A STONE AGE RAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22067, 25 September 1933, Page 16

A STONE AGE RAGE

NEW GUINEA EXPEDITION'S ' DISCOVERYV"■■".. , ••...■ HITHERTO UNKNOWN TRIBES..' (From Our Own Correspondent.) . SYDNEY,'September. 14. An expedition into hitherto unexplored regions, 200 miles north of Lae, New. Guinea,, recently discovered a race of Stone Age men, whose customs and physical characteristics are entirely different from those of the coastal New Guinea; tribes. "Mr K. ;L. ..Spinks,' a surveyor, who returned to Brisbane this weeki was a of the expedition, which was sent far, into the interior, of New Guinea to prospect for rgold, on behalf of a Queensland syndicate.'. • Members of the 'expedition were the first .white men' to enter, the new territory, which for. the most part is very mountainous. ' When they reached the great Wahgi Valley, thfcy found an. exceptionally fertile;' area, from -25 to 30 miles wide and more than 80 miles long.. When the party entered the valley from the mountains; said Mr Spinks, in sn interview,- they were greeted, to their astonishment, by large tribes of blacks of a type quite unknown to New,Guinea previously. . Their features were much finer, than those of the coastal races, and closely resembled'.thdse.of the Sikhs, of Northern India.' .The, natives . were equally surprised to see the white men, believjng 'them to hergods from another World. They proved to be very friendly people, and : appeared to be happy and peace-abiding. , They treated the expedition with every kindness'as soon as they found the white men to be friendly. Mr.Spinks estimated that the.dwellers of the Wahgi Valley. numbered abo'it 100,000. They, were-agriculturists, he said,' and traded amicably among themselves, using for currency cowrie shells,, for which they- gave ,food to the, expedition. All the'men were heavily bearded, virile, and industrious. The ' women werehahdsonie, beautifully proportioned, and of graceful deportment.. The.men worked hard at tilling their fields with sticks, but it was evident that if;.occasion.', arose, they could be; a. formidable foe. Each man was equipped with a fearsome battleaxe, with a beautifully finished, very keen edged stone blade, about nine inches long." , , This fitted into a, carved wooden tail, and with a short handle, they were ingeniously held together with woven fibre. , The natives, who affected: much ornamentation,' wpre belts of bark; from which were suspended knitted fibre materials : at front 'anil 'back. .. -V ":'.'. ''-'-':/.:'' '■ ; *.."'.;'•.:;' ?"-/•;. ''•■ '■ : : : .;