The Mafulu: Mountain People of British New Guinea

by Robert Wood Williamson

1. Voitele	Belonging to a clan whose chief, Jaria, lives at Amalala, where the clan emone is.
2. Amalala
3. Kodo-Malabe
4. Motaligo
5. Malala	Belonging to a clan whose chief, Gito-iola, lived at Malala, where the clan emone is. (He has recently retired in favour of his eldest son, Anum’ Iva, who is the present chief, and also lives there.)
6. Gelva
7. Seluku	Being the only village of a clan whose chief, Baiva, has recently died. His eldest son, who has succeeded him, is an infant.There is no regency.

Also near the Mission station is a community called Alo, which includes four villages occupied by two clans, as follows:—

1. Asida	Belonging to a clan whose chief, Amo-Kau, lives at Asida, where the emone is.
2. Kotsi
3. Ingomaunda
4. Uvande	Being the only village of a clan whose chief is Iu-Baibe.

Referring to these villages, in the year 1899 the clan now occupying the four villages Voitele, Amalala, Kodo-Malabe and Motaligo had only a single village, Kaidiabe, the clan’s chief being the above-mentioned Jaria. Then there was a Government punitive expedition, following the attack of the natives upon Monseigneur de Boismenu (the present Bishop of the Mission of the Sacred Heart in British New Guinea) and his friends, who were making their first exploration of the district, in which expedition a number of natives, including the brother of the chief, were killed. After that the village was abandoned, and the three villages of Voitele, Amalala and Motaligo arose in its place. Subsequently after a big feast, which was held at Amalala in the year 1909, that village put out an offshoot, which is the present village of Kodo-Malabe. Also in the year 1909 the village of Uvande was represented by seven villages, all belonging to one clan under the chieftainship of Iu-Baibe, the names of which were Ipolo, Olona, Isisibei, Valamenga, Amada, Angasabe and Amambu; but after the feast above mentioned the people of that clan all abandoned their villages, and joined together in forming the present village of Uvande.

The chief, that is the true chief, of a clan has his house in one of the villages of the clan, and if, as sometimes occurs, he has houses in two or more of these villages, there is one village in which is what is regarded as his usual residence, and this is the village in which is the emone of the clan.

As regards the relative predominance of the various clans of a community and their respective chiefs in matters affecting the whole community (e.g., the arranging and holding of a big feast), there is no rule or system. The predominance will probably, unless there be a great disparity in the actual size or importance of the clans, and perhaps even to a certain extent notwithstanding such a disparity, fall to the clan whose chief by his superior ability or courage or force of character, or perhaps capacity for palavering, has succeeded in securing for himself a predominating influence in the community.

The word imbele and certain other words are used to designate the closeness or otherwise of the connection between individuals. Imbele signifies the close connection which exists between members of one clan, and a man will say of another member of his clan that he is his imbele. The word bilage signifies a community connection, which is recognised as being not so close as a clan connection; and a man will say of another, who is outside his own clan, but is a member of his own community, that he is his bilage. The expression a-gata signifies absence of any connection, and a man will refer to a member of another community, Mafulu, Kuni, Ambo, or anything else (there is no distinction between these in the use of the term) as being a-gata, thereby meaning that he is an outsider.

This brings me to the question of the use by me of the term “clan” to designate the intimate association above referred to. To begin with, there is a considerable difference between the situation produced by the clan system, if it may be regarded as such, of Mafulu and that of, say, Mekeo, where one finds several clans occupying one village, and where members of one clan may be scattered over several more or less distant villages; though this latter difference might perhaps arise in part from natural geographical causes, the flat lowlands of the Mekeo people being highly favourable to inter-village communication over their whole areas, and to the holding of their recognised and numerous markets, whilst it may almost be assumed that such intercommunication would be more restricted, at all events in days gone by, among the Mafulu inhabitants of the mountains.

Then again in Mafulu there are no clan badges, nor are there any realistic or conventional representations of, or designs which can to my mind be possibly regarded as representing, or having had their origin in the representation of, animals, birds, fishes, plants, or anything else. As regards this, however, it may be mentioned that the Mafulu people are very primitive and undeveloped, and have not in their art any designs which could readily partake of this imitative character, their artistic efforts never producing curves, and indeed not going beyond geometric designs composed of straight lines, rectangular and zig-zag patterns and spots.