The Drake Goes West

New Guinea

[?]Etch By Malo

HIKOP was one of my first house servants when I went to live on a Copra Plantation in New inea after World War 11. He was m a local village and had served husband prior to the War, prov a faithful servant.

Ihikop was plump for a native, h a bulging tummy. He wore his -lap fastened beneath the bulge, wing his navel. He was ugly, but placid, good tempered ex ssion and ready smile made up his lack of beauty. He was j to get on with, e walked with a waddle, like a k, and for purposes of reference, ind his back, I christened him “Drake.” tiikop followed my uncertain fin English better than the other ants, translating any ambigu order I may have given him. understood a few English words, and surprised me one day when Id him to put some flowers into s for the house. My only vases :hat time were Japanese shell s, found in the bush on the tation after the war. I knew the I for “flower” was “pulpul,” but ad no idea what to say for e,” so I asked the Drake; That name sumting belong put mlpul?” (What is the name of thing for flowers?), grinned broadly and answered: tridge.” felt crushed! r the most part, Chipok was a ig worker, but, like all natives, ad his lazy days, when he would )pear into the Labour House remain deaf to my calls, until ras ready to answer, or if he pened to see the “Masta” aaching. Then a muffled “Yes would be heard and Chikop i emerge and waddle across to mngalow, at a pace according le urgency of my call or the mity of the “Masta.” his energetic days he would pear into the bush during his aeon break, first informing issus, me like go kis (catch) im aod.” m, armed with an axe over his der and pushing a low two led handcart, off he would go. iionally one of the younger would accompany him, usually ■ coercion, the party returning four o’clock, the youngster ng the laden cart and often [ng the axe as well. Then they I go to the beach for the daily i wash,” for Chikop was clean himself and saw to it that

the younger lads under his charge developed the “wash wash” habit.

When off duty, Chikop liked to decorate himself with a scarlet hibiscus flower; or a white fowl feather or two. Occasionally white splashes of lime marked his fore head or cheeks. His other artistic tastes ran to decorating the kitchen walls with faded croton leaves, dis carded from the vases, and often left until they became withered sticks and I had to order their re moval.

I suspected Chikop of being a gambler. He never seemed to have any money, even after pay day and his tobacco ration disappeared quickly, while articles he acquired did not remain long in his possession.

While shopping in Chinatown one day, Chikop requested me to buy him two red lap-laps. Occasionally my husband would buy an article for a trusted servant and collect the cost on pay day, or make a gift of it. With this in mind I paid for the lap-laps. A few days later I saw one of the lap-laps on another native. I recognised it by the white stitching I had hemmed on it when Chikop asked me.

The second one was worn by the Drake himself a few times, then it, too, disappeared.

Chikop had been taught to sew by the Mission and occasionally I would get a request for the loan oi one pella needle, na black tred,” and armed with my large darning needle and a length of black cotton, Chikop would retire to his house to reappear later with a double lap lap (he liked red best), decorated with a seam of black dog-teeth stitches down the back. The needle was always faithfully returned.

Returning from leave once, my husband brought back a mouth organ as a present for Chikop. He played it after his own fashion for a day two, then I saw it in the hands of another native. I wondered if he had won, bought or cadged it!

Characteristic of his kind, Chikop liked gossip and had an extra ordinary capacity of picking up scraps of information, duly relayed to my husband or me, about the comings and goings of European residents in the District; news of accidents or punishments meted-out to native wrongdoers by the Ad ministration; and the shipping news.

We discovered, however, that the Drakes shipping information had to be accepted with reservation until confirmation from a more re liable source could be obtained.

Being a native of a coastal village,

Chikop was a keen fisherman and spent hours with a spear on the reef or a line on the beach or wharf. At night he would either glide in a canoe or walk over the reef with a flare made from dried fronds of the coconut palm. Many natives used such flares, and on dark nights it was a beautiful sight to see numer ous twinkling lights along the shores of Buka Passage. Seen from a short distance, the native carrying the flare was transformed into a ghost like silhouette. On such nights there would be good catches of richly coloured fish.

One morning, after breakfast, 1 told Chikop to catch me a fish for dinner. I expected he would pop down to the reef below the house during his afternoon-break and catch a fish. When my husband came in from the plantation and I told him, he exclaimed, “Whatever did you tell him that for! The old blighter will take the day off and make a picnic of it.”

That is exactly what he, of course, did! Late in the afternoon he re turned with one small fish dangling on the end of a rod, to be soundly berated by my husand. I never asked Chikop to go fishing for me again.

Amongst h 1 s accomplishments Chikop counted gardening, with usually good results, except on one occasion when I wanted a kitchen garden, and put him in charge of the preparations and planting. In due course rows of grave-like mounds appeared in a clearing near the bungalow, the seeds were planted and I looked forward to eating lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and cab bages. To prevent the activities of marauding fowls and protect the seedlings from the hot sun, Chikop built a fence of sticks round the plot and covered it lightly with palm fronds. In spite of care and atten tion, the garden was a failure, but later a further effort on another site brought successful results.

Our gardener then turned his at to the ornamental portion i Y 1 S arden - In a surprisingly short time the path from the front steps of the bungalow to the beach track became a mass of brilliant yellow and flame-coloured cannas and red poinsettia, while a hedge of v « rio s sly " coloured cr otons formed an effective screen between the bungalow and the Labour Quarters at back and side.

SOME of the natives on the planta tion wore shorts instead of lap laps, but this was not permitted the house boys on duty, and when Chikop acquired a pair of shorts, it was only by chance that we saw them on him. One night, after the house servants had finished their work for the day, the cook came to my husband to make a small re quest on behalf of Chikop. It was unusual for Chikop to send another boy to ask favours for him, so my

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husband asked why he did not come himself and sent for him. A rather embarrassed Chikop apeared, look ing like a fat, shy baby in his first pair of pants.

There was very little shape in the khaki shorts he was wearing and, while the legs were too short for him, his posterior, in spite of its outsize, hardly filled the back portion and his round tummy overhung the narrow belt in front. All that was needed to complete a comical pic ture was a safety pin!

We kept our faces straight with an effort.

When he had been with us for about 18 months, Chipok announced that he wanted to “go pinish” to rebuild his house in the village, which had been damaged in a storm.

He assured us that he wanted to re turn when his house was finished, which assurance was accepted with doubt—but hope—as good house boys were hard to find at that time.

After he was paid off, Chikop hung round the station for a long time, as though reluctant to make the break and I began to hope that he would change his mind and stay, but eventually he disappeared down the road to the village, a large red lap lap draped over one shoulder and round his body like a toga and carrying his personal possessions

wrapped in a grubby cloth. A small native followed him, carrying other bundles.

For some months afterwards, we had an occasional glimpse of Chikop when he came with some of his “one talks” to our wharf with copra from the village groves for transport to the other side of the Passage for sale to a Chinese trader. Then one day he turned up and asked my

husband to allow him to come back to work in the house.

He remained with us for about six months, then “went pinish again and that ended his service with us. He died a mysterious death not long afterwards.

The story of his end was told to us by various natives, and ultimately confirmed by the Administration.

Chikop had purchased a new canoe, a smart affair with mast and small sail. He decided to try it out one fine, breezy day and was seen to set out from the village beach to cross the mouth of Buka Passage towards the sea.

Two days later the canoe drifted on to a reef inside the Passage un damaged and with sail intact, but empty. A search, lasting several days, failed to discover any trace of Chikop’s body. No clue to his fate was ever found.

His relatives held a wake in the village in his memory One of them approached my husband ostensibly to buy some rice and tinned meat for the feast, but obviously indicating that he hoped Chikop’s long service in our employ would merit the goods being a gift, instead of a purchase.

It did—and the gift was made.

With this assistance, Chikop’s de parted spirit was duly honoured according to tradition.

t Natives who wish to join the Auxiliary branch of the P-NG Public Service will soon be able to acquire the required standard of education. Classes, which will take them to 9th grade of the present syllabus, are to begin in Port Moresby shortly.

t The Netherlands Minister fon fence, Mr. C. Staf, will pay sa weeks’ visit to Netherlands Guinea in May-June. He will s at Biak by air on May 28. He inspect installations and unii the Royal Dutch Navy.