Two Years Among New Guinea Cannibals / A Naturalist's Sojourn Among the Aborigines of Unexplored New Guinea

Chapter 4: CHAPTER I BREAKING THE GROUND

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About This Book

The narrative recounts two years of scientific fieldwork in New Guinea, combining natural-history collecting with ethnographic observation. The author describes arduous inland travel, coastal settlements and village life, local crafts and watercraft, dialectal diversity, ceremonies, and everyday material culture while recording birds, insects, and new species. Chapters detail camps, transport challenges, encounters with various tribes, and practical arrangements for collection and study; appendices present specimen records and scientific notes. Illustrations and a map accompany practical accounts of landscape, wildlife, and indigenous technologies.

CHAPTER I
BREAKING THE GROUND

The Author’s many Journeys—New Guinea more interesting than all—The Second Largest Island in the World, and the last to guard its Secrets from Man—Its Vast Possibilities to the Trader and the Man of Science—Great Riches in Birds and Insects—770 known Species of Birds—The People—Their many Dialects—A Geographical Reason for this—Toilsome Travel—Razor-like Ridges in Endless Succession—The Author’s Camps—Journeys Outlined—In Unexplored Country—Gorgeous Scenery—Variations of Temperature—The Chief Bugbear, Transport.