Two Years Among the Savages of New Guinea. / With Introductory Notes on North Queensland.

Map illustrating Author's route in New Guinea.
To my Friend
OSCAR SOELBERG,
WITH WHOM I HAVE SPENT MANY HAPPY DAYS
IN NEW GUINEA,
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.
PREFACE.
As every Bill has a preamble, so, I suppose, every book should have a preface. At any rate, such appears to be the universal custom, and I, being of an orthodox turn of mind, am not going to depart from the general rule. Some months ago I mentioned to an acquaintance of mine, a gentleman of considerable literary attainments, that I purposed writing a book on New Guinea, describing my experiences, etc. He replied Why, the subject is thrashed out, and writings on New Guinea are overdone. I may state that, as the said gentleman had never been in that country, I was not biassed by his opinion.
Had he said that the few writers on New Guinea were thrashed out, he would have been nearer to the mark, as the subject of a country so vast, and the civilised settlement of which is in its infancy, will not be thrashed out for many years to come. We do not all wear the same pair of spectacles. I have endeavoured to describe places and people as they appeared to me. Whether the results as set forth in this work will be found satisfactory or otherwise must be decided by its readers.
W. D. Pitcairn.
The Vicarage, Eccles, June, 1890.
CONTENTS.