Figure 1.
Leg-band making (commencing stage).
The band thus produced is of very small, close, fine work, and is quite soft, flexible and elastic, like European canvas, instead of being stiff and hard, like the plaited belts and armlets. The band is generally about an inch (more or less) in width. It is not dyed or coloured in any way, but is often decorated with beads, which are worked into the fabric in one or more horizontal lines, but as a rule, I think, only at irregular intervals, and not in continuous lines. These bands and anklets are seen in many of the plates. In Plates [10], [11] and [12] the bead decorations are seen.
Dancing aprons are made out of bark cloth by both men and women, but coloured by men only. The apron, which is worn at dances by women only, is about 6 to 12 inches wide. It is worn, as shown in Plate [35], in front of the body, being passed over the abdominal belt or a cord so as to hang over it in two folds, one behind the other; and the front fold, which is the part which shows (the back fold being more or less concealed), and is generally 18 inches to 2 feet in length, has at its base a fringe made by cutting the end of the cloth up into strips, equal or unequal in width, the number of which may be only six or less, or may be fifteen or twenty. The front fold is often wholly or partly stained, the colour of the stain being usually yellow, and is always more or less covered with a decorative design, the colours of which are usually black and red. The back fold is generally stained yellow, but never has any design upon it. The fringe is also usually stained yellow, and is without design, except occasionally perhaps a few horizontal lines of colour.
I may say here, as regards these colours, that, so far as my observation went, the colours of the decorative patterns were always black and red, and the general staining was always yellow; and indeed the last-mentioned colour does not show up against the natural colour of the cloth sufficiently clearly to adapt it for actual design work. I am not, however, prepared to say that this allocation of the colours is in fact an invariable one; and, as I know that red is used for general staining of perineal bands and dancing ribbons, it is possible that it, as well as yellow, is used for aprons.
Numerous variations of design are to be found in these garments; and indeed I may say that it is in these and in the feather head decorations that the Mafulu people mainly indulge such artistic powers as they possess.
Plates [36] to [43] are examples of decoration of the front folds of these dancing aprons[15]; and I give the following particulars concerning them, first stating that, subject to what may appear in my particulars, the darker lines and spots represent black ones in the apron, and the lighter ones represent red ones.
| Plate. | Average width of apron in inches. | Notes on ground staining and other matters. |
| [36] | 6½ | Background of design unstained, but back fold of apron and fringe stained yellow. |
| [37][16] | 7¾ | Ditto ditto ditto |
| [38] | 5¼ | Only a little irregular yellow staining behind the design. Back fold of apron and fringe stained yellow. |
| [39] | 6 | Background of design (except fringe part) unstained, but back fold of apron and fringe stained yellow. |
| [40] | 7 | Background of upper (zig-zag) part of design unstained, but that of lower (rectangular) part and whole of back fold of apron and fringe stained yellow. |
| [41] | 10½ | Faintly tinted broad horizontal and vertical lines and triangles in figure represent yellow stain. No other staining in the apron. |
| [42] | 6¾ | Background of design unstained, but back fold end of apron and fringe stained yellow. |
| [43] | 6¾ | No background staining in the apron. The smallness of the amount of decoration and the substitution of two tails for a fringe are, I think, unusual. |
Dancing ribbons are made out of bark cloth by both men and women, but are coloured by men only. These are worn by both men and women at dances, the ribbons hanging round the body from the abdominal belt or a cord, three or four or five of them being worn by one person, and one of these commonly hanging in front. They are generally 2 or 3 inches wide and about 4 feet long, but a portion of this length is required for hitching the ribbon round the belt. I think their ornamentation is confined to staining in transverse bands of alternating colour or of one colour and unstained cloth. [Plate 13, Fig. 4], illustrates the colouring of two ribbons (each 2 inches wide), the alternation in one case being red and yellow, and in the other red and unstained cloth; and the men figured in [Plate 70] are wearing ribbons, though they are not very clearly shown in the plate.
The feather ornaments for the head, and especially those worn at dances, and the feather ornaments worn on the back at dances present such an enormous variety of colours and designs that it would be impossible to describe them here without very greatly increasing the length of the book. The ornaments are often very large, sometimes containing eight or ten or even twelve rows of feathers, one behind another. They can usually be distinguished from those made by the Mekeo people by a general inferiority in design and make of the ornament as a whole, the Mafulu people having less artistic skill in this respect than the people of the lowlands. The ornaments include feathers of parrots, cockatoos, hornbills, cassowaries, birds of paradise, bower birds and some others. One never or rarely sees feathers of sea-birds, or waterfowl, or Goura pigeons (which, I was told, are not found among the mountains), as the Mafulu people in their trading with the people of the plains take in exchange things which they cannot themselves procure, rather than feathers, which are so plentiful with them.
The black cassowary feather is important in Mafulu as being the special feather distinction of chiefs; but, though chiefs are as a rule possessed of more and better ornaments than are the poorer and unimportant people, they have no other special and distinctive ornament.
Plates [44] and [45] illustrate some of these head feather ornaments. Plate [44], Fig. 1, shows an ornament made out of the brown fibrous exterior of the wild betel-nut, black pigeon feathers and white cockatoo feathers, the betel fibre and black pigeon feathers being, I was told, only used in the mountains. Plate [44], Fig. 2, shows one made out of brown feathers of young cassowary, white cockatoo feathers and red-black parrot feathers. Plate [44], Fig. 3, shows one made out of bright red and green parrot feathers. Plate [45], Fig. 1, shows one made out of black cassowary feathers, white cockatoo feathers, red parrot feathers and long red feathers of the bird of paradise. Plate [45], Fig. 2, is made of cassowary feathers only. This ornament is worn in front of the head, over the forehead, and is specially worn by chiefs.
Plate [46], Fig. 1, shows a head feather ornament which is peculiar to the mountains. The crescent-shaped body of the ornament, which is made of short feathers taken from the neck of the cassowary, is worn in front over the forehead, and the cockade of hawk feathers stands up over the head.
Plate [46], Fig. 2, shows a back ornament of cassowary feathers which is specially intended to be worn by chiefs at dances. The custom is to have from five to twelve of these ornaments hanging vertically side by side, suspended to a horizontal stick, which is fastened on the chief’s back at the height of the shoulders, so that the feathers hang like a mantle over his back. The mode in which feather ornaments for the back are hung on sticks is seen in Plate [70], where a stick with pendant ornaments is being held by two boys in front.
Plaited frames (Plate [47]) are worn by men in connection with these head feather ornaments. These frames are flat curved bands, rigid or nearly so, generally forming half or nearly half a circle of an external diameter of about 9 inches, and being about 1 inch in width. They are worn at dances and on solemn occasions. They are placed round the top of the forehead, not vertically, but with their upper edges sloping obliquely forward, and have at their ends strings, which pass over the ears and are tied at the back of the head. These frames help to support the feather ornaments, and prevent them from falling down over the face. They are made by men only. A groundwork of small split cane or other material runs in parallel curved lines from end to end, single pieces of the material being generally doubled back at the ends so as to form several lines; and this is strengthened and ornamented by interplaiting into it either split cane or some other material obtained from the splitting of the inside fibre of a plant in the way previously referred to. There are varieties of material and of pattern worked up in different designs of interplaiting. Some of the materials are uncoloured or merely the natural colour of the material, and others are in two colours, generally brown or reddish-brown and yellow. These frames display a considerable amount of variety of artistic design.
The feather erections used at special and important dances, and especially those worn by chiefs, are enormous things, towering 6 or 12 feet above the wearer’s head, and are generally larger than those of Mekeo. They are held in a framework, which has an inverted basket-shaped part to rest on the head, and downward pointing rods, which are tied to the shoulders. The frames are to a great extent similar to those of Mekeo, but, having a larger burden to bear, they are more strongly made. These feather erections and their frames are seen in Plate [70].
Here, as in other parts of New Guinea, both men and women, but especially men, love to decorate themselves with bright flowers and leaves and grasses, these being worn in the hair and in bunches stuck into their belts, armlets and leg-bands, and indeed in any places where they can be conveniently fastened.
It is not the practice with the Mafulu for mothers to wear the umbilical cords of any of their children, though apparently the Kuni people do so.
[1] This plate and the plates of dancing aprons were produced by first drawing the objects, and then photographing the drawings. It would have been more satisfactory if I could have photographed the objects themselves. But they were much crumpled, and I was advised that with many of them the camera would not indicate differences of colour, and that in one or two of them even the design itself would not come out clearly.
[2] Dr. Stapf, to whom I showed one of the armlets, No. 4, the materials of which are said to be the same as those used for this belt, said that the split cane-like material is a strip from the periphery of the petiole or stem of a palm, and that the other material is sclerenchyma fibre from the petiole or rhizome of a fern, and not that of a creeping plant. I may say that I felt a doubt at the time as to the complete accuracy of the information given to me concerning the vegetable materials used for the manufacture of various articles, and there may well be errors as to these.
[3] Dr. Stapf, to whom I showed one of these belts, says that it is made of the separated woody strands from the stem of a climbing plant (possibly one of the Cucurbitaceae or Aristolochiaceae).
[4] Dr. Stapf, having inspected one of the belts, thinks this material is composed of split strips of sclerenchyma fibre from the petiole or rhizome of a fern, and not that of a creeping plant.
[5] Dr. Stapf, to whom I showed a written description which I had made of the plant, and who has also examined the belt, is of opinion that it belongs to the Diplocaulobium section of Dendrobium.
[6] I have examined at the British Museum a belt made by the dwarf mountain people found by the recent expedition organised by the British Ornithologists’ Union. This belt is made in hank-like form, remarkably similar to that of my Mafulu belt No. 7, though in other respects it differs from the latter, and it is much smaller. The only other thing of similar hank-like form which I have been able to find at the Museum is a small belt or head ornament (it is said to be the latter) made by Sakai people of the Malay Peninsula.
[7] Chalmers describes a young woman in the foot hills behind Port Moresby who “had a net over her shoulders and covering her breasts as a token of mourning” (Work and Adventures in New Guinea p. 26). Compare also the Koita custom referred to by Dr. Seligmann (Melanesians of British New Guinea, p. 164) for a widow to wear two netted vests. The same custom is found at Hula.
[8] See reference to this question in the Annual Report for June, 1906, p. 13.
[9] I shall from time to time have to refer to the croton, and in doing so I am applying to the plant in question the name commonly given to it; but Dr. Stapf tells me that the plant so commonly called is really a codiœum.
[10] The Rev. Mr. Dauncey, of the L.M.S. station at Delena (a Roro village on the coast) told me that in his village it is a common thing for a native to pick up a small white snake about 12 inches long, and pass it through the hole in his nose; and that the Pokau people sometimes pass the tip of the tail of a larger black snake into these holes, the intention of both practices being to keep the hole open. In neither of these cases is the practice a part of an original ceremony connected with nose-piercing, such as that of Mafulu; but it may well be that all the practices have superstitious origins.
[11] There is apparently no corresponding ceremony among the Koita natives (Seligmann, Melanesians of British New Guinea, p. 72), nor among the Roro people (Id., p. 256), and I do not believe there is any such in Mekeo.
[12] I do not think these pigtails are used as ornaments by the Roro and Mekeo people, though Dr. Seligmann says that a Koita bridegroom wears them in his ears on his wedding day (Melanesians of British New Guinea, p. 78).
[13] Dr. Stapf, to whose inspection I have submitted two of these combs, said they were made of palm-wood—split and shaped pieces from the periphery of the petiole or stem of a palm—and that the material used for binding the teeth of the combs together was sclerenchyma fibre from the petiole or rhizome of a fern.
[14] These earrings are, I think, sometimes found in Mekeo; but they have all come from the mountains.
[15] See [note on p. 27] as to the way in which these plates have been produced.
[16] Only the two ends of the pattern have been copied, the intermediate part being the same throughout, as is shown.