December 9, 1920] 



NATURE 



48- 



Migrations of Cultures in British New Guinea. 

 The Huxley Memorial Lecture for 1920. 



THE Huxley memorial lecture of the Royal 

 Anthropological Institute was delivered by Ur. 

 A. C. Haddon at the rooms of the Royal Society on 

 Nuvi-mber 23. 



In opening his address Dr. Haddon suggested that 

 ihc immediate cause of the interest taken by Hu.\ley 

 in anthropology may have been the memorable voyage 

 which he made more than seventy years ago in the 

 Rattlesnake when he was serit out to survey the 

 marine zoology of the Torres Straits and various 

 parts of the coast of New Guinea. He himself had 

 been first attracted to anthropology when in 1888 he 

 visited the Torres Straits, also with the object of 

 studying marine zoology. It was therefore, in his 

 opinion, not inappropriate that it had fallen to his 

 lot to pay homage to the memory of a master of 

 scientific method and of clear exposition, and that he 

 should select the area of their respective first experi- 

 ences in travel (or the subject of his discourse. 

 On the coast of British New Guinea is found a 

 r ies of cultures, some of which are evidently related, 

 others as obviously unrelated. Their affinity sug- 

 gests a common origin, but any idea of indigenous 

 development or of cultural migration from Australia 

 may at once be dismissed, 

 'fhe cultural problems of the south-eastern penin- 

 :1a and of the outlying islands of New Guinea are, 

 in the main, quite distinct from those to the west, 

 and the differences between the two groups of cul- 

 tures indicate clearly that there cannot have been any 

 extensive cultural ' movements from the Papuo- 

 -Melanesians of the east to the western Papuans. We 

 are thus driven, on general grounds, to the supposi- 

 tiivi that the cultures of the southern coast of British 

 w Guinea came down more or less from the north. 

 I'he Tugeri, who live just beyond the Netherlands 

 border, are cannibals ami inveterate head-hunters 

 who chew kava, vati. The inhabitants of several 

 \il!agi!s assemble at initiation ceremonies, at which 

 I'ullroarers are swung, but the bullroarcr is not known 

 ■where in Netherlands New Guinea. There are 

 iny dances at which masks are worn and animals 

 1 resented. The bullroarer is anthropomorphised as 

 -om, a mythical monster of the bush, who at the 

 lual festival at the beginning of the south-east 

 nsoon devours the novices, but brings them back 

 III life. There is such a striking resemblance between 

 this complex and that of various tribes in the area 

 from Astrolabp Bay to Huon Gulf that a relationship 

 I innot be denied. 



Ihc use of kava has such ethnological interest that 

 is worth while noting its distribution in New 

 ilnea. .Several of the bush tribes west of the Fly 

 nary chew kava. KfTigies of rroco<liles are pre- 

 ntcd with kava by the Masingara, and a legend 

 sucgests a former monster who ate novices at the 

 initiation ceremony. Kava plays an important part 

 In the several reremonies of the Kiwni neonles, and 

 ! onlv those who have passed Ihroutfh all the .stages of 

 , initiation mav drink it. The Gogoflara, who live 

 between the Flv estuarv and the Bamu, have an 

 initiation reremonv in which a Iwiy is supi)o«r<l to 

 be eaten by a crocodile, and kava is drunk. The 

 tril>es to the north of Huon Gulf hold a neriojlir cir- 

 cumcision cemonv at which, to the humming of 

 hullroarers. the initiates are drafijrd into a hut con- 

 structed like a monster, which thus symbolirallv 

 Hwallows them. .An important part of the initiation 

 ceremonies consists in teaching the novice* how to 

 •pJ.Tv till birred flutes. 



(167, VOL. 106] 



To return to the south coast. The Kerewa folk 

 live in Goaribari Island and its neighbourhood. They 

 have carved shrines to which skulls of people who 

 have been eaten are attached. Further east are the 

 .\amau group. Here are enormous ceremonial 

 houses with numerous shrines, associated with a 

 manes cult, in front of which are heaps of animal, 

 and formerly of human, skulls. In the dim recess 

 of the building are basketwork monsters. The 

 Elema or Gulf culture, further east, is essentially 

 similar, except that the monsters are lacking and 

 the people are not cannibals. 



The Great Sepik River possesses several cultures 

 along its course, one of which is characterised by so 

 many general similarities with the cultures of' the 

 south coast that there must have been some connec- 

 tion between them ; for example, there are numerous 

 plaitwork masks which find an exact counterpart in 

 the Middle Fly, on the Bamu, and in the Kerewa 

 country. The great difficulty alike in the supposed 

 spread of kava-drinking from the Huon Gulf- 

 .Xstrolabe Bay area to the mouth of the Fly and 

 beyond, and in the extension of the Sepik culture to 

 the south coast, is the great mountain chain of New 

 Guinea. It would be easier to suppose that these 

 cultures, which, so far as is known at present, are 

 discontinuous, were carried to their respective areas 

 by seafarin^j people, but no traces of similar cultures 

 are found in the intervening coastal areas ; further- 

 more, the western canoes (except in the Torres Straits 

 area) arc a river type, and can be matched from the 

 .Sepik. An interesting problem is that of the woven 

 rattan cuiras.ses; these occur on the north coast at 

 the Netherlands boundary and some way to the e.tst 

 of it, also some distance inland south of this area, 

 and again on the Palmer River and Upper Fly, and. 

 finally, a feebler type is found in the mountains up 

 the I'takwa River in Netherlands New Guinea. It 

 is inconceivable that a mifrafion could have carrie<l 

 this armour all round New Guinea and right up the 

 Flv without leaving traces en route. The most 

 rational view is that it has spread down from the 

 north coast, in which case it would have crossed the 

 mountain chain, as the Sepik cultures are assumed 

 to have done. 



The south-eastern peninsula of New Guinea is 

 chamcterised by the absence of the features of the 

 western cultures and the presence of a big feast, 

 with which in the region rouml Milne Bay is asso- 

 ciate<I the cult of the mango-tree. In the Mamb.i 

 and Kumusi river-systems initiation ceremonies are 

 aj/ain met with, the bullroarer is emplove<I. and a 

 pair of sacre<l flutes played. The use of the sacred 

 flutes links up with the initiation ceremonies of the 

 peoples to the north of Huon Gulf, and their use 

 extends all along the coastal peonies well into Ncther- 

 Innds territorv, as well as up the Sepik. It seems ns 

 if the use of the flutes tended to supplant that of 

 the hullroaritr. The distribution of thi- flutes further co. 

 inrides fairlvdoselv with the emplovment of slit jjongs. 

 Both these instruments apoenr to belong to n relatively 

 recent cultural movement from norlliern Melanesia. 



From this it will lie evident that the ethnological 

 history of New Guinea is rxlreniely complex ; move- 

 mppfs h.^ve taken place wilh'n the isl.md. and <nil. 

 tural influences have come in from without. The 

 uonth-eastern peninsula has lieen the scene of two 

 <lifferent mifirations. resulting in the Mo»u npH 

 Massim cultures, and probably a third one influenced 

 the Trnbri.'inds. These were p.-if-'iilv .lUtiii.t from 



