METHOD OF HOLDING THE BOW. l 20{) 



our way to the coast of New Guinea. As it rained 

 heavily, I went into one of the larger huts, which 

 had a fire in the middle. There were good bed 

 places, covered with mats, raised about a foot 

 and a half from the ground, and large bundles of 

 mats, bows, arrows, axes, fishing-spears, pipes, and 

 calabashes, hanging over head. As there was no 

 opening, except the small door, the smoke oozed 

 througli the thatch, and it felt to me intolerably 

 hot and close. 



In using the bow, they explained to us that they 

 always held a particular end upwards, that which is 

 uppermost, namely, in the living plant, but could 

 give no reason for the custom. Beside the bow and 

 arrow, their principal weapon is a club, called gaba- 

 goob ; this is a round, flat piece of stone, bevelled 

 to an edge like a quoit, but with a small hole in the 

 centre, into which a wooden handle is inserted. It 

 thus becomes a most murderous weapon, but we 

 only saw one or two of them. 



I inquired for the " barreet" (which I found was 

 a species of opossum, belonging to a subgenus called 

 cuscus, peculiar to New Guinea), and was told 

 Dzoom had one ; and I sent him a message by a 

 man called Jesse, to say I would give him a sword 

 and an axe for it. I inquired for Doodegab, and 

 was told he was on the other side the island ; but 

 two good-looking girls, called Derree and Atai, were 

 pointed out as his sisters ; and they told me, since I 

 had changed names with Doodegab, they were now 



vol. r. p 



