NEW GUINEA. 439 



of barter, but most prized were small trade hatchets, for which 

 the natives parted with anything they had. 



The iron, wherewith to replace the stone blades of* their own 

 hatchets, and the miserable ready-made trade hatchets, are to 

 them the most valuable property possible, since they lessen the 

 toil of clearing the rough land for cultivation, and of canoe and 

 house building, which with the stone implements alone to work 

 with, must be arduous indeed. 



Hence the natives cared hardly for anything except iron ; 

 bright handkerchiefs or Turkey red stuff were seldom taken in 

 exchange, and then for very little value. Beads however were 

 prized. Of their own property, the natives valued most their 

 stone hatchets. Very probably they obtain the stone for 

 making them "by barter from a distance, since the rock at 

 Humboldt's Bay is a limestone, and the hatchets are made of 

 jade or greenstone, or of a slate. The labour involved in grind- 

 ing down a jade hatchet-head to the smooth symmetrical sur- 

 faces which these native implements show, must be immense. 



Next in value to the stone implements were the breastplate- 

 like ornaments, each of which has as its components, eight or 

 more pairs of Wild Boars' tusks, besides quantities of native 

 beads, of small ground-down Nerita shells. These treasures 

 required a trade hatchet at least to purchase them. All other 

 articles, necklaces, armlets, tortoiseshell ear-rings, combs, paddles, 

 daggers of Cassowary bone and such things, could be bought for 

 plain hoop-iron, as could also bows and arrows in any quantity, 

 and even the wig-like ornaments of Cassowary feathers, which 

 the men wear over their brows, to eke out their mop-like heads 

 of hair. 



The natives often attempted, and often succeeded in with- 

 drawing an arrow or two from a bundle purchased, just as it 

 was being handed on board. They understood the laws of 

 barter thoroughly, and stuck to bargains. They attempted once 

 or twice to keep the articles given beforehand in payment with- 

 out return, but often returned pieces of hoop-iron and other 

 things which had been handed down for inspection and exami- 

 nation, as to whether they were worth the article required for 

 them or no. One or two of these natives tried to fish things out 



