90 G. A. J. VAN DER SANDE. 



hood, which interfered with the free intercourse, would be disadvantageous to Tarfia. 



The strained relations between Tarfia and Mûris made it difficult in June 1903 to persuade 

 men from Tarfia to accompany the expédition into the interior, but they willingly availed 

 themselves of the opportunity to penetrate the country, provided with a great quantity of 

 thèse objects, under the protection of the armed expédition and its peace promoting efforts, 

 as far as the village of Nimbûran, in order to re-open the long interrupted trade in their 

 ornamental produce. And indeed, such a demand existed in the market, that the expédition 

 itself could only get hold of a few things with difficulty. 



It was for instance impossible to obtain the brow bands which DE CLERCQ and 

 SCHMELTZ [1893, PL I, fig. 8] illustrate. Ail thèse articles produced at Tarfia, consist of a 

 pièce of tissue of previously prepared cord and are woven with the weaving frame N°. 716 

 (PL XXV, fig. 1 ; see Chapter VIII) ; on this tissue the ornament is tied with sepaote strings. In vain 

 I tried to discover a similar product in other parts of New Guinea; — the belts, ornamented 

 with Nassa, Coix and Abrus, which PARKINSON [1900, 28, PL XX, fig. 6 — 12] found in 

 K. W. Land, are not woven from cord, but plaited from thin barkfibres. 



Another ornamental belt is N°. 419, made from Coix seeds strung together, from 

 Sëkâ, where, as is well known, no aprons but calabashes are worn. N°. 420 of Tobâdi, a 

 girl's belt, is also only intended as an ornament, used at festivals. Made from mycélium, 

 they are, when somewhat broader, like those of the Leyden Muséum, rather valuable. Formerly 

 they also appear to hâve been worn by the men, at ail events VAN' DER GOES [1858, 171] men- 

 tions as such „a band of black coloured cord, cleverly covered with regular figures in small 

 white shells", — evidently the mycélium was then mistaken for black coloured cord. How 

 widely they are distributed I don't know ; outside Jotëfa Bay they hâve not been noticed 

 by the expédition. FlNSCH mentions a belt made of „ black vegetable fibres, probably 

 liana's" from Attack Harbour [1888 — 93, 249, N°. 561], without doubt, judging by the further 

 description, this also means a mycélium belt. The belt of Sâwé is also peculiar (N°. 421, PL 

 XVI, fig. 19), to which, besides sago palm kernels and small pièces of pig's bone (see also 

 FlNSCH [188S — 93, 112, N°. 567]), a small bag is fastened, manufactured with the „figure 

 eight" stitch (fig. 9) and filled with some Adenanthera seeds and dried leaves, probably 

 with some talismanic meaning; similar bags are often seen in thèse parts worn on a neck 

 string. Neither to the west in Geelvink Bay, nor to the east in Humboldt Bay, has 

 the wearing of anything similar ever been seen ; on the other hand such bags, containing 

 talismans, often occur in K. W. Land (FlNSCH [188S — 93, 258]). N°. 422 and 423 from Kajô 

 Entsâu are men's belts which, although ornamented with beads, are intended for suspending 

 an apron ; they are quite exotic, the rope is a tanned cotton-cord, such as the Malays use for 

 their fishing lines and is, like the beads, obtained from the traders on Meto Débi. A certain 

 number of the blue and yellow beads show a dull surface, as mentioned on pag. 82. N°. 424 — 428 

 are thin, plaited, belt ropes of small red coloured strips of sago palm leaves, sïre (De Clercq and 

 SCHMELTZ [1893, 42, N°. 235, PL XII, fig. 19]), and the same material as that from which small 

 petticoats in K. W. Land are manufactured. In Plumboldt Bay, also in Attack Harbour (FlNSCH 

 [1S88 — 93, 250, N a . 563 — 566]), very fine strings are plaited from it, which, often ornamented with 

 Coix seeds and fringe, are tied round the middle to fix the bark petticoat. The longest one 

 in the collection measures 35 M.; the way they are used, is shown on PL XL VII, XL VIII and IL. 



