THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



299 



streamers of palm leaves hung from 

 their arms. We supposed they would 

 feast royally upon their kill, but dis- 

 covered later that the older men were 

 the only ones who benefitted. It was 

 doubtless a sacrifice to the demands of 

 the gopi-ravi skilfully manipulated by 

 the older men in their own interests. 

 Perhaps there had been an unusually 

 violent whirling of the bull-roarers, 

 through whose droning voice the youn- 

 ger men had received intimation of the 

 wants of the gopi-ravi and their 

 attendant rogues. 



The canoes of the Gulf region are 

 extraordinary craft, being merely hol- 

 lowed logs without a keel and so lightly 

 balanced that they topple over at the 

 slightest provocation. Stranger still 

 is their cut-away stern, which has 

 nothing to prevent the ingress of water, 

 and must needs, therefore, be plas- 

 tered across with a bridge of mud. 

 That they are well adapted to cope 

 with swift running tidal currents is 

 certain, and they are readily propelled 

 against streams which would sweep our 

 larger vessel away in spite of her motor. 

 Every day we saw the good ladies of 

 Kaimari paddling off to their plan- 

 tations with several members of their 

 families, each assisting with a paddle 

 suited to his or her small size. Oc- 

 casionally we hired a large canoe, and, 

 loading in cameras and guns, were 

 paddled through the maze of waterways 

 in search of pictures and specimens 

 for the Museum. We scarcely dared 

 to move within them for fear of dis- 

 turbing their balance, but our native 

 canoesters stood upright, and, dip- 

 ping their paddles rhythmically, drove 

 us along at fine speed. Winding up 

 long waterways we passed through a 

 maze of forests, with the branches of the 

 trees meeting over our heads and tem- 

 pering the hot sunshine. Gorgeous 

 green and black butterflies flitted 

 through the undergrowth and gaily 

 coloured kingfishers darted from the 

 overhanging branches to snatch some 

 unwary fish from the muddy waters. 



The manufacture of these canoes is 

 a very important feature in the lives 

 of the natives of this region and plays 



a prominent part in trading relationships 

 with the natives of different parts of 

 Papua. Each year, when the south- 

 east trade wind is nearing the end of its 

 season, large canoes from Port Moresby 

 are tied together and a platform is 

 built over them and fitted with shelters 

 and large crab-claw sails. These are 

 called lakatois and are sea-going 

 vessels in which the Motuans travel 

 north-west to the Gulf country and 

 meet with the natives of Kaimari and 

 other villages. They bring A\dth them 

 arm-shells, clay pots and other trade 

 goods such as are otherwise unknown 

 to the Gulf people, and exchange them 

 for sago and new canoes. There are no 

 trees suitable for canoe-making around 

 Port Moresby, so they must be secured 

 from districts farther west, and it is 

 the business of the Gulf natives to 

 supply suitable trunks. About Christ- 

 mas time the lakatois make their 

 appearance in the Gulf and trading 

 commences, accompanied by feasting 

 and general merry-making. The " kai- 

 va-kuku " ceremonies take place and 

 the giant masks that have taken so 

 long to prepare are brought out of the 

 seclusion of the ravis. They are ex- 

 hibited in pubUc for the first time, the 

 women and children witnessing the 

 dance that takes place. But their life 

 is brief, and they are soon cast into a 

 fire to complete their sacred cycle. 

 Their destruction is apparently all 

 important and may not be varied, so 

 that our efforts to secure specimens 

 were futile though we offered wealth 

 beyond comparison in exchange. It is 

 even against the rules for them to leave 

 the ravi until the time comes for the 

 dance that ends in their destruction, 

 but Hurley managed to arrange a 

 special rehearsal performance in which 

 over one hundred masks appeared and 

 which he successfully filmed. It was 

 firmly beheved that if any woman or 

 children caught sight of these kaiva- 

 kukus, they would surely perish, so a 

 large screen was erected upon a platform 

 in front of the ravi to hide them from 

 public view. At Urama, where kaiva- 

 kuku danced likewise for us, all the 

 women and uninitiated boys were 

 dispatched from the village in canoes at 



