Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owe - Volume 1, John MacGillivray [read dune txt] 📗

but attached little value to calico, although a gaudy pattern, or bright colour, especially red, was sure to arrest attention; but in such matters they are very capricious. Even glass bottles were prized, probably as a substitute for obsidian or volcanic glass, portions of which I saw among them, used in shaving, as was explained to me, and probably also for carving in wood.

NATIVE LADIES ON BOARD.

August 25th.

Yesterday and today, in addition to upwards of a hundred natives alongside bartering, we were honoured with visits from several parties of the Tassai ladies, in whose favour the prohibition to come on board was repealed for the time. The young women were got up with greater attention to dress and finery than when seen on shore, and some had their face blackened as if to heighten their attractions. The outer petticoat, worn on gala days such as this, differs from the common sort in being much finer in texture and workmanship, besides being dyed red and green, with intermediate bands of straw colour and broad white stripes of palm-leaf. It is made of long bunches of very light and soft shreds, like fine twisted grass, apparently the prepared leaf of a calamus or rattan. None of the women that I saw possessed even a moderate share of beauty (according to our notions) although a few had a pleasing expression and others a very graceful figure, but, on the other hand, many of the boys and young men were strikingly handsome. We had no means of forming a judgment regarding the condition of the women in a social state, but they appeared to be treated by the men as equals and to exercise considerable influence over them. On all occasions they were the loudest talkers, and seemed to act from a perfect right to have everything their own way. It is worthy of mention, that, even in their own village, and on all other occasions where we had an opportunity of observing them, they acted with perfect propriety, and although some indecent allusions were now and then made by the men, this was never done in the presence of the women. Of their marriages we could find out nothing-one man appeared to have two wives, but even this was doubtful. The circumstance of children being daily brought off by their fathers to look at the ship, and the strange things there, indicated a considerable degree of parental affection.

NATIVE DANCES.

Returning to our visitors: the fiddle, fife, and drum were put in requisition, and a dance got up to amuse them. The women could not be persuaded to join, but two of the men treated us to one of their own dances, each having been previously furnished with a native drum or baiatu. They advanced and retreated together by sudden jerks, beating to quick or slow time as required, and chanting an accompanying song, the cadence rising and falling according to the action. The attitude was a singular one-the back straight, chin protruded, knees bent in a crouching position, and the arms advanced; on another occasion, one of the same men exhibited himself before us in a war dance. In one hand he held a large wooden shield, nearly three feet in length and rather more than one in width, and in the other a formidable-looking weapon two feet in length-a portion of the snout of a saw-fish with long sharp teeth projecting on each side. Placing himself in a crouching attitude, with one hand covered by the shield, and holding his weapon in a position to strike, he advanced rapidly in a succession of short bounds, striking the inner side of the shield with his left knee at each jerk, causing the large cowries hung round his waist and ankles to rattle violently. At the same time with fierce gestures he loudly chanted a song of defiance. The remainder of the pantomime was expressive of attack and defence, and exaltation after victory. But a still more curious dance was one performed a few nights ago by a party of natives which had left the ship after sunset and landed abreast of the anchorage. On seeing a number of lights along the beach, we at first thought they proceeded from a fishing party, but on looking through a night-glass, the group was seen to consist of above a dozen people, each carrying a blazing torch, and going through the movements of a dance. At one time they extended rapidly into line, at another closed, dividing into two parties, advancing and retreating, crossing and recrossing, and mixing up with each other. This continued for half an hour, and having apparently been got up for our amusement, a rocket was sent up for theirs, and a blue-light burned, but the dancing had ceased, and the lights disappeared.

ONE REMAINS ON BOARD.

In the evening when the natives were leaving for the shore, one of them volunteered to remain on board on the understanding that some of us should accompany him to Tassai, where, he explained, there would be plenty of dancing and eating, enumerating pigs, dogs, yams, and coconuts, as the component parts of the feast. He was taken down to the wardroom, and shortly underwent a complete metamorphosis, effected by means of a regatta shirt of gaudy pattern, red neckcloth, flannel trousers, a faded drab Taglioni of fashionable cut buttoned up to the throat, and an old black hat stuck on one side of his woolly head. Every now and then he renewed his invitation to go on shore, but was satisfied when given to understand that our visit must be deferred till the morrow.

NATIVE SONG.

He was a merry, active, good-humoured fellow, and gave us a number of songs, one of which I wrote down. Although unfortunately I cannot give an accompanying translation, yet this song exhibits the remarkable softness of the language from the great number of vowels.

Ama watuya boyama Manyure gerri gege udaeno Dagi ginoa dagi gino ama Watu yebbo.

Manyure gerri gege udaeno Dagi egino da' gino ama Watu yebbo-watu yebbo.

Most of them-perhaps all-were extempore, as on turning his attention to the moon, he struck up a song in which the name of that body was frequently mentioned. He was treated to an exhibition of the magic lantern in the cabin by Captain Stanley, and a rocket was sent up to his great astonishment and admiration, which he found words to express in "kaiwa" (fire) "kaiwa, oh! dim dim!"

August 26th.

Our guest became very uneasy when he saw no canoes from the island coming off, and no symptoms of lowering a boat to land him. His invitation to the shore and pantomime of killing a pig were repeated time after time, and he became very despondent. Two canoes from the mainland came alongside, and he got into one which shoved off, but quickly returned and put him on board, as they were not going to the island. The poor fellow at last appeared so miserable, being actually in tears, that a boat was sent to put him on shore abreast of the ship, and, when he landed, two young women and a child came running up to meet him. A number of natives on the sandy beach were anxiously watching the boat, as if the long detention of the man on board the ship had made them suspicious of our treatment of him.

PECULIARITIES OF THE PAPUANS.

Without entering into details of uninteresting daily occurrences, I may here give a general account of such circumstances regarding the natives as have not previously been alluded to or insufficiently described. It would be difficult to state the peculiarities of this portion of the Papuan* Race (including also the inhabitants of the Louisiade) for even the features exhibit nearly as many differences as exist among a miscellaneous collection of individuals of any European nation. They appear to me to be resolvable into several indistinct types, with intermediate gradations; thus occasionally we met with strongly marked Negro characteristics, but still more frequently with the Jewish cast of features, while every now and then a face presented itself which struck me as being perfectly Malayan. In general the head is narrow in front, and wide and very high behind, the face broad from the great projection and height of the cheekbones and depression at the temples; the chin narrow in front, slightly receding, with prominent angles to the jaw; the nose more or less flattened and widened at the wings, with dilated nostrils, a broad, slightly arched and gradually rounded bridge, pulled down at the tip by the use of the nose-stick; and the mouth rather wide, with thickened lips, and incisors flattened on top as if ground down.

(Footnote. As the term Papuan when applied to a Race of Mankind is not strictly correct, I may here mention that whenever used in this work, it includes merely the woolly or frizzled-haired inhabitants of the Louisiade, South-East coast of New Guinea, and the islands of Torres Strait.)

Although the hair of the head is almost invariably woolly, and, if not cropped close, or shaved, frizzled out into a mop, instances were met with in which it had no woolly tendency, but was either in short curls, or long and soft without conveying any harsh feeling to the touch.

COLOUR OF THE HAIR AND SKIN.

In colour too it varied, although usually black, and when long, pale or reddish at the tips;* yet some people of both sexes were observed having it naturally of a bright red colour, but still woolly. The beard and moustache, when present, which is seldom the case, are always scanty, and there is very little scattered hair upon the body.

(*Footnote. Probably artificially produced, as is known to be effected by means of lime water, by the inhabitants of the north-west coast of New Guinea.)

The colour of the skin varies from a light to a dark copper colour, the former being the prevailing hue; individuals of a light yellowish brown hue are often met with, but this colour of the skin is not accompanied by distinctive features.

STATURE AND STRENGTH.

The average stature of these Papuans is less than our own, being only about five feet four inches; this did not appear to be the case when seen alongside, but on board the ship, and especially when clothed, the difference became very apparent. Although well made, and far surpassing us in agility, they were our inferiors in muscular power. Their strength was tested by means of a deep-sea lead weighing twenty-two pounds which none of the natives could hold out at arm's length, although most of us who tried it experienced no difficulty in sustaining the weight for a few seconds.

Among the people who came alongside the ship one day we noticed two cases of that kind of elephantiasis called Barbadoes Leg, in one combined with enormous distension of the scrotum, which was larger than a man's head, and studded with warts. One of these unfortunate objects had both legs much swollen, especially about the ankle, where the skin was almost obliterated by large scab-like warts, the other, besides the diseased leg, had a huge tumour on the inner side of the right thigh.

WEAPONS.

The weapons procured at this place consist of spears, clubs, a wooden sword, and a shield. Of the first there are several kinds, all larger and heavier than those obtained at the Louisiade, but, like them, made of hard, heavy, well-polished coconut wood. The spears vary in length from nine to eleven feet, with a diameter, where thickest, of rather more than an inch. From their great weight it would scarcely be possible to throw them with effect to a greater distance than from fifteen to twenty yards, and, judging