"One man, an Irishman, who had been indulging not wisely but too well and had decided on open-air treatment, was lying asleep in the street, and it was necessary to remove him. A detachment of native police was told off to carry the member of the ruling race to the gaol. "When they had hoisted him on their shoulders and were marching off, the unhappy man waked up for a moment, and, not quite understanding the situation, said 'Hullo, boys, what have I done? Why, am I a hero?'"[I] The native Papuans are not regarded as suitable for work in the Western sense of the word, and the German efforts to exploit the natives have not produced very successful economic results, and the import of Chinese coolies had to be relied on. This resulted, in the Pacific Islands generally, in a traffic in labour which roused R. L. Stevenson's ire. The native inhabitants consist in New Guinea of a number of races, differing totally from each other in appearance, customs, and language. The various tribes have little in common with each other, and inter-tribal wars and feuds have been continuous, in the course of which the custom of "head-hunting" became a popular pastime. Although the Samoans strenuously repudiate the suggestion that they or their ancestors were ever addicted to cannibalism, the Papuans freely admit the prevalence of the custom; and although they now profess to have discontinued cannibalism, the older men will talk confidentially about the doings in "the old days," and will sigh for the times that have been. The natives have unbounded belief in the powers of sorcerers and in witchcraft, and are more easily held in control by superstition than by any appeal to any sense. The hard work--domestic and agricultural--is done by the women, as amongst most native races; it being beneath a man's dignity to be engaged in any other labour than that connected with warfare, sport, or the provision of creature comforts. The Government of New Guinea was vested in a Governor whose seat was at Herbertshöhe, picturesquely situated on the shores of Neu Pommern. The town was the most important commercial centre of the Colony, several of the principal trading and planting firms making it their headquarters. Round about it are situated some of the best cocoa-nut plantations in the islands. The official language was, of course, German, but English was also spoken or at least understood by all European residents in the islands. In the intercourse with the natives the weird form of speech known as pidgin-English is in universal use throughout the South Seas. It is framed on the same principles as their own languages, and every white man who cannot speak native seems to fall naturally into the use of it. So universal is its use that in German New Guinea the Government officials, to the offence of their _kultured_ minds, had to use it if they wanted the natives to understand them.