110 THE PAPUANS: COMPARATIVE NOTES, ETC., 
hawks or stone axes, beads, cocoanuts, and pigs are included in 
the list. Pearl-shell in the west is the best trade. A man who 
is blessed with many daughters makes a vast fortune by their 
sale. Betrothals take place in the south-east at a very early age, 
and this very often causes serious disagreements. 
The girls are nubile long before the young men attain a 
marriageable age, and object to the delay this causes. These 
children of nature have no idea of repressing their feelings or 
desires—hence the trouble. 
At Moresby Island the marriage ceremony is very simple. A 
young woman desirous of marrying invites her sweetheart to 
her father’s house, where he spends the night under her 
capatilly or mat. Should her father find them sleeping together 
in the morning when he rises, the marriage is accomplished, 
and the bridegroom has to pay the price claimed. If, on the 
other hand, the girl is lying by herself, the bargain is off, and 
either party at liberty to search for a mate. I asked a girl once 
why she had rejected a strapping young warrior, who usually 
went shooting with me, and part of whose “dot” I was willing 
to pay. Her answer was given with a toss of the head, ‘“‘ Eliam 
(friend), he is much too heavy ”—a curious excuse for breaking 
off a match. . 
Betel-nut, which is eaten in large quantities, mixed with lime 
and pepper-leaf acts as a preventive against the dreadful 
malarial fevers, so fatal to Europeans. It has also wonderful 
stimulating properties. When climbing mountains, and com- 
pletely “winded,” I have found myself braced up again in a few 
minutes after a good chew of betel. A few whiffs inhaled from 
the Papuan bamboo-pipe has a similar effect. 
The Papuans of S.E. New Guinea suffer from a peculiar 
disease of the scrotum, which I think is closely related to, if not 
identical with elephantiasis. 
At Moresby Island I saw several cases of elephantiasis in 
men and women. Here also and throughout the Louisiade a 
