For the
last two nights the women have been in the village, but every sound heard
causes a shout. Last night, when just getting off, they came rushing up
to our house, and calling on us to get up with our guns, as their enemies
were coming. "Only fire off one, and it will frighten them away." We
told them to go and sleep, and not be afraid.
The state of fear of one another in which the savage lives is truly
pitiful; to him every stranger seeks his life, and so does every other
savage. The falling of a dry leaf at night, the tread of a pig, or the
passage of a bird all rouse him, and he trembles with fear.
How they relish salt! The smallest grain is picked carefully up.
Fortunately we have a good deal of that commodity. Never have I seen
salt-eating like this; only children eating sugar corresponds to it.
Here as in all other parts of New Guinea--it is not the most powerful man
who fights and kills most, but little abominable sneaks, treacherous in
the extreme. Since our arrival here we find the thermometer from 82 to
84 degrees during the day, and as low as 68 degrees, more frequently 70
degrees, during the night.
Pages:
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130