The Western Pacific and New Guinea

THE WESTERN PACIFIC AND NEW GUINEA /J, THE -WESTEEN PACIFIC AND NEW GUINEA': NOTES ON THE NATIVES, CHRISTIAN AND CANNIBAL, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE OLD LABOUR TRADE. HUGH HASTINGS ROMILLY, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOB THE WESTERN PACIFIC, AND ACTING SPECIAL COMMISSIONER FOR NEW GinNEA. J0/> -, ^ ^ 3 5 ®*ji3*3 r^ LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1886. f^1 ^^1 n LONDON : PRINTED BT WILLIAM CLOWHS AKD SOKS, LnnTED, 8TAKF0RD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. PREFACE. The which were sent home some I following pages, I' months were written while the writer was I ago, a tedious illness from active I incapacitated by I occupation. They have been shown to a few friends at home, who have found so much of interest and of novelty in them, that they consider that the would also read them with and public pleasure ; in the hope that the result of their publication will justify this opinion, it has been decided to print them for general circulation. It is, perhaps, fair to the author to add that, in a letter which has been recently received vi Preface. " from him, he says it was an occupation in the wet season in New Guinea, but I seriously doubt if it is worth publishing. It amused me to write, but it is very deficient in the matter of giving information." E. K. London, February, 1886. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE Introduction ... ... ... ... i I. Thb Islands and the Islanders ... 8 II. New Britain ... ... ... ... 20 III. Cannibalism in New Ireland ... 38 IV. Solomon Islands ... ... ... 63 V. Poisoned Arrows ... ... ... 92 VI. A Cruise in Southern Seas ... ... 109 VII. Other Islands ... ... ... 141 VIII. Two Small British Possessions ... ... 157 ' IX. The Old Labour Trade ... ... 171 X. White Men in the Pacific ... ... 191 XI. Bully Hayes ... ... ... 208 XII. New Guinea ... ... ... ... 218 THE WESTERN PACIFIC AND NEW GUINEA. i:n^teoductiok In the following pages it is not intended to attempt to give any very thorough description of particular groups of islands or of their inhabitants. The duration of my stay in the places I write of never exceeded six months, whereas it would take fully that number of years to acquire even a moderately correct acquaintance with the various habits, languages,. and dispositions of all the different races to be found there. It would. take many years even to visit and land on every island in what is known as the Western Pacific, and there are some small islands about the north-east coast of New Guinea which remain to this day unvisited. It is, perhaps, not too much to say that there are probably some islands which have never even been sighted. In support of this statement, I may mention that, so late B ' * ***'*•***• * " *• *2 'Introduction. as in H.M.S. Cormorant the year 1879, Captain Bruce, ^ discovered and roughly placed a small group to the northward of the Louisiades, and that in 1881, during my cruise in the Beagle, we sighted a small island to the northward of Astrolabe Bay, New Guinea, which was not in the charts. That part of the Pacific has always been quite out of the track of ships. Island trade has not extended in that direction, which is far removed from any of the great ocean highways. It is true that in exceptionally fine weather a few steamers from Hong Kong to the Australian ports choose the short cut through Dampier Straits, but they have to hug the New Britain coast to avoid the innumerable reefs and shoals and small islands off the opposite coast of New Guinea. Possibly, however, when correct charts of these coasts and of the Louisiades have been made, the route through China Straits and Dampier Straits may be the one generally adopted. It would be a clear saving of two days in time from Australia to China, a consideration of some importance in these days. Till clearly defined tracks had been laid down, Torres Straits used to be considered equally dangerous for navigation, but now large ocean steamers are con- stantly passing through without even anchoring at night. It should be explained that the term "Western Pacific," which represents a slice of some fifteen million square mdes of land and ocean, in reality describes a Introduction. tract lying as much to the eastward as it does to the westward of the meridian of Greenwich, and is therefore rather a misnomer. It is more convenient, however, to describe it in that manner than to be obliged to talk of the North-Eastern or South-Western Pacific. For six or seven months of the year, in the season of the south-east trade-winds, there can be no more delightful place than the Western Pacific to cruise in. The average temperature at that season ranges from is for for 80° to 85°, which not too hot comfort ; and lovers of beautiful scenery the coral islands are known to stand unrivalled. Of late years these islands have been much visited by gentlemen of independent means, who have given many of their observations to the world in the shape of books but some rather ; occasionally astonishing statements creep into these works. Ignorance of native languages prevents these travellers from collecting information from native sources, and is often the cause " " of their mistakes. More than one old hand has told me that the sight of the note-book in the Globe- trotter's hand prompted him to draw on his imagina- tion to a rather immoral extent, and caused him to supply ready-made facts which would astonish no one so much as the natives themselves. In one respect, the man who stays only a week in a Western Pacific island has an advantage over the man who stays a year. He writes down everything which strikes him as being remarkable, and attempts to Introduction. explain or give a reason for it. The man who stays for a year in a native community becomes so familiarized with native habits and customs that nothing strikes him £is being remarkable. If he attempts to describe what he sees, he will omit much that is of real interest, because he does not think it worthy of notice. But the stranger who stays a few days only will state what he actually observes, and his observations will therefore possess a greater value than those of the longer resident. But when the stranger attempts, as he invariably does, to assign reasons for certain customs, such as ascribing to superstition what may be merely matter of etiquette, he always comes to grief He is perfectly sincere, and believes firmly that a residence of a few days is sufficient to enable him to collect information which the oldest residents do not possess ; and he writes his book, quite unconscious of the fact that a six months' stay in any country he had described would cause him to abandon all his former theories, and begin his investigations anew. If he were to prolong his stay he would soon recognize the fact that no in- timate communication can be held with a native rac« without knowing their language. But even assuming a tolerable knowledge of the language, there are many things which a native either dares not or does not care to talk about. Some of the islanders, especially in the less known groups, credit a stranger with the possession of so much knowledge that they consider questions, put with a view to elicit ordi- Introduction, nary pieces of information, absurdly foolish. A good deal of art also lies in the way of putting a question, in order to obtain a truthful answer. In some parts of New Britain, if a stranger were to " " ask, Are there men with tails in the mountains ? he " " would probably be answered Yes : that being the answer which the New Briton would imagine was expected of him, and would be likely to give most satis- faction. The train of thought in his mind would prob- " ably be something like this : He must know that there are no such men, but he cannot have asked so foolish a question without an object, and therefore he wishes me ' " " " to say Yes.' Of course the first yes leads to many others, and in a very short time everything is known about these tailed men, and a full account of them is probably sent home, with full and interesting details as to how they make a hole in the ground with their spears before they can sit down comfortably, and so on. Questions like this have been asked so frequently in some groups, that the people at last came to believe that the white man knows better than they do, and then they will reach the stage of believing their stories themselves, and at that point investigation becomes well-nigh impossible. In some parts of New Guinea the natives will swear by all their gods, that there are men with tails in the mountains, and moreover they will get very angry with if disbelieve it you you them ; but must be remembered that their knowledge of the interior of their own country Introdiiction. is very small, and that the idea, which, unsuggested, would never have occurred to them, was originally put into their minds by white men, and has since assumed formidable dimensions. Captain Cook himself put this question, and received an aflirmative answer, but he does not appear to have believed the story. While on this subject, I must bear witness to the accuracy of Captain Cook's statements, which whenever he speaks from his own knowledge is extraordinary, especially when one considers that he had every induce- ment to exaggerate.

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