"By Aeroplane to Pygmyland" Accounts of the 1926 Smithsonian-Dutch Expedition to New Guinea

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Journal of Matthew Stirling
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October 6, 1926 : Agintawa District


October 6

A dozen or so men and women appeared this morning from up the canyon and the first act on the bill was the killing of the big pig as promised yesterday. The arrow was shot by one of the visiting men who was all painted red and black for the occasion. We gave our host the head and viscera as yesterday and we now have an ample meat supply. The pig was in fine condition and our roast pork and chops were a fine treat. As we are practically out of our own food supply, we must depend upon what we can get here, {*} and there appears to be plenty. Our Ambonese soldier has a way with the {p. 283} women and they keep us well supplied with potatoes and greens. Oompah and the Shiek spent the morning making sugar from sugar cane, an art which they evidently learned in their native island of Madoera. During the day a couple of head men from neighboring villages appeared and tried to induce us to move - much to the disgust of our host, who confidentially whispered to me at least a dozen times to pay no attention to them. There have been many secret conferences around camp by the natives, partly to arrange financial details of trading and evidently partly to try and get us to move.




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