P a p u a n
H o u s e ?.
H. A ’'.a f o r a s .
the reft. Numbers of fires were feen, pofiibly made by the
mouutaneers. : vri ~ - v.^.i ru n
T he ihores were planted with coeo palms, and varied with
the grotefque inhabitants, and their lingular habitations, built
over the water on ftages ere&ed on pofts, far projefting into the
bay, and eonftru&ed exaftly like fome o f the ftairs on the river
'Thames. A few yards from this- is another ftage in deeper water,
on which ftands.a fmail more elevated hut; the firft tenement
is the largeft, and contains fourteen cabins-(fome arelefler)feven
on a fide, befides a common hall. In the laft the women fit,
fome making mats, others pots out o f the dudiile clay, which
they afterwards burn with'dry grafs or brulh wood; the women
do moft of the work; they often are feen with an axe preparing
the timber for the ftages, while the men indulge in indolence,
or preparation for the chafe of wild hogs. The married
people, with their families, live apart from the batchelors
in the greater houfes ; the batchelors in thofe on the end o f the
ftage; fuch is faid to be the cafe with the .Bat tas on Sumatra,
and the Moroots on Borneo.. The frontifpiece to Mr. ForreJPs
book gives a full idea of thefe tenements, and the fnrrounding
fcenery, and in tab. 12. is a beautiful view of the entrance, with
■one of thofe little round-headed button-lhaped iflands, covered
with wood to the water edge, and which chara&erife the archipelagos
o f thefe parts' of the Indian leas.
In the inland part o f the country is a race of meh called
Haraffras, who are;a fort o f gardeners, and cultivate the plan-
tanes, and fome other efculents; thefe. they fupply the Papuas
with, by a certain tenure; for i f a Papuan prefents-.a Harafora
2 . with
with an axe or chopping knife, his lands and labor are fubject
to a tax for ever to the donor. If the Harafora lofes his axe,
he" is itili fubjeét to the tax; i f he breaks or wears it out the
Papuan muft fupply him with another, or the tax ceafes. The
Haraforas wear long hair, but are Pagans like the Papuans.
They live in trees, which they afcend by a long notched pole,,
which they draw after them to prevent furprife.
I c a n give no account of the religious rites o f either of thefe
people. The Papuans form tombs of the rude coral rock ; Mr.
Forreft faw one with the wooden figure o f a child about eight
years old, completely dreiTed ; a real fcull, with a wooden head,
was placed in the upper part.
T heir commerce is chiefly with the Chinefe', from them they
purchafe their iron tools, chopping knives, and axes, blue and
red baft as, China beads, plates, bafons, &c. The Chinefe carry
back Mifory bark, which they get to the eaftward of Dory, at a
place called Warmafine or Warapine, it is worth thirty dollars a
pecul on Java. They trade alfo in flaves, ambergris, Suallo, or
. fea flug, tortoife-ihell, fmall pearls, black Loeries, large red
Loeries, birds of Paradife, and many kinds of dead birds which
the Papuans have a particular way o f drying. As to the Mi-
Jàry bark, the Chinefe carry it to the ifland o f Java, and fell it to
the natives, who reduce it to powder, and rub their bodies with
it, as the Gentoos on the Coromandel coaft do with the fandal
wood.
A f t e r , this extract, let me obferve how very prevalent is the
infamous traffic in our fellow creatures, for it reaches poflibly to
thè remoteft part o f Hew Guinea. The man I mention at p. 34
V o l . IV. E e »
T ombs,
C o m m e r c e .