HEW GUINEA GOLD

Evening Star, Issue 22573, 15 February 1937, Page 15

HEW GUINEA GOLD

HOW WILDERNESS BECAME MODERN AIRPORT The world is discovering New Guinea | —one of the few remaining parts of ; the world that is not yet fully explored. Some of the fascinating phases of New Guinea history are related in ‘ New Guinea Gold,’ written by M. Edmond Demaitre, French scientist and traveller. About the civilised natives M. Demaitre , gives the varying, views of the whites that they are “ thieves, liars, cowards, and rogues,” and “ honest, intelligent, hardworking, truthful, and willing to sacrifice their life for their masters.” For his own part, he says he thinks “ both views are exaggerated.” “ It is true,” he adds, i “ that the boys will often steal small objects, but it must be remembered that their notions about private property are very vague. They work fairlv well when one keeps an eye on 1 them, but on the other hand they are very lazy tvhen left to themselves.” Most of the whites living in New Guinea have a high opinion of them, he says, adding: “The boys with few exceptions are good fellows, likeable, and childish in their naive ideas and language, pidgin English, which contains phrases and expressions not without a certain primitive charm. PROUD OF UNIFORMS. When once, they _ have recognised that the white man is not an enemy, they are proud of being employed by him, of sharing his life, and, above all, of wearing the uniform given them by their masters. They become faithful servants, blindly carrying out orders given them and sometimes, to frankly, they even exaggerate respect and confidence. . . . They almost always submit with a certain philosophy to punishment, although rarely understanding why what they have done is a crime or offence; above all, when it is a case of vendetta or theft. So the natives, in the view of M. Demaitre, But what of the gold.? He writes admiringly of the amity existing amongst the various white races on the island. “ Politics are never talked at Rabaul,” he says, “ and this makes collaboration of old and new easy. The white man, being in the minority, a generous spirit of conciliation retraces racial and religious prejudices, everyone being convinced of the need for autual co-operation. Loneliness, the distance separating them from the rest of the world, the struggle with Nature, with disease, and with races who are much more ] numerous than themselves create some , sort of solidarity among whites living , under the Southern Cross, a solidarity £a unshakable as it is courageous and , sincere. But alas! This good feeling ca a easily ! be turned into jealousy and fmree haje • when it is a question of gold Ihtn, . belief in the solidarity of the white man is quickly forgotten. Lies, deceit, ' treachery, and quarrels prevail. , Brotherly love, faith, and friendship exist no more. The gold fever is like the madness which makes the native Malay “ run amok.” And the air of Rabaul is charged with the miasma of a fever, the victims of which are fatally drawn, one day, to leave palm trees, club, bungalow, wife, cin.dren, sophisticated natives, and sandy shore :

to rush to those magic ' mountains where dark caverns, swift streams, and dark forests conceal the only precious treasure in a land of cannibals—gold. • Summing up oh this great enterprise, M. Demaitre says the biggest aerodromes in the world are at Wau,at Lae, and at Salamaua,' “on the extremity of an island two-thirds of which are inhabited by cannibals and head Hunters.” He adds that it is “ dangerous to walk outside these aerodromes without an armed platoon as escort. Ten minutes after leaving the ground one is flying over unexplored country, and at times a machine rests by day in a place where natives come down at night from the neighbouring hills, light log fires, and dance round them until dawn to the maddening rhythm of ‘drums. Yet at Wau, Lae, and Salamaua aeroplanes arrive or leave every four minutes. The author found many interesting characters amongst the men on the goldfields. “In going from tent to tent,” he writes, “ I used to inquire from whence, how and why men had come to this country to spend their youth in an unfriendly jungle, where boredom and loneliness were even more unbearable than insects and the arrows of the natives. Among them I found ex-smugglers and slave dealers, who had once sold blacks to the Queensland planters. A Russian had landed here after countless adventures. He had been implicated in the Father Gapon affair at St. Petersburg. There was a Frenchman, a certain Mangin, whose companion, another Frenchman named Logier, overcome by hardships, fatigue, and despair, committed suicide. I also made the acquaintance of a Swiss named Joubert, who used to sail about the Archipelago in a small boat; of a Gorman, Siebenbnrg, one or Dammakoehler’s companions, who had returned to New Guinea; after *vn ab*» senee of 25 years; of an Italian, Pietro Pianto, who is one of the richest men on the goldfields, and of the Austrian, Isenberth, who while living at Surprise Creek had for a long time been compelled to hang thick rugs on the walls of his bamboo bungalow to protect himself against arrows whilst in bed ‘ FASHION DRAWINGS*. In the hut of a prospector named Abbie I was surprised to* see fashion drawings showing exceptional talent, worthy of any Parisian artist,, and on, his table, books on medicine by DC Abbie, professor Sydney University. My host, a man of 50, spoke French, fluently. “ I am a retired naval commander,” he said, “ and at present £ am working a small vein just outside ray house. Mv daughter is a pupil at the Sydney School of Art. My son i« engaged on scientific research. they must complete their studies, and that is why lam washing for gold. There was also “ Tiger Bill,” so called because in a fight with a cannibal he had killed the man by fixing his teeth m his throat. “ Tiger Bill ” had been a strong man in a circus m Australia, then a pearl fisher _in Ceylon; he had been a gun-runner in Mexico, and shot elephants in Uganda. In New Guinea he became a gold miner—and sentimental. .