MYTH OF THE WILDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19478, 22 December 1925, Page 15

MYTH OF THE WILDS

PAPUA’S “WEB-FOOTED” MEN. With the increasing settlement and exploration of Papua, the romance ' weaved around that land by imaginative writers is fast disappearing. It ■ was once said to possess a race of i natives with tails who lived in trees, ; and the much-sought-for missing link : was expected to emerge at any moment jas a unique addition to the already large collection of human curiosities. But in actual fact, these accounts were only travellers’ tales. There was stronger evidence for the web-footed men who lived in swamps, could walk only with great difficulty on dry land, and kept the family pig in a sling under the house. But it was said I the tribe no longer xisted, because a I neighbouring tribe had coaxed them ashore and eaten them. But the most recent report of the Lieutenant-Gov-ernor of Papua, Sir Hubert Murray, shows that the tribe still exists, but alas! for the romancers, it disproves the story that the tribe is web-footed. A visit was paid this year by Sir Hubert Murray to the Agaiambo ■ Swamp, in Dyke Ackland Bay, the j dwelling place of the so-called webfooted men, who have been described |by imaginative writers in the past. These natives, ho states, live in the swamp and very rarely touch dry land. They travel in canoes. The men, however, are not web-footed, and Sir Hubert Alurray states that they differ in no way from .he surrounding natives, except perhaps that the muscles of their legs are less well developed than those of the natives who are in the , habit of running in the bush. The I natives of the swamp live on small fish, on sago, which grows on the banks |of the swamps, and an occasional i water fowl caught with a snare. They I have a few pigs, which live on the platI forms, about 4ft square, attached to I each native house. The pigs are horn j on these platforms and remain there ’ until they die, either by natural senility, in the case of those kept for breedI ing, or by violence, in the case of those | required for the tribal feasts. I Sir Hubert Alurray gives some other j interesting facts about the natives of ; Papua. A comparison which he makes i between the native population of the • territory for the years 1920-21, and i 1924-25 discloses an increa: of 1376. ! That is satisfactory, considering that ' generally where natives come in conI tact with the white race they die out t rapidly. But in Sir Hubert Murray’s 1 opinion, the increase is probably greater than he mentions, as deaths are more regularly reported than births, which do not ere tc such a stir in the villages. The total native population of the territory is estimated at 162,000. Sir Hubert. Alurray states that the Methodist Mission lias established its i headquarters recently at Salamo, on -Ferguson Island, that the station is a I’ model of neatness, order, discipline and efficiency, and that the technical school established for the education of the natives is doing good work.