The San Francisco call., 1896-04-26

| Wherever they could get a hatchet or
a tomahawk their eyes sparkled and
they could not have been more pleased no
matter what we gave them. The fact is
| think the high chief would have been
willing to give half the island he supposed
he owned for one good tomahawk.
''We found the natives had no money of
any kind and no gold or silver appeared
among them i'll any form. | don't doubt
| there Is gold there, because the forma-
ton OF the mountain shows that; you can
see quartz everywhere and the sands of
the river have the appearance of being
alluvlal. We secured spears, bows and
arrows and arm-rings made of pearl shells
and tortoise and turtle shellsin large num-
bers. The natives have a habit of dis
tending the lobe of the ear until it
gets so large that you can put your fist
through it.
Undoubtedly all the people up this
river are cannibals. We saw the strongest
evidence of that in the character of the
vessels used by them at their cannibal
| feasts. The natives appeared not to kill
each other-thaL is, the natives of the
same tribe did not do so-but in the wars
with other tribes persons that they gained
possession of as prisoners of war were sac
rificed in this way. We steamed the Isabel
during the day and at night we dropped
our anchor in the stream. We always had
at least four men on guard, for it would
not do in country like that for us all to
lie down and go to sleep; the natives
would be out in their canoes directly,
swarming aboard the ship, and this would
simply mean death to everybody aboard.
''We foun all kinds of country in going
$50 miles. Taere were great level stretches
OF beautiful valley, and there were frown-
ing banks and rugged mountains, but
on none of the mountains did we see
any snow. 1t was hot. tropical
country, with all kinds of tropical trees
and tropical fruits incident to q country of
this kind. l also found out that there
were volcanoes in the country, for while
we were out there was mountain which
threw forth lava and ashes till the waves
rolled high and in some cases swept over
the low islands near the mouth of the
river. It was at this time that the steamer
Otilie of the New Guinea Company was
out also on an exploring trip. Aboard
of her was Mr. Won Below, who had
been for years an explorer, and Mr.. HUM
stein, a very rich man and an experienced
explorer, who had been all over the Aus
tralian colonies and secured a fine COL
lection of ornithological specimens. They
were in command of the expedition and
had sixty men with them. All were
killed by the overflow of lava, with the ex-
ception of three of them, natives of New
Ireland, who were found some time after
ward at sea on log. They had been sent
from the steamer Otilie few miles in the
interior to try and get some water. This
volcano was on one of the little-known
islands off the coast of German New
Guinea.
Nearly everywhere we went we saw an
abundance of wild pigs. The wild pigs in
many parts of the country have been do
mes:icated SO that they are right around
the houses. This leads me to the state
ment OF a singular thing. The moment
that any white man ventures to the cabins
of the natives Immediately the women,
pigs and dogs vanish instantly. Where
they go TO nobody knows, but you won't
see one around as long as white man is
there. Among other wild animals besides
the pigs are the wallabies. The air is full
of flying foxes. They are not a bat nor
vampire neither are they the chipmunk
or hying squirrel which | understand you
have in this country. They are dark brown
in color, having bodies eight inches long
and with fur something like fox. When
their wings are distended they look very
large. If you shoot at one likely enough
you will kill five, so thick is the air with
them.
THE natives of New Guinea that are
half tanned are very hospitable. had an
instance of this in visiting the Tami
Islands, fifteen miles east of Finsch
Hafen. Each native householder keeps
an extra house for his guests, a big, fine
house, and you walk in there and you own
it. On the occasion | speak of they
brought us all kinds of fruit, and treated
US in the most cOnsiderate manner"