128 



NATURE 



{Jan. 8, 1880 



is (in the Papuan dialect), the name of a species of panot, 

 with a loud screaming voice. 



" Munki-Ai." — This equally simple and ear-splitting 

 instrument is made out of the shell of one of the smaller 

 kinds of cocoa-nut [Munki), in which a hole is bored both 

 in the side and in the upper end ; a shrill piping tone 

 being produced by blowing through the upper hole, and 

 alternately stopping and leaving free the side one by 

 means of a finger. This instrument is often elaborately 

 and artistically ornamented. 



" HoP-Ai." — This is a curved or straight wind-instru- 

 ment, of the character of a trumpet, made out of the root 

 of a kind of Lagci; 



The three just described are not strictly wind-instru- 

 ments, as compared with those of a European model, 

 but are rather of the character of a ship's speaking- 

 in that they are only used for strengthening 

 the human voice, though the tunes produced are of 

 extreme variety. 



" Orban-Ai." — This consists of a handle from which 

 a number of perforated Orban-nut shells hang, each at the 

 end of a cord. When this is shaken the shells strike 

 against one another, producing a kind of rattling sound, 

 it times resembles the rustling of foliage caused by 

 a breeze! 



mi." — This is a kind of drum made from a 

 hollowed tree stem, over the upper end of which the skin 

 of a Monitor lizard is stretched, while the lower end 

 remains open. 



For purposes of signalling, a triton-shell perforated 

 at the side is used, and by this means the arrival or 

 departure of the praus which come from Bili-Bili or the 

 '•Archipelago of Contentment" is made known. 



All the above-mentioned instruments of music are 



lj the women and children, being, like the 



wooden carvings, regarded as something sacred, and this 



to such a degree that M. Maclay had great difficulty in 



obtaining from their owners specimens for his collection. 



The songs of the Papuans of Maclay Coast are of 

 the very simplest, being confined to a few words which 

 are perpetually repeated, sometimes in solo, sometimes in 

 chorus. They are almost always improvised, the compo- 

 sition being prompted by the advent of guests, some 

 occupation or other, or the most trifling events. 



Under the common term " Ai" are included the feasts 

 which are celebrated by the Papuans from time to time. 

 its are summoned from the surrounding villages 

 by a number of beats on the Barum, repeated at pre- 

 scribed intervals, while the Malassi bring out the various 

 utensils and instruments of music from the Buamramra. 

 Baskets full of the root of the Colocasia (Ban), and 

 the fruit of the Dioscorea (Ajan) are brought, of which a 

 certain quantity is contributed by each male guest, and 

 added to the general heap, each fresh arrival being 

 greeted with appl.iuse. At length there arrives, bound 

 to a stake carried by two men, and greeted with cries of 

 joy. the principal object of the feast, a pig, lichly deckel 

 the red flowers of the Hibiscus. The victim is 

 laid on the ground, air', after a long oration from one of 

 the Tamos, is despatched by a thrust of a spear in the 

 armpit. As for dogs, which are not unfrequently eaten at 

 feasts, they are slaughtered by being swung round by the 

 hind legs and the head dashed against a tree trunk. Fowls, 

 rats, the cuscus, and smaller marsupials are killed in the 

 same manner. After the pig has been killed and the hair 

 singed off over a large fire, it is placed on a number of 

 banana leaves spread on the ground. In all the details 

 of preparation for the feasts the Papuans show a remark- 

 able appreciation of division of labour, for everything is 

 done without noise or confusion. While the cooking of 

 the various portions of food is taking place, the guests 

 set about the brewing of their two favourite drinks, the 

 1 and the Ktii. In order to make the first, green 



cocoa-nuts, after they have been stripped of their fibrous 

 outer coating, are split down the middle by a single blow 

 from a long stone implement, and the watery contents 

 collected in a Tabir. The halves of the nuts having 

 been distributed, each guest sets to work to shred the 

 kernel with his Jarur into the bowl until the latter is filled 

 to the brim with a whitish, gruelly mess. The second 

 drink is thus made : — The fresh leaves of the Keu ' plant, 

 together with the young twigs, are chewed without further 

 preparation, while the old and hard roots are previously 

 softened by bruising with a stone. For this end all the 

 ) oung men play the part of living masticatory machines, 

 their teeth fulfilling the function of millstones set in 

 motion by the action of the "masseter" muscles. If one 

 of them is tired out before the mass is soft enough, he 

 forthwith spits it out into his hand, rolls it into a ball, 

 and hands it over to a neighbour to finish the process. 

 After having been duly masticated, the Keu is filtered by 

 means of an apparatus consisting of two halves of 

 a cocoa-nut shell, the upper of which, having an aperture 

 in the middle, covered with some finely crushed grass, 

 serves for a filter, while the lower receives the filtrate. 

 To this latter, which is of a greyish-green colour, some 

 water is added, and it is then left standing. Every Keu 

 drinker has his own bowl reserved for this purpose alone, 

 and carefully kept in his pouch, ax gun. It consists of the 

 shell of a small cocoa-nut, the inner surface of which 

 is of a uniform greenish-grey colour, a result probably of 

 the custom forbidding all cleaning of the interior, while the 

 outer is decorated with various devices and coloured with 

 a black pigment. 



At length there rings over from the village, two or three 

 short Barum tones, as a signal that the banquet is ready, 

 and the Keu drinkers assemble, surrounded by the younger 

 men. Each then rests his bowl in a shallow hole made by 

 a lance in an area of ground previously cleared for the 

 purpose, and into it the thick fluid is poured from the 

 large Keu bowl. After a preliminary coughing and spit- 

 ting, in order to clear out the mouth, each, in the order of 

 seniority, or social standing, drinks his portion with many 

 a grimace, as the infusion is very bitter ; and in some 

 instances, passes urine at the same moment. After this 

 the guests proceed to eat, and when their hunger is 

 appeased, the grated cocoa-nut infusion, Munki-la, is 

 served round. If the pig is too small for all to partake of, 

 only the men are allowed to eat of it, it being Tabu to the 

 "Malassi." or youths, who will then on no account touch 

 it, as they have the firm belief that if this rule be violated 

 either illness or some calamity will inevitably overtake 

 them. The feast is brought to a close by smoking and the 

 chewing of Betel nut, and the "Siri" leaf. If, as is 

 sometimes the case, there are not enough eatables for the 

 feast, a supplementary banquet is held, the materials for 

 which have to be first procured by an improvised fishing 

 party. In order to keep the women and children from 

 disturbing the guests when feasting, the musical instruments 

 are brought into play, which, as before stated, is an 

 infallible means of keeping them at a distance. Finally, 

 as a memento of the feast, the lower jaw of the pig or 

 dog which has figured on the principal dish is hung up 

 in the Buamramra. 



During the month of November and December, when 

 tans are less occupied in the plantations, certain 

 other kinds of feast take place, of which at the first, 

 called " Ai-mun," only the men are allowed to be present, 

 while at the second, the " Sel'-mun," held in the villages, 

 the presence both of women and children is permitted. 

 At the Ai-mun very curious masked processions are 

 formed, and here the Aidogan, a kind of telum consisting 

 ;ures carved one over the other out of one 



Ciiitinzorg. 



ere submitted, ihc Ken plants brought by M. 



to two distinct species of the genus I'ipt-r, but 



Kava plant of Smiio.i. It is. more- 



mi ,-■. 



