NEW GUINEA.

Southland Times, Issue 3288, 3 January 1879, Page 2

NEW GUINEA.

-* The following interesting particulars about New Guinea have been forwarded to us by telegraph from Auckland :— " ' Previous particulars given respecting the visit of the Courier to New Guinea were from the Captain, who said he had not been ashore amongst the natives. Mr Allan, who was ashore the whole of the time the vessel lay there, about three weeks, speaks in the highest terms of the amiable disposition of ■the natives, and said he would sooner risk his person , and property amongst; them than in the slums of any European toAvn. He describes them as a Papuan race of medium size, handsomely shaped, small hands and feet, and singularly erect and graceful in their walk and attitude, especially -. the women, who are more comely and lighter in color than the men, with merry laugh and pleasing manner. The men only wore a sort of grass cloth wonnd five or six times round their loins ; the women only a sort of grass fall unplaited before and behind. The children are much fairer than their parents, and go entirely naked. They are all beetel nut chewers, and have jet black teeth in consequence. The only arms cf defence they appeared to possess are bows and arrows and spcaj's, but they never brought arms with them when tiiey saw JSuropeans coming ashore, but left them at home, and came waving green boughs as a peace offering. Their kindness was further exhibited by the readiness with which they carried the Europeans in their arms and the luggage ashore from the boats, "giving aback" in the most ready and cheerful way. On" the Island of Zidbel, where the Courier people .became more acquainted. with the patiyoa,'

about thirty aborigines accompanied theim on a- short excursfon through the bush. Pigs and a sort pf hawk were, shot, and beautiful green paroquets^ but no birds of very beautiful plumage were seen, though .natives:' made them understand there were plenty. ■ The heat, though' great, was not felt oppressive, and as there was no swampy ground in the neighborhood theparfcy enjoyed most ragged health all the time they were ashore. Their time was so much occupied exploring the coast that they pnly penetrated a few miles -inland. -The -bnly^a^^-i-liei^natireiv^haje made are mere sheep tracks. ~ The countrjr is described as exceedingly fertile, the soilbeing of the variety known as chocolate, soft and. deep, the grass rank, longhand coarse, vegetation generally most luxuriant. A few fitful attempts • were made I to : search for gold:---but as the' locality ■•.•was merely an immense deposit; of shingle none of the metal was found, and; no signs of it were to be seen among the native ornaments, which consisted only of shells and boar's |usks. Pigs are both wild and tame, natives having them round about their villages. The latter comprise from twelve to twenty huts, each accommodating about five persons. There are several islands on the- west side of Astrolabe -"Bay; and all of .'.. them' are' thickly populated. Mr Allan estimates the population around the edge of the bay at over five thousand. Nothing is grown close to the village except a few: nuts; The . plantations, are on some cleared spot, >on the higher grpund, and are fairly wellj looked after. In these areas are grown very good canes and passable wild: apples and "splendid tobacco, of which, "the natives - manufacture exceedingly fragrant cigars, the tobacco, the body of the cigars, is wrapped in another description of leaf. The natives, however, shewed a preference .for European tobacco, "which was much , stronger. ' Their huts aie made of bamboo, roofed with nut leaves, very thickly lined on the whole structure, the leaves coining to the gronud. They have little raised beds made of split bamboo, but seem to haveiio idea of bed clothes. Veiy few utensils were seen except fine samples of jars,":pots, &c, made of clay by the women. These are made, so well they stand the fire for a- time in cooTcing the native food. Those who live along the coasts, seem to differ from the hill tribes, a few men of whom were seen. .They are described as forbidding . in appearance; wild in gesture and with long hair down their backs. There seemed to.be little in common with the coast men and hill men. A great deal of difficulty was found in exchanging ideas between the Europeans and Natives, and the success achieved Mr Allan says was more due to the quick" perception and ingeniousness of the natives than to the intelligence of the Europeans, as •both parties were without'interpreters and ignorant -of each other's language. Although both parties were on most friendly terms the whole, time, it was only a day or two before the Courier left that the natives allowed their women to make the acquaintance of the strange white men., Their, intercourse with the Europeans appears to have been very limited, the only word they could recognise was " English." The party while ashore discovered a blazed tree on whiph was carved the word, ' Dove " the name of a vessel which left Melbourne for New .Guinea about four months ago and has not since been heard of. It appeared from the freshness of the blaze, on the tree as if it had been done about a month. Mr Allan also observed the bones and egg shells of a bird about the villages which he thinks must be a. great deal larger than an emu. The only quadrupeds seen besides the pig were an animal very like a European dog, and a flying fox red in color. Although the bay was literally alive with fishes they would not look at any kind, of bait, and the crew only managed to catch a few by means of the " grains," and these were found very good. The native spear them and shoot them with arrows at night. A fowl of the bantam breed was noticed in the villages, though neither fowls nor eggs were offered in barter, and after much difficulty owing to the native's timidity Mr Allan managed to obtain some interesting photographs of members of the tribe. He made a note of a few words of the language ; fish is " ezgh," fowl is " muluk," pigeon is " koriak," turtle is " madaw," man is " tamul," girl is " peeknamoa," son is " odd," water is " zoir " arrow is " tuguen " .earth is " taba," sea water is " mass." As]the Courier's charts were only of use as far as Humbolt river ie was thought advisable not to venture round the north end of Island and no other part of the coast was visited.