24 



THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



streams of water, and the flooring is made of bamboo with inter- 

 stices left, through which all refuse is thrown, so that using the 

 streams to carry off all obnoxious matter, the villages are always 

 clean. They have a novel instrument for measuring time, and 

 are the only savage people known who ever devised any means 

 for this purpose, or who ever conceived the idea of dividing the 

 days into hours. The primitive clock of the Papuans consists 

 of the half of a cocoanut-shell, through the bottom of which 



a small hole is made. This 

 shell is placed in a basin of 

 water, and as ft receives a 

 delicate jet gradually settles 

 until it sinks at the expira- 

 tion of one hour, causing a 

 bubbling sound which attracts 

 the attention of any one 

 standing near. This shell is 

 their only measure of time, 

 but it suggests the idea of a 

 clock, from which a more 

 elaborate time-piece might 

 be made. 



Capt. Paget, who visited 

 the island in 1871, declares 

 that he found many of the 

 natives wearing anklets and 

 armlets of beaten gold, and 

 that he saw a chief who bore 

 a club made of the same precious metal. . iot being able to 

 converse with them, they misconstrued his gestures and fled to 

 the hills, where it was considered inexpedient to follow them. 

 This incident is mentioned as furnishing an additional incentive 

 for a thorough exploration of the island, which will no doubt b* 

 made at an early date. 



A DYAK GIRL. 



