The Saint Paul globe., 1904-05-29

than originally designed, and generally
succeeds. He tattooea his skin In
patches and streaks his face with
ochres, red, black and white being his
favorite colors. He dyes his teeth
black. He bores a hole in the septum
Of his nose, and in it inserts a long
shell. His ears are usually so cut and
torn that the lobes hang down in a
festoon several inches long In his
natural state he emulates the example
set by Adam and wears only a broad
leaf around his loins, making his mu-
t1lated ears supply the lack of artificial
pockets.
From white mans view point near
ly all Of his tastes are perverted. He
loves dirt. His personal habits are
unspeakably filthy. Though he may
live close to the clear, blue sea or a
pure mountain stream he never bathes
for the sake of cleanliness. His nose
has gone all wrong, He seems to de-
light in foul odors. He will evince
disgust when given a bottle of per-
fume to sniff at, but dellghtedly wears
in his armlets the leaves Of some plant
that fairly stinks. He dotes on mus
tard or picked onions, but abominates
sweets.
When he has renounced cannibalism
he is practically aOvegetarian, fish and
pork being his rare luXuries. The pig
not only shares his home with him. but
when young shares the maternal breast
equally with the baby. Besides COM
pelling his wife to rear the family pig,
he usually makes her do whatever
hard work is to be done. For this rea-
son he takes care not to disable her
permanently when he chastises her
Though in his natural state his chief
occupation is fighting warfare, as civ
1ized man understands it, is incom-
prehensible to him. Here and there q
man may distinguish himself by per-
sonal courage in openly attacking his
enemy and exposing himself to the risk
Of getting speared, but it is not the
usual Papuan method Of fighting. He
Is an assassin; seldom a warrior. Even
when he attacks a white man who is
defenseless, he usually conceals his
purpose under a show Of friendliness.
A blow from behind is always his fa-
vortte blow. All his emotions are shall
low. His heart is as limited in feeling
as his mind is restricted in thought
He can neither strongly hate his enc
my or love his friend: incidentally,
there is no word for love in his Ian
guage. He may torture and eat the
enemy and howl and lacerate his face
with sharp stones for the loss Of the
friend, but it is not deep feeling which
prompts either action; it is custom
that demands it. His chief skill is
shown in constructing canoes and
weapons. OF these the most charac-
teristic is the name catcher. II con-
sists of a loop of rattan cane, with a
spike inserted in the handle The loop
is thrown over the unhappy wretch
who is in retreat, and a vigorous pull
from the arm of the vengefuI captor
jerks the victim upon the spike, pene-
trating the base Of the brain. 1t is
murder reduced to a fine art
Such is the Papuan as Mr.. Walker
depicts him. He Is a pretty low-dOwn
lot, and one finds himself wishing that
the philanthropy plus 5 per cent, by
which 1t is proposed to save him from
determination by civilization, had been
tried on some races, now we'll nigh eX-
tinct, who were more worthy of it.
Il heartily wish so, too" said Mr..
Walker, when that opinion was con-
ffded to him. '1 am under no illusions
as to the Papuan. AS a savage there is
not much to be said in his favor. But
for all that hidden away somewhere
there is some yeast of goodness in him
that may be developed until it makes
of him a man who will use what brains,
skill and strength he has to produce in
stead Of to destroy l speak from
actual knowledge and experience. l
have seen the transformation wrought,
not once, but many times. 1t is not
an untried experiment that L am pro-
posing. 1t has been tried on a small
scale-which was all the available re-
sources would permit-at KwatO and
a few other missionary stations. There
under white supervision can be found
Papuan men and lads doing carpenter
ing work, constructing boats, building
houses, planting and tilling, who, II
left to their own devices, would be
savages, with no conscientious scruples
against any species Of crime, from
murder and cannibalism to arson and
petty larceny"