The Washington herald., 1920-10-21
MILADY TAMES
SAVAGE CHIEF
Head of Big Numbers Jun
gle Tribe Yields to Eter-
nal Feminine.
KEEPS WIVES 'HERDED'
Natives Consider Woman in
General as Just About
Worthless. -
KEEPS WIVES 'HERDED'
By wINIFRED VAN DUZER.

Nt" 1OIh OCNs AC SNti hNA
American feminine has penetrated
Malekula, most remote of the New
Hebrides Islands, and most savage
corner of all the earth.
And although Chief Naganate of
Big Numbers" jungle tribe-he of
the faggot-pierced nose and the
taste for warm human blood-still
houses tho women of his household
in a stockade pen, as utterly un-
worthy creatures, he nevertheless
! has bowed the knee and bent his
wicked head in tribute to a member
of what the entire South Sea still
is pleased to regard as the inferior
sex.
Conquered by L. s. Girl.
Sitting midst the luxurious sur
rcundings of her apartment in the
Astor. with the more or less ultra
| civilization of Broadway roaring be-
| low, and with her petite person
clad in a day y-after-tomOrrow pro-
! duct Of Fifth avenue, the American
| girl. whose smile conquered Chief
Nagapate, told ME of her visit to
the place where humanity is as the
human race was more billions OF
years ago than the mind may con-
ceive, together with the story of the
chiefs homage.
She is Mrs. Rosa Johnson, and
with her husband, Martin Johnson.
famed explorer who was the COM
panion of Jack London on his
Cruise of the Shark" she just has
. landed in New York from a sail
steamship Chinese junket and
tramp steamer journey of more than
a hundred days from Singapore. The
journey was the last lap of their
travels which began almost two
years ago, and which took them
through Honolulu, Samoa, Australia
and then twenty-five hundred miles
farther on to the New Hebrides and
finally Borneo, in search of movie
films and adventure.
Cure for Crows Feet.
wearied and sparkling as might
some stay-at- home beauty who
never has seen a fever swamp or
been chased by a wild elephant,
Ciggled a little when she gave all
her reasons for looking upon the
Jungle as a cure for crows feet
and tired nerves. But first she told
of Chief Nagapate's capitulatiOn
and of the place women occupy
upon Malekula. She said:
"WOman's place isn't even in the
( home there. It's out in the open
| behind a stockade made tall and
strong so she couldn't get outside,
even if she wanted to, which she
doesn't" she said. In Nagapate's
regime she Is on an exact level
with the dust. except that she is
useful to work in the fields and
/ to build the huts of bark and
I leaves" Mrs. Johnson went on. she
Is not allowed to bathe, even. water
upon her miserable body being
tabu."
Ignored at Ffrst.-
"Nagapate received my husband
courteOusly, but ignored me- A lit
tie after that time he began to see
that l amounted to something in
our party / suppose a woman with
clothes on was a novelty to him
Women of Malekula don't wear any
at all. and the mems costume is
very sketchy indeed-just a bark
belt with a doormat-looking ap-
pendage.
Also, I had my oxn gun, and
could hit what l shot at, and | had
my own movie camera. Then we
made occasional gifts to the chief,
and my husband always insisted
that 1 conduct the ceremonies.
1t all impressed his huzzy- haired
highness so much that when we
left his territory he made me a
gift 1t was a collection of three O
heads, well preserved, which he
himself had taken in battIew
Will Decorate ManteI.
Mrs. johnson brought the head.
home. and is expecting to. use them
as some sort of mantel ornament
soon as she succeeds in finding an
apartment where the agent will al
low her to keep as pets Bessie, the
65-pound orang outang. and three
little apes, also brought from the
South Sea Islands.
"T suppose we will find such an
apartment eventually" said this girl
who has travelled Borneo farther
than has any other white woman
42O miles straight to the center. But
one of the reasons why It is so much
more restful in the jungle than in
New York is because there is no
housing problem. If you want a
place to live you find a few leaves
and things and build one, and no.
body cares how many pets you
have"
Recipe for Youth.
She then gave me her jungle recipe
for tired nerves and crows feet,
which. it seems, ought to become
famous. 1t goes this way:
"Sit at a table where your royal
host is eating human flesh.
Wake up in the morning to find
you've slept in a guest room CELL
inged and walled with preserved
heads.
Capture a twenty-eight-foo py-
thon.