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Chalmers, James, 1841-1901

"Adventures in New Guinea"

Evil spirits reign over them, and the
utterance of every rascally spiritist is thoroughly believed.
They seem very much attached to their children, and in their own peculiar
way, I dare say, love their wives. Husband and wife meeting after a
separation is strange. Some who returned with us had been away for a
fortnight; their wives looked pleased when they saw them, so did the
husbands; not a word was spoken, only a look; clubs and spears were put
down, and the husbands went to where other men were sitting, the wives to
light fires and cook food; when cooked, the wife took it to the husband,
who ate a little, gave away some, and then went and sat by his wife. I
have noticed that the wives are particularly happy when preparing this
return food. Oriope's wife, who accompanied us, is ill with a cold; I
wished her to take a dose of chlorodyne, but she cried and hesitated
much; the old man then took the cup and told her to look; he drank some
of it, said it was not bad, and then pressed her to drink it off, which
she did.


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