A TAPIRO PYGMY.
[Frontispiece.
PYGMIES & PAPUANS
THE STONE AGE TO-DAY
IN DUTCH NEW GUINEA
BY
A. F. R. WOLLASTON
AUTHOR OF “FROM RUWENZORI TO THE CONGO”
WITH APPENDICES BY
W. R. OGILVIE-GRANT, A. C. HADDON, F.R.S.
AND SIDNEY H. RAY
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
NEW YORK
STURGIS & WALTON
COMPANY
1912
PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
LONDON AND BECCLES
TO
ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, O.M.
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
PREFACE
The Committee who organised the late expedition toDutch New Guinea, paid me the high compliment ofinviting me to write an account of our doings in thatcountry. The fact that it is, in a sense, the officialaccount of the expedition has precluded me—greatlyto the advantage of the reader—from offering my ownviews on the things that we saw and on things ingeneral. The country that we visited was quite unknownto Europeans, and the native races with whom we camein contact were living in so primitive a state that thesecond title of this book is literally true. The pygmiesare indeed one of the most primitive peoples now inexistence.
Should any find this account lacking in thrillingadventure, I will quote the words of a famous navigator,who visited the coasts of New Guinea more than twohundred years ago:—“It has been Objected against meby some, that my Accounts and Descriptions of Thingsare dry and jejune, not filled with variety of pleasantMatter, to divert and gratify the Curious Reader. Howfar this is true, I must leave to the World to judge.But if I have been exactly and strictly careful to giveonly True Relations and Descriptions of Things (as Iviiiam sure I have;) and if my Descriptions be such asmay be of use not only to myself, but also to othersin future Voyages; and likewise to such readers at homeas are desirous of a Plain and Just Account of the trueNature and State of the Things described, than of aPolite and Rhetorical Narrative: I hope all the Defectsin my Stile will meet with an easy and ready Pardon.”
To Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, who has allowed meto inscribe this volume to him as a small token ofadmiration for the first and greatest of the Naturalistswho visited New Guinea, my most sincere thanks aredue.
To Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Dr. A. C. Haddon, andMr. Sidney Ray, who have not only assisted me withadvice but have contributed the three most valuablearticles at the end of this volume, I can only repeat mythanks, which have been expressed elsewhere.
To my fellow-members of the expedition I would liketo wish further voyages in more propitious climates.
A.F.R.W.
London,
May, 1912.