But to return to the children; up to the age of seven their life is one long holiday, and they very early begin to practise the use of weapons. Spearthrowing is their favourite sport; for this they use a long stick of grass with an enlarged root. They pull off all the leaves until the shaft is clean, and the root is allowed to remain to represent the heavy head of the spear. Their targets are each other, and at a very early age they have acquired a marvellous dexterity, hitting each other with nicest accuracy even at 40 feet range. Every hit is registered with a delighted jump and a howl. The amount of cleverness and dexterity required for this spear practice was realised by my son, who tried it, and found that not only could he not hit, but he could not make the spear carry. Very small girls play also at spearthrowing, but they give it up early. We were very much amused to find the presence of “Cat’s-Cradle”; we had thought to amuse the little ones by teaching them this game, but we found that they were already more than our masters therein; for they no sooner saw what we were after than they let us know that they were well acquainted with it, and whereas we had just the old stereotyped process to give them, they showed us thirty different ways. They did not, however, play in pairs as we do, the players taking the string from each other’s hands in turn, but each child sits by himself or herself and works out the pattern. It is really amusing to see how they effect the different changes and the regular routine of forms by the movement of the fingers alone, without the aid of another pair of hands. The dogs at Epa and Port Moresby were highly favoured animals. Not only had they the run of the house, but each house had an entrance sacred to the dog. To this access was given by special dog-ladders 9 inches wide, with the rungs quite a foot apart, up and down which the animals ran like monkeys. CHAPTER XVII _A NOTE ON BRITISH TRADE PROSPECTS IN NEW GUINEA_ Sandalwood—The Sea-Slug—Copra and Cocoa-Nut—Coffee—Cocoa—Chillies— Rubber—Stock-Raising—Gold—Tobacco—Imports—German Enterprise—Our Lost Coaling Station. CHAPTER XVII A NOTE ON BRITISH TRADE PROSPECTS IN NEW GUINEA The intelligent observer of New Guinea cannot fail to recognise that the country presents a vast unopened field for the development of British trade. Many sources of wealth are as yet absolutely untouched, but experiments that have recently been made in coffee, tobacco, cocoa, and rubber, yield the richest promise. The geographical configuration of the coast will greatly aid the enterprising trader, for many centres of industry can easily be approached by water at such inlets as Hall Sound, and the cost of transport from the interior would consequently be a mere bagatelle.