drums), and I set off running, +leaving Masirewa and my canoe man carrying my baggage far behind, and +on turning <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e701" href="#xd0e701">50</a>]</span>a sharp corner I came full upon the village of +Natondre and a most interesting sight. Hundreds of natives were +squatting on the ground of the village square, and about one hundred +men with faces black and in full war paint, swinging war clubs, were +rushing backward and forward yelling and singing while large wooden +drums were beaten. They were dressed in most fantastic style, some only +with fibrous strings round their loins, and others with yards of +“tapa” cloth wound around them. Several women were jumping +about with fibre aprons on, and all had their hair done up in many +curious ways and sprinkled with red and yellow powders. Huge piles of +mats were heaped in the open square, speeches were made, and the people +all responded with a deep “Ah-h” which sounded most +effective from the huge multitude. I came up in the growing dusk and +stood behind a lot of people squatting down. Suddenly some one looked +round and saw me—sensation—whispers of +“papalangai” were heard on all sides, and looks of +astonishment were cast in my direction. Certainly my entrance to +Natondre could not have been more dramatic, and I believe that they +almost thought that I had <i>fallen from the skies,</i> which is the +literal meaning of the word “papalangai.” <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e706" href="#xd0e706">51</a>]</span></p> +</div> + +<div id="xd0e707" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">Mock War-Scene at the Chief’s House.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>War Ceremonies and Dances at Natondre Described—The Great +Chief of Nambukaluku—The Dances continued—A Fijian +Feast—A Native Orator—The Ceremonies concluded—The +Journey continued—A Wonderful Fungus—The bark of the rare +Golden Dove leads to its Capture—Return to more Civilised +Parts—The Author as Guest of a high Fijian Prince and +Princess—A <i>souvenir</i> of Seddon—Arrival at Suva.</p> +</div> + +<p>Masirewa soon arrived and I learned that there were some very +important ceremonies in which one tribe was giving presents to another +tribe, in settlement of some disputes that had been carried on since +the old cannibal fighting days, and as I passed into the +“Buli’s” hut I noticed that the dancers were +unwinding all the “tapa” cloth from around their bodies and +throwing it on the piles of mats. I immediately went behind a +“tapa” screen where the “Buli” slept, and began +to get into dry clothes. This evidently made some of the crowd in the +hut angry, as they thought I was lacking in respect to the +“Buli” by changing in his private quarters, as in Fiji the +very high chiefs are looked upon as sacred. One fellow kept shouting at +me in a very impudent way, so when Masirewa came in, I told him about +it, and he lectured the crowd and told them that I was a very big +chief; this seemed to frighten them. Later on, I found that Masirewa +had complained, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e718" href="#xd0e718">52</a>]</span>the impudent man was brought up before one of +the chiefs, who gave him a lecture before myself and a large crowd in +the hut I put up in. Masirewa translated for me, how the chief said: +“The white man, who is a big chief, has done us honour in +visiting our town,” and to the man: “You will give us a bad +name in all Fiji for our rudeness to the stranger that comes to +us.” I learned that the man was going to be punished, but as he +looked very repentant I said that I did not wish him punished, so he +was allowed to sneak out of the hut, the people kicking him and saying +angry words as he passed.</p> + +<p>I supped with the great “Buli” that evening, and we +fared sumptuously on my duck, river oysters and all sorts of native +dishes. We were waited upon by two warriors in full war paint, and the +“Buli’s” young and pretty wife, shining with coconut +oil all over her body, sat by me and fanned me. The “Buli” +was an aristocratic-looking old fellow with a large nose and a very +haughty look. He is a very important chief, but knew no English, and we +carried on our conversation through the medium of Masirewa. He spoke in +a kind of mumble, with a very thick voice. Once when he had been +mumbling worse than usual there was a kind of restrained titter from +someone in the crowd at the back. The “Buli” heard it, and +slowly turning his head he transfixed the crowd with his piercing gaze +for many seconds <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e722" href="#xd0e722">53</a>]</span>amid a dead silence. I wondered afterwards if +anything ever happened to the unfortunate one who was so easily amused. +I learned that besides having an impediment in his speech, the +“Buli” was also paralyzed in one leg. I Put up in a +different hut, the “Buli” apologizing for his hut being +crowded with the influx of visitors.</p> + +<p>I watched a “meke-meke” or native dance that evening in +which about a dozen girls covered with oil took part. There was a sound +of revelry the rest of the night, for there was feasting and dancing in +several huts, and discordant chanting and the hum of many voices +followed me into my dreams. The next morning I went out shooting +pigeons in some thick pathless woods about two miles away, and I also +shot some flying foxes which I gave to my companions, as the Fijians +consider them a great delicacy, as do many Europeans. These woods were +full of pineapples, which in places barred our way. Many of them were +ripe, and I found they possessed a fine flavour.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon the ceremonies were continued, the +“Buli” sending for me to sit by him in the doorway of his +hut to watch them. First about forty women with “tapa” +cloth wound around their bodies went through various evolutions, +swaying their arms about and chanting in their usual discordant manner. +They then unwound the “tapa” from their bodies and threw it +in a heap on the ground, following this by more manœuvres. <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e728" href="#xd0e728">54</a>]</span>About +twenty men came into the square, some with their faces blacked and +their bodies stained red with some pigment, and wearing only aprons of +coconut strings, with bracelets of leaves on their arms and carved +pigs’ tusks hanging from their necks. They went through some +splendid dancing, falling down on the ground and bouncing up again like +india-rubber balls. They sang, or rather chanted, all the time, and so +did a kind of chorus of men who beat on wood and bamboo, while the +dancers danced round them in circles, and squares, and then bent +backward, nearly touching the ground with their heads. As they danced +they kept splendid time, with their arms, legs and heads.</p> + +<p>Then amid shrill yells and cries from the crowd, another procession +approached from the far end of the village in single file. First came +several men with spears, which they shook on the ground every now and +then, shaking their bodies at the same time in a fierce manner. Behind +them in single file came a lot of women, each bearing a. rolled-up mat, +which they threw down in a heap. These mats are made from the dried +“pandanus” leaf. Then several men appeared bearing enormous +Fiji baskets full of large rolls of food wrapped up in leaves, also +smaller baskets made of the fresh leaves of the crimson <i> +dracæna,</i> also full of food. From the enormous number of +baskets, the food supply was enough to feed a large <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e735" href="#xd0e735">55</a>]</span>multitude. +They were all put down together by the mats.</p> + +<p>Then there was dead silence, in which you could almost have heard +the proverbial pin drop, and an oldish man stepped forward and stood by +the mats and baskets, his body wound round with “tapa” till +it stuck out many feet from his body. The crowd broke silence with an +ear-piercing yell. He then spoke, and was interrupted from time to time +with cries of approval or the reverse, and sometimes loud laughter, +while the “Buli,” sitting by me, every now and then shouted +out, or broke into a childish giggle. Then the speaker uttered a lot of +short sentences very fast, and every one present said +“Venaka” (good) at the end of each sentence. Then the old +man unwound the “tapa” around him and threw it on the mats, +as did others.</p> + +<p>Silence again, and I began to think all was over, but suddenly there +was another shrill sort of yell from the crowd, and from the back of +our hut, amid a tremendous uproar from all present and the beating of +“lalis” (drums), appeared a procession of about fifty +warriors in their usual picturesque get-up, all brandishing large +war-clubs. They paraded into the square in very stately fashion, +singing in their curious and savage discords, and then went through +some grand dances, keeping wonderful time with their clubs and bodies, +and from time to time giving forth a loud yell which <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e741" href="#xd0e741">56</a>]</span>was really +thrilling. They next rushed backward and forward brandishing their +clubs and killing an imaginary foe, and then clapped their hands +together in even time. Then off came the “tapa” from around +them, and the heap was made still larger.</p> + +<p>Another yell from the crowd. Then silence, followed by more +speaking, and every now and then a deep “Ah-h” from all +present, which sounded like distant thunder and was most impressive. +Then all the people clapped their hands and chanted a few words in low +suppressed voices, and the ceremony, lasting between four or five +hours, was over. From time to time a man would approach the +“Buli” and fall down on all fours and clap his hands before +he could speak. I felt at times as if I was watching a comic opera or a +ballet, and there were many amusing incidents. I think honours were +fairly easy between the big show and myself, as the people kept +whispering and looking around at me the whole time. I never passed a +hut without causing excitement, and there would be cries of +“papalangai” and a mass of faces would appear at the doors. +Wherever I went I was followed at a respectful distance by a crowd of +girls and children, but if I turned to retrace my steps there was a +panic-stricken rush to get out of my way. On one occasion a little +child of about two years old yelled with fright when I passed near it. +I was much astonished that a white <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e745" href="#xd0e745">57</a>]</span>man should make such a stir in +any part of Fiji, but it is only so in very out-of-the-way villages +such as these. I was exceedingly lucky to witness these ceremonies, as +they were the most important ones that had taken place in Fiji for many +years, and few of the old white residents had seen their equal. I was +all the more lucky, as I never expected to see them when I started from +Suva.</p> + +<p>The next morning I said “Samoce”<a class="noteref" id="xd0e749src" href="#xd0e749">1</a> (good-bye) to the great +“Buli,” who, though he was a big chief, was not above +accepting with evident glee the few shillings I pressed into his hand, +and with Masirewa and two fresh bearers continued my journey in the +pouring rain. Once we had to swim across a swift and swollen river, +then we went over steep hills, down deep gullies, wading through +streams and passing all the time through thick forests. We stopped once +to feed on wild pineapples, the pink “kavika.” and the +golden “wi,” but Masirewa was a bad bushman and slipped, +and stumbled, swore and grumbled, and many times I had to wait till he +came up with me. We followed a deep and beautiful gulch for some +distance, wading all the way through a shallow stream which flowed over +a natural slanting pavement with a smooth surface, and I found it hard +to keep my footing. We got a magnificent view from the top of a high +hill of the country to the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e752" href="#xd0e752">58</a>]</span>eastward, with large rivers winding among +beautiful undulating wooded country as far as the eye could reach. We +passed through but one village, named Naqeldreteki, and from here I saw +two very fine waterfalls falling side by side over a steep cliff +several hundred feet straight drop into the forest below. It was about +here that I came across a most beautiful sort of fungus of a bright +scarlet and orange, and in the shape of a perfect star.</p> + +<p>I heard what I took to be the gruff bark of a dog, when it suddenly +dawned upon me that there could not be any dogs here, as we were far +from any village. Upon investigation I discovered that it was a bird +that was the author of the noise, and I soon brought it down with a +load of dust-shot, and to my great delight it proved to be the golden +dove, a bird which I had hunted for in vain in the other islands. It +was of a very fine metallic golden-yellow colour, and the feathers +being long and narrow, gave it a very odd appearance. I could only +mutter “venaka, venaka” (good), and in spite of the heavy +rain reverently and slowly rolled it up in cotton wool and paper, to +the great amusement of my three Fijians. Among the most interesting +features of bird life in the Samoan and Fijian Islands were the various +members of the dove family, which looked wonderfully brilliant with +their metallic greens, and their orange, crimson, purple, yellow, pink, +cream and olive green. The latter part of the journey was <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e756" href="#xd0e756">59</a>]</span>through bushy +country dotted about with many large orchid and fern-laden trees.</p> + +<p>We arrived toward dusk at the large village of Serea, on the +Wainimala River, which is a branch of the Rewa River, and I put up in +the large hut of the “Buli.” I began to feel like an +ordinary mortal again, as the people here did not exhibit any great +surprise on seeing me, no doubt because, being in the Rewa district, +they see a few Europeans from time to time. After a change into dry +clothes and a supper off one of the large pigeons I had shot <i>en +route,</i> I had a large and interested crowd to watch me skin my dove, +and there were roars of laughter during the process, especially when +Masirewa told them it would be made to look like a real bird with glass +eyes. Masirewa at one time spoke sharply to the “Buli” who, +I thought, looked a bit annoyed, so I asked Masirewa what he said. +“Oh,” he said airily, “I told him to keep his pig of +a child away from the white chief.” Masirewa, was a character, +and evidently had no respect for chiefs and princes, etc., as he +treated all the “Bulis” as his equals, which was very +different from the generally cringing attitude of the Fijians to their +chiefs. Even the high and mighty “Buli” of Nabukaluku<a +class="noteref" id="xd0e763src" href="#xd0e763">2</a> seemed to like +his cheek. Masirewa liked to show off his English, though no one +understood a word, and his favourite way of addressing them when he was +annoyed was “You all black <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e766" +href="#xd0e766">60</a>]</span>devil pigs.” Whilst I was skinning +my dove, the people brought in a horrible-looking carved figure with +staring eyes. It was about five feet high, and they waxed very merry, +whenever I looked up at it from my skinning.</p> + +<p>I left early next morning in the pouring rain, and found as I passed +through Serea that it was quite a town. Quite a large crowd escorted me +down the steep banks of the river (Wainimala), and we were soon +spinning down stream in a large canoe. We soon joined another river +which, together with the Wainimala, formed the Rewa, the largest river +in Fiji. The scenery was both varied and picturesque, and once I got +the canoe paddled up a little shady creek where there was a very +beautiful waterfall, and where I was glad to stretch my legs for a few +minutes after being cramped up in the canoe. There were many pretty and +quaint villages on the banks, and the people often rushed out of their +huts to see us pass. Ducks were plentiful, and I got a fair bag and +used up my remaining cartridges, and the rest of the way I had to be +content with pointing my gun at them, which was very tantalizing. We +arrived about three p.m. at the village of Viria, and I stayed with the +“Buli” in his hut almost overhanging the river. In the +evening I took a stroll with the “Buli” round the village, +and then we sat on a log by the river chatting, with Masirewa acting as +interpreter. We continued our journey <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e770" href="#xd0e770">61</a>]</span>the next morning, and late in +the day we passed large fields of sugarcane. We had returned to +civilization once more, and I could not help feeling a pang of regret. +We arrived at the village of Navuso about four p.m., and I was the +guest of Andi (princess) Cakobau (pronounced Thakombau) and her +husband, Ratu (prince) Beni Tanoa. Princess Cakobau is the highest lady +of rank in Fiji, and belongs to the royal family. She is very stately +and ladylike, and in her younger days was very beautiful. She does not +know any English, but she wrote her autograph for me in my note-book to +paste on her photograph, as she writes a very good hand. Her husband is +also one of the highest chiefs in Fiji, and speaks good English. They +proved most hospitable, and presented me with some Fijian fans when I +left the next morning, and the Princess gave me a buttonhole of flowers +out of her garden. Dick Seddon, the Premier of New Zealand, had once +visited them, and I noticed his portrait that he had given them +fastened to a post in their hut. I left Navuso by steam launch which +called at the large sugar-mills a little lower down, and reached Suva +that afternoon, feeling very fit after one of the most enjoyable and +interesting expeditions that I ever made. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e772" href="#xd0e772">62</a>]</span><span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e773" href="#xd0e773">63</a>]</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<hr class="fnsep" /> +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e749src" id="xd0e749">1</a></span> Pronounced +“Samothe.”</p> + +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e763src" id="xd0e763">2</a></span> “b” pronounced +“mb.”</p> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="div0" id="xd0e774"> +<h2 class="normal">My Life Among Filipinos and Negritos and a Journey +in Search of Bearded Women.</h2> + +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e777" href="#xd0e777">64</a>]</span><span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e778" href="#xd0e778">65</a>]</span> +<div id="xd0e779" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">At Home Among Filipinos and Negritos.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>Arrival at Florida Blanca—The Schoolmaster’s House Kept +by Pupils in their Master’s Absence—Everyday Scenes at +Florida Blanca—A Filipino Sunday—A Visit to the +Cock-fighting Ring—A Strange Church Clock and +Chimes—Pugnacious Scene at a Funeral—Strained Relations +between Filipinos and Americans—My New Servant—Victoriano, +an Ex-officer of Aguinaldo’s Army, and his Six Wives—I +Start for the Mountains—“Free and easy” Progress of +my Buffalo-cart—Ascent into the Mountains—Arrival at my +Future Abode—Description of my Hut and Food—Our Botanical +Surroundings—Meetings with the Negritos—Friendliness and +Mirth of the Little People—Negritos may properly be called +Pigmies—Their Appearance, Dress, Ornaments and Weapons—An +Ingenious Pig-arrow—Extraordinary Fish-traps—Their Rude +Barbaric Chanting—Their Chief and His House—Cure of a +Malarial Fever and its Embarrassing Results—“Agriculture in +the Tropics”—A Hairbreadth Escape—Filipino +Blowpipes—A Pigmy Hawk in Pigmyland—The Elusive <i> +Pitta</i>—Names of the Birds—A Moth as Scent +Producer—Flying Lizards and other kinds—A +“Tigre” Scare by Night—Enforced Seclusion of Female +Hornbill.</p> +</div> + +<p>When collecting in the Philippines, I put in most of my time in the +Florida Blanca Mountains, in the province of Pampanga, Northern Luzon. +I arrived one evening after dark at the good-sized village of Florida +Blanca, which is situated a few miles from the foot of the mountain, +whose name it shares. I carried a letter to the American schoolmaster, +who was the only white man in the district, and had been a soldier in +the late war. It seemed to me a curious policy on the part of the +American government to turn their soldiers into schoolmasters, +especially as in most cases they are very ignorant themselves. I +believe, however, the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e790" href="#xd0e790">66</a>]</span>chief object is to teach the young Filipinos +English, and so turn them into live American citizens. The Americans +are far from popular in the Philippines, and when in Manila I was +strongly advised not to wear <i>khaki</i> in the jungle for fear of +being taken for an American soldier.</p> + +<p>The American’s house was dark and still when I arrived at +Florida Blanca, but whilst I was wondering what to do, I was surprised +to hear a small voice, coming out of a small adjoining house, say in +good English (though slowly and with a strong accent), +“Thee—master—has—gone—into—thee—mountains—to—kill—deer—and—pigs.” +This was from one of the American’s own pupils, an intelligent +little fellow named Camilo. As I learnt that he was not expected back +for two or three days, there was nothing left but to make myself as +comfortable as possible in his house until his return. Camilo was soon +boiling me some water, and I opened some of my provisions, as I had +eaten nothing for eight hours. The house was an ordinary Filipino one, +raised fully ten feet from the ground and built of native timber, the +peaked roof, which had a frame-work of bamboo, being thatched with +palm-leaves. The divisions between the rooms were of plaited bamboo +work, and the sliding windows were latticed, each division being fitted +with pieces of pearl shell. The next morning I was invaded by quite an +army of small boys, who, to my surprise, all spoke English very <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e797" href="#xd0e797">67</a>]</span>prettily +in their slow way and with a quaint accent. I have never come across a +more bright and intelligent set of little fellows, all very friendly +and not a bit shy, yet most polite and well-mannered. They were manly +little fellows, with the faces of cherubs, and they were always +smiling. Though the ages of my five little favourites, Camilo, Nicolas, +Fernando, Dranquilino and Victorio, ranged only from eleven down to +seven (the latter being little smiling-faced Victorio), they did all my +errands for me, bought me little rolls of sweetish bread, eggs and +fruit, and were most honest. They talked to me as if they had known me +all their lives, acted as my guides and showed me all there was to see. +They generally followed me in a row, with their arms round each +other’s neck in a most affectionate way, and I never heard any of +them use one angry word amongst themselves. The few days that I spent +here, I wandered through the narrow lanes and collected a few birds and +butterflies. These lanes were very dusty at the time, and were hemmed +in with an uninteresting shrubby growth on each side. The country round +Florida Blanca was for the most part covered with rice-fields, which, +at the time of my visit, were parched and covered with short stubble, +this being the dry season. I was not very successful in my collecting, +and looked forward to my visit to the mountains, which I could see in +the distance, and which appeared well covered with damp-looking +forests. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e799" href="#xd0e799">68</a>]</span>I noticed quantities of white egrets, which +settled on the backs of the water buffaloes. I would often pass these +water buffaloes with their heads sticking out of a way-side pond of mud +and water. They were generally used for drawing the curious wagons of +the country, which were rather like those one sees in Mexico, with +solid wooden wheels. Generally when I met these water buffaloes out of +harness, they were horribly afraid of me and stampeded, at the same +time making the most extraordinary noises, something between a squeak +and a short blast on a penny trumpet. They are usually stupid-looking +brutes, but this showed that they were intelligent enough to +distinguish between me and a Filipino. The pigs here had three pieces +of wood round their necks fastened together to form a triangle, an +excellent idea, as it prevented them from breaking through the fences. +The day following my arrival was a Sunday, and the church, a large +building of stone and galvanized iron, was almost opposite the +American’s house. I watched the people going to early mass (the +Filipinos are devout Roman Catholics). All the women wore gauzy veils +thrown over their heads, white or black were the prevailing colours and +sometimes red. I thought they looked very nice in them. I had asked +Camilo to boil me some water, but he begged off very politely, as he +had to go and put on his cassock and surplice to attend the service in +the church, where he sang all alone. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e801" href="#xd0e801">69</a>]</span>When he returned, I asked him +to sing to me what he had sung in the church, and he at once complied, +singing the “Gloria Patri” in a very clear and sweet voice. +After mass was over, the church bell began to toll and an empty lighted +bier came out of the church. It was preceded by three acolytes bearing +a long cross and two large lighted candlesticks, and followed by a +crowd of people. They were no doubt going to call at a house for the +corpse. Shortly afterwards an old Filipino priest came out and got into +one of the quaint covered buffalo wagons with solid wooden wheels +(already mentioned), and drove slowly round by the road. It was hot and +sultry, and thunder was pealing far away in the mountains. Under a +clump of trees (of a kind of yellow flowering acacia), which grew just +outside the large old wooden doors of the church, there was a group of +village youths and loafers, and two or three men went past with their +fighting cocks under their arms, Sunday afternoon out here being the +great day for cock-fighting. There seemed to be a sleepiness in the air +quite in keeping with the day of the week, and I was nearly dozing off +when little Nicolas came in. I asked him if he knew where the +cook-fighting took place, and added, “you savez” (slang for +“understand”). His eyes flashed, and he said, “Me no +savage,” but when I explained that I did not call him a +“savage,” his eyes, smiled an apology, and he <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e803" href="#xd0e803">70</a>]</span>willingly +offered to show me the place where the cock-fighting was to be.</p> + +<p>On entering the large bamboo shed or theatre where the cock-fighting +took place, I was met by the old Presidente of the village, to whom I +had brought a letter from Governor Joven (the Governor of the +province), whom I had visited at Bacolor on my way hither. He conducted +me to a seat on a raised clay platform, and sat next to me most of the +time, but as the fighting progressed he got very excited, and had to go +down into the ring. I had often witnessed it before in tropical +America, but here the left feet of the cocks were armed with large +steel spurs shaped like miniature cutlasses, which before the fight +began were encased in small leather sheaths. The onlookers worked +themselves up into a state of great excitement, and there was a great +deal of chaff, mixed with angry words, and plenty of silver +“pesos” were exchanged over the results. But it was cruel +work, and the crouching spectators were often scattered right and left +by the furious birds, whilst on one occasion a too venturesome onlooker +received a rather severe gash on his arm.</p> + +<p>The church clock here was a thing to wonder at. It had no dial, and +struck only about five times a day. When it struck ten there was an +interval of over twenty seconds between each stroke until the last two +strokes, these coming quickly together, as if it was tired of such slow +work! As there was <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e809" href="#xd0e809">71</a>]</span>no face to the clock, I was puzzled to know +whether to set my watch at the first or last stroke, or to split the +difference.</p> + +<p>There were a great many funerals during my stay here in December, +there being a regular epidemic of cholera and malaria. This was the +unhealthy season, and I was told that there were as many deaths in +Florida Blanca during the months of December and January as during all +the rest of the year put together.</p> + +<p>One day I watched from my window a funeral procession on its way +from the church to the cemetery. The Padre was not there, and this no +doubt accounted for the acrobatic display given by the three men in +cassocks and surplices, who led the way, bearing a cross and two +candles. They started by playfully kicking each other, and this soon +developed into angry words, so that I expected a free fight. One of +them tucked his unbuttoned cassock round his neck, and egged the other +two on. The coffin followed on a lighted bier, and the string of +mourners followed meekly behind, no doubt looking upon this display as +nothing out of the common.</p> + +<p>The interior of the church was very cold and bare, and there were no +seats. I learnt that the American and the Filipino Padre did not hit it +off together. There were one or two opposition schools in the village, +run by Filipinos, who did their utmost to prevent the children from +learning <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e817" href="#xd0e817">72</a>]</span>the language of the hated Americanos. The +American did not make himself any more popular by pulling down the old +street sign-boards bearing Spanish names, and substituting ugly +card-board placards marked in ink with fresh names, such as America +Street, McKinley Street, and Roosevelt Street; he had also named a +street after himself! Later on I learnt that this American schoolmaster +was a kind of spy in the American secret police, and that he had to +listen outside Filipino houses at night to overhear the conversation of +suspected insurgents. I was told this by Victoriano, my Filipino +servant in the mountains, who often accompanied the American in his +nightly rounds, and was the only man in the secret. This Victoriano, +whom I always called Vic for short, was the best servant that I have +had during my wanderings in any part of the world. He spoke Spanish and +knew a little English, as he had once been a servant to an Englishman +near Manila. With my small knowledge of Spanish, and his smattering of +English, we hit it off very well together. He acted as gun-bearer, +cook, laundry maid, housemaid, interpreter and guide. Later on he told +me that he had been an officer in the insurgent Aguinaldo’s army, +and that he had been imprisoned by the Spaniards for four years on the +island of Mindanao for belonging to a revolutionary society. He was a +tall, thin fellow of only thirty-two years of age, and yet his present +wife in Florida <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e819" href="#xd0e819">73</a>]</span>Blanca was his sixth, all the others being +dead. I used to chaff him about having poisoned them, which much amused +him. After some days the American returned, and he told me of a very +good spot in which to collect up in the mountains, so one morning I +started off with Vic for a long stay in these mountain forests. We left +Florida Blanca before the sun had risen, my luggage being carried in +one of the curious buffalo wagons. We soon left the dry rice-fields +behind, and for some distance passed over a wide uninteresting plain of +tall grass, dotted about with a few trees. After going some distance +our two buffaloes were unyoked and allowed to soak in a small pond. +This process was repeated every time we came to any water, and this, +together with the slow progress of the buffaloes, made the journey +longer than I had anticipated. After crossing a fair-sized river, we +began a gradual ascent into the mountains. My luggage was then carried +for a short distance, and after travelling through some bamboo thickets +and crossing a rocky stream, I beheld my future abode. It was a small +grass-thatched hut, with a flooring of split bamboo, raised four feet +from the ground; up to this we had to climb by means of a single bamboo +step. About two-thirds of the hut consisted of a flooring of bamboo, +fairly open on all sides but one; this part did as my bedroom, and to +get to it I had to crawl through a hole—one could hardly call it +a door! It was quite dark <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e821" href="#xd0e821">74</a>]</span>inside, but there was just room enough to lie +down on the split bamboo floor. All round the hut was a large clearing, +planted with maize, belonging to a Filipino, who from time to time +lived in another small hut about one hundred yards away. He also owned +the one I was living in, and for this I paid him the not very +exorbitant sum of one peso (two shillings) a month. Tall gaunt trees +rose out of the corn on all sides, and in the early morning they were +full of bird-life—parrots, parakeets, cockatoos, pigeons, +woodpeckers, gapers and hornbills, etc. A clear rocky stream flowed by +the side of the hut, the sound of whose rushing waters by night and day +was like music to the ear in this hot and thirsty land, whilst shaded +as it was by bamboos and trees, it was a delightful spot to bathe in +every morning and evening. I was well pleased with my surroundings, and +looked forward to a successful and interesting stay. I fared well +though the food was rough, and I subsisted chiefly on rice and papayas, +together with pigeons, doves, parrots, and the smaller hornbill, called +here “talactic,” all of which fell to my gun. The +surrounding country in these lower mountains was a mixture of forest +and open grass-country, the grass often growing far over my head. The +forest, which abounded in clear, rocky streams of cold water, was very +luxuriant and beautiful, especially in many of the cool, damp ravines +further back in the mountains. But near my camping ground a <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e823" href="#xd0e823">75</a>]</span>great +deal of the forest seemed to be half smothered with large thickets of +bamboo, and consequently the larger trees were rather far apart. There +was also a climbing variety of bamboo, which scrambled up to the tops +of the largest trees. The undergrowth in places was most luxuriant and +consisted of different species of palms, rattans, tree-ferns, <i> +pandanus,</i> giant ginger, <i>pipers, pothos, begonias,</i> bananas, +<i>caladiums,</i> ferns, <i>selaginellas</i> and lycopodiums, and many +variegated plants. Growing on many of the trees were some fine orchids. +Chief amongst them may be mentioned a very beautiful +“vanda,” which grew mostly on trees in the open grass +country, and which I witnessed in full bloom during my stay here. They +presented a wonderful sight. Out of the large sheaths of fan-like +leaves grew two grand flower-spikes, bearing from thirty to forty large +white, chocolate and crimson flowers. Of these there were two +varieties, and on one large plant I saw fully a dozen flower-spikes. +Further back in the mountains I came across some fine species of <i> +Phalaenopsis.</i></p> + +<p>I early made the acquaintance of the little Negritos, the aborigines +of these mountains, and during my wanderings I would often stumble +across their huts in small clearings in the forest. They never seemed +to have any villages, and I hardly ever saw more than one hut in one +place, and they were nearly always miserable bamboo <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e842" href="#xd0e842">76</a>]</span>hovels. As for +the little people themselves, they seemed perfectly harmless, and from +the first treated me with the greatest friendliness, and would often +pay me a visit at my hut, sometimes bringing me rice and +“papayas” or a large hornbill, which had been shot with +their steel-pointed arrows. They were quite naked except for a very +small strip of cloth. Their skin was of a very dark brown colour, their +hair frizzly, and the nose flat. They were by far the smallest race of +people I had ever seen, and they might quite properly be termed +pigmies. I certainly never came across a Negrito man over four feet six +inches, if as tall, and the women were a great deal smaller, coming as +a rule only up to the men’s shoulders; the elderly women looked +like small children with old faces. Both sexes generally had their +bodies covered with various patterns cut in their skins, a kind of +tattooing it might be called, but the skin was very much raised. Many +of them had the backs of their heads in the centre shaved in a curious +manner, like a very broad parting. I did not see them wearing many +ornaments, but the men had tight-fitting fibre bracelets on their arms +and legs, and the women sometimes wore necklaces of seeds, berries and +beads; they would also sometimes wear curiously carved bamboo combs in +their hair. The men used spears and bows and arrows; these latter they +were rarely without. Their arrows were often works of art, very fine +and neat patterns being <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e844" href="#xd0e844">77</a>]</span>burnt on the bamboo shafts. The feathers on +the heads were large, and the steel points were very neatly bound on +with rattan. These steel points were often cruel-looking things, having +many fishhook-like barbs set at different angles, so that if they once +entered a man’s body it would be impossible to extract them +again. A very clever invention was an arrow made for shooting deer and +pig. The steel point was comparatively small, and it was fitted very +lightly to a small piece of wood, which was also lightly placed in the +end of the arrow. Attached at one end to the arrow-head was a long +piece of stout native cord, which was wound round the shaft, the other +end being fastened to the main shaft. When the arrow was shot into a +pig, for instance, the steel head soon fell apart from the small bit of +wood, which in its turn would also drop off from the main shaft. The +thick cord would then gradually become unwound, and together with the +shaft would trail on the ground till at length it would be caught fast +in the bamboos or other thick growth, and the pig would then be at the +mercy of its pursuers. The steel head, being barbed, could not be +pulled out in the pig’s struggles to break loose. I had one of +these arrows presented to me by the chief of these Negritos, but, as a +rule, they are very hard to get as the Negritos value them very highly. +An American officer I met in Manila told me that he had been quartered +for some time in a district <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e846" +href="#xd0e846">78</a>]</span>where there were many Negritos, and +though he had offered large rewards for one of these arrows he was not +successful in getting one. The women manufacture enormous baskets, +which I often saw them carrying on their backs when I met them in the +forest. I was much struck with the cleverness of some of their +fish-traps; these were long cone-like objects tapering to a point, the +insides being lined with the extraordinary barb-covered stems of a +rattan or climbing palm, and the thorns or barbs placed (pointing +inwards) in such a way that the fish could get in easily but not +out.</p> + +<p>These Negritos were splendid marksmen with their bows and arrows, +and during my stay amongst them I became quite an adept in that art; +their old chief used to take a great delight in teaching me, and my +first efforts were met with hearty roars of laughter. They were +certainly the merriest and yet the dirtiest people I have ever met. +Whenever I met them they were always smiling. When, as happened on more +than one occasion, I lost my way in the forest and had at length +stumbled upon one of their dwellings, I made signs to let them +understand that I wanted them to show me the way back. This they +cheerfully did, and led the way singing in their peculiar manner; it +was a most wild and abandoned and barbaric kind of music, if it could +really be called music at all. It consisted chiefly of shouting and +yelling in different scales, as if the singers were <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e850" href="#xd0e850">79</a>]</span>overflowing +with joy at the mere idea of being alive. I would often hear them +singing, or yelling like children, in the deep recesses of the forest. +In fact the contentment and happiness of these little people was quite +extraordinary, and I had a great affection for them. They would do +almost anything for me, and their chief and I soon became great +friends. He was a most amusing old fellow, and nearly always seemed to +be laughing. Yet they were also the dirtiest people I had ever seen, +and never washed themselves: consequently they were thick with dirt, +which even their dark skins could not hide. They grew a little rice and +tobacco, and the old chief always kept me well supplied with rice, +which seemed of very fair quality. He also kept a few chickens and +would often send me a present of some eggs, which were very acceptable. +In return I would give him an old shirt or two, which he was very proud +of. By the time I left, these shirts were almost the colour of his +skin, and he evidently did not wish to follow my advice as to washing +them. His house was a very large one for a Negrito’s, and far +better built than any others that I saw. When the maize which grew +round my hut was ripe, the Filipino owner got several men and women up +from Florida Blanca to help him to harvest it, and many of them slept +underneath my hut. At nights I would generally have quite a crowd round +me watching me skin my birds, and although I did not understand a word +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e852" href="#xd0e852">80</a>]</span>of +their Pampanga dialect, their exclamations of surprise and delight when +a bird was finished were quite complimentary. Poor Vic had to endure a +running fire of questions as to what I was going to do with my birds +and butterflies, but to judge by the way he lectured on me, he no doubt +enjoyed it, and possibly told them some wonderful yarns about “My +English,” as he called me. One day a man at work in the maize had +a bad attack of “calenturas” (malarial fever). I gave him +some quinine and Epsom salts and this treatment evidently had a good +effect, as the next day I was, besieged by a regular crowd of Filipinos +of both sexes, who wished to consult me as to their various ills, and +Vic was called in to act as interpreter. A good many of them, both men +and women, took off nearly all their clothes to show me bruises and +sores that they had, and I was in despair as to what treatment to +recommend. At last when one old woman had parted with most of her +little clothing to show me some sores, I told Vic to tell her that she +had better get a good wash in the river (as she was the reverse of +clean). This prescription raised a laugh, but the old lady was furious, +and my medical advice was not again asked for. After the maize was cut, +the owner started to sow a fresh crop without even taking out the old +stalks, which had been cut off a few inches from the ground. This was +the way he did it. He made holes in the ground with a hoe in one hand, +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e854" href="#xd0e854">81</a>]</span>and in the other hand he held a roasted cob of +corn, which he kept chewing from time to time. His wife followed him, +dropping a grain into each hole and filling in the soil with her feet. +It would have made a good picture under the heading of +“Agriculture in the Tropics”! Vic told me that they got +four crops a year, so one can hardly wonder at their taking things +easily. A rough bamboo fence separated the maize from a copse of bamboo +jungle and forest, in which I was one day collecting with Vic, when I +attempted to jump over a very low part of the fence. Vic, however, +called out to me to stop, and it was lucky he did so, as otherwise the +consequences would have been terrible for me. Just hidden by a few thin +creepers, there had been arranged there a very neat little pig-trap, +consisting of a dozen or more sharp bamboo spears firmly planted in the +ground, and leaning at a slight angle towards the fence. Except for +Vic’s timely warning I should have been stuck through and +through, as the bamboo points would stand a heavy weight without +breaking, and if I had escaped being killed, I should certainly have +been crippled for life. I naturally felt very angry with my neighbour +for not having asked Vic to tell me about this, as the previous day +when out alone I had climbed to the top of this fence and then jumped +down into the creepers below; luckily I had not then noticed this low +part further down. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e856" href="#xd0e856">82</a>]</span></p> + +<p>Many of the Filipinos are very good shots with their blowpipes, and +Vic possessed one. It was about nine feet in length, and possessed a +sight made of a lump of wax at one end. Like the bows of the Negritos, +it was made out of the trunk of a very beautiful fan-palm +(<i>Livistona</i> sp.). Two pieces of the palm-wood are hollowed out +and then stuck together in a wonderfully clever fashion, so that the +joins barely show. Vic was fairly good with it when shooting at birds a +short distance away. His ammunition consisted of round clay pellets, +which he fashioned to the right size by help of a hole in a small tin +plate, which he always carried with him.</p> + +<p>Birds were fairly plentiful in these mountain forests, and I was +glad to get one of the interesting racquet-tailed parrots of the genus +<i>Prioniturus,</i> that are only found in the Philippines and Celebes. +It was curious that up here amongst the pigmy Negritos I should get a +pigmy hawk. It was by far the smallest hawk I had ever seen, being not +much larger than a sparrow. Several species of very beautiful +honey-suckers, full of metallic colours, used to frequent the bright +red flowers of a creeper that generally clambered up the trees +overhanging the streams, and these flowers proved very popular with +many butterflies, especially the giant gold and black <i> +Ornithopteras</i> and various rare <i>papilios</i> of great beauty. +There was one bird I was most anxious to get, and though I saw it once +I had to leave Luzon without it. It was a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e873" href="#xd0e873">83</a>]</span><i>pitta,</i> a kind of ground +thrush. Thrushes of this genus are amongst the most brilliant of all +birds, and in my own collections I possess a great number of different +species that I have collected in other countries. This one that I was +so anxious to get was locally called “Tinkalu.” Amongst +both Filipinos and Negritos it has the reputation of being the +cleverest of all birds, and, as Vic expressed it, “like a +man.” It hops away into the thickest undergrowth and hides at the +least sound. Certainly no bird has ever given me such a lot of worry +and trouble. Many a weary hour did I spend going through swamps and +rivers, bamboo and thorny palms, dripping with perspiration and +tormented by swarms of mosquitos and sand-flies, and all to no +purpose!</p> + +<p>Thanks to Vic, I soon picked up most of the local names of the +various birds, which were often given on account of the sounds they +made. The large hornbill was named “Gasalo,” the smaller +kind “Talactic,” the large pigeon “Buabu,” a +bee-eater “Patirictiric,” and other names were +“Pipit,” “Culiaun,” “Alibasbas,” +“Quilaquilbunduc,” “Papalacul,” +“Batala,” “Batubatu,” “Culasisi.” +Some of the spiders here were of great size, and in these mountain +forests their webs were a great nuisance. These webs were often of a +yellow glutinous substance, which stained my clothes, and when they +caught me in the face, as they often did, it was the reverse of +pleasant. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e879" href="#xd0e879">84</a>]</span></p> + +<p>Mosquitos and sandflies were very numerous and ants were in great +force, so that one evening when I discovered that they were hard at +work amongst all my bird skins, it took me up to 5 a.m. to separate +them before I could get to bed.</p> + +<p>I discovered a diurnal moth that possessed a most powerful and +delicious scent. Vic, who had never noticed it before, was delighted, +and proposed my catching them in quantities and turning them into +scent. Whilst on the subject of scent, I might mention that in these +forests I would often come across a good-sized tree which was called +Ilang-ilang. It was covered with plain-looking green flowers, which +possessed a wonderful fragrance. I learnt that the Filipinos collected +the flowers, which were sent to Manila and made into scent, but that +they generally cut down the tree in order to get the flowers.</p> + +<p>I saw here for the first time the curious flying lizards. Their +partly transparent wings were generally of very bright colours; they +fly fully twenty yards from one tree to another, and quickly run up the +trees out of reach. Another quaint lizard, was what is generally known +as the gecko. It is said to be poisonous in the Philippines, and is +generally found on trees or bamboos and often in houses. In comparison +to the size of this lizard the volume of its voice was enormous. I +generally heard it at night. First would come a preliminary gurgling +chuckle; then a pause <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e886" href="#xd0e886">85</a>]</span>(between the chuckle and what follows it). +Then comes loud and clear, “Tuck-oo-o,” then a slight +pause, then “Tuck-oo-o” again repeated six or seven times +at regular intervals; at other times it sounds like “Chuck +it.” When it was calling inside a hollow bamboo, the noise made +was extraordinary. There were a great number of bamboos in the +surrounding country, and they were continually snapping with loud +reports, which I would often imagine to be the reports of a rifle until +I got used to them. Wild pig were very plentiful, and at night they +would often grub up the ground a few yards from my hut. One night I was +skinning a bird, with Vic looking on, when we heard some animal +growling close by, and Vic without any warning seized my gun (which I +always kept loaded with buckshot) and fired into the darkness. He said +that it was a “tigre,” and called out excitedly that he had +killed it, but although we hunted about with a light for some time, we +saw no signs of it. No doubt it was some animal of the cat family. Vic, +as in fact all Filipinos, had a mortal dread of snakes, and he would +never venture out at night without a torch made of lighted bamboo, as +he said they were very plentiful at night. The large hornbills +(“Gasalo”) were very hard to stalk, and as they generally +frequented the tallest trees they were out of shot. They usually flew +about in flocks, and made a most extraordinary noise, rather like <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e888" href="#xd0e888">86</a>]</span>a whole +farmyard full of turkeys, guinea fowls and dogs. The whirring noise +they made with their wings was not unlike the shunting of a locomotive. +I had often before heard of the curious habit of the male in plastering +up the female with mud in the hollow of a tree, leaving only a small +hole through which he fed her until the single egg was hatched and the +young one was ready to fly. Vic knew this, and further informed me that +the smaller species, named here “Talactic,” had the same +custom of plastering up the female.</p> + +<p>Many evenings, when I had finished my work, I would get Vic to teach +me the Pampanga, dialect, and wrote down a large vocabulary of words, +and when some years afterwards I compared them word for word with other +dialects and languages throughout the Malay Archipelago, I found that, +with a few exceptions, there was not the slightest affinity between +them. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e892" href="#xd0e892">87</a>]</span></p> +</div> + +<div id="xd0e893" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">A Chapter of Accidents.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>A Severe Bout of Malaria in the Wilds—The “Seamy +Side” of Exploration—Unfortunate Shooting of the +Chief’s Dog—Filipino Credulity—Stories of the Buquils +and their Bearded Women—Expedition Planned—Succession of +<i>contretemps</i>—Start for the Buquil Country—Scenes on +the Way—A Negrito Mother’s Method of Giving Drink to Her +Baby—Exhausting Marches Amid Striking Scenery—The Worst +Over—A Bolt from the Blue—Negritos in a Fury—Violent +Scenes at a Negrito Council of War—They Decide on +Reprisals—Further Progress Barred in Consequence—Return to +Florida Blanca.</p> +</div> + +<p>As I mentioned before, this was the unhealthy season in the +Philippines, and Vic assured me that these lower mountains were even +more unhealthy than the flat country. I myself soon arrived at a +similar conclusion, as a regular epidemic of malaria now set in among +my pigmy friends, the Negritos, and the old chief told us that his +favourite son was dying with it; next my neighbour and his wife were +prostrated with it, and when they had slightly recovered, they left +their hut and returned to Florida Blanca. Vic himself was next laid up +with it, and seemed to think he was going to die. When I was at work in +the evening he would shiver and groan under a blanket by my side; this, +coming night after night, was rather depressing for me, all alone as I +was. At other times he would imagine we were hunting the wary and +elusive <i>pitta,</i> and would start up crying, “<i>Ah! el +tinkalu,</i> it is there! <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e910" href="#xd0e910">88</a>]</span><i>por Deos,</i> shoot, my English, +shoot!” or he would imagine we were after butterflies, and would +cry out, <i>“Caramba, mariposa azul muy grande, muy bueno, +bueno!”</i> I was forced to do all the cooking for both of us, +though it was quite pathetic to see poor Vic’s efforts to come to +my assistance, and his indignation that his “English” +should do such work for him. At one time I half expected that he would +die, but with careful nursing and doctoring I gradually brought him +round.</p> + +<p>During all the time that he was ill. I did but little collecting, +and no sooner was Vic on the road to recovery than I myself was seized +with it, and Vic repaid the compliment by nursing me in turn. It was a +most depressing illness, especially as I was living on the poorest fare +in a close and dirty hut. When you are ill in civilization, with nurses +and doctors and a good bed, you feel that you are in good hands, and +confidence does much to help recovery. But it is a different matter +being sick in the wilds, without any of these luxuries, and you wonder +what will happen if it gets serious. Then you long for home and its +luxuries, with a very great longing, and cordially detest the spot you +are in, with all those wretched birds and butterflies! It is Eke a long +nightmare, but as you get better you forget all this, and the jaundiced +feeling soon wears off, and you start off collecting again as keen as +ever. One day a small skinny brown dog somehow managed to <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e919" href="#xd0e919">89</a>]</span>climb up the +bamboo step into my hut during Vic’s temporary absence, and I +suddenly awoke to find it helping itself to the contents of a plate +that Vic had placed by my side. I was far too ill to do more than +frighten it away. This happened a second time before I was strong +enough to move, but the third time I was well enough to seize my small +collecting gun (which was loaded with very small cartridges), and when +it was about thirty yards away I fired at it, simply intending to +frighten it, as at that distance these small cartridges would hardly +have killed a small bird. It stopped suddenly and, after spinning round +a few times yelping, it turned over on its back. Even then I thought it +was shamming, but on going up to it I found it was dead, with only one +No. 8 shot in its spleen. On Vic’s return he was much alarmed, as +he said the dog belonged to the Negrito chief, who was very fond of it, +and would be very angry with me if he knew. So we hid the body in the +middle of a clump of bamboo about a quarter of a mile away from the +hut. But the following day the sky was thick with a kind of turkey +buzzard, which had evidently smelt the dog’s corpse from some +distance, and they were soon quarrelling over the remains. Vic worked +himself up into a state of panic, saying that it would be discovered by +the Negritos, but a few days later I sent him over to the Negrito +chief’s hut to get me some rice, and the chief <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e921" href="#xd0e921">90</a>]</span>mentioned that +his chief wife had lost her dog, which she was very fond of, and that +he thought that I must have killed it. Vic in reply said that that +could never be, as in the country that I came from the people were so +fond of dogs that they were very kind to them, and treated them like +their own fathers. The chief then said that a pig must have killed it, +and so the incident ended.</p> + +<p>About this time Vic asked my permission to return to Florida Blanca +for a few days, as he had heard that his wife had run away with another +man, and he offered to send his brother to take his place. His brother +could also speak English a little, and was assistant schoolmaster to +the American. He proved, however, an arrant coward, and, like most +Filipinos, lived in great fear of the Negritos. When out with me in the +forest he would start, if he heard a twig snap or a bamboo creak, and +look fearfully about him for a Negrito. He told me that the Negritos +will kill and rob you if they think there is no chance of being found +out, and he mentioned a case of an old Filipino being killed and robbed +by these same Negritos a few months previously. I managed to string +together the following absurd story from his broken English. He said +that if you heard a twig break in the forest once or even twice you +were safe enough, but if a twig snapped a third time, and you did not +call out that you saw the Negrito, you would get an arrow into you. He +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e925" href="#xd0e925">91</a>]</span>said that once when he heard the stick +“break three time” (to use his own words), he called out +“Ah! I see you Negrite, and the Negrite he no shoot, but came out +like amigo (friend).” His English was too limited for me to point +out the many weak and absurd points of the story, as, for instance, why +the Negrito should make the twigs break exactly three times, and why he +should not shoot because he thinks he is seen. I only mention this +anecdote to illustrate the credulity of the Filipinos. The next day, +when we were out collecting in the morning, I suddenly saw him start +when a bamboo snapped, so I called out, “Buenos diaz, +Señor Negrite.” This was too much for my man, who ran off +home and refused to follow me in the forest that afternoon, and when I +returned that evening he was nowhere to be seen, and I found out later +that he had returned to Florida Blanca. In consequence I was forced to +do all my own cooking, which was not pleasant, as I had to do it all in +the hot sun, and this brought on a return of my fever. At last, one +morning, as I was endeavouring to light a fire to cook my breakfast, +and muttering unpleasant things about Vic and his brother, I suddenly +looked up and Vic stood before me like a. silent ghost. I say like a +ghost, because he looked like one, thin and gaunt as he still was from +fever. He, too, had had a return of the fever and had not yet +recovered, but sooner <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e927" href="#xd0e927">92</a>]</span>than that “his English” should be +alone, he had dragged himself over in the cool of the night. The next +day his wife and two children arrived. She had been on a visit to her +mother in another village, which accounted for Vic’s thinking she +had run away. They occupied the hut of my late neighbour, and before +many days had gone they were all bad with fever. It was easy to see +that the woman hated me, and imagined I was the cause of her having to +come and live in these lonely and unhealthy mountains. Vic told me that +there had been so much sickness in Florida Blanca that there was no +quinine left in the place. My own stock was getting low, and Vic and +his family, as well as myself, used it daily. I had cured the old +Negrito chief with it, and he was very grateful to me, and presented me +with some very fine arrows in return.</p> + +<p>For some time past I had heard rumours of an extraordinary tribe of +Negritos who lived further back in the mountains, and were named +Buquils, and whose women were reported to have beards. Vic, whom I +always found to be most truthful in everything, and who rarely +exaggerated, declared it was true, and furthermore told me that these +Buquils had long smooth hair, which proved that they could not have +been Negritos. Besides, I learnt that they were quite a tall people. +Nowhere in the whole world is there such a diversity of races as in the +Philippines, and so it would be <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e931" +href="#xd0e931">93</a>]</span>quite impossible even to guess what they +were. Vic had once seen some of them himself when they came on a visit +to the lower mountains. Though I thought the story, as to the women +having beards, a fable, I determined to visit them before I left these +mountains, and the old Negrito chief, who also told me that the women +really did have beards, offered to lend me some of his people to carry +my things. But one day Vic heard that his lather was dying, and when I +tried to cheer him up he sobbed in a mixture of broken Spanish and +English, “One thousand señoritas can get, one thousand +children can get, but lose one father more cannot get.” On this +account I had to return to Florida Blanca, and besides we were all very +bad with constant attacks of fever, and in this village we could at all +events get bread, milk and eggs to recuperate us. The American had left +for a long holiday, so I managed to hire a small house where I could +sort my collections before returning to Manila, where I intended +catching a steamer for the south Philippines.</p> + +<p>One day the village priest (a Filipino) called on me, and in course +of conversation we spoke about these Buquils. He was most emphatic that +it was true about the women having beards, and he also told me that no +Englishman, American or Spaniard had ever penetrated so far back in the +mountains as to reach their villages. When he had left I thought it +over, and decided to go and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e935" +href="#xd0e935">94</a>]</span>see them for myself, though I was still +suffering from fever. Vic, whose father had recovered from his illness, +declared his willingness to accompany me; in fact I knew that he would +never allow me to go without him. He was quite miserable at the idea of +our parting, which was close at hand. As luck would have it, the day +before we decided to start, Vic was down with fever again, and the +following day I was seized with it. Never before or since have I been +amongst so much fever as I was in this district. In any case I had made +up my mind to see these Buquils, but we had now lost two days, and +there was only just enough time left to get there and back and to +journey back to Manila and catch my steamer. The day after my attack we +started for the mountains once more at about two p.m., my fever being +still too bad for me to start earlier. It had been very dry lately, +with not a drop of rain and hardly a cloud to be seen, but just as we +were starting it came on to rain in torrents and this meant that the +rainy season had set in. It seemed as if the very elements were against +us, and even Vic seemed struck with our various difficulties. I was +sick and feverish, and my head felt like a lump of lead, as I plodded +mechanically along in the rain through the tall wet grass. I felt no +keenness to see these people at the time, fever removes all that, but I +had so got it into my head before the fever that I must go at all +hazards, that I felt somehow as if I was <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e937" href="#xd0e937">95</a>]</span>obeying someone else. We passed +my old residence a short way off, and I stayed the night at the Negrito +chief’s hut, which I reached long after dark. He seemed very glad +to see me again, and turned out most of his family and relations to +make room for me. My troubles were not yet ended, as the two Filipinos +whom I had engaged to carry my food and bedding could not start till +late, and consequently lost their way, and were discovered in the +forest by some Negritos, who went in search of them about 2 a.m. +Meanwhile I had to lie on the hard ground in my wet clothes, and as I +got very cold a fresh attack of fever resulted. I had intended to start +off again about four a.m., but it was fully four hours later before we +were well on our way. I managed to eat a little before I left, our rice +and other food being cooked in bamboo (the regular method of cooking +amongst the Negritos). I here noticed for the first time the method +employed by the Negrito mothers for giving their babies water; they +fill their own mouths with water from a bamboo, and the child drinks +from its mother’s mouth. In the early morning thousands of +metallic green and cream-coloured pigeons and large green doves came to +feed on the golden yellow fruit of a species of fig tree +(<i>Ficus</i>), which grew on the edge of the forest near the +chief’s hut. They made a tremendous noise, fluttering and +squeaking as they fought over the tempting looking fruit. <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e942" href="#xd0e942">96</a>]</span></p> + +<p>We took five Negritos to carry the rice and my baggage—two +men, two women, and a boy. The women, though not much more than girls, +were apportioned the heaviest loads; the men saw to that, and looked +indignant when I made them reduce the girls’ loads. As we +continued on our journey, I noticed that our five Negrito carriers were +joined by several others all well armed with bows and extra large +bundles of arrows, and on my asking Vic the reason, he told me that +these Buquils we were going to visit were very treacherous, and our +Negritos would never venture amongst them unless in a strong body. As +we went along the narrow track in single file some of the Negritos +would suddenly break forth into song or shouting, and as they would +yell (as if in answer to each other) all along the line, I could not +help envying them the extreme health and happiness which the very sound +of it seemed to express; my own head meanwhile feeling as if about to +split. I shall never forget that walk up and down the steepest tracks, +where in some places a slip would have meant a fall far down into a +gorge below. If Vic was to be believed, I was the first white man to +try that track, and I would not like to recommend it to any others. +Deep ravines, that if one could only have spanned with a bridge one +could have crossed in five minutes or less, took us fully an hour to go +down and up again, and I could never have got down some of them except +for being able <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e945" href="#xd0e945">97</a>]</span>to hang on to bushes, trees and long grass. +Whenever we passed a Negrito hut we took a short rest. My Negritos, +however, wanted to make it a long one, as they seemed to be very fond +of yarning, and when I insisted on their hurrying on, Vic got +frightened and declared they might clear out and leave us, which would +certainly have been a misfortune. At length we arrived at a +chief’s hut, where we had arranged to spend the night. It was +situated at the top of a tall, grassy peak, from which I got a +wonderful view of the surrounding country: steep wooded gorges and +precipices surrounded us on all sides, and in the distance the flat +country from whence we had come, and far far away the sea looked like +glistening silver. The flat country presented an extraordinary contrast +to the rugged mountains which surrounded me. It was so wonderfully +flat, not the smallest hill to be seen anywhere, except where the +lonely isolated peak of Mount Aryat arose in the distance, and far away +one could just see a long chain of lofty mountains. The effect of the +shadows of the distant clouds on the flat country was very curious. +Early the next morning, at sunrise, the view looked very different, +though just as beautiful. The chief seemed very friendly. He was a +brother of my old friend, with whom I had stayed the previous night. +This chief, however, was very different to his brother, being very +dignified, but he had a very good and kind face, whilst my old friend +was a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e947" href="#xd0e947">98</a>]</span>“typical comic opera” kind of +character. From what I could understand these two and another brother +ruled over this tribe of Negritos between them, each being chief of a +third of the tribe Soon after my arrival I turned in, as I was very +tired and feverish and had had no sleep the previous night. The +Negritos, as usual, were very merry and made a great noise for so small +a people. I never saw such people for laughter whenever anything amused +them, which is very often; they were a great contrast in this respect +to the Filipinos. This natural gaiety helps to explain their many and +varied dances, one of which consists in their running round after each +other in a circle.</p> + +<p>I felt very much better next morning, and we started off very early, +our numbers being increased by the chief and many of his men, so that I +now found myself escorted by quite an army. I took note round here of +the methods used by the Negritos in climbing tall, thick trees to get +fruit and birds-nests. They had long bamboo poles lashed together, +which run up to one of the highest branches fully one hundred feet from +the ground. They often fastened them to the branch of a smaller tree, +and thence slanting upwards to the top of a tall tree, perhaps as much +as sixty feet and more away from the smaller tree. These Negritos axe +splendid climbers, but it seemed wonderful for even a Negrito to trust +himself on <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e951" href="#xd0e951">99</a>]</span>one of these bamboos stretching like a thread +from tree to tree so far from the ground. I shall never forget the +scramble we now had into the deepest gorge of all, and how we followed +the bed of a dried-up stream, which in the rainy season must be a +series of cascades and waterfalls, since we had to scramble all the way +over large slippery boulders covered with ferns and <i>begonias.</i> We +at length came to a tempting-looking river full of large pools of clear +water, into which I longed to plunge. The banks were extremely +beautiful, being overhung by the forest, and the rocky cliffs were half +hidden by large fleshy-leaved climbers and many other beautiful +tropical plants. It was one of those indescribably beautiful spots that +one so often encounters in the tropical wilds, and which it is +impossible to paint in words. A troop of monkeys were disporting +themselves on a tree overhanging the river. Vic was most anxious for me +to allow him to shoot one, but I have only shot one monkey in my life, +and it is to be the last, and I always try and prevent others from +doing so. We waded the river in a shallow place, and climbed up the +steep hill on the other side. We had gone a good distance over hills +covered with tall grass, and I was now looking forward to a bit of +decent walking, as hitherto it had been nearly all miserable scrambling +work, and the Negritos told Vic that the worst was now over. But we +were approaching a hut, overhanging a rocky cliff, when we heard the +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e956" href="#xd0e956">100</a>]</span>sound of angry voices and wailing above us, +and we soon perceived four Negritos (three men and a woman) approaching +us. I thought the old woman was mad; she was making more noise than all +the others put together, shouting and screaming in her fury. At first I +thought they might be hostile Negritos who resented our intrusion, but +they belonged to the tribe of the chief who was with me, and they were +soon talking to him in loud, excited voices. Our own party soon got +excited, too, and, as may be imagined, I was longing to find out the +cause of all this excitement. Vic soon told me the reason. It appeared +that on the previous day a large party of our Negritos had gone into +the territory of the Buquils in order to get various kinds of forest +produce (as they had often done in the past), and had been +treacherously attacked by these Buquils, and many of them killed. One +of these was the brother of a sub-chief, who now approached us, and who +was, I believe, the husband of the frenzied woman. It was a very +excitable scene that followed. I suppose one might call it a council of +war. It was a mystery to me where all the Negritos came from and how +they found us out; but they came in ones and twos till there was a huge +concourse of them present, all gathered round their chief and squatting +on the ground. About the only one who behaved sensibly was my friend +the chief. He spoke in a slow and dignified manner, but the rest worked +themselves <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e958" href="#xd0e958">101</a>]</span>up into a furious rage, and twanged their +bowstrings, and jumped about and fitted arrows to their bows, and +pointed them at inoffensive “papaya” trees, whilst two +little boys shot small arrows into the green and yellow fruit, seeming +to catch the fever from their elders. One man actually danced a kind of +war-dance on his own account, strutting about with his bow and arrow +pointed, and getting into all sorts of grotesque attitudes, moving +about with his legs stiffened, and pulling the most hideous faces, till +I was forced to laugh.</p> + +<p>But it seemed to be no laughing matter for the Negritos. The old +woman beat them all; she did not want anyone to get in a word edgeways, +but screamed and yelled, almost foaming at the mouth, till I almost +expected to see her fall down in a fit. I never before witnessed such a +display of fury.</p> + +<p>Vic kept me well advised as to the progress of the proceedings, and +it was eventually settled that each of the three brother chiefs were to +gather together three hundred fighting men, making nine hundred +altogether, and these in a few days’ time were to go up and +avenge the deaths of their fellow tribesmen. From the enthusiasm +displayed amongst the little men, this was evidently carried +unanimously, but I noticed two young men sitting aloof from the rest of +the crowd and looking rather sullen and frightened, and as they did not +join <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e964" href="#xd0e964">102</a>]</span>in the general warlike demonstrations, it was +evidently their first fight. Here, however, I made Vic interrupt in +order to draw attention to myself. What Vic translated to me was to the +effect that it was out of the question for us to go on into the +enemy’s country, which we should have reached in another two +hours’ walk. If we did they would certainly kill us all by +shooting arrows into us from the long grass (in other words, we should +fall into an ambush), and, in fact, since they had killed some of this +tribe they would kill anyone that came into their country. By killing +these men they had declared war. This was the sum total of Vic’s +translation, and I saw at once that it was out of the question for me +to go on, as no Negrito would go with me, and I could not go alone. In +any case I should have been killed. Vic told me that very few of these +Buquils ever leave their mountain valleys, and so most of them had +never seen a Filipino, much less a white man. And so I met with a very +great disappointment, and was forced to leave without proving whether +or no the story of these bearded women was a myth. Lately I heard a +rumour that an American had visited them and proved the story true. My +disappointment may well be imagined. I had come over the worst track I +had ever travelled on in spite of rain and fever, but I at once saw +that all my labours were in vain and that I could not surmount this +last difficulty. But I was lucky in one way. The chief told Vic that if +we had gone yesterday <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e966" href="#xd0e966">103</a>]</span>we should all have been killed, as without +knowing anything about it, we should have got there just after the +fight. So for once fever had done me a good turn, a +“providencia,” I think Vic called it, as I should have +reached my destination the previous day if I had not been delayed by +fever. Out of curiosity to see what the chief would say, I told Vic to +tell him that I would help him with my gun, but the chief was +ungrateful and contemptuous, saying that they would shoot me before I +could see to shoot them. Vic thought I was serious, and said he would +not go with me, and begged me not to go, saying, in a mixture of +English and Spanish, “What will your father, your sister, and +your brother say to me when Buquil arrow make you dead?” Needless +to say I was not keen on stalking Buquils who were waiting for me with +steel arrows in long grass, and, besides, if I went with the gallant +little nine hundred, I should miss my steamer. I never heard the result +of that fight, much as I should like to have known it. After the +meeting had dispersed, we returned to the river and rested. I bathed +and took a swim in a big, deep pool under a huge tree, which was one +mass of beautiful white flowers. I have never enjoyed a swim more. Vic +also took a wash, and to my great surprise one of the Negritos +proceeded to copy him, and as Vic soaped himself the Negrito tried to +do the same thing with a stone, with which he succeeded in getting rid +of a great deal of dirt. It surprised <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e968" href="#xd0e968">104</a>]</span>and amused the other Negritos, +both men and women, who jeered and roared with laughter at the unusual +spectacle of a Negrito washing himself.</p> + +<p>I signed to them to give our boy carrier a wash, as he seemed the +noisiest of the party, and two men got hold of him to duck him, but he +seemed so terrified that I stopped them. The youngster evidently hated +me for the fright he had received, as later on when I made him a +present of a silver ten-cent piece to make up for his fright—this +is a very handsome present for a Negrito—he threw it on the +ground and stamped his foot in anger. The Negritos shot several fish +and large prawns with a special kind of long pointed arrow; these we +ate with our rice by the river side before returning. The night I +stayed with my old friend, the comic chief, I found him actually in +tears and much cut up at the idea of his two sons having to take part +in the fight. I suppose it was compulsory for them to fight, but it +appeared rather odd to me that a chief should object to his sons taking +part in a fight, as the Negritos are considered very plucky fighters. +The chief sent four Negritos to carry my things down to Florida Blanca. +The following day I started back to Manila, where I caught my steamer +for the southern Philippines. Vic was much distressed at my departure +and shed many tears as I said good-bye to him, his grief being such +that even a handsome tip could not assuage it. <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e972" href="#xd0e972">105</a>]</span></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="div0" id="xd0e973"> +<h2 class="normal">In the Jungles of Cannibal Papua.</h2> + +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e976" href="#xd0e976">106</a>]</span><span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e977" href="#xd0e977">107</a>]</span> +<div id="xd0e978" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">On the War-Trail in Cannibal Papua.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>Expedition against the Doboduras—We hear reports about a +Web-footed Tribe—Landing at the Mouth of the Musa River—A +Good Bag—Barigi River Reached—A Flight of Torres Straits +Pigeons—A Tropical Night Scene—Brilliant Rues of Tropical +Fish—Arrival of Supplies—Prospects of a Stiff +Fight—Landing of the Force—Pigs Shot to Prevent them from +being Cooked Alive—Novelty of Firearms—A Red +Sunrise—Beauty of the Forest—Enemies’ War Cry First +Heard—Rushing a Village—Revolting Relics of Cannibal +Feast—Doboduras eat their Enemies Alive—Method of +Extracting the Brains—Extensive Looting—Firing at the +Enemies’ Scouts—An Exciting Chase—When in Doubt Turn +to the Right—Another Village Rushed—Skirmishes with the +Enemy—Relics of Cannibalism general in the Villages—Camp +Formed at the Largest Village—Capture of Prisoners—An +“Object, Lesson”—Carriers ask Leave to Eat one of the +Slain—Arigita’s Opinion—Cannibal Surroundings at our +Supper—Expectation of a Night Attack.</p> +</div> + +<p>We were three white men, Monckton was the resident magistrate, while +Acland and I myself were <i>non-officio</i> members of the expedition, +being friends of Monckton.</p> + +<p>We had been some time at Cape Nelson, where the residency was, a +lonely though beautiful spot on the north-east coast of British New +Guinea. Whilst here I had made good collections of birds and +butterflies, and had made expeditions into the surrounding and little +known country, including the mountains at the back, where no white man +had yet been. And now (September 17th, 1902) we were off on a +government exploring and punitive expedition into the unknown wilds of +this fascinating and interesting country.</p> + +<p>We three sat on the stern of the large whale <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e993" href="#xd0e993">108</a>]</span>boat, while the twenty +police and our four boys took turns at the oars. They were fine fellows +these Papuan police, and their uniforms suited them well, consisting as +they did of a deep blue serge vest, edged with red braid, and a +“sulu” or kilt of the same material, which with their bare +legs made a sensible costume for the work they had to perform in this +rough country. As they pulled cheerfully at their oars they seemed in +splendid spirits, for they felt almost sure that they were in for some +fighting, and this they dearly love.</p> + +<p>Our boys, however, did not look quite so happy, especially my boy +Arigita, who was a son of old Giwi, chief of the Kaili-kailis. +He—old Giwi—had gone on the previous day with three or four +large canoes laden with rice and manned by men of the Kaili-kaili and +Arifamu tribes, and we intended taking more canoes and men from the +Okeina tribe <i>en route.</i></p> + +<p>Our expedition was partly a punitive one, as a tribe named Dobodura +had been continually raiding and slaughtering the Notu tribe on the +coast, with no other apparent reason than the filling of their own +cooking pots.</p> + +<p>Although the Notus lived on the coast, little was known of them, +though they professed friendship to the government. The Doboduras, on +the other hand, were a strong fighting tribe a short way off in the +unknown interior, no white men having hitherto penetrated into their +country: <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1004" href="#xd0e1004">109</a>]</span>hence they knew nothing about the white man +except by dim report.</p> + +<p>After we had settled our account with them we intended going in +search of a curious swamp-dwelling tribe, whose feet were reported to +be webbed, like those of a duck, and many were the weird and fantastic +rumours that reached our ears concerning them.</p> + +<p>The sea soon got very “choppy,” and up went our sail, +and we flew along pretty fast. We had left behind us Mount Victory (a +volcano which is always sending forth volumes of dense smoke) some time +before, and some time afterward we were joined by a fleet of fourteen +large canoes, most of them belonging to the Okeina tribe, but also +including the three Kaili-kaili canoes sent off on the previous +day.</p> + +<p>We all then went on together, and late in the afternoon we landed at +a spot near the mouth of the Musa River. We spent the evening shooting, +and had splendid sport, our bag consisting of ducks of various species, +pigeon, spur-winged plover, curlew, sandpipers, etc. We also saw +wallaby, and numerous tracks of cassowary and wild pig. After some +supper on the beach, the Kaili-kaili, Arifamu and Okeina carriers, +numbering over one hundred, were drawn up in line, and Monckton told +them that he did not want so many carriers. If they (the Okeinas) would +like to come, he would not give them more than tobacco, and not <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1012" href="#xd0e1012">110</a>]</span>axes +and knives, which he gave to the Kaili-kaili and Arifamu carriers. They +unanimously wished to go even without payment, as they were confident +that we should have some big fighting, and they, being a fighting +tribe, simply wished to go with us for this reason. Monckton sent off +the carriers that night, so that they could get a good start of us. It +was a bright moonlight night, and it was a picturesque scene when the +fleet of canoes started off amidst a regular pandemonium of shouting +and chatter. I do not suppose that this quiet spot had ever before +witnessed such a sight. We were off next morning before sunrise, and +continued our way in a dead calm and a blazing sun.</p> + +<p>We soon caught up with our canoes, which had gone on in advance on +the previous night. A breeze sprang up and we made good progress under +sail, and soon left the canoes far behind. We saw plenty of large +crocodiles, and a persevering but much disappointed shark followed us +for some distance.</p> + +<p>We camped that night just inside the mouth of the Barigi River, on +the very spot where Monckton was attacked the previous year by the +Baruga tribe. They had made a night attack upon him as he was encamped +here with his police, and had evidently expected to take him by +surprise, as they paddled quietly up. But he was ready for them, and +gave the leading canoe <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1018" href="#xd0e1018">111</a>]</span>a volley, with the result that the river was +soon full of dead and wounded men, who were torn to pieces by the +crocodiles. The rest fled, but he captured their chief, who was +wounded.</p> + +<p>Upon our arrival late in the afternoon Acland and I started out with +our guns after pigeon, taking our boys and some armed police, as it was +not safe to venture far from the camp without protection.</p> + +<p>The vegetation was very beautiful, and there was a wonderful variety +of the palm family. We wandered through very thorny and tangled +vegetation. We espied a fire not far off and went to inspect it, but +saw no natives, though there were plenty of footprints in the sand.</p> + +<p>Towards evening we saw thousands of pigeons settle on a few trees +close by on a small island, but they were off in clouds before we got +near. They were what is known as the Torres Straits pigeon, and were of +a beautiful creamy-white colour. On the banks of this river were +quantities of the curious <i>nipa</i> palm growing in the water. These +palms have enormous rough pods which hang down in the water, and there +were quantities of oysters sticking to the lower parts of their stems. +We dynamited for fish and got sufficient to supply us all with +food.</p> + +<p>About nine p.m. all the canoes turned up and the camp was soon alive +with noise and bustle. The carriers had had nothing to eat since the +day <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1031" href="#xd0e1031">112</a>]</span>before, and poor old Giwi, the chief, +squeezed his stomach to show how empty he was, but still managed to +giggle in his usual childish fashion.</p> + +<p>They brought with them two runaway carriers who had come from the +Kumusi district, where many of the miners start inland for the Yodda +Valley (the gold mining centre). They had travelled for five days along +the coast, and had hardly eaten anything. They had avoided all villages +<i>en route,</i> otherwise they themselves would undoubtedly have +furnished food for others, though there was little enough meat on them. +There were many different tribes in this neighbourhood, and Monckton +was far from satisfied as to the safety of our camp if we were +attacked. We sent off a canoe with Okeina men up the river to get +provisions from the Baruga tribe who had attacked Monckton the previous +year, and they now professed friendship to the government. The Okeinas +were friendly with them, but as they paddled away in the darkness +Monckton shouted out after them to give him warning when they were +coming back with the Baruga people, and they shouted back what was the +Okeina equivalent for “You bet we will.”</p> + +<p>We pitched our mosquito nets under a rough shelter of palm leaves, +and I lay awake for some time watching the light of countless +fire-flies and beetles which flashed around me in the darkness, while +curious cries of nocturnal birds on the forest-clad<span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1040" href="#xd0e1040">113</a>]</span> banks and +mangroves from time to time broke the stillness of the tropical night, +and followed me into the land of dreams, from which I was rudely +awakened early the next morning by clouds of small sandflies, which my +mosquito net had failed to keep out.</p> + +<p>We stayed here the following day, and put in part of our time +dynamiting for fish at the mouth of the river. It was a curious sight +to see the fish blown high into the air as if by a regular geyser. We +got about three hundred; they were of numerous species, and most of +them of good size. Many were most brilliantly coloured, indeed the fish +in these tropical waters are often the most gorgeous objects in nature, +and would greatly surprise those who are only used to the fish of the +temperate zone. During the day the Okeinas returned. They were followed +by several canoes of the Baruga tribe with their chief, who brought us +four live pigs tied to poles, besides other native food, which, +together with the fish, saved us from using the rice for the police and +carriers. New Guinea is not a rice-producing country, and the natives +not being used to it, are far from appreciating it. A little later some +of the Notu tribe from further north arrived by canoe. They had again +been raided by the Dobodura tribe, and many of them killed and +captured. They said the enemy were very strong, and Monckton told us +that it was more than likely that they could <span class="pagenum">[<a +id="xd0e1044" href="#xd0e1044">114</a>]</span>raise one thousand to +fifteen hundred fighting men. We determined to resume our journey the +next day, and go inland and attack their villages. We seemed likely to +be in for a good fight, and the police especially were highly elated. +Old Giwi, who bragged so much about his fighting capabilities at +starting, shook his head and thought it a tall order, and that we were +not strong enough to tackle them.</p> + +<p>We left again early on the morning of September 20th, the canoes +with our carriers having gone on the previous night. Early in the +afternoon we passed large villages situated amid groves of coconut +palms. These belonged to the Notus, who had been suffering such severe +depredations at the hands of the Doboduras. Shortly before arriving at +our destination we found the carriers waiting for us on shore, they +having too much fear of the Notus to reach their villages before +us.</p> + +<p>We determined to land on the far side of one particularly large +village. Rifles were handed around, and we strapped on our revolvers, +and all got ready in case of treachery. Then came a scene of excitement +as we landed in the breakers. Directly we got into shallow water the +police jumped out, and with loud yells rushed the boat ashore. There +was still greater excitement getting the canoes ashore amid loud +shouting, and one of the last canoes to land, filled, but was carried +ashore safely, and only a few bags of rice got wet. <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1050" href="#xd0e1050">115</a>]</span></p> + +<p>We pitched our camp on a sandy strip of land surrounded on three +sides by a fresh water lagoon, our position being a good one to defend, +in case we were attacked. Monckton then took a few police and went off +to interview the Notus.</p> + +<p>After a time he returned with the information that the Notus +appeared to be quite friendly, and anxious to unite with us against the +common foe on the morrow.</p> + +<p>Several of them visited our camp during the day and brought us +native food and pigs, which latter Monckton shot with his revolver, to +prevent our carriers cooking them alive. It was quite amusing to see +the way the Notus hopped about after each report, some of them running +away, and small blame to them, seeing that it was the first time that +they had ever heard the report of a firearm.</p> + +<p>The next morning saw us up long before daybreak, and in the dim +light we could see small groups of Notu warriors wending their way amid +the tall coconuts in the direction of our camp, till about seventy of +them had assembled. They were all fully armed with long hardwood +spears, stone clubs and rattan shields (oblong in shape and of wood +covered with strips of rattan, with a handle at the back), and led the +way along the beach. The sun soon rose above the sea a very red colour, +and a superstitious person might have considered it an omen of +bloodshed. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1059" href="#xd0e1059">116</a>]</span></p> + +<p>It was hard work walking in the loose sand, and I was glad when we +branched off into the bush to walk inland. We passed through alternate +forests and open grass land, the forest in places being quite +luxuriant, and new and beautiful plants and rare and gaudy birds and +butterflies made one long to loiter by the way. Amongst the palm family +new to me was a very beautiful <i>Licuala,</i> perhaps the most +beautiful of all fan-leaved palms, and a climbing palm, one of the +rattans (<i>Korthalzia</i> sp.), with pinkish stems and leaves +resembling a gigantic maidenhair fern, which looked very beautiful +scrambling over the trees, together with two or three other species of +rattans.</p> + +<p>Our combined force was over two hundred strong, the Notus leading +the way, then came most of the police, then we three white men, then +more police, and our Kaili-kaili, Arifamu and Okeina carriers brought +up the rear bearing our tents, baggage and bags of rice.</p> + +<p>As we wended our way down the narrow track there were several +moments of excitement, and the Notus several times fell back on to us +in alarm, but their fears seemed groundless.</p> + +<p>We continued our march for many hours, and just as we came to the +end of a long bit of forest, the Notus came rushing back on to us in +great confusion. We soon learned the reason. At the end of a grassy +stretch of country was a village <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1074" href="#xd0e1074">117</a>]</span>surrounded by a thick grove +of coconut and betel-nut palms, and some of the enemy’s scouts +had been seen, and we heard their distant war-cry, a prolonged +“ooh-h-h, ah-h-h,” which was particularly thrilling, +uttered as it was by great numbers of voices. The Notus all huddled +together, then replied in like language, but their cry did not seem to +possess the same defiant ring as that of the Doboduras.</p> + +<p>We three took off our helmets and crouched down with the police just +inside the forest, with our rifles ready for the expected rush of the +enemy, having sent the Notus out into the open, hoping thereby to draw +the enemy after them. We meant then to give them a lesson, make some +captures, and come to terms with their chief. Two or three times the +Notus came rushing back, and I fully expected to see the Doboduras at +their heels, but they were evidently aware that the Notus were not +alone, and all I could see was the distant village and palm-trees +shimmering in the quivering heated air, and the heads of the Dobodura +warriors crowned with feather head-dresses bobbing about amid the tall +grass, while ever and anon their distant war-cry floated over the +grassy plain.</p> + +<p>We decided to rush the village, which we later found was named +Kanau, but when we got there we found it deserted. In the centre of the +village was a kind of small raised platform, on which <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1080" href="#xd0e1080">118</a>]</span>were rows +of human skulls and quantities of bones, the remnants of many a +gruesome cannibal feast. Many of these skulls were quite fresh, with +small bits of meat still sticking to them, but for all that they had +been picked very clean. Every skull had a large hole punched in the +side of the head, varying in size, but uniform as regards position (to +quote from Monckton’s later report to the government). The +explanation for this we soon learnt from the Notus, and later it was +confirmed by our prisoners. When the Doboduras capture an enemy they +slowly torture him to death, practically eating him alive. When he is +almost dead they make a hole in the side of the head and scoop out the +brains with a kind of wooden spoon. These brains, which were eaten warm +and fresh, were regarded as a great delicacy. No doubt the Notus +recognised some of their relatives amid the ghastly relics. We rested a +short time in this village, and our people were soon busy spearing pigs +and chickens, and looting. The loot consisted of all sorts of household +articles and implements, including wooden pillows, bowls, and dishes, +“tapa” cloth of quaint designs, stone adzes, beautiful +feather ornaments, “bau-baus” or native bamboo pipes, +wooden spears, and a great quantity of shell and dogs’-tooth +necklaces.</p> + +<p>We saw three or four of the enemy scouting on the edge of the +forest, and I was asked to try to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1084" href="#xd0e1084">119</a>]</span>pick one off, but before I +could fire they had disappeared. Then several Notus ran out brandishing +spears, and danced a war-dance in front of the forest, but their +invitation was not accepted. We next saw several armed scouts on a +small tree about five hundred yards away, and we all lined up and gave +them a volley; whether we hit any of them or not it is hard to say, but +they dropped down immediately into the long grass. At any rate, it must +have astonished them to hear the bullets whistling round them, even if +they were not hit, as it was the first time they had ever heard the +report of a firearm of any description. Some of the police went out to +sneak through the long grass, and we soon heard shots, and they came +back with the spears, clubs and shields of two men they had killed. +They also brought a curious fighting ornament worn on the head, made of +upper bills of the hornbill.</p> + +<p>We continued our march through some thick forest, and at length came +to the banks of a river, where we suddenly crouched down. An armed man +was crawling along the river bed, peering in all directions, and +shouting out to his friends on the opposite bank. We were anxious to +make a capture. Monckton suddenly gave the word, and up jumped a dozen +police in front of me and plunged into the river and gave chase. I +followed hard, but the police in front were gradually leaving me far +behind. Till then I always fancied <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1088" href="#xd0e1088">120</a>]</span>I could run a bit, but I +knew better now. Seeing the man’s shield, which he had thrown +away in his flight, I at once collared it as a trophy of the chase. +Then looking around, I found that I was quite alone, and the thick +jungle all around me resounded with the loud angry shouts and cries of +the enemy. I found out afterwards that my friends and the rest had no +intention of giving chase, but had been highly amused in watching my +poor effort to keep up with the nimble barefooted police. I shall never +forget those uncomfortable few minutes as I rushed down the track in +the direction the police had taken. Visions arose before me of the part +I should play in a cannibal feast, and I expected every minute to feel +the sharp point of a spear entering the small of my back, just as I had +been seeing our people drive their spears clean through some running +pigs.</p> + +<p>To my dismay I found the track divided, and it was impossible to +tell which way the police had gone. To turn back was out of the +question. I had come a good way, and I had no idea where the rest were, +and from the uproar at the back I imagined the Doboduras were coming +down the track after me. I hastily decided to go by the old saying, +“If you go to the right you are right,” and it was well for +me that I did so, as I found out later from the police that if I had +gone to the left—well, there would have been nothing left of me, +especially after one Dobodura meal, as <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1092" href="#xd0e1092">121</a>]</span>the enemy were there in full +force. As it was, I soon afterward came up with the police, feeling +rather shaky and white.</p> + +<p>The police had captured a middle-aged woman, whose face and part of +her body were thickly plastered with clay. This was a sign of mourning. +We learnt that she was a Notu woman, who had been captured some time +previously by the Doboduras. She was much alarmed, and whined and beat +her breasts, and caressed some of the police. We made her come on with +us, and the rest of the party soon joining us, we came to another +village, which we “rushed,” but it, too, was deserted. +There was more killing of fowls and pigs, and a scene of great +confusion as our people speared and clubbed them and ran about in all +directions, looting the houses, picking coconuts, and cutting down +betel-nut palms, many of them decorating themselves with the +beautifully variegated leaves of crotons and <i>dracænas,</i> +some of which were of species entirely new to me. It seemed a bit +curious that these wild cannibals should exhibit such a taste for these +gay and brilliantly coloured leaves and flowers, which they had +evidently transplanted from forest and jungle to their own village.</p> + +<p>We continued our way through bush and open country, our police +having slight skirmishes with small bands of natives. One big Dobodura +rushed at Sergeant Kimi with uplifted club, but Kimi <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1101" href="#xd0e1101">122</a>]</span>coolly +knelt down and shot him in the stomach when he was only a few yards +off. The round, sharp stone on the club being an extra fine one, I soon +exchanged it with Kimi for two sticks of tobacco (the chief article of +trade in New Guinea, and worth about three half-pence a stick).</p> + +<p>Toku, Monckton’s boy, and a brother of my boy, Arigita, who +carried his master’s small pea-rifle, shot a man in the back with +it as the man fled, and thereafter was a hero among the boys. Arigita +wished to emulate his brother, and begged hard to do some shooting on +his own account with my twelve-bore shot gun, which he carried, and he +seemed very much hurt because I would not allow it.</p> + +<p>We passed through many more villages, embowered in palm groves, and +in each village we saw plenty of human skulls and long sticks with +human jawbones hanging upon them. On one I counted twenty-five; there +were also long rows of the jawbones of pigs, and a few +crocodiles’ heads. These villages were all deserted, the natives +having fled. At length we came to what appeared, from its great size, +to be the chief village, which we later learnt was named Dobodura. It +extended some distance, and stood amid thousands of coconut palms. Here +we determined to camp, but we found that most of the police had rushed +on ahead after the Doboduras, much to Monckton’s annoyance, for +it was risky, to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1107" href="#xd0e1107">123</a>]</span>say the least, as the enemy might easily +have attacked each party separately. But the police and carriers, now +that they had “tasted blood,” seemed to get quite out of +hand, and their savagery coming to the surface, they rushed about as if +demented. However, they soon returned with more captured weapons of +warfare, having killed two more men, and they also brought two +prisoners, a young man and a young woman. The prisoners looked horribly +frightened, having never seen a white man before, and they thought they +would be eaten: so Constable Yaidi told me.</p> + +<p>The man was a stupid looking oaf, and seemed too dazed to speak. The +woman, however, if she had been washed, would have been quite +good-looking. She had rather the European type of features, and was +quite talkative. She told us that most of her people had gone off to +fight a mountain tribe, who had threatened to swoop down on this +village. These complications were getting exceedingly Gilbertian in +character. To begin with, the Kaili-kaili and Arifamu carriers were +afraid of the Okeinas, who in their turn were afraid of the Notus; the +Notus feared this Dobodura tribe we were fighting, and the Doboduras +seemed to be in fear of a mountain tribe. We ourselves were by no means +sure of the Notus, and kept on guard in case of treachery. These +tribes, we heard, were nearly always fighting, and always have their +scouts out. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1111" href="#xd0e1111">124</a>]</span></p> + +<p>To return to the prisoners. We showed them how a bullet could pass +clean through a coconut tree, and they seemed to be greatly impressed. +They were then told to tell their chief to come over the next morning +and interview us, and that we wished to be friendly. We then gave them +some tobacco and told them they could go, and it was evident that they +were astonished beyond words at their good fortune. As they passed +through our police and carriers, I feel sure that they suspected us of +some trick on them.</p> + +<p>A bathe in the cool, clear river close by was delightful after a +very hard day, but we, of course, had an armed guard of police around +us, and practically bathed rifle in hand, as the growth was dense on +the opposite bank.</p> + +<p>Our people seemed to be quite enjoying themselves, looting the +houses, and one of the police was chasing a pig in this village, when +he was attacked by a man with a club. The policeman was unarmed, but +immediately wrenched the club from the man’s hand and smashed his +skull in, and the body lay barely one hundred yards from our tent. This +was too tantalizing for our carriers, who came up and begged permission +to eat it, although they knew full well that Monckton had given orders +that there was to be no cannibalism among them. Needless to remark, the +request was refused, but they had the pluck to ask again before the +expedition was over. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1118" href="#xd0e1118">125</a>]</span></p> + +<p>My boy Arigita had often eaten human meat, and as he expressed it in +his quaint pidgin English, “Pig no good, man he very good.” +It can be imagined it must be really good, as the Papuan thinks a great +deal of pig. We had a good appetite for supper, in spite of the fact +that we ate it within a few yards of a half-burnt heap of human skulls +and bones, which appeared quite fresh. Our various tribes were all +camped separately, and they looked very picturesque round their +different camp fires, with their spears stuck in the ground in their +midst, their clubs and shields by their sides, and the firelight +flickering upon their wild-looking faces.</p> + +<p>To our astonishment, our late man prisoner returned and said that +his chief wished to see us that night. At once there was a great +commotion among our police and the Notus, who all spoke excitedly +together, and were unanimous that this implied treachery, and that +behind the chief would come his men, who would attack us unawares. We +also learned that it was not their usual habit to make friendly visits +at night. Monckton thought the same, and told the man that if the chief +or any of his people came near the camp that night they would be shot. +The man also informed us that all his tribe had returned; no doubt +swift messengers went after them to bring them back. The man went, and +we waited expectantly for what might happen. Everyone <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1123" href="#xd0e1123">126</a>]</span>seemed +certain that we should be attacked, and if so, we had a very poor +chance with from a thousand to fifteen hundred well-armed savages +making a rush on us in the semi-darkness, as there was no moon, and it +was cloudy.</p> + +<p>The enemy would rush up and close with our people, and while we +should not be able to distinguish friend from foe, we should not be +able to fire in the darkness at close quarters. They could then spear +and club us at will. Now we had always heard that Papuans never attack +at night, but the police and Notus told us that these Doboduras nearly +always attacked at night, and if we had known this before we should +most certainly have made ourselves a fortified camp outside the +village. But it was too late to think of this now, and we knew that we +were in a very awkward position. The fact that they could gather +together so large a force as was alleged, was estimated by Monckton +from the size of these villages, which showed that they were a very +powerful tribe.</p> + +<p>The whole police force were put out on sentry duty, as also four or +five Kaili-kailis who had been taught at Cape Nelson to use a rifle. +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1129" href="#xd0e1129">127</a>]</span></p> +</div> + +<div id="xd0e1130" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">We Are Attacked By Night.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>A Night Attack—A Little Mistake—Horrible Barbarities of +the Doboduras—Eating a Man Alive—A Sinister +Warning—Saved by Rain—Daylight at +Last—“Prudence the Better Part”—The +Return—Welcome by the Notus—“Orakaiba.”</p> +</div> + +<p>I was busily engaged in writing my notes of the day, with my rifle +by my side, when suddenly a shot rang out, followed by another and +another, then a volley from all the sentries on one side of the camp, +and the darkness was lit up by the flashes of their rifles. Then came +the thrilling war-cry, “Ooh-h-h-h! ah-h-h-h!” that made +one’s blood run cold, especially under such surroundings. All the +camp was now in the utmost confusion, and there was a great panic among +our carriers, who flung themselves on the ground yelling with fear. +Never was there such a fiendish noise! I sprang to my feet, flinging my +note-book away and picking up my rifle, and ran back to where Monckton +was yelling out: “Fall in, fall in, for God’s sake fall +in!”</p> + +<p>Two houses were hastily set on fire, and instantly became furnaces +which lit up the surroundings and the tops of the tall coconut palms +over-head, which even in this moment of danger appeared to me like a +glimpse of fairyland. I <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1140" href="#xd0e1140">128</a>]</span>noticed a line of fire-sticks waving in the +darkness outside. They seemed to be slowly advancing, and in the +excitement of the moment I mistook them for the enemy—and +fired!</p> + +<p>Luckily, my shot did not take effect, as I soon found out that these +fire-sticks were held by some of our own carriers, who had been told by +Monckton to carry them so that we could distinguish them from the enemy +in case we were attacked. Monckton turned to where the Notus, were, and +seeing them all decked out in their war plumes, dancing about among the +prostrate carriers, and waving their clubs and spears, naturally took +them for Dobodura warriors, and nearly fired at them. He angrily +ordered them to take off their feathers.</p> + +<p>Calmness soon settled down again, and we learned that the police had +fired at some Doboduras who were creeping up into the camp. How many +there were we could not tell, but later on we learnt that some of them +had been killed, and seeing the flash of the rifles, which was a new +experience to them, the rest had retreated for the time being, but soon +rallied together for attack that night or in the small hours of the +morning. Knowing that if they once rushed us in the darkness we should +all be doomed for their cooking pots, the state of our feelings can be +imagined.</p> + +<p>The first attempt came rather as a shock to a peaceful novice like +myself, and seeing warriors <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1148" +href="#xd0e1148">129</a>]</span>in full war paint and feathers rushing +about with uplifted club and spear amid our prostrate squirming +carriers, I had a very strong inclination to bury myself in the nearest +hut and softly hum the lines, “I care not for wars and +quarrels,” etc. We sat talking in subdued tones for some time, +expecting every minute to hear the thrilling war cry of the Doboduras, +but nothing was to be heard but the crackling of the embers of the +burning houses, the low murmur of our people around their camp fire, +and the most dismal falsetto howls of the native dogs in the distance. +These howls were not particularly exhilarating at such a time, and I +more than once mistook them for the distant war-cry of the +Doboduras.</p> + +<p>The Papuans, as a rule, do not torture their prisoners for the mere +idea of torture, though they have often been known to roast a man +alive, for the reason that the meat is supposed to taste better thus. +This they also do to pigs, and I myself, on this very expedition, +caught some of our carriers making preparations to roast a pig alive, +and just stopped them in time. For this reason Monckton would always +shoot the pigs brought in for his carriers, but in this case one pig +was overlooked. I have heard of cases of white men having been roasted +alive, one case being that of the two miners, Campion and King. But we +had learnt that this Dobodura tribe had a system of torture that was +brutal beyond words. In <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1152" href="#xd0e1152">130</a>]</span>the first place they always try to wound +slightly and capture a man alive, so that they can have fresh meat for +many days. They keep their prisoner tied up alive in the house and cut +out pieces of his flesh just when they want it, and we were told, +incredible as it seems, that they sometimes manage to keep him alive +for a week or more, and have some preparation which prevents him from +bleeding to death.</p> + +<p>Monckton advised both Acland and myself to shoot ourselves with our +revolvers if we saw that we were overwhelmed, so as to escape these +terrible tortures, and he assured us that he should keep the last +bullet in his own revolver for himself. This was my first taste of +warfare. Monckton had had many fights with Papuans, and Acland, +besides, had seen many severe engagements in the Boer war, but he said +he would rather be fighting the Boers than risking the infernal +tortures of these cannibals. It all, somehow, seemed unreal to me, and +I could hardly realise that I was in serious danger of being tortured, +cooked and eaten. It is impossible to depict faithfully our weird +surroundings. We chatted on for some time, and tried to cheer each +other up by making jokes about the matter, such as “This time +to-morrow we shall be laughing over the whole affair,” but the +depressed tone of our voices belied our words, and it proved to be but +a very feeble attempt at joking. We longed for <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e1156" href="#xd0e1156">131</a>]</span>the moon, though that +would have helped us little, as it was cloudy.</p> + +<p>It is quite unnecessary to go into further details of that awful +night. I know we all owned up afterward that it was the most trying +night we had ever spent, and for my part I hope I may never spend +another like it. None of us got a wink of sleep. I tried to sleep, but +I was too excited to do so; besides, all my pockets were crammed full +of rifle and revolver cartridges, and I had my revolver strapped to my +side, ready for an attack, or in case we got separated in the confusion +that was sure to ensue. At about 3 a.m. it began to rain, the first +rain we had had in New Guinea for five or six weeks, and that saved us, +for we learned later on that about that time the Doboduras were +gathering together for a rush on our camp, when the rain set in, and, +odd as it may seem, we heard that they had a superstition against +attacking in the rain. What their reason was, I never got to hear +fully, but we were unaware of all these things as we silently waited +and longed for the dawn to break. I never before so wished for +daylight. It came at length, and what a load it took off our minds! We +could now see to shoot at all events. We saw the Dobodura scouts in the +distance on the edge of the forest, but we had made up our minds to +“heau” (Papuan for “run away”) as things were +too hot for us. There was a scene of great <span class="pagenum">[<a +id="xd0e1160" href="#xd0e1160">132</a>]</span>excitement as we left, +and from the noise our people made they were evidently glad to get +away.</p> + +<p>The Notus led the way, and they started to hop about, brandishing +their spears. They did excellent scouting work in the long grass, +rushing ahead with their spears poised. This time the rear guard was +formed by some of the police. All the villages we passed through were +again deserted, but we heard the enemy crying out to one another in the +forest and jungle, telling each other of our whereabouts. We expected +an attack, and I often nearly mistook the screeches and cries of +cockatoos and parrots and the loud, curious call of the birds of +paradise for some distant war-cry, which was quite excusable, +considering the state of our nerves and the sleepless night we had +spent.</p> + +<p>The Notus were great looters, and as we passed through the various +villages they took everything they could lay their hands on, and our +entrance into a village was marked by a scene of great confusion. Pigs +and chickens were speared, betel-nut palms cut down, and hunting nets, +bowls, spears and food hauled out of the house, but Monckton was very +strict in stopping them from cutting houses and coconut palms down. Ere +long we left the last village behind, and halting just inside the +forest, sent a man up a tree, who reported the last village we had +passed through <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1166" href="#xd0e1166">133</a>]</span>to be full of people. The police had a few +shots, but apparently without success.</p> + +<p>When we again reached the coast we knew that we were now safe from +attack. Monckton was much puzzled that no attack had been made on us +during the return journey, as he felt sure they were not afraid of us, +and after we had killed so many of their people he was certain they +would try for revenge. He also thought they expected us to camp that +night in their country, and that we were only out hunting for them, as +we did not hurry away very fast, but stopped a short time in each +village.</p> + +<p>We found the tide high, so we took off our boots and waded most of +the way, and in time arrived at a creek up which the sea was rushing in +and out with great violence. We were helped over by police on each side +of us, who half dragged us across, otherwise we should have been washed +off our legs, so great was the suction. I was very fond of these +strong, plucky, good tempered and amusing Papuan police. Often when we +were encamped for the night, I would hear them chaffing each other in +pidgin English for the benefit of the “taubadas” (masters); +they would slyly turn their heads to see if we were amused, and how +delighted they were if they saw us smile at their quaint English,</p> + +<p>In the evening we found ourselves back in the Notu villages, and +were met by many Notus <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1174" href="#xd0e1174">134</a>]</span>bearing coconuts, which they opened and +handed to us. I suppose these were meant as refreshment for the +victors, for as such they no doubt regarded us, as well as saviours of +their tribe. I could quite imagine the Notu warriors bragging on their +return of their own deeds of valour, although all the killing was done +by the police. Meanwhile, however, as we passed through the squatting +crowds, we were greeted with loud cries of “orakaiba” +(peace). <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1176" href="#xd0e1176">135</a>]</span></p> +</div> + +<div id="xd0e1177" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">On the War-Trail Once More.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>Further Expedition Planned—Thank-offerings of Notu +Chiefs—The Voyage—A Gigantic Flatfish—Negotiating a +Difficult Bar—Moat Unhealthy Spot in New Guinea—Hostility +of Natives—Precautions at Night—Catching Ground Sharks and +a “Groper”—Shark-flesh a Delicacy to the +Natives—Wakened by a War Cry—A False Alarm—A +Hairbreadth Escape—Between “Devil and Deep +Sea”—Dangers of the Goldfield—Two Miners Eaten +Alive—Unexpected Visit from a White +Man—“Where’s that Razor?”—Crime of +Cutting Down a Coconut Tree—Walsh’s Camp—Torres +Straits Pigeons—My Boy an ex-Cannibal—A Probable +Trap—Relapse into Cannibalism of our Own Allies—Narrow +Escape from a New Guinea Mantrap—Attack on a Village—Second +Visit to Dobodura—Toku’s Exploit—Interview with our +Prisoners—Reasons for Cannibalism—The Night Attack on our +Camp and Enemies’ Fear of our Rifles described by our +Prisoners—Bravery of one of our Carriers—Treatment of a +Prisoner.</p> +</div> + +<p>“Yes,” said Monckton on our return to the coast, +“we have got to punish those Doboduras at all costs. They are the +worst brutes I’ve come across in New Guinea.” And Monckton +knew what he was talking about, as he had been a resident magistrate in +British New Guinea for many years and had travelled all over the +country, and had a wider experience of the cannibals than any man +living.</p> + +<p>This tribe (as has already been mentioned), when they capture a +prisoner, tie him to a post, keep him alive for days, and meanwhile +feed on him slowly by cutting out pieces of flesh, and <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1187" href="#xd0e1187">136</a>]</span>prevent his +bleeding to death with a special preparation of their own concoction, +and finally, when he is nearly dead, they make a hole in the side of +the head and feed on the hot fresh brains.</p> + +<p>Both Acland and I myself fully agreed with Monckton, as we were not +by any means grateful to the Doboduras for giving us the worst fright +of our lives. We had, it is true, killed a good many of them, but we +recognised the fact that our force was insufficient to hold its own, +much less to punish these brutal tribesmen. So we determined to journey +up north and get help from the magistrate of the Northern Division on +the Mambare River, before returning to the Dobodura country.</p> + +<p>That evening four Notu chiefs came into camp to thank us for killing +their enemies, and they brought with them presents of dogs’ teeth +and shell necklaces, and seemed greatly excited, all talking at once, +each trying to out-talk his fellows, and wagged their heads at us in +turn. We left very early the next morning in our whaleboat for the +Kumusi River, but left all our carriers and stores with most of the +police behind in one of the Notu villages to await our return, as we +now felt sure that we could trust the Notu tribe.</p> + +<p>It was a hot and uneventful voyage. A fish which looked like an +enormous sole, but which was larger than the whaleboat, jumped high +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1195" href="#xd0e1195">137</a>]</span>in the air not many yards away. Toward +evening we arrived opposite the bar of the Kumusi River, and we had a +very uncomfortable few minutes getting through the breakers into the +river, for if we had been upset we should soon have become food for the +sharks and crocodiles, which literally swarmed here. We got through the +worst part safely, but then stuck fast on a small sand-bank, and one or +two good-sized breakers half-filled the boat; but we all jumped out and +hauled her off the sand into the deep, calm waters beyond.</p> + +<p>After rowing up the river a short distance, we landed at a spot +where there was a trader’s store, looked after by an Australian +named Owen. From here miners go up the river to the gold fields in the +Yodda Valley, and cutters are constantly putting in at this store with +miners and provisions.</p> + +<p>This district has the reputation of being one of the most unhealthy +spots in New Guinea, and the natives round here are none too friendly, +and hate the government and their police, so that during the last three +years, three or four resident magistrates in the locality have either +been murdered or have died of fever.</p> + +<p>We arranged to have our meals with Owen at the store, and we slept +in a rough palm-thatched shed with a raised flooring of split +palm-trunks, which was very hard and rough to sleep on, and gave me a +sleepless night. We got two of our <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1203" href="#xd0e1203">138</a>]</span>police to sleep in front of +the doorway, as it was more than likely that the natives might attempt +to murder us. These precautions may have been justified as, in the +middle of the night both Acland and I myself saw two natives peering +into the hut.</p> + +<p>The next day we sent off a messenger to the northern station for +more police, and it was fully a week before they arrived. Meanwhile we +spent our time dynamiting and catching fish. We caught some large +ground sharks fully four hundred pounds in weight, and also a +“gorupa” (“groper”), a very large fish of about +three hundred and fifty pounds. This fish is the terror of divers in +these parts they fear it more than any shark. Both shark and fish +proved most acceptable to our police; they are especially fond of +shark.</p> + +<p>One morning about five o’clock I was aroused by hearing a +shrill war-cry close by. The police rushed up with their rifles and +told us we were attacked. It can be imagined it did not take us long to +buckle on our revolvers and seize our rifles and run, half-asleep as we +were, in the direction of the noise, which was repeated from time to +time in a very ferocious manner. On turning a sharp corner by the +river, instead of warlike warriors, we beheld about a dozen natives +hauling in the sharkline we had left baited in the water the previous +evening, with a very large shark at the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1209" href="#xd0e1209">139</a>]</span>end of it. Being greatly +excited they had from time to time yelled out their war-cry. We felt +very foolish at being roused from our slumbers for nothing, but still +there was some slight consolation in knowing that even the police were +deceived.</p> + +<p>Owen, the Australian, not long before had had rather an amusing, and +at the same time exciting, adventure with a large crocodile in a swamp +close to the store. He noticed it fast asleep in the swamp, and so +waded out to it through the mud, making no noise whatever. When within +a few yards of the saurian, he threw a double charge of dynamite close +up to it, and then turned to fly. He found he could not move, but was +stuck firmly in the mud. His struggles and yells for help had meanwhile +awoke the crocodile, which came for him with open jaws. It looked as if +it was a case of either being blown to pieces by the dynamite or +furnishing a meal for the crocodile.</p> + +<p>Luckily the fuse was a long one, and the crocodile floundered about +a good deal in the mud ere it could reach him. Some friendly natives +rushed in and dragged him out just as the crocodile reached him. The +crocodile fled in one direction and the dynamite went off in another, +but Owen and the natives only just avoided the explosion.</p> + +<p>Owen told me that there were about fifty miners <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1217" href="#xd0e1217">140</a>]</span>in the +goldfields of the Yodda Valley, but that most of them were beginning to +leave, although there is plenty of gold to be got. The climate is a bad +one, and provisions, etc., are very dear, and so gold has to be got in +very large quantities to pay. As the miners decrease, there is bound to +be trouble with the natives, who are very treacherous. The miners, who +are nearly all Australians or New Zealanders, have generally to work in +strong bands with their rifles close at hand.</p> + +<p>Only a short time ago the two miners, Campion and King (whom I have +elsewhere mentioned), while working in the bed of a creek, had just +traded with some apparently friendly natives for a pig and some yams, +and sat down for a smoke and a rest, thinking that the natives had +left, but these cunning cannibals were awaiting just such an +opportunity, and were lying hid amidst the thick foliage clothing the +steep banks of the creek. Suddenly, making a rush, they got between the +miners and their rifles, and speared both in the legs, taking care not +to kill them, as the cannibals in this part of New Guinea consider that +meat tastes better, be it pig or man, when cooked alive. They then tied +them with ropes of rattan to long poles and carried them off to their +village, where they were both roasted alive over a slow fire. These +facts were gathered from some prisoners afterwards captured by a +government <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1221" href="#xd0e1221">141</a>]</span>force. A strong band of miners also attacked +their villages, and gave no quarter.</p> + +<p>On the fifth day of our stay here one of our police came rushing up +to us excitedly with the information that a whaleboat was in sight, and +we knew that a white man would be in it. There was at once a cry from +Monckton, “After you with the razor, Acland.” Now it had +been understood that none of us were to shave during the expedition, +and consequently we had grown large crops of beards and whiskers, and +looked a veritable trio of cut-throats. However, it appeared that +Acland had smuggled away a razor-possibly for all we knew to enable him +to captivate some fair Amazon, who might otherwise have thought he was +only good for her cooking pot. Half-an-hour later three clean-shaven +individuals met a tall unshaven man as he stepped out of his boat on to +the beach, and his first remark was, “Oh, I say, (reproachfully) +you fellows, where’s that razor!” It was Walsh, Assistant +Resident Magistrate for the Northern Division, and none of us had met +him before.</p> + +<p>He and another Englishman, a celebrated trader named Clark (he was +an old resident, well-known in New Guinea), with a force of police, +were returning from an expedition down the coast, and were at present +encamped about sixteen miles south of here, near some small islands +known as Mangrove Islands. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1227" +href="#xd0e1227">142</a>]</span></p> + +<p>Leaving Clark in charge, Walsh had come over with a small cutter, +which we promptly hired to carry the extra stores of rice and +provisions which we had purchased from Owen. It is astonishing the +amount of rice it takes to feed one hundred carriers and twenty-five +native police during a six weeks’ exploring expedition.</p> + +<p>Two days later ten police arrived, sent down at Monckton’s +request from the Mambare or Northern Station. These, with Walsh’s +nine, made an addition of nineteen police to our force. A celebrated +old Mambare chief named Busimaiwa arrived at the same time, together +with many of his tribe, which was friendly to the government. I say +celebrated because he was the leader in the murder of the resident +magistrate of the Northern Division, the late Mr. ——, +together with all his police. But he has since been pardoned by the +government. The magistrate and his police were killed through +treachery, being unarmed at the time. They were all eaten, but +——’s skull was afterwards recovered. Old Busimaiwa, +had a son in our police force.</p> + +<p>We were off early the next morning, we four white men and most of +the police going in the two whaleboats, while the rest walked along the +shore. These latter had to pass through many small villages on the way, +but the inhabitants did not wait to find out whether they were friends +or foes, and the police found the villages empty. <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1234" href="#xd0e1234">143</a>]</span></p> + +<p>From the whaleboat I suddenly noticed a tall coconut palm come +falling to the ground, and I immediately called Monckton’s <span +class="corr" id="xd0e1237" title="Source: atttention">attention</span> +to the fact. He was very much annoyed, as he knew that it was cut down +by some of our party, contrary to regulations. According to government +laws, to cut down a coconut tree in New Guinea is a crime, and a +serious one at that. Even when attacking a hostile village it is +strictly forbidden, though one may loot houses, kill pigs, out down +betel-nut palms, and even kill the inhabitants. But the coconut-palm is +sacred in their eyes.</p> + +<p>However, the government has an eye to the future of the country, as, +besides being the main article of food in a country whose food supply +is limited, the coconut tree means wealth to the country, when it gets +more settled and the natives are able to do a large business in copra +with the white traders.</p> + +<p>That evening, when in camp, we discovered the culprit to be no less +a personage than the sergeant of Walsh’s police, who was in +command of the shore party, his sole excuse for breaking the law being +that he thought it too much trouble to climb the tree after the +coconuts. When the whole of the police force had been drawn up in line +Monckton, as leader of the expedition, cut the red stripes from the +blue tunic of the sergeant, and he was reduced to the ranks.</p> + +<p>After a rough voyage, there being a good swell <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1246" href="#xd0e1246">144</a>]</span>on, we +arrived at Walsh’s camp on the mainland, opposite the Mangrove +Islands, and here we found Clark, whom I had met before in Samarai. The +camp was situated in the midst of a small native village, and later on +the inhabitants and others turned up armed with their stone clubs, +spears and shields, and offered to help us. They also wanted us to go +and fight their enemies a short way inland from here. Monckton’s +reply was not over polite. He ended by ordering them at once to clear +out of their village, as he had no use for them.</p> + +<p>Toward evening we all went pigeon shooting, as thousands of Torres +Straits pigeons flock round here at twilight and settle chiefly on the +small islands close to the mainland. We had excellent sport. The birds +flew overhead, and we shot a great number between us.</p> + +<p>Three of us white men were down with fever that evening. As the +cutter had not arrived with the rice, etc., from the Kumusi River, we +had to remain here the whole of the next day.</p> + +<p>Toward evening we again went pigeon shooting, each of us taking +possession of a small island, but the birds were not nearly as +plentiful as yesterday, and small bags were the result. On these +islands were plenty of houses, which we heard were deserted a few weeks +ago, owing to the frequent attacks of hungry cannibals on the +mainland.</p> + +<p>On my island I discovered several very fresh-looking <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1256" href="#xd0e1256">145</a>]</span>human +skulls and bones. My boy, Arigita, regaled me with yarns while we +waited for the pigeons. He told me he had often eaten human meat, and +expressed the same opinion on the matter as the ex-cannibals I had met +in the interior of Fiji had done. I had good reason for suspecting the +young rascal of having partaken of human meat since he had been my +servant.</p> + +<p>I noticed plenty of double red hibiscus bushes on these islands, and +I came across a new and curious <i>dracæna</i> with extremely +short and broad red and green leaves, that was certainly worth +introducing into cultivation.</p> + +<p>We continued our journey in the whaleboats the next morning, and +after going some distance we heard a shout, and saw a man on the beach +frantically waving to us, but as he would not venture near enough, we +had to go on without finding out what was the matter. Shortly afterward +we heard three loud blasts on a conch shell, which is always used to +call natives together, but the bush being thick, we could see nothing. +I myself believe it was a trap, the man evidently trying to get us +ashore, so that his tribe might attack us. However, our shore party, +who came along later, saw no sign of any natives.</p> + +<p>Towards evening we landed at the spot where we had started inland +last time against the Doboduras. Here we determined to camp. We +immediately sent down to Notu for our carriers <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e1267" href="#xd0e1267">146</a>]</span>and the rest of the +police, who arrived after dark, all seeming delighted and relieved to +be with us once more. We learned that after we had left the Notu people +killed and ate two runaway carriers from the Kumusi, and after +indulging in a great feast, fled and deserted their villages, so our +late cannibalistic allies evidently feared retribution at our +hands.</p> + +<p>These carriers, belonging to the miners in the Kumusi and Mambare +districts, are constantly running away, and they then try to work their +way down the coast to Samarai, from whence they are shipped. But they +never get there, being always killed and eaten on the way. One of our +own carriers had died at Notu, but the police had seen to it that he +was properly buried. However, it is more than likely that he was dug up +after they had left, and eaten.</p> + +<p>The cutter arrived early the next morning.. The rice was soon +landed, and we started off along the same track as before. We now had +over forty police, and although we did not this time have the +assistance of the Notus, we had many more carriers.</p> + +<p>During this march our police luckily discovered in time some +slanting spears set as a man trap, which projected from the tall grass +over the narrow track. Such spears are hard to see, especially for +anyone travelling at a good speed, and I was told that the points were +poisoned. Another trap, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1275" href="#xd0e1275">147</a>]</span>common in New Guinea, is to place a fallen +tree across the track and dig a deep pit on the other side from which +the enemy is expected to come. This pit is filled with sharp upright +spears, and then lightly covered over so that a man stepping over the +tree, which hides the ground on the other side, will fall into the +pit.</p> + +<p>After marching for some distance, we came to the end of a bit of +forest, from whence we could see the first hostile village. We +frightened away several armed scouts. The village appeared to be full +of armed men in full war-paint and plumes, so we divided our force into +two parties, each cutting round through the forest on both sides of the +village, in an endeavour to surprise the enemy. We were only partially +successful, as the Doboduras discovered our plans just in time. Though +we rushed the village, and a few shots were fired, we only succeeded in +capturing two old men and a small boy, who were not able to get away in +time. The houses were full of household goods, in spite of our previous +raid, when this and other villages were well looted by our people, so +we were evidently not expected to return.</p> + +<p>We did not stay long here, but soon resumed our march. It was a very +hot day, and after walking through the open bits of grass country, it +was always pleasant to get into the cool and shady forest, full of +delicate ferns, rare palms and orchid-laden trees. We passed on through +two other <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1281" href="#xd0e1281">148</a>]</span>villages, with their gruesome platforms of +grinning skulls as the only vestige of humanity.</p> + +<p>At length we came to the large village, which is named Dobodura, +after the tribe, and in which we had spent such a horrible night on our +last visit. The village was full of yelling warriors. Rushing up, we +shot several who showed fight. Most of them, however, fled before us. +Toku, Monckton’s boy, and brother of my boy Arigita, again made +use of his master’s pea-rifle, but this time he did not meet with +any success, and very narrowly escaped getting a spear through him.</p> + +<p>A short time before, when Monckton was out on an expedition, Toku +was carrying his master’s revolver, but happened to lag behind +the rest of the party without being noticed, when a man jumped out of +the jungle and picked young Toku up in his arms, covering up his mouth +so that he could not cry out, and proceeded to carry him off, no doubt +intending to have a live roast. But Toku, managing to draw +Monckton’s revolver, shot him dead right through the head, and +Monckton, hearing the shot, turned back, and soon discovered young Toku +calmly sitting on his enemy’s dead body. But, alas! the hero had +to suffer in the hour of his triumph, as Monckton ordered him to be +flogged for lagging behind the rear guard of police.</p> + +<p>Besides killing several of the Doboduras, we also took several +prisoners, both men and women. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1289" +href="#xd0e1289">149</a>]</span>We rested here, but several of the +police, whose fighting blood was now fully roused, went out with some +of our armed natives, skirmishing in one or two parties till late, and +we could hear shots in all directions. As we found out later, they had +slain several more of the enemy, with no loss to themselves.</p> + +<p>We chose a splendid camp, with the river (which we were informed was +the Tamboga River) on one side.</p> + +<p>The forest trees were felled on the other side, forming a strong +barrier, very different from our last camp here in the centre of the +village, and without any defences at all. We had a most refreshing +bathe in the river, but kept our rifles close at hand, as the enemy +could have easily speared us from the reeds on the opposite bank.</p> + +<p>After supper we interviewed the prisoners, and we now learned the +real sequel to our last visit and what a narrow escape we had that +night from being all massacred. It appeared that our fighting during +the daytime astonished them much, as they could not understand how we +could kill at such a distance, rifles being quite new to them. Our fame +soon reached a large village much further on, and they said to the +Dobodura people: “Ye are all cowards; we will show you that we +can destroy these strange people.” They started off that night +and surrounding our camp on all sides, crept up for a rush; but, +luckily for us, our sentries <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1297" +href="#xd0e1297">150</a>]</span>saw some of them and fired. The first +shot killed one of them, and others were hit. Then came the blaze of +many rifles. This terrified them and they fled. The horrible noise of +the rifles and the flashes of fire in the darkness astonished them, but +what made them depart for good was seeing one of their men fall at the +first shot. It was a very lucky shot, and it probably saved our lives +that night. When asked why they raided the Notus, the prisoners said +that they were friends until two years ago, when they quarrelled, and +had been constantly fighting since. In particular they now blamed the +Notus for the late drought, which they said was due to their sorcery, +the result being that they were forced to live on sago alone, and to +vary this diet were compelled to get human meat.</p> + +<p>I was the only one out of five white men not down with fever, but I +was glad that we passed a quiet night, with no attack on the camp. In +the morning one of our carriers, who ventured less than fifty yards +beyond the barrier, received a spear through his left arm and another +through his side, and though I am almost afraid to relate it for fear +of being thought guilty of exaggeration, the man plucked the spear out +of his side in a moment, and, hurling it back, killed his opponent. I +ventured outside and proved the truth of the man’s story, by +finding the Dobodura man transfixed with his own spear. Both our +man’s wounds <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1301" href="#xd0e1301">151</a>]</span>were bad ones, but he did not seem to mind +them at all, and was for some time surrounded by a crowd of admiring +natives.</p> + +<p>We started off early in search of a large village of which a +prisoner told us, but had not gone far when a man jumped out of the +long grass and threw a spear at one of our carriers, only a few paces +in front of me. Fortunately he missed him, but only by a few inches. As +he was preparing to throw another spear, one of our men, whom he had +not noticed, owing to an abrupt bend in the narrow track, which brought +him close to the spearman, sprang forward and buried his stone club in +the man’s head, who sank down without a groan.</p> + +<p>It was cloudy, but very close, and we passed through open grass +country, bounded on each side by tall forest, in which bird-life seemed +plentiful, cockatoos and parrots making a great noise. Birds of +paradise were also calling out with their very noticeable and peculiar +falsetto cry.</p> + +<p>After going some distance we catechized the prisoners, and while an +old man declared that there was a large village ahead, the two women +prisoners said that the track was only a hunting one and led to the +mountains.</p> + +<p>The old man evidently wanted to get us away from his village, to +enable his tribe to return, but the women, not being so loyal, told us +the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1311" href="#xd0e1311">152</a>]</span>truth, no doubt because they found the +forced marching on a hot day a little too much for them. We sat down +for a consultation, but hearing a loud outcry in the rear, I suddenly +came across about a dozen of the now indignant police pelting the old +man with darts made out of a peculiar kind of grass, which grew around +here. The old man, who was handcuffed, hopped high in the air, uttering +loud yells every time a dart hit him, so I imagined they hurt, and +though I, too, felt much annoyed, I had to put a stop to this cruel +sport, when one of the aggrieved policemen cried out to me: +“Taubada (master), why you stop him get hurt? This fellow he +ki-ki (eat) you if he get chance.” <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1313" href="#xd0e1313">153</a>]</span></p> +</div> + +<div id="xd0e1314" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">The Return From Dobodura.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>Horrible Fate of one of our Enemies—Collecting in +Cannibal—Haunted Forest—I Shoot a new Kingfisher, and a +Bird of Paradise—Natives’ Interest in +Bird-Stuffing—Return Journey begun—Tree-house in a Notu +Village—Peacemaking Ceremonies—Notu Village +described—Our Allies sentenced for Cannibalism—Parting with +Walsh and Clark.</p> +</div> + +<p>We decided to return, and sent off a strong body of police in +advance to surprise some of the surrounding villages. On the way back +we found the man who was brained by one of our carriers still +breathing. He was a ghastly sight, with his brains projecting out, and +he was being eaten alive by swarms of red ants, which almost hid his +body and found their way into his eyes, ears and nose. By the +convulsions that from time to time shook the man’s body, he was +evidently still conscious, but could not possibly have lived for more +than a few hours at most, after our thus finding him. New Guinea, like +most tropical countries, had its full share of these pests (ants), some +species of which actually make webs, and, by way of supplementing the +web itself, work leaves in.</p> + +<p>Acland, who had been suffering all day long from bad fever, now +collapsed and could walk no further, but had to be carried in a +hammock. When we got back to our old camping ground, I <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1324" href="#xd0e1324">154</a>]</span>took an +armed guard of police and went in search of birds for my collection, in +the adjoining forest, and shot a new kingfisher (<i>Tanysiptera</i>) +and a bird of paradise (<i>Paradisea intermedia</i>). It was rather +exciting work, as one went warily through the thick growth, from whence +might issue a spear any minute, and I held on to my rifle all the time, +except, of course, when I saw a bird, and then I made a quick change to +my shotgun, lest I should prove a case of the hunter hunted.</p> + +<p>On my return I had a large crowd of carriers around me watching me +skin my birds, while Arigita explained everything to them in lordly +fashion, only too pleased to get the chance of being listened to, while +he expounded to them his superior knowledge. What he told them I, of +course, could not tell, but he informed me that when I put the final +stitch in the nostrils of the birds, my audience declared that I did +this to prevent the birds from breathing and so one day coming to life +again. When the wise Arigita asked them how this could be, since they +had seen me take out the body and brains, they scoffed at him and said +that spirits would come inside the skins so that they could sing +again.</p> + +<p>Monckton, meanwhile, had made a raid on the native gardens and +brought in quite a lot of taro. The police had killed several more +Doboduras, and in one place they had quite a fight. Our <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1336" href="#xd0e1336">155</a>]</span>old man +prisoner escaped in the night, although he was handcuffed.</p> + +<p>We returned to the coast the next day, as there seemed no chance of +our coming to terms with these Doboduras. Our only chance would have +been to defeat them in a big engagement. They seemed too frightened of +us to stand up for a big fight, but hid themselves in the bush, and +were thus hard to get at. We left ten police behind to trap the +natives, and, thinking we had left, a few of them returned to the +village, and the police shot four more of them and soon caught up with +us, bringing in the shields, stone clubs and spears of the slain.</p> + +<p>During both these expeditions we had killed a good many of these +people, and it ought to be a lesson to them to leave the Notus alone in +future, although there is little doubt that the Notus themselves make +cannibalistic raids on some of their weaker neighbours. I did not like +the looks of the Notus, and they, as well as the Doboduras, have a most +repellent type of features, and look capable of any kind of cruelty and +treachery. They are very different from the gentle-looking +Kaili-kailis.</p> + +<p>The sea was very rough, and it was exciting work launching the +canoes. One was thrown clean out of the water by a breaker. The +majority of the carriers and half the police went round by the beach, +but we in the two whaleboats had some <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1344" href="#xd0e1344">156</a>]</span>exciting moments in the +rough sea, though with the sails up we made good progress. We passed +two of the canoes partially wrecked, and apparently in great +difficulties.</p> + +<p>We eventually landed long after dark in Eoro Bay, some distance the +other side of the large Notu village, near which we had previously +camped. We landed opposite a good-sized village belonging to the Notu +tribe, from which all the inhabitants fled on our approach. We wandered +about the village with flaming torches, looking out for huts to pass +the night in, as it was too late to pitch camp. But unhappily the huts +were full of lice, and it was impossible to get any sleep.</p> + +<p>I saw here for the first time one of the curious native tree houses. +It was high up in a tall pandanus tree, and had a very odd appearance. +We spent the whole of the next day in this village, while our carriers +brought in and mended their canoes. They, too, had a very rough time of +it, but no lives were lost.</p> + +<p>During the day I witnessed a very interesting ceremony, which I take +the liberty of describing in Monckton’s own words, given in his +report to the Government. He says: “October 7th. Found that some +of the mountain people had been out to Notu and wished to make peace +with them. The Notu people had also ascertained that the Dobodura had +retreated into the large sago swamp, and were quite certain that they +had <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1352" href="#xd0e1352">157</a>]</span>no danger to fear from them for some time to +come. They also said that after the police had departed they would very +likely be able to re-establish their ancient friendly relations with +the Dobodura. A peace-offering was brought from the mountain people, +which the Notu people asked me to receive for them. The ceremony was +strange to me, and had several peculiar features. Two minor chiefs came +to where I was sitting and sat down. About twenty men then approached +and drove their spears into the ground in a circle with the butts all +leaning inwards. Many of the spears had a small piece broken off at the +butt end. From these spears were then hung clubs, spears and shields, +and native masks and fighting ornaments. An old chief then said they +had given me their arms. Next they placed cloth, fishing nets and +spears and other native ornaments inside the circle, and the same old +chief said they had given me their property. After this ten pigs, five +male and five female, were brought and placed inside the ring with a +quantity of sago and a little other food. Then followed cooking vessels +full of cooked food. The old chief then said, ‘We have given you +all we have as a sign we are now the people of the Government.’ I +gave them a good return present, and told them that they were at +liberty to take any articles they wanted or their pigs back again, but +this they absolutely refused to do, saying that it would destroy the +effect of what <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1354" href="#xd0e1354">158</a>]</span>they had done. The female prisoners were now +sent back to Dobodura with a message to the Dobodura, that I should +return in a few months and make peace with them, should they in the +meantime refrain from murdering the coastal people, but should they +persist in their raiding I should return and handle them still more +severely.” In return we gave them presents of axes, knives, +beads, tobacco, etc., which were laid down on the top of each pig.</p> + +<p>Monckton very kindly presented Acland and myself with all the clubs, +native masks, “tapa” cloth and ornaments, and the pigs and +other food came in very useful for our police and carriers, as our rice +supply was getting low.</p> + +<p>This was a very picturesque village, shaded by thousands of coconut +and betel nut palms and large spreading trees, among which was a very +fine tree, with very beautiful green and yellow variegated leaves +(<i>Erythrina</i> sp.). There was also a great variety of <i> +dracænas,</i> striped and spotted with green, crimson, white, +pink and yellow.</p> + +<p>In most of these villages there were many curious kinds of +trophies—crossed sticks, standing in the middle of the village, +with a centre pole carved and painted in various patterns, and with a +fringe of fibre placed near the top. Hanging on these sticks were the +skulls and jawbones of men, pigs and crocodiles. I went out in the +afternoon with gun and rifle, and saw several wallabies, <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1368" href="#xd0e1368">159</a>]</span>but could +not get a shot at them on account of the tall grass.</p> + +<p>In the evening the chiefs of the large Notu village who had in our +absence killed and eaten the two runaway carriers, visited us in fear +and trembling. Monckton told them they must give up to us the actual +murderers and send them up to the residency at Cape Nelson (or Tufi) +within the next three weeks. He did not ask for those that ate them. +Possibly one hundred or more partook of the feast, and for this they +could hardly be blamed, as, being cannibals, it is quite natural that +they should eat fresh meat when they got the chance. Indeed, our own +carriers could not understand why we would not allow them to eat the +bodies of those we had slain.</p> + +<p>The next morning we five white men parted company, Walsh and Clark, +with the Mambare and their own police, returning to the north, while +Monckton, Acland and I went southward again to continue our +explorations in another direction. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1374" href="#xd0e1374">160</a>]</span><span class="pagenum">[<a +id="xd0e1375" href="#xd0e1375">161</a>]</span></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="div0" id="xd0e1376"> +<h2 class="normal">Our Discovery of Flat-Footed Lake Dwellers.</h2> + +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1379" href="#xd0e1379">162</a>]</span><span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1380" +href="#xd0e1380">163</a>]</span> +<div id="xd0e1381" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">Our Discovery of Flat-Footed Lake Dwellers.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>Rumours at Cape Nelson of a “Duckfooted” People in the +Interior—Conflicting Opinions—Views of a Confirmed +Sceptic—Start of the Expedition—Magnificence of the +Vegetation—Friendliness of the Barugas—The +“Orakaibas” (<span class="corr" id="xd0e1387" title= +"Source: Cryers">Criers</span> of “Peace”)—Tree-huts +eighty feet from the ground-Loveliness of this part of the +Jungle—Description of its Plants—A Dry Season—First +Glimpse of Agai Ambu Huts—Remarkable Scene on the +Lake—Flight of the Agai Ambu in Canoes—Success at +Last—A Voluntary Surrender—The Agai Ambu Flat-footed, not +Web-footed—Sir Francis Winter’s subsequent Visit and fuller +Description of these People—Their Physical Appearance, Houses, +Canoes, Food, Speech and Customs—My Account Resumed—Making +Friends with the Agai Ambu—A Country of Swamps—Second Agai +Ambu Village—Extraordinary Abundance and Variety of +Water-fowl—Strange Behaviour of an Agai Ambu Women—Disposal +of the Dead in Mid-lake Food of the Agai Ambu—Their Method of +Catching Ducks by Diving for them—An Odd +Experience—Mosquitos and Fever—Last View of Agai +Ambu—An Amusing <i>Finale.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>Many were the wild and fantastic rumours we had heard at the +Residency at Cape Nelson, on the north-east coast of British New +Guinea, concerning a curious tribe of natives whose feet were reported +to be webbed like those of a duck, and who lived in a swamp a short way +in the interior, some distance to the north of us. I myself had at +first been inclined to sneer at these reports, but Monckton, the +Resident Magistrate, with his superior knowledge of the Papuans, as the +natives of New Guinea are called, was sure that there was some truth in +the reports, as the Papuan who has not come much in contact with the +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1394" href="#xd0e1394">164</a>]</span>white man is singularly truthful though +guilty of exaggeration.</p> + +<p>I knew this, but I had in mind the case of the Doriri tribe, who +lived in the interior a little to the south of us. These Doriri (who +had had the kindly forethought to send us word that they were coming +down to pay us a visit to eat us, for the Papuan, though a savage, is +often most suave and courteous and by no means lacking in humour), were +reported to us as having many tails, but needless to say when we made +some prisoners, we were scarcely disappointed to find that the said +tails protruded from the back of the head (in much the same fashion as +the Chinaman’s pigtail); in this case each man had many tails, +which were fashioned by rolling layers of bark from a certain +tree—closely allied, I believe to the “paper tree” of +Australia—round long strands of hair.</p> + +<p>We three white men had many a long talk as to whether these +swamp-dwellers were worth going in search of, but I soon came round to +Monckton’s way of thinking. Acland, alone, however, maintained to +the last that the whole thing was a myth, and jokingly said to +Monckton: “When you find these duck-footed people, you had better +see that Walker does not take them for birds, and shoot and skin a +couple of specimens of each sex and add them to his collection.” +(For my chief hobby in this and many other countries <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1400" href="#xd0e1400">165</a>]</span>all over +the world consisted in adding to my fine collections of birds and +butterflies in the old country.)</p> + +<p>As we three, with our twenty-five native police and four servant +boys, rowed up the Barigi River in our large government whaleboat, on +our way to search for these “duck-footed” people, I could +not help being struck with the very great beauty of the scene. Giant +trees laden with their burden of orchids, parasites and dangling +lianas, surrounded us on both sides, their wide-spreading branches +forming a leafy arcade far over our heads, while palms in infinite +variety, intermixed with all sorts of tropical forms of vegetation, and +rare ferns, grew thickly on the banks.</p> + +<p>Some distance behind us came our large fleet of canoes, bearing our +bags of rice and over one hundred carriers, and as they paddled down +the dark green oily waters of this natural arcade, with much shouting +and the splashing of many paddles, it made a scene which is with me yet +and is never to be forgotten. As we proceeded, the river got more +narrow, and fallen trees from time to time obstructed our way. We at +length landed at a spot where we were met by a large number of the +Baruga tribe, who brought us several live pigs tied to poles, and great +quantities of sago, plantains and yams. They had expected us, as we had +camped in their country the previous night. They had been +“licked” into friendliness <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1406" href="#xd0e1406">166</a>]</span>by Monckton, who less than a +year ago (as elsewhere mentioned) had sunk their canoes, and together +with the aid of the crocodiles, which swarm in this river, had +annihilated a large force of them. And now to show their friendliness +they were prepared to do us a good turn, by helping us to find these +duck-footed people, with whom (they told us) they were well +acquainted.</p> + +<p>Oyogoba, the chief of the Baruga tribe, came to meet us. He assured +us of the friendliness of his people, and himself offered to accompany +us. His arm had been broken in the encounter with Monckton and his +police, and Monckton had immediately afterwards set it himself. It now +seemed quite sound.</p> + +<p>We soon resumed our journey, on foot, passing through very varied +country, plains covered with tall grass and bounded by forest, through +which at times we passed. At other times we had to force our way +through thick swamps in which the sago-palm abounded, from the trunks +of which the natives extract sago in great quantities.</p> + +<p>About mid-day we arrived at a fair-sized village belonging to the +Baruga tribe. It was surrounded by a tall stockade of poles, and as we +entered it, the women sitting in their huts greeted us with their +incessant cries of “orakaiba, orakaiba” (peace). On this +account the natives of this part of New Guinea are generally termed +“Orakaibas” by other tribes. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1414" href="#xd0e1414">167</a>]</span></p> + +<p>The houses here seemed larger and better built than most Papuan +houses that I had hitherto seen, and there were many curious +tree-houses high up among the branches of some very large, trees in the +village, some being fully eighty feet from the ground. They had broad +ladders reaching up to them, and looked very curious and picturesque. +These ladders are made of long rattans from various climbing palms. +These rattans, of which there were three double strings, are twisted in +such a way as to support the pieces of wood which form the steps. In +one case a ladder led from the ground in the usual way to a house built +in a small tree about thirty feet from the ground, but a second ladder +connected this house with another one in a much larger tree about +eighty feet off the ground. I climbed the first ladder, but the second +one swayed too much.</p> + +<p>These tree-houses axe built partly as look-out houses, from which +the approach of the enemy is discovered, and partly as vantage points +from which the natives hurl down spears at their opponents below when +attacked.</p> + +<p>Resuming our journey, after a brief halt in this village, we soon +came to the Barigi River again, which we crossed, camping in a small +deserted village close by. Here I noticed several more tree-houses in +the larger trees. This had been a very hot day, even for New Guinea, +and I could not resist taking a most refreshing bathe <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1421" href="#xd0e1421">168</a>]</span>in the +river, though I must confess I was glad to get out again, having rather +a dread of the crocodiles, which infest parts of this river, though +they were not nearly so numerous up here as in the lower reaches of the +river which we had traversed in the morning.</p> + +<p>We were up the following morning before sunrise, and were all much +excited at the prospect before us of discovering this curious tribe. +This day would show whether or no our journey was to prove fruitless. +Soon after leaving the village we entered a dense forest, the growth of +which was wonderfully beautiful. Tall <i>pandanus</i> trees, some of +them supported by a hundred and more long stilted roots, which rose +many feet above our heads, reared their crowns of ribbon-like leaves +above even some of the giants of the forest. Palms of all shapes and +sizes, dwarfed, tall, slender and thick, surrounded us on every side, +and at least three different species of climbing palms scrambled over +the tallest trees. The tree trunks were hidden by climbing ferns and by +a white variegated fleshy-leafed <i>pothos.</i> Orchids, though not +numerous, were by no means scarce on the branches of some of the larger +trees, and were intermixed with many curious and beautiful ferns. There +were many large-leafed tropical plants somewhat resembling the <i> +heliconias</i> and <i>marantas</i> of tropical America.</p> + +<p>Flowers were not very plentiful, but here and <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e1439" href="#xd0e1439">169</a>]</span>there the forest +would be literally ablaze with what is said to be the most showy +flowering creeper in the world, huge bunches of large flowers of so +vivid a scarlet that Monckton and I agreed no painting could do them +justice. It is sometimes known as the <i>Dalbertia,</i> but its +botanical name is <i>Mucuna bennetti.</i> It has been found impossible +to introduce it into cultivation. Among other flowers were some very +large sweet-scented <i>Crinum</i> lilies and some very pretty pink +flowering <i>begonias,</i> with their leaves beautifully mottled with +silver. Here and there we would notice a variegated <i>croton</i> or +pink-leafed <i>dracæna,</i> but these were uncommon.</p> + +<p>As we proceeded, I noticed that in spite of the very dry weather we +had been having, the ground each moment became more moist, which +indicated that we were approaching the swamps we had heard about. It +was a rough track over fallen trees and dry streams, but before long we +passed along the banks of a creek full of stagnant water.</p> + +<p>We at length left the forest and found ourselves in open country, +covered with reeds and rank grass, through which we slowly wended our +way. Suddenly, however, we halted, and looking through the tall grass, +saw some of the houses of the Agai Ambu tribe close at hand. Down we +all crouched, hiding ourselves among the grass, while two of our Baruga +guides, who speak the language of the Agai Ambu, went forward to try +and parley with <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1463" href="#xd0e1463">170</a>]</span>them and induce them to be friendly with us. +We soon heard them yelling out to the Agai Ambu, who yelled back in +reply. This went on for some minutes, when the Baruga men called out to +us to come on.</p> + +<p>Jumping up, we rushed forward through the grass and witnessed a +remarkable scene. In front of us was a lake thickly covered with +water-lilies, most of them long-stemmed and of a very beautiful blue, +with a yellow centre, and with large leaves, the edges of which were +covered with a kind of thorn; there were also some white ones with +yellow centre.</p> + +<p>On the other side of the lake were several curious houses built on +long poles in the water, the houses themselves being a good height +above the water. The lake presented a scene of great confusion. The +inhabitants were fleeing away from us in their curious canoes, which, +unlike most Papuan canoes, had no outrigger whatever. Their paddles +also were peculiar, the blades being very broad. Close to us were our +two Baruga guides in a canoe with one of the Agai Ambu tribe, who +directly he saw us plunged into the lake and disappeared under the +tangled masses of water lilies.</p> + +<p>He remained under some time, but on his coming to the surface again, +one of the Baruga men plunged in after him, and we witnessed an +exciting wrestling match in the water. The Baruga man <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1471" href="#xd0e1471">171</a>]</span>was by far +the more powerful of the two, but he was no match for the almost +amphibious Agai Ambu, who slipped away from his grasp like an eel, and +swam away, with the Baruga man in close pursuit. All this time a canoe +full of the Agai Ambu was rapidly approaching to the rescue, waving +their paddles over their heads, and the Baruga man, seeing this, +climbed back into his canoe and paddled back to us.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the police had made a rush for a canoe which was close at +hand; but it at once upset, having no outrigger and being exceedingly +light and thin; it was, in fact, a species of canoe quite new to our +police. In any case they would not have had the slightest chance of +overtaking the fleet Agai Ambu in their own canoes. It looked very much +as if after all we were not to have the chance of verifying the strange +reports about the formation of these people. As a last resource we sent +over our two Baruga guides in a canoe to speak with those of the tribe +who had not fled. As the guides approached they shouted out that we +were friends, and that as we were friends of the Baruga tribe, we must +be friends of the Agai Ambu tribe as well.</p> + +<p>We held up various tempting trade goods, including a calico known as +Turkey-red, bottles of beads, etc. This and a long conversation with +the Baruga men seemed to carry some weight with them, for the Baruga +soon returned with one of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1477" href="#xd0e1477">172</a>]</span>their number, who turned round in the canoe +with his arms outstretched to his friends and cried or rather chanted, +in a sobbing voice, what sounded like a very weird song, which seemed +quite in keeping with the mournful surroundings and lonely life of +these people.</p> + +<p>This weird song, heard under such circumstances, quite thrilled me, +and wild and savage though the singer was, the song appealed to me more +than any other song has ever done. It looked as if he might be a +ne’er-do-weel or an idiot whom his friends could afford to +experiment with before taking the risk of coming over themselves, but +his song was no doubt a farewell to his friends, whom he possibly never +expected to see again.</p> + +<p>He certainly looked horribly frightened as he stepped out of the +canoe. We at once saw that there was some truth in the reports about +the physical formation of these people, although there had been +exaggeration in the descriptions of their feet as “webbed.” +There was, between the toes, an epidermal growth more distinct than in +the case of other peoples, though not so conspicuous as to permit of +the epithet “half-webbed,” much less “webbed,” +being applied to them. The most noticeable difference was that their +legs below the knee were distinctly shorter than those of the ordinary +Papuan, and that their feet seemed much broader and shorter and very +flat, so that <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1483" href="#xd0e1483">173</a>]</span>altogether they presented a most +extraordinary appearance. The Agai Ambu hardly ever walk on dry land, +and their feet bleed if they attempt to do so. They appeared to be +slightly bowlegged and walk with a mincing gait, lifting their feet +straight up, as if they were pulling them out of the mud.</p> + +<p>Sir Francis Winter, the acting Governor of British New Guinea, was +so interested in our discovery, that he himself made another expedition +with Monckton to see these people, while I was still in New Guinea. On +his return I stayed with him for some time at Government House, Port +Moresby, and he gave me a copy of his report on the Agai Ambu, which +explains the curious physical formation of these people better than I +could do.</p> + +<p>He says: “On the other side of this mere, and close to a bed +of reeds and flags, was a little village of the small Ahgai-ambo tribe, +and about three-quarters of a mile off was a second village. After much +shouting our Baruga followers induced two men and a woman to come +across to us from the nearest village. Each came in a small canoe, +which, standing up, they propelled with a long pole. One man and the +woman ventured on shore to where we were standing.</p> + +<p>“The Ahgai-ambo have for a period that extends beyond native +traditions lived in this swamp. At one time they were fairly numerous, +but a few <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1491" href="#xd0e1491">174</a>]</span>years ago some epidemic reduced them to +about forty. They never leave their morass, and the Baruga assured us +that they are not able to walk properly on hard ground, and that their +feet soon bleed if they try to do so. The man that came on shore was +for a native middle-aged. He would have been a fair-sized native, had +his body from the hips downward been proportionate to the upper part of +his frame. He had a good chest and, for a native, a thick neck; and his +arms matched his trunk. His buttocks and thighs were disproportionately +small, and his legs still more so. His feet were short and broad, and +very thin and flat, with, for a native, weak-looking toes. This last +feature was still more noticeable in the woman, whose toes were long +and slight and stood out rigidly from the foot as though they possessed +no joints. The feet of both the man and the woman seemed to rest on the +ground something as wooden feet would do. The skin above the knees of +the man was in loose folds, and the sinews and muscles around the knee +were not well developed. The muscles of the shin were much better +developed than those of the calf. In the ordinary native the skin on +the loins is smooth and tight, and the anatomy of the body is clearly +discernible; but the Ahgai-ambo man had several folds of thick skin or +muscle across the loins, which concealed the outline of his frame. On +placing one of our natives, of the same height, alongside the marsh +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1493" href="#xd0e1493">175</a>]</span>man, we noticed that our native was about +three inches higher at the hips.</p> + +<p>“I had a good view of our visitor, while he was standing +sideways towards me, and in figure and carriage he looked to me more +ape-like than any human being that I have seen. The woman, who was of +middle age, was much more slightly formed than the man, but her legs +were short and slender in proportion to her figure, which from the +waist to the knees was clothed in a wrapper of native cloth.</p> + +<p>“The houses of the near village were built on piles, at a +height of about twelve feet from the surface of the water, but one +house at the far village must have been three or four feet more +elevated. Their canoes, which are small, long, and narrow, and have no +outrigger, axe hollowed out to a mere shell to give them buoyancy. +Although the open water was several feet deep, it was so full of +aquatic plants that a craft of any width, or drawing more than a few +inches, would make but slow progress through it. Needless to say that +these craft, which retain the round form of the log, are exceedingly +unstable, but their owners stand up in them and, pole them along +without any difficulty.</p> + +<p>“These people are very expert swimmers, and can glide through +beds of reeds or rushes, or over masses of floating vegetable matter, +with ease. They live on wild fowl, fish, sago and marsh plants, <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1501" href="#xd0e1501">176</a>]</span>and +on vegetables procured from the Baruga in exchange for fish and sago. +They keep a few pigs on platforms built underneath or alongside their +houses. Their dead they place on small platforms among the reeds, and +cover the corpse over with a roof of rude matting. Their dialect is +almost the same as that of the Baruga. Probably their ancestors at one +time lived close to the swamp, and in order to escape from their +enemies were driven to seek a permanent refuge in it.”</p> + +<p>Thus it will be seen that Sir Francis was much impressed with these +people, and he heartily congratulated me upon our discovery.</p> + +<p>To resume my personal account. We soon gave the man confidence by +presenting him with an axe, some calico and beads, and a small +looking-glass, which was held in front of him. He gazed in stupefied +wonderment at his own features so plainly depicted before him. He was +taken back to the other side, and soon returned with two more of his +tribe, who brought us a live pig, which they hauled out from a raised +flooring beneath one of their houses.</p> + +<p>The country all round us seemed to be one large swamp, and we stood +upon a springy foundation of reeds and mud; except for these, we should +undoubtedly have soon sunk out of sight in the mud. As it was, we stood +in a foot of water most of the time, and in places we had to wade +through mud over our knees. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1509" +href="#xd0e1509">177</a>]</span></p> + +<p>The lake swarmed with many kinds of curious water-birds, the most +common being a red-headed kind of plover; there was also a great +variety of duck and teal. The swamps were full of large spiders, which +crawled all over us; we had to keep continually brushing them off.</p> + +<p>Farther down the lake we saw another small village, and we were told +that these two villages comprised the whole of this curious tribe. +Whether they axe the remnants of a once powerful tribe it is impossible +to say, but their position is well-nigh impregnable in case they are +ever attacked, as their houses are surrounded by swamps and water on +all sides, and no outsider could very well get through the swamps to +their villages. The only possible way to get there would be to cross +the water in their shell-like canoes, a feat which no man of any other +tribe would ever be able to manage.</p> + +<p>Monckton thought that these swamps and lake were formed by an +overflow of the Musa River. This had been a phenomenally dry season for +New Guinea, so these swamps in an ordinary wet season must be under +water to the depth of many feet.</p> + +<p>We camped close by on the borders of the forest amid a jungle of +rank luxuriant vegetation, over which hovered large and brilliant +butterflies, among them a very large metallic green and black species +(<i>Ornithoptera priamus</i>) and a large one of <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e1521" href="#xd0e1521">178</a>]</span>a bright blue +(<i>Papilio ulyses</i>). The same afternoon we three went out shooting +on the lake. Two of the Agai Ambu canoes were lashed together and a +raft of split bamboo put across them, and two Agai Ambu men punted and +paddled us about. Before starting we had first educated them up to the +report of our guns, and after a few shots they soon got over their +fright.</p> + +<p>The lake positively swarmed with water-fowl, including several +varieties of duck, also shag, divers, pigmy geese, small teal, grebe, +red-headed plover, spur-wing plover, curlew, sandpipers, snipe, swamp +hen, water-rail, and many other birds. The red-headed plover were +especially numerous, and ran about on the surface of the lake, which +was covered with the water-lily leaves and a thick sort of mossy weed. +All the birds seemed remarkably tame, and we got a good assorted bag, +chiefly duck—enough to supply most of our large force with.</p> + +<p>I stopped most of the time on the raised platform of one of the +houses and shot the duck, which Acland and Monckton put up, as they +flew over my head. I had a companion in old Giwi, the chief of the +Kaili-kailis, many of whom were among our carriers. He seemed to be on +very friendly terms with one of the Agai Ambu on whose hut I was. +Presently a woman came over in a canoe from one of the houses in the +far village, and climbed up on to the platform where we were. <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1530" href="#xd0e1530">179</a>]</span>Directly she saw old Giwi, she caught hold +of him and hugged and kissed him all over and rubbed her face against +his body, covering him with the black pigment with which she had +smeared her face. She was sobbing all the time and chanting a very +mournful but not unmusical kind of song. This exhibition lasted over +half an hour, and poor old Giwi looked quite bewildered, and gazed up +at me in a most piteous way, as much as to say: “Awful nuisance, +this woman—but what am I to do?” He understood the meaning +of this performance as little as I did. Possibly the woman was +frightened of us, and seeing a stranger of her own colour in old Giwi, +appealed to him for protection. The Baruga, however, had previously +told us that the Agai Ambu had recently captured one of their women, +and I have since thought that this might possibly have been the woman, +and am sorry I did not make inquiries at the time. At all events, old +Giwi was too courteous to shake her off, though to me it was a most +amusing sight, and it was all I could do to refrain from laughing +aloud.</p> + +<p>We saw the dead body of a man half-wrapped in mats tied to poles in +the middle of the lake. They always dispose of their dead thus, and I +suppose leave them there till they rot or dry up.</p> + +<p>The chief food of these people seemed to be the bulbs of the +water-lilies, fish and shellfish. They catch plenty of water-fowl by +diving under them <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1536" href="#xd0e1536">180</a>]</span>and pulling them under the water by the legs +before they have time to make any noise. By this method they do not +frighten the rest away, and this accounts for the birds’ extreme +tameness.</p> + +<p>It seemed odd that we should be paddled about the lake, to shoot +wild fowl, by these people, who until to-day had never seen a white man +before and had fled from us in the morning. However, most of them had +fled and would not return until we had left their country.</p> + +<p>There is little doubt that this part of the country is most +unhealthy. Many of our police and carriers were two days later down +with fever, and a few weeks later I had a bad attack of fever, with +which I was laid up in Samarai for some time, and which I feel sure I +got into my system in this swamp. The mosquitoes were certainly very +plentiful and vicious.</p> + +<p>We spent the following day here, duck-shooting on the lake, and I +did a little natural-history collecting in the adjacent forest. We had +intended to try and induce two of the Agai Ambu to accompany us back to +Cape Nelson, but most unfortunately they understood that we were going +to take them forcibly away. They became alarmed and all disappeared, +and we were not able to get into communication with them again.</p> + +<p>When Sir Francis Winter visited them about a month later they were +evidently quite friendly again, but on the second day of his visit his +native <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1546" href="#xd0e1546">181</a>]</span>followers demanded a pig of the Agai Ambu in +his, Sir Francis’s, name. At this they became alarmed and +retreated to the further village, and he was unable to see any more of +them. Since then I believe nothing more has been seen of these +flat-footed people.</p> + +<p>We returned to our old camping ground in the Baruga village on the +banks of the Barigi River, and the friendly Baruga people brought us a +big supply of pigs, sago and other native food. The next day we +continued our journey to the coast, and camped at the mouth of the +Barigi River. We had intended making an expedition into the +Hydrographer range of mountains, which we could see from here, and +which were unexplored, but Monckton and Acland were far from well, and +most of our carriers and police were down with fever, and so, greatly +to my disappointment, this had to be abandoned. We resumed our homeward +journey in the whaleboat early the following morning. We started with a +fair breeze, but this changed after a time to a head wind, against +which it was quite impossible to make any headway, so we landed at a +place where there was a small inlet leading into a lagoon. We stayed +here till six p.m., when the wind dropped sufficiently to enable us to +start off again, and, passing the mouth of the Musa River, we landed +about one a.m. in Porlock Bay, where we camped for the night. <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1550" href="#xd0e1550">182</a>]</span></p> + +<p>We spent the following day shooting, which entailed a lot of wading +amongst the shallow streams, lagoons and small lakes. I had a bit of a +fright here, as I suddenly stepped into some quicksands and felt myself +sinking fast, but, thanks to Arigita and the branch of a tree, I was +able to pull myself out after a great deal of trouble and anxiety, +though if I had not had Arigita with me I should most certainly have +gone under. We got a splendid bag between us of various birds, chiefly +duck and pigeon. One of the police shot a large cassowary, and also a +large wild pig and a wallaby, so there was plenty of food for all. We +sailed again that night at eleven p.m., and got six of the Okeina +canoes to tow us along. This they did not seem to relish, and before +they got into line there was a great deal of angry talking and +shouting, and Monckton had to call them to order by firing a rifle in +the air. It was amusing to see the way the long line of canoes pulled +us round and round in the form of the letter “S,” and they +would often bump against each other, and plenty of angry words were +exchanged. It was an amusing <i>finale</i> to the expedition. They left +us for their homes when we got near the Okeina country. We landed in +the early morning on the beach, where we had breakfast, and then rowed +on, followed by the Kaili-kaili and Arifamu canoes, and eventually +landed again at the station at Tufi, Cape Nelson, about two p.m. <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1556" href="#xd0e1556">183</a>]</span></p> + +<p>In conclusion I should mention that Mr. Oelrechs, Monckton’s +assistant, had heard rumours that we had all been massacred, and he +told me that he had been seriously thinking of gathering together a +large army of friendly natives to go down and avenge us, though I think +he would have found it no easy matter, but, as can be seen, we saved +him the trouble, and so our expedition ended. <span class="pagenum">[<a +id="xd0e1559" href="#xd0e1559">184</a>]</span><span class="pagenum">[<a +id="xd0e1560" href="#xd0e1560">185</a>]</span></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="div0" id="xd0e1561"> +<h2 class="normal">Wanderings and Wonders in Borneo.</h2> + +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1564" href="#xd0e1564">186</a>]</span><span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1565" +href="#xd0e1565">187</a>]</span> +<div id="xd0e1566" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">On the War-Path in Borneo.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>The “Orang-utan” and the “Man of the +Jungle”—Voyage to Sarawak—The Borneo Company, +Limited—Kuching, a Picturesque Capital—Independence of +Sarawak—I meet the Rajah and the Chief Officials—Etiquette +of the Sarawak Court—The “Club”—The +“Rangers” of Sarawak and their Trophies—Execution by +means of the Long Kris—Degeneracy of the Land Dayaks—Ascent +of the Rejang River—Mud Banks and Crocodiles—Dr. Hose at +his Sarawak Home—The Fort at Sibu—Enormous length of Dayak +Canoes—A Brush with Head-Hunters—Dayak Vengeance on +Chinamen—First Impressions of the Sea Dayak, “picturesque +and interesting”—A Head-Hunting raid, Dayaks attack the +Punans—I accompany the Punitive Expedition—Voyage +Upstream—A Clever “Bird Scare”—Houses on the +top of Tree-stumps—The Kelamantans—Kanawit +Village—The Fort at Kapit—Capture of a notorious +Head-Hunting Chief—I inspect the “Heads” of the +Victims—Cause of Head-Hunting—Savage Revenge of a Dayak +Lover and its Sequel—Hose’s stem Ultimatum—Accepted +by the Head-Hunters—I return to Sibu—A Fatal +Misconception.</p> +</div> + +<p>I had spent about seven months in the forests of British North +Borneo, going many days’ journey into the heart of the country, +had made fine natural-history collections and had come across a great +deal of game, including elephant, rhinoceros, bear, and +“tembadu” or wild cattle, huge wild pig and deer of three +species being especially plentiful. But above all I had come across a +great many “orang-utan” (Malay for +“jungle-man”) and had been able to study their habits. One +of these great apes has the strength of eight men and possesses an +extraordinary amount of vitality. One that I shot lived for nearly +three hours with five soft-nosed Mauser bullets in its body. <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1574" href="#xd0e1574">188</a>]</span></p> + +<p>But I had not yet seen the <i>real</i> jungle-man in his native +haunts—the head-hunting Dayak, as the Dayaks are rarely to be +found in North Borneo, whereas the people on the Kinabatangan River +(where I spent most of my time) were a sort of Malay termed +“Orang Sungei” (River People). So, as I was anxious to see +the real head-hunting Dayak, I determined to go to Sarawak, which is in +quite a different part of Borneo. To do this, I had to return to +Singapore, and thence, after a two days’ voyage, I arrived at +Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. Except for a Chinese towkay, I was the +only saloon passenger, as strangers rarely visit this country.</p> + +<p>Kuching is about twenty-five miles up the Sarawak River, and +contains about thirty thousand inhabitants, chiefly Malays and Chinese, +with about fifty Europeans, who are for the most part government +officials or belong to the Borneo Company, Limited. This company is +very wealthy and owns the only steamship line, plying between Singapore +and Kuching. It has several gold mines and a great quantity of land +planted to pepper, gambier, gutta percha and rubber. The Rajah will not +allow any other company or private individual to buy lands or open up +an estate, neither will he allow any traders in the country.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult to imagine a more picturesque town than +Kuching. It chiefly consists of substantial Chinese dwellings of brick +and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1584" href="#xd0e1584">189</a>]</span>plaster, with beautiful tile-work of quaint +figures, while temples glittering with gold peep out of thick, +luxuriant, tropical growth. Two miles out of the city you can lose +yourself in a dense tropical forest of the greatest beauty, and in the +background is a chain of mountains, some of them of extraordinary +shape. The reigning monarch or Rajah is an Englishman, Sir Charles +Brooke, a nephew of Sir James Brooke, the first Rajah, who was an +officer in the British Navy and who, after conquering Malay pirates, +was made Rajah of the country by the grateful Dayaks.</p> + +<p>Though Sarawak is supposed to be under British protection, and +though all his officials are Britishers, Rajah Brooke considers his +country independent and will not allow the Union Jack to be flown in +his dominions. He possesses his own flag, a mixture of red, black and +yellow, and his own national anthem; moreover his officials refer to +him as the King, and to his son, the heir to the throne, as the +“young King” (or “Rajah Muda”).</p> + +<p>Two days after my arrival, the Rajah left on his steam yacht for +England, but the day before he left, he held a great reception at his +“palace” (or “astana,” as it is called in +Malay). It was attended by all his officials, by high Malay chiefs and +the chief Chinese merchants. The reins of government were formally +handed over to his son, the Rajah Muda, after which champagne was <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1590" href="#xd0e1590">190</a>]</span>passed round. The chief resident, Sir Percy +Cunninghame, then introduced me to the Rajah. He is a fine-looking old +man with a white moustache and white hair, and is greatly beloved by +every one. He conversed with me for some time, and asked me many +questions about the Chartered Company in British North Borneo. It was +rather embarrassing for me, with every one silently and respectfully +standing around listening to every word. He wished me success in my +travels in the interior, and told his officials to do all in their +power to help me. When you talk about the Rajah you say “His +Highness,” but when you address him, you simply say +“Rajah” after every few words—“Yes, +Rajah,” or “No, Rajah.” The native chiefs, I noticed, +kissed the hands of both the Rajah and the Rajah Muda.</p> + +<p>There is no hotel in Kuching, so I put up at the rather dilapidated +government Rest-House, part of which I had to myself, the other half +being occupied by two government officers. The club in Kuching seems a +most popular institution with all the officials, and “gin +pahits” (or “bitters”) the popular drink of this part +of the world; billiards and pool help to pass many a pleasant evening, +the Rajah Muda often joining us at a game of black pool, like any +ordinary mortal.</p> + +<p>The Rajah’s troops, the Rangers, are a fine body of men; they +are chiefly recruited from the Malays and Dayaks, and have an English +sergeant <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1596" href="#xd0e1596">191</a>]</span>to drill them. I was told that when they go +fighting the wild head-hunters, they are allowed to bring in as +trophies the heads of those they kill, in the same way that the Dayaks +themselves do. The method of execution here is the same as in other +Malay countries, the criminal being taken down to the banks of the +river, where a long “kris” is thrust down through the +shoulder into the heart, and is then twisted about till the man is +dead.</p> + +<p>After a visit to Bau, further up the Sarawak River, where the Borneo +Company, whose guest I was, have a gold mine (the clay being treated by +the “cyanide” process), I collected specimens for some time +in the beautiful forests at the foot of the limestone mountains of +Poak. Here I saw something of the Land Dayaks, but they are a poor +degenerate breed, and not to be compared to the Sea Dayaks, who are +born fighters, and whose predatory head-hunting instincts give a great +deal of trouble to the government. These latter were the Dayaks I was +anxious to meet, and I soon made arrangements to visit their country, +which is a good way from Kuching, the real Sea Dayak rarely visiting +the capital.</p> + +<p>So one morning early I found myself with my two servants, a Chinese +cook and a civilized Dayak named Dubi (Mr. R. Shelford also going), on +board a government paddle-wheel steamer which was bound for Sibu, on +the Rejang River. Twenty-five<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1602" +href="#xd0e1602">192</a>]</span> miles’ descent of the Sarawak +River brought us to the sea. We did not skirt the coast, but cut across +a large open expanse of sea for about ninety miles. We then came to the +delta of the Rejang River, and went up one of its many mouths, which +was of great width, though the scenery all the way was monotonous, and +consisted of nothing but mangroves, <i>pandanus,</i> the feathery <i> +nipa</i> palm and the tall, slender “nibong” palm, with +here and there a crocodile lying, out on the mud banks—a dismal +scene.</p> + +<p>At nightfall we anchored a short way up the river, as the government +will not allow their boats to travel up the river by night, it being +unsafe. We were off again at daylight the next morning, the scenery +improving as the interminable mangroves gave place to the forest. Sixty +miles up the river found us at Sibu, where I put up with Dr. Hose, the +Resident, the celebrated Bornean explorer and naturalist. The only +other Europeans here were two junior officials, Messrs. Johnson and +Bolt. And yet there is a club at Sibu, a club for three, and here these +three officials meet every evening and play pool.</p> + +<p>There is a fort in Sibu, as indeed there is at most of the river +places in Sarawak. It is generally a square-shaped wooden building, +perforated all round with small holes for rifles, while just below the +roof is a slanting grill-work through which it is easy to shoot, +though, as it is on the slant, it is <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1614" href="#xd0e1614">193</a>]</span>hard for spears to enter +from the outside. There are one or two cannons in most of these forts. +The fort at Sibu was close to Dr. Hose’s house and was attacked +by Dayaks only a few years ago. Johnson, one of Dr. Hose’s +assistants, showed me a very long Dayak canoe capable of seating over +one hundred men. It was made out of one tree, but large as it was, it +did not equal some of the Kayan canoes on this river, one of which was +one hundred and forty-five feet in length. This Dayak canoe was +literally riddled with bullets, and Johnson told me that a few +weeks’ ago he was fighting some Dayaks on the Kanawit, a branch +river near here, when he was attacked by some Dayaks in this very +canoe. As they came up throwing spears he told his men to fire, with +the result that eighteen Dayaks were killed. The river at Sibu was of +great width, over a mile across, in fact, and close to the bank is a +Malay village, and a bazaar where the wily Chinaman does a thriving +trade in the wild produce of the country, and makes huge profits out of +the Dayaks and other natives on this river. But the Dayaks often have +their revenge and attack the Chinamen with great slaughter, the result +being that they take home with them plenty of yellow-skinned heads with +nice long pig-tails to hang them up by. During my stay on this river +there were two or three cases of Chinamen being slaughtered by the +Dayaks, and if it were not for the forts on these <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1616" href="#xd0e1616">194</a>]</span>rivers, +every Chinaman would be wiped out of existence.</p> + +<p>My first real acquaintance with the Sea Dayak was in the long bazaar +at Sibu, and I was by no means disappointed in my first impressions, as +I found him a most picturesque and interesting individual. The men +usually have long black hair hanging down their backs, often with a +long fringe on their foreheads. Their skin is brown, they have snub +noses but resolute eyes, and they are of fine proportions, though they +rarely exceed five feet five inches in height. Beyond the +“jawat,” a long piece of cloth which hangs down between +their legs, they wear nothing, if I except their many and varied +ornaments. They wear a great variety of earrings. These are often +composed of heavy bits of brass, which draw the lobes of the ears down +below the shoulder. When they go on the war-path they generally wear +war-coats made from the skins of various wild animals, and these are +often padded as a protection against the small poisonous darts of the +“sumpitan” or blow-pipe which, together with the +“parang” (a kind of sword) and long spears with broad steel +points constitute their chief weapons. They also have large shields of +light wood; often fantastically painted in curious patterns, or +ornamented with human hair.</p> + +<p>I had been at Sibu only three or four days, when word was brought +down to Dr. Hose that the Ulu <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1622" +href="#xd0e1622">195</a>]</span>Ai Dayaks, near Fort Kapit, about one +hundred miles up the river, had attacked and killed a party of Punans +for the sake of their heads. These Punans are a nomadic tribe who +wander about through the great forests with no settled dwelling-places, +but build themselves rough huts and hunt the wild game of the forest +and feed on the many wild fruits that are found in these forests. Hose +at once decided to go up to Fort Kapit and punish these Dayaks, and +gave me leave to accompany him and Shelford. So one morning at six +o’clock we boarded a large steam launch with a party of the +Rangers, mentioned above, as the Rajah’s troops. We took, from +near Sibu, several friendly Dayaks, who were armed to the teeth with +spears, “parangs,” “sumpitans,” shields and war +ornaments, all highly elated at the prospect of the fighting in store +for them.</p> + +<p>In a short account like this, it is of course impossible to describe +the many interesting things that I saw on the journey up the river. We +passed many of the long, curious Dayak houses and plenty of canoes full +of these picturesque people, and at some of the villages little Dayak +children hurriedly pushed out small canoes from the shore so as to get +rocked by the waves made by our launch. This they seemed to enjoy, to +judge from the delighted yells they gave forth. I several times saw a +most ingenious invention for frightening away the birds and monkeys +from the large fruit <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1626" href="#xd0e1626">196</a>]</span>trees which surrounded every Dayak village. +At one end of a large rattan cord was a sort of wooden rattle, fixed on +the top of one of the largest fruit trees. The other end of the rattan +was fastened to a slender bamboo stick which was stuck into the river, +and the action of the stream caused the bamboo to sway to and fro, thus +jerking the rattan which in turn set the rattle going. We passed +several small houses built on the tops of large tree-stumps. These, Dr. +Hose informed me, were built by Kanawits, of a race of people known as +Kelamantans. These Kelamantans are supposed to be the oldest residents +of Borneo, being here long before the Dayaks and Kayans, but they axe +fast dying out, as are the Punans, I believe chiefly owing to the raids +of the warlike Dayaks. They were once ferocious head-hunters, but now +they are a very inoffensive people.</p> + +<p>About mid-day we stopped at the village of Kanawit, at the mouth of +the river of that name. This village, like Sibu, is composed entirely +of Chinese and Malays. They are all traders and do a thriving business +with the Dayaks and other natives. Here also was a fort with its +cannon, with a Dayak or Malay sergeant and a dozen men in charge. As we +proceeded up river, the scenery became rather monotonous. There was +little tall forest, the country being either cleared for planting +“padi” (rice) or in secondary forest growth or <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1630" href="#xd0e1630">197</a>]</span>jungle, a +sure sign of a thick population. We saw many Dayaks burning the felled +jungle for planting their “padi,” and the air was full of +ashes and smoke, which obscured the rays of the sun and cast a reddish +glare on the surrounding country.</p> + +<p>Toward evening we reached the village of Song and stayed here all +night, fastening our launch to the bank. In spite of the fort here, we +learned that the Chinamen were in great fear of an attack by the +Dayaks, which they daily expected. Leaving Song at half-past five the +next morning, we arrived at Kapit about ten a.m. and put up at the +fort, which was a large one. A long, narrow platform from the top of +the fort led to a larger platform on which, overlooking the river, +there was a large cannon which could be turned round so as to cover all +the approaches from the river in case there was an attack on the fort. +We learned that the day before we arrived at Kapit, Mingo, the +Portuguese in charge of the fort, had captured the worst ringleader of +the head-hunters in the bazaar at Kapit, and small parties of loyal +Dayaks were at once sent off to the homes of the other head-hunters +with strict injunctions to bring back the guilty ones, and, failing +persuasion and threats, to attack them.<a class="noteref" id="xd0e1634src" href="#xd0e1634">1</a> In most cases they were +successful, and I saw many of the prisoners brought in, together with +some of the heads of their victims.</p> + +<p>The next morning Hose suddenly called out to <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e1639" href="#xd0e1639">198</a>]</span>me that if I wished +to inspect the heads I would find them hanging up under the cannon +platform by the river, and he sent a Dayak to undo the wrappings of +native cloth and mats in which they were done up. They were a sickening +sight, and all the horrors of head-hunting were brought before me with +vivid and startling reality far more than could have been done by any +writer, and I pictured those same heads full of life only a few days +before, and then suddenly a rush from the outside amid the unprepared +Punans in their rude huts in the depths of the forest, a woman’s +scream of terror, followed by the sickening sound of hacking blows from +the sharp Dayak “parangs,” and the Dayak war-cry, +“Hoo-hah! hoo-hah!” ringing through the night air, as every +single Punan man, woman and child, who has not had time to escape, is +cut down in cold blood. When all are dead, the proud Dayaks, proceed to +hack off the heads of their victims and bind them round with rattan +strings with which to carry them, and then, returning in triumph, are +hailed with shouts of delight by their envious fellow-villagers, for +this means wives, a Dayak maiden thinking as much of heads as a white +girl would of <span class="corr" id="xd0e1641" title="Source: jewelry"> +jewellery</span>. The old Dayak who undid the wrappings pretended to be +horrified, but I felt sure that the old hypocrite wished that he owned +them himself.</p> + +<p>Only seven of the heads had been brought in, <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e1646" href="#xd0e1646">199</a>]</span>and two of them were +heads of women, and although they had been smoked, I could easily see +that one of them was that of a quite young, good-looking girl, with +masses of long, dark hair. She had evidently been killed by a blow from +a “parang,” as the flesh on the head had been separated by +a large cut which had split the skull open. In one of the men’s +heads there were two small pieces of wood inserted in the nose. They +were all ghastly sights to look at, and smelt a bit, and I was not +sorry to be able to turn my back on them.</p> + +<p>As in the present case, the brass-encircled young Dayak women are +generally the cause of these head-hunts, as they often refuse to marry +a man unless he has one or more heads, and in many cases a man is +absolutely driven to get a head if he wishes to marry. The heads are +handed down from father to son, and the rank of a Dayak is generally +determined by the number of heads he or his ancestors have collected. A +Dayak goes on the war-path more for the sake of the heads he may get, +than for the honour and glory of the fighting. Generally, though, there +is precious little fighting, as the Dayak attacks only when his victims +are unprepared.</p> + +<p>While I was in Borneo I heard the following story of Dayak +barbarity, which is a good example of the way the women incite their +men to go on these head-hunting expeditions. In a certain district +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1652" href="#xd0e1652">200</a>]</span>where some missionaries were doing good work +among the Dayaks, a Dayak young man named Hathnaveng had been persuaded +by the missionaries to give up the barbaric custom of headhunting. One +day, however, he fell in love with a Dayak maiden. The girl, although +returning his passion, disdained his offer of marriage, because he no +longer indulged in the ancient practice of cutting off and bringing +home the heads of the enemies of the tribe. Hathnaveng, goaded by the +taunts of the girl, who told him to dress in women’s clothes in +the future, as he no longer had the courage of a man, left the village +and remained away for some time. When he returned, he entered his +sweetheart’s hut, carrying a sack on his shoulders. He opened it, +and four human heads rolled upon the bamboo floor. At the sight of the +trophies, the girl at once took him back into her favour, and flinging +her arms round his neck, embraced him passionately.</p> + +<p>“You wanted heads,” declared her lover. “I have +brought them. Do you not recognize them?”</p> + +<p>Then to her horror she saw they were the heads of her father, her +mother, her brother and of a young man who was Hathnaveng’s rival +for her affections. Hathnaveng was immediately seized by some of the +tribesmen, and by way of punishment was placed in a small bamboo +structure such as is commonly used by the Dayaks for pigs, <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1658" href="#xd0e1658">201</a>]</span>and allowed +to starve to death.<a class="noteref" id="xd0e1660src" href="#xd0e1660">2</a> This is a true story, and occurred while I was still +in Borneo.</p> + +<p>The day after we arrived at Kapit a great crowd of Dayaks, belonging +to the tribe of those implicated in the attack on the Punans, assembled +at the fort to talk with Dr. Hose on the matter, and the upshot of it +all was startling in its severity. This was Hose’s ultimatum: +They must give up the rest of those that took part in the raid, and +they would all get various terms of imprisonment. They must return the +rest of the heads. They must pay enormous fines, and, lastly, those +villages which had men who took part in the raid, must move down the +river opposite Sibu, and thus be under Hose’s eye as well as +under the guns of the fort. I watched the faces of the crowd, and it +was interesting to witness their various emotions. Some looked +stupefied, others looked very angry, and that they could not agree +among themselves was plainly evident from their angry squabbling. They +were a curious crowd with their long black hair and fringes and round +tattoo marks on their bodies. They finally agreed to these terms, as +Hose told them that if they did not do so, he would come and make them, +even if he had to kill them all. The following days I witnessed large +bands of Dayaks bringing to the fort their fines, which consisted of +large jars and brass gongs, which are the Dayak forms of <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1665" href="#xd0e1665">202</a>]</span>currency. +The total fine amounted to $5,200, and the jars were carefully +examined, the gongs weighed and their values assessed. Some of the jars +were very old, but the older they are the more they are worth. Three of +the poorest looking ones were valued at $1,400 (the dollar in Borneo is +about two of our shillings). Of the total, $1,200 was later paid to the +Punans as compensation (“pati nyawa”). I watched some +Dayaks—who had just brought in their fines—as they went +away in one of their large canoes, and they crossed the river with a +quick, short stroke of their paddles in splendid time, so that one +heard the sound of their paddles, as they beat against the side of the +canoe, come in one short tr-r-up. They seemed to be very angry, all +talking at once, and I still heard the sound of their angry voices +above the paddles’ beat, long after they had disappeared up a +narrow creek on the other side.</p> + +<p>I had intended going with my two servants further up the river and +living for some time among the Dayaks, but Dr. Hose made objections to +my doing so. He said it would be very unsafe for me to live among these +Kapit Dayaks at the present time, as they were naturally in a very +excitable state, and would have thought little of killing one of the +“orang puteh” (white men), whom they no doubt considered +the cause of all their trouble. They would be sure to take me for a +government official. Hose instead advised <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1669" href="#xd0e1669">203</a>]</span>me to go up a small +unexplored branch river below Sibu, so as the launch was returning to +Sibu I determined to return in her, leaving Hose and Shelford at +Kapit.</p> + +<p>During my short stay at Kapit I added very few new specimens to my +collections of birds and butterflies; in fact, it was the worst +collecting-ground that I struck during more than a year’s +wanderings in Borneo. I, however, made a fine collection of Dayak +weapons, shields and war ornaments from our friendly Dayaks, who seemed +very low-spirited now that there was to be no fighting, and on this +account traded some of their property to me which at other times +nothing would have induced them to part with, at a very low figure.</p> + +<p>I returned to Sibu with Mingo, and we took with us the ringleader of +the head-hunters. He was kept handcuffed in the hold, and he worked +himself up into a pitiable state of fright. He thought he was going to +be killed, and the whole of the voyage he was chanting a most mournful +kind of song, a regular torrent of words going to one note. My Dayak +servant Dubi informed me that he was singing about the heads he had +taken, and for which he thought he was now going to die.</p> + +<p>After a day’s stay in Sibu I went up the Sarekei River with my +two servants, and made a long stay in a Dayak house. I will try to +describe my life among the Dayaks in the next chapter. In <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1677" href="#xd0e1677">204</a>]</span>conclusion, +I must tell the tragic story of a fatal mistake, which was told me by +Johnson, one of the officials at Sibu, which serves to illustrate the +superstitious beliefs of the Malays. A Chinese prisoner at Sibu had +died, at least Johnson and Bolt both thought so, and they sent some of +the Malay soldiers to bury the body on the other side of the river. A +few days later one of them casually remarked to Johnson that they had +often heard it said that the spirit of a man sometimes returned to his +body again for a short time after death (a Malay belief), but he (this +Malay) had not believed it before, but he now knew that it was true. +Johnson, much amused, asked him how that was. “Oh,” said +the Malay, “when the Tuan (Johnson) sent us across the river to +bury the dead man the other day, his spirit came back to him and his +body sat up and talked, and we were much afraid, and seized hold of the +body; which gave us much trouble to put it into the hole we had digged, +and when we had quickly filled in the hole so that the body could not +come out again, we fled away quickly, so now we know that the saying is +true.” It thus transpired that they had buried a live Chinaman +without being aware of the fact. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1679" href="#xd0e1679">205</a>]</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<hr class="fnsep" /> +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e1634src" id="xd0e1634">1</a></span> R. Shelford’s +Report.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e1660src" id="xd0e1660">2</a></span> From a Singapore Paper.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div id="xd0e1680" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">Home-Life Among Head-Hunting Dayaks.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>I leave the Main Stream and journey up the Sarekei—A Stream +overarched by Vegetation—House 200 feet long—I make Friends +with the Chief—My New Quarters—Rarity of White +Men—Friendliness of my New Hosts—Embarrassing Request from +a Lady, “like we your skin”—Similar Experience of +Wallace—Crowds to see me Undress—Dayak’s interest in +Illustrated Papers—Waist-rings of Dayak Women—Teeth filled +with brass—Noisiness of a Dayak House—Dayak Dogs—A +well-meant Blow and its Sequel—Uproarious Amusement of the +Dayaks—Dayak Fruit-Trees—The Durian as King of all +Fruits—Dayak “Bridges” across the Swamp-Dances of the +Head-Hunters—A Secret “Fishing” Expedition—A +Spear sent by way of defiance to the Government—I +“score” off the Pig-Hunters—Dayak +Diseases—Dayak Women and Girls—Two “Broken +Hearts”—I Raffle my Tins—“Cookie” and the +Head-Hunters, their Jokes and Quarrels—My Adventure with a +Crocodile.</p> +</div> + +<p>The Rejang is one of the many large rivers which abound in Borneo, +and its tributaries are numerous and for the most part unexplored. The +Rejang is tidal for fully one hundred and fifty miles, and at Sibu is +over a mile in width. The banks of this river are inhabited by a large +population of Malays, Chinese, Dayaks, Kayans, Kanawits, Punans and +numerous other tribes. Thus it is a highly interesting region for an +ethnologist.</p> + +<p>It was with feelings of pleasant anticipation that I started down +the river in the government steam-launch from Sibu just as dawn was +breaking, on my way to spend several weeks among the <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1690" href="#xd0e1690">206</a>]</span>wild Dayaks +on the unexplored Sarekei River. I took with me my two servants, Dubi, +a civilized Dayak, and my Chinese cook. After a journey of four hours +we arrived at a large Malay village near the mouth of the Sarekei +River. Here I disembarked and sought out the chief of the village and +demanded the loan of two canoes, with some men to paddle them, and in +return I offered liberal payment. Accordingly, an hour after my arrival +I found myself with all my belongings and servants on board the two +canoes, with a crew of nine Malays. Soon after leaving the Malay +village we branched off to the left up the Sarekei River. It was very +monotonous at first, as the giant plumes of the <i>nipa</i> palm hid +everything from my view. My Malays worked hard at their paddles, and +late in the afternoon we left the main Sarekei River and paddled up a +small and extremely narrow stream. There we found ourselves in the +depth of a most luxuriant vegetation. We were in a regular tunnel +formed by arching ferns and orchid-laden trees, giant <i>pandanus,</i> +various palms and arborescent ferns and <i>caladiums.</i> Here grew the +largest <i>crinum</i> lilies I had ever seen. They literally towered +over me, and the sweet-scented white and pink flowers grew in huge +bunches on stems nearly as thick as my arm.</p> + +<p>After the bright sun on the main river, the dark, gloomy depths of +this side-stream were very <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1706" +href="#xd0e1706">207</a>]</span>striking. It was so narrow that +sometimes the vegetation on both sides was forced into the canoes, and +the “atap” (palm-thatched) roof of my canoe came in for +severe treatment as it brushed against prickly <i>pandanus</i> and +thorny rattans.</p> + +<p>The entrance to this stream was completely hidden from view, and no +one but these Malays, who had been up here before, trading with the +Dayaks, could have discovered it. I had told the Malay chief that I +wished to visit a Dayak village where no white man had ever been and +where they were head-hunters. He had smiled slyly and nodded as if he +understood. Thereupon he said, “Baik (good), Tuan,” and +said he would help me. Just as darkness was setting in we arrived at a +Dayak village, consisting of one very long house, which I afterwards +found to exceed two hundred feet in length. It was situated about one +hundred yards from the stream. No sooner had we sighted it than the air +resounded with the loud beating of large gongs and plenty of shouting. +There was a great commotion among the Dayaks.</p> + +<p>I at first felt doubtful as to the kind of reception I should get, +and immediately made my way to the house with Dubi, who explained to +the Dayak chief that I was no government official, but had come to see +them and also to get some “burong” (birds) and +“kopo-kopo” (butterflies). I forthwith <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1715" href="#xd0e1715">208</a>]</span>presented +the old chief with a bottle of gin, such as they often get from the +Malay traders, and some Javanese tobacco, and his face was soon +wreathed in smiles.</p> + +<p>The Dayaks soon brought all my baggage into the house and I paid off +my Malays and proceeded to make myself as comfortable as I could for my +stay of several weeks, the chief giving me a portion of his own +quarters and spreading mats for me over the bamboo floor. On the latter +I put my camp-bed and boxes. I occupied a portion of the open corridor +or main hall, which ran the length of the house and where the unmarried +men sleep. This long corridor was just thirty feet in width, and formed +by far the greater portion of the house; small openings from this +corridor led on to a kind of unsheltered platform twenty-five feet in +width, which ran the length of the house and on which the Dayaks +generally dry their “padi” (rice).</p> + +<p>The other side of the house was divided into several rooms, each of +which belonged to a separate family. Here they store their wealth, +chiefly huge jars and brass gongs. The house was raised on piles fully +ten to twelve feet from the ground, the space underneath being fenced +in for the accommodation of their pigs and chickens. The smells that +came up through the half-open bamboo and “bilian”-wood +flooring were the reverse of pleasant. The entrance at each end <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1721" href="#xd0e1721">209</a>]</span>was +by means of a very steep and slippery sort of ladder made out of one +piece of wood with notches cut in it, the steps being only a few inches +in width. One of these ladders had a rough bamboo hand-rail on each +side, and the top part of the steps was roughly carved into the +semblance of a human face.</p> + +<p>In the rafters over my head I noticed a great quantity of spears, +shields, “sumpitans” or blowpipes, paddles, fish-traps, +baskets and rolls of mats piled up indiscriminately, while just over my +head where I slept was a rattan basket containing two human heads, +though Dubi told me he thought the Dayaks had hidden most of their +heads on my arrival. This description of the house I resided in for +some time, applies more or less to all the Dayak houses I saw in +Borneo.</p> + +<p>This house or village was called Menus, and the old chief’s +name was Usit. In spelling these names one has to be entirely guided by +the sounds and write them after the fashion of the English method of +spelling Malay. The village or house of Menus seemed to contain about +one hundred inhabitants, not counting small children. Upon my arrival I +was soon surrounded by a most curious throng, many of whom gazed at me +with open mouths, in astonishment at the sight of an “orang +puteh” (white man), as of course no white man had ever been here +before and but very <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1727" href="#xd0e1727">210</a>]</span>few of the people had ever seen one. One old +woman remembered having seen a white man, and some of the older men had +from time to time seen government officials on the Rejang River, but +except to these few I was a complete novelty. Considering this, I was +greatly astonished at their friendliness, as not only the men, but the +women and children squatted around me in the most amicable fashion, and +sometimes even became a decided nuisance. My first evening among them, +however, I found extremely amusing, and as my Chinese cook placed the +food he had cooked before me, and as I ate it with knife, fork and +spoon, they watched every mouthful I took amid a loud buzz of comments +and exclamations of delight.</p> + +<p>Though by no means the first time I have had to endure this sort of +popularity, or rather notoriety, in various countries of the world, I +do not think I have ever come across a people so full of friendly +curiosity as were these Dayaks. About midnight I began to feel a bit +sleepy, but the admiring multitude did not seem inclined to move, so I +told Dubi to tell them that I wanted to change my clothes and go to +sleep. No one moved. “Tell the ladies to go, Dubi,” I said, +but on his translating my message a woman in the background called out +something that met with loud cries of approval.</p> + +<p>“What does she say, Dubi?” I asked. <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1733" href="#xd0e1733">211</a>]</span></p> + +<p>“She says, Tuan,” replied Dubi, “they like see +your skin, if white the same all over.”</p> + +<p>This was rather embarrassing, and I told Dubi to insist upon their +going; but Dubi, whose advice I generally took, replied, “I +think, Tuan (master), more better you show to them your skin.” I +therefore submitted with as good a grace as possible, and took my shirt +off, while some of them, especially the women, pinched and patted the +skin on my back amid cries of approval and delight.</p> + +<p>They asked if the skin of the Tuan Muda (the Rajah) was as white, +and, on being told that it was, a long and serious conversation took +place among them, during which the name of the Tuan Muda kept +constantly cropping up.</p> + +<p>The great naturalist, Wallace, met with much the same experience +among the Dayaks, and as the natives of many other countries among whom +I have lived never seemed to display the same curiosity about my white +skin, I put it down to the Dayaks wishing to see what kind of a skin +the great white Rajah, who rules over them, possesses.</p> + +<p>The next two or three nights the crowd that waited to see me change +into my pyjamas was, if anything, still larger, a good many Dayaks from +neighbouring villages coming over to see the sight. But gradually the +novelty wore off, to my great joy, as I was getting a bit tired of the +whole <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1744" href="#xd0e1744">212</a>]</span>performance. I had come here to see the +Dayaks, but it appeared that they were even more anxious to see me.</p> + +<p>For the next two or three weeks an odd Dayak would from time to time +ask to see my skin, so that at length I had absolutely to refuse to +exhibit myself any longer.</p> + +<p>I had luckily brought several illustrated magazines with me to use +as papers for my butterflies, and these were a source of endless +delight to the crowds around me in the evenings. They behaved like a +lot of small children, and roared with laughter over the pictures. They +generally looked at the pictures upside down, and even then they seemed +to find something amusing about them. With Dubi as my interpreter I +used to make up stories about the pictures, and, pointing to the +portrait of some well-known actress, described the number of husbands +she had killed, and I’m afraid I grossly libelled many a +well-known politician, general, or divine in telling the Dayaks how +many heads they possessed or how many wives they owned, till it was +quite a natural thing for me to join in their uproarious merriment, as +I pictured in my mind some venerable bishop on the war-path.</p> + +<p>As is well known, the Dayak women all wear rings of brass around +their waists. They are called “gronong,” and they are made +of pliable rattan inside, with small brass rings fastened <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1752" href="#xd0e1752">213</a>]</span>around the +rattan. In the centre of each ring there are generally two or three +small red and black rings of coloured rattan between the brass ones. +Some wore only four or five, while others possessed twenty or more, and +then they rather resembled a corset. Even the little girls of four or +five wore two or three of them.</p> + +<p>I noticed on my first arrival that the women and some of the men +seemed to have their teeth plentifully filled with gold, but I soon +found out that it was brass that they had ornamented their teeth with, +a small piece being inserted in some way in the centre of each tooth. +Their teeth are generally black from the continual chewing of the +betel-nut, and I noticed small children of four or five years of age +going in for this dirty habit, and still younger <span class="corr" id="xd0e1756" title="Source: childen">children</span> smoking cigarettes, +the covering of which is made out of the dried leaf of the sago-palm. +The Dayaks are almost as dirty as the Negritos in the Philippines, and +yet they are both certainly the merriest people I have ever met with. +The heartiest and most unaffected laughter I have ever heard proceeded +from the throats of Dayaks and Negritos. It almost seems as if dirt in +some cases constitutes true happiness.</p> + +<p>The Dayak women seemed to bathe more often than the men, but they +never seemed to take off their brass waist-rings when bathing in the +river. The women also have their wrists covered with brass bangles, +which are all fastened together in <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1761" href="#xd0e1761">214</a>]</span>one piece. The noise in the +house was deafening at times, especially in the evening, when all come +home from working in their “padi” fields, where the women +are supposed to do most of the work, the men generally going hunting. +The continual hum of conversation and loud laughter, with the noise +made by the pigs and chickens under the house, the dogs and chickens in +the house, and the beating of deep-toned gongs at times nearly drove me +frantic, especially when I was writing.</p> + +<p>They resembled a lot of small children and would beat their gongs +simply to amuse themselves. Very often a Dayak, on returning from his +work or a hunt in the jungle, would walk straight up to a large gong +that was hanging up and hammer on it for a few minutes in a most +businesslike way, looking all the time as if it bored him. Then he +would walk away in much the same way as a man would leave the telephone +(as if he had just got through some business). I suppose it soothed +them after their day’s work, but it irritated me.</p> + +<p>The Dayak dogs are fearful and wonderful animals, both as regards +shape and colour, and I could get very little sleep on account of the +noise they made; yet the Dayaks seemed to sleep through it all.</p> + +<p>One night I woke up after a particularly noisy fight, and saw what +appeared to me to be a dog sitting calmly by my bed with its back +turned to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1769" href="#xd0e1769">215</a>]</span>me. Lifting my mosquito net, therefore, very +quietly, I let drive with my fist at it, putting all my pent-up +indignation and anger for sleepless nights into the blow. Alas! it was +a very solid dog that I struck against, being nothing more nor less +than the side of one of my boxes, and I barked my knuckles rather +badly. The laughter of the Dayaks was loud and prolonged when Dubi +translated the yarn to them next day, and they remembered it long +afterwards. Until I heard the roar of laughter that went up, the story +had not struck me as being so very amusing!</p> + +<p>All around the house for some distance was a forest of tall +fruit-trees. They had of course all been planted in times past by the +Dayaks’ ancestors, and every tree had its owner, but they had +become mixed up with many beautiful wild tropic growths which had +sprung up between the trees. Some of these fruit-trees, such as the +“durian,” “rambutan,” mango, mangosteen, +“tamadac” or jackfruit, “lansat” and bananas, +were familiar to me, but there were a great number of fruits that I had +never heard of before, and I got their names from my Dayak friends.<a +class="noteref" id="xd0e1773src" href="#xd0e1773">1</a></p> + +<p>Needless to say, I never before tasted so many fruits that were +entirely new to me, and most of them were ripe at the time of my visit. +The “durian” comes easily first. It is without doubt <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1778" href="#xd0e1778">216</a>]</span>the +king of all fruit in both the tropic and temperate zones, and is +popular alike with man and beast, the orang-utan being a great culprit +in robbing the Dayaks of their “durians.” I never saw the +“good” “durian” growing wild in Sarawak, but I +tasted here a small wild kind with an orange centre which made me +violently sick. No description of the “durian” taste can do +it justice. But its smell is also past description. It is so bad that +many people refuse to taste it. It is a very large and heavy fruit, +covered with strong, sharp spines, and as it grows on a very tall tree, +it is dangerous to walk underneath in the fruiting season when they are +falling, accidents being common among the Dayaks through this cause. I +myself had a narrow escape one windy day. I was sitting at the foot of +one of these trees eating some of the fallen fruit, when a large +“durian” fell from above and buried itself in the mud not +half a yard from me.</p> + +<p>Danna, the second chief, would always leave one or two of the fruit +for me on a box close by my head where I slept, before he went off to +his “padi “-planting early in the morning, so that I got +quite used to the bad smell.</p> + +<p>The Dayak house was surrounded on three sides by a horrible swamp, +the roads through which consisted of fallen trees laid end to end, or +else of two or three thick poles, laid side by side, and kept in place +by being lashed here and there to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1784" href="#xd0e1784">217</a>]</span>two upright stakes, so that +I had to balance myself well or come to grief in the thick mud. The +Dayak bridges, made chiefly of poles and bamboos, were in many cases +awkward things to negotiate, and I had one or two rather nasty falls +from them. While the Dayak women and children never showed any fear of +me in the house, whenever I met them out in the woods or jungle they +would run from me as if I were some kind of wild animal.</p> + +<p>I saw several Dayak dances. The men put on their war-plumes and with +shield and “parang” (mentioned above) twirl round and round +and cut with their “parangs” at an imaginary foe, the women +all the time accompanying them with the beating of gongs. Dubi one +night showed them a Malay dance, which consisted of a sort of gliding +motion and a graceful waving of the hands, quite the reverse of the +Dayak dance. One night I noticed a general bustle in the house. The +women seemed greatly excited, and the men passed to and fro with their +“parangs” and “sumpitans” (blowpipes), and cast +anxious looks in my direction as they passed me. They told Dubi they +were going fishing; but it seemed strange that they should go fishing +with these warlike weapons, and I told Dubi so. He himself thought they +were going head-hunting, and I felt sure of it, as they left only the +old men, youths, women and children behind. I did not see them again +till the following <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1788" href="#xd0e1788">218</a>]</span>evening, nor did I then see signs of any +fish. I told Dubi that I thought it best that he should not ask them +any questions, as it might be awkward if they thought we suspected +them. At the same time, I am bound to admit that there was no direct +proof to show that they had been headhunting; and for this I was glad, +as there was no cause for me to say anything to the Government about +it, and so get my kind hosts into trouble. Some months later I read in +a Singapore paper that “the Dayaks in this district,” +between Sibu and Kuching, were restless and inclined to join form with +the Dayaks at Kapit, who had sent Dr. Hose a spear, signifying their +defiance of the Sarawak Government.</p> + +<p>One evening, when out looking for birds, Dubi and I came across two +Dayaks, who were perched up in trees, waiting for wild pigs that came +to feed on the fallen fruit, when they would spear them from above. +They seemed rather annoyed with us for coming and frightening the pigs +away, and that evening they told everyone that we were the cause of +their not getting a pig. I rather scored them off, by telling Dubi in +an angry voice to ask them what “the dickens” they meant by +getting up in trees and frightening all my birds away. This highly +amused all the other Dayaks, who laughed loud and long, and my two +pig-hunting friends retired into the background discomfited. I myself +went out one evening with a party of Dayaks after <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1792" href="#xd0e1792">219</a>]</span>wild pig, +and stayed for two hours upon a platform in a tree while they climbed +other trees close by. However, no pigs turned up, although two +“plandok” (mouse-deer) did, though I did not shoot them for +fear of frightening the pigs away. I took my revolver with me, to the +great amusement of the Dayaks, who, of course, had not seen one before, +and ridiculed the idea of so small a weapon being able to kill a pig. +The Dayaks told me that there were plenty of bears here, but I never +saw any myself in this part of Borneo. They told me the bears were very +fierce, and had often nearly killed some of their friends. The Dayak +dogs are fearful cowards, and I was told that they run away at the +sight of a wild pig.</p> + +<p>Animal life here was not plentiful, and quite the reverse of what I +had seen in the forests of North Borneo, where it was very +plentiful.</p> + +<p>I noticed the prevalence of that horrible scurvy-like skin-disease +among several of the Dayaks. It was common in New Guinea among the +Papuans, where it was termed “supuma.” I cured two little +Dayak children of intermittent fever by giving them quinine and +Eno’s fruit salts. The result was that I was greatly troubled by +demands on my limited stock of medicines. One old man had been growing +blind for the last two years, and another was troubled with aches all +over him, and they would hardly believe me when I said that I could not +cure them. They told Dubi that they <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1798" href="#xd0e1798">220</a>]</span>thought that the white +people who could make such things as I possessed could do anything. So +much of my property seemed to amuse and astonish them, that it was a +treat to show them such things as my looking-glass, hair-brush, socks, +guns, umbrella, watch, etc. I showed them that child’s trick of +making the lid of my watch fly open, and they were delighted.</p> + +<p>The Dayak women can hardly be considered good-looking. I saw one or +two that were rather pretty, but they were very young and unmarried. +Dubi fell madly in love with one of them and she with him, and when I +left there were two broken hearts. Many of the little girls of about +five and six years old would have been regular pictures if they had +only been cleaner. I made the discovery that some of my Dayak friends +were addicted to the horrible habit of eating clay, and actually found +a regular little digging in the side of a hill where they worked to get +these lumps of reddish grey clay, and soon caught some of the old men +eating it. They declared that they enjoyed it. All my empty tins (from +tinned meats, etc.) were in great demand, and so to save jealousy I +actually demoralized the Dayaks to the extent of introducing the +raffling system among them. Great was the excitement every evening when +I raffled old tins and bottles. Dubi would hand the bits of paper and +they would be a long time making up their minds which to take. One +night Dubi <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1802" href="#xd0e1802">221</a>]</span>overheard my Chinese cook telling some of +the Dayaks that “the white tuan had no use for these tins +himself, that is why he gives them to you.”</p> + +<p>This cook, whom I used to call Cookie, was a great nuisance to me, +but he was the most amusing character I ever came across, and he was +the source of endless delight to the Dayaks, who enjoyed teasing him +and jokingly threatened to cut off his head, until he was almost +paralyzed with fright and came and begged me to leave, as we should all +have our heads cut off. After a week or two his courage returned and I +learned that when I was out of the house he would stand on his head for +the amusement of the women and children, though he was by no means a +young man. He soon became quite popular with the women, who found him +highly amusing, and who were always in fits of laughter whenever he +talked. In the evenings he sometimes joined a group of Dayak youths and +would start to air his opinions. Then it was not long before they were +all jeering and mimicking him, and poor old Cookie would look very +foolish and a sickly smile would spread over his yellow features. +Finally he would go off and sulk, and when I asked him what the matter +was, he would reply, “Damn Dayak no wantee.” Whenever I +called out for Cookie, the whole house would resound with jeering Dayak +cries of “Cookie, Cookie.” He and Dubi were always +quarrelling, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1806" href="#xd0e1806">222</a>]</span>and Cookie would work himself up into such a +state of excitement that the place would be full of Dayak laughter, +though the Dayak understood not a word of what they were talking about. +In my later wanderings in Borneo the quarrel between my two servants, +Dayak and Chinaman, grew to such an extent that I feared it would end +in murder.</p> + +<p>The foregoing account, short as it is, will, I trust, give some idea +of what my long stay among head-hunting Dayaks was like. All things +must have an ending, however, and having finished my collecting in this +neighbourhood I said good-bye to my Dayak friends, with deep regret, +and I think the sorrow was mutual. I know well that Dubi and his little +Dayak sweetheart were almost heartbroken. The Dayaks begged me to stay +longer, but I had already stayed longer than I had at first +intended.</p> + +<p>Old Usit, the chief, and his crew of Dayaks paddled me all the way +to Sibu. There is little to relate about the journey there, except that +the canoe leaked very badly and the Dayaks had to keep bailing her out. +At night we tied the canoe up to a small wooden platform outside a +Malay house on the Rejang River, to await the change of the tide, and +one of the Dayaks knocked at the door of the house so that we could +cook some food, but the Malays thought that we were head-hunters, and +there was great lamentation, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1812" +href="#xd0e1812">223</a>]</span>and for some time they refused to open. +While eating my food, with my legs dangling over the side of the wooden +platform, I noticed a dark object that glistened in the moonlight +noiselessly swimming toward me, and I pulled up my legs pretty quickly. +It was a large crocodile, attracted, no doubt, by the smell of my +dinner. The only objection I had was that it might have taken me for +the dinner. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1814" href="#xd0e1814">224</a>]</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<hr class="fnsep" /> +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e1773src" id="xd0e1773">1</a></span> Some of these names that I +got were “kudong” “blimbing,” +“mawang,” “sima” “lakat,” +“kamayan,” “nika,” “esu,” +“kubal,” “padalai” and +“rambai.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div id="xd0e1815" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">Visit to the Birds’-nest Caves of +Gomanton.</h2> + +<div class="argument"> +<p>My stay in British North Borneo—Visit to a Tobacco Estate +(Batu Puteh)—Start for the Birds’-nest Caves—News of +the Local Chief’s Death—Applicants for the +Panglima-ship—We Visit the late Chief’s House-Widows in +white—The Hadji “who longed to be +King”—Extraordinary Grove of Banyan-trees—Pigs, +Crocodiles and Monkeys—Astonishing Swimming Performance of a +Monkey—Water Birds Feeding on the Carcase of a Stag—The +Hadji and his Men pray at a Native Grave-shrine—An Elephant +charges past us—Arrival at the Caves—The Entrance—A +Cave of enormous Height, description of the Interior—Return to +the Village—Visit to the Upper Caves—Beautiful Climbing +Plants—We reach the Largest Cave of all: its Extreme +Grandeur—“White” Nests and “Black” Nests +secured—Distinctions between the two kinds of Swallows by whom +the Nests are made—Millions of small Bats: an Astonishing +Sight—Methods of Securing the Nests described—Perilous +Climbing Feats—Report of numerous Large +Snakes—Cave-coffins, and their (traditional) rich +contents—Dangers of the Descent—All’s well that ends +well.</p> +</div> + +<p>I had just returned down the river with Richardson from Tangkulap. +Tangkulap is a journey of several days up the Kinabatangan River in +British North Borneo. Richardson was the magistrate for this district, +and his rule extended over practically the whole of this river, +Tangkulap being his headquarters. Only three or four white men had ever +been up the river as far as Tangkulap, it being a very lonely spot in +the midst of dense forests, with no other white man living anywhere +near. I had stayed with him for two months, making large natural +history collections and seeing a great deal of both native and animal +life. We had then returned down the river in <span class="pagenum">[<a +id="xd0e1823" href="#xd0e1823">225</a>]</span>Richardson’s +“gobang” (canoe) to Batu Puteh, a large tobacco estate, and +the only one on this river. Here we were the guests of Paul Brietag, +the manager, a most hospitable German. He and his three German, French, +and Dutch assistants were the only other white men on the whole of this +great river.</p> + +<p>While here, Richardson and I determined to visit the wonderful +Gomanton birds’-nest caves, from which great quantities of edible +birds’ nests are annually taken. Very few Europeans had ever +visited them, though they are considered among the wonders of the +world.</p> + +<p>We left Batu Puteh in Richardson’s canoe early one morning, +and, although we had a strong stream with us going down, we did not +reach Bilit till evening. Bilit is a large village made up of Malays, +Orang Sungei, and Sulus. Quite a crowd met us on our arrival, and they +seemed not a little excited. It appeared that their late Panglima +(chief), who was also a Hadji, had been on a second voyage to Mecca, +and they had just heard that he had died on his way back. “That +was quite right,” they said; “his time had come, and, +besides, it had been foretold that he would die if he tried to go to +Mecca again.”</p> + +<p>Two men were most anxious to gain favour with Richardson—viz., +the dead man’s son and another Hadji, who was the richest man in +Bilit, and who had a large share in the Gomanton <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e1831" href="#xd0e1831">226</a>]</span>caves. The reason was +that Richardson had the power to appoint whom he liked as the new +Panglima, provided, of course, that the man was of some standing and +fairly popular. Richardson sent for one of the most influential men in +the village to come and talk the matter over, but he lived on the other +side of the river, and, it being late, they said he dared not cross in +his small “gobang,” as the crocodiles are very bad indeed +here, and at night they often help themselves to a man out of his +canoe. We went to the late Panglima’s house and had a chat, but +nothing was said about the new Panglima. I caught sight of one of the +widows swathed in white, going through all sorts of contortions by way +of mourning for her late husband. We found that the people were going +to the caves in two or three days to collect the black nests. The white +nests had been collected earlier in the year, but the influential Hadji +“who would be king” offered to go with us on the morrow and +start work earlier than he at first intended if his dreams were +favourable, and thus we should be able to see them at work collecting +the nests. Here was luck both for ourselves and the Hadji: it meant a +step in his hopes of the much-desired Panglima-ship by thus gaining +favour with the magistrate over his younger rival. He was a tall, +haughty-looking man, with an orange-coloured turban, worn only by +Hadjis, and the people <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1833" href="#xd0e1833">227</a>]</span>seemed to stand in great awe of him and +addressed him as “Tuan” or “Tuan Hadji,” the +word “Tuan” being usually used only when addressing +Europeans like ourselves; still, his house in which we spent the night +was little better than a pigsty, although he was a very wealthy +man.</p> + +<p>The next morning we were off before sunrise. After leaving the +village we had a walk of about an hour and a half over a very steep +hill through luxuriant, tall forest, and on the other side came to a +small river, the Menungal, on the banks of which was a shed full of +“gobangs” (canoes) which were speedily launched, we both +getting into the leading one. We were followed by three others, in one +of which was the Hadji. Most of the way was through fine forest, the +trees arching overhead to shade us from the hot sun, the only exception +being when we passed through a stretch of swamps, with low, tangled +growth, when the river broadened out, but in the shady forest it was +delightful, gliding along to the music of the even dip of the +paddles.</p> + +<p>The most striking feature about the forest on this Menungal River +was the extraordinary growth of a species of banyan trees (<i>Ficus</i> +sp.). I have seen many curious stilted trees of this <i>Ficus</i> +family in various tropical countries I have visited, but these I think +were more curious than any I had ever seen. One hardly knew where they +began and where they ended, for they all seemed <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e1845" href="#xd0e1845">228</a>]</span>joined together, and +roots and branches seemed one and the same thing. It was the acme of +vegetable confusion. Even the river could not stop their progress, and +we were constantly gliding between their roots and branches. The growth +of ferns, orchids and parasites on the branches and roots of these +trees was luxuriant to a degree and formed veritable hanging +gardens.</p> + +<p>On these Bornean rivers one is constantly seeing pigs, crocodiles +and monkeys, but I noticed on this river an abundance of a monkey which +one seldom sees on the large Kinabatangan River. I refer to the very +curious proboscis or long-nosed monkey (<i>Nasalis larvatus</i>). These +animals often sat still overhead and stared down at us in the most +contemptuous and indifferent manner, and they looked so human and yet +so comical with their enormous red noses that I found myself laughing +aloud, our scullers doing the same, till the monkeys actually grinned +with indignation. They axe large monkeys with long tails, and are +beautifully marked with various shades of grey and brown, and their +large, fleshy, red noses give them an extraordinary appearance.</p> + +<p>One of them did a performance that astonished me. We saw a group of +them on a branch over the river about forty yards ahead of us, when one +of them jumped into the middle of the river and coolly swam to a +hanging creeper up which it climbed, none the worse for its voluntary +bath. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1854" href="#xd0e1854">229</a>]</span>This was the only time that I had ever seen +a monkey swim, but the natives assured me that these monkeys are very +good swimmers. It struck me as being a very risky performance, as this +river was full of crocodiles.</p> + +<p>I saw on this river a wonderful orchid growing on large trees. This +was a <i>Grammatophyllum</i> with bulbs some times over eight feet in +length. The length of the name is certainly suitable for so large an +orchid. I saw plenty of water-birds, including white egrets and a +long-necked diver which is called the “snake-bird,” owing +to its long neck projecting lout of the water and thus greatly +resembling a snake. I shot several of each kind of bird, plucking the +fine plumes from the backs of the egrets. We ate some of the divers +that evening and found them first-class food, tasting much like goose. +We later in the day disturbed a whole colony of these water-birds +feeding on the carcase of a large stag in the river, and the smell was +very strong for some distance. I did not attempt to shoot any more mock +geese till we had put a good many miles between ourselves and the dead +stag. We passed several canoes slowly wending their way to the eaves, +the people taking it easy and camping on the banks and fishing. They +dried the fish on the roofs of their thatched canoes. Some of these +people had very curious rattan pyramid-shaped hats gaily ornamented +with strips of bright-coloured cloth. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1861" href="#xd0e1861">230</a>]</span></p> + +<p>Toward evening the river got exceedingly narrow, and fallen trees +obstructed our way, so that we had sometimes to lie flat on our backs +to pass under them, and at other times we had to get out while our +canoe was hauled over the mud at the side.</p> + +<p>Just before we reached our destination for the night, we came to a +spot where the bank was hung with bits of coloured cloth and calico +fastened to sticks, I also noticed some bananas and dried fish tied to +the sticks. This signified that there was a native burial ground close +by, and all the canoes were stopped, the scullers putting their paddles +down, while the Hadji and all his men proceeded to wash their faces in +the river. This they did to ensure success in their +nest-collecting.</p> + +<p>We stayed the night in one of two raised half-thatched huts used +only by the natives in the collecting seasons, a ladder from the river +leading into them. It was almost dark when we arrived, and hardly were +we under shelter when rain came down in torrents. It poured all night, +and when we started off on foot at sunrise the next morning we found +the track in the forest a regular quagmire; in places we waded through +mud up to our knees. As we scrambled and floundered through the mud at +our best pace we heard a great crashing noise just in front of us, and +the air resounded with cries of “Gajah, gajah!” (elephant). +I was just in time to see a large elephant tear by. It literally <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1868" href="#xd0e1868">231</a>]</span>seemed to fly, and knocked down small trees +as if they were grass. It seemed greatly frightened, and made a sort of +coughing noise. It went by so quickly that I was unable to see whether +it had tusks or not.</p> + +<p>After about three hours’ hard tramping, I caught sight of a +high mass of white limestone gleaming through the trees. It made a +pretty picture in the early morning, the white rock peeping out of +luxuriant creepers and foliage. It rises very abruptly from the +surrounding forest, and at a distance looked quite inaccessible to a +climber.</p> + +<p>We waded through a stream of clear water, washing the horrible +forest mud from off us, and soon found ourselves in a most picturesque +village at the very base of the rock. We disturbed quite a crowd of +native girls bathing in a spring, and they seemed very much alarmed and +surprised at seeing two Europeans suddenly turn the corner. Out of +season I don’t believe any one lives in this village except some +watchers at the mouths of the eaves to guard against thieves. The Hadji +gave us a rough hut with a flooring of split bamboo and kept us +provided with chickens. All this no doubt was in his estimation part of +the necessary steps to securing that much-desired Panglima-ship.</p> + +<p>The two days we were here, people kept flocking into the village, +most of the men carrying long steel-pointed spears, in many cases +beautifully mounted with engraved silver: others carried <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1876" href="#xd0e1876">232</a>]</span>long +“parangs” and “krises” in rough wooden sheaths, +but the handles were often of carved ivory and silver.</p> + +<p>After some breakfast we started off to see the near lower cave, +which was one of the smaller ones. We followed a very pretty ferny +track by the side of a rocky stream for a short distance, the forest +being partially cleared and open, with large boulders scattered around. +The sky overhead was thick with swallows, in fact one could almost say +the air was black with them. These of course were the birds that make +the nests. The mouth of the cave partly prepared me for what I was to +see. I had expected a small entrance, but here it was, I should say, +sixty feet in height and of great width, the entrance being partly +overhung with a curtain of luxuriant creepers. The smell of guano had +been strong before, but here it was overpowering.</p> + +<p>Extending inside the cave for about one hundred yards was a small +village of native huts used chiefly by the guards or watchers of these +caves. Compared with the vastness of the interior of the cave—I +believe about four hundred and eighty feet in height—one could +almost imagine that one was looking at the small model of a village. A +small stream ran out of a large hill of guano, and if you left the +track you sank over your knees in guano. The vastness of the interior +of this cave impressed me beyond words. It was stupendous, and to +describe it properly <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1882" href="#xd0e1882">233</a>]</span>would take a better pen than mine. One could +actually see the very roof overhead, as there were two or three +openings near the top (reminding one of windows high up in a cathedral) +through which broad shafts of light forced their way, making some old +hanging rattan ladders high up appear like silvery spider webs. Of +course there were recesses overhead where the light could not +penetrate, and these were the homes of millions of small bats, of which +more presently. As for the birds themselves, this was one of their +nesting seasons, and the cave was full of myriads of them. The +twittering they made resembled the whisperings of a multitude. The +majority of them kept near the roof, and as they flew to and fro +through the shafts of light they presented a most curious effect and +looked like swarms of gnats; lower down they resembled silvery +butterflies. Where the light shone on the rocky walls and roofs one +could distinguish masses upon masses of little silver black specks. +These were their nests, as this was a black-nest cave. Somewhere below +in the bowels of the earth rumbled an underground river with a noise +like distant thunder. This cavernous roar far below and the twittering +whisper of the swallows far overhead, combined to add much to the +mysteriousness of these wonderful caves.</p> + +<p>On the ground in the guano I picked up several eggs, unbroken. How +they could fall that distance <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1886" +href="#xd0e1886">234</a>]</span>and yet not get smashed is hard to +understand, unless it is that they fell in the soft guano on their +ends. We were told that when a man fell from the top he was smashed +literally into jelly. I also picked up a few birds which had been +stunned when flying against the rocks. This saved me from shooting +any.</p> + +<p>Spread out on the ground in the cave and also drying outside, raised +from the ground on stakes, were coil after coil of rattan ropes and +ladders used for collecting the nests. These always have to be new each +season, and are first carefully tested. The ladders are made of well +twisted strands of rattan with steps of strong, hard wood, generally +“bilian.”</p> + +<p>On our return to the village we bathed in a shady stream of clear +water, the banks of which I noted were composed chiefly of guano. In +the afternoon we started off in search of the upper eaves. After a +short, stiff climb amid natural rockeries of jagged limestone, we +passed under a rock archway or bridge, under which were perched +frail-looking raised native huts of the watchers. As we stood under +this curious archway we looked down a precipice on our left. It was +very steep at our feet, but from the far side it took the form of a +slanting shaft, which terminated in a little window or inlet into the +lower cave we had visited in the morning. In our ascent we had to climb +up very rough, steep ladders fastened against the <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1892" href="#xd0e1892">235</a>]</span>rocky +ledges. The rocks were in many places gay with variegated plants, the +most notable being a very pretty-leafed begonia, covered with pink and +silver spots, the spots being half pink, half white. The natives with +us seemed to enjoy eating these leaves; they certainly looked tempting +enough.</p> + +<p>Another fine plant growing among these rocks was a climbing <i> +pothos,</i> with very dark green leaves, ornamented with a silver band +across each leaf, but the finest of all was a fine velvet-leafed +climber, veined with crimson, pink, or white (<i>Cissus</i> sp.).</p> + +<p>We at length came to the entrance of a long chain of eaves, through +which we passed, going down a very steep grade, and our guides had to +carry lights. After a climb down some steep rocks in semi-darkness, we +at length found ourselves in the largest cave of all, supposed to be +about five hundred and sixty feet in height.<a class="noteref" id="xd0e1904src" href="#xd0e1904">1</a> It, too, had two or three natural +windows, through which the light penetrated. One of them was on the +top, in the very centre of the cave, and from down below it looked like +a distant star. This opening was on the very summit of the Gomanton +rock. This cave greatly resembled the smaller one I have already +described, except that it was of much grander dimensions. As in the +first cave, one could hear the roar of an underground torrent, and the +swallows seemed even more numerous. On the rocky walls I noticed plenty +of large spiders and a curious insect, with a long body and long, thin +legs, which ran very <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1907" href="#xd0e1907">236</a>]</span>fast, and whose bite we were told was very +poisonous.</p> + +<p>On the way back, when passing through some very low caves, the Hadji +got some of his men to knock down for me a few of the white nests from +the sides of the cave with long poles, and in another cave they got me +some black nests. The difference between these white and black nests is +this: they are made by two different kinds of swallows. The white nest +is made by a very small bird, but the bird that builds the black nest +is twice the size of the other. The white nest looks something like +pure white gelatine, and is very clean, and has no feathers in it. The +black nest, on the contrary, is plentifully coated with feathers, and +it is, in consequence, not worth nearly as much as the white nest. The +nests are made from the saliva of the birds. Both are very plain +coloured birds; an ordinary swallow is brilliant in comparison. This is +unusual in a country so full of brilliant-plumaged birds as Borneo is; +but, as they spend most of their lives in the depths of these sombre +caves, I suppose it is only natural that their plumage should be +obscure and plain. These birds’-nest caves are found all over +Borneo and the Malay Peninsula, and also in Java and other parts of the +Malay archipelago, but these are by far the largest. The revenue from +these caves alone brings the Government a very large sum. By far the +greatest number of these nests are sent to China, <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1911" href="#xd0e1911">237</a>]</span>where +birds’-nest soup is an expensive luxury. The natives of Borneo do +not eat them. For myself, I found the soup rather tasteless.</p> + +<p>We were told that if they missed one season’s nest collecting, +most of the birds would forsake these caves, possibly because there +would be so little room for them to build again. I learned that they +build and lay four times a year, but I think that they meant that both +the black and the white-nest birds lay twice each. The white kind build +their first nests about March, and the black kind in May, and, as these +nests are all collected before they have time to hatch their eggs, +there are no young birds till later in the year, when the nests are not +disturbed, but the old nests are collected with the new ones the +following year. If the guano could be easily transported to the coast +it would be a paying proposition, but the Government fears that it +might frighten the birds away.</p> + +<p>About dusk that evening after we had returned to our hut, I heard a +noise like the whistling of the wind, and, going outside, I saw a truly +wonderful sight, in fact a sight that filled me with amazement. The +millions of small bats which share these caves with the birds were +issuing forth for the night from the small hole I spoke about on the +very top of the rock leading into the large cave, but what a sight it +was! As far as the eye could see they stretched in one even unbroken +column across the sky. They issued from the cave in a compact <span +class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1917" href="#xd0e1917">238</a>]</span>mass +and preserved the same even formation till they disappeared in the far +distance. As far as I could see there were no stragglers. They rather +resembled a thick line of smoke coming out of the funnel of a steamer, +with this exception that they kept the same thick line till they went +out of sight. The most curious thing about it was that the thick line +twisted and wriggled across the sky for all the world like a giant +snake, as if it were blown about by gusts of wind, of which, however, +there was none. Even with these strange manœuvres the bats kept +the same unbroken solid formation. They were still coming forth in the +same manner till darkness set in, and then I could only hear the +beating of myriads of wings like the sighing of the wind in the +tree-tops.</p> + +<p>They return in early morning in much the same fashion. I heard that +the swallows usually did the same thing, only the other way about; when +the bats came out, the swallows entered the eaves, and when the bats +went in, the swallows came out, but it being now their nesting season, +they went in and out of the eaves irregularly all day, but I was quite +satisfied to see the bats go through the performance, as it was one of +the most wonderful sights I have ever seen.</p> + +<p>We had been told that it would be three or four more days before the +collecting would take place, and also that they had to wait for a good +omen in the shape of a good dream coming to one of the <span class= +"pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1923" href="#xd0e1923">239</a>]</span>chief +owners of the caves. Our pleasure was great, therefore, when the Hadji +and some of his followers paid us a visit that night and told us that +work should start in the largest cave the next morning for our benefit. +That was good news, indeed, as Richardson could not wait more than +another day. It was another good move for the Hadji and his +Panglima-ship, and I told Richardson he ought to give it him +forthwith.</p> + +<p>The next morning we climbed to the top of the rock. It was hard work +climbing over the brittle rocks and up perpendicular and shaky ladders. +On reaching the summit we got a splendid view of the surrounding +country, and could plainly see the distant sea; but all else was thick, +billowy forest, dotted at long intervals with limestone ridges, also +covered with forest. Here we found the hole on the top of the large +cave, and stretching across it were two long, thick +“bilian” logs, to which the natives were now fastening +their long rattan ladders before descending them to collect the nests. +We crept along the logs and listened to the everlasting twittering far +below; but, although we could see nothing but pitchy darkness, the +thought of what was below made me soon crawl back with a very shaky +feeling in my legs.</p> + +<p>We then descended again till we came to the mouth of a curious cave, +which was practically a dark chasm at our feet. We climbed down into +<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd0e1929" href="#xd0e1929">240</a>]</span>the depths on a straight, swaying ladder, +which required a good grip, and then, after a climb over slanting, +slippery rocks, we found ourselves in the large cave, on a sort of +ledge, within perhaps sixty feet of the roof. We were told that we were +the first Europeans who had ever descended on to this ledge. From here +we watched the natives collecting the nests. In a short account of this +description it is impossible for me to detail all the wonderful methods +the natives had for collecting the nests, but the chief method was by +descending rattan ladders, which were let down through the hole on the +top of the cave. It made one quite giddy even to watch the men +descending these frail swaying ladders with over five hundred feet of +space below them. The man on the nearest ladder had a long rattan rope +attached low down to his ladder, with a kind of wooden anchor at the +end of it. At the second attempt he succeeded with a wonderful throw in +getting the anchor to stick in the soft guano on the edge of the +slanting ledge where we were. It was then seized by several men waiting +there; by these it was hauled up until they were enabled to catch hold +of the end of the ladder, which they dragged higher and higher up the +steep, slanting rocks we had come down by. This in time brought the +flexible ladder, at least the part on which the man was, level with the +roof, and he, lying on his back on the thin <span class="pagenum">[<a +id="xd0e1931" href="#xd0e1931">241</a>]</span>ladder, pulled the nests +off the rocky roof, putting them into a large rattan basket fastened +about his body.</p> + +<p>We saw many other methods they have of collecting these nests by the +aid of long bamboo poles and rattan ropes, up which they climbed to +dizzy heights.</p> + +<p>These eaves, we were told, were full of very large harmless snakes, +but we did not come across them. If I had had a good head and plenty of +skill and pluck as a climber, I might have come away a wealthy man, as +the Hadji told us that in a sort of side cave high up in the large cave +were the coffins of the men that first discovered these caves, and with +them were large jars of gold and jewels, but no one dared touch them, +as they said it would be certain death to the man who did so. A man +once did take some, but a few days later was taken violently ill and so +had them put back and thus recovered. It was not for any scruples of +this kind that I declined the Hadji’s offer to help myself when +he pointed out to me the spot where they were, but I think he must have +guessed that I would not have trusted myself on one of those frail +swaying ladders with over five hundred feet of space beneath me.</p> + +<p>On the way back we scrambled up to a small cave where there were +numerous carved coffins and bones which belonged to some of the former +owners of the caves, but alas! no jars of gold; <span class="pagenum"> +[<a id="xd0e1939" href="#xd0e1939">242</a>]</span>possibly poor men, +they did not realize good prices. We returned down the rocks a +different way, which made Richardson indulge in some hearty language at +the Hadji’s expense, who must have had fears that the +Panglima-ship was at the last moment slipping away from him. It +certainly was awkward and dangerous work climbing down the steep +precipices, and we could never have done it, but that the rocks were +quite honeycombed with small holes which enabled us to get a good hold +for our hands.</p> + +<p>That night was a busy one for me, skinning my numerous birds and +blowing the eggs by a dim light to the accompaniment of +Richardson’s snores, and I did not get to bed till 2 a.m. We were +up again at 4 a.m. for the return journey. But I had seen one of the +most wonderful sights in the world, and to me it seemed extraordinary +that until I came to Borneo I had never even heard of the Gomanton +eaves. Some day, perhaps within our time, they will become widely +advertised, and swarms of noisy tourists will come over in airships +from London and New York, but there will be one thing lacking—all +romance will have gone from these lonely wilds and forests, and that is +the chief thing. The Hadji returned with us to Bilit, and got his +desire, the Panglima-ship, and well he deserved it.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<hr class="fnsep" /> +<p class="footnote"><span class="label"><a class="noteref" href="#xd0e1904src" id="xd0e1904">1</a></span> These were the heights given +me by the Malays.</p> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="back"> +<div id="xd0e1944" class="div1"> +<h2 class="normal">Plates</h2> + +<div class="figure" id="p02"><img src="images/p02.jpg" alt= +"A Chief’s Daughter and a Daughter of the People" width="512" +height="345" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Chief’s Daughter and a Daughter of the +People</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p03"><img src="images/p03.jpg" alt= +"A “Meke-Meke,” or Fijian Girls’ Dance" width="512" +height="328" /> +<p class="figureHead">A “Meke-Meke,” or Fijian Girls’ +Dance</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p04"><img src="images/p04.jpg" alt= +"Interior of a large Fijian Hut" width="512" height="359" /> +<p class="figureHead">Interior of a large Fijian Hut</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p05"><img src="images/p05.jpg" alt= +"A Fijian Mountaineer’s House" width="345" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Fijian Mountaineer’s House</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p06"><img src="images/p06.jpg" alt= +"At the Door of a Fijian House" width="359" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">At the Door of a Fijian House</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p07"><img src="images/p07.jpg" alt= +"A Fijian Girl" width="378" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Fijian Girl</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p08"><img src="images/p08.jpg" alt= +"Spearing Fish in Fiji" width="512" height="316" /> +<p class="figureHead">Spearing Fish in Fiji</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p09"><img src="images/p09.jpg" alt= +"A Fijian Fisher Girl" width="373" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Fijian Fisher Girl</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p10"><img src="images/p10.jpg" alt= +"A Posed Picture of an old-time Cannibal Feast in Fiji" width="512" +height="340" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Posed Picture of an old-time Cannibal Feast in +Fiji</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p11"><img src="images/p11.jpg" alt= +"Making Fire by Wood Friction" width="512" height="337" /> +<p class="figureHead">Making Fire by Wood Friction</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p12"><img src="images/p12.jpg" alt= +"An Old ex-Cannibal" width="263" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">An Old ex-Cannibal</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p13"><img src="images/p13.jpg" alt= +"A Fijian War-Dance" width="512" height="330" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Fijian War-Dance</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p14"><img src="images/p14.jpg" alt= +"Adi Cakobau (pronounced “Andi Thakombau”), the highest Princess in Fiji, at her house at Navuso" + width="351" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">Adi Cakobau (pronounced “Andi +Thakombau”), the highest Princess in Fiji, at her house at +Navuso</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p15"><img src="images/p15.jpg" alt= +"A Filipino Dwelling" width="512" height="347" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Filipino Dwelling</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p16"><img src="images/p16.jpg" alt= +"A Village Street in the Philippines" width="512" height="338" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Village Street in the Philippines</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p17"><img src="images/p17.jpg" alt= +"A River Scene in the Philippines" width="512" height="358" /> +<p class="figureHead">A River Scene in the Philippines</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p18"><img src="images/p18.jpg" alt= +"A Negrito Family" width="369" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Negrito Family</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p19"><img src="images/p19.jpg" alt= +"Negrito Girls (showing Shaved Head at back)" width="286" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">Negrito Girls (showing Shaved Head at back)</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p20"><img src="images/p20.jpg" alt= +"A Negrito Shooting" width="353" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Negrito Shooting</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p21"><img src="images/p21.jpg" alt= +"Tree Climbing by Negritos" width="329" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">Tree Climbing by Negritos</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p22"><img src="images/p22.jpg" alt= +"A Negrito Dance" width="512" height="330" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Negrito Dance</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p23"><img src="images/p23.jpg" alt= +"Arigita and his Wife" width="317" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">Arigita and his Wife</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p24"><img src="images/p24.jpg" alt= +"Three Cape Nelson Kaili-Kailis in War Attire" width="419" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">Three Cape Nelson Kaili-Kailis in War Attire</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p25"><img src="images/p25.jpg" alt= +"Kaili-Kaili House on the edge of a Precipice" width="512" height="360" /> +<p class="figureHead">Kaili-Kaili House on the edge of a Precipice</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p26"><img src="images/p26.jpg" alt= +"“A Great Joke”" width="512" height="479" /> +<p class="figureHead">“A Great Joke”</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p27"><img src="images/p27.jpg" alt= +"A Ghastly Relic" width="333" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Ghastly Relic</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p28"><img src="images/p28.jpg" alt= +"Cannibal Trophies" width="512" height="415" /> +<p class="figureHead">Cannibal Trophies</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p29"><img src="images/p29.jpg" alt= +"A Woman and her Baby" width="345" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Woman and her Baby</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p30"><img src="images/p30.jpg" alt= +"A Papuan Girl" width="331" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Papuan Girl</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p31"><img src="images/p31.jpg" alt= +"The Author with Kaili-Kaili Followers" width="400" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">The Author with Kaili-Kaili Followers</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p32"><img src="images/p32.jpg" alt= +"Wives of Native Armed Police" width="348" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">Wives of Native Armed Police</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p33"><img src="images/p33.jpg" alt= +"A Papuan Damsel" width="348" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Papuan Damsel</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p34"><img src="images/p34.jpg" alt= +"Busimaiwa, the great Mambare Chief, with his Wife and Son (in the Police)" + width="512" height="424" /> +<p class="figureHead">Busimaiwa, the great Mambare Chief, with his Wife +and Son (in the Police)</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p35"><img src="images/p35.jpg" alt= +"A Haunt of the Bird of Paradise " width="512" height="333" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Haunt of the Bird of Paradise</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p36"><img src="images/p36.jpg" alt= +"The Author starting on an Expedition" width="512" height="275" /> +<p class="figureHead">The Author starting on an Expedition</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p37"><img src="images/p37.jpg" alt= +"A New Guinea River Scene" width="512" height="334" /> +<p class="figureHead">A New Guinea River Scene</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p38"><img src="images/p38.jpg" alt= +"Papuan Tree-Houses" width="512" height="304" /> +<p class="figureHead">Papuan Tree-Houses</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p39"><img src="images/p39.jpg" alt= +"A Village of the Agai Ambu" width="512" height="383" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Village of the Agai Ambu</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p40"><img src="images/p40.jpg" alt= +"H. W. Walker, L. Dyke-Acland, and C. A. W. Monckton" width="387" +height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">H. W. Walker, L. Dyke-Acland, and C. A. W. +Monckton</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p41"><img src="images/p41.jpg" alt= +"View of Kuching from the Rajah’s Garden" width="512" height="323" /> +<p class="figureHead">View of Kuching from the Rajah’s Garden</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p42"><img src="images/p42.jpg" alt= +"Dayaks and Canoes" width="512" height="361" /> +<p class="figureHead">Dayaks and Canoes</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p43"><img src="images/p43.jpg" alt= +"Dayak in War-Coat" width="295" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">Dayak in War-Coat</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p44"><img src="images/p44.jpg" alt= +"Dayak Women and Children on the Platform outside a long House" width= +"512" height="369" /> +<p class="figureHead">Dayak Women and Children on the Platform outside +a long House</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p45"><img src="images/p45.jpg" alt= +"Dayaks Catching Fish" width="512" height="350" /> +<p class="figureHead">Dayaks Catching Fish</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p46"><img src="images/p46.jpg" alt= +"A Dayak Woman with Mourning Ornaments round waist" width="238" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">A Dayak Woman with Mourning Ornaments round +waist</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p47"><img src="images/p47.jpg" alt= +"On a Tobacco Estate" width="512" height="360" /> +<p class="figureHead">On a Tobacco Estate</p> +</div> + +<div class="figure" id="p48"><img src="images/p48.jpg" alt= +"On a Bornean River" width="413" height="512" /> +<p class="figureHead">On a Bornean River</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="transcribernote"> + +<h2>Colophon</h2> + +<h3>Encoding</h3> + +<h3>Revision History</h3> + +<ol class="lsoff"> +<li>05-OCT-2000 Added TEI Header.</li> + +<li>23-JUL-2005 Last Revision.</li> + +<li>04-NOV-2009 Regenerated HTML, added colophon.</li> +</ol> + +<h3>External References</h3> + +<p>This Project Gutenberg eBook contains external references. 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