EVERYDAY NEW GUINEA

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1010, 28 June 1930, Page 9

EVERYDAY NEW GUINEA

SOUTH SEA ROMANCE U MOSTLY ILLUSION AUCKLANDERS LECTURES Were one thoroughly to accept the considerable “colour” given the natives of New Guinea by Beatrice Grimshaw, and the Pacific Islanders by H. de Vere Stacpoole, a completely distorted view of peoples and things Pacifican would result. Beatrice Grimshaw and Stocpoolo are only two of the novelists who have managed to build up an inaccurate, but selling, impression of Island life, it must be said. Their works are. indeed, on a higher level than the average story of tho Pacific, bristling with rather blood-thirsty' savages, embittered beachcombers, ruthless traders and. more often than not. a soulful young white man who finds romance under the palms with a young woman, who inevitably has the education of a European girl, though native. Those who know the Islands understand only too well that it is not wholly politic to linger ben«c*\fc qpconut palms, weighty nuts .suttcumes have an unfortunate habit of dipping on heads below. Romance in the Seas is mostly sheer imagining on the part of a novelist seated comfortably by a fireside in wintry England. Yes, if one knows the Islands, bloodthirsty savages have an unromantic habit of becoming extremely simple people; hard and bitter traders and beachcombers are never met. ROMANCE AND FACT South Sea romances do not fail to capture the attention of people in Great Britain, in America or even in Australia and Now Zealand. Of these. New Zealanders, knowing the Alaori Polynesians to bo ordinary people, after all. are the most sceptical where Island romances are concerned. It is appropriate that a New Zealander should bring to tho Dominion the true story’ of New Guinea. The lectures given in tho Auckland University College by Air. W. R. McGregor, zoologist at the University and a vice-president of tho University Scientific Society, serve to dispel popular illusions regarding vast, remarkable and littleknown New Guinea. On Tuesday' evening next. Air. McGregor will give the last of his informative addresses on the Papuans and the Alelanesians. New Guinea presents an astounding field for research. It is significant that no complete work has been made on the customs and the histories of tribes, differing in language and practices to an amazing degree. Air. McGregor has described New Guinea’s peoples extremely’ well in these words: “They have a fundamental similarity, but. on the surface, there is a bewildering diversity.” What is more. Mr. AfcGregor can give this description of the New Guinea, native as he is: “Tho Papuan or tho Melanesian of New Guinea is no devilish ghoul, with every' form of licence attributed to him by conventional notion. From his own point of view, he is law-abiding and greatly occupied with domestic affairs. His ordinary’ community activities prevent him from being priest and magic ridden.” NATIVE CULTS Cults o.nd spiritual beliefs of the natives are dealt with by Mr. McGregor, but there should be the realisation that the Papuan does not regard weird practices as magic. His spiritual beliefs are merely traditional and everyday affairs. In his final lecture. Mr. McGregor will deal with native secret societies, diverse practices pertaining to death and burial, and what the association with Europeans means to tho natives. Unlike the similarity of Polynesian languages, the languages of the Melanesian Islands and of New Guinea, present sharp differences in diaJect. There may be a common language in a considerable tract of country and then widely-different dialects will be encountered in a short space of miles. These amazing differences have been noted in art, in music, architecture, village construction and community’ practices of the natives. As in the Solomon Islands, where there are about 50 languages. Pidgin English is becoming the speech of the coastal peoples of New Guinea, in inter-tribal communication. To find tribal life not affected by’ civilisation, it is necessary' to go far beyond the trading centres in these days. FISHING WITH KITES A particularly’ interesting form of fishing recorded by Mr. McGregor was angling by means of a kite. The natives who employed this form simply sat in their canoes, guiding the kites, from which the actual fishing line depended. The movements of the kites produced all the necessary “playing” for the fish. Air. AlcGregor was able to obtain interesting records of the practice of mutilating the body'. Nose piercing for nose bones was confined to Papua and the grotesque slashing of the body to produce immense weals was customary' among the Sepik River tribes particularly. Air. McGregor made observations also in New Britain, where he accomplished extensive work. New Ireland, the Solomons and the Admiralty Islands. Interesting instances where Polynesian practices were predominant in the midst of the islands of the Melanesians, or Oceanic negroes, were in the Lord Howe Islands. Tikopia, Rennell Island in the South Solomons, and in Bellona.