98 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



must be three or four hundred trees in all They afford 

 a very pleasant shade to the vihage, and their graceful 

 trunks curving this way and that are reahy picturesque 

 and conveniently relieve the ugliness of the Papuan 

 houses. It is rather dangerous to live so close to coconut 

 trees, and sometimes when the wind blew in gusts 

 before the rain we heard warning shouts and the heavy 

 thud of a nut falling to the ground ; but accidents 

 never seemed to happen. The nuts are, of course, a 

 source of great wealth to the Wakatimi people, who 

 exchange them for bananas and tobacco with the 

 people of Obota, and while we were in the country 

 they brought us altogether thousands of nuts for which 

 they received riches undreamt of before. At one or two 

 places near the sea, and at several places on the Mimika 

 River we found coconut palms, but far up the river 

 they did not occur, nor did we see any on the Kapare 

 River ; and I believe all those we saw were planted 

 by the natives, and that none of them were self-sown. 



The method of cultivation is extremely simple. 

 A ripe nut is left out on the roof of a hut and allowed 

 to sprout ; when the shoot is about a foot or more in 

 length, a small patch of ground is cleared, preferably 

 in a sandy place on the river bank or near the sea shore, 

 a hole is dug and the sprouting nut is planted. From 

 time to time, if he remembers to do so, the native will 

 clear away the strangling vegetation from the young 

 plant, and in about five years, under favourable con- 

 ditions, the palm begins to bear fruit. 



Growing commonly near Wakatimi is another 

 species of palm, which, though it has not the value 



