298 XEJF GUINEA. [chap. 



raised our Lid slightly, but with no eti'ect, and no more was said 

 until our departure. The anchor was a-weigh and the yaclit just 

 leaving when a canoe was made out paddling hard after us. AVe 

 waited, and a letter was handed up. " Bij zoo vcel vriendschap en 

 licfdc moet ik met liefde hetcden " — and we might have the birds ! 

 In this affair it must be confessed that our faith in missionaries 

 sustained a somewhat severe shock. 



Both the Dorei Bay and Andai people inter their dead, and 

 have not the custom of keeping their ancestors dried and smoked 

 in their houses, as is in vogue among some Papuan tribes. Here 

 the graves are piled with stones in order to keep off the dogs and 

 wild pigs, or suiTOunded with a deep trench for the same purpose.^ 

 ]Vlr. Jens informed us that at the death of any adult, hired mourners, 

 who are generally widows, are employed. These keep up an in- 

 cessant song of lamentation, and recount the deeds and virtues of 

 the dead man. The body is doubled up in a sitting posture for 

 burial, and bound round with mats, and with it are inteiTed bows 

 and arrows, or cooking-pots and other household utensils, according 

 to the sex of the deceased person, for the Papuans believe in a 

 future life, and hold that it is not much different from the present. 

 Its situation is beneath the earth ; it is a happier world than ours, 

 and in it food is abundant and labour reduced to a minimum. The 

 ghosts of the dead, how^ever, do not confine themselves to tliis 

 abode, but have the power of returning to earth to rest in the 

 korawaar, or haunt their living relatives and friends. Persons who 

 have attended a funeral must bathe immediately afterwards, or the 

 ghost of the deceased would kill them. The spirits of the dead 

 are everywhere, and no better field for the researches of the 

 Psychical Society could be imagined. 



On our way back to Dorei Bay we took the height of what we 

 considered to be the loftiest peak of the Arfak range, steaming 

 four miles for our base line. The observations gave us 9046 feet, 



^ We learnt from Mr. Yau Hasselt that staked pitfalls are used by the Nufoo 

 people to catch wild pigs and cassowaries. 



