What “the man belong bush” uses it for I don’t know, though some kind of string is seen in different places which is probably made from it. As in Fiji and Samoa and Honolulu, it is common to see bleached hair. It is done for sanitary reasons primarily, and fashion has helped the custom. Tattooing, however, is not fashionable amongst the men.
The children, like those of other savage races, are completely nude. They are bright and happy little beggars, and as a rule are free from nervousness in the presence of strangers and whites. They will stand round you in groups, with wide-open mouths and eyes, but they have a tendency to catch hold of each other, and those who are shyest keep slightly behind the bolder ones. They are born swimmers and divers, and seem to spend half their days in the water, prancing, splashing about, and diving, utterly regardless of time or season, and I don’t think they ever catch cold.
A NEW GUINEA DANDY
{33}
Amongst the children’s games there are two at least that look familiar to Europeans—a kind of leap-frog and pig-a-back. The former is played in all the varying ways of the English schoolboy, single leaping and leaping whole rows; whilst pig-a-back riding is quite the same game that our children indulge in. Another game which is interesting to watch is that known as evanena: in this two rows of players stand facing each other at a distance of about a foot apart, and when they are thus arranged each boy catches hold of the arm of the one facing, and grips it below the elbow with one hand, and with the other he takes a firm hold of his own arm with his disengaged hand, thus forming a platform of human arms. A boy then gets up on to this platform and runs forward. Immediately he has passed over the first pair they let go of each other and run forward, and place themselves in front of the others at the end of the row, thus making a continuous passage, enabling a constant race to be kept up with the boy on the platform and those forming it. Roars of laughter greet the youth who is fast enough to reach the end of the platform before another lap is ready for him, and if he succeeds in doing this he is a proud winner, but if, on the {34} other hand, he stumbles and falls he is anything but a hero, and becomes one of the figures of the platform, taking the place of one of the end boys.
Many of the other games are rough, boyish imitations of the sacred ceremonies which their elders conduct with such decorum. Of course they are not true imitations, because many of these ceremonies are secret and none but authorised natives are allowed to take part in them.
The girls have a few games of their own, but very seldom join in with the boys. From their earliest days they are trained to work, and playing is considered frivolous and unwomanly. One sees many more young women paddling canoes than young men; the men prefer to play and watch their sisters work. Chivalry is not a forte of theirs.
WOMAN WITH BABY IN BAG, FAIRFAX ISLAND, BRITISH NEW GUINEA