12 G. A. J. VAN DER SANDE. 



also higher, of which Hagen [1899, PI. 38] and Biro [1901, PL VI] give good illustrations. Fiat wooden 

 dishes, but circulai-, are found, according to Parkinson [1S96, PI. XIV, fig. 27, 27 a] on the Matty and 

 Durour Islands, and Hagen [1899, 181] saw boat-shaped ones on the Tami Islands. 



Differing from ail thèse forms are the wooden dishes found by me on Lake 

 Sentâni, (N°. 82 — 86, PL III, fig. 13, 14, 15, 16) besides they furnish a, for the Netherlands 

 territory, isolated instance of dishes, which are ornamented with carvings over the outside 

 surface, sometimes in its entirety, sometimes in part (see SCHMELTZ [1896, 114]). Fiat and 

 round, more often oblong oval, somewhat concave and with a low standing rim, they were 

 used at ' Asé to dish up fish, which was also carried on thèse open dishes from the private 

 houses to the watch-houses, where the men eat together. The ornaments consist generally of 

 loop coils, but snakelike undulating lines also appear, and unfinished fish-ornaments. I am 

 not going to venture a disintegration of this style of ornament. The black, with which the 

 raised parts are coloured, appears to me to be soot, as generally obtained hère from the 

 smoke of rosin, mixed with a liquid. The black colour of N°. 82 is perhaps only caused by 

 smoke and grease in the use, as SCHMELTZ [1895, 242] supposes of the dishes from Konstantin 

 Harbour. Another dish for serving up the food, which I saw in use at Asé, consisted simply 

 of a kind of flat basket (N°. 87, PL III, fig. 17), made out of the leaf of the cocoa-nut tree 

 and therefore, only available for dry food. 



Refore leaving the subject of culinary utensils I may still mention the spatula' s for 

 stirring up, N°. 88, PL III, fig. 9 and the spoons for scooping up the food (N°. 89 — 92), 

 articles which are used in the kitchen and never for the purpose of eating. The handle of 

 N°. 90, PI. III, fig. 8 from Tobâdi, represents a female figure, that of N°. 91, PL III, fig. 7 and 

 7 a from Ingrau, a maie figure. 



In ail cases where I found men in their own surroundings at meals, flesh food was 

 never wanting. It is not quite clear to me how many meals are taken in the space of twenty 

 four hours. My interpréter maintained that on Lake Sentâni only one meal was custo- 

 mary, about 1 1 o'clock in the forenoon, but I found that eating also took place about 4 or 

 5 o'clock, only a few quarters of an hour after the women had returned from the gardens 

 with vegetables. HAGEN [1899, 244] talks of a morning meal at 8 o'clock and an evening 

 meal at 6 o'clock, SCHELLONG [1905, 61 r] calls this the principal meal; it is prepared 

 by the men themselves. BlRO [1901, 92, fig. 41] gives an illustration of this, showing some 

 older and younger men watching a great many pots standing on the fire. In Humboldt 

 Bay this is not at ail the custom, the meals are exclusively prepared by the women, even 

 the food, which on festive occasions is carried into the temple in a raw state by the men 

 amidst singing and dancing, is afterwards again taken to the private houses to be prepared ; 

 the same thing is the case in the watch-houses on Lake Sentâni. Of British New Guinea 

 MACGREGOR [1897, 72] mentions also one real meal a day, taken in the evening. 



Generally speaking, thèse people eat much and often; already at the sight of a large 

 quantity of food, they become excited and Maclav [1873 a, 242] mentioning the prominent 

 bellies of the children, states that in the case of the men, one easily notices after the meal 

 the increased circumference of the belly; fig. 3, a group of the Manikion, might also serve 

 as an illustration of this. 



BlNK [1897, io o] relates of Lake Sentâni how some Papuans after a heavy meal, 



