302 G. A. J. VAN DER SANDE. 



the food being brought by slaves, whilst a single aged woman inside had to rub several 

 parts of their body with oil, provide them with medicines and instruct them in sexual 

 matters. DE CLERCQ and SCHMELTZ [1893, 176] give a number of détails about the rum 

 sera?/!, some with the turtle-shaped roof [1. c. PI. XXXIX, fig. 12], others with horizontal 

 ridgepole; one of the beams is often shaped at the ends into the head and tail respect., of a 

 crocodile. I came across two of thèse buildings, one at Mios Korwâr (fig. 196), built like the 

 whole of this settlement, on the shore, near the margin of the forest, but at the end of the 

 settlement, a little separated from and on much higher pôles than the other houses. The 

 floor is a parallelogram, the roof turtle-shaped. In the middle of each of the short walls there 

 is a low, narrow opening, and it is only possible to creep in and out, the same as e. g. Van 

 DER GOES [1858, 153] reports of Doré, HORST [1889, 242] of Anus, Van Balen [1886a, 65] 

 of Jendé, and clearly visible at the rum sëram of Wendèsi, figured by SNELLEMAN [1906b, 231]. 

 The rum sëram of Mios Korwâr contains no furniture even no fire place, food cannot be prepared 

 hère. The same is mentioned of the others ; in that of Jendé two crocodile figures are 

 lying. The vertical timbers of the front side are continued at the bottom into human 

 figures, of which I omitted to note the sex. Similar timbers, not reaching to the ground, 

 hâve been noticed with other rum sëram (De CLERCQ and SCHMELTZ [1893, 178]) in the 

 shape of human figures with large genitals or in the shape of génital organs themselves. On a 

 side plank tumed towards the sea, a drawing in red and black has been made, which can 

 be recognised on the photo, representing three persons, of which the two front ones run 

 forward with raised arms, the third is firing a gun in a backward direction. On the front 

 there are also painted représentations of people in warlike attitudes, which remind one of 

 the armed figures under the rum sïram of Doré. HORST [1893, 147] classes them with the 

 temple guards of the Siva temples. Those of Jendé VAN BALEN [1. c, 65] calls korwârs. 



The rum sëram of Ototâ stands (fig. 197), like the other buildings, on piles in the 

 shallow water of a bay opening towards the south, and is, by a fairly long foot bridge, 

 connected with the stage of one of thèse houses. It has the same shape as that of Wendèsi 

 (SNELLEMAN [i9o6 b , 231]). The people of Kwatisoré, call it arègiè and I understood from 

 them that the young men, nonârc, hâve to sleep, numèrè (?), there until their marriage. 

 I hâve not been able to find out anything except this already known peculiarity, but that 

 thèse small houses hâve a deeper meaning than only that of a sleeping place for young men, 

 may already be concluded from their finish and ornaments. HORST [1893] supposes them to be 

 dedicated to a kind of linga-worship (Brahman religion), Van HaSSELT [1889, 262], who obtained 

 his knowledge on the spot, calls the rum sëram simply "temple", and indeed the conclusion 

 is easily drawn that the rum sëram of Geelvink Bay, the kârëwari of Papua Tâlandjang 

 and the parâk of Berlin Harbour hâve their origin in the same fundamental idea, though 

 the external cérémonies of the service hâve, in the case of the rum sëram, much diminished. 



The cultus ofancestors appears in Geelvink Bay, according to UHLE [1886, 3], in 

 six forms, namely: i$t korwars, 2'"l animal figures, 3 ld skulls, 4* wooden figures with a skull 

 inside, 5^ dried corpses and 6'h amulets. N os . 1 and 4, manufactured after the death of 

 relatives, are analogous, worshipped and consulted as household gods, and also taken on 

 sea voyages; they do not occur with the Manikion nor on Lake Jamûr, and they are also 

 wanting at other inland places round Geelvink Bay (UHLE [1886, 3]), neither are they known 



