EXPLORATION IN NEW GUINEA. 389 



big gardens, in which they grow yams, beans, sugarcane, tobacco, 

 taro and ginger. These natives are hardly so tall, but heavily 

 built, with broad faces tapering to the forehead, which is low. 

 They wear broad arrow-proof belts that cannot be taken off, and 

 from a string round their necks are suspended dried human 

 hands, feet, human jaws, the top of human skulls, etc. 



The natives from Beroie to our furthest point have a very 

 offensive smell, which one can detect in the bush for a consider- 

 able time after they have gone. When away from their villages 

 even the smallest boy carries a bow and bundle of arrows, often 

 of three kinds. Those for warfare are barbed and bone-pointed. 

 Pig arrows have broad bamboo points, and fish arrows with four 

 to six separate points. Some also carry a stone-headed club, and 

 occasionally a stone tomahawk, the blade of which is set at 

 an angle of 45 deg. to the handle. 



Game is scarce. We saw a few wallabies, cassowary and 

 pigs. Fish are fairly numerous as far as Hathoi Gorge, catfish 

 and mullet being the most plentiful, the latter up to 18 inches 

 long. In the upper reaches of the river the fish are small, and 

 are caught by the natives in big wickerwork traps. Carpet 

 snakes are also plentiful ; they are generally found coiled up 

 in the trees along the river bank, the largest we shot being 15 feet. 

 Alhgators are seldom seen ; never above Hathoi Gorge. Miser- 

 able, undersized dogs were often seen with the natives. 



We found sufficient sago palms to keep the carriers in food 

 in the country from Beroie to our furthest point west. The local 

 natives instead of cooking it as the coastal tribes do, moisten the 

 flour with water and then ram it into a length of bamboo, which 

 ie placed over a fire, and when cooked the bamboo is stripped 

 off, leaving a glutinous stick of pinkish-coloured sago. 



At one of our camps 13 natives came in, seven men, one carrying 

 a picanniny, and five women, who seemed very shy. They were 

 about 4 feet 7 inches in height, with short hair. The body was 

 covered from neck to knee with a loose garment made of native cloth, 

 the edges being frayed out. They had a broad band across their fore- 

 heads ; from this was suspended a woven bag, resting on the back, 

 and is used for carrying food, etc. Little, walking round to the 

 other side of the camp, caused them to leave, much to my sorrow, 

 as I desired to take a photo of them. They imagined he was going 

 to cut off their retreat. 



One fact stands out regarding the natives we saw. They culti- 

 vate the soil, and do so with considerable skill, but can only be 

 described in their present state as the cruellest and most blood- 

 thirsty savages. They know no pity to a captured enemy, nor for 

 that matter to any man. 



I brought back collections of birds, insects, and native im- 

 plements, all of which have been placed at the disposal of scientific 

 men. My unaided effort may not be altogether in vain if I have 

 been able to add even a little to our growing knowledge of one of 

 the last inhabited regions that remains to be explored on this earth. 



