Head-hunters, black, white, and brown

by Alfred C. Haddon

Whilst in Bulaa I added very largely to my collection of samples of the hair of the natives. The Papuan belongs to the group of men who have dark skins and black woolly or frizzly hair. The hair is very much like that of the true negro, but it grows much longer. In some parts of New Guinea the hair is usually worn rolled into numerous cords, which hang down all round the head like a thrum mop, but among most of the people of the south-eastern part of the Possession the hair is combed out so as to form a very characteristic aureola, which is the glory of a Papuan dandy. It is astonishing, however, the number of people one finds in this part of New Guinea with curly, and even wavy hair. In a few cases the hair is almost quite straight, whereas, as I have remarked, the hair of the typical Papuan is frizzly or woolly, and so far as I am aware it is universally so among the hill tribes of the interior, among the inhabitants of the Papuan Gulf, and indeed all over the western portion of British New Guinea. This variability in the character of the hair evidently points to a racial mixture here. I was also surprised to find in this district the tips of the hair vary from dark to quite a pale brown or a tan colour, though the roots are black. I naturally put this down to bleaching, owing to the use of lime for sanitary purposes; but Mr. English assured me that it is a natural colour, a fact of some interest and perplexity.

The marine pile dwellings of the village of Bulaa probably present, at all events at a distance, much the same appearance as did the lake dwellings of Central Europe in prehistoric times. People have wondered how the primitive Swiss drove in the piles that supported their houses. This question can only be answered approximately by noting what people do nowadays. I therefore asked Mr. English to arrange to have the process of pile-driving exhibited.

A post was procured, one end of which was roughly pointed, and to the other extremity two long ropes were tied. One man scooped a hole on the reef at low tide with his hands; the pile was then propped up in the hole by several men. Two or three men steadied the post, while several caught hold of each guy and gently swayed it to and fro; the men who clasped the pole prevented it from overbalancing. Gradually by its own weight the pile is thus wormed into the ground. I was informed that when a pile is sunk actually in the sea a light staging is erected near the top of the post; two or three men stand on this framework, so that by their extra weight the pile may sink more readily.

One day we saw Neolithic men making canoes at Keapara, and here at Bulaa we saw the pile-dwellers at work with a marine pile-village in the background.

I spent a fair amount of time on various occasions in getting a number of small boys to make toys and play games, several of which we photographed. Very little is known about the toys and games of the children of savage peoples, and judging from the interest and anthropological value of the study of the amusements of our own children, these will prove an important field for research when more facts are available. I played a good deal with the children, to their and my amusement. I also showed them one or two of our games, such as cock-fighting and hand-slapping; but I think they were not sufficiently impressed by them to adopt them. I mention this, however, in case a future traveller should find them still practised.

Toys made of leaves were common. The small boys cut off pieces about ten to twelve inches in length from the origin of the leaves of a tall, coarse grass that is used in thatching houses. The blade is split off from each side of the mid-rib for about half its length; the two flaps are twisted round the index finger of the right hand, and the cleared mid-rib is held between the thumb and middle finger; the hand is jerked, and the tearing off of the remaining portion of the blade of the leaf gives a considerable impetus to the mid-rib, which thus flies away like a miniature javelin. This was the simplest method of playing, but there were three others, two of which necessitated the use of both hands; the principle of gaining the impetus was the same in all.

I was informed that this game is also played at Mawatta, a village on the Torres Straits coast of British New Guinea, but I do not know whether it occurs throughout the intermediate coast.

Rushes are twisted into diamond-shaped objects named kuru, they are said to be stuck in houses for play. A Mawatta man claimed that his people also made them, and said, “We look at hill, and make him all the same.”

The following are all made of coconut palm leaves.

Lauga consists of two strips, each with three slits in them; the puzzle is to make or to undo the interlacing as shown in the figure ([p. 226]).