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Last Sunday afternoon Lloyd Haywood, Max, & I hiked to Anabada, the Motuan village a few miles from camp. The walk down the mountain took us an hour, & the scenery seemed twice as beautiful as before. Along the narrow beach we met one of the Papuan infantry & he guided us through the squalid settlement. The huts are built on high poles on the edge of the water. The population is about 300-400. On the verandahs squatted gins from 9 to 90 years of age, who watched us with much curiosity. On the beach, both children & pigs mingled with their mothers, all looking as filthy as each other. Some of the kids look real cute though, with their fat tummies, & nakedness. Every week night the tribe gathers around their totem poles and make whoopee. If a mother noticed you admiring her children she would smile & look flattered. When a young man marries a girl he must buy her from her mother. Payment is settled on a hire-purchase system. If his installment is overdue, his wife is insulted & stops loving him till it is paid. When we started for home we passed a little girl, whom our guide spoke excitedly to. He told us that she reminded him of his sister who was given away to another tribe. (The nigger came recently from Central Papua). Evidently she invited him for tea, for after we went another few hundred yds he suddenly decided to go after her. At first when she waved him goodbye, he snubbed her & told us that it wasnt right to wave- cheap. Then suddenly he stopped and said 'I tink I go Tabita, Yessir', and raced after her, leaving us bewildered. He confided

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EllaDeer

"gins" - a derogatory term for Aboriginal women.