Missions -- New Guinea; New Guinea -- Description and travel
I insisted upon going on; they called to those in the village, and on
being answered we again went on for about half a mile, when every bundle
was put down and a halt called, and again we had to listen to the
unintelligible story of the wild animal or animals that would destroy us.
We sat down and tried to get them to see as we did, that a house was
necessary for our comfort. A thunderstorm was working up, and soon the
rain would be down on us--let us be off for the village. They had a long
confab with those in the village on the ridge, which, when ended, seemed
favourable; and so up the steep side of the ridge we went. When halfway
up they halted, and wanted us to camp under the shelter of a great rock.
Seeing some young men with bundles rounding the rock, I joined myself to
them, and away we went, followed by the others to the village. Under the
first house in the village sat a man, with a large pig standing by him,
which he was clapping and scratching, as if to keep it quiet; and as we
went along we saw great pigs under the houses. Certainly they were
savage-looking pigs. We were given an open house, and the rain was
coming on. I was ascending, when it became necessary to spring from a
pig that was after me. Is this Goldie's big beast the natives told him
of? This is a fine country. We passed through large plantations of
yams, taro, sugar-cane, and bananas. During the evening we had crowds of
men and lads--no women or children--to see us. Some are quite light
copper-coloured, others are very dark; nearly all are dressed with
cassowary feathers; many with ruffs round their necks made from these
feathers. There were none very tall, but all seem well-built men, with
good muscle. They have the same calabashes and chunam sticks for betel-
chewing as at Kerepunu. Some chunam sticks made from cassowary bones are
well carved. They are a very noisy lot; one would think they were trying
to see who could speak the loudest. They tell us it is impossible to
cross to the other side, as further inland the ridge ends--and there is
nothing but bare broken rook--inaccessible all round. The majority of
the men are bearded and moustached, and have cassowary feathers like a
pad behind, on which they sit. They dress with a string. The demand for
salt is very great; grains are picked up, and friends are supplied with a
few grains from what they have got for taro. The name of the place is
Kenagagara, 1810 feet above the sea-level, E.N.E. from Uakinumu.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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