LAST JOURNEY TO THE COAST 
payment, enumerating the different articles we were 
prepared to pay on our arrival at Pokama. We added 
that if any one preferred that his wages should include 
a preponderance of tobacco, or beads, or calico, over 
other articles, we should be quite agreeable. 
They gathered round our little house, some in and 
some out, and smoked the everlasting bau-bau, keeping 
up the while a quiet conversation. The women with 
husbands made difficulties, as was to be expected. 
They would say to any man who showed a disposition 
to join the expedition: “But we want you to help 
us in our gardens.” One of the wives proved especi- 
ally a thorn in our side. She was the worst woman 
we met in Papua, the possessor of a terrible tongue, 
and she was always setting the men against going 
anywhere. The other women disliked her heartily, 
and there were always rows when she came into camp. 
Not once, but twenty times, were we annoyed by 
these disturbances, for Gouba, her husband, believed 
in attempting to tame his shrew, although, alas! he 
never succeeded. His methods were simple and 
drastic. He would pick up a billet of wood, when 
she was half-way through a tremendous scolding, and 
fetch her a terrific blow over the back. ‘Thereupon 
ensued Pandemonium; the other men and women 
would gather round jabbering, but they made no 
attempt to stop the beating once it had begun. The 
unfortunate man had another wife, and the scolding 
one was not always with him, but when she was 
there was trouble. Gouba was willing enough to stay 
with us, poor fellow, but Mrs. Gouba was always on 
the gui vive for some village dance or other. Her 
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