

INSULAR AUSTRALASIA. ,223 



above the hips. Some are quite white, while others are very prettily variegated. In 

 mourning the petticoat is worn very long and with the ends untrimmed. Many of the 

 tribes, too, wear netted garments in mourning made of fine string. Collarettes, vests, 

 and even footless stockings are knotted on and remain till they rot away. Certainly 

 the most striking ornament a New Guinean wears is the nose stick. These are generally 

 made of strips of white shell (Tridacita gigans), ground clown and polished. These are 

 of all lengths and sizes, each tribe having its own fashion of nasal ornamentation. 

 Every child has his or her nose pierced when about six years old, but beyond a short 

 piece of stick many wear nothing through it. An unpierced nose is a reproach, for in 

 spirit-land no unpierced nose can enter the Papuan heaven. Ear-rings, or rather ear 

 ornaments, of every size and shape are worn ; some made of tortoise-shell are light and 

 pretty. Thirty or forty of these may be worn in one ear without unduly weighing it 

 down, but some are of enormous size, stretching the lobe of the ear to a dreadful 

 extent. A waist-belt of bark, or plaited fibre, is worn by some tribes, and so tightly 

 drawn as to prevent their stooping. Feather ornaments are highly prized by some. 

 At Kabadi, in Redscar Bay, a frame fifteen feet high is dressed with feathers and worn 



I 



at the back, tied at the waist and neck. Most grotesque antics are made by the wearers 

 as they dance, or rather jump about, with these structures towering above their heads. 

 Birds of paradise (Paradisca Raggiana} plumes are worn by almost all the natives in 

 their dances. Tattooing is practised by many of the tribes. At Port Moresby, and 

 among the Motu tribe, the women are profusely tattooed, both bodies and faces. At 

 Maiva the pattern is quite different, and the faces look hideous with straight lines 

 marked all over them. At South Cape the designs on the face are very elaborate. 

 The men are only slightly tattooed, and with them it is rather a mark of honour than 

 a personal adornment. They are not entitled to this distinguishing badge until they 

 have killed some one, or have taken part in the killing of some one. The tattooing is 

 effected by means of lamp-black made from burnt resin, mixed with water, and painted 

 on the skin in the desired pattern. The whole of this is then gone over and punctured 

 with a thorn, driven in with a mallet. It is often done a second time to ensure the 

 pattern showing brightly and distinctly. 



It is the stone age still in New Guinea, and all the weapons in use are made of 

 stone or wood. Bows and arrows are used in the Gulf of Papua, and to the west, the 

 arrows being tipped with ebony, bamboo, and sometimes with human or cassowary bone. 

 They are not poisoned in the district east of the Aird River, but are said to be so 

 in the district west of it. Clubs of various kinds and shapes are used. The most 

 formidable is the stone club, which is made in the interior, but used by almost all the 

 tribes on the coast. They are of different shapes, the most common being a plain flat 

 disc, about six inches in diameter, through the centre of which a hole is drilled, and a 

 handle about four feet long inserted. The top is generally ornamented with feathers. 

 Stone clubs of other shapes are also made. Some are of the shape, and about the size, 

 of a cassowary's egg ; others again are star-shaped, and some have two or four projec- 

 tions with small ones between. The latter are very accurately made, and are very 

 formidable weapons. Wooden clubs of various shapes are also used. Some at the east 

 end of New Guinea are very heavy and nicely shaped, with a carved handle or hilt 



