GAMBLING WITH DEATH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22142, 22 June 1935, Page 13

GAMBLING WITH DEATH

PRIEST'S ADVENTURES WILDS OF NEW GUINEA [FEOM OUR OWN COItBESPONDEIfT] SIDNEY. June 15 Missionaries who come to Sydney from the South Seas o:a furlough or at» the end of their labours! often have had stirring adventures and exciting experiences, but it is doubtful if any has had a more eventful career than the Rev. Father L. Chaize, of. the Marist Mission Society, who arrived here this week. He gave a vivid account of his 24 years' mission experiences in the wilds of the island of Bougainville, New Guinea. Together with Fathers Seiller and Griswaort he has dared death on many occasions and by cours:ge, perseverence and belief in his work over the years, 25,000 natives have been converted to Christianity. When he last set olf in search of a tribe which had never seen a white man, Father Chaize took with him as his guide a native who admitted shyly that he had often eaten human flesh. "I was armed with nothing but a walking stick, 5 ' said Father Chaize. "As we approached the village natives armed with spears were lurking in tha bushes and the trees. They could not be seen, but by instinct we knew they were there. I expected them to rush out at us any minute, but they allowed us to walk into their village. " Finally, when the natives saw that I meant no harm they surrounded me, and curiously, but cautiously, examined my body. They had never seen a white man and were amazed at my skin. They lifted up my shirt and poked ana pinched the skin on my chest, back and arms, unable to believe their eyes. The only time in my life when I shivered in my boots was when the big chief tfame along and felt the fat on my arms and legs, and remarked in his native tongue, 'Big fat feller.' I honestly thought my last hour had come, and I had visions of being put into the proverbial pot." Father Chaize said that after producing his usual " box of tricks matches, pocket-knives and mirrorshe felt more at ease, as the attention of the cannibals was directed from him to other curiosities. The natives regarded him as a friend after he had distributed mirrors and. matches, which they childishly played with for hours. Once or twice a man fingered Father Chaize's spectacles to see if they were part of his face, but the priest managed to hold on to them. Father Chaize remained with the tribe for three days. On the third day members of another tribe visited the village. They constantly smiled and laughed at him, and this was regarded by his boy and the chief of his newlymade friends as an evil omen. It was suspected that the other tribe was-jjoing to kill him. All that right 150 natives, armed with spears, stood guard over him, and the next day he set off. under escort, on the way back to the coast. Sometimes, said Father Chaize. it was necessary to carry a shotgun for self-defence. In the mountains the natives were terrified by the report of a gun.