cr own readers

PAPUA AND ITS PEOPL E.
S'T
also places of refuge, where a man is safe from the
pursuit of an enem ~' . /
7, In visiting Kew
Guin ea, one gets a
glimpse of what our
own country must hav e
been in th e "stone
age," as we call it. Th e
nat ives kn ow of iron,
and covet it above
every thing else; but
where they have not
mixed wit h white
men, their weapons
and implements are all
made of wood, stone,
or bone- stone axes
and war-clubs, arrows
tipp ed with bone or
flint, knives of bamboo,
daggers of bone,
and shields of wood
covered with matting.
TREE HOUSES.
8. Th e native houses are usually built on poles
several feet in height, sometimes driven into the
sand on th e sea-shore, so that th ey are surrounded
at high tide. Th ey consist of a light fram ework of
wood, thatched with palm leaves, and floored with
split bamboo. A ladd er reaches from th e ground to
a platform outside, and this platform is frequently
extended from one house to anoth er so as to form
an elevated passage -wa~' through th e village. The
houses have a door at each end. but no wind ow.