Two Years Among the Savages of New Guinea Part 10

Both he and his wife were most hospitable. They had two dear little children, a boy and a girl, with whom the New Britain climate seemed to agree uncommonly well. Both children were born on the plantation. A well-kept lawn adorned the front of the house, and beds of gorgeous flowers and shrubs, and trees of all kinds enhanced the beauty of the surroundings. A delicious scent pervaded the atmosphere. Nature is nowhere so lavish as in the tropics. There is such a wealth of foliage, such a variety of colour, such a cloudless atmosphere--three things so foreign to colder lat.i.tudes. In the words of the poet, Milton, it was "Paradise Regained."

Just as we had worked ourselves into a sentimental mood, in keeping with the time and place, dinner was announced. Sentiment fled, and the practical side of life presented itself to us. To live, we must eat; so, nothing loth, we repaired to the dining-room, where dinner awaited us.

I had the distinguished honour of sitting on the right hand of the fair Hebe, Miss G----e, whilst my friend, to his disappointment, was placed next to the hostess.

My companion was charming, not only on account of her loveliness and natural grace, but also because of her animation and conversational powers.

She had received a first-rate education at one of the leading schools in Sydney, and had left it a year ago. She knew German thoroughly, was an accomplished musician, and had the voice of a nightingale. And yet she was a half-caste Samoan.

Three lightly-clad--I might say, very lightly-clad--young waitresses were in attendance at dinner. Two of them were natives of New Ireland, the third, a native of the Admiralty Islands. They had been with our hostess for two years, and had to remain for three years longer. They were comely to look upon, and made excellent domestics.

They say--"After dinner, smoke awhile,"--so we lit our cigars and cigarettes and burnt a sacrifice to our patron saint, St. Nicotine.

Later on in the evening, Mrs. P----n, the manager's wife, put in an appearance; and as there were now three ladies, dancing was suggested.

Mrs. F----h kindly played on the piano, whilst we danced on the verandah with the others.

Seeing that my friend was quite overcome by the charms of the belle of the evening, I only danced with her once, devoting most of my attention to Mrs. P----.

We had songs, both German and English; solos, duets, trios and quartettes.

What a night we had! At midnight, I suggested the expediency of going on board our cutter; but, no, my friend would not hear of it. He was utterly infatuated. Ten minutes more, and he would come--but the ten minutes developed into sixty--until at last I managed to drag him away from the alluring spot.

The three of us then regretfully bade our friends good-night, and repaired on board the cutter.

Arrived at the jetty, we hailed, in loud tones, Tokaiakus, the Dwarf--who was supposed to be in charge of the vessel. Not a sound came in response. We hailed him again--and again no answer.

Our dinghy was alongside the cutter, so we could not reach her without swimming.

After shouting ourselves hoa.r.s.e, and consigning the dwarf to warmer regions, his ugly head appeared above the bulwarks, and he came in the dinghy--into which we gladly stepped--and were quickly rowed on board.

We felt rather tired, and soon sought our couches--each of us dreaming that he was in Paradise, attended by a bevy of Samoan damsels.

In the morning we received a visit from Count Pfeil.

He examined our "papers" and inquired what firearms we had on board, and if we carried dynamite. Having given satisfactory answers to his several queries he stated that he had decided to impose on us a fine of 1 that being the lowest amount he could inflict for our evasion of the German regulations.

We paid the fine and were invited to visit him on our departure from New Britain. We politely accepted his invitation, but did not give him a call, as it would have been too far out of our track. I have met, at one time or another, a good many Germans, official and otherwise, but for gentlemanly bearing and courtesy of manner, I unhesitatingly give the palm to Count Pfeil.

We had nearly two tons of flour on hand which we were anxious to get rid of, as if kept much longer it would go bad. Mrs. F----h relieved us of one ton, and the remainder we sold to a German missionary and a small trader.

We had numerous visitors during the day, three of them from "Matupi," a large plantation the other side of Blanche Bay, owned by a German. The head station is situated in the centre of a native village and on the plantation there is a large herd of cattle. All were curious to know on what business we had come. They had an idea that we wished to trade in the neighbourhood, but such was not our intention. They wished us to come up to "Matupi" and see them, but, much as we should have enjoyed it, we refused as we were anxious to get back to New Guinea. We had only one day to spare, and for that we had arranged a picnic.

We took "Tokaiakus" on sh.o.r.e and introduced him to the ladies. They were much interested in him, for they had never seen a full-grown native of so small a stature. "Tokaiakus" did not altogether like the amount of attention paid him.

Several of the New Britain natives surrounded him, and with a piece of cane measured him all over. His expression of disgust was ludicrous, so to gratify him I said he must not take offence, as the natives were ignorant and knew no better. He smiled one of his beatific smiles in approbation of my sentiments.

Through Mr. P----, who can speak the language, we informed the New Britainites that we had obtained him from the country beyond the mountains, and this they implicitly believed. Mr. P---- who is a good amateur photographer, photographed him in company with his little daughter in the act of handing him a banana. The likeness was an excellent one, but strange to say the natives of New Guinea fail to grasp the meaning of a photo. "Tokaiakus" was greatly astonished at the sight of two milch cows and a horse. This was the first time he had ever seen anything of the kind. He had a wholesome dread of the cattle, and was much surprised on hearing that they were good to eat. He imagined the horse to be a big dog, as the latter animal is common to New Guinea. This was also the first time he had seen a white woman, and as they were kind to him he was favourably impressed.

Hearing that a boat was leaving early in the morning for the native markets in Blanche Bay, I expressed a desire to go in her. The boat, manned by twelve South Sea Islanders, labourers on the plantation, called for me at 4.00 a.m. In Blanche Bay, which was distant from our anchorage about five miles, three markets are held every week.

A market is also held on the plantation at Ralume. On these occasions from 100 to 200 natives congregate on the beach. They arrive at sunrise, having journeyed through the bush a distance of 12 miles. The women, who are heavily laden with huge baskets of yams, etc., do the whole of the marketing, the men simply looking on. They seat themselves in a semi-circle beneath the palm trees, removing their loads and spreading out their contents. The sight was a novel one to me. We arrived at the trysting place in good time, having to wait fully half-an-hour before the cavalcade made its appearance. Presently a low sound was heard produced by the crackling of the leaves and twigs, when through a narrow opening in the forest, a long line of women in single file was exposed to view. They numbered fully 100, each carrying a heavy load on her head. They comprised all sizes and ages, and varied in ugliness. Most of them had strong, gaunt frames; they looked for all the world like beasts of burden. Their appearance was rather repulsive.

They were as nude as on the day of their birth. They strongly reminded me of a string of pack-mules wending their way through the Queensland bush. No sooner were they seated than their tongues were loosened. They were not too tired to talk, notwithstanding their long tramp. All were provided with water bottles, the water for which they obtained by digging small holes in the sand not two yards from the sea. They had also baskets containing b.a.l.l.s of red clay, which they use for colouring their hair; none of them were tattooed. From their appearance and the absolute nakedness of both men and women I place them on a far lower scale than the natives of New Guinea. The men, who are strongly built, with rather forbidding countenances, are impregnated with laziness.

They do absolutely nothing; while the women are engaged trading, the men stand some distance apart and do not converse with them. They employ their time for hours together in picking up the soft mud on the beach, rolling it in their hands into the form of a ball, then throwing it into the sea in order to watch the eddy made, and repeat the task _ad infinitum_.

I watched them for a time but soon wearied of it. I busied myself buying yams from the women. You have to pay one stick of trade tobacco for six yams. They prefer to receive the native money called "Tambu."

It is worth two shillings per six feet. It is formed of tiny white sh.e.l.ls with the centre cut out, and is a rare commodity.

With this money you can buy anything you like, a wife if desired. It is as much a standard coin of the realm as the sovereign is of the British Empire.

New Britain is the only savage country I have been in where the natives have a true money currency of a standard value. Some of the men wear this money in circles round their neck, and a few of them are the happy possessors of a mile of it. This money, which is called by the natives "Dewarra," is never used as an ornament but solely as a medium of exchange. The men clay their hair all colours, red, yellow, etc., it has rather a pleasing effect. They look as if they wore wigs.

Many of them curl their hair, forming it into a mop of twisted string-like plaits which hang all round their head in the shape of a fringe.

Referring to the natives of New Britain Count Pfeil remarked: "They are for the most part a tall, powerful set of people, but with all their strength they are entirely deficient in that graceful appearance which characterises so many negro peoples. Their figures are often plump, and the colour of their skin is that of a pure negro mixed with a tinge of red. Their hair is crisp, and always cleverly coated with a mixture of ochre, chalk, or clay. Their faces present a coa.r.s.e, broad mouth, a flat nose, and very little expression."

The New Irelanders on the other hand are small and neatly built, their countenances are expressive and their disposition lively and cunning.

The hair is dressed in a manner which makes it resemble an old Greek helmet. In New Britain and in the central part of New Ireland there is the custom common to both of dividing the inhabitants of a village, as regards marriage, into two groups, "maramara," and "pikalaba."

Marriages of individuals within one of these groups would certainly be punished with death for the woman, and for the man with a heavy penalty of "dewarra." The children born in wedlock belong to the group of which the mother was a member. Both divisions regard a species of locust with special reverence. Their dead are either buried in the house or thrown into the water. In the north-west of New Ireland the practice is different. There the body of a chief is burnt upon a special wooden scaffold. The calcined bones are then collected by the heir and preserved as a memorial. Cannibalism is general throughout the country, and the inhabitants are not ashamed to speak of it. The sagas and myths of the people of New Britain deal mostly with obscene matters, although every piece of obscenity is carefully covered up, and is described in euphemisms and circ.u.mlocutions.

Having purchased a couple of tons of yams we rowed home against a very strong tide, reaching Ralume at 5 o'clock in the evening. We dined with Mrs. F----h the same night (Friday), and, as we were going away on the Monday, we arranged to hold our picnic on Sat.u.r.day. We decided to go to Pigeon Island, half-way between here and Mioko. The ladies promised to find the eatables, we the vessel and drinkables. We made the vessel as comfortable as possible, and spread clean mats on wooden boxes, which had to do service as seats for our fair visitors. Our two natives were stationed at the gangway as a guard of honour, the British colours were run up, and we awaited the arrival of our distinguished guests.

At noon we received them on board. The party comprised Mrs. F----h, Miss G----e, the overseer's wife, and the three young native maids, already mentioned. They had brought with them fowls, hams, tongues, jellies, and a host of other good things, as an auctioneer would say, "too numerous to mention." Our vessel had never before carried so valuable a freight. Upon reaching Pigeon Island we were obliged to place the anchor on the reef, owing to the great depth of water beyond.

The island is well-wooded, and just the spot for a picnic. It was uninhabited, so we had it all to ourselves.

We had great difficulty in getting the dinghy over the reef, as, except at high tide, the water is shallow.

With some trouble we landed all the goods and paraphernalia, including a case of lager beer. The ladies had sensibly provided themselves with a couple of hammocks, as we did not intend to return until the next day (Sunday).

In a small clearing in the bush the dinner was set out. We had the ground for a table, and on it a tablecloth, an unknown luxury to us, and the canopy of Heaven for a roof. Here you are in the tropics. The night was warm, the mosquitoes numerous. They did not trouble us much, as we had served a long apprenticeship to their delicate attentions. It is only "new chums" who suffer from their attacks.

The moon was well matured, and lit up the darkness of the forest, casting a weird glamour o'er the scene. The beauty of the night recalled to my mind those trenchant lines of Southey:

"How beautiful is night!

A dewy freshness fills the silent air; No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain, Breaks the serene of Heaven.

In full-orbed glory yonder moon divine Rolls through the dark blue depths; Beneath her steady ray The desert circle spreads, Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky; How beautiful is night!"

A fire was soon burning brightly, on which a couple of pigeons we had shot were roasting. The three maids, offering a great contrast to the rest by their swarthy skins, were flitting to and fro, getting everything ready for our _al fresco_ repast. We all laid to with a will; it was astonishing the rapid way in which the viands disappeared.

For a time nothing could be heard except the tinkling of gla.s.ses and the clinking of knives and forks.

Dinner over, Samoan mats and rugs were spread on the ground beneath the shade of a group of palms, upon which we all reclined, smoking the kalumet of peace, the ladies joining us with cigarettes. The time pa.s.sed rapidly until three in the morning, when the three native maids, a.s.sisted by two of the ladies, gave, in our honour, a representation of a Samoan dance. The dance was in harmony with the locality. We were delighted with the exhibition. In the early morn we had a dip in the sea, then went in quest of pigeons, but only obtained half-a-dozen. The ladies, meanwhile, were engaged collecting oysters on the rocks. After having exhausted the beauties of the island, we all returned on board and sailed for Ralume, reaching that place at five o'clock on Sunday afternoon. We accompanied our fair companions to the plantation, where we bade them an affectionate farewell, as we could not prolong our stay another day.

CHAPTER VIII.

RETURN VOYAGE.