Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-01
SPEAKER REVEALS
NEW GUINEA HABITS
Or. {. w. BrandeS Tells of
Primitive Natives of Dor
mant Island.

A land where widows weeds" consist
of thigh bones of their late husbands
hanging about their waist, where ma
tives prefer the meat of snakes, lizards
and worms unless they can get human
flesh and where Sorcery dogs the steps
and dominates the lives of all the peo-
pie from the cradle to the graVe-Such
is New Guinea, according to DR.. E. w.
Brandes, who addressed members OF the
National Geographic Society last night
at the Washington Auditorium.
DR.. Brandes, a representative OF the
United States Department of Agrlcul-
ture, went to the Island of New Guinea,
or Papua, as it is more properly known,
in search Of new varieties of sugar cane.
1t was hoped that these varieties might
be used in developing plants capable OF
resisting the mosaic disease that caused
great losses among American sugar pro-
ducers a few years ago. A large num-
Der of cuttings were obtained and are
being grown at the cane-breedlng sta
ton of the Department of Agriculture
in the Everglades of Florida.
New Guinea, DR.. Brandes pointed out
embraces the greatest tropical region
in the world that has been practically
unaffected by white civilization. The
island has an area of 100000 square
miles and is thus one and one-f1fth
times as large as the State of Texas or
more than six times the size of New
York State. In the interior, he de-
clared, are regions which in the asgre-
gate are greater than the British Isles,
peopled by neolithic men whose oeyel-
opment has been delayed so that they
are now at a stage of culture similar
to that of the Cromagnons who in
hsbited Southern Europe more than
$4,000 years ago.
Ignored 400 Years.
Although discovered in 1911, New
Guinea was almost ignored by eXplor-
ers for more than 400 years and its
sea coast was not completely charted
until the latter part of the nineteenth
century. Most of the island still re-
mains untouched by white invasion, the
few white settlers being confined to
sections of the coast country. There
are now probably less than 5000 whites
in the entire island. Much fertile land
lies in the interior, DR.. BrandeS said
He considers the island in reality rich
empire which is lying dormant until
the rest of the world needs its poten-
tial products.
DR.. Brandes and his companions de-
cided to use a seaplane in penetrating
the interior of the island because of the
special travel problems that were pre-
sented by the terrain. Overland travel
was impracticable because there are no
roads and very few trails in the interior
Use of a land plane was out of TIE
question because no landing places were
available. 1t was believed that sea-
plane would be practicable because OF
the many rivers and lakes, and this
proved to be true. Travel by seaplane
had its difficulties, however especially
on the rivers where there were many
floating logs and trees washed down by
the torrential streams.
Motion pictures showed the extremely
primitive black natives of the more
Isolated region and their crude imple-
ments and shelters. To these people,
DR.. BrandeS said, the valley in which
they live Is their universe. They do
not know what the world is like beyond
their mountains and apparently have
not speculated about it. When DR..
Brandes landed in the territory of such
q tribe he was hailed as a god as a
matter of course.
CannibaIism Common.
In other sections somewhat more adj
vanced people were found who build
large communal structures. Even these
people, however, were found to have
amazingly savage customs. They in
dulge in raids and massacres and the
collection of such gruesome objects as
human heads and jawbones. Cannibal-
iStic orgies are common and for every
day fare the natives show a fondness
for toasted grubs, snakes and lizards.
A successful warrior has the privilege
of biting off the nose of his captured
enemy. Sorcery is practiced through
out the island and the natives seem in
constant fear of invisible forces.
New Guinea has great rivers, fed by
extremely heavy rainfall as well as
melting snow from the lofty mountains.
Three rivers are reputed to have a
greater discharge than the Mississippi
The Fly River has a funnel-shaped
estuary 40 miles wide at its mouth.
Up the river rushes a great white
crested wall of water like the bore OF
the Yangtze and the Bay of Fundy.
The bore extends inland 100 miles.