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Data Engineering with dbt

A practical guide to building a cloud-based, pragmatic, and

dependable data platform with SQL

Roberto Zagni

BIRMINGHAM—MUMBAI
Data Engineering with dbt
Copyright © 2023 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case
of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information
presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express
or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable
for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and
products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot
guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Publishing Product Manager: Reshma Raman

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First published: June 2023

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ISBN 978-1-80324-628-4
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To the four females in my daily life: my wife, who supports me every day, my daughters,
who keep me grounded in reality, and our dog Lily for the sparkles of love and happiness
that she spreads around every day.
To my mother and my late father who through their sacrifices and support allowed me
to become what I wanted to be.

I love you all.

– Roberto Zagni
 Contributors

About the author

Roberto Zagni is a senior leader with extensive hands-on experience in data architecture, software
development, and agile methodologies. Roberto is an electronic engineer by training with a special
interest in bringing software engineering best practices to cloud data platforms and growing great
teams that enjoy what they do. He has been helping companies to better use their data, and now to
transition to cloud-based data automation with an agile mindset and proper software engineering
tools and processes, such as DataOps. Roberto also provides hands-on coaching to data teams on
practical data architecture and the use of patterns, testing, version control, and agile collaboration.
Since 2019, his go-to tools have been dbt, dbt Cloud, and Snowflake or BigQuery.

I would like to thank my customers and colleagues for all the problems, and discussions to get to a
working solution that helped me to become a better software and data engineer and collect a wide
array of experiences in software and data engineering.
This book is my little contribution to the data engineering community.

I hope that I have been able to put the core set of knowledge that I would have loved to have in my
days as a data engineer in one place, along with a simple, opinionated way to build data platforms
using the modern data stack and proven patterns that scale and simplify everyday work.
About the reviewers
Hari Krishnan has been in the data space for close to 20 years now. He started at Infosys Limited,
working on mainframe technology for about 6 years, and then moved over to Informatica, then
eventually into business intelligence, big data, and the cloud in general. Currently, he is senior manager
of data engineering at Beachbody LLC, where he manages a team of data engineers with Airflow, dbt,
and Snowflake as the ir primary tech stack. He built the data lake and migrated the data warehouse
as well the ETL/ELT pipelines from on-premises to the cloud. He spent close to 13 years working for
Infosys and has spent the last 7 years with Beachbody. He is a technology enthusiast and always has
an appetite to discover, explore, and innovate new avenues in the data space.

Daniel Joshua Jayaraj S R is a data evangelist and business intelligence engineer, with over six years of
experience in the field of data analytics, data modeling, and visualization. He has helped organizations
understand the full potential of their data by providing stakeholders with strong business-oriented
visuals, thereby enhancing data-driven decisions. He has worked with multiple tools and technologies
during his career and completed his master’s in big data and business analytics.
I would like to thank my mother, S J Inbarani, who has been my motivation my whole life. I would also
like to thank Roberto Zagni for allowing me to review this wonderful book on dbt.
 Table of Contents
Prefacexv

Part 1: The Foundations of Data Engineering

1
The Basics of SQL to Transform Data 3
Technical requirements 4 and operators 22
Introducing SQL 4 Snowflake query syntax 22
SQL basics – core concepts and SQL operators 36
commands5 Combining data in SQL – the JOIN
SQL core concepts 5 clause39
Understanding the categories of SQL Combining orders and customers 40
commands10 JOIN types 41
Setting up a Snowflake database with Visual representation of join types 43
users and roles 14 Advanced – introducing window
Creating your Snowflake account 14 functions47
Setting up initial users, roles, and a database Window definition 48
in Snowflake 17
Window frame definition 49
Creating and granting your first role 19
Summary51
Querying data in SQL – syntax
Further reading 51

2
Setting Up Your dbt Cloud Development Environment 53
Technical requirements 54 Creating your GitHub account 56
Setting up your GitHub account 54
Introducing Version Control 54
viii Table of Contents

Setting up your first repository for dbt 61 Experimenting with SQL in dbt Cloud 91
Exploring the dbt Cloud IDE 92
Setting up your dbt Cloud account 63
Executing SQL from the dbt IDE 93
Signing up for a dbt Cloud account 63
Setting up your first dbt Cloud project 65 Introducing the source and ref dbt
Adding the default project to an empty functions94
repository80 Exploring the dbt default model 95
Comparing dbt Core and dbt Cloud Using ref and source to connect models 97
workflows85 Running your first models 98
Testing your first models 100
dbt Core workflows 85
Editing your first model 101
dbt Cloud workflows 88
Summary103
Further reading 103

3
Data Modeling for Data Engineering 105
Technical requirements 106 Modeling use cases and patterns 124
What is and why do we need data Header-detail use case 124
modeling?106 Hierarchical relationships 126
Understanding data 106 Forecasts and actuals 131
What is data modeling? 106 Libraries of standard data models 132
Why we need data modeling 107 Common problems in data models 132
Complementing a visual data model 109
Fan trap 133
Conceptual, logical, and physical Chasm trap 135
data models 109
Modeling styles and architectures 137
Conceptual data model 110
Kimball method or dimensional modeling or
Logical data model 111 star schema 138
Physical data model 113 Unified Star Schema 141
Tools to draw data models 114 Inmon design style 144
Entity-Relationship modeling 114 Data Vault 145
Main notation 114 Data mesh 148
Cardinality115 Our approach, the Pragmatic Data
Time perspective 120 Platform - PDP 150
An example of an E-R model at different Summary151
levels of detail 122
Further reading 151
Generalization and specialization 122
 Table of Contents ix

4
Analytics Engineering as the New Core of Data Engineering 153
Technical requirements 154 Defining analytics engineering 168
The data life cycle and its evolution 154 The roles in the modern data stack 169
Understanding the data flow 154 The analytics engineer 169
Data creation 155 DataOps – software engineering best
Data movement and storage 156 practices for data 170
Data transformation 162
Version control 171
Business reporting 164
Quality assurance 171
Feeding back to the source systems 165
The modularity of the code base 172
Understanding the modern Development environments 173
data stack 166 Designing for maintainability 174
The traditional data stack 166 Summary176
The modern data stack 167
Further reading 176

5
Transforming Data with dbt 177
Technical requirements 177 How to write and test
The dbt Core workflow for ingesting transformations198
and transforming data 178 Writing the first dbt model 198
Introducing our stock tracking Real-time lineage and project navigation 200
project181 Deploying the first dbt model 200
The initial data model and glossary 181 Committing the first dbt model 201
Setting up the project in dbt, Snowflake, Configuring our project and where we
and GitHub 183 store data 202
Re-deploying our environment to the
Defining data sources and providing desired schema 204
reference data 187 Configuring the layers for our architecture 207
Defining data sources in dbt 187 Ensuring data quality with tests 209
Loading the first data for the portfolio project 192 Generating the documentation 217

Summary219
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x Table of Contents

Part 2: Agile Data Engineering with dbt

6
Writing Maintainable Code 223
Technical requirements 224 Goals and contents of the refined layer 241
Writing code for humans 224 Creating the first data mart 245

Refactoring our initial model to be Saving history is crucial 246

human-readable225 Saving history with dbt 248
Creating the architectural layers 226 Saving history using snapshots 249
Creating the Staging layer 227 Connecting the REF layer with the snapshot 255
Goals and contents of the staging models 231 Summary257
Connecting the REF model to the STG 240

7
Working with Dimensional Data 259
Adding dimensional data 260 Creating an STG model for the security
Creating clear data models for the refined dimension267
and data mart layers 260 Adding the default record to the STG 269

Loading the data of the first Saving history for the dimensional
dimension262 data269
Creating and loading a CSV as a seed 262 Saving the history with a snapshot 270
Configuring the seeds and loading them 263 Building the REF layer with the
Adding data types and a load timestamp dimensional data 271
to your seed 263
Adding the dimensional data to the
Building the STG model for the first data mart 272
dimension266 Exercise – adding a few more
Defining the external data source for seeds 266 hand-maintained dimensions 273
Summary274
 Table of Contents xi

8
Delivering Consistency in Your Data 275
Technical requirements 275 Building on the shoulders of
Keeping consistency by reusing code giants – dbt packages 290
– macros 276 Creating dbt packages 291
Repetition is inherent in data projects 276 How to import a package in dbt 292
Why copy and paste kills your future self 277 Browsing through noteworthy packages
How to write a macro 277 for dbt 296
Refactoring the “current” CTE into a macro 278 Adding the dbt-utils package to our project 299
Fixing data loaded from our CSV file 282 Summary302
The basics of macro writing 284

9
Delivering Reliability in Your Data 303
Testing to provide reliability 303 Testing the right things in the right
Types of tests 304 places313
Singular tests 304 What do we test? 314
Generic tests 305 Where to test what? 316
Defining a generic test 308 Testing our models to ensure good quality 319

Summary329

10
Agile Development 331
Technical requirements 331 Organizing work the agile way 336
Agile development and collaboration 331 Managing the backlog in an agile way 337

Defining agile development 332 Building reports in an agile way 340

Applying agile to data engineering 333 S1 – designing a light data model for the
data mart 341
Starting a project in an agile way 334
S2 – designing a light data model for
the REF layer 350
xii Table of Contents

S3.x – developing with dbt models the S5 – development and verification of the
pipeline for the XYZ table 354 report in the BI application 357
S4 – an acceptance test of the data produced
Summary357
in the data mart 356

11
Team Collaboration 359
Enabling collaboration 359 Keeping your development environment
Core collaboration practices 360 healthy368
Collaboration with dbt Cloud 361 Suggested Git branch naming 369
Adopting frequent releases 371
Working with branches and PRs 363
Making your first PR 372
Working with Git in dbt Cloud 364
The dbt Cloud Git process 364
Summary377
Further reading 377

Part 3: Hands-On Best Practices for Simple,

Future-Proof Data Platforms
12
Deployment, Execution, and Documentation Automation 381
Technical requirements 381 Advanced automation – hooks and
Designing your deployment run-operations408
automation382 Hooks408
Working with dbt environments 382 Run-operations410
Creating our QA and PROD environments 383 Table migrations 411
Deciding where to deploy 389 Documentation414
Creating jobs 390
Lineage graph 415
Designing the architecture of your data
dbt-generated documentation 416
platform405
Source freshness report 419
Notifications406
Exposures422
Markdown documentation 425

Summary426
 Table of Contents xiii

13
Moving Beyond the Basics 427
Technical requirements 427 Main uses of keys 440
Building for modularity 428 Master Data management 440
Modularity in the storage layer 429 Data for Master Data management 441
Modularity in the refined layer 431 A light MDM approach with DBT 442
Modularity in the delivery layer 434
Saving history at scale 445
Managing identity 436 Understanding the save_history macro 447
Identity and semantics – defining Understanding the current_from_history
your concepts 436 macro455
Different types of keys 437
Summary458

14
Enhancing Software Quality 459
Technical requirements 459 Calculating transactions 482
Refactoring and evolving models 460 Publishing dependable datasets 484
Dealing with technical debt 460 Managing data marts like APIs 485
Implementing real-world code and What shape should you use for your
business rules 462 data mart? 485
Self-completing dimensions 487
Replacing snapshots with HIST tables 463
History in reports – that is, slowly changing
Renaming the REF_ABC_BANK_
dimensions type two 492
SECURITY_INFO model 466
Handling orphans in facts 468 Summary493
Calculating closed positions 473 Further reading 493

15
Patterns for Frequent Use Cases 495
Technical requirements 495 Loading data from files 501
Ingestion patterns 495 External tables 505
Landing tables 507
Basic setup for ingestion 498
xiv Table of Contents

History patterns 518 Storing history with PII and GDPR

Storing history with deletions – full load 519 compliance533
Storing history with deletion – deletion list 522 History and schema evolution 536
Storing history with multiple versions in Summary537
the input 527
Further reading 538

Index539

Other Books You May Enjoy 554

 Preface
dbt Cloud helps professional analytics engineers automate the application of powerful and proven
patterns to transform data from ingestion to delivery, enabling real DataOps.
This book begins by introducing you to dbt and its role in the data stack, along with how it uses
simple SQL to build your data platform, helping you and your team work better together. You’ll
find out how to leverage data modeling, data quality, master data management, and more to build
a simple-to-understand and future-proof solution. As you advance, you’ll explore the modern data
stack, understand how data-related careers are changing, and see how dbt enables this transition into
the emerging role of an analytics engineer. The chapters help you build a sample project using the free
version of dbt Cloud, Snowflake, and GitHub to create a professional DevOps setup with continuous
integration, automated deployment, ELT run, scheduling, and monitoring, solving practical cases
that you encounter in your daily work.
By the end of this dbt book, you’ll be able to build an end-to-end pragmatic data platform by ingesting
data exported from your source systems, coding the needed transformations (including master data
and the desired business rules), and building well-formed dimensional models or wide tables that’ll
enable you to build reports with the BI tool of your choice.

Who this book is for

This book is for data engineers, analytics engineers, BI professionals, and data analysts who want to learn
how to build simple, future-proof, and maintainable data platforms in an agile way. Project managers,
data team managers, and decision-makers looking to understand the importance of building a data
platform and fostering a culture of high-performing data teams will also find this book useful. Basic
knowledge of SQL and data modeling will help you get the most out of the many layers of this book.
The book also includes primers on many data-related subjects to help juniors get started.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Basics of SQL to Transform Data, explores the basics of SQL and demystifies this standard,
powerful, yet easy-to-read language, which is ubiquitous when working with data.
You will understand the different types of commands in SQL, how to get started with a database, and
the SQL commands to work with data. We will look a bit deeper into the SELECT statement and the
JOIN logic, as they will be crucial in working with dbt. You will be guided to create a free Snowflake
account to experiment the SQL commands and later use it together with dbt.
xvi Preface

Chapter 2, Setting Up Your DBT Cloud Development Environment, gets started with DBT by creating
your GitHub and DBT accounts. You will learn why version control is important and what the data
engineering workflow is when working with DBT.
You will also understand the difference between the open source DBT Core and the commercial DBT
Cloud. Finally, you will experiment with the default project and set up your environment for running
basic SQL with DBT on Snowflake and understand the key functions of DBT: ref and source.
Chapter 3, Data Modeling for Data Engineering, shows why and how you describe data, and how to
travel through different abstraction levels, from business processes to the storage of the data that
supports them: conceptual, logical, and physical data models.
You will understand entities, relationships, attributes, entity-relationship (E-R) diagrams, modeling
use cases and modeling patterns, Data Vault, dimensional models, wide tables, and business reporting.
Chapter 4, Analytics Engineering as the New Core of Data Engineering, showcases the full data life cycle
and the different roles and responsibilities of people that work on data.
You will understand the modern data stack, the role of DBT, and analytic engineering. You will learn
how to adopt software engineering practices to build data platforms (or DataOps), and about working
as a team, not as a silo.
Chapter 5, Transforming Data with DBT, shows us how to develop an example application in dbt and
learn all the steps to create, deploy, run, test, and document a data application with dbt.
Chapter 6, Writing Maintainable Code, continues the example that we started in the previous chapter,
and we will guide you to configure dbt and write some basic but functionally complete code to build the
three layers of our reference architecture: staging/storage, refined data, and delivery with data marts.
Chapter 7, Working with Dimensional Data, shows you how to incorporate dimensional data in our
data models and utilize it for fact-checking and a multitude of purposes. We will explore how to create
data models, edit the data for our reference architecture, and incorporate the dimensional data in data
marts. We will also recap everything we learned in the previous chapters with an example.
Chapter 8, Delivering Consistency in Your Code, shows you how to add consistency to your transformations.
You will learn how to go beyond basic SQL and bring the power of scripting into your code, write
your first macros, and learn how to use external libraries in your projects.
Chapter 9, Delivering Reliability in Your Data, shows you how to ensure the reliability of your code by
adding tests that verify your expectations and check the results of your transformations.
Chapter 10, Agile Development, teaches you how to develop with agility by mixing philosophy and
practical hints, discussing how to keep the backlog agile through the phases of your projects, and a
deep dive into building data marts.
Chapter 11, Collaboration, touches on a few practices that help developers work as a team and the
support that dbt provides toward this.
 Preface xvii

Chapter 12, Deployment, Execution, and Documentation Automation, helps you learn how to automate
the operation of your data platform, by setting up environments and jobs that automate the release
and execution of your code following your deployment design.
Chapter 13, Moving beyond Basics, helps you learn how to manage the identity of your entities so that
you can apply master data management to combine data from different systems. At the same time,
you will review the best practices to apply modularity in your pipelines to simplify their evolution
and maintenance. You will also discover macros to implement patterns.
Chapter 14, Enhancing Software Quality, helps you discover and apply more advanced patterns that
provide high-quality results in real-life projects, and you will experiment with how to evolve your
code with confidence through refactoring.
Chapter 15, Patterns for Frequent Use Cases, presents you with a small library of patterns that are
frequently used for ingesting data from external files and storing this ingested data in what we call
history tables. You will also get the insights and the code to ingest data in Snowflake.

To get the most out of this book

Software/hardware covered in the book Operating system requirements
dbt Windows, macOS, or Linux

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access
the code from the book’s GitHub repository (a link is available in the next section). Doing so will
help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.

Download the example code files

You can download the example code files for this book from GitHub at https://github.com/
PacktPublishing/Data-engineering-with-dbt. If there’s an update to the code, it will
be updated in the GitHub repository.
We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://
github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

Conventions used
There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.
Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file
extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: “Create
the new database using the executor role. We named it PORTFOLIO_TRACKING.”
xviii Preface

A block of code is set as follows:

CREATE TABLE ORDERS (
ORDER_ID NUMBER,
CUSTOMER_CODE TEXT,
TOTAL_AMOUNT FLOAT,
ORDER_DATE DATE,
CURRENCY TEXT DEFAULT 'EUR'
);

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items
are set in bold:
CREATE VIEW BIG_ORDERS AS
SELECT * FROM ORDERS
WHERE TOTAL_AMOUNT > 1000;

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

$ mkdir css
$ cd css

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For instance,
words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold. Here is an example: “Select System info from the
Administration panel.”

Tips or important notes

Appear like this.

Get in touch
Feedback from our readers is always welcome.
General feedback: If you have questions about any aspect of this book, email us at customercare@
packtpub.com and mention the book title in the subject of your message.
Errata: Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen.
If you have found a mistake in this book, we would be grateful if you would report this to us. Please
visit www.packtpub.com/support/errata and fill in the form.
Piracy: If you come across any illegal copies of our works in any form on the internet, we would
be grateful if you would provide us with the location address or website name. Please contact us at
copyright@packt.com with a link to the material.
If you are interested in becoming an author: If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you
are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, please visit authors.packtpub.com.
 Preface xix

Share Your Thoughts

Once you’ve read Data Engineering with dbt, we’d love to hear your thoughts! Please click here
to go straight to the Amazon review page for this book and share your feedback.
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Exploring the Variety of Random
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drunk up all your whisky, sir,” said Poruma; “I told them you had only
one bottle, and hid the glasses, but they took tea cups.” “Go to
Billy’s pub and get me some more,” I said, to get rid of Poruma; I
then unfolded to sympathetic ears my tale of woe. Poruma, the
whisky and Armit arrived at the same time. “What is this mothers’
meeting about?” said Armit; “you all look as if you had dined on bad
oysters!” “A bucket full of bad oysters would not have put me in the
state I feel in now,” I said, “thanks partly to you: it’s that flogging
business. I’m sending in my papers in the morning.” “Don’t be a
damned fool,” said Armit; “I’ve just come from the Merrie England,
and Jock never once used the word ‘reprimand,’ when he blew you
up. You swallow your pride, and take the pricks as well as the
plums; you ought to feel jolly proud of the position in which Jock has
put a young man like you.”
The following morning I was up bright and early, and went off to
the Merrie England, where I found that the Governor had risen still
earlier and intended inspecting the gaol; accordingly, I departed to
make all ready. At that time the whole Government reserve—
included in which was my house, police quarters, the gaol compound
and the cemetery—was surrounded by a high wooden fence, with a
gate across the only street of Samarai, leading into it; at this gate
there was a guard house, occupied by a married gate-keeper and a
few police. As the gate-keeper admitted me, I called for the police,
but found they were at a parade ordered by the Commandant; I
then told the gate-keeper to close the gate, and ran to the gaol to
tell the gaoler to keep in all his prisoners for inspection, instead of
sending them to work as usual. Hardly had I reached my house,
than, looking back, I saw Sir William arrive at the gate; the gate-
keeper’s wife gazed at him, horror-stricken at the thought of the
Governor waiting and her husband away, then—rising to the
occasion—she rushed at the gate and, throwing it wide open,
stiffened herself and flung her hand up to the salute. I met the
Governor who, drily smiling, remarked, “I see, Mr. Monckton, ye drill
the women as well as the men.” Crimson with shame, I dropped to
the regulation half-pace behind his Excellency, and softly cursed to
myself the misplaced zeal of the woman.
The Governor’s inspection over, the Siai was prepared for sea. In
the evening she dropped down the harbour with the tide, and stood
away to Taupota on the north-east coast, carrying, as well as her
own complement, Butterworth and fifteen men of the constabulary.
There she picked up some twenty natives, to act as carriers for the
heavy luggage of the police, in order to allow the force freedom of
action and mobility when camped away from the Siai.
With these men on board, we were badly crowded, and it
accordingly behoved us to make a rapid passage to our anchorage at
Goodenough; in our haste, Sione ran the Siai upon a shoal off the
north-east of that island, where we apparently stuck hard and fast.
Sending out a kedge anchor astern and lightening the vessel in
every possible way had no effect; whereupon I recalled a story told
me by my father, of an experience of his in the Baltic during the
Crimean War, when Captain Fanshawe got the Hastings battleship off
a shoal, by commanding her crew to stand at the stern and jump as
one man to the sound of the bo’sun’s pipe. Accordingly I stationed
six of the Siai’s crew at the windlass, to haul on the kedge at my
whistle, and ordered the remainder of the crew, police and carriers,
at the same sound to rush aft and jump violently. This was done,
and worked like a charm; as the men jumped, the Siai’s bow flew
into the air, the strain on the kedge caught her, and away she went
into deep water again. A few hours after this we dropped anchor off
Thompson’s plantation, and prepared for another attempt at the hill
villages.
Our plan of campaign was this. First marched the Siai’s men,
flung out as a screen of scouts, with myself as the centre pivot of
the line; then came Butterworth and his men in support, about a
hundred yards behind, followed by the carriers bearing camp
equipment. Some miles inland we came upon a grass patch, not
previously found by me, at the end of which was a stony hill topped
by a village, which apparently was deserted. My line of scouts slowly
converged upon the village, when suddenly—whilst still about fifty
yards distant—a shower of sling-stones fell amongst us; to wait for
the main body was practically impossible, therefore I gave the word
to charge, and the Siai’s men rushed and carried the village, killing
some of the defenders and taking several prisoners. Safely in
occupation, I looked back for Butterworth and his men, thinking that
they were close on my heels, and saw, to my amazement, that they
were halted at the bottom of the hill. I called to them to come up
and, upon their arrival, asked Butterworth why he had not followed
in support. He explained that our arrangement was, that when we
encountered hostile natives, I was to signal to him to close up; as I
had not signalled, but gone on, he had halted his men to await
developments. I thought myself that a sudden blaze of rifle fire, and
the sight of my men at the charge, should have been a sufficient
signal to any one that we were in action—and with very little
warning.
Hardly had Butterworth brought his men into the village, than
the dislodged inhabitants started pelting us with sling-stones from a
high and commanding ridge; so much so, in fact, that we were
obliged to take refuge in the houses, from which safe shelter, half a
dozen of our best shots soon inflicted such loss upon them as to
compel them to retire and, for the time being, leave us in peace. We
stayed in the village to rest our men and eat our midday meal, and
whilst so engaged, we were surprised to hear the voice of a man
gaily singing and approaching us. On looking over the hill, we saw,
to our amazement, a fully armed native walking up the track towards
us. “Fire a couple of shots over that man’s head,” I said to the
police; upon the shots being fired, the man looked up, gave a howl
of surprise, and then fled. “What did you do that for?” asked
Butterworth; “we might have caught him.” “It is an obvious thing,” I
remarked, “that that man is ignorant of everything going on here,
and therefore innocent of complicity in the murders; he is either a
local native returning from a protracted visit to a distant tribe, or a
stranger paying a visit here, otherwise he would not be walking
about alone and announcing his whereabouts by song.” During the
afternoon Butterworth’s men took possession of a higher ridge
overlooking the razor-backed spurs, on which was situated the
village I had previously failed to occupy, and, under cover of their
fire, the Siai’s men entered and seized it without fighting. Here we
camped for the night, and remained unmolested.
Then, for several days, the constabulary and my men searched
the country and took several prisoners; we found that the fight had
been taken out of the natives, and they were no longer massing to
oppose us but scattering, taking refuge in every possible way. I now
decided to return to Samarai, having captured most of the principal
men concerned in the attack on Thompson’s plantation; the
Goodenough Islanders, too, had learnt that the Government was
something more than a name, and also more than their match at
fighting.
Having an afternoon to spare on the day before we left
Goodenough Island—while the police and the Siai’s men were
engaged in chopping wood and carrying water to that vessel—I took
the dingey, Poruma, Warapas, and Giorgi, and went shooting duck
and pigeons up a small river. I got the most mixed bag I ever made
in my life: pulling into the river, a hawksbill turtle suddenly rose
about twenty feet in front of the boat; this I succeeded in shooting
through the head, and Poruma retrieved it by diving; the turtle must
have weighed about two hundred pounds when out of water. Then I
got about a dozen duck and a score of pigeons, Warapas shot a wild
pig, and Poruma killed a python fully fourteen feet in length with a
half-axe (that is, a tomahawk with a long handle like an axe). After
this, Giorgi discovered an alligator asleep on a bank some thirty
yards away from the river; creeping up, I fired my gun into one of its
eyes, and Giorgi gave a yell of joy and rushed at it; but the alligator,
which was only blinded on one side and not disabled, pursued him,
whilst I pursued the alligator, firing my revolver into its body, as
opportunity offered. Poruma, however, gave it the coup-de-grâce, by
getting up on its blind side and belting it just behind the head with
his half-axe. We returned to the Siai with the dingey’s gunwales
nearly awash under the weight of game of sorts.
Whilst on the subject of alligators, I may remark an
extraordinary peculiarity of these reptiles, and that is, that in some
ports and rivers of New Guinea, they appear to be absolutely
harmless, for instance, in the Eastern Division, Port Moresby, and the
fiords of Cape Nelson: whereas in the mouths of the San Joseph,
Opi, Barigi, and Kumusi Rivers, they are a malignant lot of man-
eating brutes, neither hesitating to attack men in canoes, nor to
sneak at night into the villages and seize people. The same thing, in
a lesser degree, applies to sharks haunting Papuan seas; I have
never known a man taken at Port Moresby or in the Mekeo district
by a shark, nor do the natives there—who are at the best a cowardly
lot—show fear of them; but on the bars of the Opi, Musa, and
Kumusi Rivers, I have known the brutes swim alongside a whaleboat
and seize the blades of the oars in their teeth. On one occasion, at
the Kumusi River, my men caught a shark, the belly of which
contained several human bones, a human head, the complete plates
forming the shell of a large turtle, and the freshly torn-off flipper and
shoulder of a large dugong or sea cow.
 In relation to sharks and alligators, L. G. D. Acland—who
afterwards got his arm chewed off by a tiger in India—Wilfred
Walker, author of “Wanderings among South Sea Savages,” and
myself, once got a bad shock at Cape Vogel. Both men were my
guests, and at the time we were camped on the edge of a tidal
creek, all of us occupying the same tent, at the door of which sat a
sentry. The sentry had thrown out a strong cotton line, with an
enormous hook at the end baited with a sucking pig, with the idea of
catching a shark, and had tied his line to the upright pole of our
tent; without warning, the whole tent vibrated violently, and the
sentry, seizing the line, began to haul it in. Cursing him for
disturbing our rest, we lay down and prepared for sleep again, when
suddenly the sentry fell backwards into the tent, closely followed by
the head of an alligator. Hastily we scurried under the canvas at the
back of the tent, swearing hard; the alarm awoke the police who,
running up, fired at the alligator, which promptly shuffled into the
water, and went off carrying our line and tent pole with it.
The Rev. W. J. Holmes, of the London Mission, once told me an
alligator story about one of his Mission boys; a story which the local
natives confirmed as true. Holmes sent off one of his Mission boys to
borrow some dozen six-inch wire nails from a trader, who lived some
miles away; the boy was shortly to be married to a village girl, and
she accompanied him on his message. On their homeward way it
was necessary for them to ford a shallow river; the boy walked first,
when suddenly, hearing a shriek, he turned round to find that an
alligator had seized his sweetheart by the leg. Hastily running back,
the boy grabbed his lady-love by one arm and, inserting his hand
behind her leg, jambed his packet of nails down the reptile’s throat,
thus forcing it to open its mouth and release the girl, whom he then
dragged to the shore. The only remark the boy made about the
incident, when he returned to Holmes, was to regret that the
alligator had “stolen the missionary’s nails.”
From Goodenough, the Siai ran rapidly to Samarai, on the way
landing our carriers at Taupota. Here I took the opportunity of
visiting the Mission and its school for native children; to my
amazement, I was received by the children all rising and singing the
National Anthem. Standing with my escort at the salute, I waited
until the end, and then explained to the Rev. —— Clark of the
Anglican Mission, who was in charge, that ordinary people like
myself should not be received in that manner, that they should only
pay such compliments to the Queen’s representative, the Governor.
“That’s all right,” said Mr. Clark; “but I have been rehearsing my
children for months to receive the Governor, and he has never come,
so, in order to avoid disappointing the children, I thought I would try
it on you.” The main portion of the school consisted of girls under
the care of two ladies of the Anglican Mission, and my
embarrassment was great when the good ladies displayed for my
judgment the articles made by their pupils; the garments were all of
them white, and I did not know what the devil to say or do. At last I
threw myself utterly upon the mercy of the ladies, and begged them
to select the articles and girls I was to commend; having done this I
departed, vowing to myself, that in the future, the inspection of
missionary schools was a duty I should delegate to the Assistant
R.M.
Leaving Taupota, I called at Wedau to inquire into the murder of
a mother-in-law, that Moreton had told me about; I found the culprit
safe in the custody of the village constable, and also that the calling
of evidence was hardly necessary, as he made confession in this
way. “Two years ago I married my wife, then my father-in-law died
and my wife’s mother came to live with us. At early morning she got
up and talked, when I came home at night, she talked; she talked,
and talked, and talked, and at last I got my knife and cut her throat.
What have I got to pay?” “Six months’ hard labour,” I replied, “when
the Judge comes along; and many a white man would be glad to get
rid of a talking mother-in-law at the price!”
On our arrival at Samarai I landed my prisoners, also
Butterworth and his men, held a Court, and got everything in order
for the Judge; two days latter the Merrie England came in, and the
Governor was pleased to approve of what I had done. Then his
Excellency pointed out that there was still a murder in Goodenough
Bay undealt with by me—Goodenough Bay is in the mainland of New
Guinea, and entirely distinct from Goodenough Island—and that it
behoved me to get to work and clean that up. Sir William’s method
of praise was always to pile on more work. Upon going into the
matter I found that it was not one murder, but two, I had to deal
with; one at Radava, and the other at Boianai.
There was no anchorage opposite either village, accordingly the
Siai sailed up the coast and hove-to at night opposite Radava.
Landing two boats’ crews just before dawn, we entered the first
house and, seizing the inhabitants, asked the names of the
murderers, which were at once given. I then detailed two men to go
to each of the guilty men’s houses, the police being guided by the
men and women we had picked out of the first house; Poruma and I
then went on to the house of the chief, whom I also intended to
arrest; my whistle was to be the signal to burst into the houses and
secure the men. Just as Poruma and I walked, or rather sneaked, up
to the chief’s house, we saw a man emerge and enter another
house; whereupon I told Poruma to follow and catch him when I
whistled. Then, looking in at a deep window in the chief’s house, I
saw a man sleeping by the fire and—first blowing my whistle—leapt
through the window and seized him; he fought like a wild cat, and
together we rolled through the fire, my cotton clothes catching alight
and burning me badly; I was still struggling with the man when
Poruma and Warapas arrived and pulled us apart. Then I found that
—with the exception of the chief—we had got all the men we
wanted, and that the man I had been struggling with was the village
lunatic.
It had been necessary for me to take the village by night
surprise, otherwise the people would have taken one of two courses:
either bolted into the bush of the rough mountains or resisted arrest.
At Boianai they did bolt, having got tidings of the coming of the Siai;
but here I was able to bring a peaceful method to bear, that resulted
in the surrender of the guilty men. The Boianai natives have a very
well-designed scheme of irrigation, and go in for a most intensive
system of cultivation of their somewhat limited area of rich flat land.
A portion of the irrigation scheme consisted of a wooden aqueduct,
carrying water at a high level over a small river. Their main crops
were of taro, a vegetable requiring a large amount of moisture in the
soil.
Finding my birds at Boianai had flown, I seized the aqueduct and
diverted the water from their gardens; then I told the people, that
when they surrendered the men I wanted, their gardens should
again have water, but until then, none. I thereupon sat down in the
Siai and awaited developments, leaving most of my men camped at
the aqueduct under Warapas. Upon the evening of the second day, I
took my gun and went off on shore to shoot pigeons; Poruma,
Sione, and Giorgi being at the time asleep in the forecastle. As the
dingey returned alongside the Siai, pulled by the cook and a village
constable, they clumsily contrived to bump her violently; the row
woke up Sione, who, finding out that I had gone off alone, promptly
sent Giorgi and Poruma after me—a very fortunate thing for me as it
proved. I, meanwhile, had wandered down a path to seek for
pigeons; Poruma and Giorgi, after some little time, discovered the
track I was on and followed. As I peered into a tree, I suddenly
heard a yell and a crashing blow behind me; turning round I saw
Poruma and Giorgi astride of a fallen man. Whilst I had been stalking
pigeons, they had discovered him stalking me, armed with a
horrible-looking spear; whereupon they had stalked him, and
cracked him on the skull, just as he poised his spear to launch it into
my back. After Poruma and Giorgi had handcuffed the man, and I
had examined his broken head and reproached Giorgi for cracking
the stock of a good rifle, Poruma remarked, “It was a little hard that
he could not have a few minutes’ sleep without some foolishness
being done.” I got one home on to Poruma by telling him that it was
the monotony of his cooking and the vileness of his curries that had
sent me off in search of game.
Poruma then asked the prisoner why he had tried to spear me,
to which he replied, that he had just been examining his garden and
was annoyed at finding that the leaves of his taro were beginning to
wilt, from lack of water: while so engaged, he had been seen by the
watching police, who had chased him over the rough river-bed for a
long distance; then, while lurking in the scrub, he had caught sight
of me and thought that the opportunity was too good to lose. After a
little more conversation, our new acquaintance resigned himself to
his fate, and volunteered—as a sort of propitiatory measure—to take
us to where pigeons were plentiful; he proved better than his word,
for as well as pigeons, he showed me the haunts of wild duck, and I
got a good bag.
Later, Judge Winter gave this gentleman six months for his
attempt at bagging an R.M.; after serving which he enlisted upon
the Siai, and then returned to his village as village constable—and a
very good village constable he made.
The following day I again looked at the gardens, and made up
my mind that if the people did not soon surrender the men I
wanted, I should be obliged to turn on the water, for the simple
reason that I really did not feel justified in destroying their whole
food supply. Fortunately, the people did not know I was weakening,
as that very night they sent a message to me that all the offenders—
except one—were coming in, and that they would catch him as soon
as they could; of course, the missing man was one of the most
important of the lot. Sure enough the men were brought that night
and a request made that they should be allowed to turn on the
water. “Certainly,” I replied, “so soon as I have the missing man.” An
hour later he was brought, and they got their water.
From Goodenough Bay I returned once more to Samarai, there
to await the return of Moreton.
 CHAPTER XII

O NE night, in Moreton’s house, I had a curious and uncanny

experience. I was sitting at the table, writing a long
dispatch which engaged all my attention; my table was in
the middle of the room, and on my right and left hand respectively
there were two doors, one opening on to the front and the other on
to the back verandah of the house; both doors were closed and
fastened with ordinary wooden latches, which could not possibly
open of their own accord as a spring lock might do; the floor of the
room in which I was, was made of heavy teak-wood boards, nailed
down; the floor of the verandah being constructed of lathes of palm,
laced together with native string. As I wrote, I became conscious
that both doors were wide open and—hardly thinking what I was
doing—got up, closed them both and went on writing; a few minutes
later, I heard footsteps upon the coral path leading up to the house,
they came across the squeaky palm verandah, my door opened and
the footsteps went across the room, and—as I raised my eyes from
my dispatch—the other door opened, and they passed across the
verandah and down again on to the coral. I paid very little attention
to this at first, having my mind full of the subject about which I was
writing, but half thought that either Poruma or Giorgi, both of whom
were in the kitchen, had passed through the room; however, I again
rose and absent-mindedly shut both doors for the second time.

Some time later, once more the footsteps came, crash crash on
the coral, squeak squeak on the verandah, again my door opened
and the squeak changed to the tramp of booted feet on the boarded
floor; as I looked to see who it was, the tramp passed close behind
my chair and across the room to the door, which opened, then again
the tramp changed to the squeak and the squeak to the crash on the
coral. I was by this time getting very puzzled, but, after a little
thought, decided my imagination was playing me tricks, and that I
had not really closed the doors when I thought I had. I made
certain, however, that I did close them this time, and went on with
my work again. Once more the whole thing was repeated, only this
time I rose from the table, took my lamp in my hand, and gazed
hard at the places on the floor from which the sound came, but
could see nothing.
Then I went on to the verandah and yelled for Giorgi and
Poruma. “Who is playing tricks here?” I asked in a rage. Before
Poruma could answer, again came the sound of footsteps through
my room. “I did not know that you had any one with you,” said
Poruma in surprise, as he heard the steps. “I have no one with me,
but somebody keeps opening my door and walking about,” I replied,
“and I want him caught.” “No one would dare come into the
Government compound and play tricks on the R.M.,” said Poruma,
“unless he were mad.” I was by this time thoroughly angry. “Giorgi,
go to the guard-house, send up the gate-keeper and all the men
there, then go to the gaol and send Manigugu (the gaoler) and all
his warders; then send to the Siai for her men; I mean to get to the
bottom of all this fooling.” The gate-keeper arrived, and swore he
had locked the gate at ten o’clock, that no other than Government
people had passed through before that hour; that since then, until
Giorgi went for him, he had been sitting on his verandah with some
friends, and nobody could have passed without his knowledge. Then
came the men from the gaol and the Siai, and I told them some
scoundrel had been playing tricks upon me and I wanted him
caught.
First they searched the house, not a big job, as there were only
three rooms furnished with spartan simplicity; that being completed,
I placed four men with lanterns under the house, which was raised
on piles about four feet from the ground: at the back and front and
sides I stationed others, until it was impossible for a mouse to have
entered or left that house unseen. Then again I searched the house
myself; after which Poruma, Giorgi and I shut the doors of my room
and sat inside. Exactly the same thing occurred once more; through
that line of men came the footsteps, through my room in precisely
the same manner came the tread of a heavily-booted man, then on
to the palm verandah, where—in the now brilliant illumination—we
could see the depression at the spots from which the sound came,
as though a man were stepping there. “Well, what do you make of
it?” I asked my men. “No man living could have passed unseen,” was
the answer; “it’s either the spirit of a dead man or a devil.” “Spirit of
dead man or devil, it’s all one to me,” I remarked; “if it’s taken a
fancy to prance through my room, it can do so alone; shift my things
off to the Siai for the night.”
The following day I sought out Armit. “Do you know anything
about spooks?” I asked; “because something of that nature has
taken a fancy to Moreton’s house.” “Moreton once or twice hinted at
something of the sort,” said Armit, “but he would never speak out; I
will come and spend to-night with you, and we will investigate.”
Armit came, but nothing out of the ordinary occurred; nor did I ever
hear of it afterwards, and before a year had elapsed the house had
been pulled down. When Moreton returned, I related my experience
to him, and he then told me that one night, when he was sleeping in
his hammock, he was awakened by footsteps, such as I have
described, and upon his calling out angrily to demand who was
making the racket, his hammock was violently banged against the
wall. “I didn’t care to say anything about it,” he said, “as I was alone
at the time, and didn’t want to be laughed at.”
I have told this story for what it is worth: I leave my readers,
who are interested in the occult or psychical research, to form what
opinion they choose; all I say is, that the story, as I have related it,
is absolutely true.
Some few days after Moreton had resumed his duties, the Merrie
England came in with Sir William on board, and his Excellency told
me that as Ballantine, the Treasurer and Collector of Customs, had
broken down in health, it was necessary for him to be relieved at
once, and that I was to take up his duties. I protested that I knew
nothing about accountants’ work or book-keeping, and respectfully
declined the appointment. “You can do simple addition and
subtraction, that’s all I want; find your way to Port Moresby as soon
as you can,” was all the Governor replied. Then the Merrie England
left; and I consulted Moreton. “The Lord help you, laddie,” said he;
“you will make a devil of a mess of it, but you must do what Jock
says.” Then Armit. “You must take it, or you will never get another
job; but you will be all right if you sit tight, and refuse to sign
anything without the authority of the Governor or Government
Secretary.” Then I went to Arbouine and unfolded my tale of woe.
“Oh, that’s all right,” said he; “I will write a line to Gors, our
manager at Port Moresby, and if you get stuck, he will lend you a
good clerk for a day or two, who will keep you all right.”
Then I resigned myself to the inevitable; Treasurer and Collector
of Customs I had to be. The next thing was to find my way to Port
Moresby, and break the news to Ballantine. A steamer came in, the
Mount Kembla, an Australian-owned boat recently chartered to carry
coal to German New Guinea; Burns, Philp and Co. were the agents,
and upon my going to book a passage to Port Moresby, Arbouine
said, “This vessel is bound by her insurances to carry a pilot in New
Guinea waters; I can’t let her leave here without one, and you are
the only man I can get hold of capable of acting as a local pilot.”
“Damn it all,” I said, “I only want a passage, and you can hardly
expect the Acting Treasurer and Collector of Customs of New Guinea
to act as your blanky pilot.” “Oh, all right,” said Arbouine, “if you
don’t sign on as pilot, the ship won’t leave.”
Eventually I did take on the job as pilot of the Mount Kembla,
and left for Port Moresby. She was an iron collier with iron decks,
and utterly unsuited for tropical work; hardly had we got out of
Samarai Harbour, before the skipper, a nice, genial little man, came
to me, and said, “I’m feeling very ill, for Heaven’s sake look after the
ship.” I looked at him and, taking his temperature with a clinical
thermometer, found he was in a high state of fever. “Get away to
bed, man,” I said, “and I will dose you.” Then I told the mate to fill
him up with brandy and quinine. “I can’t do it, pilot,” said the mate;
“everything is in the lazerette and under Government seals, and I
dare not break them.” I soon settled that by smashing the seals
myself, meanwhile explaining to the mate that the ship’s pilot
happened to be the Collector of Customs for the Possession. “My
God!” said the mate, “I’ve been in the coal trade all my life, and
been in many parts of the world, but I have never been in a country
like this before.” I took the Mount Kembla safely into Port Moresby,
from whence she departed two days later; and, to my regret, I
afterwards heard that hardly had she cleared the harbour before her
nice little skipper died.
Leaving the Mount Kembla, I went to the office of the
Government Secretary, the Hon. Anthony Musgrave, and told him I
had been sent by the Governor to relieve Ballantine. “I suppose, Mr.
Monckton, you have had previous experience of accountancy and
audit work?” said Mr. Musgrave. “On the contrary,” was my reply, “if
you searched New Guinea from end to end, you could not find a
man more blankly ignorant of the subject.” Muzzy—as he was
generally termed in the service—gasped. “Did you tell the Governor
that?” he asked. “Of course I did; but he seemed to think that a man
who knew navigation and could do simple addition and subtraction
was all he required,” was my reply. Muzzy sighed, and then sent for
Ballantine and introduced me to him, after which, he gladly washed
his hands of the matter. Ballantine was very nice and kind about it
all. “You had better work with me for a few days,” he said, “it’s not
all quite as simple as his Excellency appears to imagine.” Three days
satisfied me that the job was quite beyond me; Ballantine was doing
sums all day long, and could do work, in five minutes, that would
take me a full day. At the end of the three days, I got him to
accompany me to the Government Secretary, to whom I pointed out,
that if I were to carry out the Treasurer’s duties for one month, at
the end of that time it would require at least ten clerks and one
expert accountant to unravel the tangle. “What am I to do?” said Mr.
Musgrave. “Sir William must be obeyed.” Ballantine also intimated
that he was Registrar for Births, Deaths, and Marriages, and that, as
the Death Register had not been written up for some years, I might
delve into piles of letters and papers reporting deaths, and write it
up; to which cheerful occupation I betook myself.

A MOTUAN GIRL

Meanwhile, Muzzy caught Dr. Blayney, R.M. for the Central

Division, and told him that he was to act as Treasurer, etc.; Blayney
undertook it with a light heart, but three days of it reduced him to a
mass of perspiring and swearing humanity. Again came a council of
war. “Bramell, Government Agent at Mekeo, is an expert
accountant,” said Ballantine; “fetch him here to act as clerk to
Blayney, and send Monckton to Mekeo as Assistant R.M.” “The very
thing,” said the Government Secretary. I accordingly was sworn in as
Assistant R.M. for the Central Division; and, a few days later, Blayney
took me to my new district in his patrol vessel, the Lokohu, a sister
ship to the Siai.
Mekeo Station, at this time, was situated some twenty miles
inland, amongst a fairly thick and troublesome population. It had
originally been opened by the late John Green; he was followed by
Kowald, who was killed on the Musa; then Bramell was appointed.
The Station consisted of an officer’s house—the usual three-roomed
affair—constabulary barracks, gaol, storerooms, drill ground, and
about twenty acres of gardens; the buildings and drill ground were
surrounded by a high and strong stockade. The Station was
originally established to protect the missionaries of the Sacred Heart
Order, who were penetrating into the country. The Mekeo natives
were a cowardly, treacherous, and cruel lot, much under the
influence of sorcerers, and averse to control by the Government.
Blayney, some four weeks previously, had swooped through the
villages and arrested every sorcerer he could find; he told me that
the villagers would not give evidence against them unless he
undertook to kill them, so that they could not return to exact
vengeance. Blayney accordingly simply convicted them upon
discovering any implements of their trade in their houses, such as
charms, skulls, snakes, etc.
Upon our arrival at the Government Station, Bramell received us
with very mixed feelings. “I am glad to get out of this hole,” he said,
“but it seems I have got an Irishman’s rise.” Blayney, after staying a
day, went off again, but Bramell stayed a little while to put me in the
way of things, and a cheery way of things they appeared to me. He
showed me his bedroom closely shut up, and his bed surrounded by
a circle of tables, upon each one of which he had deposited loaded
firearms. “What on earth is all that for?” I asked. “Sorcerers,” he
replied; “they are the most poisonous brutes, and keep me
perpetually on the jump; how they get in I don’t know, but get in
they do, and put snakes and other beastliness in my bed. Arrows,
too, come over the stockade in the night and light anywhere, though
we can never catch the men shooting them; on dark nights we have
frequently discovered strangers prowling about the houses, but up
to now, they have always managed to get over the stockade before
we could catch them. The beggars are always trying to poison me
too; don’t you ever buy cocoanuts with the husks off, or anything
else into which they can possibly have inserted poison; they have
contrived to kill three boys in succession carrying my mails to the
coast; the boys are all supposed to have died from accidental snake
bite, but I know better.”
After having given me all the information in his power about the
working of the district, and having completed the formality of
handing it over, Bramell left for the coast to take ship for Port
Moresby, being escorted by half a dozen constabulary. I spent a
week overhauling the last year’s reports from the Station, and
getting a grip, as best I could, of the trend of affairs in the past. I
soon saw that the district was out of hand, and would require fairly
strong measures in dealing with it; I saw also that it was not
Bramell’s fault, for he had not sufficient authority as a Government
Agent and Native Magistrate to keep the people in order: my
appointment, however, carried the full powers of a Resident
Magistrate.
A few days after his departure, one of the nocturnal visitors was
discovered in the compound, but as usual he streaked over the
stockade and disappeared, leaving several poisonous snakes behind
him. The Mekeo constabulary could not hit an elephant in the dark
with their rifles, much less a running man. I began to feel nearly as
annoyed with the sorcerers as Bramell, and determined to cure them
of coming inside the stockade: accordingly I drew the shot from
several gun cartridges, and replaced it with coarse bluestone, and
then I gave the sentry my gun with the doctored cartridges instead
of his rifle; next I pulled the bullet out of a rifle cartridge belonging
to each private, and replaced it with mixed bluestone and dust shot.
“Now,” I explained to the men, who hated the sorcerers as
thoroughly as did Bramell, “I’m going to play sorcery against
sorcery; I have charmed these cartridges, so that if you hold your
rifle firmly, take plenty of time in aiming at a sorcerer at night, and
he is a true sorcerer, you can’t miss him.”

DOBU HOUSE, MEKEO

 In the gaol I had found Poruta, a son of Bushimai, one of the
Mambare prisoners who had given me the trouble at Samarai, they
having been scattered among the different gaols. I took Poruta, who
was very lonely amongst a strange people, as my private attendant;
I had plenty of work for the constabulary, without taking one as an
orderly, and I did not feel keen on having a local boy as servant, for
fear that he might insert something in my grub or a snake in my
bed. Poruta—like all the Binandere people—had no fear of the dark,
and was a born fighter; he took a keen interest in my plans for the
discomfiture of the sorcerers, though he thought that all of them
should be sought out and dealt with, with a club. He pointed out
that the sentry always stood in one place—a place that must be
perfectly well known to our night visitors—and also that the police,
with the exception of two on my verandah, were always grouped
about the barracks. “I would undertake,” said Poruta, “under the
present system, to come inside the stockade every night and escape
unseen. Make four men lie flat on their stomachs in the middle of
the drill ground, each man watching the sky-line on one side of the
stockade, and they are bound to see any man climbing over.” I did
this; but I also tied a string on to the toe of the corporal in the
barracks, and led it into the midst of the four watchers, so that they
could alarm the barracks without noise, and also without giving any
warning to our night visitors.
The very first night that the plan was tried, it worked excellently.
Watching the sky-line carefully, one of the sentries noticed a head
appear, followed by a second one; gently touching his three
companions, he directed their attention to the intruders; immediately
one fowling piece and three rifles, loaded with small shot and
bluestone, converged on the figures of two men, as, flat on their
stomachs, they slid sideways over the fence, and then gently began
to lower themselves on the inner side. In their excitement, each of
the four sentries forgot to pull the string attached to the corporal’s
toe. Bang went all the guns together, an awful series of shrieks went
up from the smitten intruders, as they hastily hauled themselves
back over the stockade, and fled howling into the night. At the same
time the air was rent by fearful yells and curses from the barracks;
the police, at the sound of the shots, had hastily jumped to their feet
and rushed out; man after man tumbled over and tangled himself up
with the line attached to the corporal’s toe, thereby nearly dragging
off that much enduring member.
For weeks after this, we were untroubled by nocturnal visitors;
and by every one on the Station—bar the corporal—the plan was
regarded as a gigantic success. My fame as a charmer of rifles, for
use against sorcerers, spread through the land. I never found out
who our two visitors were, but I will wager they never forgot their
experience that night.
The next thing to which I had to turn my attention, was the
straightening up of the detachment of constabulary; they showed a
slackness and lack of smartness that I did not like. On the drill
ground they appeared willing enough, but they could neither march,
shoot, nor drill decently. I slanged the non-com. in charge, who was
a Western man, but came from a different tribe and village to the
rest of the men. “I can’t do anything with them, sir,” he said;
“whenever Mr. Bramell was away they would not drill, and now, if
you are not on parade, they only play the fool and cheek me.” I
drilled and cursed the men myself, but they merely said that their
non-com. was a liar, and that their behaviour was immaculate. For a
long time I could never get hold of any specific instance of
disrespect or disobedience to the non-com.; at last, however, I
caught them, and this is the way I did it.
I went one night to the Mission house, taking with me Poruta
and half a dozen constabulary; arriving there, I sent off the police,
telling them I meant to stay the night with the missionary. I had
previously told the non-com. to station a gaol warder—a countryman
of his own—at the gate instead of a private, and to tell him to hold
his tongue as to the hour I came home. Returning at about five
o’clock in the morning, I was admitted by the warder, went straight
to my house, which overlooked the parade ground, and got into bed
without striking a light. Poruta slept in my room. Daylight and six
o’clock came, and I was awakened by the yells of the non-com.
parading his men; peeping out, I saw them come slowly strolling on
to the drill ground and languidly fall in, some wearing fatigue kit of
cotton, some full dress of serge, some without belts, and some
without jumpers; one shining light fell in attired in the white “sulu”
he slept in, some smoked in the ranks, others chattered, and they
drilled like a newly enlisted volunteer company. For half an hour I
watched the beauties, and listened to them answering back their
non-com., who cursed and beseeched alternately.
Then I buckled on my belts, and walked slowly down my steps
and up to the squad, watching them stiffen and their eyes start, as
they saw the unexpected apparition of their officer. “I think I will
finish the drill, Corporal,” I remarked; then to the squad, “Pile arms!”
and they piled arms. Then I inspected man after man, ordering each
one that I found incompletely dressed to strip to the buff and fall in
for physical drill. Only one man, Private Keke, passed inspection; and
I made him lance-corporal on the spot. After this, I drilled that
unhappy squad until sweat ran down their brown bodies in streams;
winding up by sending them at the double straight up against the
stockade, at which they instinctively stopped. “I did not tell you to
halt, you slack-backed pig-stealers; your meat rations and tobacco
are stopped for a week; forward!” Over the stockade that sweating
detachment went. “About turn!” Back they came; and I kept them at
it until they were falling from the top, instead of jumping, from sheer
exhaustion. Then I halted them on the parade ground again, and
made a little speech; telling them that I was weak from shame at
having to do with such a lot of feeble wasters, and that I felt certain
the Commandant had made a mistake, and sent to Mekeo a sanitary
gang—or something of that sort—instead of a detachment of
constabulary. Their disgraceful exhibition had made me feel so faint,
that I must go and breakfast, but meanwhile they would stand at
attention.
I went to breakfast and lingered over it; then I returned to my
depressed squad. “You have already lost your meat and tobacco for
halting without orders; do it again, and I will clap the whole lot of
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