FOOD, DRINK AND DELICACIES. I I 



coming across it even at Angàdi on Lake Jamûr, where daily freshly baked sago cakes were 

 eaten. Sago-porridge on the other hand was not eaten hère. The cakes hâve, as may be con- 

 cluded from the form of the oven, not ail the same shape. The square oven which De CLERCQ 

 and SCHMELTZ [1893, 61, N°. 286, PI. XIX, fig. 6] mention from Waigeu, yields exclusively 

 square cakes as can be seen on the photo of Meyer and PARKINSON [1894, PI. 54] of a group 

 of people from the South Eastern Islands, close to the feet of the man standing. 



Sago-porridge is generally eaten from the same pot in which it is préparée!; the pots 

 decorated on the outside with coloured figures represent dishes for serving up the food, thèse 

 are not placed on the fire. Besides, it is not the custom hère to give each eater his share of 

 the porridge separately. They ail sit together round the pot and help themselves. At ail 

 events this is what took place amongst the men on the platform in front of the temple at 

 Tobâdi and at a watch-house at Asé amongst the people who had been at work on the 

 building of a house for the son of the village chief; fig. 93. The heads of the family do not 

 ahvays take their food in the family circle; I often saw the master of the house at Asé sepa- 

 rately served on the staging in front of the house, where lie often dined on sweet potatoes 

 and a dish of freshwater snails, P aludina; at the same time other members of the household 

 were eating inside the house. 



In connection with the pots I must mention, as certainly of very practical use, the 

 plaited rattan rings, which, of convenient width, serve as a support for the pots, to prevent 

 their falling over on the often very shaky floors of the houses (N°. 75 — 79). As the ordinary 

 pots are ail of the same size, the rings, which corne from Tobâdi and Kajé are of the same 

 width as those which I met with on Lake Sentâni. The height is such (see N°. 75, PI. III, 

 fig. 12) that the pot is supported ail round and that the bottom remains free from the floor. 

 In its simplicity it is thus a useful pièce of furniture. Those which corne from private 

 houses, appear to be the property of the women, at least at Asé the persons, who wanted 

 to deal with me in thèse articles, m'owda, were women. 



It is remarkable that the three spécimens (N u . 77,-78, PI. III, fig. 11 and 79, PI. III, 

 fig. 10), which were made in the temples, had rattan ornaments, described as snake and dog's 

 tails, whilst the small rings which are fastened on to the side of N°. 79, are possibly intended 

 for small pots with condiments. Thèse last three objects again had something mysterious, 

 something holy about them, and the people were loath to talk about them. In the literature 

 at my disposai I find no mention made of thèse ring-shaped supports for pots, neither did 

 I find them on the many very good photo's from K. W. Land. 



In the Berlin Muséum I saw rings twisted from thick strips of rattan and with some 

 loose leaves in them (N°. 9791) collected by FlNSCH in the Massim District of British N. G., 

 which reminded me of small pot supports; they are however bracelets. The collection further 

 contains a round wooden vessel (N°. 80) from Manokwari and an oval, shallower one (N°. 81, 

 PL III, fig. 2) from Kwatisoré, which possibly may also serve for sago or liquid food, as 

 stated by DE CLERCQ and SCHMELTZ [1893, 61]. 



According to thèse authors, the black colour of thèse objects is obtained by rubbing in a mixture 

 of charcoal and the sticky juice of a forest tree; after having been properly dried, the outside is smoothed 

 down with fish scales. Finsch [1888 a, 7] surmises that in K. W. Land a black minerai (graphite or man- 

 ganèse; is used for the purpose. The wooden trays are hère [1. c. Pi. III. fig. 3] often boat-shaped and 



