The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1920-01-16

anu customs OHlcerS search TOURISTS
luggage very diligently for any hidden
piece of plumage. The wing or tail of
a bird will be worth hundreds of
pounds-one reason why they are sell
dom seen in ladies' bonnets nowadays.
Some Wonderful Insects.
In this wonderland Of Papua is found
the islands speciality, the giant butter
fly. These beautiful, many-colored in
sects measure from twelve to eighteen
inches from wing-tip to wing-tip, and
they have bodies the size of a small
bird. Specimens of these butterflies
are to be seen in the collection of the
late Baron ROthschild, who sent out to
Papua a scientist to collect rare in
sects and birds. Another marvellous
insect, Of the cricket class, is what is
popularity called the "Six O'Clock" bee
tie. This little creature exists abun-
dainty, and is really wonderful in its
habits. 1t gets its name from the fact
that every night at precisely six O'clock
it gives forth a resonant, far-reaching
chirp, exactly like loud electric bell.
In the mountains of Papua roam
pigmy-sized people, the pure Papuans.
They are race quite distinct from the
coastal peoples, and with customs that
are very primitive and strange. Though
small, they are perfect in stature, and
the young people are quite cookbook
ing. They are now fast coming with
in the pale of civilization, owing to the
splendid work of the travelling magis-
trates of the Papuan administration
very fine body of civil servants. A
few years back, before these magis-
trates got in touch with these people,
they were constantly at war, one tribe
fighting another, sometimes destroying
or wiping out whole villages, or, more
often, killing the men and carrying off
the women. Men and women dress
very meagerly-in fact, their main COW
ering is necklaces Of dogs teeth or
shells, with long white bone pencil
stuck through the lower portion Of the
nose, and called ''nose-sticks." The
men paint their bodies with red and
yellow pigments. and carry big bows
and arrows, much bigger than them
selves. The women, always very sub
ject to the men, are silent and shy,
and do not decorate themselves much.
In time of widowhood or family mourn
ing they blacken their faces and hair,
very black, with charcoal, CIV
Ing them most grotesque appearance.
While the natives of the coast lands of
Papua demand tobacco as a present,
the hill peoples delight In common
coarse salt, and, given handful, they
will treasure it up to make 1t last as
long as possible.
Huts Built Up on Poles.
The native villages have the huts
built up on poles, and. while the family
live on the upper story, pigs wallow in
awful filth below, and. in consequence,
1t is possible to smell village miles
away. These people are very fond of
dogs and pigs as pets. Pigs are nat
ural to the island. but dogs are not,
and this is how the natives came to get
them: Many years ago. when Papua
(then called New Guinea) was only oc-
visited by some plucky Brit
lsh traders. dog belonging to one of
them proved an immense attraction to
the natives; and the trader, seeing a
good opportunity to make money-or
rather, cheap way to get large sup
plies of copra (dried cocoanut for oil
Of which the natives had plenty to bar
Ter away-went to Australia and in one
IF the Queensland towns bought up all |
he mongrel dogs that could be had. !
He got quite a ship full. and returned
10 Papua, doing roaring trade, every |
log selling for at least over twenty |
that value in copra. In |
urn, the coastal natives bartered their |
logs to the mountain natives, but the |
breeds from mongrels have deteri- |
grated until the wretched things now |
;een are hairless, ugly creatures, petted |