Evening star., 1901-08-10

and women live together, op the apart
ment house plan. In some places there are
houses 500 feet long and 90 feet wide, con-
tanning sixty families or more. Such q
house would be divided by little partitions
into stalls or pens running out to central
hall, SO that going through 1t would be
like passing through the stalls OF cow
stable. In each stall family has its quar-
ters. the women doing their cooking IN.
side and the smoke finding its way out
as it can through the roof. These New
Guinea flats are very dark, for the wals
mosquitoes, and often there Is not more
than two feet Of wall before the roof be-
gins The roof, however. may reach
as high as thirty feet above the floor. The
material OF the houses Is usually poles
and grass. First framework OF poles
Is made, and then the thatch Of grass or
banana leaves is tied on.
New Guinea Babies.
The New Guinea natives are fond OF
their children. They treat them well and
are exceedingly affectionate. Mr.. Dauncey
told me that In his ten years intercourse
with the natives he had never seen father
strike his child and that mothers never
whip their children.
A queer thing is the Papuan cradle. 1t
is made of the fiber of the banana woven
together in the shape of bag. Into this
the baby is dropped and the bag is then
hung to one of the poles of the roof or
to a tree and swung to sleep. II the
mother goes out she merely unhooks or
unties the string and slings the cradle
on her back, carrying her baby about as
the Indian squaw does her papoose.
1t is rather remarkable that the New
Guinea savages have developed special
trades. On the south coast there are some
tribes which do nothing but fish and others
farmers never fish and the fishers do not
farm. The two tribes live close to each
other and exchange their respective prod
ucts. The farming is largely done with
sharp sticks the men standing in row
and plunging their sticks into the ground
simultaneously and thus prying UP the soil.
The fishermen make their own canoes.
Some of them gather shells and pearls
Pottery and rope making are other prin-
ctpal industries. Not far from Port Mores-
by tribe lives which makes cooking YES
sells of clay, drying them in the sun and
baking them with fire. They then carry
these vessels from place to place and sell
them.
A Land of Birds.
New Guinea has but few animals of note.
The chief are wild pigs and small mar
supials, Including tree kangaroos. In birds
the .untry is wonderfully rich. There are
400 different species of land birds, and
among them many Of most gorgeous plu-
mage.
colors, and pigeons more splendid than
our peacock. I have seen New Guinea
pigeons as big as hen turkeys, and as small
as the tiniest dove. The goura pigeon is the
largest. It's body is of a brilliant light
blue and it's neck has all the .colors of the
opal. 1t has a crest or egret Of tiny slaty
blue feathers running from the back Of the
head out to the front high above 1t, much
like the curl on the head Of baby. When
the sun catches this crest it shines as
though 1t were set with jewels.
There are tiny birds here as small as
the smallest humming bird, and more beau
tiful than any humming bird we have.
There are also cassowarys which have
bodies almost as big as ostriches, but which
look as though they were clad in feathers
of frayed clothes lines rather than ostrich
plumes. The cassowary is sometimes
caught by the native when small and
tanned. 1t Is not safe pet to have
about, for 1t will swallow anything in
nails to a pup or kitten. 1t is by no
means certain that 1t may not attack the
baby; and when angry kick from 1t will
break the skull Of ten-year-old boy.
The king of all New Guinea birds. how
ever. Is the bird of paradise. There are
forty species Of this bird. and most of
these are found in New Guinea. The birds
are comparatively small, but their color.
Is the most gorgeous known. Some of
them are of the brightest red, with luster
like that Of the opal, with yellow bills and
velvet-1ike plumes encirclfng the base OF
the head. The feathers Of the tail stand
up like filigree wires. The golden bird Of
paradise has six long feathery tips extend
ing from the back of it's head and great
crest or crown rising out of the middle Of
its back somewhat like canopy over It.
1t is only the male birds that are so gor-
geous, but they are hunted everywhere
for their feathers.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.