716 TUBUAN AND DUKDUK. 



tribe is hcanded dowTi fi-om one generation to another^ Throughout the rest of the night 



the natives uttered awe-inspiring howls at frequent intervals. After suniise they took 



to their canoes again, the two Tubuans in separate canoes, and the entire flotilla pulled 



out to the middle of the bay, where they came to rest. The Tubuans thereupon 



executed an elegant dance with due restraint in their respective canoes, apparently 



illustrating theii- I'egeneration fi-om the sea in the manner of Aphrodite-. The setting 



for the performance provided by the natural features of the bay was most picturesque 



and impressive, and the effect was heightened by the chant which was intoned by the 



assistants. 



Tubuan Chant. 



JS^Wi 



' tx i ' ^ \ ^^ ^ — 6^—1 — • ti»- i ' — ix — i ' ^^-^ 



' ^ ^ \ — — ti*— p^ 



The more important Dukduk is dressed like the Tubuan in the bird-costume, the 

 chief difference being that the conical head-dress of the former is much longer than that 

 worn by the Tubuan. The Dukduk observance may be a very elaborate ceremony^, but 

 for my part I saw some dukduks on the beach at Matupi on one occasion only. I was 

 informed that they had been engaged by an old chief who expected to die but recovered. 



On several other occasions while I was in New Britain a Tubuan was to be seen 

 dancing along the beach skirting Blanche Bay, shouting to scare the women. Sometimes 

 the Tubuans are engaged instead of the Dukduks, I think on account of the smaller 

 expense, to celebrate the funeral rites of a deceased chief. None were present at the 

 only native funeral which I attended, but another funeral was taking place elsewhere 

 at the same time, at which two Tubuans were employed. 



If the seven principal features of New Britain life which I have briefly touched 

 upon be enumerated in the following order, pepe, maravot, igiat, paraparau, malira, 

 tubuan, dukduk, we shall gain I think a fairly accurate insight into the sequence of 

 ceremonial observances in this wonderful island. 



Towards the end of Sef)tember (189.5) the " Ivanhoe," a topsail schooner of 

 152 tons, Capt. James Steele, unexpectedly arrived at Herbertshohe from British New 

 Guinea on a trading cruise. She was to return to Cooktown by way of New Guinea 

 and after long consideration I determined to continue my quest in the neighbourhood of 

 Milne Bay, knowing well the importance of keeping on the move while engaged in such 

 work as that to which I was committed. I took leave of my kind fi-iends at Ralum with 



' Compare Graf von Pfeil, " The Duk Duk and other customs as forms of expression of the intellectual 

 life of the Melanesians." Rey. Brit. Ass., 1896 (Liverpool), p. 939. 



- The costume of the Tubuan, consistiug of a tall conical mask topped by a plume of white feathers 

 and passing below into a heavy stack of leaves reaching from the shoulders to the knees, is intended to 

 represent the figure of a bird, and what is known of bird-symbolism may suffice to justify the above com- 

 parison, although I have no actual information on the subject. 



'■> Cf. Meyer, A. B., and Parkinson, B., Album der Papua-Tijpeii, 1894. Pis. 13 and 16. 



