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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1904)
I wtm jmsm to mm mm. Wfior?I3um;ui BeiiiS$Lny and Ievoiir Dne Another ens about ITheirKests isrMIort. .Beautiful ana vhw Man is Most file . A mm E. PRATT has Just returned unscathed to hl English home after two year of life among the most savage rare In the world. He hag lived with his aon, a boy of 1!) now. In a region where' human brings alay and devour one another, and where song birds build the moat beautiful gat-li-na about their nests upon the ground. - He has aupped and slept amongst men the moat de praved on earth, amidst scenes the most beautiful, a place where humanity alone ha aunk beneath the lowest level of the beasts, and where the lower forma of life have surpassed in beauty and Intelligence their fellows In other parts of the world. It Is of the Papuan, a little known race of British New Oulnea, thnt A, E. PraVt and his son are now telling London, and their descriptions of the strange aborigines of this re mote part of Auslralaala have astonished all hearers. The monstrous practices In which they Indulge are enhanced la hldeousnesa by the fact that, accord'ng to the returned ex plorers, they are an Intelligent, quick, merry race of men. Alert of mind, comely and strong of body, they laugh delight edly over the unspeakable outrages which they commit. They are not a low browed, skulking, squalid race like other man eating savages, but nimble of mind and muscle, daring peo ple with open countenances and laughing lips. j . Have All Wives They Can Afford. "The Tapuans are polygamlsts," said Mr. Pratt, "and a man may have as many wives as he can support; but, owing tc the great poverty which usually obtains in the Islands, few can keep more thon two. It is curious to note that, al though the Papunn savages are separated from Australia by wily a narrow strait, they are, physically and mentally at Ua st, much higher In the human sca'e. It would be hard to make an exact comparison of their morals,' or Immorals,' but It Is certain that the manner of their most repulsive rit uals is not as revolting In appearance as Is those of the Aus tralians. "The stature of the Papuan varies., Many of the tribes found in the mountainous sections are of splendid, command ing physiques. Thla Is especially true of those living near the German frontier; but there are some tribes of small stat ure In the mountains and many men of notable size and trength near the sea coast. The Matuans are a tribe of fair sued people who live In the lowlands, but near Port Moresby there Is a tribe of small Papuans who are the most singular human beings I have seen. They are almost amphibious In tlitlr daily habits, adapting themselves from Infancy to the Hater with as much ease as to land life. They are actually neb footed, a hereditary mark of ancient aquatlo habits." Cannibal Rites at Festivals. It Is when tribe meets tribe on festive occasions that what t may call murder Is done between the merrymakers, ana that men, women, and children actually feast upon the cooked flesh of fellow creatures. It is when the mirth Is at its highest that one of these laughing, singing tribesmen eptars his rival or his tribal adversa-y. Nor does the most timid Papuan look upon such a tragedy as other than a Jolly Juke, a cause for laughter, a proof that the festival has proved a grand success. At other than a festival the slaying cf a tribesman means war with the tribe of the slayer, ana the victims of battle supply the victors' commissariat Some tribes actually slay and devour the people of their own tribes, striking them down In cold blood, hesitating not to gorge themselves upon the flesh of their own relatives. Nor la there In this monstrus practice any evidence of malignity. The corpae Is looked upon as proper food. The killing Is done by the village butcher as a matter of courae. There Is no grief manifested, and it Is likely that none Is felt Contradictory as It may seem, these Papuans, according v to Mr. Pratt, are not devoid of all gentle or affectionate traits. They have, too, a sense of what civilized people call honor. They do not cheat or lie readily, as many aborigine do. and in their dealings with him they proved both trust worthy and trusting In most cases. The tribes with which he vlBlted proved themselves to be loyal and Indefatigable In bis service, reciprocating his fair treatment, responding to his kindness, and quickly learned everything he could teach them. Man's Life Worth a Pig. But while we were encamped at Kebea," he ays. " ona morning we received an unpleasant surprise. The natives (fa village on an opposite ridge, within calling distance, shouted over to us that they had killed and eaten the brother or one of my best hunters. Ow Bow. The slain Papuan him self was a faithful and trusted guide. There was great ex citement, and the brother of the murdered man, summoning all the other villagers, came and demanded all the guns and rifles to go to this village and shoot ill these people, which, of course, I refused. The noise was terrible, and it went on f W ' WW. 7 wmm . - A d ' - ll tS '. T 1 Id THE CURIOUS DRUMS 5 r, ( lj - .. ....... p V m 'of X'Vt. N 1111 U 4 ! r .t OF THE TUGFRI (HUTCH NEW GUINEA), Tht My cf Ike drum it cut nn,t holUxetti fivm it teltJ tiling 4 cKiioHily tantJ, 1'he han.ile ih it cut ftom lk tviJ eg, Tkt liiumhiKilt tin cf hinnt-ikiii. natural aptitude business showing at least Lacking. Want to Eat Traveler's Son. "Oh one occasion," continued Mr. Pratt. "I had to send my son, then a boy of 18, who had acquired the language, to Ekelkel with a small following to get much needed supplies. Ihe native carriers feared to go, and I dreaded the worst that might happen. They finally agreed to accompany my son, who was well armed with modern weapons, and the Journey was accomplished In safety until the party was half way on its return. There they passed a village near whlcn a man had been murdered, and the villagers, suspecting out party, demanded that my son be given up to be killed and eaten. Our party made as to take counsel over the matter. Night fell quickly, and In the darkness, by hard and con stant running, my boy and his followers came off In safety. I do not think that a youth of 18 has ever conducted so has ardous a Journey in Papua."'' Mr. Pratt describes the ornithology of Papua as including the oddest and most beautiful examples of bird life he has known. There he saw the marvelous bluebirds of paradise, one of the latest discoveries, and there he watched, aston ished, the splendid bower bird, which builds upon the ground a nest that Is a true bird cottage, which makes about Its door a garden of orchid blooms plucked in tho wilderness, rnd which actually dances with Its mate among the well ordered rows of flowers. x The Papuans are good hunuters, but bad farmers. They guard their women while the latter work, but most of their agriculture Is a failure. In hunting they drive the wild pig, the cassowary, and the walloby Into ingeniously contrived A WEIRD TRIBAL DANCt. At wettings of tht tribes, on festive occasions, is enacted jthj. dance here depicted. The headdress is mad 'f grass fibre, and the strange armlets are woven of p,mdanus fibre. The necklaces are of dogs' teeth ; the anklets are of feather-work. , The central figure in tht dance wears huge headdress of bira aradist plumes surmounted by a gigantic aigrette of parrots" feathers. The dancers wear great bunches (f 'grass Itfhind, and carry light grasi wands purely for decor-itive effect. The nose ornament it worked from tht curl of a shell brought by the Kabadi people from tht toast, and traded with the Mafulu people for pigs and produce of their rich valley. These ornaments are greatly coveted, but art so rare that small villages have only one, and tht young daitdiet have to take turns in wearing tt. During these dances old tribal scores art often paid off, and a man finds opportunity to spear his adversary. PAINT AS MOURNINO! A PAPUAN Fl'NFRAL i THR WIDOW', PAINIFI) 1)1. ACK, FOLLOW! NO HER Ht'SHANlS CORPSt. . runways made of grass. 'They flsh In the low countries with hand made nets, and their weapons are spears, bows and arrows, and clubs. They have a system of spreading news and communicating from village to village by shouting to one another across the valleys and gorges, the words spread ing from hilltop to hilltop with wonderful rapidity. Near Hood's bay the Pratt party visited the Motu-Motu people, the mysteries of New Oulnea, for they are piebald and the white spots upon their black flesh has never beenxplalnea by scientists who have seen them. , s' I ... ' ,6: i i .T XI. L Kf mi " w BUVINO A WIFK; A PAPUAN WOOINO. The tuitor vffrit tout portion ef kit venlAa trail tliell oi a vrcklace of . ofi' httlt, or, most valuable ef all, a ihell aitiitrt. If lit it irtaltliy the price it raitrit ticioiJiuy iy Ike item falkrr Tke bride tilt near at hand ilmiiiis Ike bargaining. IHE TORCH SIONAl I A HIOHT VISIT TO THE EXPLORER'S CAMP. Tt gturd mgniMtt tthui, ir. Pmit erdtrtd tie utHvee, ft titili-r k,m tit igkl, U cany hrxket, and kail tke tmmf from distance beore entering. i .v .vi J .. -ti i.miar v. hv h. tribesmen of the human victim. The the victims usually waiting In advantageous placea to apeat throughout the day. Tben.-on the third day an MM l a feast w proclaUned. and my villagers the oftender. at the first opportunity." arrived from the other village and ; B?unead ' JJ ra Seiihted with th iTtu' ment On ordinary occasion. Mr. Pratt', party, by dint of uniformly fair treatment of were willing to give a pig as pay for the murdered man, ana ere delighted with tne scuiemen . frlend- of the nattve, had comparatively little trouble. Upon first outlantob proposition wa. not only promptly accepted of tw. kind It would have been a Ufa for a life, the friend. xj the Pratt expedition found that it. )Clt,U,UH - " i.. n v. a m .ki.h am the lournev monev of the Papuans. muyyij ui mau " ....... - - - . . was exhausted. To go back at that time would have been too great a delay. It was impossible to go forward without either paying the natives for their services and supplies or establishing aome kind of a credit system with them. Mr. Pratt chose the latter plan. The natives at once grasped the cause and meaning of It and permitted the party to open an account On another occasion, passing from the boundaries ot a tribe to which he had paid many beads, he sought to borrow back this supply of the standard exchange of the realm, promising to return the lon with Interest Men, women, fnd children fell In with the suggestion at once, - ' -1 t ti iny"i-r5 O t - '; tt'ilkW -"". Wlf I'Ml'A NX'S- A FKATHEKEO AK1IST! THE BOWER-IUKD AND ITS WONDERFUL GARDEN. Aist tnh does tht bower-birj build one of tht most wonderful nests known to naturaluts, but it actually liyt -out a gird.n. It picks the blowns of onhidt, and arrmigct them in alternate lines of mauve and white. I Among these rows of flowers it dances to its mate.