The natives of Papua have some very curious superstitions, giving rise to barbarous customs. For instance, a woman gave birth to twin boys. The mother died, and the villagers, coming to the conclusion that the infants were accursed, decided to bury the hapless babies alive on the woman’s grave! This terrible deed would actually have been carried out had not a native who had come under mission influence told his teacher what was intended before it was too late. The missionary was thus able to save the little mites, who were taken care of by a nurse. She is seen in the annexed photograph with “Tommy” and “Teddy” when they were a year or two old. Other babies, for various superstitious reasons, have been killed at birth or hung in trees to die a slow and terrible death from starvation. [Illustration: A PAPUAN SERPENTINE--NATIVE BOYS SAILING THEIR HOME-MADE BOATS IN A LAKE. _From a Photograph._] A favourite pastime with the village boys was sailing model boats, which were surprisingly well made. The picture at the bottom of the page shows lads sailing their “sikunas” (schooners) at a Papuan “Serpentine,” for all the world like youngsters at home. [Illustration: PAPUANS FISH-SPEARING. _From a Photograph._] Favourite sports, though their object was utilitarian enough, are fish-spearing and pig-hunting. The natives are wonderfully quick in detecting the presence of a fish under the surface, and the many-pronged fish-spear, shooting violently downwards, is more often than not recovered with a brightly-coloured victim impaled upon it. The snapshot above shows a group of Papuans, spear in hand, watching for fish in the shallow water. The lower picture shows a number of fishing-nets hung up to dry. These are made, of course, by the natives themselves. The twine is woven from the peelings of liquorice-stalks netted together, the floats are light pieces of wood, and the sinkers are cockle shells in which holes have been bored. [Illustration: A NATIVE WAITING TO SPEAR DRIVEN PIGS. _From a Photograph._] Pig-hunting is carried out in a very thorough fashion. Stout nets are placed across the forest paths and clearings, and one party of natives then beat the jungle, driving the game before them, while the spearmen wait, as seen in the photograph, for the arrival of the quarry. [Illustration: DRYING NETS--THE NETS ARE MOST INGENIOUSLY MADE FROM THE PEELINGS OF LICORICE-STALKS, WITH WOODEN FLOATS AND COCKLE-SHELL SINKERS. _From a Photograph._]