NEW GUINEA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 50, 18 February 1879, Page 3

NEW GUINEA.

"Mr Goldie, the naturalist, who has passed the last eighteen months in New Guinea, has," th rt "Brisb-int! i Courier" states,'* collected nn imnu.nber of animals, birds, nnd msec' s, besides valuable hotanicle specimens, and believes that a large number of these are entirely unknown Jle olaims to have found an entirely new species of kungaioo. He har brought with him a native from the coast tribes, a good-looking lad of indistinct Malay origan, whose long frizzly hair, tied round with a string, in worn standing straight, up. The natives of the inland tribes Mr Goldie states to be entire'y diffomt from those on the coast in both appearance and customs, but all, he says, are friendly and good-natured, and not given to the deeds of ferocity lately aetailed by us on the authority of the residents ox a beche-de-mer station. Mr Goldie was of the party that made its way to the coast, crossing about twenty flooded rivers, losing horses and baggage, and states thai although they crossed some high ranges they never reached the divided range, on the other side of which the general belief amongst the party was that payable gold would be found. The natives in the interior are, it appears so awed at the sight of a white man as. to avoid any risk of molestation. The custom of a tribe with whom Mr Goldie's party came in contact suggested to them the probable origin of the rumors that have always been current of a race of tailed men in some remote corner of the globe. These natives wear artificial tails of such cunning construction as to entirely mislead a casual observer. They are entirely naked, except for tho caudal ornament, which is a plait of grass fastened round their loins by a fine string, and depending behind to about half way down their legs. Possibly the missing link that has so baffled Darwin has only lately become extinct in New Guinea, and these descendants, ashamed of their degeneracy, keep up the tradition of a noble ancestry, by simulating their distinguishing characteristic."