Page:Picturesque New Guinea.djvu/189

 teacher, Tau, informed us that the people are still somewhat predatory in their habits, his chest having on one occasion been broken open and eight pounds of tobacco stolen. On complaint being made to the chief, he compelled restitution of all the unconsumed tobacco and gave Tau a large pig to make up the difference. A large portion of the village was recently destroyed by fire, and is now in course of re-building. Among other curious sights we were shown the price or dowry of a wife heaped up on the platform of one of the houses. It consisted of a quantity of all kinds of New Guinea goods and chattels, pots, earthenware, and wooden weapons, bird of paradise plumes, baskets of yams, bunches of bananas and other produce. Among the articles were two pigs tied up underneath the house. The bride herself sat all smiles on the verandah above, over her earthly treasures, with as much pride as any white sister might feel on exhibiting her trousseau. I regretted that owing to the lateness of the evening I could not secure a picture of this curious scene, but managed to give the lady a prominent place in a group next morning. Skin disease is also rife here. We saw a young man walking about the village with his arm round his sweetheart's neck, both of them frightfully afflicted. He had a sore on his leg above the ankle, laying bare the bone, while she, not naturally ill-favoured, was covered with large patches which made her look positively mangy. Still, neither of them seemed to mind it in the least, and looked supremely happy. The head-dresses of marriageable girls are picturesque, their hair being frizzed and decorated with pink shells from Port Moresby, highly valued by them, strings of Venetian glass beads procured from the traders being woven in. All the women are tattooed from head to foot, and a peculiar necklace-like V-shaped mark, ending in a peak between the breasts, indicated those engaged or married. These cuticular devices, although obvious enough to the eye, do not show in a photograph unless picked out with black or some colour, a proceeding too tedious to perform even if they should be willing to submit to it. During our stay with Tau the house, doorways, and ladders on both sides were constantly crowded with natives attracted by motives of curiosity, and anxious to get a bit of tobacco or even the stump of a cigar. I commissioned Tau to buy