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THE U M M A R Y I I Taking Movies Of Cannibals By Martin Johfiton I »tosd en the deck of the schooner and watched the whale-boat that carried Nagapate to ihere. I eeald seareiy belieTe that this fierce cannibal chief, from whose clutches Oaa (hfrs. Jebneon) and 1 had escaped with such ditbeulty scarcely two years before, had actually paid us a friendly Tisit. His coming aboard our schooner signified much. Though forbidden by Uw, “ blaekbirding’' —the carrying off ef natircs against their will for service on distant plantations-is still prac tised by unscrupulous reciuiters and consequently savages usually fight eby of boarding the wbite nan's boats. Nagapate trusted us. Could we tiust him? I wanted very much to visit the headquarters of his tribe—the Big Numbers—back in the hills. They were reputed to be the fiercest of the men of Ma'ekula. Rumor said that they were canni bals. Few wbite men bad ever visited their terri tory—it was dangerous ground The white men wbe were with us-Perrole. Stephens and Paul Mazouyer, all expsriecced traders and recruiters —had many stories to tell ef murders committed by men of Nagapaie's tribe. The British Com missioner at Vila had warned me against vent uring into the interior Both British and French bad found it impossible, he said, to “ administer” northern Malekula. I thought all these things over as 1 watched the whaleboat dieappear in the sbadewi that bid the shore. And 1 went to bed determined to via it Nagapata’s village and make a picture-record of the life of the Big Numbers. We were awakened at daybreak by a shout from the shore. A score of natives stood on the beach, calling and gesticulating. I went ashore, accompanied by Paul Mazeuyer, and found that he had presents from their chief, Nagapate— yams and coconuts and wild fruits. But the pres ents were not for me. In their almost unintel ligible beehe-de-mer, the natives explained that the fruits were for ‘ Mary” —their beche-de-mer word for woman. I could scarcely believe my cars. In all my experience among the b acks of the South Seas, 1 had never known a savage to pay any attention to a woman, except to beat her or to growl at her. The women of the is lands are slaves, valued at so many pigs. They do all the work that is done in the native villages and get scoldings and kicks for thanks. I went doubtfully back to the schooner snd brought Osa ashore, the natives greeted her with grunts of satietactien and laid their cffeiiag at her feet. My respect for Nagapate increased. I saw that be was a diplomat. He bsd observed (hat this little person in overalls, who had approached him so fearlessly, was treated with the ut.nost defer- euce by the arewi of the echeoners and by the white men. Ha had eome to the conclusion that she was the real boss of the expedition. And he was very nearly right! Perrole and Stephens joined us. and we remain ed on the beach all morning. Osa and 1 took pictures of the natives squatting about us and watched for Nagapate himself to put in an ap pearance. I had broughtjwith me a portable pro jector and the films that I bad taken of him and bis men on our memorable visit two years earlier and I was eager to invite him to bis first ' ‘movie. ” Me had been evereome with sweat sight of a photograph of him.sslf. What would he say to motion pictures that showed him talking, with threatening gestures, and scowling as en that memorable day two years before? Every now and thenaBewdslegatioa of natives arrived on the beach. In spite of the law that prehibits the sale of firearms to the natives, they all carried rifles. I examined some of the guns. They were eld but not too eld to de damage, and every native had a supply of cartridge!. I found later that spears, bows aad arrows aro almost out of use among tho Big Namhori. Nino out of ten own guns. Whore do they get them? The white peeple ef tho islands know, but they keep their information to themselves. 1 knew, too, hut I am net doing any talking either, for 1 want to go hack te the New Hebrides ssmeday. Our owB hoys remsined dess by ns all tbs msm- ing'and kspl^sharpiwatsh fer any^ign ef treachery. By neon, the savages bsd Isst their laspicien of us. They stacked their rifies against reeks and tises and moved akent, talking to eash ether in their strange, grunting speech. We, toe, moved abent mere freely. But in spite ef the friendliness of enr visiters, we were never qnite at ease. Their sppetranea was against tknm. Their igly feces —syes with scarcely any pupils, fiat noses made twice their normal size by the wooden plugs thrust through the cartilage dividing the nostrils, great mouths with thick, leeselips—their stealthy way of walking, their cearse, rapid, guttural speech, which sounded angry even when they spoke to one another, the quick gestnrvs with which they filled in the gaps in their limited language—none ef these things tended to make us feel at home. During tho afternoon, several fresh groups of natives came out of the jungle to stare at ui. Toward sunset a nuuaber of men descended a trail that sloped down te the beach about half a mile from where we were sitting and brought us a message from the great chief. It was couched as follows: ‘‘Nagapate, he big fellow master kelong Big Numbers. He, he wantem you, you two fellow, you come along lookem house belong him, you loekem pieeaninny belong him, you leokem Mary belong him. He makem big fellow aing-sing. More good you, you two fellow come. He no makem bad, he makem good altogether.” And it meant that His Highness, Chief Nagapate, would like te have us visit him in his village, and that be guar anteed our safety. 1 accepted the invitation with alacrity. The messengers hurried off, and we returned to the schooner to make ready. As we packed, tbs mon otonous chanting of some tweaty of Nagapate’s men, who had remained on the beach to escort ns to the village, drifted across the water. Oc- eassionslly we caught a glimpse of them, grotes que black shapes against the light from their camp-fires. We were on the beach before daybreak. The embers of the camp-fire remained, butour escort had vanished. 1 was filled with misgivings. Did Nagapate plan treachery? We had twenty-six trustworthy native boys, four wbite mtn and Osa. We were all well equipped with repeating rifies and automatic pistols. In open fight, we could have stood off a thousand savages. But I knew that the men of Malekula, though they are notoriously bad shots, could pick us off one by one, if they wished, as we went through the jungle. 1 suppose that wa felt a little doubtful about taking the pliiugs into the jungle, but we all, with tbs exception of our native boys, who were plainly in a blue funk, kept our doubts to our selves. The boys were so fri btened that they rebelled against carrying anything except their guns. To inspire them with confidence, each of us took a peice of luggage, snd then- we divided among them tthai was left and persuaded them te take the trail. It was davn on the beach, bui it was still night in the jungle. The trail was a tunnel with walls and roof of underbrueh and trees and tangles vines. We stumbled along blindly at first. Pre sently our eyes became used Co the dark and we walked with more ease. Stems and thorns caught at our clothes as we passed. We slipped on wet, slimy roots and stumbled over them in the dim light. Only where the jungle was intersected by one ef the numerous streams—swift but shtllaw and never too wide for leaping—that water the island, did the light sueced in struggling weakly through the tangle. Tbe Bua was well up when we came out on the first of a series of plateaus that formed a giant stairway up the mountain. They were separated from one another by five hundred to a thousand yards of scrub trees and tangled bush. It was not easy going. The aieants were steep, and the trail was wet and slippery. Wa kept watch far treaeherous natives. Once we were startled by hlood-eurdling eriaa that came frem the direction in which wa werageing Onr boys said the men of Malekula were hunting wild pigs. We went en in silence. Our hearts jnnipsd avery tima a twig cracked. There was a ■at azpraasioB en Osa’i face. By aeon wa had reaehad what saeBsed to be the highest point of certhara Malekula and loakad baek ever valley after valley ef denaa jungle and platean after plateau covered with eane grass. Hare and thare a cocenut-tree steed aut alane. Smeke, curling out ef the hilliidea, iadicate the sites ef astiva villages. Perhaps, at that vary mameat, gruesome feasts ef human flash were baiag prtparsd. In the bay, very small and vary far ail, were three black dota—ear beats. Wa heard a leund behind a i and qniakiy tnm- ed. There were tome twenty men, sent by the “ big fellew master belong Big Numbers.” They took our apparatus and iadicated that wa were t# follew them. We ware dead tired; still tbere seemed nothing to do bnt te push en. Wa were not sorry, after about a mile, to appreash a vill age. First we came upon icattared graves of ceceaut. and banana-trees. Our trail became wider and harder and wa passed weed-grown patches of yams and tare, preteetsd against the wild pigs by tads walls ef bamboo. Fiaally wa came out upon a clearing around which clustered a few wratched sbeltars thatched roughly with leaves. In the ceoter of the clearing steod up right hollow logs—the drums used to send mess ages from village te village and to furnish music for tbe native dances. The natives called them & 0 0 -& 00 S—the names given to conoh-thells and all other sound-making instruments. On the hard ground of the clearing set some thirty sav ages, all well armed. They had apparently been watching fer us, bat tney did not greet us. Wo spoke to them, bnt, beyond a few grunts, they made no reply. There were no women and child ren in sight. That was a bad sign; for the women and children are sent away only when there ia trouble in the air. Ptrrole, Stephens and Mszsu- yer drew nearer to Osa and me; Tneir faces were grave. Our boys edged cFse to us. None of us spoke. After a short rest, our guides indicated thaf we were to take the trail again. We pushed on over a muddy path, bordered by coconut-and-ban- ana-trees, and in about fifteen minutes we came out upon another clearing, much targe, iban the first, with many more huts surreundiog h and with more and bigger boo-boos in the center. Here again were savages awaiting u s- about two hun dred of them, each with a gun. We were led to a big boo boo that had been overturned by (he wind and were told to sit down. One of tbe natives beat out on a boo-boo an ir regular boom boom boom teat roared through tho clearing and was echoed back from the hills. Osa huddltd close to ms. A stillness fell over the as sembly. Suddenly, at the far side of the clearing, a huge savage appeared. It was Nagapate. He stood for a moment, looking over tha autiieijee; then be walked slowly and majestically into the esnterof the cleariog. He roared a few words to nis men. Then he turned to us. A native came running up —the laziest black stepped lively when Napsgate commanded—with a block of wood for a throne. TOe chief eat down near us, and we stepped for ward and shook hands with him. He had grown used to this form of greeting and responded with griciousneSB. It bad been a wonderful rntrance. But then Nagapate had an instinct for the dramatic. Throughout cur stay in his village, I noticed, he never made a move ihat was not staged. He was no common chief, who bad won nis position through killing pigs or men. His was the only tribe I had come acrops during my travels among tbe blacks of South Pacific that had a hereditary relec. After he had greeted us, he uttered a sharp command and a native stepped up with a big bamboo water bottle. Nagapate drank from it, and then the native offered it, tilted at the prop er angle, to each of us in turn. It was not pleasant to drink from the mouthpiece at which Nagepate’s great lips had sucked. But we gathered that the bottle was the Scuih Sea equivalent of a pipe of peace; so we drank glad ly. I then presented to Nagapate a royal gift of knives, calico and tobacco and 1 told one af the boys to give two sticks of tobacco to- each native. The natives smoked their tobseco (those that did not eat it) at once and greedily. It seemed to break the ice a bit; so 1 got out my cameras, hor tnree hours, I made pictures. But 1 did net get any “action” . 1 wanted a picture of a man coming out of bis bouse; for tbe doors of tbe huts are so low that the people have uo come out on all fours. 1 persuaded a native te go into bis hut and came ant again. He did so. But his eomp- aniens laughed and jeered at him, and after that avery one bad stage fright. As the afternoon ware en, scores af;womea and children appeared. I have nevsr seen human be ings Btere wretched than those women. At first sight they looked like walking haystaska. They wore grass drosses, consisting of a busby skirt that hung from tbe waist to the knees, a sort of widow’s veil that was thrown over the head and face so as te leave a tiny peep-hole for the wear er te leek through, and a leag train that bung dov>B tho ’^nek nearly te the greuud. A mi cuMbarsei.js and insanitary dress was pi vised. It was heavy. It was hot it was dirty. Every ana of t' matted with filth. 1 did net and there ware dozens ef thei ^ (Contintud mt Fagei