The Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits and Sarawak

Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Sep., 1899), pp. 302-306
Published by: geographicalj
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309 THE CAMBRIDGE ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXPEDITION

composecl of pebbles, closely set in a minimum quantity of black lava as

a matrix, and are u3ually of quartz of evertT colour. Eere for the first
time since entering the zone we met with pure granite. One bluff,
however, we had seen a few mile3 back. The exposed surEace looked
like red Aberdeen granite, finely grained and pure.
A few miles beyond Ai Yang is Huang Ku, a famous though small
coal-mine. It is in the old Chinese territory, and has been worked a
long time. The seam is onliy, at the best, 2 feet thick; but it runs
horizontally into the hill some little distance above the base, and is
tunnelled for over half a mile. This coal is expensive, and is noted as
the best for blacksmiths' use in the province. The bed has not been
disturbed by volcanic action, and is easily drained. From here on to
Mukden the country abounds in coal and splendid iron and limestone.
The best coal can rarely be obtained, because of the water and the
absence of pumping-rnachinery. Iron is now but little smelted; but,
with European enterprise and its waterways, which can be luade navi-
gable, this will become the " Black country of Manchuria," and No
Man's Land an " Eldorado." *

THE CAMBRIDGE ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO

TORRES STRAITS AND SARAWAK.

Is 1888, Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S., went to Torres Straits solely with the
intention of studying the coral reefs and marine zoology of that district.
MiThen engaged in his zoological studies, Dr. Haddon's interest was
attracted towards the natives, and he devoted his spare time to recording
all he could learn about their past manners and customs, in addition to
what he observed of their present mode of life. He was led to devote
a good deal of tiIne to the subject, as he found that none of the white
residents in Torres Straits knew much about the natives, or cared about
them personally, and as the natives were in some cases rapidly either
dying out or becoming modified by contact with alien races. Some of
the results of these investigations were published in the Journal of the
Anthropoloyical Institut¢, xis. (1890) p. 297; I?olk-loe, i. (1890) pp.
47, 172; Internationales Archiv far EtAlnograjphie, iv. (1891) p. 177; vi.
(1893) p. 131; Proceedinys Royclfl Irish Academy, (2) ii. (1893) p. 463, iv.
(1897) p. 119; Cunningham Memoir, x.; Royal Irish Academy, 1894. All
of the zoological results have not yet been published, and the geogra-
phical and geological observations were published in a joint paper, ' On
the Gealogy of Torres Straits,' by Professors A. C. Haddon, W. J. Sollas,

* South-east of Mukden the natives have splendidly made turbine water-wheels;

but they use the power, not for cru3hinO quartz, but for grinding the bark of the elm
tree into powder for inecnse.-R. T. T.

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 TO TOPiRES STRAITS AND SARABr KK. 303

and G. A. J. Cole, in the Tl ctns6tetions of the Royal Irish Academy, sxx.

(1894) p. 419.
The region in question is one of some interest, as it lies at the end
of what Suess has termed the Australian Cordillera, with its attendant
pyreat barrier reef. This ancient continental range has been weathered
down in the north to simple hills, which emerge as scattered islands
across the narrowest portion of Torres Straits, and perhaps finds its
northernmost extension in the isolated hill of Mabudauan, near the
coast of New Guinea. The latter hill was probably at one time an
islalld, which has been engulfed by the encroaching delta of the CFly
river, and thus has become anne2ed to New Guinea.
There is a triple division of islands in the archipelago of Torres
,Straits; the lilles of longitude 132° 48' E. axLd 14o° 29' E. aonveniently
demarcate these sllbdivisions. The celltral zone is composed solely of
low coral islets; in addition to such islets itt the mTestern zone, there are
nuluerous islands of varied size composed of old igneous rocks. llo
these islands reference has been made; while it is only in the eastern
zone that volcanic islands, sllch as Erub and Mer, and the islands adjacent
to thern, are to be found. Great stretches as well as isolated patches of
coral reef are aldo plentifully distributed from the western entrance of
the straits to the ocearlic edge of the great barrier reef.
The Murray islands, Uga and Erub, by the recent nature of their
volcanic rocks, all of a basic type, belong to a line of later movements
than those implicated in the Australian Cordillera, and may be regarded
as pertaining to that great system of still progressing folds which are
;ncluded in the Pacific '* zone of fire." It does not appear to be possible
to fis the date of this solcallic outburstf All that we can say is, that
there are ao traditions respecting it, and a good deal of subsequent
weathering has taken place. It is manifestly erroneous, as is some-
times dons, to mark these on maps as recent solcanoes, as this implies
that they have been active within the human period, and of this we
have no proof.
In some maps the Torres Straits are marked as a region of elevatioll;
but, as has been pointed out in the paper on the geology of Torres
Straits, no recent movement of clevation has taken place. Dr. Eadden's
recent visit corroborates this general statement: there nzay have been
recellt slight oscillations of level, but no pronounced upheaval has
occurred. Subsidence is more difiicult to prove, but there is no evidence
in favour of this alternative. Teenison-Woods has several times stated
that the North Queensland axis is a stationary area.
The Syndies of the Pitt Press at Cambridge having agreed to publish
a nlonograph on the Torres Straits islanders, Dr. EfaddoIl determirted to
return to that locality in ordel to supplement and verify his earlier ethno-
logical observations, and to do this more completely, he took out with
him half a dozen colleagues. The work of the secolld expedition was

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304 THE CAXIBRIDGE &NTHROPOLOGIC-tL EXPEDITION-

apportioned as follows: Dr. Haddon lvas responsible for the physical

measuremeIlts and observations; he also recorded the manners and
customs, legends, and other ethnographieal data, as +vell as eontinuing
his previous studies on the decorative art of British New Guinea; Dr.
W. H. R. Ptivers organized the researches on exper;mental psycholog,
lle llimself taking all the observations on vision; Dr. C. S. Myers es-
perimented on smell, hearin^,, and reaction time; D1. W. McDougall,
in addition to other studies, made obser-rations in tactile sensibility;
Dr. Rivers earefully collected numerous sociolo^,ical statistics, and Dr.
Maers also interested himself in certain CUStOlllS; AIr. S. H. Ray devoted
hinlself to linguistics; and l)r. C. G. Seligmann chiefly studied local
patholot,y, native medicine, and colleeted some of the animals arld plants
that are utilized by the natives
The expedition left London on Marcll 10, 1898, ancl arrived at
Thursday island on April 22. On April 30 a start was made for the
Murray islands, which were reaehed on May 6, after all unduly pro-
longed and uncomfortable passage.
This gloup was selected for detailed study on account of the difficulty
of getting there. It lies out of the track of what little commerce there
is; neither is it fiequented by pearl-sellers or beche-de-mer fishermell,
consequently the natives have not mised so much with Europeans and
ctller alien races as has been the case with Erub (Darnley island) and
the western grollp of islands. On tTle other lland, the islands have been
subject for a quarter of a century to lllore or less missionary influence
and teaching, witll the result that most of the natives are professed
Christians, and for nearly ten years English has been taught to the
children. The foreign cult and civilization have undoubtedly had
some eSect, but experience proved that they lvere not detrimental for
many of the purposes of the expedition. Perhaps on the whole it xvould
not be easy to find a more fanourable spot for the study of a siruple and
primitive people.
The various investigations +vere sooll conlmenced, and a11 the party
had made a good stalt when, through the kindness of the Rev. James
Chalmers, of the London Missionary Societz, an oppoltunity presented
itself for a visit to the mainland of Nexv Guinea. For several reasons
it was important that certain observations should be made on natives
of the south-eastern peninsula of New Guinea, as well as on some of
those inhabiting the estuary of the Fly river, for the sake of comparison
with the islanders. Dr. Haddon therefore took Messrs. Ray and AVilkin
and Dr. Selig;mann, ancl this party first proceeded to Delena, on Hall
sound, on their way to Polt Moresby, svhich was reached on May 31.
During the absence of Sir XVilliam Maegretor, Mr. A. Musgrove, the
resident magistrate, did all he could to forward the objects of the expe-
dition, and he placed at Dr. Haddon's disposal for a fortnight the
Government fore-and-aft ketch, the pcJtilelble. t fresh start was made

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 TO TORRES STR.\ 1TS .&ND SAR.4NV.-V@. .3() .?

early on June 2, and the marine village of Kai]e, or Gaile, ras reached
that evening. It appears that the real name of this 57illage is Seriseri.
Kapakapa, or Siruwai, as it shonld be called, was visited on the following
day, and Dr. IIaddon and Mr. Ray paid a visit to the Rev. W. G. Lawres
who has esta,blished a flollrishing school for native teachers at Vato-
rata (Vatororuat), a healthy and beautiful spot about 14 mile from
the sea.
On the fo]lowing day Bulaa, comnzonly called Hula, was reached, ancl
a stay was here made of twelve days. The natives were studied, and
visits paid to the neighbouring villages of Babaka, Wamali, and Kaloe
and to Iseapara (usually known as Kerepunu) on the opposite side of
Hood bay. On the return journey to Port Moresby, another visit was
paid to Mr. Lawes and one to M¢r. English, the Government agent of the
Rigo district.
A stay was made at Port 3¢oresby from Jllne 17 to July 6. A sho1t
trip about 25 miles inland was made with tIr. Ballantyne, the Govern-
ment treasurer and harbour-master, to visit the Taburi tribe; Mount
WVarirata was crossed at a height of 261.) feet. A numbel of natives
from the mountains of the interior accompanied the party back t() Port
Moresby, and these were utilized for anthropometric purposes. On
June 2o Or. Seligmann went to visit Mr. English at Rigo, and he did
not rejoin the rest of the expedition till September 14. He made one O1
two short trips into the interior in the Rigo and Mekeo 3istricts, on
which occasions some anthropometric and ethnographical observations
were taken.
On July 7 Dr. Haddon and Messrs. Ray and Wilkin -isited the
Sacred Heart Mission at Tule, island (Rabao). A flying visit was paid to
ATeifaa, a populous village about 18 miles inland, and situated near the
Angabonga (St. Joseph river), the villages of Pinupaka, Mou, Babiko,
Inawa, and Inawi were visited en route.
The Alurray islands were reached on July 20. During the tilne Dr.
Haddon and his party had been away, the, psychologists had worke,4
well, and had obtained a number of valuable and interesting results.
The work of the expedition was continued in Mer, the ]argest of the
three AIurray islands, and the only onef that is now perma,nently
inhabited. Drs. M-ers and MacDougall left on August 4, on their
wat to Borneo, and the lest left on September 8 to visit Isiwai island,
at the mouth of the Fly river. A short stay was made at Saguane)
where the party lvas hospitably entertained b;y the Rev. James
Chalmers; a short visit was also paid to lasa, the chief vi11age of
Ixiwai islalld.
llhe expedition arrived at Atabuiag, a populous and thrisitlt, island
which lies about halfway between Cape Tork and New Guirea. Here
a stay of five weeks was made, and a considerable amount of work was
accomplished. After visiting several of the other islands, Drs. Haddon
NO. III. SEPTEZIB1ER, 1899. Y

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 THE C &AIBRIDGE AN-THROPOLOGICAL EXPEDlTION.
306

and Seligmann and Mr. Ray left Torres Straits on November 1a, Dr.
Rivers and Mr. Wilkin having left a shott tirne previously.
Dr. Haddon's party arrived at Kuching, in Sarawak, on December 12,
and here they had to remain till January S; but the time was not
wasted, as Dr. Haddon photographed a large number of Dayak fabrics
and studied the decorative art of the natives of Salawak in the excellent
museum in Kuching; Mr. Ray also studied Alalay.
Owing to the prevalence of the north-east monsoon, it was impossible
to cross the Baram bar, and so the party had to proceed to Limbang,
where a short stay was made, which included a visit to Brunei. The
party were the guests of the hospitable Hon. O. F. Ricketts, the Resident
of the Limbang district. The onlfr practicable way to arrive at their
destination was to proceed up the Limbang and its affluent the Madalam,
and up the Trikan; then the foot of a spur of Mount Mulu, or Molu,
was crossed, and the Baram river was reached vid the Malinau and
Tutavl. Altogether the journey from Limbang to Marudi, or Claudetown,
took eleven days.
The expedition was nzost hospitably entertained by Mr. Charles
Hose, the Resident of the Baram district. Mr. Hose has explored the
whole of his large district, which comprises some 8000 square miles of
territory. The nlap which was published in the Society's Journal in
March, 1893, will shortly be replaced by one of mllch greater detail
and increased accuracy. Mr. Hose is well known as an enthusiastic
naturalist, who has not only made great collections, but who has studied
the habits of animals and has all the materials for a morlograph of the
land-vertebrates of Sarawak; it is not, howe+Ter, so well known that this
-indefatigalule enthusiast has a very intimate knowledge of the natives
of Borneo, more particularly, of course, of his own district, and that he
has recorded his observations in voluminous manuscripts; further, he
has presented to the University of Cambridge a collection of ethno-
graphic specirnens from his district, the lile of which is not to be fourld
in arly museurn in Burope. BIr. Hose sent a pressin^, invitatiorl to Dr.
Haddon, before he started on his expedition, to visit him, with promises
vf helping on the objects of the expedition. All that was possible in
the time available was done by Mr. Hose; and the members of the es-
pedition who experienced his generosity feel they can scarcely adequately
express their gratitude to him. Mr. Eose organized two up-river trips
one up the Tinjar and its tributaries, the Lobong and Dapoi, included
an ascent of Mount Dulit; the second trip had for its main object a visit
to Tama Bulan, the gleat lLenyah Penghulu who resides on the Pata
river. The work of the expedition vas brought to a close by the end
c)f April.

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