a very good man: "He was
far ben wi God."

PART I

"THE CALL TO ARMS"

CHAPTER I

THE CALL REACHES SOME FAR-OUT AUSTRALIANS

Just where the white man's continent pushes the tip of its horn among
the eastern lands there is a black man's land half as large as Mexico
that is administered by the government of Australia. New Guinea has
all the romance and lure of unexplored regions. It is a country of
nature's wonders, a treasure-chest with the lid yet to be raised by
some intrepid discoverer. There are tree-climbing fish, and pygmy men,
mountains higher and rivers greater than any yet discovered. To the
north of Australia's slice of this wonderland the Kaiser was squeezing
a hunk of the same island in his mailed fist.

The contrast between the administration of these two portions of the
same land forms the best answer to the question: "What shall be done
with Germany's colonies?"

In German New Guinea there have always been more soldiers than
civilians, cannibalism is rife, and life and property are insecure
outside the immediate limits of the barracks. In British New Guinea or
Papua there has never been a single soldier and cannibalism is
abolished. A white woman, Beatrice Grimshaw, travelled through the
greater part of it unprotected and unmolested.

The following story told of Sir William Macgregor, the first
administrator, shows the way of Britishers in governing native races.
He one day marched into a village where five hundred warriors were
assembled for a head-hunting expedition. Sir William, then Doctor
Macgregor, had with him two white men and twelve native police. He
strode into the centre of these blood-thirsting savages, grasped the
chief by the scruff of the neck, kicked him around the circle of his
warriors, demanded an immediate apology and the payment of a fine for
the transgression of the Great White Mother's orders for peace--the
bluff worked, as it always does.

Australia has now added the late German colony Hermanlohe, or German
New Guinea, to the southern portion, making an Australian crown colony
of about two hundred and fifty thousand square miles. This was taken
by a force of Australian troops conveyed in Australian ships. I was
not fortunate enough to be a member of the expedition, but the
ultimatum issued to the German commandant resulted in the Australian
flag flying over the governor's residence at Rabaul within a few hours
of the appearance of the Australian sh