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H. Wilfrid Walker - Wanderings Among South Sea Savages
Luckily, my shot did not take effect, as I soon found out that these fire-sticks were held by some of our
own carriers, who had been told by Monckton to carry them so that we could distinguish them from the
enemy in case we were attacked. Monckton turned to where the Notus, were, and seeing them all decked
out in their war plumes, dancing about among the prostrate carriers, and waving their clubs and spears,
naturally took them for Dobodura warriors, and nearly fired at them. He angrily ordered them to take off
their feathers.
Calmness soon settled down again, and we learned that the police had fired at some Doboduras who were
creeping up into the camp. How many there were we could not tell, but later on we learnt that some of
them had been killed, and seeing the flash of the rifles, which was a new experience to them, the rest had
retreated for the time being, but soon rallied together for attack that night or in the small hours of the
morning. Knowing that if they once rushed us in the darkness we should all be doomed for their cooking
pots, the state of our feelings can be imagined.
The first attempt came rather as a shock to a peaceful novice like myself, and seeing warriors in full war
paint and feathers rushing about with uplifted club and spear amid our prostrate squirming carriers, I had
a very strong inclination to bury myself in the nearest hut and softly hum the lines, "I care not for wars
and quarrels," etc. We sat talking in subdued tones for some time, expecting every minute to hear the
thrilling war cry of the Doboduras, but nothing was to be heard but the crackling of the embers of the
burning houses, the low murmur of our people around their camp fire, and the most dismal falsetto howls
of the native dogs in the distance. These howls were not particularly exhilarating at such a time, and I
more than once mistook them for the distant war-cry of the Doboduras.
The Papuans, as a rule, do not torture their prisoners for the mere idea of torture, though they have often
been known to roast a man alive, for the reason that the meat is supposed to taste better thus. This they
also do to pigs, and I myself, on this very expedition, caught some of our carriers making preparations to
roast a pig alive, and just stopped them in time. For this reason Monckton would always shoot the pigs
brought in for his carriers, but in this case one pig was overlooked. I have heard of cases of white men
having been roasted alive, one case being that of the two miners, Campion and King. But we had learnt
that this Dobodura tribe had a system of torture that was brutal beyond words. In the first place they
always try to wound slightly and capture a man alive, so that they can have fresh meat for many days.
They keep their prisoner tied up alive in the house and cut out pieces of his flesh just when they want it,
and we were told, incredible as it seems, that they sometimes manage to keep him alive for a week or
more, and have some preparation which prevents him from bleeding to death.
Monckton advised both Acland and myself to shoot ourselves with our revolvers if we saw that we were
overwhelmed, so as to escape these terrible tortures, and he assured us that he should keep the last bullet
in his own revolver for himself. This was my first taste of warfare. Monckton had had many fights with
Papuans, and Acland, besides, had seen many severe engagements in the Boer war, but he said he would
rather be fighting the Boers than risking the infernal tortures of these cannibals. It all, somehow, seemed
unreal to me, and I could hardly realise that I was in serious danger of being tortured, cooked and eaten.
It is impossible to depict faithfully our weird surroundings. We chatted on for some time, and tried to
cheer each other up by making jokes about the matter, such as "This time to-morrow we shall be
laughing over the whole affair," but the depressed tone of our voices belied our words, and it proved to
be but a very feeble attempt at joking. We longed for the moon, though that would have helped us little,
as it was cloudy.
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