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H. Wilfrid Walker - Wanderings Among South Sea Savages
Catching Ducks by Diving for them - An Odd Experience - Mosquitos and Fever - Last View of Agai
Ambu - An Amusing FINALE.
Many were the wild and fantastic rumours we had heard at the Residency at Cape Nelson, on the
north-east coast of British New Guinea, concerning a curious tribe of natives whose feet were reported to
be webbed like those of a duck, and who lived in a swamp a short way in the interior, some distance to
the north of us. I myself had at first been inclined to sneer at these reports, but Monckton, the Resident
Magistrate, with his superior knowledge of the Papuans, as the natives of New Guinea are called, was
sure that there was some truth in the reports, as the Papuan who has not come much in contact with the
white man is singularly truthful though guilty of exaggeration.
I knew this, but I had in mind the case of the Doriri tribe, who lived in the interior a little to the south of
us. These Doriri (who had had the kindly forethought to send us word that they were coming down to pay
us a visit to eat us, for the Papuan, though a savage, is often most suave and courteous and by no means
lacking in humour), were reported to us as having many tails, but needless to say when we made some
prisoners, we were scarcely disappointed to find that the said tails protruded from the back of the head
(in much the same fashion as the Chinaman's pigtail); in this case each man had many tails, which were
fashioned by rolling layers of bark from a certain tree - closely allied, I believe to the "paper tree" of
Australia - round long strands of hair.
We three white men had many a long talk as to whether these swamp-dwellers were worth going in
search of, but I soon came round to Monckton's way of thinking. Acland, alone, however, maintained to
the last that the whole thing was a myth, and jokingly said to Monckton: "When you find these
duck-footed people, you had better see that Walker does not take them for birds, and shoot and skin a
couple of specimens of each sex and add them to his collection." (For my chief hobby in this and many
other countries all over the world consisted in adding to my fine collections of birds and butterflies in the
old country.)
As we three, with our twenty-five native police and four servant boys, rowed up the Barigi River in our
large government whaleboat, on our way to search for these "duck-footed" people, I could not help being
struck with the very great beauty of the scene. Giant trees laden with their burden of orchids, parasites
and dangling lianas, surrounded us on both sides, their wide-spreading branches forming a leafy arcade
far over our heads, while palms in infinite variety, intermixed with all sorts of tropical forms of
vegetation, and rare ferns, grew thickly on the banks.
Some distance behind us came our large fleet of canoes, bearing our bags of rice and over one hundred
carriers, and as they paddled down the dark green oily waters of this natural arcade, with much shouting
and the splashing of many paddles, it made a scene which is with me yet and is never to be forgotten. As
we proceeded, the river got more narrow, and fallen trees from time to time obstructed our way. We at
length landed at a spot where we were met by a large number of the Baruga tribe, who brought us several
live pigs tied to poles, and great quantities of sago, plantains and yams. They had expected us, as we had
camped in their country the previous night. They had been "licked" into friendliness by Monckton, who
less than a year ago (as elsewhere mentioned) had sunk their canoes, and together with the aid of the
crocodiles, which swarm in this river, had annihilated a large force of them. And now to show their
friendliness they were prepared to do us a good turn, by helping us to find these duck-footed people, with
whom (they told us) they were well acquainted.
Oyogoba, the chief of the Baruga tribe, came to meet us. He assured us of the friendliness of his people,
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