The Old Man,
Who Was Handcuffed, Hopped High In The Air, Uttering Loud Yells Every
Time A Dart Hit Him,
So I imagined they hurt, and though I, too, felt
much annoyed, I had to put a stop to this
Cruel sport, when one of
the aggrieved policemen cried out to me: "Taubada (master), why you
stop him get hurt? This fellow he ki-ki (eat) you if he get chance."
CHAPTER 10
The Return From Dobodura.
Horrible Fate of one of our Enemies - Collecting in Cannibal -
Haunted Forest - I Shoot a new Kingfisher, and a Bird of Paradise
- Natives' Interest in Bird-Stuffing - Return Journey begun -
Tree-house in a Notu Village - Peacemaking Ceremonies - Notu Village
described - Our Allies sentenced for Cannibalism - Parting with
Walsh and Clark.
We decided to return, and sent off a strong body of police in advance
to surprise some of the surrounding villages. On the way back we found
the man who was brained by one of our carriers still breathing. He
was a ghastly sight, with his brains projecting out, and he was being
eaten alive by swarms of red ants, which almost hid his body and found
their way into his eyes, ears and nose. By the convulsions that from
time to time shook the man's body, he was evidently still conscious,
but could not possibly have lived for more than a few hours at most,
after our thus finding him. New Guinea, like most tropical countries,
had its full share of these pests (ants), some species of which
actually make webs, and, by way of supplementing the web itself,
work leaves in.
Acland, who had been suffering all day long from bad fever, now
collapsed and could walk no further, but had to be carried in a
hammock. When we got back to our old camping ground, I took an armed
guard of police and went in search of birds for my collection, in
the adjoining forest, and shot a new kingfisher (TANYSIPTERA) and a
bird of paradise (PARADISEA INTERMEDIA). It was rather exciting work,
as one went warily through the thick growth, from whence might issue
a spear any minute, and I held on to my rifle all the time, except,
of course, when I saw a bird, and then I made a quick change to my
shotgun, lest I should prove a case of the hunter hunted.
On my return I had a large crowd of carriers around me watching me
skin my birds, while Arigita explained everything to them in lordly
fashion, only too pleased to get the chance of being listened to,
while he expounded to them his superior knowledge. What he told them
I, of course, could not tell, but he informed me that when I put the
final stitch in the nostrils of the birds, my audience declared that
I did this to prevent the birds from breathing and so one day coming
to life again. When the wise Arigita asked them how this could be,
since they had seen me take out the body and brains, they scoffed at
him and said that spirits would come inside the skins so that they
could sing again.
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