566 



The National Geographic Magazine 



First he leans back until his body has 

 purchase on the hoop, and then, at that 

 moment, by the leverage of his ankles, he 

 makes an upward movement of about a 

 foot. Then, falling backward against 

 the hoop and pressing his feet against the 

 trunk, he is supported for the next spring. 

 This operation is repeated with marvel- 

 ous dexterity and rapidity, and with this 

 contrivance the youth makes his way to 

 the top. There is no tree in New Guinea 

 that a native cannot climb thus. 



Under a large tree that rose to a height 

 of some 1 50 feet were huge mounds, quite 

 five feet high, of veritable sawdust, that 

 seemed to proclaim the presence of man. 

 On a nearer approach the wonder became 

 greater, for the heaps were being con- 

 tinually augmented by a constant rain of 

 sawdust of different grains, some finer 

 than others. No human sawyer, of 

 course, was there, but the tree, to a height 

 of at least 100 feet, was riddled by coleop- 

 terous larvae. Several families of these 

 were represented. The tree, which was 

 about five feet in diameter and had a thin 

 bark, was, as might be expected, dying. 

 It must have possessed some strange at- 

 traction, for it was most unusual in New 

 Guinea to find beetles thus congregated. 

 The distribution is usually very scattered. 

 The holes were probably made at first 

 by small beetles of various families, but 

 chiefly Anobiad^, followed as a rule by 

 Brenthidas, later probably by Longicornise. 

 One species follows the other into the 

 same hole, each succeeding species bigger 

 than its predecessor. Sometimes the lepi- 

 doptera make borings, but this sawdust 

 was much finer. Only a few living 

 branches remained on the tree, which was 

 a mere shell. It was, however, so well 

 protected from winds that it still stood. 



STINGING TREUS AND STINGING PI^ANTS 



The difficulties of our march were 

 heightened by certain natural features, 

 particularly by the stinging-trees, which 

 occurred close to Madui. The tree in 

 shape, size, and foliage resembles a syca- 

 more, and has a leaf of which the under 

 side is extremely rough and covered with 



spines. These possess a stinging power 

 like that of the nettle, only much worse, 

 and the irritation lasts far longer. The 

 slightest touch is sufficient to wound. 

 First a white blister appears, then red- 

 ness, covering about a square inch around 

 each pustule ; rubbing aggravates the ir- 

 ritation, which shortly becomes madden- 

 ing. The pain is not allayed for at least 

 twelve hours, and I have never observed 

 any natural antidote growing in the 

 vicinity of this stinging-tree, as the dock- 

 leaf grows near the nettle. Needless to 

 say, the natives take the utmost care to 

 give these trees a wide berth. 



A smaller stinging-plant, resembling our 

 nettle, only larger, with a rough under 

 side of pale pea-green', is also found at 

 intervals in the forest ; both sides of the 

 leaf possess the power of irritation. The 

 natives use it as a universal specific for 

 all ailments. As soon as they come on a 

 clump of this plant the women discard 

 their loads and gather bundles of the 

 leaves, which they carefully preserve for 

 future requirements. It is also applied, 

 probably for the sheer pleasure of it, when 

 they have no actual disorder, and it is 

 quite common for them to rub their bodies 

 lightly with the leaves. This causes vio- 

 lent irritation, followed by a feeling of 

 pleasant numbness, like that which results 

 from the application of menthol. For a 

 mosquito bite this is a most admirable rem- 

 edy, since the irritation of the bite is al- 

 layed and goes down long before the irri- 

 tation of the leaf has passed. It is a 

 curious example of the old medical prac- 

 tice of counter-irritation. Although we 

 were glad to resort to it for mosquito 

 bites, no European would, without that 

 cause, risk the irritation for the sake of 

 possible future benefits. 



THE spider's FISHING NET 



One of the greatest curiosities that I 

 noted during my stay in New Guinea 

 was the spiders' web fishing-net near 

 Waley. In the forest at this point huge 

 spiders' webs, 6 feet in diameter, 

 abounded. These are woven in a large 

 mesh, varying from i inch square at the 



