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PAPUAN SUPERSTITIONS 131 



of Wakatimi to the river bank, dragging another woman, 

 who shrieked and struggled violently. After throwing 

 her into the mud they dragged her into the shallow 

 water and tried to drown her by holding her down under 

 a fishing-net. We shouted at them, and were just going 

 with some soldiers in a canoe across the river to rescue 

 the woman, when they desisted and allowed the poor 

 creature to crawl out on to the bank, where she lay for 

 some time exhausted. Some natives who came over to 

 us shortly afterwards laughed about it and treated the 

 whole affair as a joke. 



With regard to the superstitions and beliefs of the 

 Papuans, owing to our unfortunate difficulties with the 

 language we learnt nothing whatever. Religion, in 

 the accepted sense of that term, I am sure they have 

 not. It is true that they make curious carved effigies, / 

 but these are not idols, and there is no evidence to show 

 that they ever consult or worship them ; on the con- 

 trary/, they treat them with contempt and often 

 point to them with laughter. These images are in- ^^ f^''^.^ 

 geniously and skilfully carved out of wood, and they •+^'^'i^^ 

 represent a human figure always gro tesque and some- t ^^^^^^^^^ 

 times grossly"indecent. They vary in size from a few ^ ^ 

 inches to twelve or fourteen feet, and when they are not 

 neglected they are ornamented with red and wh ite \^^^^^ 

 paint fo.^/rx 



We had opportunities of observing the outward 

 signs of what were probably superstitions in connection 

 with certain phenomena of the weather. For instance, 

 the first peal of thunder that was heard in the day- 

 it occurred almost every day — was greeted by the men 



