ETHNOGRAPHY OF BRITISH NEW GUINEA. 87 



ceremonies ; their distribution in New Guinea is interesting, 

 as it will be found that in the British Possession they 

 characterise the Papuan as opposed to the Melanesian 

 elements. They were common in Torres Straits, have 

 been obtained in Daudai and are very abundant in the 

 Papuan Gulf from Maclatchie Point to Cape Possession, 

 they are probably in use along the remaining portion of the 

 Gulf; the most southern limits at present known are the 

 Maiva and Mekeo districts (St. Joseph River). Wilfred 

 Powell, however, bought at Rogea (Heath Island) a turtle- 

 shell dancing mask, which he was informed came from 

 Mount Thompson on the mainland (long. 149 5o'E.) ; he 

 describes and figures it on p. 16 of his Wanderings in a 

 Wild Country (1883). This is the sole recorded exception 

 to the statement just made, and must remain so pending 

 further investigation. One or two specimens have been 

 obtained from the neighbourhood of the Kaiserin Augusta 

 River. Zimmermann says he saw them from Geelvink Bay 

 to Humboldt Bay {Internal. Arch. f. Ethnogr., ii., 1889, 

 P- 53 5 c f- a ^ so Clercq and Schmeltz, p. 240). The Torres 

 Straits and Daudai masks are made of wood or turtle-shell, 

 those of the Papuan Gulf of a natural cloth which is painted 

 and the designs are limned in cloissons ; some of those of 

 the German territory are somewhat similar to the latter, 

 but the cloissons are, I believe, absent. What is known as 

 to the occasions on which these masks are used will be 

 found in Haddon, 1893 and 1894 ; in the latter Chalmers 

 and others are quoted in full. In all cases masks are cere- 

 monial and can only be worn during the ceremony. Photo- 

 graphic illustrations of eight Torres Straits masks, with 

 careful descriptions, will be found in Meyer's Masken, etc. 

 (1889), as well as of thirty-four small wooden face-masks from 

 Taraway (Bertrand and Guilbert Islands), Kaiser Wilhelm's- 

 Land {cf. also Partington's Album ; Andree, R., " Die Mas- 

 ken in der Volkerkunde," Arch. f. Anth., xvi., 1886, p. 477 ; 

 New Guinea, p. 497). The Taraway masks are probably 

 connected with ancestor-cult, like the Karwars of Nether- 

 lands New Guinea {cf. also/. A. /., xix., pp. 319, 320). 

 Dancing may be a secular amusement or a ceremonial 



