Belles of Papua
Wanderings Among South Sea Savages
And in Borneo and the Philippines
By
H. Wilfrid Walker
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
With forty-eight plates from photographs by the author and others
London Witherby & Co. 1909
To
My brother Charles
This record of my wanderings
in which he took so deep an interest,
is affectionately dedicated. [v]
Preface
In a book of this kind it is often the custom to begin by makingapologies. In my case I feel it to be a sheer necessity. In the firstplace what is here printed is for the greater part copied word for wordfrom private letters that I wrote in very simple language in Dayak orNegrito huts, or in the lonely depths of tropical forests, in thefar-off islands of the Southern Seas. I purposely made my letters homeas concise as possible, so that they could be easily read, and inconsequence have left out much that might have been interesting. It isalmost unnecessary to mention that when I wrote these letters I had nothought whatever of writing a book. If I had thought of doing so, Imight have mentioned more about the customs, ornaments and weapons ofthe natives and have written about several other subjects in greaterdetail. As it is, a cursory glance will show that this book has not theslightest pretence of being “scientific.” Far from itsbeing so, I have simply related a few of the more interestingincidents, such as would give a general impression of my lifeamong savages, during my wanderings in many parts of the world,extending over nearly a score of years. I should [vi]like to have writtenmore about my wanderings in North Borneo, as well as in Samoa andCelebes and various other countries, but the size of the book precludesthis. My excuse for publishing this book is that certain of myrelatives have begged me to do so. Though I was for the greater part ofthe time adding to my own collections of birds and butterflies, I haverefrained as much as possible from writing on these subjects for fearthat they might prove tedious to the general reader. I have alsotouched but lightly on the general customs of the people, as this bookis not for the naturalist or ethnologist, nor have I made any specialstudy of the languages concerned, but have simply jotted down thenative words here used exactly as I heard them. As regards thephotographs, some of them were taken by myself while others were givenme by friends whom I cannot now trace. In a few cases I have no notefrom whom they were got, though I feel sure they were not from anyonewho would object to their publication. In particular, I may mentionMessrs. G. R. Lambert, Singapore; John Waters, Suva, Fiji; Kerry &Co., Sydney; and G. O. Manning, New Guinea. To these and all others whohave helped me I now tender my heartiest thanks. I have met with somuch help and kindness during my wanderings from Government officialsand others that if I were here to mention all, the list would be alarge one. I shall therefore have to be content with only mentioning[vii]the principa