HEAD HUNTERS’ HOME

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1014, 3 July 1930, Page 12

HEAD HUNTERS’ HOME

LIFE IN NEW GUINEA LECTURE AT UNIVERSITY Life in wild New Guinea was described still further by Mr. W. K. McGregor, lecturer in zoology at the Auckland University College, in the third lecture of the series given in the College Hall on Tuesday. The talk was illustrated by lantern slides, some coloured. Methods of canoe-making were outlined by the speaker. These craft play a very important part in internal communication. Tree trunks are hollowed out by fire or with crude tools, and the outside painted with rough pigments. An outrigger is necessary, not as a float, but as a balance weight. The trade of the coastal tribes around Port Moresby is carried bv a special type of canoe and other districts also have special types differing according to their needs. Some are slim, graceful craft, stable without outriggers, which are sometimes made of thin hand-trimmed boards sewn together. As an engineer, the native often shows unexpected prowess, building many types of quite stable bridges. TOTEMISM Customs and government are all based on “totemism” —the paying of homage to a tribal badge or “totem.” which may range from an insect to an animal or even a plant. A man under one “totem” must not marry a woman from the same section, a crime nearly as serious as killing and eating a man of one’s own “totem.” There are often threo or four “head-men” in on** village, since there is no hereditary chieftainship, and the Administration has found it necessary to appoint native policemen. They are recognised by a badge and a peaked cap. Relations generally attend to the marriage arrangements, according to Mr. McGregor. The “groom” is ex pected to live with his wife generally from another village. The natives are expert poisoners and often a husband who has paid well for a comely and popular wife will die mysteriously. The stomach is the seat of the emotions in New Guinea, although sometimes there is a black romance well worthy of Gretna Green.

Infidelity is not an offence against moral, but against property laws and is treated much the same as theft. The real influence lies with the witch-doctors, who are frequently the chiefs. It is a profitable profession, natives paying for a spell to be cast over an enemy, who in turn pays foi it to be exorcised. It is a system of mental suggestion, since to be effective. the man who is bewitched must be told of his plight. His implicit belief in magic often induces him to lio down at once and die.

Mr. McGregor considered that the tales of continual warfare were greatly exaggerated. Pitched battles are almost unknown, as the native is not over fond of bloodshed—especially his own. He delights in traps and ambushes. A few hill tribes, however, often raid their neighbours. Straying pigs are the cause of more wars than are women in that part of the world.

Head-hunting was described by the lecturer, who showed slides picturing shelves of sculls stored in Papuan club houses. Human life is held cheaply throughout the Islands. “The fnture can only be open to speculation,” said Mr. McGregor in conclusion. It was probable, however, that the native would fail to accept civilised ways and would follow many other primitive tribes into oblivion.