176 



jV.-l TURE 



i8So 



worthy to be called small towns, both for their order and 

 cleanliness. They are under the rule of the chiefs or land- 

 owners. The chief is looked upon as father of the family. 

 He is called Pacao, and his servant or subject is called 

 Irine. From all I could learn, slavery does not exist, and 

 the sale of human beings is unknown." After describing 

 their daily avocations, amusements, dress, implements, 

 and ornaments (a group of which are figured), he goes 

 on : " Their natural disposition is gentle and placid. They 

 like to spend their time in talking and games, in which 

 men and women take an equal share. Playful and free of 

 speech, they nevertheless do not transgress the bounds of 

 modesty, either in word or deed. Women and children 

 are included in every conversation, and often take part in 

 public discussions, which are usually held in the evening. 

 Women are always respected, and in some villages they 

 enjoy a certain supremacy, although the government of 

 the house belongs to the husband. Labour may be said 

 to be fairly divided between the two sexes, and they are 

 accustomed to work from their earliest childhood. . . . 

 The material for civilisation is in them, but will the 

 change make them better ? Will they be the happier for 



Fig. 4. — Durabi. 



h of th; Fly Rl' 



it? This is a difficult problem, and one which cannot be 

 solved until the experiment has been made. For my part 

 I do not doubt that these, more readily than any other 

 savages whom I know, would answer to the call of a 

 civilised nation which, stretching out a paternal hand, 

 v/ould lead them towards our civilisation ! To insure 

 success, however, they should be treated as friends, not 

 as slaves ; they should be cherished, not destroyed." 



Unfortunately our attempts at civilising savages have 

 as yet in every case failed. Are we still, notwithstanding 

 all our wretched failures, to go on in the old way, and 

 -allow these interesting and now happy people to be first 

 ruined morally by the teachin.g of the dregs of our Aus- 

 tralian and Pacific traders,and then physicallydeteriorated 

 by the forced introduction of a form of civilisation utterly 

 imsuited to them ? Cannot either philanthropy, or religion, 

 or Government protect these people from all such external 

 influences as have been proved to be unsuited to their 

 condition and stage of development, while aiding them to 

 work out for themselves an indigenous civilisation ? Here 

 is perhaps the last chance we have to preserve one rem- 

 nant of the better class of savages from being crushed 



under the Juggernaut car of our high-pressure civilisation 

 and mad struggle for wealth. 



The inhabitants of the lower part of the Fly River 

 appear to be mostly dark Papuans, while further in the 

 interior a mixed race was met with. Among the curious 

 articles found in this part of the country were numbers of 

 stone clubs, carved into various star-like shapes and 

 forming terrific weapons in close combat. Stone axes 

 are also largely used, closely resembling in form the 

 neolithic celts of Europe. 



Maino, chief of Moatta, a village at the mouth of the 

 Fly, was a great friend of D'Albertis', and accompanied 

 him on one of his voyages up the river. An elaborate 

 study, both physical and mental, was made of this 

 savage, and forms one of the best and most valuable 

 passages in the book. A few extracts will show its 

 character. After describing his person, our author goes 

 on : — 



" The above is a sketch of the animal Maino. I will 

 now try to draw his portrait as a man, according to the 

 moral sense of that definition. The opinion I have 

 formed of him as a reasonable being is favourable. It is 

 not however necessary to examine hirn very closely with 

 European lenses, remembering that he is what we call a 

 savage. He has sufficient intelligence for his position, 

 and probably he is not capable of more. . . . He is 

 friendly to the white man because he fears him, and 

 because he knows he can gain by him. He is proud, and 

 takes offence easilv, without however showing that he is 



irritated ; only once during two months and a half did 

 he display any anger. He is generally silent, and seems 

 meditative. Sometimes he is lively and will laugh, but 

 his laugh appears studied and forced, not natural or 

 spontaneous. He is cruel rather from instinct than from 

 education, and in a way that we Europeans can perhaps 

 neither understand nor appreciate justly. His cruelty 

 raises him in his own estimation and in that of his depen- 

 dents—in the eyes of his friends and of his enemies. 

 He considers men and women, if they are strangers to 

 him, good for nothing but to have their heads cut off. Up 

 to the present time his victims number thirty-three. A 

 warrior who bravely attacked him, or a woman sleeping 

 in the forest would be to him exactly the same thing. He 

 would see in each a trophy, a victory ; and what he would 

 esteem would be their skulls. He likes to see blood, and 

 it is with marked satisfaction he describes the modus 

 operandi in cutting off a head, the instruments used m the 

 operation, and the method of surprising an enemy by 

 treachery, even if a woman or a child. ... He is tender 

 and affectionate towards his own family, and to his_ sons 

 at least his temper maybe said to be mild. . . . Maino is 

 remarkably selfish. He would willingly let others die of 

 hunc'er if to relieve them he would have to sacrifice some 

 delicacy intended for himself. I experienced this during 

 the voyage. . . . Notwithstanding certain traits which 

 might make him appear a bad man in the eyes of Euro- 



