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Robert W. Williamson - The Mafulu

R >> Robert W. Williamson >> The Mafulu




Then again attention must be drawn to the fact that the magnificent
feather decoration of the bird of paradise is mainly upon or springing
from its back or body, whilst the goura pigeon's sole projecting
decoration, and perhaps its chief beauty, is the crest upon its head,
to which the Mekeo single upright head feather may be likened.

My efforts to obtain light from native sources upon this question of
imitation in Mafulu were fruitless, as the natives questioned knew
nothing of it; and on my return from Mafulu to the coast I did not
again pass through the Mekeo villages. But on reaching the coast I
made further enquiries upon the subject from the Fathers there of the
Mission, and obtained three interesting pieces of information. First,
I was told that the Mekeo clan Inawae of the Mekeo village Oriropetana,
whose clan badge is the goura pigeon, and who are not allowed to
kill and eat it, and whose bird totem it appears to be, say that they
are descended from the goura pigeon, and that an ancestor of theirs,
though himself a man, had all the powers and faculties of movement
of those birds, and that he used to dance with them, and so learnt
the dance and taught it to his people. Unfortunately no enquiry had
been made as to the question of any imitative character in their
present dancing, and the information only emanated from a particular
clan with a particular association with the bird. I therefore do not
attach undue general importance to this case. [93]

Secondly, I was told that the Pokau people, whose dance is practically
the same as that of the Mekeo people, themselves say that their dancing
is an imitation of that of the goura pigeon. This certainly tends
to support Father Clauser's suggestion as regards Mekeo. Thirdly,
some natives of Kuni, who are undoubtedly very similar and closely
related to the Mafulu, and whose dancing is very similar to that of
the latter, were questioned on the subject in my presence, and under
my direction. The question put was, "When Kuni people are dancing,
are they in their dance imitating anything, and if so what?" (no
mention or suggestion being made of a bird or of anything else). The
answer was that they were imitating the dance of the _goloala_, which
I was told was not the red bird of paradise, but was another small
species of that bird with a yellowish-white body, yellow head and
yellowish-white wings. The leading question was then put to them,
whether they were sure the bird was the yellow one described by
them, and not the red one; which question was answered definitely
in the affirmative. And subsequently, when, in order to test their
definiteness and certainty in what they had told me, I showed them a
few postcard pictures of birds of paradise, which included the red
one and others, but not one such as is above described, and almost
invited them to recognise one of these as being the bird they meant,
they were firm in their insistence that the bird to which they referred
was not shown in any of the pictures. This, I think, helps to support
Father Clauser's suggestion as regards the Mafulu, subject of course
to the question of the variety of bird of paradise which is imitated.

Dealing with this question of imitation as a whole, and taking into
consideration the apparently marked similarities between the dancing
of the two tribes of natives and the two genera of birds, and the
further element, perhaps not so strong, as to the similarities
in distribution upon the bodies of their decorations, and bearing
in mind the evidence obtained from native sources, which, though
obviously only fragmentary and insufficient in character, is so far
as it goes distinctly confirmatory, I am impelled to suggest that
Father Clauser's theory is not without foundation, and indeed amounts,
subject to the question of the species of bird of paradise, to a very
substantial possibility. And it is undoubtedly an interesting one. [94]






Toys and Games.

The Mafulu children have neither dolls nor other toys, and do not
make cat's-cradles. The young boys amuse themselves with small bows
and arrows and spears, which they make themselves. One common sport
is for the boys, armed with their spears, to stand in a row and for
another boy to roll in front of them a ball, made out of the root of a
banana tree, with its many rootlets intertwined, and for the boys to
try to hit it with their spears as it passes them. A similar game is
played in Mekeo and on the coast; but there the ball is often made
out of the outer fibre of a cocoanut. Small boys and girls amuse
themselves with glissading down the steep grassy slopes. There is
also a sort of fighting game for boys, in which young men sometimes
join. A number of them divide themselves into two opposing groups,
all armed with little darts, made of reeds on which a few leaves
are left at the head ends; and these two groups mutually attack
each other, advancing and retreating, according to the fortunes of
the fight. Boys, and men also, play at tug-of-war, using long canes
for ropes; and boys and girls have swings, constructed either by
looping two flexible rope-like tree stems together at the bottom,
or with a single rope, with a loop at the bottom, in which to place
their feet. But there are no racing or jumping or gymnastic games,
and no group or singing children's games.






CHAPTER XV

Counting, Currency and Trade


Counting.

Mafulu counting is accomplished by the use of two numerals (one and
two) and of the word "another" and of their hands and feet [95];
and with these materials they have phraseology for counting up to
twenty as follows:--

1 = _Fida_ (one).

2 = _Gegedo_ (two).

3 = _Gegedo minda_ (two and another).

4 = _Gegedo ta gegedo_ (two and two).

5 = _Gegedo ta gegedo minda_ (two and two and another) [or _Bodo fida_
(one hand)].

6 = _Gegedo ta gegedo ta gegedo_ (two and two and two).

7 = _Gegedo ta gegedo ta gegedo minda_ (two and two and two and
another) [or _Bodo fida ta gegedo_ (one hand and two) ].

8 = _Gegedo ta gegedo ta gegedo ta gegedo_ (two and two and two and
two) [or _Bodo fida ta gegedo minda_ (one hand and two and another) ].

9 = _Gegedo ta gegedo ta gegedo ta gegedo minda_ (two and two and
two and two and another) [or _Bodo fida ta gegedo ta gegedo_ (one
hand and two and two) ].

10 = _Bodo gegedo_ (two hands).

11 = _Bodo gegedov' u minda_ (two hands and another). [Note the "v"
at the end of gegedo. The full word is really _gegedove_; but it is
shortened to _gegedo_, unless the next word is a vowel. Also note the
"u." There are two words for "and," namely _ta_ and _une_. The "u"
here is the _une_ shortened, and put instead of _ta_ for euphony].

12 = _Bodo gegedo ta gegedo_ (two hands and two).

13 = _Bodo gegedo ta gegedo minda_ (two hands and two and another).

14 = _Bodo gegedo ta gegedo ta gegedo_ (two hands and two and two).

15 = _Bodo gegedo ta jovari fida_ (two hands and one foot).

16 = _Bodo gegedo ta jovari fidari u minda_ (two hands and one foot
and another). [Note the "n" at the end of _fida_. The full word is
really _fidane_, and the "n" is introduced here for euphony.]

17 = _Bodo gegedo ta jovari fida ta gegedo_ (two hands and one foot
and two).

18 = _Bodo gegedo ta jovari fida ta gegedo minda_ (two hands and one
foot and two and another).

19 = _Bodo gegedo ta jovari fida ta gegedo ta gegedo_ (two hands and
one foot and two and two).

20 = _Bodo gegedo ta jovari gegedo_ (two hands and two feet).

As regards these numerals it will be seen that in some cases
alternatives are given, whilst in other cases, where corresponding
alternatives would appear to be equally applicable, they are not given;
the reason is that in these latter cases the alternatives do not in
fact appear to be used.

There is no numerical phraseology to indicate any number above twenty;
and in the ordinary affairs of life, although numeration can be carried
in this cumbrous way up to twenty, they rarely use the numerals beyond
ten, and anything over that will be referred to as _tale, tale, tale,
tale_ (which may be translated "plenty, plenty, plenty, plenty").

Important counting, such as that of pigs at a feast, is accomplished
by the actual use of the hands and feet. The fingers stretched open
mean nothing; Closing down the thumb of the right hand indicates
one; closing down also the first finger of that hand indicates two;
and so on with the other fingers of the right hand, till you reach
the closing down of the thumb and all the fingers of the right hand,
which indicates five. Then, keeping all the right hand closed, they
begin with the left hand also. Closing down only the thumb indicates
six; and so on as before, until the thumbs and all the fingers of
both hands are closed, which indicates ten. [96]

Then they go to the feet. They keep both hands closed and together,
and with the right fist they point to the toes, beginning with the
big toe of the right foot, and so along the other toes of that foot,
and then go to the big toe of the left foot, and so along the other
toes of that foot, thus reaching the enumerative total of twenty. They
do not, when wishing to indicate a number, simply place their fingers
and hands and feet simultaneously in the requisite position for doing
so. They always go through the whole process of finger and toe counting
from the beginning. For example, to indicate eight, they turn in the
thumb and all the fingers of the right hand, and afterwards the thumb
and two fingers of the left hand, separately, and one alter another,
until the right position is reached; and similarly as regards numbers
over ten, they solemnly turn down all the fingers one after another,
and then point to the toes one after another, until they get to the
right one for indicating the desired number. When the fingers and
toes of the person counting are exhausted, he has recourse to those
of another person, if he wishes to count further, although he has
then passed the limit of numerical phraseology. For the purpose of
counting big numbers they are always sitting, and as in counting they
exhaust hands and feet, the latter are put together, If, for example,
they reach eighty, there are four men sitting, with all their hands
and feet crowded together; and if the number be eighty-three, there
is also a fifth man with a thumb and two fingers of his right hand
closed up. Sometimes a number above ten, but not over twenty, is
indicated with the hands only by counting up to ten in the ordinary
way, and then opening all the fingers and counting again, until they
reach the requisite amount in excess of ten.

I do not think it can be said that these people have in their minds any
real abstract idea of number, at all events beyond twenty. Each finger
turned down and toe pointed to, in succession, seems to represent
to their minds the article (_e.g._, a pig) which is counted, rather
than a step in a process of mental addition. But this is a matter upon
which I can only express myself in a very general way; and indeed the
mental stage at which the mere physical idea of the objects counted
has developed into the abstract idea of numbers would in any case be
exceedingly difficult to ascertain, or even, perhaps, to define.

They never use pebbles or sticks or anything else of that kind,
and have no method of recording numbers or anything else by notching
sticks; and they have no weights or measures.


Currency and Trade.

The Mafulu people have no currency in the true sense, every transaction
being one of exchange; but nevertheless some specific articles,
especially some of the dearer ones, can only be acquired by the
offering of certain other specific articles, and certain things have
definite recognised relative values for the purpose of exchange.

As examples of the former of these statements, I may say that a pig
used to be always paid for in dogs' teeth--though this practice is
not now, I think, so strict--and that some of their finer head feather
dancing ornaments and ornamental nose pieces can still only be paid for
in dogs' teeth; also that there is a special kind of feather ornament,
composed of many small feathers fixed in a line on a string, which can
only be obtained in exchange for a particular sort of shell necklace.

As examples of recognised relative values, I may state that the proper
payment in dogs' teeth for a pig is a chain of dogs' teeth equal in
length to the body of the pig, the latter being measured from the
tip of its nose to the base of its tail; and that the payment for
the special feather ornament is its own length of the corresponding
shell necklace.

Exchange and barter is generally only engaged in between members of
different communities, and not between those of the same community. An
apparent exception to this arises in the purchase of pigs at certain
ceremonies above referred to; but in this case it is really a matter of
ceremony, and not one of ordinary barter. There are no regular markets,
such as exist in some other parts of the country, the exchange of goods
being effected by one or more individuals going with their articles
of exchange to some other community, where they hope to get what they
require. The nearest approach to a market arises intermittently when
there is to be a big feast. Then the communities giving, and invited
to, the feast require a large supply of ornaments, especially for
those who are going to dance, and probably do not possess a sufficient
quantity. They therefore have to procure these ornaments elsewhere;
and the natural place to go to is some other community, possibly a
long way off, which has recently been in the same want of extensive
ornaments for a feast, and has procured and used them, and now has
them, so to speak, in stock, and will be glad to dispose of them
again. Thus ornaments used for feasts are sold and resold and travel
about the country very extensively.






CHAPTER XVI

Language

I have been fortunate in having had some interesting and valuable
linguistic material placed at my disposal for publication by Father
Egedi and in having had further material added to it by Dr. Seligmann
and Mr. Sidney H. Ray. I have thought it better to deal with it in
five appendices, and I am greatly indebted to Mr. Ray for having
undertaken the laborious task of their compilation. I give the
following explanation concerning these appendices.

(1) Is a grammar of the Fuyuge language. The original manuscript is
the work of Father Egedi, the, materials from which it was prepared
by him having been collected in the Mafulu villages. The appendix is
Father Egedi's Grammar, translated and edited by Mr. Ray.

(2) Is a short note on the Afoa language prepared by Dr. W. M. Strong,
when he was Government Agent in Mekeo, and handed by him to
Dr. Seligmann for publication. To this note Mr. Ray has added
a footnote.

(3) Is a note on the Kovio language prepared by Dr. Strong, and handed
by him to Dr. Seligmann. This note refers to the languages spoken in
the neighbourhoods of Inavarene and the Inava valley and of the Upper
Lakekamu river, all of which were found by Dr. Strong to be somewhat
similar. The footnote is by Mr. Ray.

(4) Is a comparative vocabulary, prepared by Mr. Ray, of the
languages of some of the different Papuan-speaking people of the
mountain districts of Central British New Guinea. The words in the
"Mafulu" column are taken from a very lengthy MS. vocabulary compiled
by Father Egedi in Mafulu. Those in the "Kambisa" column were all
collected by the Rev. P. J. Money in the Kambisa villages of the
Upper Chirima valley during Mr. Monckton's expedition, referred to
in my introductory chapter. Most of these words are taken from the
New Guinea _Annual Report_ for 1905-6; but to them have been added
other words, which had been collected by Mr. Money. The words in
the "Korona" column are taken from an MS. vocabulary prepared by
Dr. Strong at Korona, also mentioned in my introductory chapter,
and handed by him to Dr. Seligmann. Those in the "Afoa" column are
taken from an MS. vocabulary prepared by Dr. Strong in connection
with his Afoa notes, to which are added in square brackets some other
words taken from Father Egedi's vocabulary in _Anthropos_ II., 1907,
pp. 1016-1021, this vocabulary being there called by him Tauata. The
words in the "Kovio" column are taken from an MS. vocabulary prepared
by Dr. Strong in connection with his Kovio notes, to which are added
in square brackets some "Oru-Lopiku" words collected by Father Egedi,
and published in _Anthropos_ II., 1907, pp. 1016-1021. As regards this
column I must explain that Dr. Strong's words were all collected within
the districts to which his notes refer, but that Father Egedi's words,
though in part collected there, were, I believe, in part collected
further to the east.

(5) Is a series of notes by Mr. Ray upon the matter contained in the
previous appendices.

I am perhaps open to criticism for introducing into a book of my
own notes on the Mafulu people such extensive material written by
others, and relating to other mountain districts as well as to that
of the Mafulu; but my belief as to the probable similarity in many
respects between the Papuan-speaking natives of these central mountain
districts, and the obvious value and importance of the matter which
has been so kindly placed at my disposal, justify me, I think, in
introducing it; and indeed I should be doing but ill service to New
Guinea ethnology if I did not take advantage of these opportunities
which have been offered to me.

Though I am not qualified to discuss these materials from the
grammatical and scientific linguistic point of view, there are a
few matters to which I should like to draw attention, as affecting
statements appearing in this book, and which were written by me before
I received this linguistic material.

Regarding the question raised in my introductory chapter as to the
extension of the Fuyuge linguistic area so far south as Korona, it
will be noticed that a large number of the words in the Mafulu and
Korona columns are the same, or very similar. Dr. Strong, in some
unpublished MS. notes in Dr. Seligmann's possession, to which I have
had access, says as regards the Mafulu and Korona languages that "there
is nothing to show that the two languages may not be for all practical
purposes identical," and Mr. Ray in his concluding notes classes Mafulu
and Korona together as dialects of Fuyuge. The village of Sikube,
mentioned by Mr. Ray, is, I believe, on the Upper Vanapa river and
north of Mt. Lilley, and so is well within the Fuyuge-speaking area
as defined by the Fathers.

Concerning the Kambisa (Upper Chirima valley) column, the similarity
of many of the words contained in it to those in either the Mafulu
or the Korona column is obvious; and it is curious that some of these
words appear to resemble the Korona words more than they do those of
Mafulu. I also think I may say that the similarity between Kambisa
words on the one hand, and those of either Mafulu or Korona on the
other, is almost equal to the similarity between Mafulu and Korona;
and Mr. Ray classes Kambisa along with Mafulu and Korona as dialects
of Fuyuge. So the statement in the introductory chapter that the
valley of the Upper Chirima river is included in the Fuyuge area has,
I think, stood the test of some detailed linguistic comparison.

The note by Dr. Strong upon what he calls the Kovio language and his
Kovio vocabulary both relate to a district which is within the Fathers'
Oru-Lopiku linguistic area; and I venture to repeat the suggestion,
made in my introductory chapter, that for the present should adopt
the term Kovio for the two areas which the Fathers call Oru-Lopiku
and Boboi, though eventually we may be able to distinguish between
these two areas.

The Afoa or Tauata area is the Fathers' Ambo area. The Afoa column
discloses a very few words which resemble the Fuyuge words; but it
seems obvious that the Afoa language does not belong to the Fuyuge
group, and this is the view taken of it by Mr. Ray.

There are two matters in Mr. Ray's classification in the fifth appendix
which I wish to mention. It seems to have been already assumed that
the Rev. James Chalmers' Kabana language could not have been collected
on Mt. Victoria; and I would point out that this mountain is quite
outside what now appears to be the Fuyuge area. As regards the Afoa
language the references by Dr. Strong to Mt. Pizoko and Mt. Davidson
bring me back to my observations upon the point in my introductory
chapter. If the Fathers are right in putting Mt. Pizoko within the
Fuyuge area, it is hardly correct to say (see introductory chapter)
that the Afoa language is spoken in the villages on Mt. Pizoko; but
it might well be, as quoted by Mr. Ray, that a Fuyuge native in a
Mt. Pizoko village spoke Afoa fluently, as this mountain is close to
the Fathers' Fuyuge-Afoa boundary. Also Mt. Davidson is according to
the Fathers in the Boboi area; but Dr. Strong seems to have regarded
it as Ambo, and to have treated vocabulary matter collected from a
native who came from a village "apparently on the slopes of" that
mountain as having been taken from an Ambo native. In this case,
however, there seems to be some doubt as to where this native did in
fact come from; and the eastern slopes of Mt. Davidson are not far
from the Fathers' Afoa boundary.

I think that these linguistic materials, taken as a whole, are, so far
as they go, well in accord with the delimitation by the Fathers of
the Fuyuge area, except as regards their view concerning Korona, as
to which they did not profess actual knowledge, and merely expressed
a doubt, and subject to the point that, for linguistic purposes at
all events, the Fathers' use of the word "Mafulu" as representing
the whole Fuyuge area is perhaps not desirable, and would be better
replaced by the term "Fuyuge," with subdivisions of "Mafulu," "Korona,"
and "Kambisa," as given by Mr. Ray; though probably Sikube might be
included in either Mafulu or Korona, as geographically it is evidently
between these two.






CHAPTER XVII

Illness, Death, and Burial


Ailments and Remedies.

All serious ailments occurring up to certain ages, and except in
certain cases, are generally assumed to be the work of someone acting
in connection with a spirit; but, speaking generally, no efforts appear
to be made by imprecation or other supernatural method to propitiate
or contend against these spirits, except by the use of general charms
against illness, and except, so far as the propitiation or driving out
of the spirit is involved, by one or other of the specific remedies
for specific ailments mentioned below. The natives have, however,
for common diseases cures of which some are obviously purely fanciful
and superstitious, but some are probably more or less practical.

The chief ailments are colds and complications arising from them,
malaria, dysentery, stomach and bowel and similar complaints, toothache
and wounds.

Dysentery has recognised and accredited curers, both men and women. The
operator chews and crushes with his teeth the root of a vegetable
(I do not know what it is) which they grow in their gardens, and then
wraps it up into a small bundle in a bunch of grass, and gives it to
the patient to suck. This remedy does not appear to be effective.

There are men who are specially skilled in dealing with stomach and
bowel troubles. The operator takes in his hand a stone, and with the
other hand he sprinkles that stone over with ashes. He then makes over
it an incantation, in which, though his lips are seen to be moving,
no sound comes out of them; after which he takes some of the ashes
from the stone, which he still holds in his hand, and with these
ashes he rubs the stomach of the patient, who, I was told, generally
at once feels rather better, or says so.

There are also women who deal with cases believed to be caused by the
presence in the stomach of a snake, which has to be got out. Here
the operator takes a piece of bark cloth, with which she rubs the
front of the patient's body, but without any incantation. Then, as
she removes the cloth from the body, she makes a movement as though
she were wrapping up in it something, presumably the escaped snake;
and afterwards she carries the cloth away with her, and the cure is
thus effected.

A man with toothache will say that "a spirit is eating my teeth." The
people seem to have a knowledge of something inside the teeth,
the nature of which I am not able to state definitely, but which
apparently is, in fact, the nerve, and they recognise that it is in
this something that the pain arises; but I could not ascertain the
connection between this something and the spirit which is supposed
to cause the trouble. If the aching tooth can be got at, they adopt a
method the native explanation of which was translated to me as being a
drawing or driving out of the mysterious something from the tooth. This
is done in some way with an ordinary native comb, without extracting
the tooth itself; but how it is done I could not ascertain. There
is no incantation connected with the operation. Another cure is for
the patient to chew the leaf of a certain tree (I do not know what
tree), so that the sap of it gets into the hole in the tooth, and
thereby, as they think, draws or drives out this nerve, or whatever
the something may be. The Fathers of the Mission told me that both
these two remedies do really appear to be effective.

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