Papuan never thinks of death, plague,
pestilence or famine as arising from natural causes. Every little
misfortune (much more every great one) is credited to a "pourri-pourri"
or magic. The Papuan, when he comes "under the Evil Eye" of the
witch-doctor, will wilt away and die, though, apparently, he has nothing
at all the matter with him; and since Europeans are apt to suffer from
malarial fever in Papua, the witch-doctors are prompt to put this down
to their efforts, and so persuade the natives that they have power even
over Europeans.

A gentleman who was a resident magistrate in Papua tells an amusing tale
of how one witch-doctor was very properly served. "A village constable
of my acquaintance, wearied with the attentions of a magician of great
local repute, who had worked much harm with his friends and relations,
tied him up with rattan ropes, and sank him in 20 feet of water against
the morning. He argued, as he explained at his trial for murder, 'If
this man is the genuine article, well and good, no harm done. If he is
not--well, it's a good riddance!' On repairing to the spot next morning,
and pulling up his night-line, he found that the magician had failed to
'make his magic good,' and was quite dead. The constable's punishment
was twelve months' hard labour. It was a fair thing to let him off
easily, as in killing a witch-doctor he had really done the community a
service."

The future of the Papuan is more hopeful than that of the Australian
aboriginal, and he may be preserved in something near to his natural
state if means can be found to make him work.

CHAPTER IV

THE ANIMALS AND BIRDS

The kangaroo--The koala--The bulldog ant--Some quaint and
delightful birds--The kookaburra--Cunning crows and cockatoo.

Australia has most curious animals, birds, and flowers. This is due to
the fact that it is such an old, old place, and has been cut off so long
from the rest of the world. The types of animals that lived in Europe
long before Rome was built, before the days, indeed, of the Egyptian
civilization, animals of which we find traces in the fossils of very
remote periods--those are the types living in Australia to-day. They
belong to the same epoch as the mammoth and the great flying lizards and
other creatures of whom you may learn something in museums. Indeed,
Australia, as regards its fauna, may be considered as a museum, with the
animals of old times alive instead of in skeleton form.