600 



In Mailu the implement used for pounding the sago (called 

 Ota) consists of a small stone blade, fixed by lawyer cane into 

 a bent handle (see figs. 25 and 26). After the pith has 

 been pounded with this implement, it is washed in a trough 

 formed by the hollowed-out palm trunk ; then the women 

 squeeze the water from the pulp and put the dry material into 

 dishes, from which it is removed to be wrapped in broad leaves 

 from trees growing in the swamps, so forming large, cylin- 

 drical, sausage-shaped bundles. 



The Coconut and Bet el nut. — The coconut and betelnut 

 palms were not planted in the gardens, but near the village. 

 It is characteristic that the natives who, for reasons of a taboo 

 or of a fast, will let hundreds of coconuts waste without making 

 the slightest attempt to rescue them, and even without showing 

 very much concern, are extremely economical when planting 

 them. They never put the whole, intact nut into the soil, 

 but use for planting nuts which have begun to sprout, and 

 which have been treated in the following way : — They first 

 remove the nut from the husk, so as to leave the upper part 

 of this, with the attached sprout, in an intact condition. The 

 nut is, with a great sense of economy, eaten, and the husk, 

 with its sprout, planted, the result being that the plant grows 

 much more slowly, bears fruit a few years later, and probably 

 never becomes as robust a tree as if the whole nut were planted, 

 for, under the native method, the young plant, in its early 

 stages, is deprived of its natural nourishment. No work or 

 care is subsequently devoted to the growing coconut trees. 



The coconut palm is a plant of extreme economic value to 

 the natives. The Rev. H. Newton, in the book so often quoted 

 in this article, describes all its different uses among the natives 

 on the north-eastern coast of New Guinea. ("^^^ Exactly the 

 same uses are made of the tree and its products among the 

 Mailu, and I will briefly summarise Mr. Newton's list, adding 

 only the specifically Mailu details. The leaves of the palm are 

 used for plaiting mats (Tsindu). A leaf is split in the middle 

 and the two halves are plaited together, the split mid-rib 

 forming a frame. Such mats are used as large trays, or as 

 doormats and screens. The women's petticoats are made of 

 palm leaves (see chap, iii., sec. 1), and there is a form of 

 basket made of the same material (see sec. 7 of this chapter). 

 Again, native brooms are made of the young leaves, and the 

 dry leaf is used as a torch when fishing at night and collecting 

 frutti di mare. 



The spathe, or leaf sheath, which is astonishingly like an 

 artificial fabric, is used for many purposes, such as wrappings 

 for hafted stone blades and for making the large portfolios 



(49) Op. cit., pp. 173 to 182. 



