THE LURE OF NEW GUINEA.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 276, 20 November 1926, Page 21

THE LURE OF NEW GUINEA.

HIGH PRIESTS OF "POURRI POURRI." SMELLINjG OUT' WRONGDOERS (Mr. K. C. Macpliersoii. of Takapuiia, who was a member of the HurstMacpherson Mineral Expedition to New Guinea in 1000. is contributing a. series of articles dealing with various features of this large island, which on luvount of, recent huge gold discoveries is attracting world-wide attention tit present.) V. At one time sorcery, with il* attendant cold-blooded murder and torture of human life, dominated tribal councils throughout the island, and in those days the village sorcerer, or "medicine man," was the uncrowned chief. feared by everyone, a most unpleasant person to offend, and one with whom it was advisable to maintain friendly relations at all costs if a long and hnppy life was a desideratum. Wonderful, uncanny, mystic powers were accredited to most of these old scoundrels, who fairly Imttened on the rank superstition of their countrymen. Their methods for detecting the presence of evil-doers, the hringers of l>ad luck or disease, etc.. into Die village, wee much akin to the '"smelling out"" cerei*inies of the Bantu tribes of Africa, but the punishment was pimply unavoidable: it inevitably occurred exactly as decreed by the master of ceremonies. Useful for stirring up tribal wars when deemed expedient, wins of aggrandisement, perhaps the summary removal of a prospective rival liner, or, worse still, the arrangement of a fatal "accident" to some over-iiupii-it ive white patrol officer, the "black art" became so obnoxious that rijrid repression was instituted by the Government, and shortly afterwards sorcery became a must unhealthy occupation for all concerned. The famous "ponrri-ponrri." or Indian sign, which the old-time sorcerers placed on their victims, with fatal results invariably, was to my mind pure autosuggestion. • Frightened to Death. The native at any time is a highly imaginative being, particularly in matters relating to the spirit world, and when falling foul of the village ■"hat/ , if he is told "Close up three moons you finish" (die) from that moment the unhappy victim prepares to die. so implicit is his belief in the evil powers lie has been taught to fear from his childhood. As the time draws near he makes complete preparation for his demise, which to him is inevitable at the time stipulated, no matter in which part of the island he may flee to. On the fatal day he goes to his conch, and in a few hours is cold. That I have actually witnessed with mv own eyes, and all our frenzied arguments and brutal threats could not stir that boy from his fiital belief in the omnipotence of "pourri-pouni," and he was a perfectly good boy, too. Yet a subsequent autopsy by a qualified surceon. on the spot, disclosed a perfectly healthy body, with no symptom of disease or impairment of any kind to which death could be assigned. The fatal sentence of death hud been pronounced, six mouths, previously, in a village over 200 miles away, because the victim had successfully sent out of reach a young wife, on whom the village sorcerer had cast his longing eye. Immediate punishment by a fatal "accident" would have presented no obstacle to the amorous spi'li-bind.-r. but, with diabolical cunning, he pronounced a se.nteuce which would haunt the life and thoughts of his victim, wherever he fled, until the fatal moment arr'ved. When directed at a white man, however, "pourri-pourri" usually depended upon very material adjuncts for success, and on one occasion, when twenty-four hours was indicated to a well-known police officer as the terminating point of his earthly worries, the business end of a hollow bamboo, containing a very much alive and vicious "krait," inserted at midnight through the grass walls of the hut, would have proved highly successful but for detection by the watchful officer. In the morning positions were reversed, and New Guinea promptly lost a most notorious and "greatly respected" disciple of the black art. Freemasonry is admittedly one of the oldest sciences in the world, and is spread all over the surface of the earth, from time immemorial. On appearances, a modified form is to-day practised by certain tribes in . remote villages. A Night of Wassail. , The villages referred to each possess, in addition to the usual ordinary male lodges, a very special sacrosanct meet.- . ing house, to which only warriors of special virtue, who have attained the full power of manhood, are admitted, and a very special ceremonial is held each month at the full of the moon, behind rigidly-closed and well-guarded. ', portals. Every warrior enters the lodgeroom [ at sundown, armed to the teeth, and with all his fierceness intensified by a ' liberal adornment of weird stripes and circles in red and white ochre. Deathly silence, punctuated by an oe- ! casional sullen thud, pervades the whole • show until midnight, when high was- ■ sail breaks forth, which is maintained ' until sunrise. What goes on inside no 1 one can ascertain, as the subject is tapu when any white man makes inquiry. 1 At one time New Guinea was credited ' with possessing the only tailed human ' race in the world, and innumerable 1 stories were current at one time of a > mysterious tribe in the back country, 1 the members of which had well develj oped tails to such a degree that all • their huts were built with various ' small holes in the walls to accommodate • the unnatural appendage during sleep. That was a digger's yarn, built up on the vision of one or two natives with a well developed caudal appendage, about 1 three or four inches in length. > New Guinea does, however, possess a ? race of pigmies that is now indisputable, 3 a harmless, peaceable race, by all ac- ' counts, averaging in height from 3ft t 6in to 4ft, and their discovery an I loea--3 tion by a recent expedition affords ane other'proof of the extraordinary field - for research which this hugu island 1 offers to modern science. r Cannibals, tree-dwellers, pigi'-.ies, the r ever-mysterious kuku-kuku, gold, silver, i- platinum, tin, copper, and last, but by no means least, oil—what a tie-Id for !. intense research by keen, enthusiastic :- experts, backed with ample lunds, ti> i uncover the hidden mystery and trea--1 sure of c>is huge island. Signs are not wanting of activity iri r the right direction at last, and in the I writer's opinion this modern Treasure a Island, with its immense mineral re--3 sources, its huge tracts of invaluable I virgin forests, containing every rare and valuable timber known to science, its h immense potentialities for the successr ful cultivation of rubber, sugar cane, , cotton, hemp, etc., will loom tajgT" the world's history in the next decade.