iia SLACK PAPUAN'S TRAP © 65 
bark of a tree between his hands. When he has 
done this he takes the fruit and ties it to the forked 
stick, then he climbs up a tree that he knows the Red 
Birds of Paradise come to perch on, and ties the stick, 
with the fruit fastened to it, to one of the branches. 
To do this he takes a very long piece of string, one 
end of which hangs right down to the ground, and 
he ties it so cleverly that he has only to pull the 
string for the stick, with the fruit on it, to come 
away from the branch, just as a sash that is tied in a 
bow will come undone when you pull one of the 
ends. ‘Then the black Papuan climbs down from the 
tree, again, and sits underneath it with the end of the 
long string in his hand, all ready to pull it when 
the right time comes. 
Sometimes it will not be long before a Red Bird of 
Paradise comes to the tree, sometimes the Papuan will 
have to sit there the whole day or even for two or three 
days, for he is very patient and will not go away till 
he has done what he came to do. All savages are 
like that; they are ever so much more patient than 
civilised people who wear clothes. But whenever the 
poor Red Bird of Paradise does come, he is sure to see 
the fruit, and then he is sure to fly'to it, to eat it, 
and shen he is sure to get caught in the string. For 
the string has a noose in it which gets round his 
legs, and the frizzly-haired man underneath, who is 
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