New Guinea

“ Dwight thrilled to realize that he was looking upon the original aborigines of New Guinea. Like the Negritos of the Philippines, and our own cave men forbears, they were short, strong little men, with well-developed muscles and stout legs, and they were in a high state of hunting-tribe civilization, as shown by the decency of the gourd, the absence of barbaric ornament, and the efficient hunter’s equipment that each man carried. ”

“ No, the women of New Guinea are determined to have their little say, and take very good care they are listened to.
The children are bright, cheerful, happier and more contented-looking than any I have ever seen. They are always at play, using the spear in sham warfare, with a piece of wood for a shield, or they busy themselves in fishing and swimming. Both men and women are always joking and laughing. Life seems to them one long holiday. All their wants, which are not many, are supplied by Dame Nature, their food, clothing, houses and weapons. ”

“ Sixty miles from the western end of the island is the mountainous land of German New Guinea; and sometimes, when the air is clear and the south-east trade wind blows, the savages on Berara can see across the deep, wide strait the grey loom of the great range that fringes the north-eastern coast of New Guinea for many hundred miles. Once, indeed, when the writer of this true story lived in New Britain, he saw this sight for a whole week, for there, in those beautiful islands, the air is very clear at certain seasons of the year. ”

“ I believe the company which became the chartered New Guinea Co. in 1884, when the German flag was hoisted at Matupi, had been in possession of some plantations previously to that. On their governing powers ceasing they received a sum of somewhere about £20,000 as compensation, and retained many large areas and stations. In time, no doubt, they will reap a fine reward with rubber and other produce, though, as is always the case in a new and tropical land, they have much to contend with. The clearing of the ground and the keeping it clear is no light task. ”

“ As it is evident, on account of the climate, that as the natural resources of New Guinea can only be developed by means of coloured labour, the distribution of the natives, both as to population and disposition, is perhaps of paramount importance. With the exception of some portions of the North-East Coast, almost the entire littoral of the Protected Territory is inhabited. In the West and North-West, from the Fly River to Hall Sound, the natives are very numerous, the tribes are large, and a higher stage of tribal development is reached than elsewhere. ”

“ There are, in all, about twenty white men now resident in New Guinea. The majority of these are traders, who are backed in a small way by merchants and firms in Australia. There are three stores at Port Moresby, and one settler has erected a sawmill. The traders, as a rule, live in their boats, but a few native houses at Hula and Killerton Island have been erected by Europeans. In consequence of the recent murders that have been committed in the islands, and the disturbed state of the natives generally on the South-East Coast, warnings were sent round to as many traders as possible. ”

“ It will therefore be necessary for the British New Guinea people to learn the use of our money also.
One side of Mérite for some unknown reason is fever free. Dampier Straits lie between New Britain and New Guinea. The natives there are noted for their cleverness with the sling, the stone being put in with the toes. ”

“ Billy now suggested that if I could depend on my New Guinea boys, the best thing we could do was to lie at anchor where we were, and trade for pearls and bêche-de-mer; in the meanwhile keeping our mutineers confined, until in a more reasonable frame of mind. This policy I adopted. Putting a couple of my boys on the Ada, we hauled her up and made her fast to the Mizpah, leaving her recalcitrant inhabitants still under hatches with neither food nor water. ”

“ As, in Sir Peter Scratchley's opinion, the indiscriminate influx of adventurers and speculators would be to the disadvantage of the country, no person was allowed to go to New Guinea without a permit. ”

“ Those brave Frenchmen then set to work to bore a road right into the heart of New Guinea, amongst the wildest of the tribes, and seek converts there. When I left New Guinea, they had penetrated with their road, which was fit for horses, for over sixty miles into the interior, and had found in the mountains a large field for their labours. I have known many brave men in my time, but none more brave than those priests and their ascetic chief, the Archbishop of Navarre. ”

“ British New Guinea is to most people the least-known part of our empire; but there are few valleys in its dark interior in which the prospector has not "chipped" some quartz formation, or "panned" some sand from the river's bed. The British flag was first planted in Eastern New Guinea by Captain, now Admiral, John Moresby, of H.M.S. Basilisk, in 1872. This officer, whilst employed in superintending the pearl shell fisheries in Torres Straits, learnt that adventurers, both American and French, were contemplating expeditions and occupation of the then unknown shores of Eastern New Guinea. ”

“ The natives of New Guinea are Papuans, Polynesians, and Malays. You can trace a connection from Northern Australia right up to Japan, the races having had some commingling, no doubt, for centuries. These Straits are eighty miles wide and full of islands, therefore some of the natives must have found their way across. ”

“ Now on the mainland and in the islands plantations have been established and tobacco and cotton have been successfully grown. Three German mission societies formed settlements on New Guinea, with a branch one on the Gazelle peninsula. The protectorate is included in the Universal Postal Union; each harbour has its post office, also a leading official with a number of assistants to control the natives and the revenue. It is divided into two districts with separate administrations, New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago ”

“ What New Guinea may become to the trader is outlined later in the present volume, merely, be it noted, from the outside observer’s point of view, but this of course has in it a large measure of uncertainty, contingent on conditions of
“Labour and the changing mart and all the framework of the land.” Be this as it may, one thing remains sure, the extraordinary value of Papua to the man of science, particularly to the entomologist and the ornithologist. ”

“ The conditions for bringing about a war in connection with land, similar to that which occurred in New Zealand, are abundantly present in New Guinea, and unless the land transactions are controlled by Government, complications with the natives must arise. ”

“ PREFACE Ever since my camping life with the aborigines of Queensland, many years ago, it has been my desire to explore New Guinea, the promised land of all who are fond of nature and ambitious to discover fresh secrets. ”

“ As the news of Tamate’s death came to Daru, and Motu-motu, Port Moresby and Suau, and to all the villages between them, New Guinea was stricken with sorrow. Men and women and children were sick with grief. ”

“ The following statement with reference to this question appears among Sir Peter Scratchley’s notes:—"The only hope of making New Guinea pay is the employment of the natives, who can, by patience and care, be trained. If they disappear, other natives will have to be imported. Putting, therefore, the protection of the natives on the lowest ground, it will be seen that it will be cheaper to preserve and educate them. New Guinea must be governed for the natives and by the natives." ”

“ Wallace, the English naturalist—that Aru was once part of New Guinea. Those little flies can be explained in no other way. Common in New Guinea, it would be impossible for them to travel the hundred and fifty miles from the New Guinea coast to Aru. To-morrow, if Nicky does not come back, we’ll go on a trip to see another curious phenomenon, the salt-water channels that divide the islands of Aru. They are true rivers, yet have no flow other than the tide at their mouths. How do you explain that, Dwight? ”

“ Conditions in New Guinea have altered; where one of Sir William MacGregor’s officers stood alone, there now rest a number of Australian officials and clerks. Much credit is now annually given to this host; some little, I think, might be fairly allotted to the dead Moreton, Armit, Green, Kowold, De Lange, and the rest of the gallant gentlemen who gave their lives to win one more country for the flag and to secure the Pax Britannica to yet another people. ”

“ The chief island is New Guinea, which is the largest in the world and contains some 340,700 square miles, much of which has never been trodden by white men. There are no sandy, dried-up districts in New Guinea or the Solomon Islands, and no long droughts; but rather a full fall of rain which makes the ground bring forth its produce in abundance.
There is land out there which some day will surprise people, and when one considers the difficulty Australia had to persuade the British Government to annex it, one cannot help laughing at the ignorance and short-sightedness of the men of those times. ”

“ Leaving out Borneo and the Philippines, one may start at the New Guinea end and mention first the Aru Islands, which lie south of it, and between Dutch New Guinea and Australia. They are Papuan isles. There is one large island and several small isles round it. They lie 150 miles from the New Guinea coast, and probably once formed part of it, as the seas between are shallow. On one of them, the small island of Wamma, is situated Dobbo, a famous native trading station, on a spit of sand just wide enough for some rows of houses, which are large thatched sheds. ”

“ Of the few travellers who have attempted to explore the great island of New Guinea, Signor d'Albertis must undoubtedly be considered the chief, since he alone has made extensive and repeated journeys both in the north-western and the south-eastern parts of the island, and has thus been able to examine and compare some of the most distinct tribes or races which inhabit the country. ”

“ Saturday was the only New Guinea native that I ever knew who was anxious to go down in a diving dress, a wish on his part to which I sternly refused to accede.
The Goodenough Islanders are a somewhat remarkable race; of small physique, they speak a language peculiar to themselves; the men are liars, treacherous and subtle, but at the same time brave and capable of great attachment to any person for whom they have a regard. ”

“ Attempts at Australian Settlement.—The Australian colonists have not been wholly indifferent to the probable advantages to be gained from effecting a settlement in New Guinea. During the past twenty years several expeditions have been either planned or partially executed with that object, and the Imperial Government has been again and again asked to take action for the establishment of a British occupation of the territory. ”

“ I believe some attempt has been made at a road for a short distance inland, and there is one through Ralum, but at Herbertshöhe is nothing at all. There is a native hospital—a shed with bunks. I went through it and, disregarding doctors, gave the few patients cigarettes, and they were delighted. I then went into the New Guinea Co.'s store, but could find nothing to buy. Then I went to Frau Kolbe's store and bought a collection of New Guinea weapons, idols, and curios. These stores are full of red cloth, red paint; and red beads for trading with the natives. ”

“ The north-west part of New Guinea, in 11⁄2° south latitude, and beyond it to the south-east, was for the first time rightly explored in the year 1678, by order of the Dutch East India Company, and found almost everywhere to be enriched with very fine rivers, lakes, bays, etc., but, judging from its outward aspect, the country itself seems to be barren and uncultivated, being in few spots either planted or fenced in. In many parts of the interior there are extremely high mountains, which are seen by sailors at a great distance at sea as if towering above the clouds. ”

“ The trouble is that so much of your attention in these places must be devoted to the trivial duties of the day, the eternal question of food, the care of the sick, the precautions against floods, and so on, that but little time is left over for studying the hidden wonders of the world about you. The geographers and the naturalists of the future will live in comfortable ships on the coast, whence they will fly daily into the heart of New Guinea where they will find things undreamt of now. But the time for that is not yet, and in the meantime those who plod on foot do the best they can. ”

“ They cook the food, which they carry to the communal house; they also do all the work required in cultivating the gardens of yams, bananas, and vegetables. War, hunting, and fishing are the only pursuits of the men.
Three nations, Holland, Great Britain, and Germany, have divided New Guinea among them. The Dutch have the eastern half of the island. The British and Germans possess each about one-quarter, British New Guinea being situated opposite to Queensland, Australia. The British own the Solomon Islands to the eastward of New Guinea, also. ”