The Mafulu Part 5

As regards women, the carrying of bags, either full or empty, hanging over their backs is so common that one might almost regard the bag as an additional article of dress. I may say here in advance of my observations on netting that the distinctive features of Mafulu bags, as compared with those made in Mekeo and on the coast, are the special and peculiar form of netting which is commonly adopted for some of them and the curious lines of colouring with which they are often ornamented.

Hammocks are commonly used in the houses and _emone_ for sleeping. [52]

These also are made of network and will be referred to later. The distinctive feature of network mentioned in relation to bags applies to these also, but not that of colouring.

Pottery is not made or used in Mafulu.

I may perhaps refer here to what I imagine to be an ancient stone mortar, which I found at Mafulu, and which I have endeavoured to show in Fig. 2. A portion of the upper part of the original was broken away, and I regret that I did not try to sketch it just as it was, instead of adopting the easier course of following what had been the original lines. I am also sorry that its great weight made it impossible for me to bring it down with me to the coast, [53] and that by an oversight I did not secure a photograph of it. The vessel was well and evenly shaped. It had perfectly smooth surfaces, without any trace of cutting or chipping, and must have been made by grinding. It was devoid of any trace of decoration. Its top external diameter was about 12 inches, its height, when standing upright on its base, was about 8 inches, and the thickness of the bowl at the lip about 1 inch. I was told that similar things are from time to time found in the district, generally on the ridges, far away from water. A Mafulu chief said that the Mafulu name for these things is _idagafe._ The natives have no knowledge of their origin or past use, the only explanation of the latter which was suggested being that they were used as looking-gla.s.ses by looking into the sc.u.mmy surface of the water inside them. [54]

European things. The Mafulu people are now beginning, mainly through the missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and also through their contact with Mekeo and other lowland tribes, to get into touch with European manufactures. Trade beads, knives, axes, plane irons (used by them in place of stone blades for their adzes), matches and other things are beginning to find their way directly and indirectly into such of the villages as are nearest to the opportunities of procuring them by exchange or labour.

Domestic Animals.

Dogs may occasionally, though only rarely, be seen in the villages, but these are small black, brownish-black, or black and white dogs with very bushy tails, and not the yellow dingo dogs which infest the villages of Mekeo; and even these Mafulu dogs are, I was told, not truly a Mafulu inst.i.tution, having been obtained by the people, I think, only recently from their Kuni neighbours. A tame c.o.c.katoo may also very occasionally be seen, and even, though still more rarely, a tame hornbill. There are no c.o.c.ks and hens.

The universal domestic animal of the Mafulu, however, is the pig, and he is so important to them that he is worthy of notice. These pigs are "village" pigs, which, though naturally identical with "wild"

pigs--being, in fact, wild pigs which have been caught alive or their descendants--have to be distinguished from wild pigs, and especially so in connection with feasts and ceremonies.

Village pigs are the individual property of the householders who possess them, there being no system of community or village ownership; and, when required for feasts and ceremonies, each household has to provide such pig or pigs as custom requires of it. They are bred in the villages by their owners, and by them brought up, fed and tended, the work of feeding and looking after them being the duty of the women. No distinguishing ownership marks are put upon the pigs, but their owners know their own pigs, and still more do the pigs know the people who feed them; so that disputes as to ownership do not arise. The number of pigs owned by these people is enormous in proportion to the size of their villages, and I was told that a comparatively small village will be able at a big feast to provide a number of village pigs much in excess of what will be produced by one of the big Mekeo villages.

These village pigs often wander away into the bush, and may disappear from sight for months; but they nevertheless still continue to be village pigs. If, however, they are not seen or heard of for a very long time (say six months), they are regarded as having become wild pigs, and may be caught and appropriated as such. It is usual with village pigs to clip or shorten their ears and tails, or even sometimes to remove their eyes, so as to keep them from wandering into the gardens. [55] But even a village pig thus marked as such would be regarded as having become a wild pig if it had disappeared for a very long time.

Village pigs (as distinguished from wild pigs) are, as will be seen below, never eaten in their own village on ceremonial occasions, or indeed perhaps at all, being only killed and cut up and given to the visitors to take away and eat in their own villages.

Etiquette.

These simple people do not appear to have many customs which come under the heading of etiquette, pure and simple.

A boy must soon, say within a few weeks, after he has received his perineal band leave the parental home, and go to live in the _emone;_ but this rule only refers to his general life, and does not prohibit him from ever entering his parents' house. If he receives his band when he is very young, this rule will not begin to operate until he is ten or twelve years old. He is in no case under any prohibition from being in or crossing the village enclosure. A girl is allowed to enter the _emone_, though she may not sleep there, prior to receiving her band, but after that she must never enter it.

A young unmarried man, who has arrived at the marriageable age, must not eat in the presence of women. He can eat in the bush, or inside the _emone_, but he must not eat on the platform of the _emone_, where women might see him. There appear to be no other customs of mutual avoidance, as, for example, that between son-in-law and mother-in-law, and with reference to other marriage relationships, such as are found in some of the Solomon Islands, and among various other primitive races.

Children and unimportant adults must always pa.s.s behind a chief, not in front of him, and when a chief is speaking, everyone else, old and young, must be silent.

Young men and girls a.s.sociate and talk freely together in public among other people, but no young man would go about alone with a girl, unless he was misconducting himself with her, or wished to do so.

Visiting is purely friendly and social, and there is no personal system of formal and ceremonial visiting, except as between communities or villages.

There do not appear to be any forms of physical salutation, but there are recognised ways in which men address one another on meeting and parting. If A and B meet in the bush, A may say to B, "Where do you come from?", and B will answer, "I come from----." A may then say, "Where are you going to?", and B will reply to this. Then B may put similar questions to A, and will be similarly answered. These questions are not necessarily asked because the questioner is really anxious for information, but are in the nature of a formality,--the equivalent of our "How do you do?" The system of asking and answering these questions, though well recognised as a social form, is not in practice strictly adhered to. Also A, on coming to a village and finding B there, and wishing to salute him, will call him by name, and B will then call A by name. Then A will say, "You are here,"

and B will reply, "I am here." This form is more strictly carried out than is the other one. Then when A leaves he will say to B, "I am going," and B will answer, "Go." Then B will call A by his name, and A will call B by name, and the formality is finished. If A, being very friendly with B, comes to his village to see him, on A's departure B, and probably B's family, will accompany A out of the village, and will stand watching his departure until he is about to disappear round the corner of the path; and then they will call out his name, and he will respond by calling out B's name.

Gestures may perhaps be included under this heading, though there is apparently but little to be said about the matter. When a question is asked, an affirmative reply is indicated by nodding the head, and a negative one by shaking it; and, though I asked if this was not probably the result of a.s.sociation with people who had been among white men, I was told that it was not so. A negative answer is also often expressed by shrugging the shoulders, and a kind of grimace with the lips. The nodding of the head to a negative question, such as "Are you not well?" signifies a.s.sent to the negative, that is, that he is not well, and so vice-versa with the shaking of the head.

CHAPTER V

Community, Clan, and Village Systems and Chieftainship

Communities, Clans, and Villages.

The native populations of the Mafulu area are scattered about in small groups or cl.u.s.ters of villages or hamlets; and, as each cl.u.s.ter of villages is for many purposes a composite and connected whole, I propose to call such a cl.u.s.ter a "community." Friendships, based on proximity and frequent intercourse and intermarriage, doubtless arise between neighbouring communities, but otherwise there does not appear to be any idea in the minds of the people of any general relationship or common interest between these various communities of the area. Each community regards the members of every other community within the area as outsiders, just as much so as are, say, the Ambo people to the north and the Kuni people to the west. If a community, or group of communities together, were the subject of an attack from either Ambo or Kuni natives, each of these being people whose language is different--as regards the Kuni utterly different--from that of the Mafulu, there would apparently be no thought of other Mafulu-speaking communities, as such, coming to a.s.sist in repelling the attack. Hence in dealing with the question of inter-village relationship, I have to fix my mind mainly upon the community and its const.i.tuent parts.

Concerning the situation as between one community and another, as they regard themselves as quite distinct and unrelated, the only question which seems to arise is that of the ownership of, and rights over, the intervening bush and other land. The boundaries between what is regarded as the preserve of one community, within which its members may hunt and fish, clear for garden purposes, cut timber, and collect fruit, and that of an adjoining community are perfectly well known. The longitudinal boundaries along the valleys are almost always the rivers and streams, which form good boundary marks; but those across the hills and ridges from stream to stream are, I was told, equally defined in the minds of the natives, though no artificial boundary marks are visible. These boundaries are mutually respected, and trouble and fighting over boundary and trespa.s.s questions are, I was told, practically unknown, the people in this respect differing from those of Mekeo.

A community comprises several villages, the number of which may vary from, say, two to eight. But the relationship between all the villages is not identical. There is a clan system, and there is generally more than one clan in a community. Often there are three or more of such clans. Each clan, however, has its own villages, or sometimes one village only, within the community, and two clans are never found represented in any one village, [56] or any one clan spread over two or more communities.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic ill.u.s.tration of a typical Mafulu community, the circles representing villages of one clan, the squares those of another clan, and the triangle being the sole village of a third clan.

I have said that the entire community is for many purposes a composite whole. In many matters they act together as a community. This is especially so as regards the big feast, which I shall describe hereafter. It is so also to a large extent in some other ceremonies and in the organisation of hunting and fishing parties and sometimes in fighting. And the community as a whole has its boundaries, within which are the general community rights of hunting, fishing, etc., as above stated.

But the relationship between a group of villages of any one clan within the community is of a much closer and more intimate character than is that of the community as a whole. These villages of one clan have a common _amidi_ or chief, a common _emone_ or clubhouse, and a practice of mutual support and help in fighting for redress of injury to one or more of the individual members; and there is a special social relationship between their members, and in particular clan exogamy prevails with them, marriages between people of the same clan, even though in different villages, being reprobated almost as much as are marriages between people of the same village.

The Mafulu word for village is _emi_, but there are no words signifying the idea of a community of villages and that of a group of villages belonging to the same clan within that community. As regards the latter there is the word _imbele_, but this word is used to express the intimate social relationship existing between the members of a clan, and not to express the idea of an actual group of villages. Communities and villages have geographical names. The name adopted for a community will probably be the name of some adjoining river or ridge. That adopted for a village will probably be the name of the exact crest or spot on which it is placed, the minuteness of the geographical nomenclature here being remarkable. Clan-groups of villages, forming part of a community, have, as such, no geographical names, but a member of one such group will distinguish himself from those of another group by saying that he is a man of----, giving the name of the chief of the clan occupying the group.

I was a.s.sured that, when there are two or more villages of a clan with a common chief and emone, they have originally been one village which has split up, an event which undoubtedly does in fact take place; while on the other hand the several villages of a clan, presumably the outcome of a previous splitting-up of a single village, will sometimes amalgamate together into one village, which thus becomes the only village of the clan. But two villages of different clans could never amalgamate in this way. The following are examples of these village changes:--

Near to the Mafulu Mission station is a community called Sivu, which includes seven villages occupied by three clans, as follows [57]:--

1. Voitele Belonging to a clan whose chief, Jaria, lives at Amalala, where the clan _emone_ is.

2. Amalala 3. Kodo-Malabe 4. Motaligo 5. Malala Belonging to a clan whose chief, Gito-iola, lived at Malala, where the clan _emone_ is. (He has recently retired in favour of his eldest son, Anum' Iva, who is the present chief, and also lives there.) 6. Gelva 7. Seluku Being the only village of a clan whose chief, Baiva, has recently died. His eldest son, who has succeeded him, is an infant. There is no regency.

Also near the Mission station is a community called Alo, which includes four villages occupied by two clans, as follows:--

1. Asida Belonging to a clan whose chief, Amo-Kau, lives at Asida, where the _emone_ is.

2. Kotsi 3. Ingomaunda 4. Uvande Being the only village of a clan whose chief is Iu-Baibe.

Referring to these villages, in the year 1899 the clan now occupying the four villages Voitele, Amalala, Kodo-Malabe and Motaligo had only a single village, Kaidiabe, the clan's chief being the above-mentioned Jaria. Then there was a Government punitive expedition, following the attack of the natives upon Monseigneur de Boismenu (the present Bishop of the Mission of the Sacred Heart in British New Guinea) and his friends, who were making their first exploration of the district, in which expedition a number of natives, including the brother of the chief, were killed. After that the village was abandoned, and the three villages of Voitele, Amalala and Motaligo arose in its place. Subsequently after a big feast, which was held at Amalala in the year 1909, that village put out an offshoot, which is the present village of Kodo-Malabe. Also in the year 1909 the village of Uvande was represented by seven villages, all belonging to one clan under the chieftainship of Iu-Baibe, the names of which were Ipolo, Olona, Isisibei, Valamenga, Amada, Angasabe and Amambu; but after the feast above mentioned the people of that clan all abandoned their villages, and joined together in forming the present village of Uvande.

The chief, that is the true chief, of a clan has his house in one of the villages of the clan, and if, as sometimes occurs, he has houses in two or more of these villages, there is one village in which is what is regarded as his usual residence, and this is the village in which is the _emone_ of the clan.

As regards the relative predominance of the various clans of a community and their respective chiefs in matters affecting the whole community (_e.g.,_ the arranging and holding of a big feast), there is no rule or system. The predominance will probably, unless there be a great disparity in the actual size or importance of the clans, and perhaps even to a certain extent notwithstanding such a disparity, fall to the clan whose chief by his superior ability or courage or force of character, or perhaps capacity for palavering, has succeeded in securing for himself a predominating influence in the community.

The word _imbele_ and certain other words are used to designate the closeness or otherwise of the connection between individuals. _Imbele_ signifies the close connection which exists between members of one clan, and a man will say of another member of his clan that he is his _imbele_. The word _bilage_ signifies a community connection, which is recognised as being not so close as a clan connection; and a man will say of another, who is outside his own clan, but is a member of his own community, that he is his _bilage_. The expression _a-gata_ signifies absence of any connection, and a man will refer to a member of another community, Mafulu, Kuni, Ambo, or anything else (there is no distinction between these in the use of the term) as being _a-gata_, thereby meaning that he is an outsider.

This brings me to the question of the use by me of the term "clan" to designate the intimate a.s.sociation above referred to. To begin with, there is a considerable difference between the situation produced by the clan system, if it may be regarded as such, of Mafulu and that of, say, Mekeo, where one finds several clans occupying one village, and where members of one clan may be scattered over several more or less distant villages; though this latter difference might perhaps arise in part from natural geographical causes, the flat lowlands of the Mekeo people being highly favourable to inter-village communication over their whole areas, and to the holding of their recognised and numerous markets, whilst it may almost be a.s.sumed that such intercommunication would be more restricted, at all events in days gone by, among the Mafulu inhabitants of the mountains.

Then again in Mafulu there are no clan badges, nor are there any realistic or conventional representations of, or designs which can to my mind be possibly regarded as representing, or having had their origin in the representation of, animals, birds, fishes, plants, or anything else. As regards this, however, it may be mentioned that the Mafulu people are very primitive and undeveloped, and have not in their art any designs which could readily partake of this imitative character, their artistic efforts never producing curves, and indeed not going beyond geometric designs composed of straight lines, rectangular and zig-zag patterns and spots.