Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-12-03
NEW GUINEANS.
The Manners and Customs OF
Those Blood Thirsty Savages.
The Deadly Man-Catcher-NRtivos Who
Decorate Their Houses aud Them
selves with Human Bones-A-
ngator-Shaped Dwellings
and Alligator Stories.

The manners and customs Of New
Guinea are rather startling. In the new
book on New Guinea, by Rev. James
Chalmers. We read Of people that
wear nosc-jewels three-quarters Of an
inch in diameter, and daub their faces
In stripes Of black, white, red and yell
low; who when in mourning paint them
selves all over black, and wear net col
lars, and when in very deep mourning
get inside very tight kind of wicker
work dress, extending from the neck to
the knees In such a way that they are
not able to walk we'll. We read of
head-dresseS seven feet high. built up
ON wooden frame, while at Kabadi
and Mara they have frames about two
feet and half in height and three feet
broad. and from the center Il stick ten
or twelve feet long; on the frame and
center they fasten plumcs until all the
wood is hidden. We read of tattooed
chiefs, each mark on whom means u
life violently taken. and some Of whom
are almost covered with these savage
medals OF honor.
The only field in which these people
have shown much skill and ingenuity
Is in the manufacture OF weapons. The
most deadly is known as the man.catch.
or, and was invented by the natives OF
lluon Bay, but II Is commonly used all
over the island. The peculiarly Of the
man-catcher Is tho spike in lis handle,
which, once the loop is oyer the neck,
can hardly fail TO be fatal, .-
In canoes, too, the people are rather
ingenious, the Port Moresby natives,
during the southeast monsoon, lashing
their canoes together, sometimes up to
ps many rs liftccp, and forming safe
and pcculiar-looking raft The houses,
too. arc strange, Ia that temporarily
occupied by the teachers, skulls, shells
and oocoanuts are hung all about; the
skulls are those of the enemies ho and
his people have eaten. Inside the house,
hung up on the wall. is u large collec-
tion of human bones, bones of animals
and Of fish. Bones are much in use for
decorative purposes One Of our guides
90 the village wore as an armlet the
jawbone Of man from the mainland
he had killed and eaten, others struttcd
Rhout with human bones dangling from
their hair and about their necks.
Some OF the houses are in the tops Of
trees, with ladders of long vines on each
side TO assist the ascent; some are like
animals. The largest houses are built to
represent IN alligator with open mouth; I;
the platform in front OF the house is the
lower jaw, and the long shade over the
platform the upper, so that standing on
the platform you stand in the alligator's
mouth, the house sloping to appear as a
body. And in some districts the houses
have regular burglar alarm. On the
door hangs bunch of nutshells, so that
when the door is shut or opened they
make noise. Should the occupants Of
The house be asleep, and their foes come.
they would, upon the door being opened,
be wakencd. Spears and clubs are all
handy.
And the domestic utensils are pecu-
liar. In crossing one Of the spurs ma
tive and his son brought us bananas,
and water in a bamboo. The natives
had been having feast They began
with boiled bananas and finished with a
large snake cooked in pots. = 1t was cut
up and divided out among all. they
seemed to relishit much, and the gravy
was much thought Of They say pig is
nothing compared to snake. All, well,
tastes differ.
OF the animal life, we saw three nests
of the mound building jungle-fowl OF
megapodo; one of them was fifty-one
feet in diameter. 1t is said that larger
nests exist at East Cape. 1t seems in
credible that so small n bird should
build such immense hillocks us nests,
In point Of fact, however, no such
mound was ever built by a single bird
or in one season. The jungle-fowl never
sits upon her eggs, but buries them deeI
In the mound, to be hatched by the heal
of the sun and fermentation. We hat
two very fine eggs for breakfast; being
fresh, they proved to be capital eating
One morning VIC had camped on spul
of the Owen Stanley range, and being
up early to enjoy the cool atmosphere,
saw on one OF clump of trees close b,
six birds of paradise, dressed in theil
very best, thor ruffs Of green and vel
low standing out, giving them large
handsome appearance about the heat
and neck, their long flowing plunie'
SO arranged that every feather seemed
carefully combed out, and the long wire'
stretched well out behind were dancing
around in circle. 1t was an interest
ing sight. A shot was fired, contrar,
10 my expressed wish. There was ;
strange commotion, and two Of the
birds flew away, the others remaining
Soon the two returned, and again tn
dance began and continued long, as al
fear was gone, having strictly forbid
dom anu morn ahootin0 0tIarraliu,