The Mafulu Part 6

Also I was unable to discover the faintest trace of any idea which might be regarded as being totemistic, or having a totemistic origin. In particular, although enquiry was made from ten independent and trustworthy native sources, I could not find a trace of any system of general clan taboo against the killing or the eating of any animal, bird, fish, or plant. It is true that there are various temporary food taboos a.s.sociated with special conditions and events, and that there are certain things the eating of which is regarded as permanently taboo to certain individuals; but the former of these restrictions are general and are not a.s.sociated with particular clans or communities, and the latter restrictions relate separately to the individuals only, and apparently are based in each case on the fact that the food has been found to disagree with him; though whether the restriction is the result of mere common sense based upon individual experience, or has in it an element of superst.i.tion as to something which may be harmful to the individual concerned, is a point upon which I could not get satisfactory explanation.

Again, still dealing with the question of totemism, I may say that the community and village names (as already stated, there are no clan names) do not appear to be referable to any possible totemistic objects. There is no specific ancestor worship, in connection with which I could endeavour to trace out an a.s.sociation between that ancestor and a totemistic object, and there is no special reverence paid to any animal or vegetable, except certain trees and creepers, the fear of which is a.s.sociated with spirits and ghosts generally, and not with ghosts of individual persons, and except as regards omen superst.i.tions concerning flying foxes and fireflies, which are general and universal among all these people, and except as regards the possible imitative character of the Mafulu dancing, which, if existent, is probably also universal.

Moreover, I was told that now, at any rate, the people regard their _imbele_ or clan relationship as a social one, as well as one of actual blood, a statement which is ill.u.s.trated by the fact that, if a member of one clan leaves his village to reside permanently in a village of another clan, he will regard the members of the latter clan, and will himself be regarded by them, as being _imbele_, although he does not part with the continuing _imbele_ connection between himself and the other members of his original clan.

On the other hand the a.s.sociation between members of a clan is exceedingly close, so much so that a serious injury done by an outsider to one member of a clan (_e.g._, his murder, or the case of his wife eloping with a stranger and her family refusing to compensate him for the price which he had paid for her on marriage) is taken up by the entire clan, who will join the injured individual in full force to inflict retribution; and, as already stated, the members of a clan share in one common chief and one common _emone_, intermarriage between them is regarded as wrong, and apparently each group of villages occupied by a single clan has in origin been a single village, and may well have a common descent. I think, therefore, that I am justified in regarding these internal sections of a community as clans.

Chiefs, Sub-Chiefs and Notables and Their Emone

At the head of each clan is the _amidi_, or chief of the clan. He is, and is recognised as being, the only true chief.

He is the most important personage of his clan, and is treated with the respect due to his office; but, though he takes a leading part in all matters affecting the clan, he is not a person with any administrative or judicial functions, and he has no power of punishment or control over the members of the clan. In public ceremonial matters of importance, however, he has functions which rest primarily upon him alone, and he does, in fact, always perform these functions in his own village; and on the occasion of a big feast (as to which see below), he does so in whatever village of the clan that feast may be held.

The chief lives in one of the villages of the clan, but may have houses in other villages of that clan also. In the village in which he mainly resides is his _emone_ or club-house, which is the only true _emone_ of the clan; and for the upkeep and repair of this he is responsible. This is the ceremonial _emone_ in his own village, and is always the one used in connection with the ceremony of a big feast in any village of the clan; and, if the feast be held in a village other than that in which is his then existing _emone_, another one is built in that village in lieu of his former one in the other village.

There is not in connection with these chiefs and their ceremonies any distinctive difference in importance between the right and the left as regards the positions occupied by them on the _emone_ platform or the structure of the _emone_, such as is found among the Roro people.

Next in rank to the chief, and at the head of each village of the clan, there is a sub-chief, or _em' u babe_, this term meaning "father of the village." He is not regarded as a true chief, but he is ent.i.tled, and it is his duty, to perform in his own village all the functions of the chief, except those connected with the big feast. He and the similar sub-chiefs of the other villages of the clan are the persons who take the prominent part in supporting the chief in any ceremonial function concerning the whole clan in which the latter may be engaged, and in particular at the big feast. The _em' u babe_ is usually a relative of the chief, and at all events is an important personage. He also has in his own village his _emone_, which is the princ.i.p.al _emone_ of that village, and is used for all ceremonial functions in that village except the big feast, but it is not regarded as being a true _emone_. The chief holds in his own village of residence both his office of _amidi_ and that of _em' u babe_, there being no other person holding the latter office in that village.

Next in rank to the sub-chiefs come a number of _ake baibe_, which means "great men." These are the leading people--the aristocracy--of the clan. There are no distinctive social grades of rank among them. Their number is often very large in proportion to the total number of male inhabitants of a village; indeed sometimes almost every member of a village will claim to belong to this cla.s.s. These people are in no sense office-bearers, and have no special duties to perform, though on a ceremonial occasion they are ent.i.tled to have their importance borne in mind. Each of them also is ent.i.tled to have an _emone_ (here again not a true _emone_) in his village, but in fact their numbers often make this practically impossible, and you rarely see more than two or three _emone_ in one village.

The above are all the chiefs and notables of the clan. There is no such thing as a war chief.

Aristocracy in its various forms is not a condition to which a man attains on getting older--it is attained by inheritance.

The office of the chief is hereditary in the male line by strict rules of descent and primogeniture. On the death of a chief his office descends to his eldest son, or if that son has died leaving children, it descends to the eldest son of that son, and so on for subsequent generations. Failing the eldest son or male issue in the male line of the eldest son, the office devolves upon the late chiefs second son or his male issue in the male line. And so on for other sons and their issue. Failing such male issue the office pa.s.ses to a collateral relation of the late chief on his father's side (_e.g._, the late chief's next eldest brother or that brother's son, or the late chief's second brother or that brother's son), the ascertainment of the devolution being based upon a general principle of nearest male relationship in the male line and primogeniture. [58]

The chief holds his office for life, but he may in his lifetime resign it in favour of the person ent.i.tled to succeed him, and this in fact often occurs. He cannot, however, on the appointment of his successor still continue in office himself, so as to create a joint chieftainship, as is done in Mekeo. He, as chief, is subject to no special taboo, and there is no qualification for office, other, of course, than hereditary right; but no chief can perform the functions of his office, or build for himself an _emone_, until he has married. There is no ceremony on the chiefs accession to office on the death of his predecessor; but there is a ceremony (to be described hereafter) on a chief's abdication in favour of his successor. Cases have, I was told, occurred in which a man has in one way or another forced himself into the position of chief, though not qualified by descent, and has thus become a chief, from whom subsequent chieftainship descent has been traced, but I could learn nothing of the circ.u.mstances under which this had occurred. Also it has happened that, when a chief has been weak, and has not a.s.serted his position, a sub-chief has more or less usurped his power and influence, without actually upsetting his chieftainship or supplanting him in his performance of ceremonial duties.

If the chief on acquiring office by inheritance is a child, or not qualified to act (_e.g._, unmarried), he is nevertheless chief; but some person will usually act as his guardian, and perform his functions for him until he has qualified. This person will probably be one of the young chief's eldest male paternal relations (_e.g._, the eldest living brother of the last previous chief), and will presumably be a person of consequence; but he will not necessarily be one of the sub-chiefs.

All the above observations concerning the hereditary nature of a chief's office and subsequently explained matters apply also to the case of a sub-chief, except that there is no ceremony on his resigning office in favour of his successor, and that the usurpation of the office of a sub-chief, of the occurrence of which I found no record, would perhaps be more difficult of accomplishment. In the event of a village throwing off an offshoot village, or itself splitting up into two villages, the then existing sub-chief of the original village would continue his office in it or, in case of a division, in one of the villages resulting from the split, and the other village would have for its sub-chief some one of the _ake-baibe_ of the original village, probably the one who was most active in organising the split. On the other hand, if several villages united into one, one only of their sub-chiefs could be sub-chief of the village arising from the amalgamation, and the others would sink to the rank of _ake-baibe_.

The observations concerning the hereditary nature of a chiefs rank also apply to the _ake-baibe_. I have no information concerning them on the other points; but these are not so important as regards these people, who have no official position and have no duties to perform.

There are, as will be seen hereafter, a number of persons who are employed from time to time to perform various acts and functions of a ceremonious or superst.i.tious character, notably the man who has the important duty of killing pigs at feasts; but these men are not by virtue of their offices or functions either chiefs or sub-chiefs, or even notables or important personages. It is in each case a matter of the specific personal power which the man is believed to possess. Any of them might happen to be an important personage, and the pig-killer, whose office is a prominent one, would probably be one; though in his case muscular strength would, I understand, be an important element of qualification. [59]

CHAPTER VI

Villages, Emone, Houses and Modes of Inter-Village Communication

Villages and Their Emone and Houses.

The Mafulu villages are generally situated on narrow plateaux or ridges, sloping down on each side; but the plateaux are not usually so narrow, nor the slopes so steep, as are those of the Kuni district, and the villages themselves are not generally so narrow, as the contour of the country does not involve these conditions to the same extent. Also the Mafulu villages are on the lower ridges only, and not on the high mountains; but the actual elevations above sea-level of these lower ridges are, I think, generally higher than those of the top ridges of the Kuni. Plate 54 shows the position and surroundings of the village of Salube (community of Auga), and is a good representative example, except that the plate does not show any open gra.s.sland.

The villages are, or were, protected with stockades and with pits outside the stockades, and sometimes with platforms on trees near the stockade boundaries, from which platforms the inhabitants can shoot and hurl stones upon an enemy climbing up the slope. The stockade is made of timber, is about 15 to 25 feet high, and is generally constructed in three or more parallel rows or lines, each of the lines having openings, but the openings never being opposite to one another. These protections have now, however, been largely, though not entirely, discontinued. [60] It is, or was, also the practice, when expecting an attack, to put into the ground in the approaches to the village calthrop-like arrow-headed objects, with their points projecting upwards.

The average size of the villages is small compared with that of the large villages of Mekeo, some of them having only six or eight houses, though many villages have thirty houses, and some of them have fifty or sixty or more. The houses and _emone_ are much smaller than those of Mekeo, and much ruder and simpler in construction and they have no carving or other decoration. There are no communal houses.

The houses are ranged in two parallel rows along the side of the ridge, with an open village s.p.a.ce between them, the s.p.a.ce being considerably longer than it is broad, and more or less irregular in shape. The houses are generally built with their door-openings facing inwards towards the village enclosure.

At one end of the village, and facing down the open s.p.a.ce, is the chief's or sub-chief's _emone_. These are, like the Roro _marea_ and the Mekeo _ufu_, used, not only in connection with ceremonies, but also as living houses for men, especially unmarried men, and for the accommodation of visitors to the village. There are probably also in the village the _emone_ of one or more of the notables before mentioned, of which one will be at the other end of the village and any others will be among the houses at the side of, and facing into, the village enclosure. There are not often more than three _emone_, true or otherwise, in one village.

You of course do not find the surrounding palm groves of Mekeo and the coast; nor do you generally see the waste s.p.a.ce behind the houses, or the ring of garden plots outside the waste s.p.a.ce, the position of the village on its ridge being usually hardly adapted to the latter. You may, however, often find garden plots very near to the village. Each family has its own house, and, except as regards the _emone_ and their use, there are no separate houses for men or women, or for any cla.s.s of them.

The Mafulu _emone_ is an oblong building, erected on piles of very varying height, the interior floor being anything from 3 to 15 feet above the ground. In size also it varies very much, but generally it is internally about 12 to 15 feet long from front to back, and about 8 to 12 feet in width. The roof, which is thatched with long, rather broad leaves, is constructed on the ridge and gable principle, with the gable ends facing the front and the back, and the roof sloping on both sides in convex curves from the ridge downwards. Remarkable and specially distinctive features of the building are the thatched roof appendages projecting from the tops of the two gable ends (front and back), the forms of which appendages are somewhat like a hood or the convex fan-shaped semicircular roof of an apse, and in construction are sometimes made as rounded overhanging continuations of the upper part of the roof, and sometimes as independent additions, not continuous with, and not forming parts of, the actual roof. In front of the building, but not at the back, is a platform at a level about a foot below that of the inner floor, extending the whole length of the front of the building, and projecting forwards to a distance of from 2 to 5 feet. The approach from the ground to this platform in the case of a high-built emone is a rudely constructed ladder, but when the building is only low and near the ground it is generally merely a rough sloping piece of tree trunk, or even only a stump. The two gable ends are enclosed with walls made of horizontal tree branches, two or three of which are, at both the front and rear ends of the building, discontinued for a short distance in the centre, so as to leave openings. These openings are, say, 2 feet or more above the level of the front outside platform, and 1 foot or more above that of the inside floor, and are usually very small; so that, in entering or leaving the building, you have to step up to, or even climb, and wriggle yourself through the opening, and then step down on the other side. Inside the building you find the centre of the floor s.p.a.ce occupied by a longitudinal fireplace, about 2 feet broad, extending from front to back of the building; and the floors on each side of this fireplace slope upwards somewhat from the visible level of the fire-place towards the sides of the building. The fireplace part of the interior is, in fact, dropped to a level below that of the adjoining floors, so as to form a long trough, which is filled up with soil upon which the fire can burn; and it is the visible top level of this soil covering which is practically flush with the inside lower level of the adjacent upward-sloping floors. Some distance below the roof there is usually an open ceiling of reeds, used for the purpose of storing and drying fruits and other things, and especially, as will be seen hereafter, for drying fruit required in the preparation for the big feast.

Fig. 4 is a diagram of the front of an _emone_, disclosing the internal plan of the floor and fireplace, for which purpose the front hood of the roof and the front platform are omitted from the plan, and of the horizontal front timbers the third up from the bottom is shown at the ends only, the middle part being omitted, and small portions of the timbers immediately above them are omitted. The words in parentheses appearing in the explanatory notes to the figure are the Mafulu names for the various parts of the building.

_Explanatory Notes to Fig._ 4.

(_a_) Main posts, one at the front of the building, one in the middle, and one at the back (_apopo_).

(_b_) Posts supporting roof, a line of them running along each side (_tedele_).

(_c_) Posts supporting outer edge of flooring, a line of them on each side (_emuje_ or _aje_).

(_d_) Post supporting inner edge of flooring and hearth, a line of them on each side (_foj' ul' emuje_).

(_e_) Lower ridge pole (_tanguve_).

(_f_) Main downward-sloping roof work, strongly made, going all the way back, only four or five of them on each side (_loko-loko_).

(_g_) Upper ridge pole (_tope_).

(_h_) Main horizontal roof work, resting on _f_ (_gegebe_).

(_i_) Upper downward-sloping roof work, not so thick as _f_ resting on _h_, going all the way back at intervals of about 1 foot (_engala_).

(_k_) Upper horizontal roof work, not so thick as _h_ resting on _i_ (_gegebe_)

(_l_) Thatch made of leaves (_asase_).

_Note._--The roof (excluding the hood) projects forward and overhangs a little beyond the post _a_, so as to overhang the greater part, but not the whole, of the platform; the hood (not shown in this figure) is really intended to shelter the platform.

(_m_) Pole supporting roof (_karia_).

(_n_) Pole supporting outer edge of floor (_karia_).