Urbanization comes to the Pacific. Today ttie Pacific s cuiturai and economic diversity includes scenes such as this in central Honolulu. 



Continued from p 14 



Instead of building a life-size New Guinea 

 environment, we've brought you this world in micro- 

 cosm. Peek into a miniature diorama representing 

 part of a Huon Gulf village as it might have appeared 

 eighty years ago. Dwellings and a ceremonial house 

 are clustered beneath a grove of coconut palms. 

 Canoes for fishing and trading nestle on the beach. 

 People work at their everyday tasks: men are planning 

 a feast, chopping wood, spearfishing, and loading a 

 canoe; women are making pottery and fiber bags, 

 cooking, and caring for small children. 



Artifacts in exhibit cases surrounding the diora- 

 ma illustrate the complementary roles of Huon Gulf 

 men and women. Facades for the cases look like full- 

 size houses: a dwelling house on the women's side, and 

 on the men's side a ceremonial house with some of its 

 furnishings. Because rainfall is high in this part of 

 New Guinea, these buildings stood atop house post 

 "stilts." You'll have to look up to see the carved door- 

 ways, and imagine climbing notched log ladders to go 

 inside. 



Women's chief responsibilities centered on their 

 homes and gardens: raising children and garden crops, 

 making domestic goods like clothing and ceramics, 

 and preparing daily meals. Men's encompassed a larger 

 world. Trade, fishing, and warfare might have taken 



them miles from home. Only men could enter the 

 ceremonial houses, where sacred carvings were kept, 

 rituals planned, and local politics discussed. 



Objects on display from the Huon Gulf include 

 women's skirts and string bags, and a variety of men's 

 ornaments. Stages in making a cooking pot are 

 shown. Drums, buUroarers (wooden slats that "roar" 

 when whirled) , headrests, and figurative sculptures 

 are shown near the ceremonial house. Highlighted are 

 two of the most important foods: a replica garden of 

 taro plants, and a real New Guinea pig, mounted by 

 museum taxidermy. A hint of the preparations needed 

 for a feast can be found in a recipe for taro and coco- 

 nut cream pudding — to serve 100! 



A Modem Market in Tahiti 



The Museum's collection is rich in objects from the 

 19th and early 20th centuries, but life on Pacific is- 

 lands has changed since then. Missionaries, colonial 

 governments, the devastating battles of World War II, 

 emergent nationalism, and the global economy have 

 all played a role in creating today's Pacific. While 

 many islanders continue to support themselves 

 through fishing or agriculture, others live in urban 

 settings. No longer using a subsistence economy, 

 these islanders meet the needs of daily life through 1 9 



