IN PAPUA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21647, 18 May 1932, Page 10

IN PAPUA

PIGMIES AND WITCHES A STRANGE TRIBE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 12. The annual report of the LieutenantGovernor of Papua (Sir Hubert Murray), which has just been tabled in the House of Representatives, reads more like fiction than an official document. Sir Hubert approaches his subject with a zeal not often encountered among hit'll Government officials, and tells' of the discovery of a pigmy tribe of amazing strength, whose language is like the chattering of cockatoos; of strange burial customs among the pigmy cannibals; of thrilling ascents of mountain peaks more than 13,000 feet in height; of a casual murderer who killed the wrong man; and of humorous incidents in the native courts over -which he presided. "We know little about the Papuans, and they know still less about us,” he writes, and then he goes on to recount strange stories that have been brought back to civilisation by white men who have travelled into the mysterious hinterland. The kindness of the white man towards the natives was not always appreciated. After a native attack on the camp of the patrol officer in the littleknown mountains of the Gulf division, a native baby was found in the bush, deserted by the parents in their hasty retreat and “ crying his heart out.” A warrior who had received a bullet wound during the attack was also discovered. The man was given medical attention and the baby was cared for, and later both were returned to their tribe. Shortly after a second attack was made on the camp, and when it was over the patrol officer counted no fewer than 153 arrows. Journeys by patrol officers into the mountainous country near the boundary line between Papua and New Guinea have shown that most of the natives in that area are pigmies. The average height is four feet six inches. They bury their dead in a sort of cage, which is built some six feet above the ground. Some of the remains are mumified by a process unknown to white men. The pigmies will eat anything that offers, including human beings, one patrol officer describing them as “necessarily cannibals.” Frogs, prawns, and beetles are regarded as particular delicacies. Two miners who made what Sir Hubert describes as “ a really extraordinary journey ” from New Guinea into Papua report having seen natives with “fair, golden woolly hair.” Sir Hubert states that he had not previously heard of such natives, although there are said to be golden-baired natives in New Britain. Discussing the influence of women on the tribes, he declares that sorceresses are almost invariably behind native crime and disorder. But he relates one instance of witchcraft actually upholding the law. “ The men of Keveri, weary of peace and quiet, sallied forth against the village of Lauwa, armed to the teeth and spoiling for a fight,” he writes. “But ns they approached their objective a strange feeling of uneasiness crept over them, Their bellies began to tremble, they explained with simple directness, and they went home. Their wives had made* sorcery against them.” But as a general thing the women of Papua agreed that “ None but the brave deserve the fair.”