We spent a very interesting time in Collingwood Bay, where only two white women had ever been seen, and that within the year. The women here wore strips of tappa cloth from waist to knee, instead of the grass skirts of the more eastern tribes, and the houses were of a finer and larger type.
The villagers, after they had got over their surprise at seeing us, gave us almost too hearty a welcome. We were implored to pull down our hair, and great was the astonishment expressed at the sight when we did so. They also failed entirely to understand our hairpins, hats, and, above all, our long noses and small waists! The Papuans’ methods of hairdressing, however, would certainly cause almost equal astonishment in civilization. Look, for instance, at the following photograph, which depicts the coiffure of a man belonging to the dreaded Doriri tribe, a people living inland from Uiaku, whose warlike instincts have not yet been subdued. It will be noticed that the hair is allowed to grow long, divided into plaits, and elaborately braided until it looks like a collection of rope-ends.
A NATIVE OF THE DREADED DORIRI TRIBE—THE HAIR IS DIVIDED INTO PLAITS AND BRAIDED, UNTIL IT LOOKS LIKE A COLLECTION OF ROPE-ENDS.
From a Photograph.
At Wanigera, a few miles away, where a mission station had been in existence longer than at Uiaku, we met with a quieter reception, though one old woman, after a long look at me, asked a child if I were really a woman. I wondered what strange creature she imagined I was, for surely, in a white muslin frock, she could hardly have taken me for a man!
During our stay at Wanigera a great hunt took place, and some of the warriors called on us before setting out. Their ornaments were very striking, and the colours almost dazzling. Altogether they looked a very fine set of men, and would, no doubt, prove enemies much to be dreaded in the day of battle. On this occasion, however, they only waged war with the brute creation, and they told us at the close of the day that the bag was a very good one.
The interior of the great church on Sunday was a fine sight, being filled with from two to three hundred natives, all decked out in feathers, shell ornaments, gay tappa cloth, and vivid flowers. Not less striking was the almost military precision with which each row of worshippers left the building in turn at the close of the service. If these natives went in for such amenities of civilization as church parades, the spectacle would be a striking one indeed.
In a neighbouring village to Wanigera there is a remarkable tree house, prepared by the tribesmen as a place of refuge from marauding enemies. From the heights of this arboreal retreat they were able to hurl down stones upon the attacking party.
PAPUAN WOMEN DECORATED FOR A DEATH-DANCE.
[From a Photograph.]