Trek Papua

A story from Nusu-North coast line of Jayapura

A Papuan man stopped me a few meters from the Tablanusu village, in Jayapura.
“Do you want to buy Cuscus?” He showed the cuscus, the flurry brown strips over white fur. They were so cute and beautiful.
“Where did you get them?”
“Nusu forest,” he answered. I know where they are. A village in the northwest coast of Jayapura. Far away, about 35 kilometer from Sentani city.
I wanted to buy and release them free in the jungle. But, I thought it was not a wise decision; this act would motivate him to catch more cuscus.
“Why did you do it?” I asked him loudly when he chewing his betel nut to the face of Cuscus.
“It will make them obedient,” he answered. How cruel our human fellow is!
He asked me again if I would buy them. I said I had no money when he told me the price: 2.5 million rupiah. And, in the end, I said I would not buy them because nobody would take care of them when I was away from home.
He took out small cloth bag and showed me a big marble, about 5 cm diameter. It was rather heavy; semitransparent and purplish. There was white circle inside. He said he got it from the stomach of the cuscus’s mother he killed. Another cruelty. I bought it for 400 thou for curious reason. I might have been cheated. Let’s see if anyone can tell me what the marble is. But, the image of the big eyes of the Cuscus never left my mind until this writing. Its fate is obvious : They will die soon miserably. I wish I had saved them.