Papuan "Head Hunters"

Letter to the Editor.

I HAVE read the extract from some Sydney “flapper paper”, published in your Tropicalities column in April, giving a report by Mr. Baskett relating to head hunters in Papua. I must say it is hard to understand how people can report such nonsense.

With the exception of incidents re ported by a few good patrols into un controlled areas in Western Division re cently, head hunting has been unknown in my time of residence, which is over 30 years. Now we read this silly non sense, that Mr. Baskett has discovered 3 000 in 16 months and won them over as converts by using the Oxford Group Sign Language.

Surely Mr. Baskett knows that the Territory is patrolled by Government Patrol Officers continuously, and I am sure no head-hunting has been published in the Governor’s Annual Report.

I know there are wild-pig-hunters, but I cannot trace head-hunters. But per haps they were attracted from the hills behind Kwiara boat-slip by the sornid of the bag-pipes and the Oxford Sign Language applied there.

It really seems that this silly non sense is nothing but a publicity “stunt”.

Otherwise, what is the object of such rubbish ?

I am etc.,

Trobriands, 14/6/38.

v. p.

Miss Lucy Cranwell, M.A., botanist at the Auckland, N.Z., museum, and Miss Katherine Luomala, Ph D., of Chicago, U.S.A., have been awarded Yale fellow ships at the Bishop museum at Hono lulu, Hawaii. The fellowships at the museum are awarded annually by Yale University and the Bishop museum trus tees, who select the fellowships which are open to the world.