Savage Harvest Part 13

70 And so, on that day toward the end of 1957: Ibid.

71 As the last stragglers from Omadesep: Author's interview with Everisus Birojipts, Omadesep Village, Papua, February 2012; author's interview with Kosmos Kokai, Basim and Pirien Village, Papua, February 2012; van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962.

71 Van Kessel called it the Sylvester Ma.s.sacre: Van Kessel, "My Stay and Personal Experiences in Asmat," p. 24.

9. FEBRUARY 1958.

76 On February 6, 1958: Lapre, "Patrol Report Otsjanep, re: the headhunting on Omadesep Ultimo December 1957."

76 Accompanying him were eleven Papuan policemen: Ibid.

77 Mauser M98 bolt-action rifles: Author's interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.

77 Lapre felt afraid: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962.

77 three canoes of warriors from Atsj: Lapre, "Patrol Report Otsjanep, re: the headhunting on Omadesep Ultimo December 1957."

77 he was determined to teach the natives a lesson: "Oral History Project Collection: Memories of the East: The Lapre Interview."

77 Max Lapre's relatives had been: Ibid.

77 His father was a soldier: Ibid.

77 When he was three, the family moved: Ibid.

77 "There was this j.a.panese store": Ibid.

78 "You go teach them a lesson": Ibid.

79 He would say in later interviews that he didn't: Ibid.

79 After meeting him, van Kessel lamented: Van Kessel, "My Stay and Personal Experiences in Asmat," p. 19.

79 Soon after Lapre arrived in Asmat: Ibid.

79 an action that van Kessel called "unproportionate": Ibid., p. 20.

79 Dias and a force descended on Omadesep: Lapre, "Patrol Report Otsjanep, re: the headhunting on Omadesep Ultimo December 1957."

79 Otsjanep wanted nothing to do: Ibid.

80 "Maybe they saw it as an opportunity to smack": "Oral History Project Collection: Memories of the East: The Lapre Interview."

80 Lapre would say: Ibid.

80 "They are the best people in the world": Sale, The Conquest of Paradise, p. 100.

81 The violent savages' response: Tobias Schneebaum, Keep the River on Your Right (New York: Grove Press, 1970), pp. 6569.

81 used to reading footprints: Edward L. Schieffelin and Robert Crittenden, Like People You See in a Dream: First Contact in Six Papuan Societies (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991), p. 79.

82 "We jumped with surprise": Ibid., p. 73.

82 They screeched and "bawled": Lapre, "Patrol Report Otsjanep, re: the headhunting on Omadesep Ultimo December 1957."

82 On the sixth of February, he dispatched: Ibid.

83 Lapre grabbed the tiller himself: "Oral History Project Collection: Memories of the East: The Lapre Interview."

83 The villagers, men and women, were: Lapre, "Patrol Report Otsjanep, re: the headhunting on Omadesep Ultimo December 1957."

84 On the left a group approached: Ibid.

84 An Asmat named Faratsjam was. .h.i.t in the head: The details of the shooting of Faratsjam and the other men in Otsjanep come from the author's interview with Kosmos Kokai, Basim Village, Papua, February 2012.

84 "Stop shooting!" Lapre yelled: "Oral History Project Collection: Memories of the East: The Lapre Interview."

85 Lapre's explanation to van Kessel: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962; see also van Kessel, "My Stay and Personal Experiences in Asmat," p. 92.

85 Lapre spent the night offsh.o.r.e: Lapre, "Patrol Report Otsjanep, re: the headhunting on Omadesep Ultimo December 1957."

85 Lapre had left five dead: Author interview with Kosmos Kokai, Basim Village, Papua, February 2012. Lapre's reports variously list three and four killed; van Kessel mentions four. The men in Pirien/Otsjanep today have clear memories that four men and one woman, Ipi, were killed, and another man wounded.

85 When he visited Otsjanep three months later: Lapre, "Patrol Report Otsjanep, re: the headhunting on Omadesep Ultimo December 1957."

10. MARCH 1958.

87 Cameras flashed: Jones, The Possible Dream, p. 70.

88 "Prince and pauper, patrician and coolie": Ibid., p. 57.

88 Sukarno emphasized Indonesia's: Ibid.

89 For the Dutch, keeping its Papuan colony: Arend Lijphard, The Trauma of Decolonization (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1966), pp. 3948.

89 Percy Spender, Australia's minister for external affairs: "Australia's Att.i.tude on West New Guinea Unalterable: Spender," Canberra Times, November 26, 1954; Bilveer Singh, Papua: Geopolitics and the Quest for Nationhood (Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2008), pp. 6567.

89 winning 27 percent of the votes cast: Jones, The Possible Dream, p. 73.

90 "New Guinea had been the abandoned child": Author's interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.

90 Jones's words to Sukarno notwithstanding: Ibid., p. 70.

90 "It is essential for the Netherlands to see to it": John Saltford, The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 19621969: The Anatomy of Betrayal (London: Routledge, 2006), p. 10.

91 The Dutch foreign minister, Joseph Luns: Ibid., pp. 1011.

91 Returning West New Guinea to Sukarno: Ibid.

11. MARCH 1961.

95 "I'm finally in New Guinea": Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, March 29, 1961, MMA Archives.

96 Heider had arrived the day before: Author's interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011.

96 Michael perched in the c.o.c.kpit: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, March 29, 1961, MMA Archives.

96 Michael scrambled into his seat: Ibid.

96 As Abby had done with Nelson: "Rocky as a Collector," New York Times, May 18, 1969.

96 when he was eleven: Morgan, Beginning with the End, p. 215.

97 By the time he was nearing the end: Author's telephone interview with Betsy Warriner, then girlfriend and later the wife of Samuel Putnam, June 2011.

97 to have a big adventure: Ibid.

97 Gardner ran the Harvard Film Study Center: Robert Gardner, Making Dead Birds: Chronicle of a Film (Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum Press, 2007).

98 In 1959 he'd begun casting about for the right project: Ibid., p. 7.

98 Gardner contacted Victor de Bruyn: Ibid., p. 8.

98 De Bruyn suggested a film about the Dani tribes: Ibid., pp. 1219.

99 The United States and the Soviet Union: Author's interview with Jan Broekhuijse, Nieuwkoop, Netherlands, December 2011.

99 like most observers fascinated with indigenous people: Gardner, Making Dead Birds, pp. xxv.

99 At lunch one afternoon on Martha's Vineyard: Author's telephone interview with Peter Matthiessen, November 2011.

99 on the steps of the Peabody Museum: Author's interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011.

99 Michael plunged in, learning everything: Gardner, Making Dead Birds, p. 25.

100 "My first reaction was one of terror": Ibid., p. 33.

100 "At least my typing will get a good practicing": Ibid.

100 "I have received all sorts of useful pointers": Ibid., p. 34.

100 "I can a.s.sure you that he knows": Ibid., 35.

100 "The flight in was spectacular": Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, April 2, 1961, MMA Archives.

101 A few days later they brought hundreds: Ibid.

101 a strong first impression: Outtakes from interview with Peter Matthiessen for The Seekers of the Lost Treasure (Discovery Channel, 1994).

101 as beautiful as Michael described it: In March 2012, I spent nearly a week in the Baliem Valley, where elderly Dani tribesmen who met and remembered their encounters with the Peabody expedition showed me the locations where Gardner and his team had worked.

101 The team shared civilized meals: Author's interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011.

101 Michael found them "emotionally expressive": Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, April 14, 1961, MMA Archives.

101 "Polik, the warrior," he wrote: Ibid.

102 They were so close to the action that one day: Author's interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011.

102 "They went to war with a set of rules": Author's telephone interview with Peter Matthiessen, November 2011.

102 He "shot wildly," he wrote: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, April 14, 1961, MMA Archives.

102 "Michael went away in tears": Outtakes from interview with Peter Matthiessen for The Seekers of the Lost Treasure (Discovery Channel, 1994).

102 "Mike was very quiet": Author's interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011.

102 While Elisofon, the professional, would pose them: Ibid.

102 In the evenings Heider was astonished: Ibid.

103 "there is a large opportunity for me": Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, April 29, 1961, MMA Archives.

103 "Michael's father had put him on the board": Author's interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011; see also minutes of Museum of Primitive Art's board meetings, MMA Archives.

104 "Collecting along the Sepik": Robert Goldwater, letter to Michael Rockefeller, May 5, 1961, MMA Archives.

104 "looking forward to your coming up": Ibid.

104 The two linked up in the capital: Rene Wa.s.sing, "Report from the Journey to the Asmat Region with the Gentleman M. Rockefeller," National Archive of the Netherlands.

105 He'd finished high school late: Author interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.

105 "Make contact": Ibid.

105 There wasn't much to do: Ibid.

106 As there would be for years to come: in 1970: Trenkenschuh, ed., An Asmat Sketchbook Nos. 1 and 2, p. 37.

106 and even in the early 1980s Schneebaum: Schneebaum, Where the Spirits Dwell, p. 74.

106 Still, van de Waal traveled undefended: Author's interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.

106 their first encounter with Australian explorers: Schieffelin and Crittenden, Like People You See in a Dream, p. 222.

107 when Francisco Pizarro met the Inca emperor Atahualpa: Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel, p. 68.

107 When Englishman Charlie Savage arrived in Fiji: Ibid., p. 76.