The Mafulu: Mountain People of British New Guinea
Mafulu Women Decorated for a Dance.
This book is the outcome of an expedition to British New Guinea in 1910, in which, after a short stay among the people of some of the western Solomon Islands, including those of that old centre of the head hunters, the Rubiana lagoon, and a preparatory and instructive journey in New Guinea among the large villages of the Mekeo district, I struck across country by a little known route, via Lapeka, to Ido-Ido and on to Dilava, and thus passed by way of further preparation through the Kuni country, and ultimately reached the district of the Mafulu villages, of whose people very little was known, and which was therefore the mecca of my pilgrimage.
I endeavoured to carry out the enquiries of which the book is a record as carefully and accurately as possible; but it must be remembered that the Mafulu people had seen very few white men, except some of the Fathers of the Catholic Mission of the Sacred Heart, the visits of Government officials and once or twice of a scientific traveller having been but few and far between, and only short; that the mission station in Mafulu (the remotest station of the mission) had only been established five years previously; that the people were utterly unaccustomed to the type of questioning which systematic ethnological enquiry involves, and that necessarily there was often the usual hesitation in giving the required information.
I cannot doubt, therefore, that future enquiries and investigations made in the same district will bring to light errors and misunderstandings, which even with the greatest care can hardly be avoided in the case of a first attempt on new ground, where everything has to be investigated and worked up from the beginning. I hope, however, that the bulk of my notes will be found to have been correct in substance so far as they go.
I regret that my ignorance of tropical flora and fauna has made it impossible for me to give the names of many of the plants and animals to which I refer.
Robert Wood Williamson
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Preface
Contents
Plates
Illustrations in Text
Introduction
Introductory
Physique and Character
Physique.
Character and Temperament.
Dress and Ornament
Dress.
Ornaments.
Figure 1.
Daily Life and Matters Connected with It
Daily Life.
Food.
Cooking and Eating and Their Utensils.
Various Implements.
Figure 2.
Domestic Animals.
Etiquette.
Community, Clan, and Village Systems and Chieftainship
Communities, Clans, and Villages.
Figure 3.
Chiefs, Sub-Chiefs and Notables and Their Emone
Villages, Emone, Houses and Modes of Inter-Village Communication
Villages and Their Emone and Houses.
Figure 4.
Figure 5.
Figure 6.
Communications.
Government, Property, and Inheritance
Government and Justice.
Property and Inheritance.
The Big Feast
Figure 7.
Some other Ceremonies and Feasts
Ceremony on Birth.
Ceremony on Assumption of Perineal Band.
Ceremony on Admission to Emone.
Ceremony Conferring Right to Use Drum and Dance.
Ceremony on Devolution of Chieftainship
Ceremony on Building of a New Emone.
Matrimonial and Sexual
Killing, Cannibalism, and Warfare
Killing.
Cannibalism.
Warfare.
Hunting, Fishing and Agriculture
Hunting.
Fishing.
Agriculture.
Bark Cloth Making, Netting and Art.
Bark Cloth Making and Netting.
Bark Cloth Making.
Netting.
Figure 8.
Figure 9.
Figure 10.
Art, Design, etc.
Music and Singing, Dancing and Toys and Games
Music and Singing.
Dancing.
Toys and Games.
Counting, Currency and Trade
Counting.
Currency and Trade.
Language
Illness, Death, and Burial
Ailments and Remedies.
Death and Burial.
Death and Burial.
Religion and Superstitious Beliefs and Practices
Religion and Superstitions.
Sorcery.
Charms.
Omens.
General.
Taboo.
Note on the Kuni People
Conclusion
A Grammar of the Fuyuge Language
Phonology.
Nouns.
Adjectives.
Numerals.
Pronouns.
Verbs.
Adverbs.
Prepositions and Postpositions.
Conjunctions.
Interjections.
Notes on Dependent Clauses.
Note on the Afoa Language
Note on the Kovio Language.
A Comparative Vocabulary of the Fuyuge, Afoa, and Kovio Languages
I. Classification.
II. Comparison.
III. Papuan and Melanesian.
Plates
Plate 1.
Plate 2.
Plate 3.
Plate 4.
Plate 5.
Plate 6.
Plate 7.
Plate 8.
Plate 9.
Plate 10.
Plate 11.
Plate 12.
Plate 13.
Plate 14.
Plate 15.
Plate 16.
Plate 17.
Plate 18.
Plate 19.
Plate 20.
Plate 21.
Plate 22.
Plate 23.
Plate 24.
Plate 25.
Plate 26.
Plate 27.
Plate 28.
Plate 29.
Plate 30.
Plate 31.
Plate 32.
Plate 33.
Plate 34.
Plate 35.
Plate 36.
Plate 37.
Plate 38.
Plate 39.
Plate 40.
Plate 41.
Plate 42.
Plate 43.
Plate 44.
Plate 45.
Plate 46.
Plate 47.
Plate 48.
Plate 49.
Plate 50.
Plate 51.
Plate 52.
Plate 53.
Plate 54.
Plate 55.
Plate 56.
Plate 57.
Plate 58.
Plate 59.
Plate 60.
Plate 61.
Plate 62.
Plate 63.
Plate 64.
Plate 65.
Plate 66.
Plate 67.
Plate 68.
Plate 69.
Plate 70.
Plate 71.
Plate 72.
Plate 73.
Plate 74.
Plate 75.
Plate 76.
Plate 77.
Plate 78.
Plate 79.
Plate 80.
Plate 81.
Plate 82.
Plate 83.
Plate 84.
Plate 85.
Plate 86.
Plate 87.
Plate 88.
Plate 89.
Plate 90.
Plate 91.