Head-hunters, black, white, and brown

by Alfred C. Haddon

It is characteristic of some of the dances in the Hood peninsula for the girls to be, as it were, appendages to the dance rather than active participators in it. They make the minimum amount of movement, usually standing their ground, or else slowly advancing and retreating with the general movements of the men. They sway their petticoats sideways, or backwards and forwards; the latter is only a slight movement, but the former is more energetic, and (owing to the petticoat being tied on the right side and the two ends scarcely meeting) exhibits portions of the person which are ordinarily never exhibited, but the tattooing, which is liberally distributed all over the body, gives a half impression of clothing.

I noticed that one figure often merges into another, in which the positions of the dancers are reversed. It is difficult to follow and record all the various movements, but I received the impression that if one could become familiar with the various figures one would find that there is a regular and fairly logical sequence of figures in each of the sets of dances.

PLATE XVII

THE DUBU AT KAMALI

DUBU DANCE AT GOMORIDOBO

There is a dance-leader, or master of ceremonies, and when he gives the signal the drums are rapidly beaten many times in succession to show that set is finished. The character of the dancing was quite similar to that we saw at Babaka, but it is entirely different from the dancing in Torres Straits and the neighbouring coast of British New Guinea. In the west, according to my experience, men and women never dance the same dance together; the single exception known to me was in the case of a particular war dance, kawaladi, at Mabuiag, after a successful foray. Only one or two drums are beaten, and that, so far as I saw, never by those actually engaged in dancing; indeed, the drum-men sit down to beat their drums. Further, only certain people have the right to beat drums, whereas in this part of New Guinea every male dancer may have a drum, which he holds in his hand and often flourishes about when he is dancing.

Although probably every religious ceremony has its appropriate dance or dances, I do not believe that all dancing has a magical or religious significance. I think it would be impossible to prove whether all dances arose from magical or religious dancing; if it be so, this must have been hundreds, or perhaps thousands of years ago; and all record, or even all suspicion of their origin must in some cases have long since disappeared. Here, as in Torres Straits, there are certainly play or secular dances—dances for pure amusement and without any ulterior design.

Some of the men looked very effective with their lithe figures and supple limbs of a bright, warm brown, almost copper-coloured skin, with shell and bead frontlets and a tall stick of scarlet and orange feathers starting up from their dark, bushy hair. Some had shell nose-skewers, most painted their faces in various devices with black paint; round their necks were bead and shell necklaces, sometimes with a pendant boar’s tusk, and armlets and leglets decorated the limbs. The sole article of dress, in the usual acceptance of the term, is a narrow, yellow waist-belt, which also passes between the legs; streamers of a whitish leaf fluttered from various portions of the body.