154 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



in which they Hve. It is this last consideration which 

 ought ultimately to determine their fate : they live in a 

 wretchedly poor country which is constantly liable to 

 devastating floods, and their habit of wandering from 

 one place to another, where food may be obtained, is the 

 only way of life suitable to the physical and climatic 

 conditions of the country. 



Any attempt to "civilise" them must inevitably 

 destroy their primitive independence, and if it succeeded 

 in establishing the people in settled communities it would 

 reduce them at many seasons to absolute starvation. 

 We were visited once by the Director of the Sacred Heart 

 Mission at Toeal, which has done admirable work amongst 

 the natives of the Ke Islands and at one or two places 

 in New Guinea itself. When he had seen the people and 

 the nature of the country and had been told something 

 of their habits, he decided that the Mimika was not, at 

 present at all events, a proper field for missionary enter- 

 prise. Setting aside all other considerations, one dares 

 to hope that such an interesting people may for a long 

 time be left undisturbed ; they do no harm to their 

 neighbours and the effects on them of civilising influences 

 would be at the best uncertain. 



