Page:Picturesque New Guinea.djvu/108

 Packs were dropped, the horses were haltered up in shady nooks, a dozen little fires were speedily burning, whereat the yams and taros of the boys were roasting. A small provision of tobacco was served out, and the bau-bau (bamboo pipe) was passed from mouth to mouth. The method of smoking in New Guinea is peculiar. The pipe used consists of a couple of joints of bamboo of moderate thickness and about thirty inches in length. The tobacco is first wrapped in the green leaf of a particular tree (invariably used for this purpose) and is then inserted in a small orifice bored near the closed end of the pipe. When lighted, the smoke is inhaled from the open end until it fills the tube; then the leaf containing the tobacco is withdrawn, a whiff is inhaled from the orifice that held the weed, and the bau-bau handed to the next smoker, who takes a whiff in turn and passes on the instrument. All the stored fragrance being exhausted, the tobacco is reinserted and the same process repeated until each one of the company has had his satisfying whiff. The New Guinea smoker is not at all particular about the quality of his tobacco; the real virtue of the narcotic indulgence lying rather in the leaf wrappage than in the nicotian weed itself. Most of the bau-baus are embellished with pretty designs resembling somewhat the native tattoo markings. These decorations are burnt into the bamboo with a glowing slice of the sheating leaf of the cocoanut kept at almost white heat by the native artist blowing upon it. The end of the glowing ember forms a fine point which, on being slowly moved along the desired lines, leaves indelible tracks.

A billy of tea and some tinned provisions, with an hour's rest, refreshed us sufficiently, and we resumed our journey. The route for about five miles was tolerably level, the country traversed being heavily grassed and admirably adapted for horse breeding. Hearing the cries of some natives in the distance, we learned from our boys that these denoted a body of Koiaris out on a kangaroo-hunting expedition. Crossing a watercourse, the sides of which were densely fringed with rabia (sago) palms, we came upon the hunting party, numbering about a hundred. They were all armed with light hunting spears, and their sole clothing was a bit of string girt round the waist. At several fires