Head-hunters, black, white, and brown

by Alfred C. Haddon

On entering manhood the boys were secluded in the kwod for one month, and might on no account see a woman, or be seen by any. A large stone was shown me, with which a long time ago seven boys had been killed for breaking this rule. These misguided youths, tired of the irksomeness of the discipline, broke away from the kwod, and seeing their mothers carrying some yams and sweet potatoes shouted out to them, and holding their left arms to attract attention, asked for food.

During the month of their seclusion the boys daily had charcoal made from charred coconuts rubbed into them; they might eat anything, except fat, and were in charge of their mother’s brother. During the day the boys were covered with mats, sewn together to form little tents; so that when the boys sat down only the tents were seen, and when they walked their legs alone were visible. The whole day was spent in the sacred camp. After sunset the uncles took the boys to a house set apart for them, and before sunrise, when the “pigeon whistles,” they were marched back to the clearing.

The old men taught the lads what they might and might not do as men. The code of morality so far as it went was very high, one quaint instruction being, “You no like girl first; if you do, girl call you ‘woman’!” For it is the custom here for the women to propose marriage to the men.

The accompanying sketch is an attempted restoration of the sacred area, or kwod, of about thirty years ago. The four large mats in the centre belonged respectively (from the foreground backwards) to the Shark, Crocodile, Dog, and Cassowary clans. The fires of the first two were close together at one end, the Cassowary’s fire at the opposite end, and the Dog’s fire on one side; on the side opposite the latter was placed the chief’s mat. The fireplaces are still to be seen. At one end of each mat was a large crocodile-head mask; besides these were some leaf coverings used in initiatory rites. The drums occupied the centre. The fires were tended by lads already initiated; the men sat on their mats, or sat and stood around; the boys to be initiated were grouped at each end of the kwod.

Fig. 21. Restoration of the Kwod in Tut during the Initiation Period

At the end of the month the boys were washed, gaily decked, and anointed with a pungent scent, thereby hoping to gain favour with the girls. They were marched towards the village with a large mat raised in front of them. On reaching an open space the mat was lowered, and the lads were then seen for the first time by their fathers, female relations, and friends. The mothers and aunts rushed forward, hugged, and cried over the lads. There were great rejoicings and feastings, for the boys were then acknowledged as men.

Amongst the relics Maino showed me the navel shrine (kupai or kupor) of Sigai, a great warrior and traveller of long ago. Before going to fight the men would stand around the shrine of large shells and dig their bows and arrows into the ground there, so that virtue might pass into them. The men also took a coconut, and broke it. If it broke evenly in two halves, they would have a successful foray; if the fracture was not straight, they would kill only a few men. Should a piece of the coconut shell break off, a close relative of the man who broke it would die soon. All the men who were consulting the oracle ate a small piece of the kernel of the broken coconut, and took up the broken halves and put “medicine” inside.

I believe I was the first European to whom these revered relics of the past had been shown, and I felt quite sorry for my friend when, looking at one of the memorable stones with tears in his eyes, he said, “I think of old men, and I sorry. All finish now.”