CAT'S CRADLE 147 



Most of them had a keen appreciation of pictures 

 and they were surprisingly quick in identifying photo- 

 graphs of themselves ; in this respect they showed a 

 good deal more intelligence than some of our Gurkhas, 

 who held a photograph sideways or upside down and 

 gazed at it blankly, as if they had not the faintest 

 idea of what it portrayed. The illustrated papers were 

 a source of endless delight to them, and the portraits 

 of beautiful ladies, who they felt sure were our wives, 

 were greatly admired. Horses, sheep, cattle and all 

 other animals were declared to be dogs. 



Another amusement — it can hardly be called an art 

 — of the Papuans is the game of cat's cradle, at which 

 many of them are extraordinarily proficient. It is not, 

 as with us, a game played by two persons ; with them 

 the part of the second person is performed by the 

 player's teeth, and he contrives to produce some wonder- 

 fully intricate figures, none of which, I regret to say, 

 we had patience or skill enough to learn. The most 

 elaborate figure I saw was supposed to represent a bird, 

 and when the features of it had been pointed out some 

 resemblance was certainly apparent. 



But it must be admitted that their amusements 

 are not alwaj'^s so innocent as drawing pictures and 

 playing cat's cradle. I have referred above to the 

 gang of drunkards, who used to create such turmoil at 

 Wakatimi. The people of Parimau, who had no means 

 of getting intoxicated, were just as quarrelsome as the 

 Wakatimi people, and fights were of frequent, almost 

 daily occurrence. Some one does something, it matters 

 not what, to offend some other person, and in an instant 



