152 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



tibia) of a pig, sharpened to a fine point. There is 

 another kind of spear made of a soft wood, finely pointed 

 and with a wide blade carved in a sort of open-work 

 fashion (see illustration p. 150) ; the blade and the point 

 are painted red with clay and the shaft is generally 

 decorated with feathers or plaited fibre. Spears of this 

 sort are of no use in hunting but are employed at dances 

 and other ceremonial functions. 



Two more pieces of furniture, the head-rest and the 

 sago bowl, complete the list of articles made by the 

 Papuans. The head-rests, which were seen only in the 

 villages of Obota and Nime, are made of a strip of 

 elaborately carved wood four or five inches wide and 

 y between two and three feet in length, and are supported 

 at each end by a stout wooden prop, which raises the 

 head-rest about four inches above the ground. The 

 longer head-rests are supposed to support the heads of 

 two sleeping persons. 



Fire is nearly always taken by the Papuans wherever 

 they go ; in almost every canoe a fire is kept burn- 

 ing, and when they travel through the jungle the men 

 carry a smouldering stick. There must be occasions 

 when all these fires are extinguished, but how they pro- 

 duce them we were unable to learn ; the Papuans of 

 Parimau could not make fire with the friction stick and 

 rattan used by their neighbours, the Tapiro Pygmies. 



From the description of them which has been given in 

 this and the two preceding chapters it will be seen that 

 the conditions of life of the Papuans are as^ primitive as 

 those of any people now living in the world. There are 

 very few other places, where you can find a people who 



