ago, the Wahgi people were living in the stone age un- 
contaminated by the modern world. They knew no 
metals, no cereals. ‘They bred no beasts of burden to 
help them in their work. Of course they had no wheel, 
neither wind-mill nor water-wheel. They possessed no 
grinding-stone, no mortar-and-pestle. They made no 
pottery, nor did they acquire pottery from others by 
trade. ‘They knew no alcoholic drink. They spun no 
yarn, weaved no cloth, wore no clothes. The women 
wore a cache-sexe of strings, fore and aft, suspended 
around the hips by a cord. ‘The men wore a double layer 
of netting in front, suspended from a plaited belt, and 
behind a bustle of leaves, the stems of the leaves being 
stuck fast inside the same belt. But it was in the adorn- 
ment of their own persons that the culture of the Wahgi 
Valley ran riot. They would rub their bodies in the fat 
of pigs, until their bodies shone like metal. They would 
daub their bodies with colored earths, in the ease of 
recent widows a ghastly white from head to foot. They 
would tattoo themselves in asymmetrical patterns. They 
would wear plaited arm bands and ankle bands. There 
was a recognized hierarchy, according to beauty and 
rarity, of shells and tusks that they wore through the 
nasal septum, around the neck, or encircling the jaw bone. 
On ceremonial occasions the men would don the most 
stupendous head-dresses made up of plumes of rare birds, 
especially birds of paradise, which are the conspicuous 
feature of the bird life of New Guinea. 
The substance of native life has not changed to this 
day: the sing-songs and courting practices continue as 
before, and the exchange of bride and _ bride-price, and 
the ceremonial pig-feasting. But the din of the modern 
world, with its conveniences, is mingling most incon- 
gruously with the ancient ways, and change is setting in 
under the influence of administrative penetration and of 
[ 4] 
