2i8 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



in the floor which is reached by a vertical ladder of 

 bamboo from the ground. One house was at a height of 

 certainly not less than sixty feet above the ground in a 

 very slender tree, and the position of the inhabitants, 

 when the wind blew, must have been far from enviable. 

 Unfortunately the sun was low and directly behind the 

 village so that I was unable to obtain photographs of the 

 tree-dwellings. The people there showed no fear of us, 

 but stood on the bank and shouted and waved their 

 spears. 



A few miles further down the river we came to 

 another large village of yet a different character. The 

 houses there were all built on piles, but while a few of 

 them were of the usual small size, the majority were 

 quite unlike anything else we had seen in that part of 

 New Guinea. They were huge barn-like structures raised 

 on piles ten or more feet above the ground, and the 

 length of some of them must have been from one hundred 

 and fifty to two hundred feet. It was quite evident that 

 these were communal dwellings, indicating a social 

 system entirely different from that of the surrounding 

 districts, and it was very tantalising to pass them within a 

 few yards and not to be able to visit them. The village 

 extended for about a mile along the East bank and the 

 natives that we saw must have numbered at least a 

 thousand. The men were all entirely naked and the 

 women were only dressed in the scantiest strip of bark- 

 cloth. In other respects they appeared, as far as one 

 could tell from such a rapid survey of them, to be very 

 similar to the Mimika Papuans in their features and 

 their short hair and their absence of adornments. 



I 



