Race Of Pygmies.

Papuans with Queer Language.

INTERESTING details of a race of pygmies living among the little known mountains north of the Albert Range in the Gulf division of Papua are given by Patrol Officer Hides, of the Papuan Police Force.

The information is contained in the annual report of the Lieutenant- Governor (Sir Hubert Murray).

Mr. Hides was engaged on one of several patrols to establish, if possible, friendly relations with natives to afford protection to the miners on the Lakekamu goldfield.

Mr. Hides describes the natives he met as very small men—two, whom he measured, were only 4ft. 6in. in height —but their strength, he says, is “simply marvellous.” Their dress was a kind of sporran, like that worn by some of the tribes known as Kuku kuku, but their language appeared to be quite different. Sergeant Gegera, the linguist of the party, describes it as being akin to that of cockatoos.

“They have good gardens,” he says, “bearing the usual native food; but there is not so much game in their country, and they pursue such small animals as bandicoots and cuscus and even mice, which they catch in an elaborate trap made out of a length of bamboo. In fact, ‘the people’,” Mr.

Hides added, “will catch and eat prac tically anything that creeps and crawls. Frogs, prawns, and beetles seem to be a favourite food; but they also seek cassowaries and birds of paradise. Hunting boxes were seen.”