Page:Picturesque New Guinea.djvu/209

 usual platform is in front of every tenement, but many of them have this peculiarity, that access is gained by a sort of manhole in the floor, eight or nine feet from the ground, and reached by a ladder, which can be drawn up into the building at pleasure. Our host showed us with pride three different houses belonging to him, each presided over by a separate individual in the shape of a wife. He was, however, bound to confess that this "unicorn" team was as much as he could drive, and that he was obliged to breakfast in one hut, lunch in another, and dine in a third, distributing his other attentions impartially, or an outburst of jealousy was the result. In the centre of the village we found an open space or square with a sanctuary in the middle. It consisted of a framework of logs, about three feet high, filled with earth inside, and surmounted by a kind of scaffold, from which half a dozen skulls, ornamented with strings of cowrie shells and streamers of Pandanus were suspended. On the mound beneath more skulls and other human bones were scattered. These were supposed to be the remains of a party of bêche-de-mer fishers, murdered some years ago by the Aroma people. Dilapidated and repulsive looking as the spot looked, overgrown with weeds, and ghastly with human debris, it was interesting enough to record photographically, but the conditions rendered this impossible, the high wind swaying about the suspended skulls in a manner which would blur any sun picture. I offered almost any price (in tobacco) to induce the natives to go up and steady the skulls while the picture was being taken, but nothing would induce them to undertake the task, and most reluctantly I was compelled to trust to the pen, unaided by the camera, for a description of this curious and interesting spot. The protection from the wind afforded by the buildings enabled me to get some street scenes which I valued as indicative of the methodical and orderly habits of the natives. On our way back to the ship we met hundreds of natives who had flocked to see the big ship and its inmates, with an ulterior view of tobacco. We halted for a brief space at Tenaori's place, and I succeeded in picking up a few curiosities. The native teachers and their wives, on the General's invitation, came off to the ship, and were regaled with nuts, biscuits, and other delicacies,