572 



The National Geographic Magazine 



area, forming a corral, approached by a 

 long decoy, two long lines of nets grad- 

 ually converging. When the nets have 

 been set the drive commences. The beat- 

 ers extend themselves for considerable 

 distance, and with the assistance of dogs 

 gradually force the game toward the 

 corral ; birds and beasts are forced into 

 the center in crowds. At length the 

 hunters close round the opening, a final 

 rush is made, and the victims are de- 

 spatched with spears. These hunting 

 bouts occur only at long intervals and on 

 the lower slopes of the mountains. After 

 a successful drive, there is a great jolli- 

 fication. Fires are built in the camp, the 

 game is roasted, and in an incredibly 

 short space of time every portion disap- 

 pears and the people are lying around 

 gorged. 



CURIOUS METHODS OF" BLEEDING 



A curious form of bleeding is in use 

 among the tribes, especially among the 

 younger men. The bleeding is performed 

 by two persons, who sit opposite to each 

 other. The operator takes a small drill, 

 or, rather, probe, of cassowary bone 

 brought to an extremely fine point, and 

 this is attached to the string of a tiny 

 bow, about four inches long. Holding 

 the bow as if he were going to shoot, 

 the operator aims the little probe at the 

 patient's forehead, draws the bow slowly, 

 and lets the string go; the probe is thus 

 brought into sharp contact with the pa- 



tient's skin, and the operation of dravving 

 the bow and letting fly the arrow is re- 

 peated again and again until blood is 

 drawn. It should be remembered that 

 the probe or arrow is always attached 

 to the string and never escapes. The 

 patient now leans forward and the blood 

 is allowed to flow profusely onto the 

 ground. 



I have often seen as much as half a 

 pint allowed to escape. When faintness 

 supervenes the wound is staunched with 

 ashes or any convenient styptic and the 

 patient sits up. If the ashes fail to act. 

 cautery with a hot cinder is practiced. 

 Headache is the usual trouble for which 

 this remedy is applied, and this frequency 

 of bleeding may be the reason why there 

 is no heart disease or sudden death among 

 the natives. This may probably lend 

 color to the theory of some physicians., 

 that the increase of heart disease and 

 sudden death in civilized nations is due 

 to the entire abandonment of bleeding,, 

 once certainly carried to excess. 



During our journeyings in the interior 

 we depended on native help alone, and 

 the people we employed were not, one 

 might say, scared out of their usual 

 way of life by the presence of a large 

 body of white men. I and my son went 

 absolutely alone into the wilds, with no< 

 white lieutenant. We cast ourselves, as 

 it were, on the hospitality of the aborigi- 

 nal Papuan (and cannibal at that), but 

 we had no reason to regret our draft on 

 the bank of savage fidelity. 



