The San Francisco call., 1896-04-26

from Germany. went with Governor Won
Schleinitz of British New Guinea, in the
700-ton steamer Isabel, owned by the New
Guinea Company.
They had party of fifteen men aboard,
and collected large quantity of the arms
of the strange natives. The exploring
party was QUILTED by the New Guinea
Company, which possesses sort of char
ter to the island.
Their explorations were in part along
the Augusta River, the great waterway of
German New Guinea. The story of dam
ger and death which he and others expe-
rienced during these explorations has
barely been hlnted at hitherto. 1t is a
story of deep interest.
There had never been a boat on the
River Augusta before, aside from the
canoes of the savages," said Mr.. Ahrens
yesterday. 1--WE went up the river for a
distance of $50 miles, and for the entire
distance we found it could be navigated
by steamer carrying II feet of water.
"In great many places along the river
the natives came forth armed with spears.
They are tall and rather fne-looking
people, being superior to those in the in
habited portions of German New Guinea,
where that / have visited. Their hair is
very thick, kinky and black. They were
a very bold people, and when they saw US
they thronged the banks and endeavored
to throw their spears through the boat.
We had to keep our distance.
They had never seen any white men
and did not know what to make of them.
l soon found out they disliked white men,
for though we were able to estaplish GER
tain friendly relations with them in good
many instances, and prevailed on them to
come in their canoes and bring their wild
fruit and curiosities to us, the moment our
backs were turned we were liable to be
speared. | saw this done in several in
stances. One of the sailors had ventured
with the chief a few yards into the inte-
rior. The chief and a native were appar-
emily very friendly with him, but he had
scarcely turned to leave them when the
chief himself speared him through the
shoulder and then ran away.
81 found they We're very curious peo-
pie. l am very light-complexione by ma
ture, and my hair, as you see. is nearly
white. 1t was always so. Well, these
black barbarians did not know what to
make of me. They swarmed around and
touched me on the face and hands, and
tried to rub off the white. They did this
with the others, too, and the most puzzled
expressions came over their feces when
1.-The spearmen are so expert that have
seen them take their spears which are
some twelve to fifteen feet long, and throw
them through the hard root of tree. I
have also seen them spear a small bird a
long distance away in the trees. All the
islands are full of birds. There are wonder
full white cockatoos and paradise birds
without number and of the most exquisite
plumage to be imagined. The birds. NAV
say, have become SO much in demand by
ornithologists that the New Guinea Conn
pany charges $3.50 for a permit to hunt
them. saw five kinds of the paradise
bird there.
"The Augusta River in many parts. in
fact nearly its whole length, is fulf of aIli-
gators, and peculiar thing about the
natives is that they never kill any of them
1t is superstition with them that if one
of them is killed ruin will come to him
who did it, so though the alligators kill
plenty OF the natives, it never occurs to
them IN their superstition to kill them.
"We had aboard the Isabel two maonifi.
cent Danish dogs. One day was crossing
from the steamer to the shore in q boat
and the two dogs were swimming. when
an alligator rose up and killed one of the
dogs before my eyes. The ether dog was
pursued, too, but he managei to get away.
The dog that was killed was yerv fine
animal, of great value, and we would not
have parted with him for great deal.
Zone of our main ideas, in addition to
finding if there was gold up the river. was
to collect all the curiosities we could of
the natives, such as the different kinds of