204 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



Tapiro which was visited b}^ different members of our 

 party on three separate occasions, is situated on the 

 lower slopes of Mount Tapiro, the mountain nearest to 

 Parimau, at about 1800 feet above the sea. It is in 

 fact within a stone's throw of that large clearing which 

 Rawling and I had reached with so much difficulty, but 

 when approached by the track used by the people them- 

 selves it is an easy walk of two or three hours from the 

 Kapare River. 



The track climbs by a steep almost knife-edged ridge 

 densely covered with forest to the rounded shoulder of 

 the hill where the village lies. The first sign of the 

 village is a flimsy fence of tall poles, which bars the track 

 and extends for a short distance on either side of it. 

 Passing through a narrow opening in the fence you come 

 to a cleared space occupied by three or four houses. A 

 couple of hundred yards beyond these and separated 

 from them by a small gully, which is bridged by an 

 enormous fallen tree, is a second group of six houses, 

 constituting the village of Wamberi Merbiri. 



The houses are scattered about over three or four 

 acres of steeply sloping ground, from w^hich most of the 

 trees have been cleared. Between the houses the ground 

 has been levelled in three places to form almost level 

 terraces, measuring about fifteen by five yards, com- 

 pletely cleared of vegetation and covered with small 

 stones. These terraces are held up on the lower side by 

 logs and stumps of trees, and the labour of making them 

 by people whose only tools are stone axes and pieces of 

 wood is difficult to imagine ; they are used, so far as we 

 could understand, for dances and other ceremonies. 



