The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-02-03
CANNIBAL, But TIMID
People of New Hebrides Not
a Savage Race.
THEIR NUMBER IS DECREASING
Have No Sense OF Value of Human
Life, bat Live In Constant Dread.
of Their FayOrite Pastfmes In
duIged Ina Primitive Existence.

From the London Telegraph.
a picture of a most remarkable race. OF
whom very little Is known in this coun-
try the eannibals Of the New Hebrides.
from whom the "Kanakas" are drawu-ls
given by Mr. Everett Thurn, high com
missioner for the Western Pacific. in an
account Of a visit 10 be paid to the islands
IN the summer. His report is attached 10
the correspondence between the home and
Australian governments relative 10 the re-
cent convention with France as 10 the
New Hebrides, which was issued recently
as a Blue Book
There can be no doubt observes the
commissioner, that these natives have
decreased very greatly in number since
the days Of De Bougainvilie and Capt.
Cook, and that this decrease is now TAX
ing place at much more rapid rate.
Nothing can change, and, therefore, save
the race as whole from determination
in its struggle for existence with the in
coming European race; and the most-that
can be done IS 10 save as many individuals
as possible by absorbing them through
the missionaries, OF through the labor
traders. into the stronger race, and 10
alleviate. as far as possible. the death
struggle
THE New Hebrideans. as when first
seen, are not race. but a collection OF
small fragments Of different races for
tuitously brought to these islands BIZ the
winds and the waves from distant places
in the seas to the eastward and the west
ward Generally each group Of families
for that is really the most definite desig-
nation that can be given 10 the social unit
speaks a different language to its i'm
mediate neighbors on the same small IS
land. or at most on the next; each group
differs. too. in its habits and its simple
arts. and even in physical appearance.
Each lives as a stranger in a strange land,
having as little as possible 10 DO with its
neighbors-unless. possibly. It wants
lneighbor as an article Of food. NOT, as
rule, has each group any chief, except
such as may Tor the moment contrive u
exercise most personal influence. Nor
either within each group. OF within the
groups as a whole. IS there anything rep
resentng law even in its most elementary
form
Full Of Imaginary Fears.
BY a strange misconception and abuse
( Of terms these people are often spoken q
/ as fierce savages constantly engaged in
internecine war. They are not savages in
/ the ordinary connotation of the term.
though they are 'savages'-i. e.. 'silvages
/ or people OF the woods'-in the true
/ sense. IN place Of being fierce. they are
as timid people as any on the face OF
/ the earth hardly ventUring beyond thei-
I own villages for fear Of an imaginary
/ enemy behind each bush, and for fear al
most of their own shadows They wage no
/ internecine war, bat being absolutely
without sense of the value Of human life
without any sense Of hUmsnity-thev
/ kill on any provocation, be II merely by
/ their own hunger, as we. without any
/ qualm Of conscience. KIN q rabbit. or be
/ it by the real or imaginary Ofense % an
( other man. as We biamelessly kin a mos
/ quito which has bitten or might bite us.
/ These are not n people on whom il Is Tea-
( sonahle in US 10 pour abuse; our true
/ course IS 10 reform them If We can. or.
/ If this is impossible then to see that they
do Us no injury till they reach the iuev-
+ table end Of final vanishing from the
! earth
1T is difficult to depict the absence Of
/ comfort-I purposely abstain from saying
misery, for probably the New Hebridean
+ is not susceptible to misery IN our sense
of the word-in which the heather native
( Of tie New Hebrides lives He-she is
/ merely a domestic animal somewhat less
considered than the more or less numer-
Gus pigs which chiefly represent the
/ mans wealth-liyes with his family OF
women. children. and pigs. in a roughly
! constructed leaf shelter. like roof sci
on the ground. without walls or floor
The earth under this smoke BACKED and
dust-covered roof is thick with the ashes
I OF old fires and with the refuse Of innu-
I mersble meals. There Is nothing. not
even few sticks set in the ground, 10
represent furniture. and there are abso-
lutely no cooking utensils. for all cooking
! is done simply by heating with hot stones
/ in a hide dug in the ground.
Their Tiny Villages.
Possibly two or three. OF even a
dozen. such shelters constitute village;
possibly this is surrounded by a waffle
fence, or even a low stone fence. intended
20 exclude the pigs but generally so
broken as TO admit and retain the pigs
about the houses. The village is generally
constructed up in the hills, and away
from the coast, and is always concealed
among thick trees. 10 guard against at
lacks by neighbors. Or in some cases
villages. also for safety's sake. occupy
tiny Islands lying close of the shore Of
the bigger islands. and in these cases
the village is protected by an intricate
system OF surely very Ineffective loose
stone walls
Wherever the village is situated. the
garden. where the man grows the vans,
taro and native cabbage. and possibly
Il few cOcOanuts and few pumpkins
which form the sole ordinary food Of HIS
family manifest and pork are. after all,
only for occasional feasts-is situated on
the low rich ground near the sea To this
garden the native, with HIS family. resorts
at early morning. and he goes there with
the full consciousness that the people
from the hills or from the islands. as the
case may be, often are, and always may
he. creeping UP under shelter Of the trees
TO shoot him or his with rifle or poisoned
EarrOw. Or, perhaps, as often when the
gardeners easy task for the day is done.
he, in turn, gives vent 10 his sporting
instincts by creeping away. always under
the shelter of the dense tree growth. on
the chance of getting a shot at some man,
woman, or child of a not too distanct
village