HATS EIGHT FEET HIGH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14931, 2 March 1912, Page 5 (Supplement)

HATS EIGHT FEET HIGH.

STRANGE TALES OF PAPUA. : • Ma. Staiotobth: Smith, the AdministrJU lor of, Papua : (New : Guinea), J, who/ • not many months ago, ; was believed by hi* friends to have been killed and eaten by; cannibals, has arrived in London on' sua months' furlough, and is to address th<j Royal Geographical Society on his ardut ous . experiences during his recent expedw tion into the interior of the country. - At one place his. party tried,. to cross si: ' stream :on rafts/: but were swept down into rapids that extend for 120 miles. There the rafts were upset and dashed to piece?on the' rocks, all the-provisions and baggage were ."and ' about ,a dozen of the native carriers wore drowned. - Strange stories , are told by Mr. Staniforth Smith respecting the customs, of the natives, especially those in the hinterland. During the ceremonial dances the ? natives wear probably the biggest hats jin the ; worlda head-dress* varying from 6ft •to Bft : in height, and most gorgeous in colour- ', ing. " There is, 1 - of course, a framework, " and this, said the explorer recently to i*;/ Daily Chroniele .representative, 'f "is adorned with feathers, coloured fibres, and shells, beaks of horn-bills, plumes of the birds of paradise, and;; sometimes even; with a boar's'tusk.", /"_'-' ," . " Some of . these head-dresses," he '\ said, • " are heirlooms, handed down from father ' to son. They would not sell them at any , price." , Asked if head-hunting and ; cannibalism $f are still rife, he J'aid, " Wherever,we; have colonists there is absolutely no' cannibalism, and ; life ;is perfectly safe. No white man has • been killed in ; the territory 1 for ,at least six 'years.;. There are caririi-i •', bals, of course, but no ordinary resident - or settler would 'ever come across canni- •' bals lor head-hunters. They, are in the . hinterland, 1: which ; is : ■"■ visited %?\ practically; . only *by Government officials."" i ■ '< ; ;;' ':' >;' ;.■ ■; : ■ • ■ .' ■'••■"; ' House Adorned With Skulls. In that connection -ne may point out that the,Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. J.' H. P. Murray, in ; a report '; just issued,; mentions that one chief's 'house'-, at Baia-a "is 134 yards long, and contained five agibi, with numerous skulls attached; 1 outside at the entrance were hanging some! ? roasted human bones, with* the nesh still,'-,; in places*,' adhering to them, I, was Hold;; that they were the bones of an Omati bushmah> ; The other chief '» house - was smaller, only >98 yards in length, and the agibi and skulls were less numerous.". v »:Exploration fin Papua, however, has other perils" besides the risk ' of being cooked in" a stew-pot. Mr. - Staniforth Smith's notice was drawn to the report of the 'experiences' of Mr. Murray's, party, near Bida :— "" ->• - '~ ! The country round about* absolutely';; swarms with' leeches, and the legs of tha police and :the- carriers were streaming ';£ with blood from their; bites/ arid some of if: the-pests even succeeded in getting 5 inside ; our boots. The place was also infested with bees, which crawled inside one's shirt and into one's eyes and hair;- fortunately, 'they do not sting." " The: leeches, Mr. Smith explained, "aire : land leeches/ which are prevalent in alt most all the. wet portions of the territory., In some places, he said, they swarm in other places there.are comparatively few. "We wear putties to keep the leeches off,'' ho added. Another pest, ho said, is the scrub itch, a tiny red insect about the'size of a pin's head, which burrows itself under the flesh.' '■ "The itching," he said, "is fear-, ful. It almost makes one; tear 'the flesh. >; yet it is essential not to scratch/ for that * would entail a sore that would take perhaps a month to heal. • One has ;to wait \ for salt water or kerosene." ■ <<' "•-"-;