Head-hunters, black, white, and brown

by Alfred C. Haddon

One day we started in the early morning to visit Keapara (Kerepunu). Mr. A. C. English, the Government Agent for the Rigo District, had followed us to Bulaa, and he took us in his whale-boat. After rowing for a long time in a heavy sea against a head wind Mr. English found that the wind and tide were too strong for us to cross Hood Bay; so the sail was set, and we ran down the bay to Kalo. To windward of the mouth of the Vanigela is a sand-bar, which deepens as it projects into the bay, and over this the breakers came rolling in with any amount of surf and flying spray. We had a few anxious moments as the boat was carried along through the seething water, but we got safely through into the quiet water beyond, and then rode into the mouth of the river, a vision of fairy calm and beauty. Nipa palms erected their rigid fern-like leaves directly from the water; they were banked by varied tropical foliage, and shooting skywards were the slender white stems of the coconut palms with their waving leafy crowns.

After a short spell we walked for eight miles along the sand beach round the bay till we came to the entrance of Hood lagoon, over which we were ferried in a canoe, and on arriving at Keapara we were hospitably received by Tau and his wife, the L.M.S. South Sea teacher, who gave us afternoon tea before we visited the village.

The sand beach in front of the village presented a busy scene; until now I had not come across such activity as was here displayed. Several canoes were being made, and not only was there a continuous succession of chopping noises, but the sense of smell was also affected, partly by the smoke of the fires, but mainly by the very disagreeable odour given out by the soft wood as it is chipped by the adzes.

The trees of which the canoes are made grow up the Vanigela River; they are cut down, and their trunks are floated down the stream to its mouth. The Kalo men sell the lumber to the Keapara men, who tow it to their village. The outside of the canoes is cut with steel tomahawks obtained from the white man, but the logs are hollowed out with stone adzes, the stone blade of which can be shifted round to any angle by turning the holder on the shaft. It seems strange that these primitive shipwrights should prefer stone implements to iron ones for hollowing out the canoes; perhaps it is because they are frightened lest the sharper iron blade should inadvertently cut through the thin side of the hull. After the canoes are dug out and trimmed down they are charred by fires lit outside and inside them; the effect of this is to harden the wood, and I suppose to somewhat fill up the pores so as to make the craft more seaworthy. I believe that one result of applying fire to the canoes is to make them open out more widely. Probably in precisely the same manner, save that no metal tool was available, our Neolithic ancestors manufactured their canoes. It was an unexpected pleasure to have this glimpse into the Stone Age.

PLATE XV

HOLLOWING OUT A CANOE WITH STONE ADZES AT KEAPARA

A BULAA GIRL BEING TATTOOED

Sitting on the sand beach was a man chipping out a wooden bowl from a piece of the same kind of wood as that of which the canoes were made. He employed a small adze, constructed on the same principle as that of the large adzes used in canoe making. In this instance the blade was made of iron, but so fashioned as precisely to resemble the original stone blade; subsequently I procured a small stone adze. We photographed the man at work, and, as we have experienced often, he took no notice of us; but he appeared to be much surprised when I bargained for his implement and the unfinished bowl. A native cannot in the least understand why one wants to purchase an unfinished article and the tool with which it is being made.

The Keapara natives buzzed round us like flies, offering for sale “curios” of all kinds and sea shells; often the former were broken and worthless specimens. One did not know which way to turn, so persistent were they, and the din was deafening. Well did they maintain their reputation for being keen, and whenever possible, unprincipled traders; still we did very well and got our things reasonably enough. I understand that they live principally by barter, not only locally, but also doing some trading up and down the coast.