132 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



Almost everywhere the tribal organization is extremely loose 1 , 



their social institutions primitive and barbarous to 



M^ths 10 tne l ast degree, and their religious notions, if the 



expression can be used at all, crude almost beyond 



belief. Even the totemic systems are undeveloped, as we see 



from the attitude of the Masingaramu people of the south-east 



coast towards their "god," the sible (crocodile), who maybe killed 



but not eaten. 



They have a myth about one Usai, who once heard singing 

 and talking in his own language, and found it was a crocodile 

 playing with his two little ones. He therefore concluded it must 

 be a god, who ought to be secured for the tribe. Next day all 

 the people went and asked him to be their god, but although they 

 promised to keep him in food, he declined the honour. So Nugu, 

 as he was called, was seized with Ulbe, one of his sons, and 

 brought to the village, where, in the absence of their parents, 

 some of the children disappeared every now and then. When 

 their loss was traced to Nugu, it was agreed to supply him with 

 pigs on his giving his word to leave the children alone. The 

 effigies of Nugu and Uibe are still preserved, and at the hunting 

 feasts are set up in the circle of dancers, refreshed with libations 

 and greased with pig's fat. "The memory of Nugu is also per- 

 petuated in the figure of a man which is kept in the Chief's house, 

 and is the great totem of the tribe 2 ." 



Like all true Negroes the New Guinea people pass readily from 



comedy to tragedy, displaying in their temperament 



ment" 136 a stran g e blend of boisterous animal spirits and 



fiendish cruelty. When a neighbouring coast village 



has to be raided for blood vengeance, the warriors in the canoes 



get up a tremendous din, shouting and singing to Eaboahine, 



" the man in the moon," banging the sides of the canoes, beating 



the drums, and blowing the conch-shell. If the attack is successful 



the killing and plundering is " accompanied by the most infernal 



yelling and shouting," which is renewed on reaching the canoes 



1 No priestcraft or statecraft, no totemistic clans except in Torres Straits (?), 

 no hereditary chiefs except in the Trobriand Group (Kay and Haddon). 



2 B. A. Healy, Official Report, British New Guinea, 1895, Appendix T, 

 p. 58 sq. 



