108 THE PAPUANS: COMPARATIVE NOTES, ETC., 
Very many object to the custom, and have never tasted human 
flesh, or “long meat,” as they term it. 
The language of the Papuans, it must be borne in mind, com- 
prises a very large number of dialects—every tribe has a 
different language of its own—and this will give us a great deal 
of trouble in trying to open up the country. No good of a per- 
manent nature will be possible until we have mastered the 
dialect of every tribe we come in contact with, and this will take 
a long time and much study. If properly carried out under an 
efficient head, the study of the dialectical differences existing 
between the several tribes should yield results of the highest 
scientific value. It will be found that a perfect chain exists, and 
that one dialect has borrowed words from others, which the people 
using it never heard spoken. At least, this was my experience 
in New Guinea, where I found certain Motu words in use among 
the Koiari, Koiari words at Sogore, and Sogore words at . 
Morocca or Haveéri. | 
The custom of “taboo” is practised in nearly all parts of the 
Island I visited, a small bough stuck in a doorway securing the 
dwelling and all it contained from interference. 
The men at Port Moresby, and inland wherever I went, may 
be said to go about stark naked. It is simply ridiculous to call 
a piece of tape half-an-inch wide clothing! Yet a Papuan con- 
siders himself naked when without it! 
This string or tape—it is as often one as the other—is passed 
between the legs, and fastened to the belt at the front and back. 
The women wear the petticoat, which is not made of grass, 
but of the split leaves of the cocoa or sago palm. 
In south-east New Guinea the men wear what might not 
inaptly be termed short breeches. These are manufactured from 
pandanus leaves, sewn together, andare ornamented with elaborate 
patterns. They satisfy even our ideas of decency, and always 
made me consider these people more advanced than those farther 
west. Another sure sign of superior civilisation among these 
