TOBACCO 89 



prevent its unrolling. The tobacco is strong in flavour, 

 but not at all unpleasant to smoke. The only other 

 place, except among the pygmy people of the hills, 

 where we found cultivation was up the Keaukwa River, 

 a few miles to the E. of the Mimika River. 



The distribution of tobacco in New Guinea is rather 

 a puzzling question. There are many places on the 

 coast where its use was unknown until quite recently, 

 while at the same time the mountain people, for example, 

 in the Arfak Mountains and on the upper reaches of 

 the Fly and Kaiserin Augusta Rivers, have been accus- 

 tomed to cultivate it and to barter it with their neigh- 

 bours in the lowlands. The Tapiro pygmy people, 

 who live in the mountains, cultivate tobacco and exchange 

 it with the Papuans of the upper Mimika who grow 

 none themselves. These facts have led some people 

 to suppose that the tobacco plant is indigenous in New 

 Guinea. 



The people of Obota were rich in worldly possessions, ^ 

 for as we walked through the village we saw two Chinese 

 brass gongs and a large porcelain pot, which they told 

 us came from " Tarete." It may be that at some time 

 a Malay or Arab trader from Ternate came over to this 

 part of the coast, but it is impossible to know ; perhaps 

 the things had been stolen and exchanged from one 

 village to another, from the West end of the island, 

 which is often visited by Ternate traders. 



But the chief reason for the prosperity of Obota is 

 the fact that it lies at the edge of an extensive sago 

 swamp, and sago is the mainstay of the food of the 

 Papuans. Sago is made from a palm (Sagus rumphii) 



