In Pursuit of Pigmies

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 19 June 1926, Page 11

In Pursuit of Pigmies

AN airplane expedition backed by the .Smithsonian Institution has started to explore what is described as “the world’s last "rent unknown land and its pigmy inhabitants. According to word received by the Smithsonian Institute from Dr. Matthetv W. Stirling, the expedition, with its airplane, backed by between 300 and 400 men, lias started up the Memberamo River for the snowy mountains of Dutch New Guinea, in the Dutch East Indies, said to be the largest island in the world. “For the 400 years since what is now Dutch New Guinea was first seen by Europeans, the mountainous backbone of the country has resisted the attempts of civilised, man to penetrate its secrets,” says a statement issued by The Smithsonian. “The coastal jungle has interposed its mud and thickets, its fevers and poisons, and many who have tried have died, or have come away baffled.” The expedition is sponsored, in addition to the Smithsonian Institute, by the Dutch East Indian Government. The mouth of the Memberamo River is on north coast of Cape d’Urville. The expedition is working south up the river to the junction of the Rouffar, by which it hopes to gain access to the mountains. It is establishing various supply bases, from one of which the transport plane will operate. The airplane will reconnoitre the jungle to determine the best approach to the mountains, attempt to find the hidden villages of the pigmv people known to dwell in the mountains* to carry cartographers to make maps of this virgin land, and to make landings in isolated spots for natural history collections.

Expedition to New Guinea

Land Never Trod By White Man

Most of those in the party are native carriers, soldiers and convicts. Their main function is to transport and protect food supplies. Except for a few wild pig, wallaby, cassowary and some game birds, the jungle of New Guinea offers practically no animal food. Dr Stirling has 70 Dyak carriers from Central Borneo, and more than 200 native Javaneses and Ambonese soldiers and Malay convicts. A Dutch captain and two lieutenants command the military detachment. A medical officer and two medical assistants are with the expedition. Since the party plans to explore an area of many thousand square miles on which no white man has set foot, it includes specialists in several fields, so that as little as possible may he missed. Dr Stirling will'take care of the collection of data on the mountain pigmies lie. hopes to find, and the Papuans who inhabit the coastal plains. Both pigmies and Papuans are among the most promitive races of mankind. The former, a distinct people living in the mountainous interior, seem less developed mentally. From the very few that an English expedition saw in 1911, the pigmies appear to be about 4ft 9iii hi height. They are yellowish black in Golour, with short, woolly black hair. They go naked, except for a loin covering. Dr Van Leeuwen, director of the Botanical Gardens at Buitenzorg, accompanies the expedition to, make collections of the New Guinea plants. ■ : - A" New Guinea is 1490 miles long by 400 miles across, with an area of 308,000 square miles. The mountainous backbone of Dutch New Guinea has been the goal of many expeditions,., the results of which were limited to sickness and disappointment.