CUSTOM AND GOVERNMENT. 279 



fund. The dignitary, called Hâmadi, is, it is true, a strongly built man, who also obtained 

 a higher number with the dynamometer, and played the flûtes in the temple with less effort 

 than any other, and he is also an extremely good shot; but ail this we learned casually, 

 and not by thèse means did he obtain or maintain his position in our eyes. On the con- 

 trary he belongs to that class of diplomats, who, in a friendly manner, demand everything 

 for themselves, working at the same time with delay; the word "nanti" (Malay = wait) 

 being constantly in his mouth. When once I ridiculed him about this eternal "nanti", the 

 diplomat hiniself laughed and ail his surrounding villagers joined. The eldest son of the 

 k&résori was pointed out to us with some respect, whether the dignity is, however, hereditary, 

 and the exact relative position to the jente kàresôri, I do not know. Bowing before their 

 chiefs is no genuine Papuan custom (see however Van HASSELT [1876, 196]). 



On Lake Sentâni each village lias its head, ondofru. At Asé this was an old man 

 (fig. 163), completely blind from cataract in both eyes. Strangers, visiting the village were 

 usually brought to him, for which purpose he sat in the community house. Possibly his condi- 

 tion was the reason why I noticed but little of his authority in deeds. According to the 

 interpréter, however, he could in certain cases of misdemeanours amongst the population of 

 the village, command some of the older men to force the miscreant to remediate the damage 

 caused, as ail the intra-tribal crimes in fact are redeemable. To such older men a large 

 influence is also owing in Torres Straits (REPORTS [V, 263 — 265]). 



On the S. W. coast, on Adi and Kaimani the chief very actively assists himself when 

 harmony is disturbed (Van DER GOES [1858, 113, 127]). On the occasion of a visit to Ifâr, 

 Mr. Dumas and myself were received by the village chief who awaited us with a large number 

 of men in the community house. After we had ail squatted down, only some of the elder 

 ones joined in the conversation with the ondofrà and us. When we intimated our intention 

 to return for a longer visit, the chief, with an air of decided authority, gave the assurance 

 that the whole expédition could corne and that he would hold himself responsible for 

 our safety. 



Community house s, houses of assembly, to which women are by no means for- 

 bidden, but which are, as a rule, only visited by the men, hâve in Papua Tâlandjang always 

 a four-sided roof, with horizontal ridge pôle. On one or more sides the vertical wall is wanting. 

 On Lake Sentàni it is generally attached to the house of the chief. At Asé the tree trunks, 

 which supported the roof, were placed upside down, and the enlargement of the roots had 

 been beautifully carved à jour, whilst on the stem itself crocodile and human figures had 

 been eut out. Large drums like N°. 1277 (PI. XXVIII, fig. 4) were suspended above a fire- 

 place behind a screen ; between the rafters of the roof, arms, taken in war, were stuck, the 

 war banner X°. 126S and the brass objects N os . 694 — 696. Fishing gear of ail sorts was 

 stowed inside, and large rolls of prepared bark, whilst hère also the dowry (see p. 267) was 

 exposed. The community house of Tobâdi has an élévation on the roof like the Mohammedan 

 missigits, the ridge pôle continued at both ends into ornaments. It stands exactly between 

 the house of the village chief and the temple, near the corner of the large platform, wbere 

 a horizontal beam has been carved into the figure of a woman in child-birth. On PI. 1 of 

 Mever and Parkinson [1900], who call it jainpa, it is seen from the western side; in fig. 

 194 (p. 301) it is seen from the south-east. During the visit of BlNK [1897, 152], who heard 



