360 COLOXIAL GOVERNMENT IX BORNEO 



head-hunting, and theft. '" If an}' of the interior tribes do a little 

 head-hunting," sa^'s Professor Haddon, " ^Ix Hose starts away by 

 steamer as far as it can go, then takes to canoes, and wlien he reaches 

 the people lie simply talks to them. They usuall\' give themselves 

 U|> or pa}' their fines — 400 to 500 dolhirs for a life taken. What sur- 

 prises the natives is Mr Hose's activity. He never loses a moment; 

 when there is difR(;ulty he rushes up at once with only a few 'fort- 

 men ' ; still the people feel that he is a man they cannot tamj^er with 

 and they give in. It is moral rather than physical force. The })eople 

 who in the })ast were inclined to give the greatest troul)le are at the 

 l^resent day the staunchest upholders of the government."' 



His chief aim, however, is " to bring peace to communities whose 

 normal conditi<^n was one of mutual hostility." With this end in 

 view he ma le a journey in 189S to a hitherto une.xplored part of hjs 

 district to bring about friendly relations between bis j)eo])le and a 

 tri))e, the Madang, who have from time immemorial been at enmity 

 with them. A\'hen he reached their j)rincipal village, consisting of 

 nine long houses, with some two thousand inhabitants, he immedi- 

 ately accepted an invitation to stay with the chief, although accom- 

 l)anied only by hostile natives. These could not enter the houses 

 until all the cases of blood-money had been settled between them. 

 After long negotiations, during which " two men messengers were sent 

 backwards and forwards to discuss the numbers of people killed on 

 either side from time to time, and big gongs, shields, and weai)ons of 

 all kinds changed hands as blood-money," peace was concluded. At 

 a feast given on the following evening there were "some very good 

 S{)eeches made, their former troubles and differences being explained 

 and discussed in the most open manner. Each chief spoke in turn, 

 and concluded Ijy offering a drink to another and singing a few lines 

 of eulogy, the whole assembly joining in a very im})ressive chorus at 

 the end of each line, and ending up with a tremendous roar as the 

 bamboo cup was emptied." 



The next day the Madangs collected a quantity of rubber for their 

 first payment of tribute to the government, namely, two dollars per 

 family. As there was no means of weighing it, they decided that the 

 leader of Mr Hose's escort and two Madang headmen should act as 

 assessors, and determine whether the piece of rul)l)er brought by each 

 person was sufficiently large to produce two dollars. 



" It took these men," says Mr Hose, " the whole day to receive it 

 all, and much counting was done on the fingers and toes. I would 



