Restless Serik

Natives

Adherents of 'Cargo Cult'

Prom a Special Correspondent

Finschhafen, Feb. 1.

AT a given signal all whites were to be murdered by “Cargo Cult” fanatics at the last Christmas “sing-sing” at Angoram, Sepik District, New Guinea!

At least, that was the rumour prevalent at the time, said Father Wm. Saiko, SVD, who took over the mission field, in what he terms the “grass country” of the Sepik District, from the late Father Schwab, who was a frequent contributor to “PIM.”

“Cargo Cult” is rampant, continued the jovial American priest, and many of his native adherent are susceptible to its in fluence. “Why,” they ask, “have the missionaries been here so long without bringing us any ‘cargo’?” He is pro ceeding to Port Moresby to lay before the proper authorities the evils of this “cargo mania.” But, among those who had not come under its influence or been affected by wrong contacts during the war, there were many who were keen to become Catechists.

Father Saiko’s district embraces 46 vil lages, with a population of about 7,000, but it is a widely-scattered area, and some villages are as much as two-days’ walk apart.

He is specially interested in the study of Sepik folk-lore, and spends many hours a day listening to the stories of the old men of the villages. His predecessor, Father Schwab, had compiled a 652-page book of Sepik folk lore, and had put many of their “sing-sings” to music and trans lated the words. Unfortunately, this valuable data was destroyed during the war; and, apparently, it is Father Saiko’s aim in some small measure to partially restore it.

A Matter Of Diet

SPEAKING of crocodiles, for which the Sepik River is renowned, Father Saiko said the season was now com ing in. From all accounts the natives had little fear of them, for they caught them by hand, on land, first jumping on their backs and jamming a log into their mouths as they opened their jaws. This log was eventually securely fastened, so as to keep the jaw harmless.

“Have you ever tasted crocodile meat?”

I nervously inquired.

“Boy!” he said, in his rollicking good humour, “it sure is delicious — just like chicken with a little fish sauce over it!”

But he said that the native food he liked best were the “binatangs belong sac-sac” (grubs in the sago palms).

“They’re just like fat beans when they’re roasted,” he added, “and they taste like barley-sugar. But the wings are apt to stick in the throat as they go down!”

Then I realised that my leg was being pulled.

You would like meeting this big, bright, breezy, clean-shaven American priest. He might be in the early forties —but I did not inquire, he kept me laughing so much.

He has thin, blonde hair, receding at the temples, and his delightfully-cheerful boisterous manner, with a big measure of broadmindedness thrown in, gives tonic to the depressed. Whatever his diet—even crocodile meat and grubs — it agrees with him, for, if anything, he has a ten dency to overweight!

While at Finschhafen he was the guest of his old school-mate Father Ed. Misik, SVD, with whom he was also a Chaplain with the American Forces in New Guinea during the war. Father Saiko hails from St. Paul, Minn., USA.

Death of Madame Besnault Madame christiane besnault, wife of the esteemed director of the Veterinary Department in Tahiti, died in Papeete on December 23, aged 27. The funeral service, at the Cathedral on December 24, was numer ously attended.