There are one or two quaint customs of the ibitoes which may be noted. They must never walk down the main street of a village, though the girls at the corresponding period may do so. I noticed when we walked to Veifaa the young men who were with us slunk round by the backs of the houses in passing through a village or to get to the youths’ marea. They are not constrained to work, but they are tacitly permitted to steal. If they are caught they will be punished, but it is no crime, and is not considered a disgrace, and will never be made the occasion of a quarrel as ordinary theft often is. Sometimes the lads will do a little perfunctory gardening, or if they want to combine amusement with business they will take a bow and arrow and go to the seashore to shoot fish.
It is tempting to go on writing about these interesting people, but those who desire further information are referred to Father Guis’ charming account of them in Les Missions Catholiques (1898), Nos. 1,493-1,512.
Father Cochard gave me the following examples of belief in omens. When the hauba bird comes into a village and cries in the night, someone will die. If a kangaroo hops into a village when the men are out hunting, someone will die. Unfortunately I did not ask whether it was one of the hunters or of the people then in the village that would die, but I expect it was the former, and that the kangaroo was the spirit of the dead hunter. This interpretation is borne out by the following: If men are voyaging and a gale of wind suddenly springs up the mariners know that someone has died, as the gust of wind is the passage of the spirit.
An interesting example of what is known as the “life-token” occurs in Yule Island. When the men go to fetch sago from the Gulf a fire is lit, and if the fire goes out there will be bad luck for the voyagers, consequently care is taken to keep the fire alight during the whole time the men are away.
Very characteristic of this district is the custom of men wearing a large, plain, bark-cloth shawl, and the use of large mosquito nets, or rather sleeping bags (ruru), made from the net-like spathe of the leaf of the coconut palm. These contrivances are about ten to thirteen feet in length, and some six feet wide, and they afford a suffocating shelter from mosquitos for the whole family.
The women of Yule Island dress and tattoo from head to foot in a manner very similar to the Motu women; but in the neighbouring tribes the tattooing is less complete. According to Father Guis, at Waima only the face and breast are tattooed, and at Marehau, the village on the beach at Delena, the face alone; but when at Delena I certainly saw some tattooing on the legs of some women. The village of Delena is said to have a double origin. Some of the people belong to the Roro tribe, who claim to have originally come from Bereina, in the Mekeo district. The other inhabitants belong to the Motu stock, and migrated from Port Moresby. Hence one would expect rather a mixture of customs in this little village. One Nara woman I saw had characteristic tattooing on the body and legs, but not on the face and arms. I was informed that this custom was recently introduced from Delena; the spiral designs on her legs were certainly Mekeo and not Motu patterns.
Fig. 27. Tattooing in the Mekeo District
Two Veifaa women and Maino, the chief of Inawi
Father Guis states that the women of Mekeo are not acquainted with tattooing. I do not know what particular villages he had in his mind, probably those far inland, for at Veifaa I sketched two women whose torsos were richly tattooed, and I saw women in Inawa with similar tattooing. He also states that each tribe has its distinctive pattern, and any infringement of copyright would be a valid reason for war.