Adventures in New Guinea James Chalmers

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exchanging names with us, in hopes of getting hoop-iron. There is as
great a demand for hoop-iron here as for tobacco at Port Moresby. They
told us they disliked fighting, but delighted in the dance, betel-nut,
and sleep. The majority have jet black teeth, which they consider very
beautiful, and all have their noses and ears pierced, with various sorts
of nose and ear rings, chiefly made from shell, inserted. A crown piece
could easily be put through the lobe of their ears.
We went ashore in the afternoon. There are three villages, all close to
one another. Their houses are built on poles, and are shaped like a
canoe turned bottom upwards, others like one in the water. They ornament
their houses on the outside with cocoanuts and shells. The nabobs of the
place had skulls on the posts of their houses, which they said belonged
to the enemies they had killed and eaten. One skull was very much
fractured; they told us it was done with a stone axe, and showed us how
they used these weapons.
We tried to explain to them that no one was to come to the vessel the
next day, as it was a sacred day. In the early morning, some canoes came
off to trade, but we sent them ashore; a few more followed about
breakfast-time, which were also sent ashore. In the afternoon, our old
friend of the preceding day came off, with his wife and two sons. He
called out that he did not wish to come on board, but that he had brought
some cooked food. We accepted his present, and he remained with his
family in his canoe alongside the vessel for some time, and then went
quietly ashore. We had three services on board, one in the forenoon in
Lifuan, in the afternoon in Rarotongan, and in the evening in English.
As Teste Island is about twenty miles from the mainland, with a dead beat
to it, I decided to seek for a position more accessible to New Guinea,
and as I had not a teacher to spare for this little island, Mr. McFarlane