OUR NEW POSSESSION

J. LYNG

OUR '" *"

NEW POSSESSION

(LATE GERMAN NEW GUINEA)

BY J. LYNG, CAPT., LATE A.I.F.

Author of " Teddy Wilkins' Trials " and "The Scandinavians in Australasia"

MELBOURNE PUBLISHING COMPANY

CROMWELL BUILDINGS

MELBOURNE

Dedicated to the memory of the late

Major-General W. Holmes, C.M.G., D.S.O.

and Brigadier- General Sir Samuel Pethebridge, K.C.M.G.

CONTENTS.

Chapter. Page

I. — Who Discovered German New Guinea? . . . . 11

II. — How Germany Came into the Pacific 19

III. — The Late German New Guinea Protectorate . . 24

IV. — Early History of New Britain Archipelago . . 34

V. — Economical Development 51

VI.— Social Conditions G9

VII. — The Australian Fleet Visits Eabaul 77

VIII. — Capture of German New Guinea and Australian

Occupation 82

IX.— Garrison Life 102

X.— New Britain 114

XI.— Eabaul . . 122

XII. — The Western Islands 135

XIII. — Neu Guinea C'ompagnie 147

XIV. — Something About the Natives 148

XV. — Amongst the Natives in Former Days 192

XVI. — Mission Work in German New Guinea 218

XVII.— Why Papua Lags Behind, and Problems of the

Future . . 233

1162803

PREFACE.

HAVING in my younger days received a military training and been a commissioned officer in the Danish army, and later on having held a commission in the Commonwealth forces, it became my duty, at the outbreak of war, to volunteer for service abroad. The Naval Board, on learning of my qualifications as a lin- guist, requested me to proceed to the fleet as inter- preter to Admiral Patey. After the capture of German New Guinea and the appointment of Colonel Holmes as military administrator I was transferred to the occupying force. To my duties as official interpreter was for a considerable time added that of military censor of foreign mail. I was also appointed Government Printer, and in this capacity became editor of the "Government Gazette," and later on of the "Rabaul Record." The knowledge I acquired of German New Guinea in the carrying out of my various duties, and by coming in touch with German records and litera- ture, was added to by personal observations made in different parts of the Possession, and by a term of service as district officer and officer in command of the garrison at Madang, on the New Guinea coast. The chapter "How the Ger- mans Came into the Pacific" was written for the "Rabaul Record" by Lieut. Leach, and has been included in this book by his courtesy.

J. S. LYNG. Melbourne,

October, 1919.

INTRODUCTION.

When our globe was still young, mighty vol- canic forces created some of the islands now embraced in the late German New Guinea, whilst at other places, where subterranean mountains in vain had striven to emerge from the mighty ocean, billions of minute creatures set to work building homes, eventually bringing into being the picturesque coral islands with which the South Seas are dotted.

As time went on, birds — perhaps different from those now in existence — tired of their flight over the endless waters, occasionally rested on these new-born islands, laid their eggs in the sand deposited by the waves, hatched their young ones, and gradually fertilised the ground. The sea car- ried seed from far-off lands and dressed the islands in a green garment of vegetation. When pre-historic man arrived, he found in readiness for him — coconut palms, bread-fruit trees, taros, yams and a number of other life-sustaining plants. Where these people came from no one reallj knows, and perhaps not a great many care. The principal thing, in our age of commercialism, is that they came from somewhere. They started placing their new home in order, constructing

8 OUR NEW POSSESSION

shelter of what material was to hand, and gather- ing their food in the bush. Certain characteris- tics evolved into customs, which again evolved into unwritten laws and regulations, and eventu- ally organised societies of a kind arose. Some scientists believe the Kanakas came from a now extinct continent in the Indian Ocean, and con- clude, from their highly efficient and intelligently constructed languages, that they at one time were mentally better endowed than are the present-day Kanakas. Whether they have pro- gressed or retrograded is, however, merely a matter for speculation. All we know with cer- tainty is that, when the Europeans came into the South Seas, these savages were living in the stone age.

The first ones to honour them with visits were early navigators moved principally by curiosity. Next came Spanish-American labour recruiters — moved entirely by greed. Then came whalers, traders, missionaries, and planters from various parts of the world, and again labour recruiters turned up. It was a motley crowd, bent on dif- ferent errands — some prepared to give their lives to the natives out of human kindness, others ready to take the lives of the natives for the sake of a few coconuts. It was a time of general con- fusion.

Some day in the Lord's year 1883 an Australian statesman hoisted the Union Jack and pronounced the islands British territory, but his voice was too feeble and died away. The following year a

INTRODUCTION 9

man-of-war came along, a party of sailors went ashore, the German flag was hoisted, the sailors sang "Deutschland Deutschland iiber alles" and the German version of "This bit of the world belongs to us" — thus the German era was in- augurated.

The Germans commenced straightening up their new house, as the Kanakas had done before them, and the Australians are doing to-day. History keeps on repeating itself. From Germany more missionaries, traders and planters arrived, and in addition a number of officials, some of whom were titled persons. From China came the lowly artisan — the carpenter, the tailor, the cook, the joiner, etc. — and, later on, Chinese of all classes and descriptions, till it was feared that, by the time the house was in order, German New Guinea would be populated by nothing but Chinamen.

Some years went by. More men-of-war came along; a force of soldiers landed, lowered the German flag, and once more the Union Jack was hoisted. They then sang "God Save the King" and "Australia Will be There," while salutes from the bay ushered in the British era. What this is going to be, time will prove. It is well to commence by acquainting ourselves with the house and its contents.

Eastern Corner of New Britain: Administrative, Commercial and Social Centre of late German New Guinea.

CHAPTER I.

WHO DISCOVERED GERMAN NEW GUINEA?

While there is some doubt as to who first visited that part of the Pacific Islands which in 1884 was annexed by Germany, we know for certain it was not the Germans, and consequently they could lay no claim to them from the point of discovery. Though the discoveries in the South Seas will be familiar to most people, a brief retrospect, with a special reference to New Guinea, may not be out of place.

The earliest navigators of the Pacific probably were the Babylonians, who, according to tradi- tion, already long before the birth of Christ traded on Ceylon, the Indian Islands and China following a course south of Sumatra and Java, passing Timor. Their vessels could only have been small, and, with nothing to guide them but the stars, they must frequently have been taken out of their course. Hence it is more than likely that some of these enterprising sailors had sighted New Guinea and the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, and that their existence, together

11

12 OUR NEW POSSESSION

with other South Sea Islands, was generally known. With the decline of the middle eastern empires all connection with the far east ceased, and, whatever may once have been known of the Pacific was lost, save for some vague ideas pos- sessed by ancient Greek and Roman geographers. In going that far back into the past, there is, however, little but the material clouds are made from to work upon, and not till the beginning of the sixteenth century can we commence to reckon with facts.

The honour of re-discovering the Pacific fell to the Portuguese and the Spaniards. Vasco da Gama, as we know, led the way when, in 1497, he rounded the Cape of Good Hope and crossed the Indian Ocean ; and another Portuguese, Fran- cisco Serrano, discovered some of the East India Islands. Two years later Balbao stood on the Darien heights, at the Panama Isthmus, and in wonder gazed over the vast, inscrutable ocean spread before him. This later was to be known as the Pacific. At the- expense of the Spanish Government the Portuguese sailor, Magelhaens, in 1520, in an effort to find a new route to the East Indies, passed through the strait south of the American continent, crossed the Pacific, arrived safely at his destination, and discovered the Philippines. It is probable that Magelhaens on this trip saw the high mountain ranges of what is now known as New Ireland. In 1527 Saavedra, sailing out from New Spain, went quite close to this island, remaining there for a whole month. The large island of New Guinea, of

GERMAN NEW GUINEA 13

which he thought New Ireland formed part, he called Papuasia.

After much quarrel Spain, in 1829, transferred her rights in the East Indies to Portugal, and not till 1840 did Spanish ships again leave New Spain on fresh adventures, their object on this occasion being to form settlements in the Philip- pine Islands.

In 1645 Juguo Ortez visited Papuasia, and, finding a great similarity between the natives there and on the Guinea coast in Africa, he renamed the island New Guinea. Little by little a fixed route across the Pacific was established; this lay to the north of the equator, and the Spanish as well as the Portuguese Government, having attained their object of shortening the route to the wealthy spice islands, for the time being took no heed of anything lying south of the line. While, however, the maritime countries of that time — satisfied with the immense areas which, by the discoveries of Colombus and others, already had been added to their dominions — were not anxious to send out new expeditions, the viceroys in New Spain and their associates of restless spirits had retained the old vigour and desire of adventure. Probably a favourite topic of conversation in the cabarets of New Spain or among the citizens as they were promenading along the shores of the Pacific, was about a con- tinent which, according to tradition, was to be found somewhere towards the south. This was assumed to possess immense wealth, and to be inhabited by beings different from those in any

14 OUR NEW POSSESSION

other part of the world. The idea of a vast con- tinent in the above direction had originally arisen from the apparently sound way of reasoning that a vast area of land in the south was necessary as a counterbalance to the land in the north, and probably this assumption had gained additional strength by some vague, or real, knowledge of Australia.

In an old manuscript by Macrobius, of the tenth century, is a map where this southern con- tinent is indicated, and again in a map of 1536 in the British Museum. On this latter it is called Java la Grande, while French geographers even showed the coastline of Northern and Western Australia and some of the adjoining islands to the north. It was to discover this new continent that Garcia de Castro, in 1566, fitted out two ships and put them in command of Mendana. The expedition, having discovered some of the Solomon Islands, but having failed to discover Australia, returned to Peru after an absence of two years. Mendana's belief in a new continent was unshaken, and he made it his life's object to find it. Still, not until he was an old man did he succeed in entering on his second and last expedition. Fate was against him — he got only as far as the Solomons, where he died, the second in command taking the ship back to New Spain. A later expedition under Pedro Fernandez dis- covered the New Hebrides, while his second in command, Torres, on a subsequent trip, discovered and sailed through the strait between Australia and New Guinea.

GERMAN NEW GUINEA 15

The decline of Spain and Portugal and the liberation of Holland from Spanish oppression ushers in a new era in the history of the Pacific. The Dutch commenced planning how first to cap- ture the trade in the East Indies, and afterwards how to secure the whole Possession. With this object in view, the Dutch-India Company was formed in 1602. The company was most success- ful, but made itself unpopular in Holland by creating a monopoly, and it was its assumed greed which, in 1616, caused Shouten and Le Maire to fit out an expedition, consisting of two ships, to go to the Pacific. Having passed Cape Horn, they crossed the ocean and arrived at New Ire- land, which also by them was considered to be part of New Guinea. They remained there for some time, discovered several of the adjacent islands, and had an encounter with the natives. Proceeding further on their journey, they dis- covered the Admiralty group. Further dis- coveries in the Bismarck Archipelago were made by Tasman in 1642 when undertaking his jour- ney in search of Australia. In the course of this he discovered Tasmania and New Zealand. He sailed along the coast of New Ireland, trading with the natives, and afterwards crossed over to New Guinea, following the coast almost to the passage between New Guinea and New Britain.

For about a generation or so the attention of Europe was mainly directed towards the American continent, with its wealth and vast possibilities, and the Pacific was fairly well left alone. When interest for geographic explora-

16 OUR NEW POSSESSION

tion revived, the cloak of the Dutch fell on the shoulders of the British.

The British era in the Pacific opened in 1649, with the memorable Dampier, followed by Cap- tains Byron, Wills, and Carteret, and later on by the immortal Captain Cook. Also the French, in the latter end of the eighteenth century, did valuable work, and, in particular, the name of the ill-fated La Perouse is well known to the Australians.

Attention had been drawn towards Dampier through his adventures in America and East India, and, at the instigation of Lord Oxford, Lord of the Admiralty, he was put in charge of an expedition to the South Seas. He left Eng- land in 1699 on board the Roebuck, and, having visited the west coast of Australia, he proceeded to Timor. Continuing his journey, he arrived at St. Mathias in February of the following year. Sailing along the north-eastern coast of New Ire- land to the southern-most point, which he named Cape St. George, he entered what he considered a big bay, naming it St. George's Bay, but which afterwards, by Carteret, was proved to be a chan- nel separating New Ireland from New Britain. From his anchorage he noticed an active volcano on the "Mother" Peninsula. A British expedi- tion under Captain Byron was sent to the South Seas in 1764, and three years later another, under Captain Willis. The latter expedition consisted of two vessels, the Dolphin and the Swallow. The Swallow was an old and very slow boat, and in the Magelhaens Strait she lost the Dolphin.

GERMAN NEW GUINEA 17

Her plucky commander, Lieutenant Carteret, however, continued his journey alone, discover- ing the Carteret Islands, Nissan and Buka. Pro- ceeding, he sighted St. John's Island, and also Nova Britannia, shortly afterwards entering St. George's Channel, where he dropped anchor. Carteret discovered the Duke of York Islands, and in his report he describes the "Mother" and her two daughters, three well-known landmarks just outside of Rabaul; but does not mention anything about an active volcano, presumably because it was quiescent or already extinct. The utmost point of the "Mother" Peninsula he called Cape Stevens, while to New Ireland he gave the name of Nova Hibernia. Also New Hanover and a number of smaller islands in the New Britain Archipelago were discovered by Carteret.

A French expedition, led by Bougainville, dis- covered in 1768 the biggest of the German Solo- mons, which is named after him. Continuing his cruise, Bougainville discovered the Anchorite Islands and the Echiquier Islands.

A Spanish man-of-war discovered in 1781 the Hermit group.

During the first half of the nineteenth cen- tury the archipelago was visited by both British and French expeditions, and it is interesting to learn from a British expedition in 1840 that already Australians traded in these islands.

The British man-of-war Blanche, commanded by Captain Simpson, discovered, in 1872, Blanche Bay, and dropped anchor in Simpson's Haven, behind Matupi, and on which Rabaul is situated.

18 OUR NEW POSSESSION

Of German explorers Dr. Finsch is perhaps the best known. He sailed along the north-east coast of New Guinea in the early eighties, here and there erecting tin sheds, and landing a few bags of coal as visible proof of "German Commer- cial Interests." Having done very little explor- ing themselves, the Germans endeavoured to make up for it by introducing names of their own. Native names were replaced by names of German Royalties, while lack of piety towards early navigators resulted in "New Britain Archi- pelago" being altered to "Bismarck Archipelago," "New Britain" to "Neu Pommern," "New Ire- land" to "Neu Mecklenburg," the "Duke of York Islands" to "Neu Launburg," and so on. It may be said that all the islands in what subsequently became the German New Guinea Possession had been discovered by the middle of last century. What discoveries have since been made are details. The first and in no way least interesting chapter in the early history of the Possession was thus brought to a close, and an entirely new era — that of traders and planters — commenced.

CHAPTER II.

HOW GERMANY CAME INTO THE PACIFIC.

Now that Germany has been blotted out as a colonising power in the Pacific, it is interesting to look back and see how she ever managed to get there at all. The story is a long one, and covers over half a century of political, commer- cial, and social striving before Germany estab- lished her power in the South Seas, as it was on that fateful day in August, 1914, when she declared war on the civilised world. From data gathered in various quarters, the following brief outline of Germany's advance in the South Seas is compiled.

Among the big shipping and trading firms at Hamburg seventy years ago that of Godeffroy and Sons was amongst the most prominent. Their ships were known on nearly every sea, and they traded regularly to the Indian Ocean and the west coast of South America, among other parts. Cochin was their headquarters in Asia, and there they had a large copra mill, and so were well acquainted with one of the chief pro- ducts of the Pacific. On the South American coast the firm had many agents, and the trade was chiefly in saltpetre, copper, and cochineal. The

19

20 OUR NEW POSSESSION

principal agent of Godeffroy and Sons was sta- tioned at Valparaiso, and in the latter fifties it was a Mr. Anselm. He was a keen business man, and energetic in pushing the interests of his firm. Occasionally schooners from Tahiti and the Society Islands put into Valparaiso with cargoes of copra, shell, and other produce, and returned with flour for the French garrison in Tahiti. As Mr. Anselm sipped his lager and smoked his cigar, he thought about those South Sea Island schooners and their trade, and wondered if he could not secure some of it for Godeffroy and Sons. He quickly made up his mind to try, and went over in a schooner to Tahiti. There Hort Brothers and Mr. John Brander, two English establishments, were the big trading firms, and Mr. Anselm saw they were making fine profits, mainly from coconut oil and pearl-shell. He immediately established an agency in the Tua- motu group, and studied the method of his Eng- lish trade rivals. He found each of them had also branches in Samoa, which formed a kind of half-way house between Tahiti and Sydney, so he followed their example, and opened a trading station there.

The success of Mr. Anselm's operations soon attracted his principals at Hamburg, and there is little doubt that the Prussian Government at that stage decided to try and acquire control of some territory in the South Seas. At any rate, Mr. Anselm was instructed to make Samoa the headquarters of Germany in the Pacific, and he

HOW GERMANY CAME 21

did so, with the result that Messrs. Hort Brothers and J. Brander were soon beaten out of the trade in that group. Soon after that Mr. Anselm was drowned at sea, but he had laid a solid founda- tion, and the business continued to flourish.

The next representative of Godeffroy and Sons in the South Seas was Mr. Theodore Weber, a very shrewd and enterprising young man, who had the confidence of his firm and the imagina- tion necessary for empire builders. He purchased about 25,000 acres of land in Samoa, at a price averaging less than seventy-five cents per acre, and paid for it largely in arms and ammunition. He grew coconuts and cotton, and generally pushed ahead with development work. The firm's agencies in the Tuamotus and other dependencies of France were abandoned in 1867, ostensibly because the price of pearl-shell was unusually low, but more probably because German states- men had at that time decided on a definite course of action, which diverted the energies of the com- pany in another direction. Instead of looking to the eastward of Samoa, Mr. Weber turned his eyes more to the north-west. Godeffroy and Sons had established agencies to the southward in the Friendly Archipelago, including Niue, Fortuna, and Wallis Islands; and now sent agents to the north to Tokalau and the Ellice and Gilbert groups. From there they were sent out to the Marshall group, and then on to the Carolines, where they got to Yap. There the firm purchased 3000 acres of land, and established a large trading

22 OUR NEW POSSESSION

depot, which was intended to serve as a half-way station between Samoa and their old station at Cochin. In 1873 Godeffroy and Sons had an agent in the Union group, three in the Ellice group, twelve in the Gilberts, five in the Mar- shalls, three in the Carolines, one in the Pelaw group, one in New Britain, one in New Ireland, and one in the New Hebrides.

They had secured a very firm commercial posi- tion when the Franco-German war broke out in 1870. At that time Mr. Weber was preparing a gigantic colonisation scheme in Samoa, which was remarkably well conceived. There was wonder- fully rich soil and a delightful climate, and it only required labour to develop enormous pro- fits. His firm approved, and so did the North German Confederation. Had that project been completed, it is probable that many thousands of German farmers would have been settled in Samoa, and the Australian Fleet might have found its job in 1914 a little more difficult. Before 1870 the Prussian Government had plans prepared, a programme of colonisation was drawn up, the German Consul at Samoa was given extraordinary powers, arms were sent out from the Prussian Royal arsenals for the "protection" of the settlement, and every detail was prepared for the new colonists in Samoa.

When the Franco-German war broke out, the French fleet blockaded Hamburg, and Messrs. Godeffroy and Sons were so disastrously affected that they got into financial troubles. Prince Bis-

HOW GERMANY CAME 23

marck had been a strong friend of the Godeffroys, and when peace was again declared he strongly supported a proposal in the German Reichstag to give Godeffroy and Sons an Imperial guaran- tee to enable them to carry out their South Sea Island schemes. The Reichstag at Berlin, how- ever, by a majority of 16, defeated the measure, despite Bismarck's strenuous support, and so col- lapsed the great colonisation scheme of the Godef- froys, while the firm itself lost its influence.

The foregoing brief sketch will show how from such a small thing as a trading schooner landing some shell and copra at Valparaiso Germany was led into an attempt at empire building in the South Seas, and also how the innocent-looking shipping or trading company may be but the tool of the Government behind it.

CHAPTER III.

THE LATE GERMAN NEW GUINEA PROTECTORATE.

Area, Population, Climatic Conditions, Physical Features and Government.

The full meaning of the words "German New Guinea" was by many only partly realised, and a mistake often made was to ascribe the name merely to that part of the New Guinea mainland owned by Germany and by the Germans called Kaiser Wilhelm's Land. The better informed, however, knew that German New Guinea, as understood by the Germans, meant all the terri- tory governed from the central seat of adminis- tration at Rabaul, viz.: —

Kaiser Wilhelm's Land,

Bismarck Archipelago,

The German Solomon Islands,

Nauru,

The Caroline Islands,

The Marshall Islands, The Marianen Islands (except Guam). The three latter groups, which in the begin- ning of the war were occupied by Japan, and

24

THE PROTECTORATE 25

over which she has received a mandate, cover, according to Prof. Ohlman, an area of approxi- mately 960 square miles, and sustain a native population of 59,000 people. The figures for each of the groups, given by the same authority, are as follow : —

The Carolines, 700 islands, 561 square miles, 41,000 inhabitants.

The Marshall Islands, 33 islands, 157 square miles, 15,000 inhabitants.

The Marianen, 15 islands, 242 square miles, 2600 inhabitants.

The natives of these groups are principally Micronesians.

The Old Protectorate.

The part of German New Guinea over which a mandate was given to Australia is known as "The Old Protectorate." It consists of Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, Bismarck Archipelago, and the German Solomon Islands, a total area of approxi- mately 90,000 square milejs, or a trifle bigger than the State of Victoria. \^

Kaiser Wilhelm's Land covers an area of over 60,000 square miles. High ranges run parallel with the coast plain, which is from sixty to one hundred miles wide. The ranges in the interior have been little explored, but some of their sum- mits are known to exceed 12,000 feet. The prin- cipal river is the Kaiserin Augusta or Sepik, which is navigable for over 250 miles. It rises in the Dutch territory and flows easterly. The

26 OUR NEW POSSESSION

Ramu or Ottillie rises in the south-east, and flows into the sea about twenty miles east of the mouth of the Sepik. The Markham is another large river which flows into Astrolabe Bay.

The climate is hot and the rainfall large. The mean annual temperature is 77 deg. Fahrenheit. This, with the high percentage of humidity, makes the climate, especially in the low-lying parts, very trying to Europeans. The opening up of virgin forests accentuates the unhealthiness, but under modern hygienic conditions and more settlement the climate will become more endurable. The fol- lowing mean annual rainfalls have been recorded : — Friedrich Wilhelmshafen, or Madang, 130 in.; Adolphhafen, 120 in.; Hatefeldthafen, 100 in.

The Bismarck Archipelago consists of a large number of islands. The chief islands are : — New Britain, area 13,000 square miles; New Ireland, 4000 square miles; New Hanover, 530 square miles ; Duke of York Islands, 22 square miles ; the Admiralty Islands, 600 square miles. The archi- pelago lies between 141 degrees and 154 degrees east longitude, and the Equator and eight degrees south latitude. The other groups included in this archipelago are the Matthias Islands, Gardner Islands, Abgarris or Fead Islands, Nissan or Sir Charles Hardy Islands, The French Islands, Rook Islands, Hermit Islands, Ninigo Group, Anchorite and Cammerson Islands. In these various groups there are upwards of one hundred small islands.

New Britain, the largest island of this group, is a long island running in a crescent shape lying

THE PROTECTORATE 27

east and west. It has a mean breadth of fifty miles and a length of three hundred miles. Except for the peninsula in the north, called the Gazelle Peninsula, which is practically undeveloped, there are only a few isolated stations on the coast, west of Henry Reid Bay. The interior of the island is little known. The climate is more healthy than New Guinea, and the rainfall is less. It is about 76 in. per annum. New Ireland, the second in size and importance of the Bismarck Archipelago, is situated north of New Britain. It is a long narrow island with a range of mountains running through it. New Ireland is of older formation and does not show any signs of recent volcanic activity. There are no large rivers. The prin- cipal harbour is Nusa, on the north coast, on which Kaewieng is situated. The interior of the island is not very well known. The Admiralty Islands are the most important of the small groups. The chief island is Taui or Manus, sometimes called Great Admiralty Island. The principal European settlement is Lorengau, on the north-east coast. In the Bismarck Archipelago most of the rain falls from about November to April, when a north- west monsoon is prevailing. During the remain- der of the year the islands are fanned by the southern trade wind blowing from south-east.

The German part of the Solomons consists of the two northernmost islands, Bougainville, with an area of about 4000 .square miles, and Buka, 300 square miles. Both islands are very moun- tainous. Of the several volcanic cones, Bagana

28 OUR NEW POSSESSION

is the only active volcano, and is a very con- spicuous sight when in eruption. The highest mountain is the volcano, Mount Balbi, 10,170 feet high, which is situated in the centre of the island. Both peaks are in the Crown Prince Range. The principal harbour is Kieta, situated on the east coast of Bougainville, where there is a Govern- ment station.

Government.

Kaiser Wilhelm's Land and the Bismarck Archi- pelago were, as before stated, acquired in 1884, and some of the Solomon Islands two years later, the sphere of influence being finally determined by the Anglo-German Agreement in 1889. In 1885 the Protectorate was handed over to "Die Neu Guinea Compagnie," which had been formed in Berlin. Experience proved that the task of administering and developing the Possession lay beyond the power of this company, and in 1899 the German Government took it over. In the same year the Marianen Islands, the Caroline Islands, and the Marshall Islands were bought from Spain and added to the Protectorate. The first seat of government was at Finschhafen, on the New Guinea coast, from where it was shifted to Stephansort, further north, and afterwards to Madang. When the Imperial Government took over the reign, Kokopo, or Herbertshohe, as it was called by the Germans, situated at the east- ern end of New Britain, was made the capital, and remained so till all the Government offices in 1910 were transferred to Rabaul.

THE PROTECTORATE 29

The Governor, who administered the Protecto- rate in the name of the German Crown, had very extensive power. An advisory council was made up of the higher officials and a few repre- sentatives of the large trading concerns. The laws of Prussia were basic laws, and these were supplemented by ordinances emanating from the Kaiser, the Chancellor, and the Governor. The Protectorate had a financial status of its own under a special law of 1892, and was no part of the German Customs Union.

For administrative purposes the part of the Possession occupied by the Australians in 1914 was divided into nine districts or Bezirks, each of which was controlled by a Bezirks-Amtmand. Kaiser Wilhelm's Land constituted three districts, viz., Madang, Eitape and Morobe; the Admiralty group formed one district; New Ireland was divided into two districts, viz., Kaewieng and Namatanai; New Britain made another two dis- tricts, Rabaul and Kokopo; while the German Solomons constituted one district. The British Administration has subdivided some of these dis- tricts, whereby two new stations in New Britain and one in Kaiser Wilhelm's Land have been added to those opened by the Germans.

Population.

Europeans.

The European population — chiefly Germans — and which at the beginning of the war numbered 1273 persons, was distributed as follows: — New

30 OUR NEW POSSESSION

Britain 690, Kaiser Wilhelm's Land 333, New Ireland 140, the Admiralty group 50, the Solo- mons 60. Of the above number 135 were officials; about 400 were attached to various mission socie- ties; a similar number were engaged in planting and trading; while the remainder followed a variety of occupations or were women and chil- dren.

Asiatics.

The Asiatics numbered about 1800. Of these 236 were Japanese, 1377 Chinese, and the remain- der mostly of the Malay race, hailing in the main from the Dutch Indies.

Of the Japanese, who had increased from five in 1909 to 236 in 1914, 151 were artisans and 32 engaged in business, while 65 were women. The Chinese in the same period had increased from about 325 to 1377. Of these 583 were arti- sans, including 44 mechanical engineers, 186 were labourers, and 172 engaged in business; whilst from the balance the colony was supplied with the traditional cook, steward, vegetable gardener, etc. Upwards of a thousand lived in Rabaul and neighbourhood.

Native Population.

Kaiser Wilhelm's Land is inhabited by Papuans, with a sprinkling of Melanesians; the German Solomons by Melanesians; the Bismarck Archi- pelago by Melanesians, with a sprinkling of Papuans in the western corner of New Britain and some of the islands nearest to the main-

THE PROTECTORATE 31

land; while a cross between the Melanesians and the Micronesians is found in the north of New Ireland and on many of the islands approaching the equator. The native population in Kaiser Wilhelm's Land is, by Professor Ohlmann, esti- mated at 110,000, while the late German Admin- istration in Rabaul did not venture to give an estimate, on the ground that so little was known of the Possession. The population of Bismarck Archipelago is, by Professor Ohlmann, estimated at 210,000, while the German Administration gave it at approximately 195,000, and that of the German Solomon Islands at about 40,000.

It is obvious from the foregoing figures that the Possession is very thinly populated, with but approximately four inhabitants to the square mile. Quite true most of Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, Bougainville, New Britain, New Ireland and several of the smaller islands are mountainous and difficult of approach; still there are very extensive areas of comparatively level land, and, considering the richness of the soil, the heavy rainfall, and the frugality of the natives, no one can doubt that the Possession is capable of sus- taining a vastly increased population. Still the population, instead of increasing, is at many places believed to be decreasing, though no figures are available to prove such is the case.

Assuming that the belief generally held as to a decrease of the native population was correct, the late German administration instructed Dr. Kopp to investigate the possible causes. These

32 OUR NEW POSSESSION

investigations covered certain parts of New Britain, and, as far as they went, disclosed the fact that the number of children born is compara- tively much larger than in any European coun- try, but that the mortality is exceptionally heavy, due in the main to the lack of hygienic observ- ances in everyday life, whereby the road is paved to all sorts of diseases. The report afterwards submitted to the Government ends up by saying: "The native population in New Britain is not degenerate, but it is sick."

An additional cause for the decrease in the native population, as given for some of the out- stations is the lamentable fact that race suicide has set in and appears to be spreading. Isolated instances of race suicide, due to superstition, have probably always existed. The late Mr. R. Parkinson, in his excellent work "Dreizig Jahre in der Sudsee," relates cases where a chief, on his deathbed, decreed that no children should be born in his tribe, or their number be much reduced, and for fear of his spirit the decree has been observed. More .serious, however, are the cases reported by some of the district officers, where the cause for race suicide is ascribed to a general disinclination on the part of the women to rear children — in other words, to moral degene- ration. ,

A district officer some time ago pointed out to a native chief that unless more children were born the race would in time die out. To this the chief merely shrugged his shoulders, as much

[J. H. Marge tt> Native Woman .from.' N;iku na i. New Britain.

THE PROTECTORATE 33

as to say: "My troubles." On asking the chief why he himself only had one child, the officer received the reply: "Mary no like." While, therefore, the assumption that the native popu- lation is decreasing may be correct, when the Possession is taken as a whole, it is encouraging to be told by some of the missionaries that in the districts where they are operating the oppo- site is the case. These missionaries have for a number of years kept records of births and deaths, and are thus in a position to know; we may infer, therefore, that the efforts of the mis- sionaries to stem the evil of race suicide, to some extent at least, have been successful, while their example and teaching, in conjunction with the rudimentary ideas of cleanliness and sanitation retained by natives who have served at the plan- tations or have been employed by the Govern- ment, have led to some improvement.

B

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN ARCHI- PELAGO.

The Pacific was in former days looked upon as a vast unknown, possessing nothing tangible worth having except cheap labour and tor- toise shells, the economic value of the coconut not being fully realised till a later date. It was above all things a place for adventure and romance.

In promenading along the shores of one of the South Sea Islands on a calm moonlight night, the silvery waves rolling solemnly towards land, melting away in a murmur on the coral-dotted beach, the south-east breeze whispering in the feathery palm leaves, the flying foxes soaring by like restless spirits, one almost feels how nature, in its own vague way, tells about the past — of life amongst the savages during a long line of generations — of visits by old-time navigators — of recklessness and daring by early fortune- seekers — of unrecorded shipwrecks and myste- riously lost crews — of strange and weird hap- penings of many kinds. Yet through our inability to interpret the language of nature the bygone remains in a haze, and except for a few half-

34

NEW BRITAIN ARCHIPELAGO 35

obliterated footprints left on the sands of time by early traders our knowledge of the bygone would have been almost a blank.

These early traders, principally hailing from Sydney, at first only paid flying visits, from their ships bartering with the natives. As to the nature of the business, we get an idea from the memoirs of the old Swedish sea rover, Captain Strasburg, who spent upwards of 40 years in the Pacific. A skipper would leave Sydney with a hundred pounds' worth of those peculiar articles coveted by primitive man, such as goiv geously coloured print, necklaces, looking glasses, tomahawks, knives, mouth organs, umbrellas, clay pipes, and tobacco. Perhaps as a side line he would take with him some scores of dogs. These dogs he bought from street arabs in Syd- ney for from two to three coconuts apiece, always exercising sufficient tact not to question the boys as to how they got the dogs. With a motley col- lection of mongrels and pure breeds howling a melancholy good-bye to Sydney, the South Sea trader steered through the Heads, and set his course for the islands.

Arriving at his destination, he would drop anchor opposite a populous native village, and ere long the place would be alive with excite- ment, canoes and catamarans incessantly travel- ling to and fro. Unfortunately no rate of exchange has been handed down to us, though presumably such was evolved. Captain Stras- burg tells us that for a dog ten green parrots

36 OUR NEW POSSESSION

were paid, and also that dogs were much in demand, the natives at a pinch eating them.

"The Kanakas were in this respect not particu- lar, and the dogs were not asked."

Labour recruiting became later another profit- able side line. After a short cruise amongst the islands, if not sticking on a coral reef, the trader returned to Sydney with his cargo of coconuts, oil, tortoise shells, birds, feathers, curios, pearls, and other odds and ends. As to the profit he made, the following equations give an idea: — Id. tobacco equals three coconuts equals one dog equals ten parrots equals £5.

As the value of copra for soap making and other industries gradually rose, oversea firms commenced placing traders amongst the natives to gather in the greatest possible quantity of coconuts. These they paid for in trade goods to the value of anything below a pound per ton of copra. Once or twice a year a schooner would call on the trader with provisions and trade goods, and take away copra and coconut oil, paying him probably as many pounds as the trader had paid shillings. Sooner or later the trader would get killed, and sometimes eaten, and his place taken by some other adventurer, igno- rant of what he was up against. In Weberhafen alone fourteen traders were killed in the course of a comparatively short time, while the total number of traders and others, but mostly traders, done to death in New Britain has been put down roughly at one hundred.

NEW BRITAIN ARCHIPELAGO 37

The reasons for the natives despatching the trader were threefold: — (1) To rob his store; (2) to revenge themselves for wrongs committed by recruiting skippers; (3) to get even with the trader for vilifying the native idea of morality and fair play. The trader's life, apart from being lonely, was pregnant with peril. His only friend was his rifle, and even that availed noth- ing against an armed band of natives hiding in the bush with their spears. A personal friend of the writer, a previous cavalry officer and ex- barrister, who, as a last resource, went to the islands as a trader, was speared shortly after his arrival. Often the trader trespassed on exist- ing customs through sheer ignorance, while at times undoubtedly he invited disaster himself. Still, whether good or bad, his only safety rested on the natives fearing him. Thus we find that often the honest, kind-hearted trader was killed, while the callous villain and the depraved beach- comber, who knew a little about conjuring, and in other ways understood how to take advantage of native superstition, defiled their women, and took the best of everything with impunity. Nor was the position of the small trader so remune- rative as one would imagine. The margin of profit was certainly large, but the quantity of nuts produced in those days was very limited. From this had to be deducted what the natives required for their own sustenance and for feed- ing their pigs.

It has been mentioned before that the Austra-

38 OUR NEW POSSESSION

lians were trading in the New Britain Archi- pelago as early as 1840. For over a generation they had the place to themselves. In the early seventies, the previously referred to Hamburg- Samoan firm, Godeffroy and Sons, stationed a trader at Nogai, close to the foot of Mount Mother, and another at Matupi. Four weeks later the trader at Nogai had to seek refuge with his colleague at Matupi, and in the course of another three weeks both of them had to flee for their lives to Port Hunter, in the Duke of York group, where an Australian trader was stationed. The following year the same firm started a permanent station at Mioko. In 1876 a German, Captain Hernsheim, started a trading station at Makada, afterwards, for health rea- sons, shifting it to Matupi.

It was about this time the first missionary, the stout-hearted Wesleyan minister, George Brown, arrived in the New Britain Archipelago to bring to life the dormant souls of the ferocious canni- bals. Starting in the Duke of York group, he gradually extended his activity to New Ireland and New Britain — often sick from fever, always exposed to danger — yet singlehanded plodding on till the foundation for what has since blossomed into a widespread mission society was solidly laid. He had with him only a few native teachers from Fiji, and none of them knew a word of the native language. After a year's labour, the little band of Christian enthusiasts had acquired the language and made a number of converts. The

NEW BRITAIN ARCHIPELAGO 39

native population was very friendly disposed towards them, and, thus encouraged, George Brown decided to go to Sydney for his family. During the following years he had several nar- row escapes and many hardships to fight against. In 1878 an old volcano outside of Rabaul became active, and destroyed several native villages which had been won for Christianity. The same year some natives close by killed and devoured one of the Fijian teachers and four of his asso- ciates, and as a similar fate threatened the few white traders in the vicinity Brown was requested to take the lead of a punitive expedition. He had in vain tried to Christianise these people, and it had become evident to him that the only thing they respected was brute force. Weakness towards them would have imperilled not only the lives of the white traders, but actually endan- gered the mission work he so successfully had commenced. He therefore gathered a sufficient force of friendly native spearmen, and, assisted by the traders, went out to punish the marauders, the result being that a good many were killed, and future danger averted.

Later on a British man-of-war appeared, and took a report of what had happened, and the British High Commissioner in Fiji disapproved of what he called a gross act of violence against the natives. Brown was brought before the court, charged with manslaughter; a charge of which he, however, was acquitted. Eventually his health gave way, and, more dead than alive,

40 OUR NEW POSSESSION

he left his wife and three children for a trip to Sydney. On the return journey, via the Solomon Islands, the schooner he travelled in was nearly wrecked in a cyclone, and the skipper decided to return to Sydney. For months Brown waited for another vessel to go to the islands, and even- tually he got as far as the Solomons, whence his old friend, Captain Fergusson, a well-known South Sea trader, who shortly afterwards was killed by the natives, took him to his mission station at Port Hunter, in the Duke of York group. Brown had been away about eighteen months, during which time he had received little or no news from his family. Naturally he looked forward to a hearty welcome, but to his astonish- ment the station was deserted. The natives told him they had all been ill from fever, and showed him where two of his children lay buried. Mrs. Brown and the last child had then gone to New Britain, where a fellow-missionary and his wife lived. The staunch pioneer and empire builder, George Brown, whose name is still revered by the natives in these parts, later on in life pub- lished an extensive volume of his mission work and manifold experiences in the New Britain Archipelago and other parts of the South Seas. In this he also describes the disastrous attempts made by the Marquis de Ray to colonise part of New Ireland.

Marquis de Ray, whose failures as a colonist landed him in gaol, and afterwards in the lunatic asylum, where he died, left over three hundred

NEW BRITAIN ARCHIPELAGO 41

trusting people helpless in the fever-stricken jungles of New Ireland. He was the Bolivian charge d'affaires in France, and possessed both wealth and imagination; and succeeded in gain- ing support for a colonising scheme in the South Seas. A suitable vessel was purchased and fitted out, and in September, 1879, the first batch of colonists, consisting of forty Germans, twenty- five French, eleven Swiss and Italians, and five Belgians, left on what proved to be a perilous wild goose chase. The undertaking was widely advertised, and for awhile gained popularity in different parts of Europe. In France, Spain, and Belgium companies were formed to work and push various industries in connection with the new colony, the shareholders apparently being as sanguine as the colonists with regard to the wonderful results to be achieved. The colony was started at the southern end of New Ireland, and called Nouvelle France, and it may have suc- ceeded had it been properly managed. Ignorant of the conditions of the islands, and expecting to reap before they had sown, the colonists brought with them elaborate machinery for distilling, for sugar refining, seed crushing, sawmilling, also incubators and agricultural implements, and even 180,000 bricks. They had plenty of axes, but are stated to have forgotten axe handles. Instead of quinine they brought a statue of the Madonna; instead of doctors they brought priests. The first place selected for the colony was too hilly for cultivation, and after a considerable amount

42 OUR NEW POSSESSION

of labour had been done it was decided to trans- fer it to the opposite side of the island. The colonists had been chosen without discrimination, and contained a considerable number of adven- turers, frail women, and small children. One of the leaders, in a letter dated 13th February, 1880, wrote: — "I have an ugly time of it. More than half my men are laid up with sore feet, and the other with laziness. One of the greatest difficulties is to procure water, for the men pre- tending to go for it go bathing, remaining away three or four hours." The vessels which should have supplied them with provisions, and kept up communication between the colony and the old country, were seized for debts contracted by de Ray. Dissension arose amongst the colonists, fever, dysentery and tropical sores broke out, while scar- city of food added to the general state of misery. In their despair, three German immigrants went in a boat to Port Hunter to appeal for help from the Wesleyan mission, and George Brown, though ill at the time, returned with them — 160 miles in a whaleboat. He found the settlers in a deplor- able condition, and forty-five sick colonists were subsequently removed to the mission station in the Duke of York's, one of them dying on the way and seven more succumbing at Port Hun- ter. In March, 1881, a disabled steamer, origi- nally secured by Marquis de Ray, struggled into Numea, in New Caledonia, having on board the remainder of the settlers from Nouvelle France — all starving and without a drop of water. Hav-

NEW BRITAIN ARCHIPELAGO 43

ing been succoured here, they proceeded to Syd- ney, and eventually settled down in the northern part of New South Wales, where some of them are still to be found. The expensive machinery was left on the beach in New Ireland, and what has not rusted away is now buried under a dense carpet of jungle.

The recruiting of coloured labour for oversea plantations commenced in 1879, and resulted in much hardship to the natives and the consequent untimely death of many innocent traders. To end this deplorable state of affairs, missionaries and traders urged the British Government to de- clare the yet unannexed islands a British Pro- tectorate, but received no response. Despairing of British politicians, the Premier of Queensland in 1883, to restore order, and at the same time remove a political danger to Australia should a foreign power step in, annexed on behalf of this continent all New Guinea not already occupied by Holland, and all the islands comprised in the New Britain Archipelago. The proclamation issued to that effect was accompanied by the hoisting of the British flag at Port Moresby. The British Government, instead of sanctioning this courageous and wise act, reprimanded Sir Thomas Mcllwraith for having taken unto him- self power he did not possess. Meanwhile the desire to acquire oversea colonies had been steadily growing in Germany, and suddenly, at the latter end of the following year, a German man-of-war hoisted the German flag at Matupi,

44 OUR NEW POSSESSION

in New Britain, and at Mioko, in the Duke of York group, declaring the archipelago a German Protectorate. This act stirred up Downing- street, and for some time a race ensued along the coast of New Guinea between a German and a British warship in hoisting the colours of their respective countries, the boundaries between their spheres of influence eventually being fixed by a joint commission.

Amongst the most successful traders of an early period were the German South Sea skip- per, Hernsheim, and Mrs. Forsayth, commonly known as "Queen Emma." Starting in a small way, they gradually widened their nets of opera- tion, scattering traders over a considerable part of the archipelago, and founding respectively the later so important trading concerns, "Hernsheim and Co." and "Forsayth and Co.," both of which in a material degree have contributed to the development of German New Guinea. Hernsheim as well as "Queen Emma" accumulated immense wealth, while the latter, in addition, gained fame.

Probably no name is so well known in the Western Pacific as that of "Queen Emma," and it can be truly said her life is one of the most interesting romances of the South Seas. The Samoan race is renowned — the men for their har- monious build, the women for their natural charm. Consequently the fact that the young American Consul, Mr. Coe, shortly after having taken up his duties in Apia, fell in love and mar- ried in succession two little Samoan maidens,

NEW BRITAIN ARCHIPELAGO 45

needs no apology. Emma was his second child. She is said to have grown up to be the cleverest and prettiest girl in Samoa. After having been educated in San Francisco, she married a Britisher, Mr. Forsayth, by whom she had a son. The alliance was unhappy, and she threw in her lot with a New Zealand miner, Mr. Farrel, who at the time was conducting a shanty in Samoa. To be free in the enjoyment of their happiness, they fitted out a schooner, and went in search of pastures new. Passing through the Solomon Islands, they arrived at the Duke of York group, where they commenced trading with the natives. Some time later they went to New Britain, and in spite of the ferocity of the native population effected a landing close to where Herbertshohe later on sprang into being. From the chiefs they bought for a few trivialities in the usual Kanaka trade an extensive area of land, the purchase of which Emma registered at the office of the American Consul in Sydney, and upon which in time arose the first coconut plantation in Ger- man New Guinea.

Little by little Queen Emma brought most of her brothers and sisters and some nieces to New Britain. One sister was married to the inde- fatigable research worker, R. Parkinson, son of a Britisher, who in his younger days settled in Schleswig, and became master of stables to the Danish Governor; two others married seafaring Swedes in Emma's employ. The whole family, which is still well represented in these parts, are

46 OUR NEW POSSESSION

amongst the most pushing and successful planters and traders in the archipelago.

Mr. Farrel died after some years, and Emma took full control, and although she took a promi- nent part in social life — in those days mainly made up of champagne and love — she continued with wonderful skill and determination. When a middle-aged woman she bought as her husband a young, handsome German ex-officer, Herr Kolbe, Emma paying his not inconsiderable debts, and at her death agreeing to leave him half her fortune. In 1912 she sold out her inte- rests in the islands to a Hamburg syndicate for £175,000. Before she left with her husband for a trip to Europe the residents showed their re- spect to this remarkable woman by giving her almost a royal send-off. The title queen, which at first was a nick-name expressing envy, by then commanded respect. Both died at Monte Carlo with but a day between them. The mystery sur- rounding their sudden death has never been cleared up, and all we know is that a lady from Germany, claiming a prior right to Kolbe, had arrived at Monte Carlo, and that Emma survived her husband by a day. A remarkable career was thus ended, to which was given this finishing touch. Her body was cremated, and the ashes interred at the same place in New Britain where she, a young and charming woman, thirty-three years earlier, had landed.

Peter Hansen, another old pioneer, whose experiences throw light on the conditions, and

NEW BRITAIN ARCHIPELAGO 47

the particular way life shaped itself in the South Seas twenty to thirty years ago, is still amongst us. Mr. Hansen, by birth a Dane, had left his ship in 1881, and was aimlessly wandering about in Sydney, when afforded an opportunity of going to the Duke of York Islands, trading for the Mioko Company. Having made his first pile in the islands, he returned to spend it, which he succeeded in doing, and, being again in need of a job, he took service with the German explorer, Dr. Finsch, who in 1884 departed from Sydney on his New Guinea expedition. Afterwards Peter Hansen commenced trading for Queen Emma, being sent first to Lord Howe Island, and Tasman Island, and later on to French Islands, which group for many years he had entirely for himself. Through a tidal wave in 1888 he lost all he possessed, save an obsolete rifle. To this weapon he ascribes his still being alive, the natives in their hearts blaming him for the catas- trophe. No relief arriving till nine months later, he had to adapt himself to the primitive life of the savage. When, however, his house had been re-erected, and his stores replenished, then he soon revived his business, and regained his tem- porarily lost prestige. For the copra he paid the natives 15/- a ton in trade goods, and sold it to Queen Emma for £8 to £10. In the begin- ning he only got from seventy to eighty tons a year, but after a smallpox epidemic in 1894 had swept away most of the inhabitants, the pigs feeding on the dead and dying, the quantity rose

48 OUR NEW POSSESSION

to 350 tons, thus giving him an annual income of from £2000 to £3000.

It was probably from that time Peter Hansen started the extravagant life of which so much is still being talked in German New Guinea. He kept the most open house in the Possession, and his trading station at the beautiful harbour, now known as Peterhafen, became the favourite pic- nic place for German officers and globe-trotters. The surveying ship Moeve seems to have spent most of her time at Peterhafen, where cham- pagne, whisky, and beer abounded, and even dusky maidens — generously supplied by the hos- pitable trader — assisted in making the stay plea- sant. Of his own attachment to the daughters of the South Seas much has been said. When, however, people talk about thirty wives, and a progeny of which Peter Hansen himself knew no number, it is considerably exaggerated, and, as Peter remarked with a laugh when not so long ago in Rabaul, "not quite fair to an old comrade in arms." As a matter of fact, his life was but the life generally led in the South Seas in those days. To be sure, when we are told that even nowadays no skipper in the South Seas em- barks on a cruise without taking with him one or two native girls, one is apt to think life in the Pacific has not altered so very much. In any case people in the islands blame Peter Han- sen less for his extravagant life than for his lack of circumspection, which prevented him from being the wealthiest man in German New

pq

NEW BRITAIN ARCHIPELAGO 49

Guinea. He was the first trader in the French Islands, and the only white man who spoke the native language there. He knew all the chiefs, and could bend them at his will. In their eyes he was the great white chief, living like them- selves, only on a much grander scale. The islands would have been his for in time having applied for them, as was actually proved when, later on, acting for "Die Neu Guinea Com- pagnie," he bought the whole group — himself to be the manager and remain the sole trader.

It may be considered an 'indisputable truth that when the natives sell their land to Euro- peans they are, in the majority of cases, ignorant of what they are doing. If a native sells a piece of land to another native he retains the owner- ship of the trees standing on it. Thus the chiefs in the French Islands did not comprehend the consequences when, for £50, they sold to "Die Neu Guinea Compagnie" the group — even the land upon which their huts stood, and the plots from which they drew their food. When, there- fore, by order from headquarters, the clearing process commenced, and their breadfruit trees, bananas and pawpaws were cut down before their very eyes, they stood flabbergasted. It was quite evident to them that they had been betrayed, and eventually, in 1903, they settled matters in the old-fashioned way by seizing Peter Hansen's stores and ship, killing the storekeeper, the engi- neer, five Chinamen, and eighteen native boys. Peter Hansen, who was away from the station when it all happened, beat his way to a friendly

50 OUR NEW POSSESSION

tribe, where he received protection till, later on, he saw a chance to escape to New Guinea. Being prevented by the German Government from returning to the French Islands, he accepted the position as manager of a plantation on the main- land. Afterwards he went to Bougainville, at first managing a plantation for an Australian syndicate, and now struggling manfully to bring under culture a couple of hundred acres of his own.

Peter Hansen may be considered the last, yet living, of the old-time traders in late German New Guinea. True to the sentiments of his tribe, he worries not. "Why should I?" he said, when reminded of his wasted opportunities. "I have had a glorious time; what can a man have more?" When asked by a missionary if he ever thought of the next life, he replied, with a grin: "Bless me soul, it takes me all my time to think of this." VWfF

They were hard doers, these old traders and skippers, yet they possessed grit and humour, and are as interesting to read about as are the South Seas themselves.

CHAPTER V.

ECONOMICAL DEVELOPMENT.

The number of coconut palms owned by the natives in pre-European days was even more limited than now, and as the price of copra kept on rising a great stimulus was given traders to combine planting with trading. Thus the first plantations in New Britain were founded while it was still No Man's Land, the enterprising Queen Emma taking the lead. \X Land in those days was exceedingly cheap, and was sold by the acres for pipes of tobacco. Queen Emma bought a big stretch of country not far from where Rabaul now is situated for a box of trade goods, probably not larger than she could carry under an arm. The Mortlock Islands she bought, it is told, for five pounds of trade tobacco, representing a cash value of half a sovereign, and some years later the native chiefs in French Islands sold the whole group — lock, stock and barrel — to "Die Neu Guinea Compagnie" for £50.

Labour was more difficult to obtain, and had to be imported from the Solomon Islands, the local natives in the beginning not taking too kindly to plantation work, and were only to be

51

52 OUR NEW POSSESSION

relied upon for a few days at a stretch. This probably explains that, although the first plan- tation in what afterwards became German New Guinea was started in 1879, planting to any great extent did not commence till the middle of the nineties or even later.

The process of making a plantation in the happy bygone was this: — A trader would ac- quire from the chiefs suitable land, ranging in size from a thousand acres upwards. Next he would hire a couple of hundred natives to clear the land and plant coconuts. At the same time he would carry on trading with local natives, thus earning sufficient to pay for all improve- ments. From the time he had organised the work and trained some of the more intelligent boys as overseers, he could practically spend his days in his lounge chair on the verandah, con- templating. In the course of ten to fifteen year? he would be a wealthy man, if in the meantime he had not either been speared or drunk himself to death.

When the German Government took posses- sion and law and order to some extent were established, the acquisition of land was regu- lated and connected with various fees, which, though not excessive, naturally represented higher values than pipes of tobacco and yards of cheap print. These land regulations appear to have been altered and stiffened during the course of years, eventually evolving into the "Land Regulations of 1st January, 1914." Ac-

ECONOMICAL DEVELOPMENT 53

cording to these regulations a distinction was made between native-owned land and Crown land, the latter being void of human life and unclaimed by any chief. In both cases the land had in reality to be bought from the Govern- ment. After a purchaser had agreed with a native chief about the price of a certain area, he had to submit the matter to the Government, which, if of the opinion that the sale was detri- mental to the tribe, would disapprove of it. If approved of by the Government, the purchaser would pay the chief whatever they had agreed on, mostly in Kanaka-trade, and afterwards pay the Government the same as for Crown land, the trifle received by the chief not being considered. The price paid to the Government varied accord- ing to the quality of the land and to its situation, the minimum price being twenty marks per hec- tare (two and a half acres), five marks to be paid down and the balance at a later date, when it became freehold. To the purchase sum were added fees for locating the land, for registra- tion and surveying. The purchaser had to pos- sess not less than 30,000 marks for each one hundred hectares he bought, a reduction, how- ever, being made in the case of bigger areas. Furthermore, it was made compulsory that a fifth of the area was brought under culture within the first five years, and three-fourths during the first fifteen. Apart from these general terms there were the so-called "Easy Terms," calcu- lated on helping qualified persons with little capi-

54 OUR NEW POSSESSION

tal on to the land. Such persons fulfilling the conditions as to age, residence, etc., and other- wise approved of by the Government, could obtain up to 150 hectares for one mark per hec- tare, and were not called upon to pay any Govern- ment fees. These easy terms applied to land pur- chased by mission societies as well. Also a lease system was in vogue extending over a period of thirty years, and applying to areas not less than fifty hectares, the annual rental being not less than half-mark per hectare.

In German New Guinea, like in all new coun- tries, land grabbing naturally took place. What land some of the companies possess is only now being ascertained with any degree of exactness, much of it having not previously been surveyed. The following figures may, however, be accepted as approximately correct: — "Die Neu Guinea Compagnie" lays claim to 337,270 acres; Queen Emma had acquired something like 63,970 acres, which now are owned by "Hamburgische Sudsee Aktiengesellshaft" ; Hernsheim, who did not com- mence planting till pressure was brought to bear on him by the Government, owns but 9742 acres ; and the old Mioko Company only 5765 acres ; the Australian firm, " The Choiseul Plantation Co., owns 12,500 acres in Bougainville; the Catholic mission, "The Sacred Heart of Jesus," owns 32,000 acres ; another Catholic mission, " The Holy Ghost Society," 16,000 acres; the Lutheran mis- sion, " Neue Dettelsauer," 12,000 acres ; the Aus- tralian Methodist Mission Society 3600 acres ; the

ECONOMICAL DEVELOPMENT 55

French Catholic mission, "The Marist Society," 3500 acres; and "Die Rheinsche Mission" 2350 acres. Also, private individuals are in possession of considerable areas. Thus Herr Wahlen, who started his career as an ordinary clerk at Herns- share of Matty and others of the western islands, and is probably the wealthiest man in the Posses- sion. A Samoan woman, who came to New Britain as lady companion to Queen Emma, owns the Mortlocks, while many other privately owned areas of considerable size are met with all over the archipelago and on the mainland of New Guinea.

The total area owned by Europeans in late Ger- man New Guinea may be put down at, approxi- mately 650,000 acres. Out of this area 85,475 acres had been planted up to the beginning of 1914. By now it will be a great deal more, planting having been pushed during the war while labour was still cheap as compared with the British Solomons and Papua. Besides, with copra realising twenty odd pounds a ton or more, it does not pay to have land lying idle longer than can absolutely be helped. Out of the 85,475 acres under culture in 1914, 77,746 acres were planted with coconut palms, 5600 with rubber trees, and the remainder with various food-pro- ducing and industrial plants suitable to the tropics. The rubber plantations hail in the main from the time of the big rubber boom; the low prices prevailing during the latter years have

56 OUR NEW POSSESSION

rendered them unprofitable, and the rubber tree is gradually giving way to the coconut palm. Cocoa, coffee, tobacco, cotton, arrowroot, sisal hemp, and rice are all grown, but not to any great extent, and in the case of some of them may be said not to have reached beyond the experimental stage.

Let us go back to the planter in his lounge chair on the verandah, contemplating and dream- ing, and hazard a random shot at the thoughts passing through his mind. He has read a para- graph in some journal about coconut butter, a discovery which will do away with cow butter. The brainy chemist, who sounds the deathknell to the good old Jersey and Ayrshire, claims that coconut butter can be made for sixpence a pound, that it is more nutritive and keeps better than cow butter, besides carrying no danger of tuber- culosis and typhoid. The planter says to him- self: "The coconut palm requires tropical heat and low-lying land, washed by the sea or exposed to the salty breeze; hence the world's area suit- able to coconut culture is fairly limited, whereas, by this new invention, there is no limit to the de- mand for copra." He commences to take an in- ventory of his own personal prospects, and a smile lightens his face, while his thoughts wind their way towards the life he sees before him. He has, say, 600 acres, which, when planted and in full bearing, will produce 300 tons of copra a year. Fixing the profit at £12 a ton, he will have an annual income of £3600. The embryo plantation

ECONOMICAL DEVELOPMENT 57

owner sings out to his house-boy to bring him a bottle of beer, quick, and a smile broadens his face as he whispers to himself : " Some day it will be all champagne." Those are the dreams occupy- ing the planter's mind in his many lonely hours, and which at times make him forget the difficul- ties to be surmounted.

To begin with, the time has passed in German New Guinea when an enterprising trader or re- tired skipper could lie on his back and have a plantation made for him. The small European trader, during the latter years, has practically been squeezed out of existence by John Chinaman. One needs only drive a few miles out of Rabaul, and he will, in less than an hour, pass a dozen Chinese traders, living mostly in miserable huts put up by themselves, but always with some trays of copra drying in the sun, and generally sur- rounded by an interested group of natives. His stock of Kanaka merchandise occupies but a couple of shelves, yet he makes money. The native will not go two miles to a white trader when he can sell his coconuts to a Chinaman liv- ing but a stone's throw off, and, besides, John may pay him a trifle better. At times the Chinese traders live in comfortable wooden houses owned by the big firms to which they are bound by contract; but even when on their own the Chinese know quite well how to shift for them- selves and find profitable trading places.

To see a plantation of a thousand acres through under present-day conditions is, according to

58 OUR NEW POSSESSION

local opinion, required a capital of not much less than £6000, and even at that an absolute success is not assured. The coconut beetles, or scales, or an exceptional dry season, may play havoc amongst the young plants ; or there may be diffi- culty in getting the necessary native labour. Some of those young planters who bought land at the time no guarantee was required with regard to capital have had the struggle of their lives trying to keep things moving by doing as much trading as circumstances and Chinese rivals would permit, or a little recruiting for older-established plantations, or bird of paradise hunting, all the while getting deeper into debt with the big com- panies. One of the medical officers attached to the occupying force, on returning from the un- healthy New Guinea coast, stated that some of the planters there were actually racing with death. They were full of fever and down in con- dition. If they left their work but half finished all their worry and self-denial would have been in vain. If they persevered till the place was planted and commenced bearing they would be wealthy men, and could live leisurely in any part of the world they liked.

The question which, during the latter years, has given most trouble to planters is that of native labour. The wages question was, by the Ger- man Government, settled to the planter's satis- faction, the monthly salary being fixed at 5 marks, most of which was not payable till the end of the labourer's three years' service, and could be liqui-

ECONOMICAL DEVELOPMENT 59

dated in trade goods. In addition, the labourer was entitled to his food, most of which was grown on the plantation; also two sticks of tobacco, a box of matches, and i Ib. of soap weekly, and a loin-cloth and a clay pipe every month. The same scale of pay is still in vogue. As will be seen, the labourers are not overpaid; the trouble, however, is at times to get them. The Kanakas do not rush the plantations for jobs, and the planters are forced to send recruiting agents round to the dif- ferent islands in search of boys. The skipper might be successful, and he might strike bad luck; it all depends on circumstances and the im- pression he makes on the natives. It is not like in former days, when the traffic was uncontrolled, and, if worst came to worst, he could kidnap the boys. It might even happen he gets no response at all, or he might get a few boys here and a few there, having to travel from place to place. In such circumstances, recruiting becomes an item which the planter does well in reckoning with when laying plans for the future. A recruiting schooner fitted out by Hernsheim and Co., on one occasion brought back one single " monkey." That lad stood the firm in £300.

The labour question being of so vast import- ance, it is but natural that when planters meet, the conversation, sooner or later, turns on that subject. Hitherto planters, who treat their boys well, by putting themselves about, have managed to secure the necessary labour. Worse off are those who have earned the reputation of being

60 OUR NEW POSSESSION

harsh and cruel. During the course of a few years, right through the native world the names of such planters have got an evil sound, and it may well happen that eventually they find them- selves short of labour and are forced to dispose of their plantations. This may explain the lamen- tations occasionally voiced with regard to the labour market becoming exhausted. In any case, the assertion is not supported by facts and figures. The native population of German New Guinea may safely be put down at not less than 300,000. When Kaiser Wilhelm's Land is better known we shall probably find it is a great deal more. The number recruited during the last three years before the war is given as 27,797, namely, 7740 in 1911; 8245 in 1912; 10,848 in 1913. That would, however, include those who went to Samoa. The number employed on 1st January, 1914, in the territory occupied by the Australian Forces, would be approximately 20,000, out of which 17,529 were engaged on the plantations. In conjunction with these figures it must be remembered that most of the work amongst the natives themselves is carried out by the women. While it be admitted that cer- tain parts of the Possession have been severely drained of native labour, it is well to bear in mind that other parts have not yet been unlocked, and particularly that the interior of Kaiser Wilhelm's Land forms a vast unexploited labour reserve.

Another point which ought to comfort planters is the possibility of labour-saving appliances

ECONOMICAL DEVELOPMENT 61

being invented. So far, labour in German New Guinea is being squandered because it is cheap; nothing but the most crude implements are used, and it is quite a common sight to see a gang of perspiring Kanakas cut grass with pieces of hoop iron, while extensive plantations are being kept clean with the aid of old-fashioned hoes.

The most serious feature of the whole question is the decline of the native population, at some places caused through race suicide, and at others by various diseases, several of which have been brought to the islands by Europeans. The de- cline is probably as yet confined to certain locali- ties, and there is no immediate cause for alarm; still, when we learn that the native population in Matty, during the last twenty years, has dwindled from 1500 to 300, that a similar decline has taken place at other of the western islands, that at Mortlock the original population has entirely dis- appeared, or that the women on some parts of the mainland possess upwards of twenty different herbs and remedies to prevent continuing their race, it is evident that the question of preserving the native population cannot be treated in a light- hearted way.

In dealing with the development of German New Guinea there is yet to consider the role an in- creased utilisation of domestic animals is likely to play in the future, not merely as beasts of burden, but in supplying food for the native population when, by degrees, their hunting grounds are transformed into plantations. Realis-

62 OUR NEW POSSESSION

ing the importance of these questions, the Ger- man administrator, as well as some of the mis- sion societies and the firms, years ago took steps to introduce domestic animals, while much time and money were spent in testing the suitability of the different breeds. The results of their efforts were contained in a report from the government veterinary surgeon, Herr Braun, pub- lished in one of the last issues of the official gazette, and of which the following is an extract : —

The number of domestic animals in German New Guinea at the ends of 1912 and 1913 were—

1912. 1913.

Horses 452 . . 524

Mules > - 6 . • 8

Donkeys 22 .. 22

Cattle 2,638 . . 3,067

Buffalo 183 .. 225

Sheep 963 . . 1,420

Goats 617 .. 870

Pigs 2,866 .. 3,081

The above figures apply to animals owned by Europeans only, thus excluding the numerous pigs kept by the natives.

The horses are either of Australian origin, and more or less thoroughbred, or else they hail from Dutch India. The latter are ponies, known as " Macassars." From the above parent stock horses are bred locally. A cross between the Australian horses and the " Macassars " has, in most cases, turned out satisfactorily. Also a few Manchurian ponies have been introduced.

ECONOMICAL DEVELOPMENT 63

The cattle represent a variety of races and crossbreds. Bali cattle, Indian Zebus, Austra- lian Jersey and Guernsey, and the small Javanese breed are all met with. The cattle either serve as beasts of burden, or they are kept for the purpose of keeping down the grass in the plantations, sur- plus stock being occasionally killed for the sake of the meat. Only in odd cases are the cows milked.

Sheep are principally kept for the sake of the meat, and are of the Dutch-Indian breed. Some Australian sheep have, as an experiment, been introduced by the mission station at Sialum, Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, but, although the wool has, so far, retained its high quality even on locally bred stock, it cannot as yet be said if it will continue to do so. Besides, the area suit- able for sheep breeding is probably very limited.

Pigs seem to thrive better in these parts than any other animal does. They are the pets of the natives. The Kanakas know all about pigs, and love to work amongst them. To own a herd of pigs gives a native as much standing as to possess a fortune in shell money or half-a-dozen wives. A good pig fetches a higher price than a young bride, and if it were possible to count the number of pigs throughout the length and breadth of Ger- man New Guinea, one would probably be aston- ished at the figures. Near the European settle- ment the Yorkshire and Berkshire breeds are now fairly common. t^The native pig is rather an in- ferior animal; it is, however, hardy, frugal, and

64 OUR NEW POSSESSION

fast growing. Crossed with the Yorkshire or Berkshire, excellent results have been obtained. Braun, in his report, rightly points out the im- portant part pig raising plays in sustaining the native population. He goes a step further by saying that he sees no reason why the Kanakas should not take to small cattle, sheep, and goats as well, and recommends the Government that these animals be introduced amongst them. An experiment made in that direction with goats has, he states, given encouraging results.

Fish at various places constitutes one of the main diets of the native population. Fishing is carried out along the coast wherever natives domicile, but only the most primitive appliances are used. Nets are practically unknown, and, in any case, would be of little use, the sea bottom, with its many coral reefs, not lending itself to net fishing. The only modern weapon used is dyna- mite. Most of the fish consumed by Europeans and their labourers, are obtained by the use of this somewhat ticklish explosive, in spite of the fre- quent accidents. Mother-of-pearl and trocus shells are found at various places, and constitute one of the regular export articles. More im- portant than shells were, in the German time, the shooting of goura or crested pigeon, and bird of paradise hunting. This industry was re- stricted to the mainland, neither of the birds being met with in the archipelago. It played an important part in the economical life, and, as a source of revenue, ranged next to copra.

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Efforts at procuring from the Possession itself the timber needed for local use have resulted in the establishment of several sawmills, and, although most of the timber required for the elaborate Government buildings was imported from Australia, the local product has gradually gained ground, and, in the case of hardwood, un- doubtedly in time will cover all demands. In addition to buildings, it is used as ships' material, for which it is said to be well suited. With a single exception, the sawmilling industry is car- ried on by the mission societies.

Although German New Guinea at places is sup- posed to be rich in a variety of minerals, and gold has been proved to exist in some of the river beds of the mainland, mining was, by the Germans, a neglected, and to outsiders a prohibited, industry. The mining laws were the same as in force right throughout all the German colonies, save German South- West Africa. They were, as could be ex- pected, stringent, and in some respects compre- hensive, yet leaving much to the discretion of the local Governor, probably with the object in view of encouraging German companies and excluding foreigners. Thus, for instance, the royalty to be paid to the Government by individuals as well as by companies was fixed at 1£ per cent., but this could be raised to any amount if considered ex- pedient by the Governor. It stands to reason that the prospects of the miner under so uncer- tain conditions became chimerical, and may even have scared Germans themselves. At any rate,

66 OUR NEW POSSESSION

the few attempts in the way of prospecting made by them were half-hearted and led to no results. Some forty Australian gold diggers, in 1908 and 1909, entered German territory from Papua, and in the Warria river obtained gold variously esti- mated at from £12,000 to £20,000. The German Government, however, got to hear of it, a Govern- ment station was established at Morobe close by, and a heavy royalty imposed on the miners. This soon drove them back to British territory. Three Australian gold-diggers, who arrived in Rabaul a few years ago to get permission to mine in Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, were allowed to do so by paying 40 per cent, of the return in royalty to the Government. Should the Government have reason to suspect them of giving false returns, it reserved to itself the power of testing their honesty by, for a time, working the mine, and if, in so doing, its suspicion was confirmed, a heavy penalty would be the result. The three Aus- tralian gold-diggers, pretending they accepted the conditions, went to Kaiser Wilhelm's Land bird of paradise shooting, and, in all probability, made more out of this than they would have done out of gold digging. It is not difficult to understand that under such conditions minerals did not ap- pear in the list of exports from German New Guinea, while, from the Government's attitude to- wards the whole industry, it may be assumed that the Germans themselves were not ready in a sys- tematic way to exploit the mineral resources of the Possession, and they did not want outsiders to benefit by them.

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Shipping has naturally grown in proportion to the development of the place. A regular steam- ship service was, several years ago, established by the North German Lloyd, the steamers arriv- ing alternately from Hong Kong and Sydney, and calling at the principal settlements, the copra and other produce finally being transhipped at above ports into homeward-bound liners owned by the same company. Shortly after the outbreak of war, and the capture or internment of the Ger- man steamers, Burns Philp & Co. extended their Papuan service to German New Guinea. The inter-island trade was attended to, and is so to- day, by a busy fleet of small steamers, auxiliary schooners, and sailing craft owned by the big firms and the planters. Rabaul possesses two slips, capable of turning out vessels of up to 60 tons carrying capacity. The wireless service, primarily intended to bring the colony in quick communication with the outer world, has been considerably added to by the Australian occupy- ing force, and every one of the out-stations can now reach Rabaul by wireless.

Roughly, the financial structure of economical life was, and still is, the following: — The main pillars are four big companies with head offices in Germany and branches all over the Possession. These companies are, "Die Neu Guinea Com- pagnie," " Hamburg Sudsee Aktien-Gesellschaft," Hernsheim & Co., and Wahlen & Co. Of less im- portance are " Bremen Sudsee Gesellschaft " and the old Mioko company. These firms own exten-

68 OUR NEW POSSESSION

sive plantations, are the wholesale traders, as well as the principal retailers, at the same time acting as bankers, agents, and financiers to the smaller companies, individual planters and traders, and Chinese stores. Most of the copra, shell, and other produce pass through their hands, the pay- ment for the most part being made in supplies and Kanaka merchandise.

I/The export in 1913 represented a money value of £400,513, showing an increase from the pre- vious year of £149,957. The export of copra alone amounted to £308,604 ; birds of paradise, of which 16,691 were exported, represented a value of £54,848; mother-of-pearl, £8767; cocoa, £7571; and rubber £5980. In the case of copra, the figures should soon more than double, considering on 1st January, 1914, only 23,797 acres were in bearing out of 77,745 under coconut culture, and that much has been planted since. What these islands can be made to yield of tropical products in times to come is hard to foretell — irrespective of whether big companies, small holders, or a com- bination of both be favoured. *

CHAPTER VI.

SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

The functions of the different races engaged in developing late German New Guinea apparently follow certain main lines. The Europeans are the rulers, the teachers, the planters, and the wholesale vendors; the Asiatics are the artisans and the retail vendors; and the Kanakas primi- tive agriculturists, from whose midst are drawn the lowly labourer, the plantation hand, domestic servant, and cheap sailor. There are, however, signs of these lines on several points being wiped out. Some of the Chinese stores are gradually growing in size and importance, and, since the establishment in Rabaul of a branch of the Com- monwealth Bank, have commenced to emancipate themselves from the controlling influence of the European firms. Odd Chinese and Japanese have acquired land and started plantations, while one Chinaman, who commenced his career as cook for Captain Hernsheim, to-day owns the Rabaul Post Office, a ship yard, several plantations, and a con- siderable part of Chinatown. In the big stores Malay clerks and salesmen are working side by side with Europeans.

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70 OUR NEW POSSESSION

From a social aspect, the line of demarcation between the different races is naturally far sharper drawn. When the day's work is done each race retires into its own distinct world, the Asiatics having no time for the Kanakas — the Europeans having time for neither. That the latter, in the German time, occasionally engaged as housekeepers maidens of foreign races did not materially affect the natural course of social life more than did half-caste children, whom the mis- sion societies have made a special feature of rearing.

That the Europeans, the Mongols, and the Negroids do not easily blend is but natural ; their appearance, their way of living, and their way of thinking being so vastly different. They have no language in common — pidgin English, though ex- tremely useful, does not lend itself to general con- versation. That, however, the class distinction, so conspicuous in Germany, should have been car- ried to its extremity amongst a mere handful of men, all serving the same cause and separated from their native land by thousands of miles, is more difficult to explain. Such was, nevertheless, the case.

During the German regime the officials were, of course, the ruling caste, and, as such, they looked down upon all others. The Governor, though guided by a council made up of high officials and two or three outsiders, was responsible for his actions to the home government only, situated somewhere on the opposite side of the globe. The

SOCIAL CONDITIONS 71

leaders of the various offices and out-stations, most of them scattered over a big space of the Pacific, had, of course, corresponding power in their respective departments, as the Governor within the Possession. Under the leaders came a considerable staff of other officials, arranged in steps and stairs, each one knowing exactly to whom to raise his hat, and from whom to expect, as his right, a similar proof of inferiority. The officials were divided into three classes, " over officials," "medium officials," and "lower offi- cials," and so strictly was the distinction be- tween these three grades of officialdom observed that when, shortly before the arrival of the Aus- tralians, a syndicate applied for a licence to open an hotel in Rabaul, it was only granted on the condition that arrangements were made to keep over officials, medium officials, and lower officials apart. Another instance of this far-fetched class distinction appeared at Namanula, where the government school and the government printing office were situated. The teachers' staff consisted of three Germans and a half-caste native from the Ladrones, the latter having been educated in Tsing Tau. In charge of the printing office and its staff of natives was a young German composi- tor. They were all single men, lived in two houses almost touching one another, and worked, so to say, under the same roof. Yet they had to mess in three different lots. The German school teachers could not sit at the same table as their native colleague, though he was as well educated

72 OUR NEW POSSESSION

and not so very much darker. Nor could they mess together with the compositor. The native teacher could not mess together with the com- positor, he being merely an artisan ; and the com- positor could not mess together with the teacher, he being merely a native. The same class dis- tinction existed amongst the employees in the big firms until the war somewhat levelled matters up — in fact, right through the Possession every- body seems to have looked down on somebody. Even more strict are the few German ladies said to have been, and, not satisfied with the limita- tions of places like Rabaul and Herbertshohe, car- ried their sphere of activity out to the plantations. The German officials, who had not made them- selves popular even with their own countrymen, are, however, things of the past. Amongst the remainder, life is very much the same as before the war. Thus the feelings between the traders and planters on the one side, and the missionaries on the other, still lack cordiality. The former find fault with the latter for engaging in plant- ing and trading, and also for pampering too much the natives ; while the missionaries can never con- done the traders and planters their mode of life. When they talk about one another it is generally in an unfriendly spirit. Nor is there any love lost between the rivalling mission societies, which unfortunately at some places are over-lapping. While, however, all the influences liable to cause friction. are at work, and, from a social point of view, tend to separate the Europeans into isolated

SOCIAL CONDITIONS 73

groups, no fanaticism is displayed. Somehow, the passions that trouble the human heart seem to be toned down in the tropics. The climate is too enervating for unnecessary exertion of any kind; the phlegmatic Kanaka breathes stoicism into the very atmosphere, while the easy life makes people more forebearing. Whatever the cause may be, it certainly seems as if people in the tropics lose much of their fight, and become more easy going and amiable than are people liv- ing in more invigorating climates.

Daily life in Rabaul is, to use a local phrase, " South Sea Islandic," which might be taken to mean that it is different to anywhere else outside the Pacific. Probably it is. As a matter of fact, it could, everything considered, hardly be other- wise. Investigate for a moment the human ma- terial upon which it is based — a conglomeration of restless spirits from many parts of the world — gone to the South Seas either with the object of making fortunes, earning high salaries, or, may be, for the good of their highly respectable rela- tives at home; but very rarely with the intention of settling down and making homes. Add thereto a scarcity of well-bred women, a sensuous climate and continuous tropical heat, the distance from civilised countries, the clashing of Western and Eastern civilisations and ideas, an extensive and incoherent native population — at times express- ing their disapproval of matters in general by dispatching a white trader, but in reality entirely at the mercy of their white masters and their

74 OUR NEW POSSESSION

whims. All these causes acting and reacting on each other tend to breed laziness, heavy drinking, and loose morals. When, therefore, the Euro- peans in Rabaul and similar places work compara- tively little, drink comparatively much, and are unconventional, it is but the natural consequence of their environment.

The men, of course, perform a certain amount of work. The managers of plantations must keep books, attend to correspondence, and keep an eye on their native employees. The business men must do the work lying beyond the intelli- gence and education of their staff of Malays and Kanakas. The same with officials in the various offices. So the men do work, and for five to six hours a day some of them might even be said to work hard. But after that it is a matter of kill- ing time, and, following the line of least resist- ance, they loaf while endeavouring to keep them- selves cool and comfortable by drinking. It is astonishing what people, after some years' stay in the South Seas, can consume and yet attend to their business. One German in Rabaul brought this virtue to such a perfection that he con- sumed half a case of beer per diem, or 24 bottles. He drank himself to death — like a good many appear to have done in those parts — yet he lasted and attended to his duties for years.

As to the few white women in the Pacific, they show greater moderation both with regard to work and stimulants. They practically do no work at all — why should they ? — the thermometer

SOCIAL CONDITIONS 75

showing 90 degrees or more in the shade, and being able to get servants at five shillings a month and a handful of rice a day. As a matter of fact, it would show common breed if they soiled their hands with anything.

A wife of a German official in Rabaul com- plained of "being worn out from work."

" What have you been doing ?" some innocent asked.

" Lately I have been playing tennis two after- noons a week, been to two dinners and some after- noon parties, besides having had visitors my- self."

" But don't your maids, your native boys, and your Chinese cook do the work?"

" I have had to dress, and it is such a bother."

" Don't your maids dress you ?"

" Yes, of course ; but there are always some little things they can't do."

With a tired sigh, the worn-out lady reclined in her lounge chair on the verandah, instructing one of her maids to stand by in case she wanted anything.

But, after all, considering the cheapness of labour, it matters very little whether they work or not. Of much more importance is the number of children they bear. On that point, however, they fall lamentably short, white children being even more scare than white women.

The drinking habit, so easily acquired in the tropics, is the great danger in these Pacific Islands. Sober, steady men are certainly to be

76 OUR NEW POSSESSION

met with, and they generally succeed; but, un- fortunately, they do not impress by their num- bers. Anyhow, a short stay in Rabaul, and an occasional chat with residents versed in local his- tory, leaves a sombre impression on the mind. Planter after planter has gone to the wall through drink; employees in the big concerns, instead of putting money by, have got so heavily into debt with their firms that they practically have had no choice but to run the rope out; officials have, through drinking and high living, got into money difficulties, dipped into trust funds, and eventually blown out their brains. Not long before our ar- rival, three German officials had, at short in- tervals, finished their careers in this inglorious manner. These beautiful islands, embracing all the picturesqueness and charm man can set his eyes on — with a profusion of life-sustaining vege- tation, where every thing grows — less as the re- sult of human efforts than because it can't help growing — are like a garden of Eden. But, be- ware! Like in the biblical Eden, the treacher- ous serpent is out for prey. Only those who are snake-proof ought ever to enter.

CHAPTER VII.

THE AUSTRALIAN FLEET VISITS RABAUL.

When Great Britain had thrown in her lot with France and Russia in the tremendous war sprung upon the world in the first days of August, 1914, it fell to Australia and New Zealand to attend to matters in the South Seas. To Germany's credit in the Pacific stood several groups of islands, generally known as German New Guinea Pro- tectorate, and the Samoan Islands ; also four wire- less stations; half-a-dozen war ships; some mail steamers and trading ships, and a few odds and ends of small importance. Japan, in joining the Allies, took matters in hand with regard to Ger- many's Chinese possessions, and also forestalled the Australians in occupying the Marianen, the Carolines, and the Marshall Islands. New Zea- land, at the request of the Imperial Government, occupied Samoa.

The task to be taken in hand by the Common- wealth with the least possible delay was for her new born fleet, in conjunction with the British Chinese squadron, to render harmless the various wireless stations which formed the connecting links between the component parts of German power in the Pacific. This wireless apparatus

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78 OUR NEW POSSESSION

consisted of four high power stations, situated at Yap, Nauru, Samoa, and New Britain, and, in addition, a number of less powerful plants. The one at Yap was destroyed by the British man-of- war "Hampshire," and the one at Nauru by the Australian cruiser "Melbourne," whereas the Australian fleet failed on a visit to New Britain, towards the middle of August, to locate the sta- tion at Bita Paka, some distance from Rabaul. On the arrival of the New Zealanders, the station at Samoa was rendered useless by the Germans themselves.

The part Australia was to play in what may be termed the Pacific chapter of the great war, was laid down in a cablegram to the Governor-General, dated London, 6th August, and which read as fol- lows : — " If your Ministers desire and feel them- selves able to seize German wireless stations at New Guinea, Yap, and Nauru, we should feel this was a great and urgent Imperial service. You will realise, however, that any territory occupied must, at the conclusion of the war, be at the dis- posal of the Imperial Government for purposes of ultimate settlement. Other Dominions are acting on the same understanding in a similar way, and, in particular, suggestion is being made to New Zealand with regard to Samoa."

The Australian flagship was at target practice somewhere on the Queensland coast, when the Admiral received orders to proceed to Rabaul, engage the German Pacific fleet — which was sup- posed to be sheltering in Simpsonhafen — and to

AUSTRALIAN FLEET AT RABAUL 79

destroy the wireless station. The Australian fleet arrived outside Rabaul during the night of llth August, and while the main part of it cruised about in St. George's Channel; the cruiser "Syd- ney " and the destroyers dashed into Simpson- hafen, all hands standing to the guns. The Ger- man fleet, however, was not, and had not been, at Rabaul, though it was afterwards stated it was close at hand and fully aware of the movements of the Commonwealth fleet.

About this visit to New Britain we are in pos- session of two records from German sources, one of them a carefully worded paragraph in the local official paper, the "Amtsblatt,"and the other a diary written by a German official and afterwards found in the Treasury by one of our men. The paragraph in the " Amtsblatt " reads, in transla- tion, thus: —

"The English in Eabaul and Herbertshohe. " "Early in the morning on 12th August, 1914, appeared outside of Blanche Bay the British Australian squadron, con- sisting of three destroyers (amongst which was the 'War- rego') and two armoured cruisers, one being the 'Australia.' The visit was undoubtedly intended for a wireless station, which, in their opinion, existed in New Britain. The ' Warrego ' went to Eabaul, and wanted to know, from the Bezirksamtmann, where the wireless station was situated. Guncotton and fuse brought along by the landing party — three officers and twelve men — indicated their intention of destroying the station. Unable to get any information, they threatened, in the name of the Admiral, to bombard Eabaul if further use was made of the wireless plant. The 'War- rego' then went to Herbertshohe with the same request and the same threat of bombardment. After a prolonged and fruitless parleying, parties were landed both at Herberts- hohe and Eabaul, and the telephone stations at the post offices destroyed. Towards 3 o'clock the landing parties returned to their ships. The squadron remained in St. George's Channel during the night, and had disappeared at daybreak the next morning."

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As the report does not mention anything of the fleet, or part of it, having entered Simpsonhafen on the foregoing night, the conclusion may be drawn that the Germans were unaware of its presence.

Of considerably more interest than the fore- going official report is the diary written down from hour to hour, as the events occurred, and with no deliberate intention of either posing or misleading. We have a vision of a treasury clerk — for the time being sleeping in the treasury, as a precaution, on account of the war — worked up to the high pitch of excitement which undoubtedly prevailed right throughout Rabaul on that par- ticular day — and every now and again rushing to his private drawer in order to jot down in his note book the "last bulletin" brought to the office by a breathless messenger: —

12th August. — Telephone message from the planter at Put Put states that several ships have been cruising in St. George's Channel and on the south coast of Nev Mecklenburg.

At 5.30 a.m. — Reported from Herbertshohe that a Bri- tish fleet, consisting of one liner, two big, and one small cruisers, and three torpedo boats, has appeared in the roadstead.

At 7 a.m. — Three torpedo boats appear asking for Mr. Whiteman.

At 9 a.m. — A boat lands six officers, amongst them the admiral and 12 men. The Bezirksamtmann is examined and by telling a lie denies knowledge of the wireless station. The Australian fleet threatens to bombard Rabaul if the wireless plant is again made use of.

At 11 a.m. — Reported from Herbertshohe that a tor- pedo boat has landed a party.

At 10.30 a.m. — Line interrupted.

At 10.30 a.m. — Herr Kleppek sent to the Native Hos- pital with orders to cut the line to Herbertshohe should the Australians again appear.

AUSTRALIAN FLEET AT RABAUL 81

At 2 p.m. — The "Warrego" lands three officers, six men, and two mechanics. The Post Office is occupied. The switchboard is totally destroyed, together with the appliances in the office. The main line is cut. The British withdraw in the course of half an hour. They promise not to destroy private property. Kabaul is not to be bombarded. The Bezirksamtmann has sent an official, with a flag of truce, to the cruiser em- phasising that bombarding undefended places is a breach of International Law. The situation is serious. In a letter to the Governor — whose whereabouts have also been kept secret — Herbertshohe, as well as Eabaul, is threatened with bombardment if the wireless station is again made use of. The Governor has instructed that the women and children be brought in safety dur- ing the night.

The Australian fleet left at dawn the following morning. The threat of bombarding the places if the wireless plant was again made use of appa- rently did not impress the German authorities, as the fleet was scarcely out of sight before messages in secret code were sent off from Bita-Paka. These were naturally picked up by the Australian fleet, which, however, proceeded on its journey, having never seriously intended damaging the two much alarmed little townships.

CHAPTER VIII.

CAPTURE OF GERMAN NEW GUINEA AND AUSTRALIAN MILITARY OCCUPATION.

Simultaneously with Australian men-of-war paying their visit to Rabaul, volunteers were being enlisted for military service abroad, and, although very few knew to what part they were to be sent, the general opinion amongst men in the street was that the first expeditionary force to leave Australia would be directed to German New Guinea.

The force raised for the purpose of seizing Ger- man New Guinea has become known as " The First Naval and Military Expeditionary Force." It consisted of one Infantry Battalion at war strength enlisted in Sydney; six companies of Naval Reservists drawn respectively from Queens- land, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Aus- tralia; two Machine-gun Sections; a Section of Signallers ; and an Army Medical Corps, the whole force numbering slightly over 1500 officers and men. The enlistment commenced on llth August, and in less than a week the requisite number of men were equipped, organised, and — according to an enthusiastic Sydney newspaper — turned into

sa

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as fine a fighting force as ever bore arms ; indeed a marvellous record, if it had been true. Still, the raw material, as a whole, was excellent, pos- sessing both courage and patriotism, and when the expedition under the command of Colonel Holmes, on 19th of August, departed from Farm Cove on board the liner " Berrima," the chaps fully deserved the hearty send off the people in Sydney gave them.

Swinging out through the Heads the "Ber- rima " set course towards Moreton Bay, which was reached on the 21st. She left again shortly before midnight on the same date. Proceeding along the Queensland coast, she was met by the cruiser "Sydney," and, arriving at Palm Island, a little to the south of Townsville, the " Encounter " joined the escort.

Up till the moment the " Berrima " dropped anchor at Palm Island everything had been hustle and bustle, the boys having been carried away by war excitement at such a rate that there had been no time for reflection. This was all altered dur- ing a prolonged stay at the unforgettable Palm Island. The calm surroundings, the grim men-of- war with their guns bristling in all directions, the landing practices, the musketry course ashore, and drilling on board as well as circumstances per- mitted, the arrival of submarines and store-ships, all contributed to bring home to them that war was something more than singing " Rule Britan- nia " or knocking off the hats of German resi- dents on Manly beach. Yet, in spite of the pos-

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sibility of being attacked and sent to the bottom of the sea by the German Pacific fleet, or riddled with bullets on the shores of New Britain, the spirit was one of cheerfulness; and when the anchors eventually were weighed, and the fleet steamed off for Port Moresby, general rejoicing prevailed. At Port Moresby a transport, the "Kanowna," with troops from Queensland was met with, and also the three destroyers, an oil- ship, and a couple of colliers. The Queensland troops and the destroyers had been sent to de- fend the capital of Papua against a possible attack by the German fleet, and were afterwards to join the expedition to Rabaul. About half way to New Britain, and shortly after having been joined by the battle-cruiser " Australia," which, by the way, had been escorting the New Zea- landers to Samoa, the firemen on board the "Kanowna" struck work. Having delayed the entire fleet for an hour or two, hoping for a settle- ment of the dispute, she was, by the Admiral, ordered to return to Australia. But even minus the " Kanowna " it was a formidable fleet which, on llth September, steamed into St. George Channel. It consisted of one battle-cruiser, two light cruisers, three destroyers, two submarines, and one troopship, besides store-ships and col- liers. Never before had so many ships at one time been seen in these waters, and the hopeless- ness of resisting such a force must certainly have flashed through the minds of the Germans. We will, for a moment, leave the Australian

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fleet in the roadstead outside Herbertshohe, and see the effect the war had had on that part of the German Pacific Possessions, with which we are mainly concerned, and what steps had been taken to meet an attack.

The immediate consequence of the outbreak of hostilities was the cutting off of supplies. The four German steamers which kept German New Guinea in touch with the outer world were either captured or had sought refuge in neutral ports. The situation was rendered more serious through a prolonged drought, whereby even the Bush- Kanakas had to tax their ingenuity to the utmost to keep soul and body together. The traders and planters felt with alarm the responsibility of feed- ing vast numbers of contract labourers. The government feared a rising of the Chinese popu- lation. An entry in the diary previously referred to reads:—

Apprehension is felt in Eabaul of a rising of the Chinese population, on account of unemployment and threatened famine.

At the out-stations matters were very little better, as they depended on Rabaul for supplies. Under such circumstances, it afterwards caused some astonishment that the Germans offered any resistance at all to the Australians, who, in reality, came as deliverers to them in their pre- dicament. It must, however, be borne in mind that it was in the beginning of the war. The Ger- mans in Rabaul were over-confident in the power of the German army, and elated by highly coloured wireless messages of German victories, no doubt

86 OUR NEW POSSESSION

existed in their minds as to matters being settled in Europe in a few months. Probably they ex- pected protection from the German Pacific fleet, and, for that reason, deemed it necessary to de- fend the wireless station so as to keep in touch with the admiral.

They had, in their midst, two German officers of the regular army, and, approximately, fifty re- servists, including officers, non-commissioned officers and men. Fifteen more were to come from Madang*, and, besides, there were the native police constabulary, numbering about 250, thus bringing their forces up to over 300 rifles. This the Germans considered sufficient to at least beat off a landing party from one or more warships. As for food supply, there was the possibility of some coming through from Dutch New Guinea.

Preparations for defending the place were actu- ally commenced before war had been declared. News of the troubled state of affairs in Europe reached Rabaul on the 28th July. On the 1st August the Governor issued a proclamation noti- fying the population of their liability to serve the State in case of war.

On the 5th August observation posts were stationed at different places.

On the 6th August an extra edition of the "Amtsblatt" was published, containing an offi- cial announcement of the outbreak of war, and

*The schooner, carrying this party, stranded on the north coast of New Britain, and they did not arrive till after the Germans had surrendered.

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those liable for military service were mobilised. Also, it was announced that the seat of govern- ment would be transferred to Toma — some twenty miles from Rabaul.

On the 7th August all British residents were arrested, and their mail seized. In fact, the whole time, from the outbreak of war till the arrival of the Australians, was one feverish get- ting ready for emergencies. The British resi- dents were transferred from Namanula to the Baining mountains ; telegraph and telephone com- munications were re-established shortly after they had been destroyed by the Australian fleet; trea- sury funds were transferred to Toma and buried somewhere in the bush; supplies were stored at different places; and the military forces — recog- nisable by green bands round both arms, but otherwise without uniform — were sent to Toma and Bita Paka. Trenches were dug and mines laid on the approaches to the latter place. On the arrival of the Australians the main body of the German forces remained with the Governor at Toma, while a smaller detachment — approxi- mately a dozen reservists and at the most a hun- dred native troops — manned the trenches on the road to the wireless station, or they were con- cealed in trees and potholes along the road as snipers.

The Australians, before leaving Sydney, had obtained as much information about Rabaul and surrounding country as possible. They possessed a map of the place showing the roads and main

88 OUR NEW POSSESSION

features of the district, and they knew where- abouts to look for the wireless station. It was considered important to seize the wireless plant as quickly as possible, and for this reason two parties, consisting of twenty-five men each, were landed at daybreak in order to locate it, one of them being landed at Kokopo and the other at Kaba- kaul, the latter under command of Lieut. Bowen. Having proceeded some distance inland, con- tinually harassed by snipers, Lieut. Bowen's party suddenly struck determined opposition from a trench across the road, and, being unable to make further progress, he sent an urgent message for assistance. Before this arrived, a couple of hours later, the little force had suffered consider- ably from the enemy's fire; Captain Pockly A.M.C., arid one of the men were fatally wounded, Lieut. Bowen lay stretched on the ground with a bullet wound in the top of his skull, and two more had received slighter wounds.

The first reinforcements, under Lieut. Com- mander Elwell, also suffered from the fire of snipers, who, unseen by our men, seemed to be everywhere, and the Australians had to dodge in and out the jungle for protection. Having ad- vanced almost to the first trench, Elwell ordered his men to fix bayonets, and, with drawn sword, springing out into the middle of the road to lead the intended charge, he was dropped to the ground mortally wounded. A second reinforce- ment arrived a little later, bringing two machine guns with them. Soon the native troops com-

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menced to crouch down in the bottom of the trench, and could not be made to show themselves, and eventually the officer in command, Lieut. Kempf , stuck up a white flag and gave himself up as a prisoner. After some forceful persuasion, Lieut. Kempf, with a white flag, consented to accompany the Australians to the next trench, and request its occupants to surrender. Some of them, however, bolted into the bush and opened fire. All opposition being eventually silenced, the road to Bita Paka was open, and the wireless station was taken possession of in the evening.

It is outside the scope of this book to give a more detailed account of the clashing of arms in New Britain. Even when drawn in the most dramatic colours, it naturally fades into nothingness compared with the achievements of the Australians in Gallipoli and France, and it suffices to say that those who fell in German New Guinea were the first to give their lives to the Empire, and that our boys did the job with credit to themselves. None regretted more than they that it was all over in a day, and that most of them were out of it altogether. Ex- cluding the crew of submarine AE1, who were all lost, our casualties were two officers and four men killed, and one officer and three men wounded. The Germans had one man killed and one wounded, and, in addition, thirty to forty native troops killed or wounded. Nineteen Germans — some of them non-combatants — and fifty-six native troops were taken prisoners.

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Those who have passed along the narrow road leading to Bita Paka, and seen the impenetrable jungle on each side, wonder at our losses being so slight. A comparatively small force of well- trained soldiers sheltered in trenches, or hidden in the bush, would have caused great slaughter amongst our men. The explanation is that the native troops, while excellent in the bush when opposing men of their own race, have no heart for fighting when facing white men. They get ner- vous, shoot at random, and bolt at the first oppor- tunity. The coloured warriors failed the Ger- mans, and the mines — treacherously concealed under the surface of the road — failed them. The non-commissioned officer charged with firing the mines had been seriously wounded, and was lying helpless on the ground when the Australians passed over them.

If the wireless station had not fallen into our hands the first day it was decided by Admiral Patey and Colonel Holmes to shell the road the following morning, and immediately afterwards to launch an attack by the greater part of the force.

Later in the day the " Berrima " proceeded to Rabaul, which place was occupied and garrisoned without any resistance being offered.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday, the 13th September, a parade of all available troops under command of Colonel Holmes was held at an open square, now known as " Proclamation Square," where, during the forenoon, a flagstaff

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had been erected. The troops were formed up in three sides of a square, while the fourth side was occupied by the Admiral and his officers, Royal Marines, and residents of Rabaul. Pre- cisely at 3 p.m. the flag was unfurled and solemnly saluted by the troops, the ships in the harbour at the same time co-operating by firing a royal salute. The National Anthem was sung by all present, and three cheers given for His Majesty the King. The proclamation of military occupa- tion was then read by the Brigade Major, now Lieut.-Colonel Heritage, after which the troops marched past in column of route and again saluted the flag.

The German governor was still at Toma sur- rounded by his officials and the main part of his military forces. The Admiral sent a threatening message, asking him to surrender, but he refused, giving as reason that, as he was merely acting as governor during the absence in Germany of Dr. Hahl, he had no power to do so. The result was that the " Encounter," on the morning of the 14th September, shelled the ridge in the direction of Toma, while Lieut.-Col. Watson, at the head of four companies of Infantry, a machine gun sec- tion, and a twelve pounder, set out to impress on Dr. Haber the seriousness of the situation. The expedition brought the desired result, inasmuch as the German governor made up his mind to meet Col. Holmes the following morning at Herbertshohe.

On the above historical meeting terms were dis-

92 OUR NEW POSSESSION

cussed upon which the German New Guinea Pro- tectorate was to be formally handed over to the British, the surrender agreement, in its final form, receiving the signatures of the responsible parties three days later.

On 22nd September the " Berrima," escorted by the " Australia," the " Encounter," and the French cruiser "Montcalm," left Rabaul for Friedrich Wilhelmshafen, or Madang, as it is now called. This place was reached two days later, and occupied without opposition. The German flag was lowered, and the British flag hoisted, while two companies were landed to garrison the place. The head official, Dr. Gebhard, escaped being made prisoner. He, having with him his force of native troops, had spent most of his time since war broke out in the mountains some miles to the rear of Madang. On the day of our arrival he fled to Alexishafen, twelve miles further north, where the German auxiliary cruiser "Comoran" was hiding. It was unfortunate that the Aus- tralian fleet did not stay a little longer and pay a visit to Alexishafen, as not only the " Comoran," but also "Eitel Friedrich," would have been cap- tured, the latter — then a collier to the German Pacific fleet, but later a notorious raider — enter- ing Alexishafen an hour after our fleet left Madang. During the first evening the Austra- lians spent in Madang, a German police master saw his chance to get past the sentries to Alexis- hafen, with news of the British occupation. The " Comoran " carried a couple of guns, and the

THE CAPTURE 93

Australian fleet having left in the afternoon, the commander desired to make a surprise attack on the garrison during the night, but was held back by Dr. Gebhard, on the ground that the Possession had been formally surrendered by the represen- tative of the German crown, and that the German .residents would only be made to suffer for a breach of the agreement.

Other out-stations were by degree taken pos- session of. Thus, at Nauru, the British flag was hoisted on 6th October; Kawieng, the principal station at New Ireland, was occupied on 17th October; the Admiralty Islands on 19th Novem- ber ; Kieta, the Government station in the German Solomons, on 9th December.

The government offices in Rabaul and at the out-stations, immediately after the occupation, were manned by qualified Britishers taken from the Force. The governor's yacht, the " Komet," and all the inter-island steamers — some belonging to the government, others to the North German Lloyd and the New Guinea Company — had been either captured or taken over.

The roughest work in taking over German New Guinea was naturally done by the first British administrator, Col. Holmes, and those serving under him. Col. Holmes remained in power less than four months, and, considering everything had been thrown into confusion by the arrival of the British and the prompt deportation of all but a few of the German officials — that all records were in the German language, and the Possession

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is scattered over a vast expanse of water — it would seem he did remarkably well. Neverthe- less, on his return to Australia he was severely criticised for the easy terms given the Germans, and for agreeing to German laws remaining in operation during the occupation. Quite possibly Col. Holmes was greater as a soldier than as a diplomat — his distinguished career, later on, in Gallipoli and France, and his promotion to Major General, proved him to have possessed high mili- tary qualifications. Still, it must be borne in mind that most people at that time reckoned on a short war with a decisive victory for the Allies.

Dr. Haber, on his way through America back to Germany, boasted that he had bluffed Col. Holmes by leading him to believe he had a con- siderable military force at his command. He did nothing of the sort. At the conferences, at which I was present as interpreter, though my services were not required, Dr. Haber, speaking excellent English, certainly repeatedly referred to " his forces," but Col. Holmes knew quite well these were not great. What may have influenced him was that the German Pacific fleet was still intact, and that if the Germans in New Britain had re- sorted to guerilla warfare, which the natural con- ditions so eminently favours, they could have in- flicted considerable losses on the Australians, and much delayed the effective occupation of the Pro- tectorate. This, for political reasons, was unde- sirable, Australia not being the only power in- terested in the Pacific. Also, the men serving

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under Col. Holmes were much criticised, and one or two labour members in the Commonwealth Parliament made some very scathing remarks for things done, or supposed to have been done, by them. Having learned more about active warfare since then, it is now evident to everybody that the criticism was unjustifiable, and that in reality the Australians in German New Guinea conducted themselves in a manner eminently creditable to their country. Some Germans, who flogged a harmless British missionary, were merely flogged in return. What would have happened if some Belgians or Serbians had thrashed a German clergyman ? No private property was destroyed, and not a female — white, yellow, or black — in any way molested. No looting worth mentioning took place, and probably not in a single instance for the value of the things, but merely to secure mementoes. There was no chance of gaining Victoria Crosses or Military Medals, nor of gathering up on the battle fields German helmets or bayonets; yet, our men naturally desired to bring back to their relations some visible tokens of having taken part in an event which, from Australian point of view, was of considerable his- torical significance. Besides, with every mail news came to hand of wholesale looting by the Germans in France. Was anything more human than to reason: — "If the Germans loot art trea- sures from the castles of France, why should the Australians scruple helping themselves to me- mentoes of small value from vacated bungalows

96 OUR NEW POSSESSION

in German New Guinea?" A German lady told me she had not lost as much as a fowl, and Ger- man residents have repeatedly admitted the Aus- tralians showed a moderation which would have been foreign to German soldiers. On one occa- sion some drunken Germans, from the balcony of the New Guinea Company's club building, com- menced passing caustic remarks at a party of Australian soldiers marching by. The Austra- lians contented themselves in the evening with entering the building and ousting the Germans, without doing any of them bodily harm. The officer commanding the garrison, instead of hav- ing the offending Germans deported to Australia, quietly took over the building, and turned it into a recreation room for our men. And, again, when, on one occasion, news of a German victory reached Rabaul, and the employees in two of the stores openly demonstrated their joy by a great drinking bout in the evening on a verandah fac- ing the main street, German patriotic songs and shouts of " Hoch der Kaiser " resounded all over the place , yet, not till it actually developed into an intentional affront to the British were they arrested, and even then the severest punishment inflicted on any one of them was a fine of £10.

The several claims on the British Government, lodged by Germans in the Treasury at Rabaul for the loss of property, would seem to contradict some of the above statements. Many of these claims, however, even at the time when lodged, would not have stood close investigation. The

w

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following rather interesting case may be taken as an example : —

One event occurring annually eclipsed every- thing else happening in Rabaul, viz., the visit of the German Pacific fleet, and preparations on a big scale were always made to meet the occasion. The ladies would send to Sydney for new dresses ; perspiring Kanakas would be doing up the streets ; the stores would lay in tremendous stocks of champagne, wine, spirits, cigars, etc.

The German fleet was to have arrived in Rabaul during August, but, owing to the outbreak of hos- tilities, did not keep the engagement. Particu- larly the New Guinea Company had prepared to do big business. Unfortunately, the major por- tion of the company's warehouse had been com- mandeered by the Australians and transformed into barracks for the troops, who were cut off from the big stock of wine, beer, and spirit merely by a flimsy partition. When the New Guinea Company gradually developed into a benevolent institution, from time to time making a certain number of Australian soldiers happy, very little can be said against the latter. As one man put it: "The Germans empty the wine cellars in France — why should we not empty the stores of the New Guinea Company, in which the Kaiser is one of the leading shareholders ?" A claim on the British Government was, of course, presented to the administrator, but as it was discovered the company's own employees had been as unprofit- able customers as the Australian soldiers — the lat-

98 OUR NEW POSSESSION

ter naturally being blamed for the lot — the claim was — at least for the time — not entertained.

Only two offences of a graver nature took place, and in both cases the offenders were severely dealt with. The one case was that of a soldier robbing a German missionary, and the other that of three members of the military police robbing the proprietor of a Chinese gambling den. Yet, compared with the hideous crimes insepar- able from war, even such cases become so trivial that they are hardly worth mentioning. In fact, when we consider that the first force to leave Aus- tralia, numbering 1500 men, was, so to speak, gathered in from the streets of a big city in the course of a couple of days, and sent on active ser- vice with less than a week in camp, their conduct in German New Guinea speaks indeed well for the commendable qualities possessed by the young Australians.

In the German New Guinea Protectorate were, in some measure for administrative purpose, in- cluded the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands, and the Marianen Islands, except Guam. To take possession of these groups, a second and smaller expeditionary force left Australia in November on board the "Eastern," Colonel Pethebridge being in command. Before this expedition reached its destination, information was received of a Japanese occupation, and the "Eastern" was, therefore, directed to Rabaul instead. Colonel Holmes and his force, at their own request, re- turned to Australia, with a view to further active

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service, and Colonel Pethebridge assumed the ad- ministration, commencing on 8th January, 1915.

Colonel Pethebridge's successful administra- tion of German New Guinea has so often been re- ferred to that little remains to be said. His organising talent, his capacity for work, and a happy knack of getting the best result from, at times, inferior material, soon made themselves felt, and German New Guinea has probably never been governed better than during his reign. His readiness to recognise good work done, and over- look mistakes unintentionally made; his courtesy and goodwill, to even the humblest private, gained him the affection of everybody serving under him. Unfortunately for the colony, continuous attacks of malarial fever eventually compelled him to re- turn to Australia, where, shortly afterwards, he died. For the services he rendered the Empire he was promoted to Brigadier General, and some months before his death knighted by His Majesty the King.

The interval between Sir Samuel Pethebridge, and his successor, Brigadier-General Johnston, was filled ably by the Chief Judge, Lieut.-Colonel Seaforth Mackenzie.

General Johnston's ascension to the governor- ship of German New Guinea marked a consider- able change. Pethebridge had been a civil ser- vant all his life, and had done very little soldier- ing. In his opinion, the principal task was that of carrying on and, where possible, improve the administration of the Protectorate, the likelihood

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of an attack by German raiders — even should such enter the Pacific — being comparatively small. General Johnston is a wealthy furniture dealer, and fond of soldiering, which to him is a hobby. He made no secret of his dislike for administrative work, and the "Wolf" incident offered the neces- sary excuse for bringing the military side of the occupation to the fore. He obtained heavy guns from Australia to defend the entrance to Rabaul, and also what he termed his "Striking Force" to man the front trenches in case of a German attack. To make the original force in Rabaul more efficient as a Militia, he instituted a course of rigorous training. His efforts were not alto- gether successful, and he was continually struggling against great difficulties. His "Strik- ing Force" consisted to a considerable extent of soldiers who had been invalided home from France, and were unfit for service in a tropical climate. Generally, over 30 per cent, were ill, and it proved impossible to get men up from Australia as fast as they were returned as medically unfit. Already, before armistice was declared, General Johnston's "Striking Force" had practically ceased to exist. The members of the Militia, who were called upon continually to drill, in case of military emergency arising, and at the same time carry on administrative work, were discontented, and, being deprived of their band, their newspaper, and generally too tired after the day's work to get up entertainments or indulge in sports, wished more than ever that war would come to an end.

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Soldiers, who had served both in France and Ger- man New Guinea, frequently remarked they would rather be in France ; and it is doubtful if the news of armistice anywhere was received with more delight than in German New Guinea.

CHAPTER IX.

GARRISON LIFE.

Looking back on those first days in Rabaul, it seems like a moving picture, the films of which run into thousands of feet, and from the begin- ning to the end rather pleasing to the eye.

Let uslmagine the film taken from a captive balloon suspended over Rabaul. We see the tree lined avenues and the jetty alive with perspiring Australians, loitering brown skinned natives, and busy civilians. At first this ant-like manifesta- tion of life appears to move without aim and ob- ject, as if thrown into confusion ; but soon several main currents are discerned — one leading to and from the wharf, another to and from the canteen, others to and from the post office, the Garrison Headquarters, Chinatown, the principal barracks, the native compound, and other places of im- portance.

A ship has just arrived from Sydney with pro- vision and mail. It is high time, for the last fort- night the troops had existed on tinned herrings and biscuits, while in the whole of Rabaul not a drop of beer is left. The men had grumbled, and the officers felt alarmed. Anyhow, the ship turns up at last, and everybody is jubilant. One fatigue party has been detailed to take out the cargo,

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and another to transport it to the stores. There they are — unaccustomed to wharf lumping — battling with heavy boxes of foodstuffs — drag- ging along with heavy truck loads of necessaries — perspiring till the sweat runs in streams almost down into their boots, but, nevertheless, cheerful — shouting, yelling, and cracking jokes at the stupid Kanakas, who are supposed to help, but can do nothing from amazement at seeing so much kai-kai* — much more than they ever dreamt could possibly exist — and taken completely off their feet by observing these funny white fellows from Australia doing manual labour.

At the post office another party has been de- tailed to sort the mail. Never before has such an earnest lot of sorters been seen in Rabaul, nor so many anxiously waiting men hovering about the post office — and not for an hour or two, but right till the last misaddressed newspaper has been extricated from the place.

The post office is, of course, everywhere a most popular edifice, but there was something which, during early military occupation, made the Rabaul post office particularly so. The German postage stamps had been seized and surcharged for ordinary uses, and these stamps were offered for sale in the usual way. Whenever a new lot of stamps arrived the post office was absolutely rushed, and a long queue of soldiers could be seen patiently awaiting their turn to be attended to. Most of the stamps were bought to be taken to

'Native name for food.

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Australia as curios, very few dreaming that long before the war was to close these bits of paper would be worth, in London and New York, thou- sand and thousands of pounds, some of the higher values realising £50 a piece. "The Government Gazette" — a combination of official journal and ordinary newspaper, the publication of which was authorised by Colonel Holmes — proved another big draw, and the first issue, especially, was sold in thousands of copies.

Almost as busy, and not less popular, was the wet canteen. There always seemed to be three bodies of men outside the canteen — one lined up awaiting their turn to be served — another push- ing and fighting and elbowing themselves to- wards the windows — and a third, a pace or two distant from the mass of struggling humanity, contentedly emptying their glasses. This per- sonified symbol of expectation, achievement, and bliss still lingers in my mind, and I often wonder how many of those, who once lined up outside the Rabaul canteen, when later in life struggling with a pint of beer, wish they had a thirst on them as in those days of the bygone.

Close to the wet canteen was the Quarter- master's store, which was another much fre- quented place. Rations were either drawn daily or weekly, and it was the cooks or the duly autho- rised -Kanakas 'that -drew them. " The latter gave very little trouble — they presented their written authority, and took what they got. The cooks, however, grumbled when there were no potatoes

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or no onions, or nothing of this or that ; and there was always something upon which the troops had to be put on short rations or go without. The men grumbled at the cooks, and naturally the cooks grumbled at the Quartermaster-sergeant. Still, though the arguments at times were heated, they never came to blows, but acted as safety valves, minimising the monotony of every day life.

The barracks were "home," to which the troops could always go when not on duty or tired of being elsewhere, and, though they were rough, they offered some comfort, and, like all barracks, witnessed much youthful mirth and many happy hours spent in reading letters from home, or newspapers and magazines sent by loving friends, or in sweet dreams about fair maidens, the boys generally ending up by gathering into small groups to tell yarns and exchange experiences in life, or to enjoy a quiet game of poker.

The Garrison Headquarters, from a military point of view, was, of course, the most important place of all. It was open day and night — any possible attempt by the German Pacific fleet to interfere with British occupation would at once be reported to Garrison Headquarters by sentries posted on all the loftiest peaks, the bugler would call every available man to arms, and the position detailed for defence taken up. From Garrison Headquarters, too, were sent out orders to regu- late business for the following day — and a whole pamphlet of standing orders as to what the troops

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were allowed to do and what not. These were, however, in many instances disregarded. Thus the men would persist in drinking unboiled water, sleeping without mosquito nets, and eating fruit bought from the natives without first submerging it in boiling water, all to the annoyance of the medical officers, thus tending to keep the hospital busy.

Of other buildings playing an important role in the military drama staged at Rabaul, may be mentioned the Administration Headquarters; the treasury, securely watched by a strong guard. Here locally manufactured treasury notes were issued or exchanged for German marks to save the gold the expedition had brought from Aus- tralia from falling into German and Chinese hands.

To go to Chinatown was the same as "doing the block." The traditional bobbies, requesting people to move on, were represented by armed sentries demanding passes, but who were always open to reason, if taken the right way. It goes without saying that the supply of beer in the can- teen was much restricted and quite inadequate to satisfy the hardened beer swipers, of which, naturally, there were a few. Chinatown, how- ever, came to the rescue, and every tailor and bootmaker was a sly-grog vendor as well. Still, drunkenness was not prevalent amongst the Aus- tralian soldiers in Rabaul, and, apart from the levies occasionally made on the New Guinea Com- pany, only one case is of sufficient interest to be

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committed to history : — Several casks of rum had been sent from Sydney for the men to take to- gether with quinine. These casks were left in a shed on the wharf, and, somehow, a number of men managed to evade the sentry, get hold of a boat, and paddle it under the wharf. A hole was bored up through the floor and into one of the casks, and the rum was gathered into buckets and brought to the barracks. The exploit, however, had been too successful to be repeated.

On Saturday afternoons, and sometimes on Wednesdays, well attended and keenly contested sports were held at one of the squares, the officers joining the men — Herbertshohe versus Rabaul, or the right half of the Battalion versus the left half. All sorts of athletic sports were indulged in, prizes being supplied from the canteen funds, and bookmakers — attended by the stereotyped clerks — taking bets. Nothing was missing — not even the spontaneous outbursts of enthusiastic barrackers nor the usual incidents which cause merriment. Who of those present will ever for- get the corpulent Major B steaming away in

a footrace, hard pressed by the grey haired harbour master — or the football matches — nothing being visible but a huge noisy cloud of dust rolling forwards and backwards — and, when it was all over, a number of staggering men black beyond description, and with big muddy creeks running down their cheeks. Nor will the aquatic sports be forgotten, with their variation of skil- ful performances; the queer rigouts, and the photographer's despair when prevented from tak-

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ing films for Australian picture shows, owing to some of the lads having left their bathing gowns behind. In fact, who of those who took part in it all will ever forget Rabaul? When many a high class concert of the bygone is blurred in the minds, the concerts and the locally produced farces performed on the crude stage, erected on a Rabaul verandah — the audience stretched on the grass right down to the water's edge — will live, while odd lines of humorous songs by local scribblers — principally dealing with slips made by this, that, or the other comrade, and for which he had been brought on the carpet — will be fresh in memory. And when the day was over the delightful tropical evening, the breath of air tempered by the sea, the merry voices and queer instruments rendering "It's a long way to Tipperary" and other popular songs right up till the last post sounded, when Rabaul would sink into soft, silent, darkness. It seems a pity that memories like these should be clouded by the unfair criticism of people who were never in Rabaul, and, consequently, do not know.

The officers naturally enjoyed more liberty than the men — a liberty, however, which was never abused, and I do not remember having seen a single case — in the mess or outside — where an officer of the first force was any the worse for liquor. They shared with the men the heat of the tropics, the disappointment of having seen so little fighting, the monotony of garrison life, and all the rest which made the stay in German New Guinea unenviable. Only a few privileged ones

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were able to get horses or vehicles, and occasion- ally get away from the place. About half-a-dozen officers had a fairly good time at neighbouring plantations, principally owned by half-caste Samoans or Scandinavians; still, no impropriety is known to have taken place, and the only event which might have given rise to serious comment was a number of officers having — as a joke — ac- cepted an invitation to celebrate the Kaiser's birthday at one of the plantations. The owner — a German — was in the old country, and the wife — a half-caste Samoan — was looking after the place. Pro-German in a broadminded sort of way, and probably bored out of her life by the lonely existence on the plantation, she had made up her mind to celebrate the anniversary of the Kaiser's birth in the good old-fashioned way with plenty of champagne and all the rest, the invited guests being all British officers. The Brigade Major, however, got to hear of it, and the birth- day party did not come off.

Towards the end of the six months, for which the Force had signed on, the men commenced to grow restless. Discipline had never been their strong point, and as time went on it became more slack. It is a question if they had ever felt them- selves as soldiers — they certainly anticipated the time when they again would be civilians. Cir- cumstances, however, came to the rescue, and even during those, to the officers, somewhat trying last weeks excesses of a serious character did not occur. The wet season had at last set in, and

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fever commenced to rage. Half the garrisons at the out-stations were down with fever, and as these fever patients gradually were brought to Rabaul, the malady spread with such rapidity that the hospitals could accommodate them no more. The announcements of occasional deaths, or of this or that comrade being "very low," gave food for reflection, and was a decided damper on the spirits of the garrison. When at last the troop- ship arrived with Colonel Pethebridge and his men, a sigh of relief went through the whole place. To the departing Force the end was in sight, while to the one relieving the time was dawning when they would be masters in German New Guinea. The two Forces, though only together a little while, were never on friendly terms. Pethe- bridge's men called Holmes's men "babies," who wanted to get back to their mothers and to the kindergartens they had only recently left, while the latter called the former "Druids," who had done their dash and were too old to be sent to Europe.

When, eventually, after much excitement and quite a number of farewell concerts, the troop- ship steamed slowly out of Simpsonhaven, the men on board gave vent to their feelings in ring- ing cheers. Their work in German New Guinea had been completed. Was it worth cavilling over a few of them having fallen short? They were on their way home now — not riddled with bullets or covered with scars, but in many cases invalided for years to come by fever germs. To this is

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attached neither glory nor pension. Again, many other fine lads were inoculated with a taste for liquor and gambling acquired in the barracks. Did these men — most of whom, by the way, re- enlisted for service in Europe — when all is said, not make a worthy sacrifice at the shrine of the British Empire?

Garrison life in Rabaul soon lost its youthful- ness, its colour and mirth. The new Battalion Commander and his first-lieutenant were both stern disciplinarians, and the Force having been much reduced, they were able to watch the doings of the individual soldier more closely than their predecessors had been able to. The words "ex- tenuating circumstances" and "mercy" did not appear in their vocabulary, and the list of punish- ments daily meted out became so alarmingly large that General Pethebridge at last intervened on the part of the men, and, at a dinner in the officers' mess, expressed his disapproval of all this un- wonted sternness. A complete change took place when he himself, to his office of administrator, added that of Battalion Commander. Realising the war would last for a long time, everything tending to make life in Rabaul less monotonous and occupy the men's minds was promoted, such as rifle shooting and miniature rifle shooting for prizes or trophies, tennis, cricket, and other forms of sport. Brass instruments were obtained from Melbourne, and a garrison band started. A machine for moving pictures was secured, films being sent from Australia free of cost. The in-

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auguration of a monthly newspaper, "The Rabaul Record," was approved of, and also the formation of permanent entertainments and sports com- mittees.

Thus, life at Rabaul, during General Pethe- bridge's regime, was made as pleasant as it was within human power to make it. Yet even then time was dragging, and, regarding those serving at the out-stations, very little could be done to im- prove their conditions. All in all, it was no sine- cure to be in German New Guinea, and the autho- rities experienced considerable difficulties in keep- ing up the Force to the strength necessary for the carrying on of administrative duties. It has been stated that it requires more courage to be a good infantryman than a good artilleryman, be- cause the former at times meets the enemy face to face, while the latter only sees him through a telescope. In German New Guinea, it took a microscope to see him. Yet, the many graves scattered throughout the Protectorate — amongst them quite a number of Australian graves — testi- fies to the enemy being there all the same. The loneliness at these far away outposts could not be seen by any manner or means, but it was felt almost to desperation, and I have often thought that those who served at these places for six shillings a day, or even a little more, were true patriots. When they became ill, there were no kindhearted nurses to cheer them up, and, in most cases, no doctor within possible reach, no loving hearts to bring them flowers and presents —

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nothing to inspire hope, and strengthen their desire to live. Scores of miles inland, on the fever-stricken shores of the Sepik river, is a lonely soldier's grave — hidden under dense jungle — probably forgotten by all except his mate who buried him, and who himself, single-handed, stuck to his post till weeks later — more dead than alive — he was withdrawn.

Surely the comrades whose bones now rest in the soil of late German New Guinea, and those who came back to Australia shortly to die — amongst them their beloved chief, Brigadier- General Pethebridge — must be included amongst the noble dead, who self-sacrificingly gave their lives to the Empire.

CHAPTER X.

NEW BRITAIN.

In the struggle for precedence between the coast of the New Guinea mainland and the island of New Britain — witnessed by the first years of Ger- man occupation — the latter had already, before the nineteenth century closed, reached the ascendency. When, finally, the government offices were transferred from Finschhafen to Herbertshohe, the predominence of New Britain became firmly established. Ever since that island has grown in importance, and for a number of years been the recognised centre for all activity in the Possession.

This activity, as far as New Britain is con- cerned, is confined to the eastern corner of the island, or to the Gazelle Peninsula, of which, again, only a narrow and broken strip of coast- line really counts for anything. This strip of land, commencing a short distance south of Cape Gazelle, abutting on Blanche Bay, interrupted by the mountainous Mother Peninsula, and continued on the north coast towards the Baining Mountain Range, gains its significance by encompassing Simpsonhafen, the best harbour in the Posses- sion, Rabaul the capital, Kokopo another flourish- in

NEW BRITAIN 115

ing settlement, and, in addition, extensive coco- nut plantations.

On the east coast the plantations are gradually creeping further south, the smoothly rounded mountains, of but slight elevation, forming no serious obstacles. On the north coast the pre- cipitous and lofty Baining Mountains, however, for a considerable distance, bar any further exten- sion. Stretching from Weberhafen, in a south- easterly direction, and only separated from the above mentioned belt of plantations by a few miles of mountain plateau, is an extensive well-watered, low-lying elongation of undulated country. The native population here is very small, thus form- ing a negligible hindrance to the advance of the white man. It is, therefore, predicted that this low land, in no distant future, will become the scene of considerable agricultural activity.

Regarding the rest of the peninsula, though it has been traversed, very little is known of it — gorges, steep slopes, turbulent rivulets, hostile natives, and almost impenetrable vegetation make exploration exceedingly difficult. Seen from the summit of Mount Mother, it appears that patches of grass country is intermixed with patches of forest, the eucalyptus, Naudiniana, being much in evidence.

Towards south and west the view is barred by the blue-tinted Baining Mountains, which rise to an elevation of approximately 5000 feet, and con- stitute the backbone of the peninsula. This rugged and densely wooded range gives birth to

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numerous mountain streams and watercourses, through which, especially in the rainy season, huge volumes of water pour into the sea. None of these watercourses are at any time navigable. The Toriu river, however, has gained importance through the Catholic Mission having erected a saw-mill on it, and from here most of the build- ing material used in New Britain is obtained.

Outside of Simpsonhafen the Gazelle Peninsula is not overblessed with natural harbours. Mutlar- hafen and Putput, on the east coast, are both small, though useful to local plantations. Weber- hafen, on the north coast, is too open to afford shelter the whole year round; Powelhafen is by far the best, and, although encircled by swampy mangroves will be of importance in opening up the fertile back country.

Leaving the Gazelle Peninsula, we enter an- other, through contractions of the coast-line, clearly defined section of the island, covering an area about equal in size to the one already dealt with. The interior of this section is as yet un- explored, but, as far as can be ascertained through observation from the coast, it is composed of high mountain ranges, and is of little use to the white man. Nor do these mountains leave room for any plantations along the coast, save at the north- eastern corner. To further bar the intrusion of the planter and trader, the coast is void of ser- viceable anchorages, and only Jacquinot Bay, on the south-east coast, affords some shelter during the north-west season. On the west coast,

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stretching in a southerly direction, is a belt of volcanoes, separated from the inland ranges through a dip in the country. This belt of vol- canoes embraces "The Father," the "North Son," and the "South Son," which mountains form a pendant to the "Mother," the "North Daughter," and the "South Daughter" outside Rabaul. The "Father," reaching an elevation of about 7500 feet, and the slightly lower "South Son," are still active, while the "North Son" is extinct.

The section of New Britain stretching between Jacquinot Bay and Montague Bay on the south coast, and Commodore Bay and Cape Quoy on the north coast, is likewise mountainous, and gives but little encouragement to the enterprise of Europeans. On the north coast, however, is a stretch of gently rising country of great fertility.

We now come to the western half of the island, of which more is likely to be heard in the future. The interior is still terra incognita, but most of the coast has been explored, and it is evi- dent from various reports that this part of New Britain possesses far greater possibilities than does the Gazelle Peninsula.

Travelling along the south coast in a westerly direction, quite a number of well-sheltered har- bours and anchorages are met with. These afford natural bases for developing the surrounding country. A little to the west of Cape Bali or South Cape is the excellent Mowehafen, capable of accommodating ships of any size, and predicted in years to come to out-rival Simpsonhafen in

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importance. The back country is well suited to tropical agriculture, while an overflowing stream supplies the place with excellent drinking water.

Also, between Mowehafen and Cape Merkus are serviceable anchorages, and here several rivers flow into the sea. Most important of these is the Pulie river, which can be entered and navigated for a distance of twelve miles by steamers up to 300 tons. Von Schleinitz, the first European to enter the Pulie river, writes : — "Next to the Sepic river, on the mainland of New Guinea, the Pulie river is the most important stream hitherto dis- covered in the Protectorate, superseding, from a navigable point of view, the Ramu river." Parkinson, who, later on, visited the Pulie river, quite agrees with Von Schleinitz, and he adds: — "The land on either side of the river is of excel- lent quality. The woodland, though dense, is not to be compared with the impenetrable and heavily timbered virgin forest found at some places. The clearing would not involve heavy expense, while the soil, in my opinion, is suitable to any kind of tropical agriculture. I saw great areas which, if the forest was thinned out, would do for cocoa. Nor is it a typical lowland, but is interspersed with knolls and rows of hills, rendering it, to all appearance, well suited for settlement. The re- quired building material could be obtained and dressed on the spot, the river supplying adequate and cheap power for a sawmill. I consider the banks of this river the most suitable for a settle- ment in the whole archipelago."

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Proceeding westward, the coastline is protected by a fringe of small islands, of which the Lieb- liche Islands have already been drawn into the industrial cobweb by Forsayth & Co. having founded a plantation and trading station there. All along, streams of various sizes flow to the sea, and now and again sheltered anchorages are dis- covered. The coastline to some distance inland is of no great elevation, and suitable for planta- tions. A change occurs as we get further west- ward, the inland mountains gradually drawing nearer to the sea, till at last the two meet in a stern grip for supremacy. The westernmost cor- ner of New Britain is terminated by two lofty volcanoes, Below and Hunstein, and a number of smaller ones, some of them still active, while others are extinct.

Turning the west point of New Britain the mountains again draw inland, leaving a wide belt of lowland stretching along the whole coastline till near the Willaume Peninsula, and cut at inter- vals by streams of various sizes and importance. While the lowland is well suited for plantations, the coast is trimmed with coral reefs, making navigation dangerous. The scattered islands along the coast are small and of no significance. At some places the inland mountains are of no great elevation, and the north coast could, with- out much difficulty, be connected with the south coast by a system of roads. Such roads, leading, say, towards the river mouths near Cape Merkus would everywhere penetrate arable country. Von

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Schleinitz, who explored this part of the coast in 1887, writes : — "The area of lowland lying between the block of volcanoes in the west, the inland mountains in the east, and the seas on the north and south, I estimate at 1500 square miles. The soil, as far as I could ascertain, is of good quality, and watered by navigable streams, two of which I examined, sailing up them a distance of four to six sea miles. The low sand banks blocking their entrance could easily be dredged, after which they would show a depth varying from nine to thirty feet. A depth of from nine to eleven feet is pro- bably maintained many miles inland. These plains have, without doubt, a great future, even should they contain swamps, of which, however, I saw no trace." Parkinson estimates the land suitable for tropical agriculture on the south coast at an additional 1500 square miles, and he sums up his observations by saying: — "Should the Protecto- rate continue to progress, the western part of New Britain will before long out-rival the Gazelle Peninsula, not merely through possessing much more arable land, but also through that land being tapped by navigable rivers. The native popula- tion, as far as we know, is not very dense, and exists only on coconuts or taros. At least, those existing on taros could, without inflicting any hardships, be transplanted to other places should they prove to be in the road."

The narrow Willaume Peninsula distinguishes itself more by natural beauty than by commercial value. "The numerous green-clad volcanoes in

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serene majesty striving towards the sky, the gib- bering geysers and bubbling hot springs, the encircling silence of the blue Pacific, all combine to impress on the mind a picture of exquisite beauty." Thus is Willaume Peninsula described by those who have had the privilege of landing there. It appears to be the beauty-spot in an altogether charming island.

New Britain, as stated elsewhere, covers an area of about 13,000 square miles. The temperature in Rabaul seldom exceeds 95 degrees. The climate is more healthy than in New Guinea, and the rain- fall less, amounting to about 76 inches per annum. Much more could be said about New Britain, and, may be, some conjectures made with regard to undetected mineral wealth. So far coal has been discovered, although not in payable quantities. Still, our knowledge of the island does, as yet, not extend many miles inland ; besides, in saying too much, undue weight is given to New Britain which, although exceedingly valuable, only covers a seventh part of the area comprised in late Ger- man New Guinea.

CHAPTER XL

RABAUL.

Rabaul, the capital of late German New Guinea, is situated on a fairly big open plain, surrounded on three sides by green-clad slopes and moun- tains, and, on the fourth, facing the deep, calm waters of Simpsonhafen. The now prosperous little township came into prominence when, in 1910, the seat of government was transferred from Herbertshohe to the more suitable Rabaul, at that time not very much more than a native battle ground. To-day it numbers approximately 1500 people all told, and consists of three distinct quarters — the European quarter or Rabaul pro- per, Chinatown, and the native compound, each possessing certain peculiarities, and exhibiting the mode of living and customs of entirely different races.

Rabaul proper — the most dignified part — is well laid out with avenues, plenty of open space and squares, and possesses two jetties. There all the government offices are situated, also a branch of the Commonwealth bank and the North Ger- man Lloyd and Burns-Philp's offices, and here we

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find the big European trading concerns — the New Guinea Co., Hernsheim's, and Forsayth's — all pos- sessing extensive plantations in the different islands, and conducting a huge business in copra and all kinds of commodities. They are the whole- sale firms, at the same time not despising the pro- fits connected with retailing all the odds and ends required by the residents, white and black alike; in fact, one can buy anything there, from a needle to an anchor, as the saying goes. Forsayth's, or what used to be Forsayth's, but which is now known as the Hamburg Sudsee Aktien-Gesell- schaft, previous to the war carried on banking business. In Rabaul nearly all the officials and traders domicile, living in splendidly equipped government-built houses, and waited on hand and foot by coloured servants. The business hours are from 8 to 11 a.m., and from 2 to 4 p.m., five hours constituting a tropical working day for Europeans. The rest of the time is idled away on their respective verandahs, reading, drinking lager beer, and sleeping, being the most favoured pastimes. As a matter of fact, the Europeans in Rabaul, as probably is the case in other tropical countries, spend most of their time on the veran- dah. For this reason, they are spacious, while the number of rooms are generally confined to two or three. The houses are all built on concrete blocks or piles, partly to procure draught and partly to protect them against white ants and against dampness during the wet season. They are light and airy, yet strongly constructed, so as

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to withstand the frequent and often severe earth tremors. In Rabaul there are also two club build- ings, the one originally utilised by the employees of the New Guinea Company, and the other by leading officials, traders, and planters. On the outskirts of the city an enterprising New Zea- lander, in 1914, erected a kinematograph theatre, and secured space for a beer garden, the latter, however, so far has not yet been laid out, and the theatre is mostly used for hotel business. When, at times, performances are given, different parts of the theatre are allotted to the different races, the best being set aside for the white, the next best for the yellow, and the worst for the black. The entrance fee is calculated on their income. The white, who earn from £25 to £50 a month, or, in some cases, a great deal more, pay 2s.; the Kanaka, whose monthly salary is from 4s. to 6s. and their keep, pay 6d., and the Chinese, Japanese, and Malays, whose incomes may be any- thing, but generally range between the above mentioned extremes, pay Is. As will be seen, the vendor's idea of proportion is somewhat mixed, and it would certainly not do for the Kanakas too often to go to picture shows. The war and the consequent British occupation naturally caused great changes. While the planters and traders are still Germans, the place of the official was taken by Australian soldiers, who also occupied the government owned bungalows. The New Guinea Company's warehouse was for a time transformed into a huge barrack, one of the

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club buildings were made the officers' mess, while the other was set aside as a place of recreation for the troops. The avenues, where formally strolled the grave, dignified German official in his spotlessly white attire, were animated by the buoyant, khaki-clad Australians, singing and shouting, and, particularly during the early occu- pation, throwing all etiquette and formality to the wind.

Five minutes' walk from Rabaul brings us to Chinatown, probably the busiest and, in some re- spects, most interesting place in New Britain. As Rabaul is the seat of administration and the com- mercial centre of late German New Guinea, so is Chinatown the centre for the Chinese population, numbering approximately 1500 in these islands, and of which upwards of 900 have made Rabaul their more or less permanent home. It is the heart from which the blood is poured out in many directions, and to which it again returns. From here the yellow traders sally forth to the native villages on the coast bartering cheap print, knives, mirrors, etc., for copra. Occasionally the Kanakas make short work of "Kong-Kong," whom they regard with distrust, but, as a rule, he re- turns after a successful stay amongst them, and, having drawn his cheque from the New Guinea Company, or Forsayth's, or Hernshiem's, he goes back to Chinatown for recreation. And, as it is with the Chinese trader, so with the Chinese artisan, the cook, and the steward — they all gravi- tate back to Chinatown. Indeed, a number of

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Europeans and natives are continually moving to and from that particular place as well. There are half-a-dozen stores there, several restaurants, tailors, laundries, and bootmakers; butchers, bakers, gardeners, carpenters, mechanics, etc. It is the seat for handicraft and thrift, and, although most of the shops neither impress by size nor cleanliness, but are just what one would expect in a Chinese quarter, there is plenty of excuse for everybody to go there. Besides, there is something alluring about Chinatown, something that draws beyond the desire of ordering a suit of clothes or having a haircut. As to what that is opinion will differ with regard to details ; but, speaking in a general way, the main causes may be ascribed to the place being characteristic, busy, and wicked. It is as if a little East-Asiatic town- ship, by some magic power, had been transplanted to New Britain. We find the joss house, where sacrifices are made to Confucius, and we meet in the streets Chinamen, with that peculiar head- wear which serve as hat and umbrella at one and the same time, and women wearing pants, with babies slung over their back, and acting the beasts of burden generally; and the dainty Japanese women in the fascinating dress of their native land, tripping ungainly about on their wooden clogs and threatening every momentto toppleover ; or half sitting, half standing mamselles outside some of the restaurants, fixing their slanting in- expressive eyes on the passers-by. In fact, we see the East in the streets and in the houses ; we

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hear it everywhere, and we recognise it by the smell peculiar to Eastern countries. Stoic Kanakas are loitering about, or are gazing with wondering eyes at the exhibits in the windows, while their women-folk — pipe in mouth — slink into a tailor's shop to ask the price of a new blouse. What, however, makes Chinatown most alluring is probably vice. To the earth-born brooding Adam treacherous Eves from the land of the chrysanthemum in former days held out open arms. To the wanderer, burnt dry by the broiling tropical sun, quite a number of places, apart from a hotel, offer for sale beer on the quiet, and locally made soft stuff. A secret dis- tillery produces the vile Chinese spirit known as "Samsue." To those who require the excitement of the green table, a gambling den, in the German time, was open day and night, and now other means have been found for turning the wheel of fortune. Also, for those possessing the depraved desire for opium, enterprising Chinese have provided.

As will be seen, every vice is catered for, and the pious would not hesitate to put this interest- ing corner of the great Chinese realm on the black list. Still, Rabaul's Chinatown is probably not more immoral than many European cities, the principal difference being that the latter pretend to be moral, while the former makes no preten- tions at all. The Germans in Rabaul were not pious, but many things indicate they were prac- tical, and it is a notable fact that, in spite of the

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large Asiatic population, native women have been little interfered with, half-castes in Rabaul are rare, and venereal diseases kept well in check. . . . Over and above all, Chinatown is Rabaul's busy, unruly corner — where people rise early — are always on the move — and go to bed late. While after sunset the European quarter becomes quiet, and the streets look empty and desolate, life in Chinatown moves on — intense — rapid — and wicked.

The native compound is Rabaul's labour suburb — the anchorage of the sons of toil — brought there from many parts of the Pacific. Here, at the foot of the towering mountain known as "The Mother" dwell the Malays and their kindred from the Marianen, the Caroline, and the Marshall Islands. Here, too, we met the dark-brown Kanakas from various islands. The former are employed in the big stores as clerks and salesmen, or to fill a variety of more subordinate positions either with the government or with the firms. They live in small, exceedingly plain and mostly windowless cottages owned by their employers; yet, from their point of view, probably considered very com- fortable. The Kanakas number approximately 150 police boys and 250 contract labourers, includ- ing some Marys. They live in big barracks, only the boss boys and their Marys occupying small wooden huts, one room being allotted to each couple. In the native compound is also situated the police-master's residence, the jails, the maga- zine, and the government stables, with their im-

RABAUL 129

posing staff of coloured grooms. There are three jails — one for Europeans, one for Chinese and Malays, and one for Kanakas. The crimes com- mitted are, in the case of the natives, of no great variety, gentleman-criminals of the higher order being unknown. They are in jail either for theft, assault, unnatural offences, or desertion from their masters. Occasionally gloomy looking ob- jects, crawling into a corner when the cell is entered, are awaiting their trial for cannibalism. In the day time life is at an ebb in the native compound, the place being given over to the womenfolk and their youthful offspring. The Malays are away at the offices and stores, the government labourers are at the wharf loading or unloading vessels, or they are engaged in trans- port work, road-making, grass-cutting, or any other occupation where muscles and sinews are in demand, and which is considered below the dignity of the white man, and, to some extent, even of the yellow man, to touch; the dark prisoners are doing sanitary work ; and the police boys are on duty, or drilling on the parade ground. Towards noon, and again towards evening, they all hark back to the compound for "kai-kai," in the main consisting of rice. Then, for a short while the compound seems very much alive. But the life in the compound moves on entirely dif- ferent lines to that in Chinatown; there are no shops in the native compound, and very little money — nothing to buy, and nothing to buy it with — nothing to draw either the white man or

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130 OUR NEW POSSESSION

anybody else. The excitement is of the kind we find in the Zoo when the animals are being fed, each one being moved by the same desire for food, and each little group using different sounds and expressions to give vent to their emotions, the Solomon islander not understanding the New Guinea boy, and the latter not the natives from anywhere else. It is a pandemonium of sounds — a bable of tongues — crude English with a very limited range of words being the only language intelligible to all. Occasionally there may be a brawl amongst the Kanakas about the few Marys in their midst. Divorce cases of a primitive kind are not uncommon. The matrimonial ties are loose, and cease when either of the parties are able to return to their native island, or when it pleases the lord and master to transfer his better half to someone else — occasionally for a few sticks of tobacco — all in all serving as an excuse for the faithfulness and other virtues of the Marys not being of a high order.

As a rule, it gets quiet in the native compound not long after sunset, as the Kanaka goes to bed early. But sometimes life runs fast even there, and shouting, yelling, and singing can be heard till a late hour, and especially is this the case when some of the boys have come to the end of their three years' service. After, in one of the stores, having filled their boxes with loin clothes, pipes, tobacco, combs, mirrors, mouth organs, necklaces, and God knows what, they have still, out of their deferred pay, enough left to give their comrades

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a treat. A pig is bought in one of the native vil- lages, and taken to the compound. It is roasted and devoured in the old primitive fashion; joy and happiness reign supreme; and if it happens to be moonlight as well, then the dusky sons and daughters of the South Seas are as near heaven as it is possible to be in this world of toil. On such evenings the Kanakas are seen at their best — the sullen look has disappeared; they have let themselves go, and have become what they were before the yoke was placed on their shoulders — the uncouth, simple children of the wilds. On such occasions they may be seen twisting and whirling round in the queer dances of their race — shouting and yelling, or chanting their weird, mystic songs till far into the night. ... In the Malay part of the compound may be heard a screeching phonograph or an amateur string- band. The Polynesians are more intelligent than the Melanesians, wear European clothes, and re- ceive higher salary. They are the aristocrats in this dejected place. . . . The ill-paid and little thought-of Kanaka, with nothing else to hide his nakedness than a loin cloth, is thrall to them all. In the mountains, a mile and a half from Rabaul, Namanula is situated. It is healthier there, and slightly cooler than below. The coun- try is wild and wooded, the gorges are deep, and the level places few. When subterranean vol- canic forces in the unknown past lifted New Britain up out of the sea it handled this place particularly roughly. Still, nature has created a

132 OUR NEW POSSESSION

delightful spot around Namanula, and probably for this reason it has become the fashionable suburb. It is there Government House is situ- ated at the summit of a hill, surrounded by the most luxuriant tropical vegetation, and present- ing excellent views. On the one side New Ireland and the Duke of York group are to be seen in the distance, whilst on the other side the scene takes in Rabaul, Chinatown, and Simpsonhafen with its encircling slopes. Every steamer, motor-launch, and cutter entering or leaving port can be ob- served. In Namanula there are also a number of picturesque villas, where the higher German officials used to live, but which, on these being deported, were taken possession of by Australian officers and men. The European hospital, the Government Printing Office, and the now deserted schools are likewise situated there. When the teachers left, the white children were taken away by their parents, and the Kanaka boys who had been brought there from every corner of the Bis- marck Archipelago to learn German, handicraft, and agriculture took advantage of the upheaval to disappear. Boys are all the same, whether white or black. The printing staff, numbering about a dozen, and who were being instructed by a German, also took leave, and did not put in an appearance again. In fact, the war caused even greater changes in Namanula than in Rabaul proper, and particularly was this the case during the first few months of military occupation. Namanula was then bristling with life. The

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young Australian always does know how to make a place gay. There were soldiers about every- where, and noisy niggers hauling trucks along a tramline leading from Rabaul. And almost every evening music from a variety of instruments, and popular songs, resounded from bungalow to bungalow, and mingled in a pleasant manner with the quaint chant of the natives as they passed to and from the neighbouring villages by the sea.

Moving eastward from Rabaul along the shore of Simpsonhafen, we notice in the distance the steam from hot springs, and by bending to the right, eventually strike the populous native vil- lage of Matupi, situated on a small island which, when the tide was out, used to be connected with the mainland by a strip of dry sea bottom. On New Year's eve, 1916, Matupi, however, sank several feet, and has since been cut off by a fairly deep channel. There is a Roman Catholic Church and a Wesleyan Mission Station situated at this place. Opposite Matupi is a volcano, which is still smouldering. It was in eruption in 1878, and caused considerable devastation. The natives, even some distance off, were brought to the verge of famine, and the sulphurous fumes now aris- ing from its interior causes some apprehension as to what might happen in the future.

Following the shores in a westerly direction one passes the native hospital, and a little further on the busy shipyards of Ah Tarn, and those of the still more enterprising Japanese captain, Komine. In the distance the Roman Catholic

134 OUR NEW POSSESSION

Mission Station and the Wesleyan Mission at Malakuna are visible, whilst some little way back from the sea our eyes are attracted by the Botani- cal Gardens and the picturesquely situated man- sion occupied by the manager of the New Guinea Company.

Along the coast, starting some miles from Rabaul, are numerous native villages and exten- sive coconut plantations with beautiful home- steads. At Herbertshohe — in itself an inviting little township — are some of the biggest planta- tions in German New Guinea. Here, also, is a fine Catholic Church, the residence of the Roman Catholic bishop, and the centre for the Catholic mission work carried on in these parts. It was in this direction the German wireless station at Bita Paka was situated, and where the fighting took place on the llth of September, 1914.

The back country is comparatively little known yet; nor is it considered safe to move too far in- land without adequate protection. The natives around Rabaul speak about the inland only in a whisper. It is "the land of the unknown," where strange things are still said to happen.

CHAPTER XII.

THE WESTERN ISLANDS.

Some distance north of New Guinea, and sixty to seventy miles south of the equator, is situ- ated a broken belt of small coral islands and island groups which are known as the Western Islands, through them being situated in the western cor- ner of the Bismarck Archipelago, of which they form part. From time to time these islands were visited by early navigators, who named them, made a few observations, and then departed, the little islands again dropping into oblivion, patiently submitting to be given new names by subsequent travellers, or have their names re- vert to those by which they were known to their savage inhabitants. Thus it has come about that they are all double named, as, indeed, is the case with a good many of the islands comprised in the Bismarck Archipelago.

Travelling from west to east the names of the islands in question are: — Matty or Wuvulu, Durour or Aua, Exchiquier Islands or Ninigo, Her- mit or Luf , Anchoret Islands or Kaniet.

Matty and Durour were discovered by the Spanish navigator Ortiz de Retes in 1545, and

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136 OUR NEW POSSESSION

some two hundred years later were visited by the British navigator Carteret, who, on his voyage, discovered the Exchiquier group, and, indeed, landed at or sighted all the Western Islands. In 1817 Captain Bristow landed at Matty, which he described as being inhabited by a ferocious race of savages. For this reason he baptised the island Tiger Island. During the last twenty-five years the Western Islands have on various occa- sions been visited by scientists who stripped them of all their ethnological treasures to enrich Euro- pean museums, at the same time describing the natives and their habits. In 1899 the late Mr. R. Parkinson visited the islands, and added much to our knowledge of them, and finally, in 1913, the Swedish writer, Count Morner, spent six months at Matty and Durour, during which time he translated into Swedish their folk-lore.

All these islands are fertile, picturesque, and wealthy in copra, while the surrounding waters abound in valuable shells, which all helps to ex- plain that, in spite of their remoteness, early graders occasionally called to barter with the natives. Later on, attempts were made to estab- lish permanent trading stations there, and, hav- ing paid the usual price in human lives claimed for commercial conquests in these parts, the efforts were crowned with success. From Mr. Parkinson we learn that in 1883 the German cor- vette "Carola" went to the Hermits to punish the natives for having killed one of Hernsheim's traders and his ship's crew. The same firm

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established a station at Matty in the beginning of the nineties, which, however, was soon burned down, and the trader, a Danish ex-military officer, killed. When, in 1899, a new attempt was made the natives gathered in force at the shore, and showed such marked hostility that the party did not venture to land. Not intending to be bested by the savages, Hernsheim engaged a daring Danish South Sea trader, Ortoft, better known as Leonard, who had had considerable experience in the Solomons, New Ireland, and other places, and till this very day bears numerous scars from his encounters with the natives. Leonard effected a landing, and succeeded in founding a station, which has been flourishing ever since. The enter- prising Dane picked up the native language, took unto himself three wives, and was, some years back, by the natives elevated as their chief, which is an unusual honour for a European.

Two Germans, Matthias and Reymers, founded a trading station at Durour some fifteen years ago. The natives soon told them to quit the island, and when they refused to do so an encoun- ter ensued, in which the traders held their own. After this the natives seemed to have quietened down, and some time later Matthias went on a trip to New Britain. During his absence the chief, on his death bed, ordered that Reymers be killed and his store robbed. The unfortunate trader was promptly speared and his body thrown into the sea, but it so happened that in demolish- ing the station the contents of a bottle containing

138 OUR NEW POSSESSION

spirits of salts was squirted over some of the marauders, and that when they returned to their leader, smarting from burns, the old chief had expired. Being prone to superstition deep gloom fell on the natives, and on Matthias returning they took to their canoes. A storm arose, a few of the canoes, mostly containing women and children, were carried to Matty, while the re- mainder— by Parkinson estimated at 500 souls — were drowned.

Also, at Ninigo, the arrival of Europeans was the signal for disturbances, and amongst the slain pioneers that of a Danish trader by the name of Pedersen is on record.

During latter years the Western Islands have become closely associated with the name of Wahlen and Co. The founder of this firm, Rudolf Wahlen, has had a truly remarkable career, and an outline of his marvellous success tends to show that the time for romance has not yet passed away from the South Seas. Young Wahlen was occupying the humble position of clerk at Hernsheim and Co. in Rabaul, when he saw his chance to acquire from his employers for a mere song their trading interests in the Western Islands. It is stated that during the first year of occupation he cleared £4000 from shells alone. Backed up with German capital, he purchased from the government, at the usual cheap rate, approximately 5000 hectares situated at the vari- ous islands, the governor, ignorant of facts, not considering them of great value. The eye-opener

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Dr. Hahl got, when Wahlen in one year obtained about 200 tons of copra from native coconut plan- tations already in bearing, may be imagined. In the course of a few years the once humble clerk became the wealthiest man in the Possession, exercising an influence which even the governor had reason to envy him, and living in a mansion at Maron, in the Hermits, in luxury by far out- rivalling Government House at Rabaul. When war broke out Wahlen, together with his wife, a Swedish lady of noble birth, were staying at his lately acquired estate in Germany, and neither could return while hostilities lasted.

Now about the original inhabitants of these islands. Who are they, and what has the Euro- pean invasion meant to them?

According to Parkinson, they are Micronesians, a cross between the Polynesians and the Mela- nesians. The latter is a Negroid race, the former in all probability a cross between the Caucasian and the Mongol races. This mixture, dating back to before our time of reckoning, has re- sulted in a race with light brown skin, dark wavy hair, European-like features, with a slight ten- dency to slanting eyes, and a brain capacity rang- ing them considerably above the Melanesians and Papuans. Their houses are constructed from roughly dressed wood, and, in some cases, con- tain fireplaces of stone. Their canoes and wea- pons exhibit a high degree of taste and artistic workmanship, the songs accompanying their dances, and which represent the folk-lore of the

140 OUR NEW POSSESSION

islands, are in some instances of no small literary merit, and apparently they never indulged in cannibalism. Their religion is still one of an- cestor worship, no missionaries ever having settled amongst them. After death the souls of the brave and righteous proceed to a place of bliss, by the Matty islanders called Tinara, and where trees, rivers, etc., are red, red being their favourite colour. Here they meet the souls of their great departed chiefs. But woe to the wicked whose souls are doomed to Aipa-ai, an unattractive place, eternally defiled by dirt and garbage continually dropping down from Tinara.

Before the advent of the Europeans they still lived in the stone age. The men wore no clothes, and the women at the best only a leaf, held by a band round the waist. They engaged in tribal warfare, occasionally extending their fights to neighbouring islands. Thus, for instance, if food were scarce at Durour, and ordinary barter did not meet the requirements, the men would man their boats and embark on a piratical cruise to Matty, and vice versa; otherwise, to judge from their folk-lore, they lived a peaceful life, experiencing the same joys and the same sorrows as are generally the lot of man.

In comparison with the size of the Western Islands they appear to have been fairly closely populated. Thus, Durour is stated by Parkinson to have had 2000 inhabitants, and Matty 1500. Count Morner gives the same figures as Parkin- son. The population of the other islands

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would be in proportion. Their number has, how- ever, been very much reduced during the last fifteen years, principally through the malarial fever and other diseases having been introduced by Europeans and their Kanaka labourers. At the time of Parkinson publishing his book in 1907 only sixty of the original population in Kaniet were left, while in the Hermits their num- ber had been reduced to eighty. In the Ninigo group only 400 had survived. Also, the popula- tion in Matty and Durour were then fast declin- ing, which may be seen from the following re- marks by Parkinson : — "It is to be hoped that the government in time will take steps to check the malarial fever in Matty and Durour, otherwise these interesting people will share the fate of the natives at Kaniet and the Hermits, who prac- tically by now are extinct." At the time of Count Morner's visit in 1913 the native population in Matty had dwindled down to 380, while that of Durour had been reduced in like proportion. * * *

On a moonlight night, seated amongst the ruins of one of Matty's deserted villages — the sur- vivors of the race having been drawn together into but two villages — the poetically gifted and liberty-loving Swedish Count bursts out into lamentations over the fate overtaking a highly gifted and, in many ways, lovable race. In bitter words he reproaches the Germans for having robbed them of their coconut palms and hunting grounds, and reduced them from a free and happy

142 OUR NEW POSSESSION

people to a mournful herd of poverty-stricken serfs. In a vision he sees the last Matty islander being laid to rest, and, bending down, Morner presses a kiss on the forehead of Tigea, a little native girl who acted as his guide — and he whispers : —

Child, you are asleep,

Your flowing velvety hair Is softly spread over my knees.

Silent, oh, how silent ! The dead poallas,

The buried chiefs,

You, who from your graves still lead your people,

Receive in your royal village, In red Tinara,

The last of the Wuvulus.

LOVE SONG FROM MATTY.

He went to his house to sleep,

And had in the night a dream,

He dreamt of a maid of whom it be said

She lived at another place.

He went to his work, but yet

The maiden he could not forget.

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On a moonlight night to the village

He wandered to find the maid,

And he banged with his spade

Till the maid came out.

Seeing the stranger the maiden said: —

"Tell me what brings you hither

Dressed as if ready for war?

Cam'st thou to take me with force

Or are you in truth a friend?"

He answered : "A friend. Chew Betel with me."

She looked upon him and said : "I agree."

To his village again he wandered And told to each person he met, "I found the maid that I dreamt of, The maid I'm going to wed." They asked in a throng: "Where does she be- long?"

And he answered, "Yonder in Easter, But soon I will bring her hither."

Some time passed by ere again he went

To see the girl that he loved.

The women were gathered down by the sea

As gay and busy as busy can be.

He asked : "What is on," and was told in reply :

"A maid is awaiting her lover that's why

They wash her." And loh, the maid looked

round And saw her lover approaching.

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THE JEALOUS HUSBAND. Song from Matty.

Wife.

Oh, tell me why do you beat me,

With none but you do I go,

The feathers and flowers adorning my hair

Adorn it only for you,

And yet every night do you beat me.

I noticed how other women To please you adorned their hair, With oil did they shine their bodies, Perhaps it was me who should care, And yet ne'er a word did I utter.

Husband.

It's true I met many women

Adorning their hair just for me,

But never you saw me caught in the nets

So skilfully laid — don't you see.

At times they have chanted to please me,

I flirted with them in return ;

In spite of it all, I never did fall

A victim to their embrace.

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Wife.

I never thought you deceived me,

But why, then, think evil of me ?

I know of no jealous person

That ever was true — do you ?

The rings from the shell of the turtle,

You see in my ears I wear,

I wear them for you, and only for you,

When your away I don't care.

WAR-SONG FROM DUROUR OR AUA.

On the sea black dots are moving toward Aua,

what are they? Wuvulu canoes for certain, manned with men

of bad intention, Men that threaten, men that lie.

Rise, oh, brave ones, seize your weapons. Women, don't be scared onlookers,

Make good food for those who're wounded, So that they are not to hunger.

Seize your weapons! All be ready! Time is short, you see them leaving

Their canoes in numbers great. All our treasures must be hidden.

Courage! Courage! Let us show those Wuvulus what we can do.

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Child and women folk are fleeing. Woe, oh woe, the spears are flying,

Alas, many a brave has fallen Ne'er to rise on earth again.

Of our places six are captured. Woe, oh woe, we must go under

Are we not at once relieved. They are burning now our houses,

If a wonder does not happen Nothing will be left to rescue.

Lo! Reinforcement is arriving, Now push on into the forest, In their rear they may be taken.

Hi ! The enemy is fleeing To the sea — to his canoes.

No, the task is too disastrous; Far too many men it costs us.

* * *

See, they paddle off from Aua, May they never come again.

Bird of Paradise Hunters.

CHAPTER XIII.

NEU GUINEA COMPAGNIE.

The control and development of the old Ger- man New Guinea Protectorate was, as previously stated, in 1885 left in the hands of the "Neu Guinea Compagnie." The experiment, as we know, turned out a failure. Some of the reasons why are contained in a book, "Aus Papuas Kultur- morgen," written by a nephew of Bismarck, Stefan von Kotze, who served the company under a three years' contract in the earliest part of its existence.

It would appear that the fundamental error committed by the New Guinea Company was to consider the "controlling" their main object, and the "developing" of less significance. Due to this error they established themselves on the main- land, where, from a population point of view, the centre of gravitation would naturally be. Finsch- hafen, in spite of poor harbour facilities, was selected as the most suitable place whence to govern, while out-stations were founded at Konstantinhafen and Hatzfeldhafen, both on the mainland; and on the little island Kerewarra, in the Duke of York group, the latter intended to serve the archipelago.

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148 OUR NEW POSSESSION

One of the first discoveries made by the new administration was that there was nothing to govern, nothing to tax, and very little to export, the population consisting of unapproachable savages, producing next to nothing beyond what they themselves consumed. Obviously, the most urgent task was, on a large scale, to enter upon productive undertakings suitable to existing natural conditions. Unfortunately, none of the staff possessed any knowledge in tropical agricul- ture ; besides, there was very little land near some of the stations suitable for plantations, the moun- tain ranges leaving but a narrow strip of swampy country along the coast. To natural obstacles was added a severe form of malarial fever, for which the whole coastline is noted.

From von Kotze's writings, though probably exaggerated, we get the impression that early days in Finschhafen were characterised by heavy mortality, boosing, and muddling.

Finschhafen was only in touch with the outer world through Cooktown, from where no fresh foodstuff could be brought. It was all tinned articles, not easy to keep up condition on. Exces- sive drinking made matters worse, and meanwhile fever was raging. So frequently did death visit this unfortunate settlement, that at last it made no impression on those who survived. Von Kotze, with grim humour, relates an incident character- istic of the place : —

The manager one day, on entering the office, missed Herr Muller. "Where the devil is Muller?

NEU GUINEA COMPAGNIE 149

Drunk again, I suppose." One of the others men- tioned that Muller had died in the morning. "Nah," the manager remarked, as he went out, "that is not so bad." A moment later he poked his head through the open door, shouting: "We are too busy with the mail to go to funerals." And so poor Muller, without ceremony or the shedding of tears, was taken to the cemetery by a gang of Kanakas.

Von Kotze says there was very little to do at Finschhafen, and the employees — if not like Muller, taken to the graveyard — could generally be found in the drinking booth, which, anyhow, at intervals gave up its victims. Their morning re- viver was nicknamed a "b bone." This name

was derived from the flag adopted for the Pos- session— the German colours with what was sup- posed to be a glowing torch, but resembled a red

bone — and by the number of "b bones" their

loyalty to the company was gauged.

The only busy place at Finschhafen was the Administrator's Bureau, where reports for Berlin and ordinances for the Protectorate were turned out in great style. The latter no one ever read, and the clerk entrusted with this particular work being lazy, and having to write them in four copies— one for each station — commenced faking them. This he did undiscovered for some con- siderable time, and thus it happened that Ordi- nance No. 389, instead of containing a lengthy instruction relating to flagging and the erection of flagpoles, was merely a repetition of Ordinance

150 OUR NEW POSSESSION

No. 333, shortly referring to the use of artificial manure. On the administrator, some time later, visiting the out-stations, he was horrified at see- ing neither the flagpole nor the flag displayed. The officer in charge did not recollect having re- ceived any instructions to that effect. Ordinance No. 389 was demanded, and eventually produced, which, of course, was the end of the clerk as the "trusted servant."

The failures resulting from agricultural experi- ments were generally due to the old delusion that square pegs can be made to fit into round holes. Thus von Kotze was put in charge of the experi- mental field at Finschhafen, though he himself declared that he had not the slightest idea what to do, and took far greater interest collecting butterflies. Nor did the native labourers give satisfaction, and the Germans wondered if any- where in the world the same number of men in a given time could do less work. To improve mat- ters, an experiment was made by importing Chinese coolies, but with no better result. The Chinamen did not thrive at Finschhafen, and com- menced to desert. In the beginning such an event was the signal for a cannibal feast somewhere in the neighbourhood, but after the company had promised the natives a reward in tobacco and loincloth for bringing back the escapees, the elusive Chinese were triumphantly returned and duly flogged. The Chinamen naturally resented, and the Chinese, as a rule, not estimating life very highly, commenced hanging themselves with the

NEU GUINEA COMPAGNIE 151

least provocation, till at last it became quite a mania. They, apparently, did not trouble in the least about the loss of capital thereby inflicted on the company.

The climax was reached when, on one occasion, six recaptured deserters were put on board a hulk in the harbour, pending a settlement of their scores. On the following morning, when the sun rose, the prisoners had disappeared. Everybody was perplexed. No one could imagine the China- men leaving the hulk, the harbour teeming with sharks and crocodiles. The riddle was eventually solved by the captain on a schooner entering the harbour. Approaching the hulk, he turned pale, and, pointing towards the hulk, he shouted: "What, in heaven's name, have you done?" Everybody looked overboard, and there the six deserters hung cold and stiff, their glassy eyes staring out over the blue waters of the Pacific.

Thus misfortune and blunders, through lack of experience, were responsible for continual losses. Expensive implements, never to be used, were im- ported from Germany. Through not knowing the waters, ships were lost as quickly as they were obtained. A sawmill was erected at great cost, but at the wrong place, and was eventually closed down, as it was discovered that wood could be imported more cheaply from Australia. In the meantime, some surveying had been done, and elaborate regulations drawn up pertaining to the acquisition and holding of land.

The fact that the Protectorate was now ready

152 OUR NEW POSSESSION

to receive settlers was made known in Germany, while the staff at Finschhafen prepared to deal with the expected flow of immigrants. Not a solitary one turned up, and only two applications were received, the one from the mess steward and the other from a sailor who had tired of the sea, and shortly after died on the land. Afterwards it was considered a stroke of good luck that the immigrant scheme fell flat, as it, under the exist- ing conditions, undoubtedly, would have been a failure. To the Germans already at Finschhafen it was naturally a great disappointment. Von Kotze, however, tells us that they consoled them- selves by increasing the number of "b

bones."

The company's own laborious efforts at found- ing plantations generally met with disaster. Either they started at the wrong place, or put the wrong man in charge of the work. A cotton plan- tation, commenced at Kelana, some distance from Finschhafen, came to nothing. The place proved too dry, the rain clouds generally pouring out their contents on the surrounding high mountains. The top soil was but a few inches deep, and the sub-strata hard limestone. Still, the person in charge of the work declaring he had obtained good results under worse conditions in Fiji, the planting was proceeded with, and the enterprise not abandoned until it had proved hopeless be- yond dispute, and caused the company a consider- able loss in hard cash.

An expedition simultaneously sent from Finsch-

NEU GUINEA COMPAGNIE 153

hafen to start a coffee plantation somewhere at the western extremity of New Britain perished through a huge tidal wave, caused by volcanic disturbances in Dampier Strait. The same catas- trophe caused considerable damage at Kelana Bay, and right along the coasts on both sides of the strait, sweeping into the sea many native villages, with their contents of panic-stricken humanity.

Eventually the seat of government was shifted to Stephansort, further north, and here exten- sive tobacco plantations were started. There were to be no more half-hearted attempts. Two thousand Chinamen were imported, and a fresh staff of energetic young men brought out from Germany. Once more all calculations miscarried. Stephansort proved as unhealthy as Finschhafen, and in the little cemetery twenty-five graves of Europeans may yet be seen, all dating from that time; as for the Chinamen, malarial fever and dysentery so played up with them that as many as sixty are recorded to have died in one single day. In spite of all difficulties, the plantations went ahead, and in due course a cargo of tobacco leaf was sent to Holland, Germany not yet pos- sessing factories for turning out the finished product. The tobacco manufacturers in Holland, fearing competition to their own plantations in Java, refused to buy from the Germans, and the whole ship-load had to be stored until brighter days in the unknown future.

The company's efforts at developing the gold-

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mining industry met with even less success, and the following incident, related by von Kotze, would scarcely have been credited, except for mining enterprises all over the world being fraught with deception.

Gold had been discovered in British New Guinea, and some hundreds of Australian gold diggers and prospectors arrived in Papua to make their fortune. Exaggerated tales of rich finds reached the Germans, who quite naturally drew the conclusion that, when gold was so plentiful in British New Guinea gold would be found in Ger- man New Guinea as well. So the company engaged a geologist of much learning, but, unfor- tunately, with very little practical experience, and entrusted him to locate these yet undiscovered alluvial goldfields. A steamer was put at his disposal, and an expensive expedition fitted out. For some time the prospecting went on without bringing any result, when at last good gold was obtained in a river bed near Hatzf eldhaf en ; and so great was the excitement that the geologist, without any further investigation, boarded his ship and returned to Finschhafen. There the excitement intensified, and a ship was at once got under steam and sent to Australia with a secret message to be cabled to Berlin.

The discovery of a rich goldfield in Kaiser Wil- helm's Land caused the greatest sensation in Ger- many. The shares in the New Guinea Company went up with a jump, and shortly after a ship loaded with all kinds of mining machinery and

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tools left Hamburg for the South Seas. Unfor- tunately, the gold had disappeared — not a colour more was to be traced, and all washing, digging, and boring proved in vain. The mystery was afterwards cleared up through a postcard being received from Australia, written by a member of the first expedition, and in which he explained that, in order to play a joke on a young, inex- perienced geologist, he had, out of his pocket, slipped some gold specimens into the dish. It may be assumed that the people holding shares in the New Guinea Company did not see the joke.

While the company had been a huge white elephant, some private firms and individuals, who had settled down at the eastern end of New Britain as traders and planters, commenced to prosper. At last there was something to govern, so the station at Kerawarra was shifted to Her- bertshohe, which place later on was made the cen- tral seat of government. It is not difficult to understand that the feeling between the govern- ing body and those to be governed gradually be- came strained. These traders and planters had hitherto made their own laws. To submit to the rules and regulations promulgated by what, in their eyes, amounted to little more than a rival firm, naturally went against their grain. To be called upon to pay taxes exasperated them, and was interpreted as nothing but the most extra- vagant oppression. While some of the accusa- tions levelled against the New Guinea Company probably were true, it must be admitted that its

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dual position of government and rival trading firm was a difficult one. Von Kotze, in his memoirs, entirely sides with the traders and planters, and describes the company as being unjust, domineer- ing, incapable, and envious, in its foolish adminis- tration even going to the length of opposing an organised attempt to settle German-born farmers from Queensland in the Possession. On the other hand, while von Kotze is most entertaining, he does not at all impress as being a reliable and unbiassed judge. However that may be, the New Guinea Company, through its failures and short- comings, gradually lost prestige, both in the Pro- tectorate and in Germany; and the time for a change was ripe, when eventually the Imperial Government took hold of the reins.

The sorely tried company was liberally com- pensated for its lost privileges — including that of coining money. It obtained large land conces- sions and four million marks in cash. Delivered of the worries attached to governing, possessed of valuable, though dearly bought, experience, and strengthened by fresh capital, the company, with much success, concentrated its energy on trading and planting, and at the end of the financial year 1912-13 it could boast of possessing, in various parts of the Protectorate, no less than forty-two plantations, covering an area of 20,720 acres. Of these, 17,305 acres were under coconut culture, 2550 acres were planted with rubber trees, 712 acres with cocoa beans, and 153 acres with hemp.

Whatever the sins of this in the past much

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abused company may have been, the general opinion held to-day is that, next to the German Government, it has been the most influential factor in developing the Possession.

It may be mentioned as an interesting fact that the few New Guinea Company coins still existing now are considered valuable historical relics, and were eagerly sought by members of the Australian occupying force.

CHAPTER XIV.

SOMETHING ABOUT THE NATIVES.

When dealing with the native races of German New Guinea, it is of interest briefly to examine the native population of the Pacific as a whole. In doing so — and not to lose ourselves in the entanglements of learned controversies — we chose as guides those scientists who separate mankind into three main divisions, viz., Caucasians, Mon- goloids, and Negroids. Migrations from each of these three divisions have, in all probability, in the dim past taken place into the Pacific, and con- tributed to produce the people whose permanent home it eventually became.

The Mediterranean countries are supposed to have been the cradle of the Caucasian race. Through their stone-henges the wanderings of the Caucasians may be traced along the Atlantic coast of Europe and across Asia, following two different tracks, the one leading over India to Sumatra and Java, where it stops; the other leading across Southern Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, and Korea to Japan, from where it spreads fan-like to British Columbia, the Central and South American Pacific coast, the Ladrones, the Carolines, Samoa, the

158

SOMETHING ABOUT NATIVES 159

Society group, Easter Island, and New Zealand. Probably their wanderings along the Northern track commenced over a hundred thousand years ago, as there is evidence of them having arrived in the Pacific in the Palaeolithic age. In entering the Pacific they are assumed to have followed a land-bridge consisting of numerous islands, but which afterwards were submerged, thus perma- nently isolating them from the rest of the world.

Some scientists are inclined to believe that the Negroids entered the Pacific even earlier than the Caucasians, and that, therefore, the blacks con- stitute the substrata of the population in this remote part of the world.

The particular type of mankind called the Negroids are believed to have been bred in an Indo-African continent, which the Indian Geolo- gical Survey thinks stretched in late Tertiary times across the Indian Ocean. As this bridge sank, and India and Indonesia united with Asia, three isolated areas, viz., trans-Saharan Africa, Papuasia, and Australia evolved three Negroid varieties. As the Negroids must have got into the Pacific and to Australia before the land-bridge connecting the latter continent with Asia was seriously interrupted, it may well be a toss-up who entered the Pacific first — White or Black.

m

The next migration into the South Seas is sup- posed to have taken place when the Caucasians then inhabiting Japan had mastered the maritime art and discovered how to make canoes suitable for long voyages. This migration probably

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started 4000 to 5000 years before our time of reckoning, and lasted till the Mongoloids con- quered Japan between 600 and 700 years before the birth of Christ.

The last migration of any consequence — this time presumably of a mixed breed with a strong leaning to the Caucasian race — probably took place about the beginning of our time and came from Southern Asia, while by some scientists it is believed that even the Malays, at a slightly later date, entered the Pacific, and thus contri- buted to produce what we now understand by the Polynesian race.

The discovery of bronze, and afterwards of iron, which spread comparatively quickly through Europe and Asia, never became known in the Pacific Islands, all connection having previously been severed, and when these islands were re- discovered by the Europeans, some four to five hundred years ago, the inhabitants were still liv- ing in the stone age.

It is the wanderings, the doings, the struggle for supremacy, the intermixing, the evolving of certain characteristics, and so on, of these long- forgotten off shoots of the old world's inhabitants that scientists endeavour to unravel. With this object in view, they are studying and grouping the outward appearance, customs, languages, re- ligious ideas, weapons, canoes, etc., of the vari- ous races and tribes.

The inhabitants of the Pacific, as they appear

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to-day, may be divided into the following three main groups: —

1. Polynesians — a cross between Caucasians

and Mongoloids, with a preponderance of Caucasian blood.

2. Micronesians — a cross between Poly-

nesians and Negroids.

3. Negroids.

With Polynesians we are not concerned in the late German New Guinea Possession, and with Micronesians not a great deal. The latter inhabit the island groups north of the equator, now held by Japan ; whereas in the part of the Posses- sion occupied by the British, they are only found, besides at Nauru, on a narrow fringe of small islands stretching from New Guinea north and east of New Hanover and New Ireland towards the Solomons.

It is with the Negroids we principally have to deal.

These Negroids — who, many thousands of years ago, wandered by land from a now extinct con- tinent into the Pacific, where later on, through a sinking of the earth's surface, they got separated into smaller groups — have naturally during time evolved different characteristics. Thus we now distinguish between Australian aboriginals, Papuans, and Melanesians. Speaking in a general way, and confining ourselves to the German New Guinea Possession, the Papuans inhabit New Guinea proper and the Melanesians the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomons.

F

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The Papuans, as well as the Melanesians, from an ethnological point of view, may be divided into different branches, with smaller though, to the trained observer, marked divergencies, and possessing entirely different languages; while, in turn, the branches through differences in customs and dialects may be further subdivided.

To the casual observer, who fights shy of minute details, Papuans and Melanesians are one and the same thing. They all have dark brown skin, the colour varying in density, dark brown, almost black, frizzy hair, brown eyes, and flat noses. They are shorter than the white race, harmoniously built, and carry themselves well. If a native dresses his hair like a doormat or muti- lates his ears in a special way, we know he comes from New Guinea proper; otherwise we may just as well guess on New Britain or New Ireland as his place of birth. If his skin is exceptionally dark, we know he comes from Buka. If he is more than usually stupid and clumsy, we take it for granted that he belongs to the New Britain inland tribes known as Baininges.

As with outward appearance so with everything else concerning these primitive people; owing to the natural conditions under which they live and have lived for hundreds of generations being so much alike, there is a great deal of similarity. Intellectually, they are fairly well all on the same level; their means of existence, their religious ideas, their social organisation, their moral code — in fact, everything that really matters — follow

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certain broad lines, and only by examining the often gorgeous wrapping surrounding everyday life, such as customs, ceremonies, ornamentations, etc., it is possible to discover any nuances in the dark carpet of humanity time and fate have flung over the rfouth-western Pacific.

Mentally, the Papuans and Melanesians range with European children of about twelve years of age. Their gift to assimilate ideas has the same limitation. For instance, the white man's de- vice for reckoning time is beyond their compre- hension ; even those reared in the vicinity of Euro- pean settlements have not yet grasped the pur- chase value of the white man's money. They do not appear to have any accepted form of an alphabet, or written or carved signs of any kind. Their artistic productions are those of all savage races — crude, with but clumsily expressed mean- ing, and generally lacking harmony. Of religi- ous conceptions they practically have none.

With regard to characteristics possessed by this backward branch of the human race, the con- sensus of opinion is that deceitfulness and sus- picion are the most outstanding features. The reason for this is put down to lack of social organ- isation. The tribe has remained the social unit at the head of which is the traditional chief. From ancient customs, in conjunction with vague ideas of right and wrong, has evolved a code of unwritten laws, but no means have been devised to enforce these laws, consequently they are openly ignored by anyone who feels himself

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strong enough to do so. Thus the chief, who is the most powerful man in the tribe, generally sets the example by being the greatest law-breaker. The result is a state of affairs bordering on abso- lute anarchy, no one ever being safe. The indivi- dual is practically thrown on his own resources for protection of life and property. Danger lurks everywhere; he may be ambushed, killed, and eaten by outlaws from another tribe; he may be done to death or robbed or cheated by his next door neighbour, or even by his own brother. In order to survive under such mixed and lawless conditions a great measure of low cunning, schem- ing, and ever-alert suspicion is naturally required.

But deceitfulness and suspicion far from ex- haust the defects of the Kanaka. A German missionary, Pater Kleintitschen, who has col- lected his impressions, and those of other mission- aries, in a book published some years ago, de- scribes the natives in the Gazelle Peninsula as being deceitful, suspicious, callous, cowardly, avaricious, untruthful, thieving, hypocritical, un- grateful, and lazy ; in fact, they would seem to be so utterly beyond redemption, and have so many devils to contend with, that one at first almost feels inclined to think the world best served by letting the Kanakas and the devils fight it out between themselves. And yet every trader and planter who has lived amongst the natives in any part of the Possession corroborates Pater Klein- titschen's statement.

Just as the native expects no mercy from God

or man, so he shows no mercy to anything living. He is absolutely indifferent to the sufferings of others. If a mother is handicapped by a sickly child she will put it to death. If a father or mother grow too old to shift for themselves they are uncared for, even though their own offspring live within sight of them. The old pot and pan are useless for anything, so why trouble about them. A near relative may occasionally throw a little food into the hut where they lay stretched on their mats neglected and slowly starving to death, and he may, if he sees the end is near, call in other relatives, who often hasten on the old peoples' exit or bury the poor wretches before life is extinct. A boy and girl caught in commit- ting incest — the greatest sin of all in the eyes of the natives — are at some places made to dig their own graves, and are then buried alive, or they are tortured to death by applying red-hot stones to their bodies, and eventually forcing them into their mouths ; and yet incest only means that the boy and girl belong to one totem. A captured man or woman from an enemy tribe, or a slave, where slaves are kept, is slaughtered and devoured in cold blood. The same callousness is shown to- wards animals. Fowls are plucked and their legs cut off before they are killed. Flying foxes are roasted alive. Even pigs, which used to share hut and food with their master, are mercilessly thrown into the roasting-ditch prior to killing them, so that their bristles may be burnt off. Their treachery and cowardice is revealed in

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their mode of warfare; and may, to some extent, be due to the density of vegetation, whereby the art of ambushing has been greatly favoured. Any- how, the natives rarely attack an enemy in the open, but throw themselves unexpectedly upon him from their hiding places, at the same time yelling and shrieking at the top of their voices. If one of their own is slain, they lose heart and flee. Also, in getting even with an enemy within their own tribe, the Kanaka takes no risk, but hires others to assist him or places poisoned thorns on the track the enemy is using, or he dis- poses of him by any other foul means. Natives engaged as guides and carriers by explorers and missionaries are always very brave in the begin- ning, but as they approach districts inhabited by other tribes they grow silent and show fear. They commence disappearing during the nights, till often by the time the traveller has reached his destination he has not a single boy left.

Native avarice manifests itself in different ways, but is particularly marked in his insatiable greed after Tambo or shell money, where shell money is used. The importance shell money plays in every day life will be dealt with later on. According to statements made by missionaries, who have spent most of their lives amongst these people, there is not anything a Kanaka would not do in order to obtain them. He is prepared to render any kind of service for Tambo, degrade himself to any extent, and commit crimes of the most revolting nature. And, again — though

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there are too few women to go round — the wealthy Kanaka wHl keep on adding to the number of his wives, well knowing that every time he gets a new wife he also gets a new slave. Nearly all the native court cases brought before the District Officers are about Tambo, women, or pigs, and the experience gained from different parts of the colony all tend to show that the missionaries' sizing up of the natives is well within the mark — not only are the Kanakas avaricious, but of a thieving disposition and born liars.

The notorious laziness of the Kanaka remains to be mentioned. There is a particular word, Limlimbur, which, like kai-kai (food) and maski (never mind), has entered the vocabulary of Pidgin-English, and now is commonly used by all natives. The word, which has no equivalent in any other language, means anything that may stand opposite to "work." When the natives sit chatting in the shade of a tree they limlimbur, when they stroll aimlessly about they limlimbur, when they doze on their mats they limlimbur, when they play they limlimbur. When Kanakas, pressed by the necessity of food, make up their mind to clear a new patch of ground they work two or three hours in the morning for a couple of days, then they limlimbur for, perhaps, half a week, after which they make a new effort, and so it goes on with little work and much limlimbur till the clearing is sufficiently advanced for the women-folk to take charge of. In their case there is considerable less limlimbur and more work,

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though there is reason to believe that they, too, would take matters pretty easy if allowed to follow their natural inclination.

The missionaries point out several other de- fects in native disposition, all of them tending to prove that the typical Kanaka is an unsympa- thetic individual. Still, we must admit that all the vices here described, and those omitted through lack of space, we have met with long be- fore we had seen a single Kanaka, and that, in reality, they are part and parcel of human nature. Obviously, they are more pronounced and more widely diffused amongst the savages than amongst civilised races, the reason for which again being that they have never succeeded in establishing organised communities or in developing a public moral code to keep vice in check.

It stands to reason that when vice is so rampant virtues are rare. Still, they are not altogether absent. Pater Kleintitschen, in his book, points out that cases of gratitude and devotion are met with, that parents are fond of their children, and that the average Kanaka is hospitably inclined. From recruiters of native labour we learn that time-expired labourers, on returning to their native villages, are most liberal in distributing amongst their relatives and friends their hard earned treasures of trade goods. It is also generally admitted that the young Kanaka is willing to learn and capable of improvement. This latter assertion is, to some extent, demon- strated by the change gradually taking place in

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the habits of those living in the vicinity of Euro- pean settlements and in districts where mission- aries have laboured for a number of years.

As a means of studying the early stages of human progress the Kanakas, like other equally backward races, afford excellent material. By observing their daily life, we get an idea of how our own ancestors lived in the remote past. The Kanakas have emerged from the first stage at which food was haphazardly gathered in the forest, and males and females mated like cattle; but, though thousands and thousands of years have elapsed since then, for some reason or other they have got very little further than to the second stage. This stage is generally marked by stone implements and the most rudimentary forms of agriculture; by the stronger sex enslav- ing the weaker; the dawning of religious concep- tions, and the creation of petty tribes.

Having in the foregoing briefly outlined how and when the Pacific is assumed to have been populated, and also at some length dealt with the characteristics of the indigenous inhabitants of late German New Guinea and other Western Pacific islands, space may be given to the most important of all human affairs — that of sustain- ing life.

Economical Life.

It is but natural that the same causes which stifled social evolution also retarded economical progress. No division of labour, except as be-

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tween the sexes, ever took place. Each member of the tribe, from the chief downwards, has re- mained a primary producer, cultivating the soil, gathering foodstuff in the bush, chasing the wild pig and other inhabitants of the forest, or paddling in the water for fish and tortoises. Odd tribes in New Guinea proper, the Admiralties, and the Solomons engage in pottery, which they barter for foodstuff, while at other places containing superior timber for canoes the making of that craft has, in some measure, been specialised in. These are, however, mere exceptions, and play such an insignificant part in the economical life of the self-reliant Kanaka that they may quite well be discarded.

Food.

The Kanaka is primarily a vegetarian, his sus- tenance consisting of taros, yam, sweet potatoes, bananas, breadfruit, and coconuts. Of less im- portance are tapioca, sago, sugar cane, and maize, while a variety of tropical fruit, such as that of the Pandanus palm, pineapples and mangoes serve more as a relish than as a nutriment.

Taro, yam, and sweet potatoes all contain a con- siderable quantity of starch, in the case of taroover 50 per cent. They take the place of our potato, which they very much resemble in substance. All are grown in cultivated fields, and can be har- vested in four to six months. In the vicinity of European settlements iron implements are now used, but further away sticks made from wood

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take the place of spades. Taro is the Kanaka's favourite food, but, unfortunately, it does not keep more than a few days after taken out of the ground, whereas yam and sweet potatoes keep as well, if not better, than our potatoes. Bananas, of which several varieties are found, are generally grown in small well kept plantations. From its trunk is obtained excellent material for rope making. The breadfruit tree grows as an ordi- nary forest tree, reaching a height of sixty or seventy feet or more, with a diameter of three or four feet. It bears twice a year, the fruit weigh- ing from four to eight pounds. The coco- nut palm only grows on or near the coast. The nut, when young, is consumed raw. In its mature state it is crudely desiccated and mixed with other food stuff. At the Admiralty Islands the oil is extracted and used for preparing food. The nuts not consumed are exchanged with the trader for implements or luxuries for which the natives are gradually acquiring a taste. Also, the shell, husk, wood, and the leaves are at times turned to uses. At the western half of New Britain, the northern part of New Ireland, and at many places in New Guinea, sago plays an im- portant part in feeding the natives.

The pig is the principal meat producing animal. It exists in most islands, both domesticated and in its wild state. It may here be mentioned that the pig, the dog, and the fowl were brought into the Pacific thousands and thousands of years ago by some of those early immigrants mentioned on

172 OUR NEW POSSESSION

a previous page, the pig missing some of the islands and the dog others. In addition to these animals the wallaby, cassowary, and opossum are killed and eaten wherever found; also the flying fox, different species of wild pigeons and other winged inhabitants of the islands are included in the menu of the Kanaka. Fish along the various coasts play a certain importance in sus- taining the native population. They are mostly caught in traps made from rattan cane, though in the Admiralty group nets are common, while crudely made hooks and fish-spears are used at 'aorne places. Also, the slow moving tortoise has to contribute to the native table. The balance of the meat required is made up of human flesh, cannibalism still being practised at most places outside of government influence.

Their principal stimulant is the nut of the Areca palm, generally known as betelnut, and an indigenous species of pepper. Both stimulants are dipped in slaked lime made from burnt coral. In Buka and some places in New Guinea tobacco grows wild, and is smoked by the natives.

Commerce.

The natives being separated in countless tribes, always distrusting one another, if not actually at warfare, together with the numerous languages spoken, and the unprogressiveness of the native mind, have naturally hindered the development of commercial intercourse. Still, barter on a small scale takes place between neighbouring

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localities and islands; the tribes living along the coast exchange with inland tribes fish, lime, salt- water, and coconuts for taros and yam, while some New Guinea tribes, as already stated, con- duct a regular business in pottery. Also, within the individual tribe, selling and buying go on. One Kanaka has a daughter to sell, another a pig, a third a canoe, and so on. Not that business is ever brisk or plays a stirring part in daily life. It is conducted in the same leisurely manner as amongst our forefathers before the invention of the middleman. To facilitate these transactions shell money is used.

Shell Money.

It is necessary to give some space to this peculiar currency, which, where known, in a con- siderable degree occupies the native mind, and plays a similar part to metal coins amongst more civilised races. The inland tribes do not always possess them. In New Guinea and the Admiralty Islands the coins are shaped like small discs, not exceeding a sixpence in size, and made from a shell generally known as sapi-sapi.

In a large part of the Bismarck Archipelago a small shell of the cowrie species is made use of. The size used in New Britain is about a third of an inch long. These shells are principally ob- tained at a place called Nakanai, on the north coast of New Britain, whither natives at a certain season of the year travel in their canoes to get

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them. They may secure them from the sea bot- tom through their own efforts, or they may obtain them by barter with local natives, or by fitting out regular plundering expeditions, all according to expediency under momentary existing condi- tions. Somehow they get them, and the next pro- cess is to clean and bleach them, bore holes in the back, and thread them on rattan reeds of different lengths.

Smaller bits corresponding to our copper coins are generally carried about by the Kanaka in his inseparable basket. These serve as pocket money, and facilitate trivial everyday transactions. Pieces representing higher values are safely kept in the huts, and sometimes made into bunches or rolled into big coils. Such larger capital is given in custody to the chiefs, who, without neglecting their own personal interests, are a kind of trea- surers for their respective tribes.

A roll of shell money in the native world pos- sesses the same mystic power as does a stack of bank notes in the civilised. By the medium of such wealth a Kanaka gains prominence and be- comes an aristocrat, to whom others pay hom- age. He can buy several wives, plenty of pigs, the finest canoes, and even secure advantages in the life to follow. In the matrimonial market his daughters fetch a higher price. They all talk about him much in the same way as newspapers write about a Pierpont Morgan or a Rockefeller. It, therefore, becomes the ambition of every native to accumulate shell money, and in order to

obtain the wonder working article he actually at times exhibits both enterprise and inventiveness. For instance, a leading Kanaka will give his friends a treat, arranging a kind of native ban- quet, with plenty of pork and other delicacies. Of course, it is an honour to be invited, and the guests gladly present their host on such occasions with the customary lengths of shell money, which more than pays for the entertainment. Parkinson, in his book, mentions several instances of cleverly concealed scheming and frauds, quite worthy of a European bogus company promoter, whereby easily led fellow Kanakas have been sorely bled. Also the lending out of shell money at high in- terest is practised, while downright theft as a last resource is resorted to.

The Tribe and the Duty of the Chief.

The tribes naturally vary much in size. On the mainland they seem to be bigger than in the archipelago, where they seldom number more than a few scores of people. At the head of the tribe is the usual chief, whose duty it is to lead his people in war, or, where he is too old, to nomi- nate a substitute. He also acts as a kind of custodian, guarding the tribe's treasures in shell money. If he abuses the trust placed in him he may be deposed, and his next-of-kin elected.

When anything of importance is to be decided, such as a declaration of war against another tribe, he summons his men together by beating the garamut, and afterwards leads the debate. About

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the administering of justice there can hardly be any question, as in daily life between individuals justice does not exist. Might is right. Every- body for himself, and the hindmost for the devil. As previously stated, the natives have a code of unwritten laws, but possess no means of enforcing them. Parkinson, however, relates that in the Gazelle Peninsula public opinion is sometimes aroused, and in a peculiar fashion brought to bear on certain crimes. For instance, a native has had a pig stolen, or, maybe, some money. Either he does not know who the offender is, or he is too weak to bring him to task. He may then put fire to someone else's hut, or destroy his canoe. The sufferer does the same to the property of some other native ; and, ere long, there is a general up- roar, accompanied by the most hellish shrieking and yelling and dancing. The moral pressure thus brought to bear proves, as a rule, too much for the culprit, who acknowledges his offence, and agrees to pay the damage done, and, in addition, of course, to return the stolen goods. Though I have not read or heard of this primitive way of enforcing justice being used at any other place, there is no reason to think it is confined to the Gazelle Peninsula alone.

In the districts under government influence, the functions of the chief have gradually changed, in- asmuch as he has been transformed into a kind of local justice of the peace, or police magistrate, who is held responsible for the good behaviour of his tribe, and for the maintenance of the public

SOMETHING ABOUT NATIVES 177

roads leading through his district. He is to administer justice among his people according to native law, to assist the government in collecting the taxes, and in enforcing the regulations govern- ing native affairs. The outward sign of his authority is a peak cap with a broad red band round it, and, in the case of a sub-chief, or Tul- tul, two narrow stripes of red. In the German time the bands were in red, black, and white.

The Position of the Woman in the Tribe.

Before describing the woman's position in the tribe, it may be mentioned that amongst the Kanakas, as amongst other equally backward races, mother right is prevailing. The children belong to the mother's totem, and are under the guardianship of her eldest brother. In Gazelle Peninsula the boys, as soon as they can run about, leave the parents altogether, and go to the uncle's place. Thus it might quite well happen that a native with a number of sisters becomes respon- sible for the bringing up of a score of children or more. Though mother right at first would seem a concession to women, it is naturally just the opposite, as it claims no chastity on the part of the men, and leaves them without responsibility and care for the offspring.

The necessity for mother right, and for totemism in order to preserve the race becomes obvious when we know that the women folk pass from hand to hand, and the moral standard, from

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a civilised point ol view, is so low that it is hard to tell who is the father of a child.

When a boy is half grown, his uncle — if pecunious — buys a wife for him, the purchase sum to be repaid the uncle later on. The girl re- mains with her parents till of age, when the wed- ding is celebrated, generally with much ceremony and feasting, and exchanging of presents. If the man prospers he may later on buy more wives. On the other hand, if his uncle is poor, and he himself shows lack of thrift, he will probably go unmarried through life.

The wife is the absolute property of the husband. He may chastise her ; he may transfer her to an honoured guest; he may hire her out for a consideration in shell money; he may ex- change her for some other woman ; or he may sell her. At his command she ceases being chaste — against his will it is a serious offence, for which she is severely punished or returned to her parents, the husband claiming his purchase money back: or, at some places, for instance at Buka, in the Solomons, she may be done to death.

This, however, does not say that the wife is always illtreated. The husband may be con- siderate and forbearing; he may put up with a great deal of nagging; and, even, in cases where the wife is the stronger personality of the two, be content to take a back seat. All in all, though the lot of these subjugated creatures is a hard one, they appear to be as happy, if not happier, than their white sisters in civilised countries. Nor

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are the gentler sentiments altogether absent. A missionary told me that the first letter indepen- dently produced in Nodup, a village close to Rabaul, after some of the natives had been taught to read and write, was a love letter; and District Officers relate that often, when police boys are entering on a long or perilous expedition, their wives sob most piteously, and want to go with them.

£/The price paid for a wife varies in the different localities. In the vicinity of Rabaul a healthy girl fetches as much as fifty fathoms of tambo, representing a value in European money of about £5. My house boy told me that at Toma, only a day's journey from Rabaul, they are sold for twenty fathoms. At some places in New Ireland they change hands for twenty shillings apiece, while at Squally Island and St. Mathias they are stated to be of even less commercial value.

*«»^

A planter from Squally Island relates that there, and also at St. Mathias, a man only keeps company with a woman till the natural object of their courting is gained; then he leaves her to pay his attentions to some other woman. She, in due course, is ready to be courted by some other man, and, finding children an encumbrance, and her mother-love not being very highly developed, she very often destroys the children as they come along, generally by burying them alive. Unless it be due to heavy recruiting of the male population for oversea plantations, it would seem as if we here, as in the Trobriand Islands of Papua, are

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confronted with a remnant of that particular chapter in human history, when the sexes mated indiscriminately, and which preceded the enslave- ment of the weaker sex.

In the division of labour the men have chosen those pursuits that contain an element of sport, such as fighting, hunting, and fishing, the felling of trees, the erection of huts, and the making of canoes and weapons, and have allotted to the women all the tasks that spell toil and monotony — the tilling of the soil, the cultivation of planta- tions, the carrying of burdens, the cooking, and the care of children.

The tilling of the soil is, of course, done in most primitive fashion, but the implements used are correspondingly primitive, and the labour in- volved, therefore, considerable. The transport work is still heavier; the fields and plantations are often far away from the villages, sometimes even up in the mountains; the water for house- hold use has to be brought in hollowed out coco- nuts from a spring somewhere in the bush; the barter of foodstuffs with neighbouring tribes or with European settlers, increases the distances to be travelled. All this ceaseless carrying falls to the lot of the females, and it is everywhere a common sight to see rows of women lugging off with burdens that would put a European wharf lumper to a severe test. The household work is naturally reduced to a minimum, still the open squares in front of the huts are generally kept scrupulously clean. The cooking is done amongst

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heated stones — the foodstuffs being wrapped in green banana leaves, and placed amongst the stones. The principle is practically the same as with paper bag cooking, which was all the rage amongst Europeans some few years back, but was given up, presumably because it was found more cumbersome than pots and pans. The children, though neglected, require some care, and, particu- larly when travelling, increase a mother's burden.

Is it to be wondered at that the women do not wear so well as the men, and that by the time they reach thirty to thirty-five years of age they look old and weather-beaten hags? Or is it not quite natural that wherever the natives have been enumerated, the women have been in conspicuous minority. Yet they do not seem to feel their de- gradation. One of the District Officers was re- cently asked by the missionaries to prohibit in his district a native having more than one wife. He refused the request on the ground that a wife who lost her charm would be sold for a pipe of tobacco or turned adrift, whereas now, though the man bought a new wife, she remained at her home, and was quite happy in being near by, and allowed to toil for her old man.

What a gulf between the woman in the tribe and the woman in modern society ; and what a long distance those women have travelled who now take a seat amongst men in Parliament.

Housing and Clothing.

The houses occupied by the natives vary con- siderably in the different parts of the Possession.

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and it is difficult to generalise on the subject. A distinction may, however, be made between the abodes of the Papuans and those of the Melanesians. The former prefer to build their houses on posts well up from the ground. At many places, both on the mainland and at the Admiralties, the houses are built on piles well out in the water. Also, the Papuans often live in big villages, numbering up to four thousand people, and they construct, for the use of single men, large houses which serve the double purpose of bachelors' quarters and public halls. In these houses weapons, skulls of slain enemies, jawbones of alligators, and other valued treasures are care- fully stored. The Melanesians inhabiting the Bismarck Archipelago build their houses or huts on the ground, hidden away in small clusters in the thickness of the woods, and erected, for pre- ference, at the most obscure and inaccessible places. As the Europeans in the Tropics spend most of their time on the verandah, so the natives spend the greater part of their lives in the open, and their huts only serve as sleeping places and store rooms for their properties, such as spears, clubs, fish-nets, tambo, etc. For this reason they are small and stuffy, protecting their inmates, who sleep uncovered on the bare ground, against the drop of temperature during the night. To keep out the mosquitoes a smouldering fire is burning in the middle of the hut, the smoke apparently not troubling the Kanakas. Generally, the houses are oval shaped, and, seen from a distance, re-

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semble large beehives. In the central part of New Ireland the houses are larger; in fact, large enough to allow the cooking to be done inside. They have a small front verandah, and are built rectangular shape. The New Britain inland tribes, the Bainings, who wander from taro field to taro field, merely put up a rough shelter re- miniscent of the mia-mia of their brethren in Australia. In the southern part of Bougainville we again find houses built on posts, whereas the northern part and Buka conform in the main to the Melanesian idea of house-building.

Clothes in the South Seas can hardly be classi- fied amongst the things that matter, the tempera- ture scarcely warranting any clothes being worn at all. For this reason students of native life as- cribe the sparse garments worn either to modesty or to vanity. Where the natives have got in touch with Europeans modesty undoubtedly plays a great part, inasmuch as the missionaries have taught them they were naked, a fact which pro- bably had never struck them before. For this reason we now see them draped in loin cloths, the females in addition wearing a blouse — a la the American Negresses — generally showing some inches of bare flesh where the two ought to meet, or hanging round the neck like a rag.

Where the white man has not introduced his idea of propriety the old customs are, of course, still adhered to. These customs vary somewhat at the different islands, thus in New Guinea the women wear a short skirt of grass, and the men

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merely a belt round the waist with a band drawn between the legs. In the Admiralty Islands the skirt is generally plaited, or it is made of a solid piece of bark. In the Baining district, as far as it is known, the men are entirely naked, while the women wear a waist band with fibres hanging down in front and back. In the northern part of New Ireland married women dress similar to the Baining women, whereas single girls and all the men wear nothing at all. In the Northern Solomons the natives are either entirely naked or the men follow the fashion in vogue in New Guinea ; married women wear a short skirt, while single girls hide their nakedness with a leaf. When to the above is added that the men at odd places hide their sex by a sea shell, all fashions in the way of attire prevailing amongst the natives have been described.

More space would a description require of what may be termed native jewellery, and particularly is that the case with the Papuans of the male sex, who overload almost every part of the body, in- cluding ears and nose, with ornaments. Right throughout the colony necklaces made from the teeth of the dog, the flying fox, and the opossum seem to be the most precious adornment, also boar's tusks and armbands made from the trocus shell is seen at most places, whilst it is a common practice on festive occasions to paint the face, part of the body, and even the hair in the most gorgeous colours, wreaths of green leaves and hibiscus flowers putting the finishing touch to the toilet.

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Religious Conceptions.

It is principally through the missionaries that we get any detailed information of the religious beliefs held by the natives, and as the missionaries so far have covered only a comparatively small part of the ground, our knowledge is as yet very incomplete. Still, sufficient is known to draw certain broad lines upon which the natives' spiritual conceptions run. They have discovered that something which we call the soul, and by seeing in their dreams departed relatives and acquaintances, have drawn the conclusion that the soul, or spirit, lives after the destruction of the physical body. The spirits of the dead, or, to use a simpler language, the ghosts, are believed to hover about amongst the living, for preference keeping in the vicinity of the places where the bodies are buried, or were disposed of by burning. Only the souls of the wealthy, at whose funerals food and shell money were freely distributed, are relegated to a vaguely defined place of bliss. Like the persons were in life, so the ghosts remain in death, and as the average Kanaka is void of human kindness, even great chiefs glorying in their cruelties and misdeeds, the ghosts are well and truly to be feared.

At times inhospitable places, such as steep gullies and gorges, are looked upon as favourite retreats of the ghosts, and such places are naturally shunned by everybody. When the tunnel through Ratuval Pass, outside of Rabaul, was made, the Germans had great difficulty in

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getting the natives to work there, the gully lead- ing up to it being considered ghost-infested. But no one is really anywhere safe against the souls of the departed, for which reason the natives keep to their huts as soon as darkness sets in ; if occa- sionally forced to venture out during the night they carry a brightly flickering torch, at the same time yelling at the top of their voices to frighten the ghosts away. Particularly vicious are the spirits of slaves, where slaves are kept, and as these poor wretches were starved in life so their spirits keep starving in death; to appease them taros and yams are occasionally placed in the bush.

While amongst more progressive races the souls of great heroes or exceptionally good kings were at first revered and later on worshipped, thus gradu- ally attaining to the rank of deities, such an evolu- tion is hardly traceable amongst the Melanesians and Papuans; nor did the above referred to grudgingly made sacrifices to the dead ever de- velop into higher forms of religious offerings ex- pressive of something nobler than fear: nor did it ever become a tribal concern to guard the living against the dead, for which reason temples and priests are unknown.

An exception to the above rules is, however, met with at odd places, where some tribes in re- ligious matters are slightly in advance of others. Thus, at places on the mainland of New Guinea, and maybe at a few of the smaller islands as well, the spirits tend to gravitate towards a unity

SOMETHING ABOUT NATIVES 187

known as Tamboran. About Tamboran T. J. Denham wrote in the "Rabaul Record" : —

"Tamboran represents both good and evil. He can make men happy, give them victory over their enemies, good seasons, prosperous hunting expedi- tions, and many other blessings. But if Tamboran becomes angry, woe betide the villagers. The men foregather in the spirit house, which no woman can enter under pain of death. To pro- pitiate the spirit strange rites, sing-sings, and dances are practised. If they have reason to think the spirit is appeased they arrange a great feast."

It would thus appear that these natives are approaching the second stage in religious evolu- tion, where out of ordinary ghosts arise master- spirits, or deities, and that religious matters tend to become a public concern. Still, with all due consideration to the exceptions, the religious be- lief of the Kanakas is best described as a medley of gross superstition and the lowest form of ancestor worship.

The Sorcerer.

Being always exposed to the malice of evil spirits, and ignorant of the laws of nature, super- stition everywhere exhibits a most astounding growth. If any kind of misfortune befalls a native, some hidden enemy, aided by ghosts, has brought it about. It can be explained in no other way, and possessing no natural means to combat the supernatural, natives with more sagacity than the rest have developed into sorcerers, who, for a

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consideration in shell-money, are ready to help in all sorts of tribulations. The sorcerers are be- lieved to have power over life and death, flood and fire, fortune and misfortune. If the parents of a first-born child wish to ensure its happiness and prosperity in life, the sorcerer is sent for; he blows chalk about, burns herbs, the secret power of which only the sorcerer and the ghosts know, utter formulas which inspire the listeners with awe, and having thus bestowed his blessings on the quivering little bundle of humanity, he col- lects his fee, if not already paid, and departs, ad- mired by all present. If a person is taken seri- ously ill, the sorcerer is consulted, and if applica- tion of his crude knowledge of savage herbalism, combined with miracle-working rites and for- mulas, do not restore health, it can only be ex- plained by some vicious and more powerful sor- cerer opposing him. If anybody wishes to secure the death of an enemy, without taking the risk of accomplishing same in a natural way, the sor- cerer, if amply rewarded, will bring it about by supernatural means. For instance, he may fill a bamboo stick with bits of chopped-up sea snake, herbs, roots and chalk, bewitch it by his magic formulas, and bury it near the victim's dwelling- place. Generally the latter does die. The know- ledge that he is doomed works on his mind, and he commences pining away. If the art of " sug- gestion" proves abortive, the sorcerer, in order to save his reputation, may fall back on quite natural means. If a native has lost anything through

theft, or had destruction wrought on valuable pro- perty, he may proceed to the sorcerer, who, as a rule, has no trouble in pointing out the offender, and even, if at times the person pointed out is quite innocent, the sorcerer's evidence is sufficient to convict him. No undertaking of any import- ance, such as war, fishing cruises, great family festivities, weddings, and the like, is entered on without invoking the aid of the magician. The sorcerer, through failures in achieving the desired ends, may lose his prestige, be looked upon as an impostor, and even forfeit his life, but this in no way undermines the belief in sorcery and witch- craft, which penetrates every nook and corner of the West Pacific, and is an outstanding feature in native life.

Secret Societies.

Another outgrowth of this deeply rooted super- stition are the secret societies, of which the Duk Duk on the north coast of New Britain, and Iniet on the south coast, are the best known, but which, in some shape or form, appear to exist right through the Possession. The secrets of these societies are as jealously guarded as are those of the Freemasons; still, the veil of mysticism has been sufficiently lifted to show that, while native superstition has made them possible, they have nothing to do with religion ; nor have they origin- ated, as is the case with our own secret societies, from a commendable desire for mutual protection

190 OUR NEW POSSESSION

and assistance, but range somewhere between Tammany Hall and the Black Hand. Their main objects are graft, blackmail, and downright rob- bery, assassination being one of their most effec- tive weapons. The initial fee is generally high, probably serving the double object of enriching the members and keeping the society select. Their special dances no one else is allowed to partake in, just as no one is allowed to wear the masks and costumes exclusively designed for them. The rites practised and the secrecy, which no one dare reveal under penalty of death, keep the uninitiated in awe, and make them an easy prey to the ex- cesses committed by members of these societies.

Legends.

As with the secret societies so with the legends, of which a good many exist amongst the natives ; they are outside the scope of religion. The bulk of the legends, which have come to my knowledge, have either been unfit for publication or the most childish nonsense; the best of them are those which endeavour to explain such natural pheno- mena as volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, and the like, or refer to events which probably have taken place. To be sure a legend amongst the natives in the Gazelle Peninsula in a fantastic way ex- plains the creation of man, and would thus seem to correspond to our Genesis, but as the forces or master-spirit, which brought the creation about, have ceased to exist, if, indeed, they were ever

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believed in, they are without spiritual significance. All these legends are, in reality, neither more nor less than the unwritten literature of the Kanakas, related when on moonlight nights they "limlim- bur" on the beach or are gathered around their smouldering camp fires.

CHAPTER XV.

AMONGST THE NATIVES IN FORMER DAYS. False Notions about Native Life.

The accounts given by some writers of native life in the Pacific convey the impression that these people live, as did the inhabitants of old Arcadia — a happy, simple life, and that the intrusion of the white man is almost a crime against humanity. Such writers commit the same error any tourist would be apt to if, on a Sunday, he paid a visit to, say, one of the villages near Rabaul ; he would see a number of children playing merrily on the beach; mothers bathing their babies in the surf; groups of idling men sitting in the shade of broad leafed breadfruit trees chewing betel nuts or enjoy- ing their pipes; clusters of apparently sorrowless youths sauntering about, with hibiscus flowers in their hair and dressed in gorgeous loincloths ; big and small pigs, as tame as dogs, poking about the huts ; he would look into some of these huts, and see where the natives sleep, what they eat, and so on ; and, having seen them in their home, take back with him the impression that he knew all about the natives. He would overlook the im- portant facts that he saw them on a Sabbath day

192

Types of Native Women and Children near Mn

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and in a district for years under European influ- ence, thus entirely missing the overwhelming fear which is the dominant note in real savage life — and the horrors which gave birth to the fear.

Undoubtedly the natives experienced days of extreme happiness even in their cannibal stage, and it is well to bear this in mind when looking on the seamy side of their existence. So flexible is the human mind, and so strong the force of habit that we can ejoy a certain measure of happiness even under seemingly unbearable conditions. From a civilised point of view one can hardly understand the natives ever were happy at all, their days being darkened by never-ceasing dread of spirits controlled by evil minds, diseases they were unable to cope with, and by sufferings con- tinually inflicted amongst themselves.

It may be admitted that the white man has not always been a benefactor to his dusky brother; still, if we take the good with the evil, and com- pare the life of the Kanakas to-day with what it used to be — and as it still is in many parts — no one will wish them back to their pre-European days. Before going further, we will briefly sur- vey the white man's relationship with the natives of these islands.

The White Man and His Black Brother.

The first Europeans to enter the South Seas were, of course, the navigators and explorers — a brave lot of men who had but little intercourse with the natives and wished to do them no harm. G

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In their trail followed the South Sea pirates, mostly Spaniards, who scoured the Pacific Islands in search of slaves for the Peruvian gold mines. The means adopted to attain their object were either to trick the natives on board their vessels and simply carry them off, or to make slave raids on native villages. Generally the unfortunate creatures died from hardships and home-longing within two years of their arrival in the mines. British men-of-war eventually checked this hideous traffic, though we are told it was not entirely suppressed till within a couple of genera- tions ago. The South Sea trader was the next to put in an appearance; his errand was peaceful commerce, and he benefited the natives inasmuch as he encouraged them to thrift, and introduced iron implements. Some of these traders, how- ever, developed into recruiting agents, who under- took to supply cheap labour to plantations in Samoa, Fiji, and Queensland, thus inaugurating what is understood by the practice of "blackbird- ing." The natives taken from their homes un- doubtedly benefited by their experience abroad, but the methods adopted to get them caused many hardships.

It may safely be taken for granted that no natives voluntarily left their homes for a three years' servitude in an unknown and far-off coun- try, consequently coercion had to be resorted to. The proceeding most commonly adopted by the recruiting skipper was to bargain with the chiefs, who, for a consideration in obsolete firearms,

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tomahawks, tobacco, prints, necklaces, and similar articles, undertook to supply a certain number of suitable men. The slaves, where slaves were kept, naturally went first, the remainder being made up out of members of the tribe. The latter measure was, of course, the less popular, and the coastal tribes, having been supplied with firearms, became more ruthless than ever in their slave hunts against inland tribes. Cruel as was this traffic, and resulting in much bloodshed, it har- monised with native ideas, and was in those law- less days perfectly legitimate.

Matters became entirely different when the re- cruiting skippers resorted to trickery or violence. A single authentic example of such proceedings will suffice to illustrate the resourcefulness of the recruiting skippers and the length to which they were prepared to go in order to attain their object : —

"A recruiting skipper on one occasion dropped anchor opposite a christianised native village. He dressed himself up as a clergyman, pretending to be a visiting missionary, and invited the natives to a church service on board. Headed by the local Kanaka lay preacher, they came out in canoes and catamarangs, and were cordially re- ceived by the bogus clergyman. The meeting was held below, and opened with a hymn, and while the Kanakas roared this hymn, as only Kanakas can roar, the anchor was weighed and the holds suddenly closed. Starvation did the rest of the business."

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Such a calamity to a tribe would generally re- sult in those left behind doing to death a succeed- ing skipper or any peaceful trader living in the neighbourhood, one white man, to the native mind, being as good as the other. The outrage perpetrated by the natives would be reported to some patrolling warship, which would land an armed party, and the next thing would be that a number of the evildoers were shot and their vil- lage burnt.

In most cases the native labourers were not badly treated on the plantations, and in due course returned to their homes. It happened, however, that the skippers, in order to save time, dropped time-expired labourers anywhere, with the result that local natives put an end to the earthly career of these strangers, and divided their hard-earned belongings.

The excesses committed by recruiting skippers in those dark days of the Pacific would probably make a thick book, and yet, when the worst has been told, the sufferings inflicted seem but small compared with the sufferings the natives inflicted amongst themselves.

When the various islands were annexed by one or other European power the days of the un- licensed recruiter came to an end, the traffic being regulated, and abuses severely punished; also, a start was made to suppress lawlessness amongst the natives themselves, and particularly cannibalism. The missionaries, by their teach-

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ing, greatly aided the government, at the same time successfully waging war against superstition and the evil influence of sorcery, and, although there is still a long way to go, on all the smaller islands, and along the coasts of the bigger ones, the natives now live peacefully together, and under conditions that make further progress possible. Naturally, they have to supply the labour to the European plantations, which, in the course of years, have come into being, but they are gener- ally enticed to do so by fair means, coercion being strictly forbidden. Though cases of ill-treatment and hardships at times are heard of, the service on the plantations must be considered beneficent to the native race. District Officers, on their tours of inspection, notice with satisfaction the greatly improved appearance and physique of the boys, who, half starved and filthy in days gone by, had been brought in from the bush and paraded at the district office. On the debit side of the ledger, however, are certain diseases assumed to have been brought to the islands by the Europeans, such as consumption and venereal diseases, and which it is one of the white man's primary duties as far as possible to eradicate.

Let us now investigate the so-called arcadian life of the natives, when left to themselves, and, in so doing, we will choose the Gazelle Peninsula, the early history of which is better known than that of any other part of the Possession.

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The Natives in the Gazelle Peninsula.

There exist at the present day in the Gazelle Peninsula four different branches of the Melanesian race; of these probably the most numerous, and which, in German records, often are referred to as the beach-dwellers, inhabit the coastline from beyond Weberhafen, along the North Coast, the Mother Peninsula, Simpson- hafen, and Blanche Bay, till about twelve miles south of Cape Gazelle ; nowhere do they live more than a few miles back from the sea, a little be- yond Toma being as far inland as they have got. The Bainings inhabit the Baining Mountains, which stretch right across the Peninsula. Be- tween the Bainings and the beach-dwellers live a small remnant of the once numerous Taulil tribes, while along the South Coast live the Sulkas. The latter originally inhabited the shores of Henry Reid Bay, but were transplanted to their present home by the German Government in order to save them from being exterminated by the more vigorous inland natives. Each of the above four groups of natives speak entirely different languages, and also their customs are different.

The language spoken by the beach-dwellers has much in common with that spoken in the south of New Ireland, for which reason it is believed that in the dim past an emigration from New Ireland to New Britain took place. Having got a footing on the shores of the Gazelle Peninsula, the in- truders gradually pushed back the Bainings to the

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mountains, where they have remained ever since. Also the Taulils and a now extinct group of tribes, the Butams, are supposed to have come from New Ireland, but at a much earlier date.

All the natives in the peninsula were cannibals, but only the beach-dwellers kept slaves ; these they obtained from the Earnings, the Taulils, and, in former days, from the Butams. Of the Butams very little is known, the last small remnants of them sought refuge with the Taulils, and were absorbed by them. The Taulils being squeezed in between the Bainings and the beach-dwellers, were subject to attack from two sides, the Bain- ings sweeping down on them from the mountains in order to obtain human flesh, and the beach- dwellers falling on them from the coast for the additional purpose of obtaining slaves. As late as 1899 two of the tribes living on Blanche Bay undertook an expedition against the Taulils, several villages on that occasion being destroyed, those Taulils who fell were eaten, and all the children carried off and sold as slaves or made presents of to fellow chiefs. The main depot for slaves, however, was the Baining Mountains. Originally slave-hunting expeditions to Baining issued forth both from Blanche Bay and from Weberhaf en ; as, however, the slave-hunting tribes at Blanche Bay declined in number, principally through disease, the former expeditions ceased, and it was left to the vigorous tribes on Weber- hafen and adjacent islands to procure the slaves and supply them to the remainder of the beacl}- dwellers.,

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The Bainings and the Beach-Dwellers.

Baining is a typical mountain country, with towering peaks, deep ravines, and steep slopes. It is wild and rugged, but possesses a wealth of natural beauty. The people living there are con- siderably lighter in colour than the beach-dwellers, square shouldered, with an almost over de- veloped abdomen, and a square head. They are thrifty agriculturists, and their taros are con- sidered the best in the whole of New Britain. They do not form tribes, but live in families, and wander from taro field to taro field, putting up their shelters at peaks and steep slopes, evading the coastline, valleys, and rivers. Their cere- monies in connection with births, marriages, funerals, etc., so elaborate with most Kanakas, are extremely plain or entirely absent. The only art they excel in is in making gorgeously painted masks and other dancing gear. Shell money is unknown to them.

Their most dreaded enemies were, as stated above, the slave-hunters and dealers around Weberhafen and on the small islands Massikona- puka, Massava, Urar, and Watum, by whom they had been entirely subdued. These desperadoes, who regarded the less intelligent Bainings with the utmost contempt, and were greatly feared by their own kinsmen, only totalled about a thousand, and out of this comparatively small number some would at intervals be away slave hunting, or on cruises to Nakanai for shell-money, or out fishing. It was, therefore, important for them to retain

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the friendship of those Earnings, who lived in their immediate rear. The alliance formed natu- rally was in the beach-dwellers' favour. The Bainings were allowed to go to the sea for salt water, and for shells to burn into lime. Occa- sionally they received a few fish and, perhaps, a tortoise. In return, they were to supply the beach-dwellers with taros, yams, pigs, and a cer- tain number of slaves, also the Bainings had to work for them and assist them in their slave hunts whenever called upon to do so ; furthermore, Baining women were to weep at the funerals of beach-dwellers. As for the rest of the Baining country, it was looked upon as enemy land, and its inhabitants considered legitimate prey.

How Slaves were Obtained.

The cruises to Nakanai for the particular shell used for native money generally lasted three to four months, and were always connected with slave hunts. The slave raiders were skilled navi- gators, and knew every indentation in the coast line between Weberhafen and Nakanai. Save for two or three settlements of beach dwellers near Weberhafen, the whole distance of about 200 miles was uninhabited, but Bainings regularly descended from their mountains to the sea for salt water and shells, and thus offered the neces- sary opportunity for capture. As soon as the slave-hunters, from their hiding places, discovered any Bainings on the beach they would endeavour to trap them by cutting off their retreat. Crawl-

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ing through the dense jungle, they hid near the tracks leading up into the mountains, and when the unsuspecting Earnings returned, heavily laden with baskets of sea shells and bamboo sticks filled with salt water, would suddenly fall on them, fill the air with their shrieks, and use their clubs, their spears, and, in more recent days, their firearms, with deadly effect. The Bainings who were slain made a welcome addition to the marauders' larder, and the remainder were carried off as slaves. The womenfolk who, on such occa- sions, fell into the hands of the raiders, were in- variably subjected to indignities before it was de- cided whether they were to be killed or made slaves of.

Apart from these irregular slave hunts, a systematic raid on a large scale was made at least once a year. Villages were surprised and de- stroyed, the inhabitants either captured or slain, the beach-dwellers keeping most of the bodies for themselves, leaving the rest to their Baining allies. Such expeditions, however, were attended with some risk, the villages being difficult of approach, and the Bainings using their stone slings with great skill; and as the slave hunters — like all natives — were brave only when odds were greatly on their side, actions in the open were resorted to only when trickery had failed. The ruse most commonly used was to send up into the mountains messengers with offers of friendship, the new era of peace and goodwill to be inaugurated with a great feast; and the mountain dwellers rejoicing

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at the thought of at last being allowed to go un- molested to the sea for salt water, would forget past treacheries and come along laden with the choicest products of their fields, little dreaming that they had seen their homes and beloved hills for the last time.

There is on record such a wholesale slaughter which took place in 1896, and was directed against the Bainings living in the Gavit ranges, some ten miles back from Massava Bay. The slave raiders and their allies having selected a suitable place for the debacle, sent the usual tidings of peace and goodwill to the Gavit natives, inviting them to the traditional feast, with chewing of betel-nuts and exchanging of presents. The Gavits walked into the trap, and came along laden with an abundant supply of taros, yams, pigs, and betel-nuts. Most of the beach-dwellers had arrived at the scene in their canoes, and remained on board, leaving it to their Baining allies to receive the visitors. All started well, the guests were embraced, betel-nuts chewed, and preparations made for the feast. After awhile the boys from Gavit were requested to wade out to the canoes with their presents. Here they were again embraced, called brothers and sons, and given new names. While this took place the canoes moved slowly further from land, till the Gavit lads, being held tight in the embrace, lost their depth. Being inland natives they could not swim, and, therefore, made little resistance to being hauled on board, where they were tied hand and foot. Their relatives and kinsmen

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ashore, seeing what took place, wailed and shouted treachery ; but at that moment the Baining allies seized their weapons from where they were hid- den in the sand, and fell on the Gavits, slaying them all, men, women, and children, to the number of about fifty, only one single native making his escape. The feast was then continued, the guests supplying the roasts. What the orgies were like — mutilated bodies strewn about, a host of human devils drunk with success almost to insanity — may be left to the reader's imagination. The toll of slaves secured on the above occasion numbered about thirty, mostly lads, who were taken to Massikonapuka and Massava, and sold at auctions to which buyers from along the North Coast and Watum were invited, the slaves fetching from twenty-five to fifty fathoms of tambo each.

How the Slaves were treated.

On joining the dejected class of slave the Bain- ing was given a new name. He had as quickly as possible to drop his mother tongue and the cus- toms he had been brought up to in his home, and adopt those used by the beach-dwellers. He lived with his master, and shared in the common meal, but ventured not to secure a helping till everybody else in the family had been supplied. He was ex- pected, to obey orders from anyone in the house- hold, and naturally all the heavy work fell to him. He could not acquire property, and was not allowed to marry, though, in that respect, excep- tions were at times made in order to breed slaves.

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He could, of course, be sold at any moment. If he took ill he was uncared for, and his death was only regretted to the extent of his commercial value. He was buried away from the village, and his soul doomed to roam about crying out for food and mercy, and thus, even in death, he remained an outcast. The female slave was slightly better situated; her master might make her his second or third wife, and the children she bore to him would be free. Young men whose future brides were not of age might also make them their temporary wives: thus they in some measure became part of the beach-dwelling community.

The saddest point in the miserable existence of the slave was that, like the fatted calf, he might be killed at any moment to give expression to his master's joy. The occasion might be a wedding, or a funeral, or a sing-sing arranged by the secret society, the Iniet, whose members were not allowed to eat pork. There was no salvation in flight, even if he saw a chance of escape, because he would either fall into the hands of the allied Bainings and be returned to his owner, or he would be picked up by other Bainings, who would make a meal of him themselves. On the day of the event he would be seized and tied to a tree so that the visitors, as they arrived in their canoes, could inspect him and rejoice in the treat awaiting them. Meanwhile the women-folk would be busy preparing vegetables and heating the stones in the roasting pit, and after hours of indescribable

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anguish the trembling victim would be killed by a blow on the head or by a spear being run through him. After having been cleaned and cut up he would be placed in the pit. The above details and several more, some too horrible to describe, have been collected by missionaries and others, from natives who have taken part in such feasts, and have also been related to myself by an aged chief who, being a beach-dweller himself, rather seemed to regret that the good old days had gone. With the advent of the European recruiting skipper, and the consequent enhanced value of the slaves, it was thought more profitable to hire them out for service abroad than to eat them. All that the slaves earned on the far off plantations natu- rally fell to their owners; still, the slaves having become a source of enrichment, were relieved of their life-long dread of the roasting pit, and thus the change brought about actually marked a betterment of their lot. On the other hand, the slave raiders, having been supplied with firearms, became more ruthless than ever. Some parts of the Baining country were practically depopulated. An old native in the Gavit ranges, on being visited by a missionary, who, for his protection carried a rifle, asked for permission to see the peculiar weapon by which nearly all his people had been killed.

Suppression of the Slave-Trade.

News of the Gavit natives' sad fate was brought to Kokopo by a Wesleyan missionary. Dr. Hahl,

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who was Imperial Judge at the time, had, unfor- tunately, inadequate means at his disposal to bring the offenders to task; besides, it was more a question of suppressing the whole hideous busi- ness than to deal with an isolated case. Under the circumstances, he was glad to accept an offer from the Catholic Mission to open a mission station in the heart of the slave country, Massava Bay being picked as a site. The beach-dwellers along the North Coast were ordered to give up their slaves to the government, but only a small number was surrendered, and it soon became manifest that neither missionaries nor threats were able to cope with the evil. The judge, therefore, decided on a strong expedition, headed by himself, and he commenced to make the neces- sary preparations. This expedition started off in the following year, and had notable results. At Massava the chief was arrested, and a number of slaves liberated. At Massikonapuka matters took an unexpected turn. On arriving there only the women and children and a few old men were present, so Dr. Hahl left instructions that unless the slaves held were handed over to him at Mas- sava Mission Station on the following day severe punishment would be meted out. The order, how- ever, was entirely ignored, and, having waited in vain for two or three days, the judge again set out for the little island. On this occasion it was void of human life, the whole population having quitted the place and taken with them all their belongings. Dr. Hahl ordered the huts to be

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razed to the ground, and returned to the main- land, where two slave-raiding villages at a place called Giretar were similarly destroyed. In a small bay close by were discovered thirty canoes belonging to the Massikonapuka natives, the occupants having taken to the bush. These canoes were all destroyed, and anything on board worth having was distributed amongst the police boys. The villages at Giretar were not allowed to be rebuilt, but the inhabitants were to settle either at Massikonapuka or on the little island situated at the mouth of the Karro Creek. The land between Karro and Loan Bay was assigned to the New Guinea Company as conquered terri- tory.

The sight of the burning huts and the destroyed canoes at last brought home to the slave-hunters the hopelessness of fighting the government, and eventually they submitted, and gave up a number of slaves. The slaves surrendered were mostly boys between twelve and seventeen years of age, filthy beyond description, full of sores, and nothing but skin and bone. It was suspected — and it afterwards proved to be true — that only the valueless slaves had been given up.

Old customs die hard, particularly when they serve human greed. For years after Dr. Hahl's expedition slave traffic was secretly carried on on a smaller scale. Still, the scene of these bar- barities was too close to the sea and too near the seat of government to permit of their continuance,

Native Woman, the Beast of Burden (New Britain).

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and on the arrival of the British in 1914 the prac- tices were a thing of the past.

What still goes on amongst the Bainings them- selves in the yet untrodden inland regions is a different matter. The rugged character of the country has so far protected most of these moun- tain dwellers from interference by the white man, and it may be that they are still slaughtering and devouring each other to their hearts' content.

One of the first results of the actions taken by the government to suppress the slave trade was that these Bainings, who had been the unwilling allies of the slave raiders, took heart, and shook off the yoke which for so long had made their lives miserable, and neither the beach-dwellers' threats nor promises could persuade them to again take it on. The presence of missionaries, with the powerful arm of the government behind them, gradually cleared the atmosphere, the slaves were liberated and returned to their homes, law and order established, and, as time went by, the Earn- ings could with perfect safety proceed to the sea for salt water and shells. We are, however, anticipating this happy state of affairs by quite a number of years.

As previously stated, the first mission station amongst the slave traders was founded at Mas- sava Bay in 1897. It was called "Vuna Marita," which means the home of the pandanus palm; in the same year a station was also founded at Ramandu, another of the slave traders' strong-

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holds. Both stations were established with the double object in view of pacifying and christian- ising the slave huntersr and forming a base for mission work, which it was intended to carry on amongst the Bainings. The first station in Bain- ing country was started the following year, some two hours' journey back from the sea, and called St. Paul, Pater Rascher being the pioneer mis- sionary.

The difficulties to be overcome by the mis- sionaries, and the dangers to be faced, are usually underrated by the general public. Also, we are inclined to pay too much attention to the strictly religious side of their work, with which we may disagree, and too little to the social, the ethical, and the economical sides from which the whole of mankind benefits. Somehow we have got accus- tomed to the idea that the missionaries are more or less blind enthusiasts, whose whole concern is to force upon coloured races the lef t-off theological garments of the white man. The fact of the mat- ter is that the pioneers in the mission field neces- sarily must be intelligent, tolerant, resourceful, patient, and well educated. All the Catholic fathers labouring amongst the natives are people with university educations. They must be able, like the late Dr. Brown, Pater Rascher, Pater Blyth, and others to acquire and transform into book language, with a carefully worked out gram- mar, any crude native tongue with which they come into contact. They are expected to do a certain amount of research work and exploring,

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and it is a recognised fact that we are indebted to the missionaries for a substantial part of our knowledge of primitive races; thus, for instance, we owe to Pater Rascher all reliable information we possess about the slave trade in the Gazelle Peninsula, and to Dr. Brown what we know of the early history of other parts of the colony. The missionaries, too, must possess a considerable amount of medical knowledge, so as to gain the confidence of the natives, and enable them to re- place the crude quack and sorcerer whom they depose.

Beside the above and equally important tasks Pater Rascher in his new district had not merely to conciliate neighbouring tribes at conflict, but to establish peace and goodwill between two dif- ferent races who had very little in common other than mutual hatred and distrust. For six years he toiled amongst the Bainings, preaching and practising the gospel of love, healing their sick, feeding their hungry, and protecting them against their oppressors till they were oppressed no more. From his memoirs we see that he embraced these down-trodden Bainings with the sympathy often accorded the bottom dog, and which generally is associated with the false notion that at heart the weak is nobler than the strong. He spent all he possessed and what he obtained from relatives and friends in his homeland for the good of these people; but while their social conditions were vastly improved, in his latter days he often felt depressed at their ingratitude and the little change

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his example and teaching wrought in their hearts. Sometimes it even seems he had a foreboding of the tragic fate which awaited him and his fellow workers.

The Murder of the Missionaries.

It has often been pointed out that the Kanaka is void of gratitude and ready to slay even the hand that feeds him, and that he is treacherous. These traits in his character alone can explain that while Pater Rascher was labouring for their spiritual and material welfare, they were secretly plotting to take his life.

An ambitious and criminally disposed native by the name of To Maria was the chief instigator, and a number of others followed him — some out of fear for the savage autocrat, others out of greed, and, again, others out of an inborn lust to see blood.

To Maria in his childhood had been captured by the beach dwellers and sold to a European trader, Bruno Rau, living at Ratuval. At the death of this gentleman, in 1890, the lad, who at that time was fourteen years of age, went to the Catholic mission station at Vlavolo, from where he shortly afterwards was sent to the orphanage at Vuna Pope. While staying there he passed through a severe illness, and only the tender care of the mis- sionaries saved his life. When full grown, he took service with the New Guinea Company, and for three years stayed on the mainland. Having completed his service in New Guinea, he returned

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to the mission station at Vuna Pope, and Pater Rascher just at that time settling around St. Paul a number of liberated slaves, he joined them. These settlers worked half their time on their own plantations and half their time for the mission, drawing the usual Kanaka pay.

To Maria was attached to the mission's saw mill at Karotale, but one day he met with an accident; through carelessness on his own part a log rolled over him, and he was badly hurt. Pater Rascher's medical skill and devoted atten- tion, however, restored him to health, but hence- forth To Maria could not be made to work. Dis- appointments in his married life, and a frustrated attempt to elope with the wife of another Kanaka, probably hastened to develop his criminal propen- sities. He commenced sowing discontent, telling his fellow Kanakas that Pater Rascher had de- prived them of their liberty, that he himself would make a much better leader, and that out of the booty obtainable by killing the missionaries and looting their stores he would amply reward all who followed him.

The day for the murder was fixed on the 7th August, 1904, but as the manager of New Guinea Company's plantation at Massava Bay, Herr Meisterfeldt, happened to visit the mission station that day, it was put off till the 13th.

It so happened that they were building a new church at St. Paul, which was to be opened on the 26th August. Three lay-brothers, Schel- lekens, Joseph Bley, and Plaschart, were working

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on the church, and besides four sisters, Agnes, Angela, Agatha, and Birgitha, had arrived from Vuna Pope to be present at the opening ceremony. Pater Rascher, his usual helpers, his visitors, and a great number of natives, including the mur- derers, went to mass as usual, after which Rascher had intended to take all the children down to the sea, but, feeling indisposed, the pro- cession of youngsters was taken charge of by Sisters Dorothea and Birgitha.

When breakfast was over To Maria, who, after recovering from his accident, had been made the shooting boy, called for the gun and cartridges, but, instead of shooting wild pigeons, he pro- ceeded to where the plotters lay hidden in the bush, giving them final instructions and pointing out who were to kill whom. A shot fired by To Maria was to be the signal for the onslaught.

On sneaking to the mission station To Maria went straight for Pater Rascher, whom he found ill in bed. Both window and door were shut, but Rascher's houseboy, To Jul, opened the window, through which To Maria then shot his master, the body afterwards being found lying in front of the door. Sister Anna, pursued by To Maria, rushed into an adjoining room and bolted the door ; the murderer, however, smashed it with his axe, and shot her in the forehead. Sister Sophia was attacked and killed while on her way back from a neighbouring village, where she had been attending to the sick. Sister Agatha had her skull smashed by a blow from behind while attend-

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ing to outdoor patients at the mission station. Sister Angela was engaged in the temporarily erected chapel when the murderers rushed in and dealt her a deadly blow. The body of Sister Agnes was found on the verandah. Also the bodies of the brothers were found where these thrifty and self-sacrificing men had been sur- prised while occupied with their work. The plan of the murderers had, apparently, been well laid, and the execution of it could only have taken a few minutes.

In addition to the nine Europeans, four or five Baining children in the care of the mission were killed, and their bodies taken away for the canni- bal feast arranged to celebrate the victory. To- wards dinner-time a detachment of the murderers attacked the mission station at Nacharunep, and killed Pater Rutten.

It was part of To Maria's plan also to surprise the Vuna Marita mission station and slay the Europeans residing there and in the vicinity, but the robbing of St. Paul and the dividing of the spoil delayed matters, and meanwhile some Bain- ings, who had remained faithful to the mission, brought tidings to Vuna Marita of what had taken place.

We have during latter years been hardened to loss of human life, through reading of thousands of fellow men daily having been slaughtered, of other thousands dying from privation in occupied countries, or of a "Lusitania" with 1600 helpless people on board, including a large number of

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women and children, in cold blood being sent to their doom; it therefore leaves little impression on our minds to read about ten German mis- sionaries some fifteen years ago having been killed in New Britain. Still, for all that, we can imagine the state of mind of the unfortunate people at Vuna Marita on receiving the gruesome news from St. Paul, and not knowing what mo- ment the same fate might overtake themselves. Pater van Aa, a Hollander, at once got on a horse and rushed off to St. Paul, where he saw some of the mutilated bodies, and the murderers busily engaged packing into their baskets the stolen goods. They soon turned against him, and, being unarmed, he had to beat retreat back to the beach. Later on a trader, Tom Gough, and Herr Meister- feldt, with some of his Buka labourers, endea- voured to secure the bodies of the slain, but suc- ceeded in getting the body of Pater Rascher only.

During the afternoon a boat was sent to Kokopo with a report of the massacre, and the great peril surrounding the Europeans at Massava Bay, and meanwhile preparations were made to beat off a possible attack during the night. Apart from the Baining children at Massava there were seven Europeans — namely, Pater van Aa, Bro. Stephens, and Sisters Birgitte and Dorothea, belonging to the Catholic mission, and Herr Meisterfeldt, Mr. Tom Gough, and a Miss Macdonald, the fiance of Herr Meisterfeldt. These people, armed with a few shotguns, and strengthened by a number of Buka boys

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armed with native weapons, gathered at the mission station, where they spent the night. About half-past four in the morning the Bainings arrived in force, but withdrew to the bush on see- ing the Buka boys. A few hours later they came again, and made a faint-hearted attack. As dur- ing the day the beach-dwellers commenced to show unrest the three ladies and the Baining children were sent to Massikonapuka, where they were con- sidered comparatively safe. Towards evening some German officials from Kokopo and twenty police boys arrived, and early on the following morning they proceeded to St. Paul. The bodies of the three brothers and five sisters, already in a state of decomposition, were buried in a common grave, whereupon the searching for the murderers began. During the following two days reinforce- ments arrived, including a small detachment of bluejackets from the Imperial surveying vessel the "Moewe," and eventually, after several futile expeditions into the bush, the marauders were brought to bay. A considerable number — in- cluding To Maria — were killed, and others cap- tured and brought to Kokopo, where seven more were shot. Thus ended one of the saddest tragedies in the history of New Britain.

CHAPTER XVI.

MISSION WORK IN GERMAN NEW GUINEA.

The arrival of the first missionaries to what then, as before stated, was named New Britain Archipelago belongs to pre-German history. As far back as 1852 some Roman Catholic mission- aries came from Samoa and commenced mission work in Rooke Island, situated at the western end of New Britain. Some, if not all, perished from malarial fever, and further attempts at christianising the natives in these parts were abandoned. In 1875 the Methodist minister, George Brown, founded a mission station in the Duke of York group, from where a little later he extended his activity to New Britain and New Ireland. Five years later the French pater, Monsieur Couppe, arrived in New Britain as a pioneer for the Sacred Heart of Jesus Mission. Other French missionaries at a later date settled amongst the natives in the German Solo- mons, and founded mission stations there. In the middle of the eighties a German founded the Lutheran mission Neue Dettelsauer on the New Guinea coast. About ten years later the

218

MISSION WORK IN NEW GUINEA 219

Roman Catholic Mission Society, The Holy Ghost, commenced work also in New Guinea, while the Rheinische Mission started in the beginning of this century. The Liebenzell Mission is the latest addition to the mission societies in German New Guinea, having commenced only shortly before the war.

From a small beginning most of these mis- sion societies have during time considerably enlarged their scope of operation, the number of workers has multiplied manifold, and mission stations are now scattered over a large part of the Possession. To get an idea of the progress of mission work in German New Guinea, the British Administration in the beginning of 1916 collected a great deal of particulars, from which the following is an extract: —

Protestants.

The Methodist Mission Society. — Head station at Ulu, in the Duke of York Islands; operates in New Britain, New Ireland, and the Duke of York group. It had at the time twelve Euro- pean workers, 224 native workers, 221 churches and meeting places, 269 students training for positions of teachers, 7722 Sunday school scholars, and 7324 day school scholars.

The Neue Dettelsauer Mission. — Head station at Finschhafen; operates in New Guinea, from the British border to Finschhafen. It had thirty- six European workers. No information was sup- plied as to the number of teachers, scholars and churches.

220 OUR NEW POSSESSION

The Rheinische Mission. — Head station at Madang; operates in New Guinea, from Finsch- hafen to Madang. It had nineteen European workers, six native workers, 3702 scholars, five churches and twenty-four meeting places and schools.

The Liebenzell Mission operates in the Ad- miralty group. It had two European workers and one coloured, and one church.

Catholics.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Society. — Head station at Vunapope, near Rabaul; operates in New Britain, New Ireland, the Duke of York group, and the Admiralty group. It had 135 European workers, 173 native workers, 27,458 scholars, 146 churches, and 108 schools.

The Holy Ghost Mission. — Head station at Alexishafen; operates in New Guinea, from Alexishafen to the Dutch border. It had 86 European workers, 418 native workers, and 28 churches.

The Marist Mission, head station at Bougain- ville, had 24 European workers, 22 native work- ers, 184 scholars, and 21 meeting houses.

In addition to the above, all the older estab- lished societies have founded orphanages, indus- trial schools, native hospitals, and, in the case of the Catholics, convents. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Mission alone claims twenty-five orphan- ages, five industrial schools and workshops, five hospitals, and thirteen convents. The number of converts is not stated; we know, however,

MISSION WORK IN NEW GUINEA 221

that thousands and thousands of natives are under the influence of the missionaries and pro- fess to have embraced the Christian faith. Still the number outside of this benevolent influence is much larger. So far only the Duke of York Islands are Christianised, also a small corner of New Britain, part of New Ireland, a small area of the German Solomons, and the coastline of New Guinea proper. On Rooke Island is a lonely missionary of the Neue Dettelsauer Society, two others having been killed in 1912. It will thus be seen that there is plenty yet to do for mis- sionaries in German New Guinea. Limited means compared with the task in hand, the fero- city and undeveloped intellect of the natives, the many different languages, and at some places a deplorable competition between Catholic and Protestant mission societies make progress slow. While on the mainland the different societies have had clearly denned spheres allotted to them, at other places they are intermixed, the result being that tribal controversy has been supple- mented by religious animosity, and that the native mind has been much confused. The Catholic fathers object to their followers marry- ing Protestants. The natives, of course, do not grasp the difference between the two creeds, and all the Catholic converts know is that the Metho- dist belief is no good, and vice versa. A Catholic teacher I once questioned on the matter replied: "Catholic plenty more old, him good fellow. Methodist plenty new, him no good." "Any other difference?" I asked. He looked stupid and

222 OUR NEW POSSESSION

remarked: "Me no savvy. Fashion belong Popies not all the same fashion belong Metho- dist." The Catholic societies have a pull over the Methodists by being wealthier and not ask- ing the natives to subscribe money and coconuts to the missions, whereas the Methodists have annual collections, generally connecting these offerings with a display of native dances and much feasting. The sum raised amongst the natives by the Methodist Mission in German New Guinea in 1917 amounted to approximately £3000.

Just as the Germans took no part in the early exploration of the Pacific, so for a long time they contributed very little towards Christianising the natives. In the Western Pacific the early pioneer- ing was all done by the French and the British. Even now only two out of the s^ven mission societies are purely German, namely, the Neue Dettelsauer and the Rheinische Missions. The mother house of the Holy Ghost Society is in Holland, while the Sacred Heart of Jesus Society is of French origin. The Methodist Mission Society is entirely supported from Australia, the amount annually drawn from the Commonwealth running into over £8000, while the Liebenzell Mission is an offshoot of the Methodist Society. France, till the beginning of the war, contributed liberally to the promotion of the Catholic mis- sion work in German New Guinea, and the sub- sidy in 1913 to the Sacred Heart of Jesus amoun- ted to £2500, while Germany contributed only £2000. A change, however, took place from the

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year of German annexation, inasmuch as the mis- sionaries henceforth, for practical reasons mostly, were obtained from Germany, and, although a sprinkling of French missionaries is still among them, the overwhelming majority are now of German origin. Even the purely Australian Methodist Society commenced, as a matter of expediency, during the latter years to employ Germans.

It stands to reason that in spreading the gos- pel difference of nationality plays a compara- tively small part; German, British and French missionaries all worked harmoniously together, and any friction that occurred was due to the different creeds. Even these frictions, which still occur, are mostly of a purely local nature.

Taking a larger view of life in late German New Guinea, the missionaries form one section, the planters and traders another, and the Govern- ment a third. The missionaries blame the plan- ters and traders for retarding the spreading of Christianity by their greed and mode of living, while the latter blame the former for retarding economical progress by pampering the natives, and, for selfish reasons, discouraging them from serving on plantations other than those owned by the mission societies; they are said to instil into the natives a spirit of independence through their teaching that in the eyes of God all men are alike. Both of them in turn blame the Government for favouring one at the expense of the other, yielding to the influence of politicians in the home country. The three sections men-

224 OUR NEW POSSESSION

tioned, in spite of conflicting views, naturally all contribute towards bringing the long neglected South Sea Islands into line with the rest of the world, each of them being but tools in the general scheme of evolution. But, while they all serve a higher purpose, their motives differ. Thus the missionaries are moved by certain lofty ideals, while the planters and traders are moved by a desire for material benefit.

This difference in motive — the one altruistic, the other egoistic — not merely decides their atti- tudes towards the natives, but reacts on them- selves individually. The planter, as years pass by, in his way of thinking, inclines to gravitate towards the level of the Kanaka. If he treats and feeds his labourers well, it is far too often because it pays him to do so. His human sym- pathies are crippled by a feverish desire to accumulate wealth quickly and get away from the place — only, however, to long to get back to it again. He loses refinement and culture, till often by the time he has transformed the wilder- ness to plantation, and thereby rendered himself a benefactor to mankind, he has lost his very soul. With the missionaries it is different. To live a life in self-denial amongst ungrateful savages — preaching and practising the gospel of love — and at the end of it all face death with a calm, happy smile, requires not only faith and intact ideals, but purity of soul. A French priest in the German Solomons was urged to proceed to Australia for the sake of his health, but he insisted on remaining and toiling amongst

MISSION WORK IN NEW GUINEA 225

the heathen to his last breath. A German mis- sionary I occasionally visited in the Namanula Hospital, in order to gain knowledge of native life, had grown prematurely old amongst the cannibals in the Baining Mountains — the very same savages who eleven years earlier had slain his brother — yet he longed to get back to his work amongst them. Though very ill, the only time I saw him downcast was one evening, talking about Germany, when he remarked: "What a pity my beloved native land should have chosen false gods through listening to men like Nietzsche, Treitschke, and Bernhardi," and, he added, shak- ing his head, "these islands will never again go back to Germany." And we have all heard of the Catholic Father who voluntarily went to the leper-island in the Marshall group to live, labour, and die amongst a melancholic crowd of disease- stricken natives.

It is, however, not all the missionaries who remain true to their ideals. Some of them fall victims to sectarianism, whereby their high ideals, of spreading the gospel of love and charity, are replaced by a narrow interest in the welfare of their own particular society. By thus moving from altruism towards egoism they are rendered less proof against materialistic influences. Odd ones give way to the inhumanity and sensuality with which the native world is saturated, and I recollect the astonishment caused amongst the Australian soldiers when on one occasion a Ger- man Catholic Father asked the district officer at Kokopo to have one of the mission's own native

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labourers flogged for having helped himself to an unripe coconut, so that he could quench his thirst on the milk; and again when, some time after, another missionary was by the British authorities deported to Australia for having brutally thrashed a native woman. It is also well known that occasionally missionaries, of any nationality and creed, become victims to the temptation of native women, and either volun- tarily or by compulsion give up missionary work. Several such instances are on record in late Ger- man New Guinea.

Still, the number of cases where missionaries have fallen short of their ideals is not nearly so great as could be expected of frail human nature, and counts for nothing compared with the good standing to their credit. Quite true, from a spiritual point of view, the mis- sionaries in German New Guinea — as un- doubtedly is the case everywhere in the Western Pacific — so far have not succeeded in substantially transforming the natives, and it is a general opinion that if left to them- selves for a few years they would sink back to their old life of anarchy and cannibalism. Still, where the missionaries have settled cannibalism has ceased, the cruelty towards one another has been toned down, polygamy has gradually dis- appeared, race suicide has become less pro- nounced, and the population commenced to in- crease. And, again, the missionaries, living amongst the natives, have greatly assisted the Government in extending law and order by

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reporting cases of illegal recruiting, or disas- trous feuds, or grossly inhuman acts committed amongst themselves. The missionaries have often been the first to open up new country, and where traders and at times planters preceded them a district has not been considered safe to live in till missionaries have held their entry and made their influence felt. If the missionaries do not make saints of the savages, they very materially assist in civilising them — in extend- ing our knowledge to them — in preserving the race from extinction — and in making them use- ful members of the human family.

Leaving out all religious and spiritual aims of the missionaries, and viewing life in late German New Guinea from a strictly economical point of view, the cleavage between the mission societies, the planters, and even the Government, becomes less noticeable. They ,all engage in transforming the jungle to plantations; they all aim at increasing their revenue, though for dif- ferent purposes; and all take the sweat of the Kanakas for the least possible reward.

The reasons for the mission societies engaging in planting and trading is, of course, to increase the means of extending their work and influence. In the beginning these societies were entirely dependent on voluntary support from the home lands. They had only the one string to their bow, and it did not always produce as full and round a tune as desired. If it snapped, the mission- aries and all they had accomplished were in the air. At the same time, as they gave their lives

228 OUR NEW POSSESSION

to a noble cause, they were dependent on alms for their own support and for the continuation of their work. So they commenced acquiring land and planting coconuts, establishing sawmills and engineering shops, buying schooners and trading with the natives; and so successful they have been that some of them, with regard to commercial importance, are catching up to the old established firms, and, with their easily obtained supply of cheap labour, in time will outrival them. Particularly the Catholic mis- sions exhibit untiring energy in strengthening their financial position. Between them they have close on 11,000 acres planted with coconuts, and new areas are annually added. In addition they own large sawmilling plants and extensive work- shops. Lay brothers, skilled in all sorts of handi- craft, have come out from Germany in consider- able numbers, and gladly serve for their mere keep and remain poor, as long as their society pros- pers. The result has been that the various mis- sions during the war were able to carry on much as usual, although the subsidies hitherto received from Europe ceased.

The following particulars will give an idea of the economical position of the different mission societies in German New Guinea: —

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Society owns 32,000 acres, out of which 4250 are under cultivation, mostly with coconut palms; the Holy Ghost Society, 16,500 acres, with 5250 under cultiva- tion; Neue Dettelsauer, 12,329 acres, with about 2000 under cultivation ; the Marist Mission, 3525

MISSION WORK IN NEW GUINEA 229

acres, with 1400 under cultivation; the Metho- dist Society, 3600 acres, with 550 under cultiva- tion; the Rheinische Mission, 2350 acres, with 650 under cultivation; the Liebenzell Mission, 25 acres, with three under cultivation.

In addition to plantations, the mission societies possess their own means of transport, and herds of animals. Thus the Sacred Heart of Jesus Society had at the beginning of 1916 a steam launch, four motor boats, four sailing boats, a motor car, besides buffalo carts and trucks and various odds and ends. They also had a saw- milling plant and an up-to-date extensive work- shop.

The Holy Ghost Society possessed a steam boat, fourteen other boats, five lighters, thirty-five nar- row gauge railway trucks, etc., 570 head of cattle, 80 horses, 28 donkeys and mules, 110 buffaloes, 300 sheep, a saw-milling plant, an up-to-date workshop, a rope factory, etc.

The Neue Dettelsauer Mission owned a motor schooner and ten other boats, 66 horses, 602 head of cattle, 215 goats, 47 sheep, over 1000 fowls, a saw-milling plant, a workshop, etc.

The Rheinische Mission owned a steam launch, several boats, 14 horses, 54 head of cattle, 60 goats, etc.

The Methodist Society possessed a motor schooner, some boats, three horses, eight head of cattle, etc.

The Marist Mission owned a schooner, a motor boat, some rowing boats, eight head of cattle, thirty goats, and twelve sheep.

230 OUR NEW POSSESSION

The Liebenzell Mission is the poor member of the family, laying claim to no other loose pro- perty than a cutter.

At least four of the societies possess printing plants for the production of literature in the native language.

It is stated that the late German Governor commenced to grow uneasy at the increasing wealth and consequent power of the Catholic missions. Through the Centre Party in the Ger- man Reichstag they started to make their voice heard in Berlin, and it was, for instance, due to their influence that shortly before the war planters were barred from engaging single females to work on the plantations. Dr. Hahl had allowed it in order to promote contentment amongst native labourers serving on plantations.

It was probably due to fear of the growing power of the Catholics that he seemed to favour the Protestant missions, particularly the Austra- lian Methodists. Though first in the field, they had done little planting, as a matter of prin- ciple, relying for sustenance on voluntary sub- scription from friends in Australia and native converts in the islands; also they possessed no political influence. The ultimate aim of the Methodist mission was, and still is, to educate the natives so they could direct their own spiri- tual life and run their own churches; while the aim of the Catholics always has been to establish amongst the Kanakas a hierarchy of European ecclesiastics. During the latter years, however, the Methodists have commenced considerably to

MISSION WORK IN NEW GUINEA 231

enlarge their plantations. Though ill-paid, the Methodists do not work for their bare food, and an increased number of European workers is sorely needed. It is a deplorable fact that, while the native ministers and teachers are doing all right when under close supervision, in far too many cases do they sink back to their old habits when stationed on their own in remote native villages.

From the above it will be seen that the mission societies in late German New Guinea have mate- rially assisted in the economical development of the colony. The extensive planting, however, makes them competitors on the native labour mar- ket, and this naturally is resented by the planters. Still, while we may sympathise with the ordi- nary planter, who often finds it difficult to secure an adequate number of boys, it would appear most commendable that the missions aim at being self-supporting.

The work of the missionaries is naturally judged differently, according to the viewpoint. Thus in overcrowded cities it is a common phrase : "Why send money to distant mission fields, when in our own midst are men, women and children steeped in poverty and sin ?" Others, with a false notion of native life, but sadly acquainted with the large amount of corruption in white commu- nities, express the quite wrong opinion that primi- tive races are at a higher ethical level than civilised ones, and therefore should be left alone. There are again others who assert that primitive people are happier than their more enlightened

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brethren, and point to the many suicides amongst themselves, and the numerous lunatic asylums, as proofs. As against the critic and the pessimists, there are the optimists — the thousands of chil- dren, who gladly take their pennies along to Sun- day schools — a humble yet speaking contribution towards Christianising other small children in heathen lands ; and thousands of men and women, sacrificing time and money to foreign mission work, believing it to be a duty to God and to man- kind, and deriving much happiness from their share in spreading light where naught but dark- ness reigns.

The head of the Church of England's Mission in Papua, Bishop Sharp, contributed an article to the Rabaul "Record" for April, 1916, in which he sounded a note of defiance against those opposed to the aims and objects of the mission societies, pointing out that the missionaries had gone to the Pacific and elsewhere in pursuance of a divine purpose, and obeying the Lord's com- mand, when He said, "Go ye out into the world, and preach the gospel to every living creature," and that they were there to stay. No one who has watched the growth of mission activity in German, as well as in British New Guinea, doubts the missionaries are there to stay, and no unbi- assed person, with knowledge of native life, wishes it to be otherwise.

CHAPTER XVII.

WHY PAPUA LAGS BEHIND, AND PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE.

Travellers coming to Rabaul via Papua find much to admire in what German enterprise has achieved. Their eyes are caught by the spacious government buildings, the picturesque and prac- tical bungalows, the shady avenues, the luxuriant Botanical Gardens, the excellent roads leading along portion of the seaboard, to say nothing about the extensive plantations studding the coast. It is only through comparison that our success, or lack of success, can be measured, and in comparing Papua with German New Guinea we must admit that in some respects the latter is ahead. The experience gained in Africa shows that Germany's iron rule and intense organisation — so unsuited to the temperament of primitive races — were well on their way to exterminate the native population, thereby doing themselves out of cheap labour. When, therefore, this colony has shown a sustained progress, much of the credit is due to the late German governor, Dr. Hahl, who — unlike the military moulded governors in Africa — combined an earnest desire for de-

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234 OUR NEW POSSESSION

veloping the Possession with a strong sense of justice towards the native population. At the same time, it must be remembered that Germany spent money more lavishly in German New Guinea than was spent in Papua, and, therefore, according to the law of proportion, would attain greater results. Thus, for instance, in the last year before the war, the German Imperial Go- vernment subsidised her Possession to the extent of £85,000, as against £30,000 granted Papua by the Commonwealth. Another advantage not easily over-estimated was the greater freedom of action possessed by the German governor.

The exports from the part of German New Guinea occupied by the Australians, in 1913 amounted to £402,013, against £123,140 for Papua, while the export of copra from the two possessions compared as fifteen to one.

To account for this difference we must, of course, look further afield than to subsidies — we must seek the explanation in a difference of policy. The causes for German New Guinea leav- ing Papua behind are several — Germany encour- aged tropical agriculture, Australia encouraged mining, Germany opened the door for Asiatics, thereby securing cheap skilled labour, plantation overseers, and small traders. And most im- portant of all, Germany fixed native labourers' salary at five shillings a month, while in Papua it was ten — in German New Guinea the term of ser- vice was three years, in Papua generally one — and in German New Guinea the planters, by pay- ing a small annual fee to the government, were

WHY PAPUA LAGS BEHIND 235

allowed to administer corporal punishment to their labourers. It is questionable if, in the end, it was a wise policy to let the Chinese in ; still, the imme- diate gain is obvious; and as for working the natives to the utmost, it naturally further facili- tated economical progress.

In order to induce the natives to recruit, more than for revenue raising purposes, an annual head tax of from five to ten marks — the latter being the usual rule — was, as far as the government arm reached, imposed on each adult not in the employ of a European or of a person with the standing of a European. Where the tax was not forthcoming the natives had to put in two months at roadmaking.

It would appear that the German policy towards the natives could be expressed in the three sentences: Pay them badly; tax them heavily; treat them severely, and that it was one of utter selfishness. We are, however, told that such was not the case, that the government had the welfare of the natives at heart, that the late German governor was more loved by the natives than by the planters and traders, and that they actually got him removed shortly before the war.

Dr. Hahl's ideas were that as this primitive race — much against their own wish and will — had been dragged into the maelstrom of the world's economical life, it must either progress or perish. To a German the first steps towards progress art to work and to obey.

It may be argued that the greatest incentive to

236 OUR NEW POSSESSION

work is to see the work amply rewarded. The question is, however, rendered complex, partly through the peculiar construction of the native mind, and partly through shell money still being the current coinage. The native does not spend his money in a way to promote health and com- fort, but in luxuries, such as silly ornaments, tobacco, apparel which, in his obscure village, he is better without, lanterns with which he runs about on the brightest moonlight nights, musical instruments lasting him as long as a toy lasts a child, or he digs his money down in the ground. The general opinion, and one in which the mis- sionaries share, is that higher pay simply means that the native would smoke more and work less.

Also, with regard to the administering of cor- poral punishment, arguments have been advanced which people with experience of the native dis- position find it difficult to contradict. If the white man were not feared by the natives, it would be a bad day for him. Besides, compared with the atrocities committed against them be- fore the German annexation, and the cruelties in- flicted amongst themselves, there would seem little room for complaint. To be sure, it took very little for a government labourer or a police boy to be flogged, just as it, from a British point of view, seems strange that an employer, by paying a few marks a year, could obtain a licence to thrash his labourers. Still, it was a case of enforcing discipline, and not one of deliberate ill-treatment. No doubt the privilege was often abused, yet it

WHY PAPUA LAGS BEHIND 237

was apparently not with the cognisance of the government, which, though herself a hard task- master, evinced an honest desire to protect the natives against their tormentors.

Also, the head tax is judged differently by those who have lived in the islands and those who have not. Ten marks a year certainly seems exces- sive; the number of coconut trees to each family is but small, and it takes up to 7000 coconuts to make a ton of copra. The Chinese trader pays them badly, the payment generally being made in trade goods — principally in tobacco. Also, the salary they earn is insignificant. True enough, those who work for Europeans are exempt from paying tax, but then they cannot be working on the plantations their whole life, more particularly so as no provisions are made for them bringing their womenfolk there; besides, the plantations could at the best only absorb a certain percentage of the whole population. One sometimes wonders how they manage to satisfy the tax collector. Still, the process adopted for raising the money, as well as for collecting it, gives a satisfactory result, and the amount annually flowing into the government coffers from the head tax represents several thousand pounds.

The procedure is quite a simple one. The Native Affairs Department, or, in case of an out- station, the District Officer, warns the chiefs in a certain district that a month hence the tax will be collected. It may be assumed that during that month a great deal of cursing and grumbling goes

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on — it would be too much to expect of human nature if it didn't. Meantime, the natives get busy digging their European money out of the ground, or, where there is none to dig out, by gathering coconuts. In everyday life they try even the patience of a Chinaman by bringing along a couple of nuts at a time, receiving as payment quarter of a stick of trade-tobacco, or just enough for a decent smoke. But to raise ten marks means business. The bush is actually raked for coconuts, and somehow the day the tax collector arrives, escorted by a body of police boys, the money is generally there. When, during the dis- turbances caused through the change of govern- ment, the head tax was not collected for about fifteen months, there was a notable fallling off in the supply of copra.

What are we to say in the face of such evi- dence? Can any other deductions be made than that the natives of these islands are unprogressive and lazy? Still, they must either progress or perish, there is no third alternative.

The climate of the Western Pacific and the Kanaka appear to belong to one another, or, as it has been put: "God seems to have reserved the tropics for the blacks." Maybe they are there for an even higher purpose than growing coconuts. At any rate, neither the owners of these islands nor the world as a whole can afford to see them perish, so they must advance — progress in spite of themselves. They must be broken in to re- cognise the white man's money as the only means

WHY PAPUA LAGS BEHIND 239

of exchange ; they must be trained in sanitary con- ditions and cleanliness; they must be compelled to supply the necessary labour to the plantations, or, as a remote alternative, become industrious small plantation holders themselves.

Some years ago a deputation of German planters waited on the governor to urge on him the advisa- bility of introducing a kind of labour conscript system, giving as one of the reasons that the "kul- tur" laboriously and painfully evolved by the Ger- mans through a long line of generations, the natives received without any effort and for nothing. The measure did not appeal to Dr. Hahl, and, as for the natives, it would be excusable if they did not see the strength of the argument. Still, there can be no doubt, had the Germans re- mained in possession, the conscript system sooner or later would have been introduced, and if the tenure of service had been made a period of train- ing" as well as one of toil, little objection could have been raised against it. The trouble, how- ever, is that the average planter is neither a philanthropist nor a long visioned patriot, and the remoteness of many of the plantations makes effective government control difficult.

In summing up the impressions gathered from conversations with people acquainted with island life, it would appear that what is needed is neither higher pay nor less work for the natives until they learn how better to make use of their earn- ings, but fair-minded and, at the same time, stern judges, and an ample staff of devoted medical ex-

240 OUR NEW POSSESSION

perts. It would be misplaced kindness towards the natives themselves, and an injustice to whites, who do the pioneering work, entirely to abolish corporal punishment. The Kanakas do not mind going to gaol, and cases of prisoners asking to remain in gaol after their sentence has expired are not uncommon. An old grey haired Capucine father, who had been sent by his society, in the Caroline Islands, to New Guinea to make a plan- tation, on one occasion, in despair, brought a number of his native labourers to the District Officer at Madang, bitterly complaining of their insolence and threatening demeanour. The Dis- trict Officer investigated the case, the ringleaders got from five to ten strokes, and the old philan- thropist and his labourers appear to have lived happily together since. The punishment should be made to suit the native temperament, or they should be left entirely alone. With regard to promoting health amongst the natives, the Ger- mans could have shown more vigour, though some improvement was made during the latter years. The whole of the amount raised through the native tax ought to have been utilised to their own good — in providing for travelling doctors, and in constructing wells to do away with the ordinary contaminated water holes — in improving the native way of building their huts — in buying quinine, mosquito nets and soap, and in providing baby bonuses in the shape of cash or iron imple- ments in districts where race suicide is prevalent. If the head tax had proved insufficient to cover the

WHY PAPUA LAGS BEHIND 241

expenses, the planters, who derive the greatest benefit from a healthy and able native population, should have been made to pay, through an in- creased export duty on copra. The Swedish tra- veller, Count Morner, tells us, as previously stated, that on the little island of Matty the population has decreased from 1500 to 300, and also that the firm principally interested in the place — Wahlen and Company — derives an annual income from Matty of £6000, which, in the course of six or seven years, is estimated to increase to £30,000. Would it have been unjust if the German govern- ment had made that firm responsible for the Matty islanders, and, indeed, for the preserva- tion of the fast decreasing population on all the western islands from which it derives an annual income of thousands and thousands of pounds?

It must be said in justice to the German ad- ministration that a beginning had been made to combat some of the maladies most disastrous to the aboriginal population. Intelligent natives were being trained up to diagnose and treat such fatal diseases as dysentery and malarial fever, the idea being to return them to their respective tribes as a kind of village doctor. Also, a small start had been made in the way of digging wells. The war, of course, put an end to these efforts, and the uncertain fate of the islands hardly war- ranted constructive work in any great measure being carried on, so little has been done since.

German New Guinea, like many other places, was, as a matter of fact, for a long time in the

242 OUR NEW POSSESSION

melting pot. i'There was reason to think the Pos- session would eventually fall to the Common- wealth, and now that this is, practically speaking, an accomplished fact, it can be said, from a geo- graphical point of view, Australia merely has got into her own. The distance between Brisbane and Rabaul is covered in a week. The Torres Strait can be crossed in a day. The vegetation in New Guinea and the adjoining islands is very much like that of Northern Queensland, while species of the typical Australian forest tree, the eucalyp- tus, is everywhere common. By penetrating into the bush we meet such old acquaintances as the wallaby, the cassowary, and the ringtailed opos- sum, while, indeed, it has been pointed out that the now extinct Tasmanian blacks were a branch of the Melanesian race, and also that the abori- ginals of the continent and the Kanakas are closely related people. The above evidences are by scientists taken as proofs that these islands once formed part of the Australian continent.

From a commercial point of view, Sydney is the recognised centre for the whole Western Pacific. Even in pre-war time the Germans sent much of their copra to Sydney for transhipment. Most of the imported foodstuff, save rice and tinned fish, consumed there was produced in Australia. The total imports to German New Guinea from Australia in 1912 represented a monetary value of £169,878, showing an increase of £50,312 over that of the previous year.

In various other ways one is continually re-

WHY PAPUA LAGS BEHIND 243

minded of the nearness to Australia. For in- stance, most of the Britishers in these islands are "gum suckers" ; probably one half of the German planters and traders have previously resided in the Commonwealth ; every person one meets, irre- spective of nationality, has relatives in Australia, while Sydney and the Blue Mountains were the favourite health resorts for Britishers and Ger- mans alike. (^^

V^In conclusion, some little space may be given to- the question, "Will the islands in the Western Pacific ever be a white man's land ?" The answer will, I should say, depend on the meaning attached to the phrase. If it be taken to mean, "Can the white race, for climatic reasons, take the place of the black race — till the soil and work the planta- tions," then I believe the consensus of opinion would be in the negative. If, however, it is to- mean, "Can they, under any circumstances, sur- vive and continue their race in these climes?" then the question may be answered by referring to past experiences. We know that people have lived for thirty years or more in these parts, and only been away for short periods at long intervals. We know that white children are born there, and that a good many survive. A German family on the north coast of New Britain can boast of eleven healthy children, while the very fact of the late German administration having opened a school for European children at Namanula speaks for itself » According to the statistics there were in German

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New Guinea at the outbreak of the war 140 Euro- pean children under fifteen years of age.

Whilst, thus, it is proved that not only do Euro- peans live there to a comparatively ripe age, but can continue their race as well, there is ample evidence of tlm climate not being congenial to the white man.v/An intelligent colonist with whom the matter was discussed, some time after the British had arrived, expressed himself as fol- lows:— "German New Guinea is not meant for white people. The fever haunts them, and the climate is too enervating, sapping them of all energy. Take the young German official," he said, "who is sent out here. The first year he loses 25 per cent, of his energy, the second year he loses another 25 per cent., and at the third year he has only got 25 per cent, of energy left. After the expiration of that period he has become useless. It is necessary to send him on a holiday to Germany for six or nine months to recuperate. The Germans lack neither energy nor enthusiasm when they first arrive. I remem- ber on one occasion this initial energy resulted in 80,000 marks being collected towards a monu- ment for Bismarck somewhere out here. The getting together of the funds had absorbed every atom of force, and though the money was there the monument was never erected. Another case in point: A business man in Rabaul imported machinery for making aerated waters — and he would have done well — but he could never arouse sufficient energy to erect the plant, and there it is,

WHY PAPUA LAGS BEHIND 245

still lying in his back yard. It is the same with the planters. They arrive there full of enthu- siasm, buy 200-300 hectares of land, start to clear and plant, but by the time they have fifty hectares, or a little more, planted, their energy is fairly well exhausted." While these pictures are some- what overdrawn, the contention that people lose their energy in these parts is correct.

The German Imperial Government, in their pen- sion schemes, reckoned one year's service in the tropics equal to two year's service in Germany. I believe it is generally admitted that people in hot climates do not last so well as do people living in temperate zones. Malarial fever, in continually returning attacks, has also to be reckoned with as a factor in reducing the span of life.

If the question were referred to an unbiassed jury, I imagine the verdict would be: "The Western Pacific is not favourable to Europeans. Still, they can live there and even continue their race, though probably it would require some gene- rations to fully acclimatise them. As, however, the white race in these islands, by force of their higher intelligence, necessarily must constitute the upper class, and as there is not here, more than anywhere else, room for a numerous upper class, this may quite well, and even advantageously to the Possession, be supplied as needs arise from the closely situated Australia, **s

Some difficulties may be experienced in recon- ciling the Germans in these islands to Australian rule. During the war they gave little or no

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trouble, but international law affords warring nations no protection, a fact to which the Ger- man traders and planters were fully alive; be- sides German laws and labour conditions pre- vailed, and, finally, their belief, almost to the end, in an ultimate German victoiy, coupled with the fact that they were prospering, probably made them patient. Judging by feelings as they existed before and during the war, German and British planters mutually will remain on friendly terms. Common interests and common dangers bind them together — in fact,, when one gets away from the narrow limits of Rabaul the black element is so overwhelming that the situation resolves itself into one of white versus black. The missionaries, too, will most likely plod on as usual — exercising their charitable work — criticising the traders and planters, and finding fault with rival creeds and societies, but other- wise at peace with the world. The big com- panies, with their shareholders and head offices in Germany, may, however, give trouble.

Whatever Australia's policy in German New Guinea is going to be, it can safely be predicted it will embrace more human kindness to the natives than did the German, and therefore be less profitable to investors. That the kindness often will be misdirected, owing to the influence of churches and philanthropists in Australia igno- rant of the native mind and native conditions, and therefore actually do the natives more harm than good, will only aggravate matters. There will be plenty of willing hands amongst traders

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and planters to keep Germany informed about matters in their late colonies, and feelings of re- sentment in Berlin will be intensified by a natural soreness at having lost them. Complaints will be made at the League of Nations council over assumed Australian misrule, and Australian in- vestors, reminiscent of the good old German days, will, in a number of cases, rub their hands and keep aloof from the controversy.

In the interest of peace it would seem well if part of the war indemnity coming to Australia were used to buy out the big German trading and plantation companies. This most, and only, dangerous connecting link between Germany and late German New Guinea would thereby be severed.

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