Found that some of
the mountain people had been out to Notu and wished to make peace
with them. The Notu people had also ascertained that the Dobodura
had retreated into the large sago swamp, and were quite certain that
they had no danger to fear from them for some time to come. They
also said that after the police had departed they would very likely
be able to re-establish their ancient friendly relations with the
Dobodura. A peace-offering was brought from the mountain people,
which the Notu people asked me to receive for them. The ceremony was
strange to me, and had several peculiar features. Two minor chiefs
came to where I was sitting and sat down. About twenty men then
approached and drove their spears into the ground in a circle with
the butts all leaning inwards. Many of the spears had a small piece
broken off at the butt end. From these spears were then hung clubs,
spears and shields, and native masks and fighting ornaments. An old
chief then said they had given me their arms. Next they placed cloth,
fishing nets and spears and other native ornaments inside the circle,
and the same old chief said they had given me their property. After
this ten pigs, five male and five female, were brought and placed
inside the ring with a quantity of sago and a little other food. Then
followed cooking vessels full of cooked food. The old chief then said,
'We have given you all we have as a sign we are now the people of the
Government.' I gave them a good return present, and told them that
they were at liberty to take any articles they wanted or their pigs
back again, but this they absolutely refused to do, saying that it
would destroy the effect of what they had done. The female prisoners
were now sent back to Dobodura with a message to the Dobodura, that
I should return in a few months and make peace with them, should they
in the meantime refrain from murdering the coastal people, but should
they persist in their raiding I should return and handle them still
more severely." In return we gave them presents of axes, knives,
beads, tobacco, etc., which were laid down on the top of each pig.
Monckton very kindly presented Acland and myself with all the clubs,
native masks, "tapa" cloth and ornaments, and the pigs and other food
came in very useful for our police and carriers, as our rice supply
was getting low.
This was a very picturesque village, shaded by thousands of coconut
and betel nut palms and large spreading trees, among which was a very
fine tree, with very beautiful green and yellow variegated leaves
(ERYTHRINA sp.). There was also a great variety of DRACAENAS, striped
and spotted with green, crimson, white, pink and yellow.
In most of these villages there were many curious kinds of trophies -
crossed sticks, standing in the middle of the village, with a centre
pole carved and painted in various patterns, and with a fringe of
fibre placed near the top. Hanging on these sticks were the skulls
and jawbones of men, pigs and crocodiles. I went out in the afternoon
with gun and rifle, and saw several wallabies, but could not get a
shot at them on account of the tall grass.
In the evening the chiefs of the large Notu village who had in our
absence killed and eaten the two runaway carriers, visited us in
fear and trembling. Monckton told them they must give up to us the
actual murderers and send them up to the residency at Cape Nelson
(or Tufi) within the next three weeks. He did not ask for those
that ate them. Possibly one hundred or more partook of the feast,
and for this they could hardly be blamed, as, being cannibals, it
is quite natural that they should eat fresh meat when they got the
chance. Indeed, our own carriers could not understand why we would
not allow them to eat the bodies of those we had slain.
The next morning we five white men parted company, Walsh and Clark,
with the Mambare and their own police, returning to the north,
while Monckton, Acland and I went southward again to continue our
explorations in another direction.
Our Discovery of Flat-Footed Lake Dwellers.
CHAPTER 11
Our Discovery of Flat-Footed Lake Dwellers.
Rumours at Cape Nelson of a "Duckfooted" People in the Interior -
Conflicting Opinions - Views of a Confirmed Sceptic - Start of the
Expedition - Magnificence of the Vegetation - Friendliness of the
Barugas - The "Orakaibas" (Criers of "Peace") - Tree-huts eighty feet
from the ground-Loveliness of this part of the Jungle - Description
of its Plants - A Dry Season - First Glimpse of Agai Ambu Huts -
Remarkable Scene on the Lake - Flight of the Agai Ambu in Canoes -
Success at Last - A Voluntary Surrender - The Agai Ambu Flat-footed,
not Web-footed - Sir Francis Winter's subsequent Visit and fuller
Description of these People - Their Physical Appearance, Houses,
Canoes, Food, Speech and Customs - My Account Resumed - Making
Friends with the Agai Ambu - A Country of Swamps - Second Agai
Ambu Village - Extraordinary Abundance and Variety of Water-fowl -
Strange Behaviour of an Agai Ambu Women - Disposal of the Dead in
Mid-lake Food of the Agai Ambu - Their Method of Catching Ducks
by Diving for them - An Odd Experience - Mosquitos and Fever -
Last View of Agai Ambu - An Amusing FINALE.
Many were the wild and fantastic rumours we had heard at the Residency
at Cape Nelson, on the north-east coast of British New Guinea,
concerning a curious tribe of natives whose feet were reported to be
webbed like those of a duck, and who lived in a swamp a short way in
the interior, some distance to the north of us. I myself had at first
been inclined to sneer at these reports, but Monckton, the Resident
Magistrate, with his superior knowledge of the Papuans, as the natives
of New Guinea are called, was sure that there was some truth in the
reports, as the Papuan who has not come much in contact with the
white man is singularly truthful though guilty of exaggeration.
