Dutch New Guinea 



481 



PAPUAN CANOES 



The people rest themselves by folding up ; they never sit as we do. Note the tripod for 



holding the mast 



smooth for a handle. They also are 

 often beautifully carved. 



The artistic sense of these people is 

 strongly developed, and the amount of 

 time and pains which will be spent in 

 decorating every gourd or joint of bam- 

 boo for household use is astonishing. 

 Their tools, of course, are the most prim- 

 itive, for of metals most of them know 

 nothing. 



The religious life of the people is still 

 very imperfectly known ; here again a 

 great field awaits the student of ethnol- 

 ogy. Their methods of burial vary 

 greatly and are interesting, to us often 



*To be published in the August number of this Magazine. 



disgusting. These subjects, along with 

 an account of the little-known tribes at 

 Djamna and Humboldt Bay, will . be 

 touched on in a subsequent paper.* The 

 author will feel that he has been 

 more than repaid for the discomforts of 

 this trip if he has awakened an interest 

 among Americans in this wonderful re- 

 gion — a country which, in spite of draw- 

 backs in its climate, its notorious un- 

 healthiness, and its often rather inhos- 

 pitable or even dangerous inhabitants, 

 will always remain the most interesting 

 res'ion he has ever visited. 



