All the time the fulaari are in office they may not chew the betel nut, nor drink coconut water, lest the areca and coco nuts should not grow. They may not live with their wives; indeed, they may not even look at a woman, and if they pass one they must keep their eyes on the ground. Women must not go outside their houses whilst the fulaari are going their rounds, but if a woman is seen, the fulaari places his club at her feet, and she must remain standing there until a fine has been paid for her. If the fulaari convict a man of eating the tabooed nuts he is tied to the tree from which he gathered the forbidden fruit, and is only released on the payment of a pig as a fine.
The village from time to time gives presents of food to the fulaari.
When there is again a good show of nuts the afu chief proclaims that on a particular day the restriction will be removed. We were at Inawi on July 15th and 16th, and the 18th the taboo would be removed from the nuts, after an interval of thirty-two weeks.
We saw the preparations for a big feast, for which eighty-six wild boars had been caught, besides numerous kangaroos and a large supply of native food. We were very sorry that we could not stay to witness the feasting and dancing.
During the afternoon and evening the missionaries arrived in detachments, and our unexpected party of four rather complicated Father Vitale’s arrangements, but he was so hospitable and friendly and all were so kind that we did not feel de trop. We had two interesting phonograph exhibitions in the afternoon and evening, and one chief made a speech into it amid great excitement.
During our short stay at Inawi we bought a fair number of ethnographical objects, especially lime gourds with burnt designs and stone blades of the now obsolete stone adzes; no handles of these were to be had. These stone adze heads were ruder than any I had previously seen from New Guinea. The Papuan stone implements are usually characterised by being neatly ground and finely polished. These implements were roughly hewn and polished only at the cutting edge.
We also bought some whipping-tops; these are common here, and the following game is played. Two rows of four or five boys stand a considerable distance apart; each lad spins his own top, and they gradually increase the severity of the lashing, till the tops career in mid air across the space between the two rows, the object being to hit one of the opponent’s tops. When this is accomplished the conqueror cries out, “Ango ango angaia!” (“My top has bitten you”). The tops (ango ango) are conical pieces of wood about two and a half to three inches in length.
The whips (ngapu ngapu) are ordinary pieces of stick or cane to which a lash is attached composed of a three-ply plat of strips of bark-cloth from the ipi tree. It is pretty certain that the whipping-top has not been brought to New Guinea by the white man, for Dr. Lawes has previously found it among the Kabadi tribe, where the natives had not been under the influence of the foreigner.
The following day, July 16th, some of the missionaries arrived, and all went to High Mass in the morning. We had so much else to do that we thought it was not necessary to show our sympathy to the extent of going to the service. We had quite a feast in the middle of the day, and all were very merry. Just before grace after meat, Brother Philip left the table, and in another part of the verandah played the air of our National Anthem in honour of the guests. This act of courtesy pleased us much.