TOTEMISM AND THE CULT OF KWOIAM
It was very interesting living among a people in the totemistic stage of
culture, but this custom is now gradually dying out, and the young men do
not know much about it. An old man, named Gizu, whose services I secured
as referee, was a great authority on various old customs, beliefs, and
legends, and we found his knowledge invaluable when Waria, or our other
informants, were at fault, but his knowledge of English was too imperfect
for us to rely on his services alone.
There appear to have been five chief clans in Mabuiag: _kodal_
(crocodile), _tabu_ (snake), _sam_ (cassowary), _dungal_ (dugong), and
_kaigas_ (shovel-nose skate), to which subsidiary or small totems were
added. The members of the first three clans were called _koi augŭd
kadsi_, or children of the great _augŭd_, or totem; and those of the two
latter were the _mŭgi augŭd kadzi_, or children of the small _augŭd_.
These two clans formerly had their headquarters on the windward or
south-east side of Mabuiag, whereas the three others were mainly located
on the opposite side of the island.
I was informed that the hammer-headed shark (_kursi_), the shark
(_baidam_), the sting-ray (_tapimul_), and the turtle (_waru_ or
_surlal_) totems were associated with the skate-dugong group, the phrase
used was, “They all belong water; they all friends.” On the other hand,
the dog (_umai_) was a subsidiary totem to the snake-cassowary-crocodile
group; with the exception of the amphibious crocodile, these are all land
animals.
There undoubtedly was supposed to be an intimate connection between the
totem and its clansmen. For example, the crocodile-men were bloodthirsty,
lusty, and always ready to fight any number of the water group; they had
“no pity for people.” If a crocodile-man killed a crocodile, the other
members of the clan would kill him; a member of another clan might kill
a crocodile with impunity, but the _kodal_-men would mourn for it.
The snake-men were always ready for a row, and were handy with stone
clubs. They used to put out their tongues and wag them as snakes do, and
they had two small holes in the tip of their noses, which were evidently
made to represent the nostrils of the snake.
The shark-men, like those previously mentioned, were “spoiling” for
a fight. Sometimes the dog-men were fierce, at other times friendly,
and “glad to see other people.” If a dog-man killed a dog, his
fellow-clansmen would “fight” him, but they would not do anything if an
outsider killed one. A member of this clan was supposed to have great
sympathy with dogs, and to understand them better than did other men.
No cassowary-man would kill a cassowary; if one was seen doing so, his
clansmen would “fight” him, as they felt sorry. “_Sam_, he all same as
relation; he belong same family.” The members of the cassowary clan
prided themselves on being specially good runners. If there was to be a
fight a _sam_-man would say to himself, “My leg is long and thin; I can
run and not feel tired; my legs will go quickly, and the grass will not
entangle them.” It is worth noting that the cassowary does not occur
in the islands of Torres Straits; if it ever did, it must have been
exterminated very shortly after the islands were inhabited. Possibly
Mabuiag men occasionally visited the mainland of New Guinea; but the
adoption of the cassowary as a totem points to a time when the ancestors
of the Mabuiag people actually inhabited New Guinea. The same argument
applies, though with less force, to the crocodile. It is true crocodiles
occur sparsely on some of the islands, and that reptile might thus be, so
to speak, an indigenous totem, but they are very common and dangerous in
the swamps of the New Guinea coast.
On certain occasions each of the dugong-men was painted with a red
line from the tip of his nose up his forehead and down his spine to
the small of the back. I obtained in this island a wooden model of a
dugong that was used as a charm, and which was painted with a red line
in a corresponding manner. The men’s foreheads were decked with upright
leaves to represent the spouting of the dugong when it comes to the
surface of the water to breathe, and leaves were also inserted in the
arm-bands like water splashing off the dugong when it comes into very
shallow water. This decoration was made when the dugong-man performed a
magical rite in the _kwod_ (or taboo ground) that was situated in their
particular region of the island. A number of different plants were put
on the ground, and a dugong was placed on the top. Several men took the
dugong by the tail and hoisted up the tail in such a way as to make the
dugong face the rest of the island—for the _kwod_ was near the seashore,
and faced the great reefs on which the dugong abound. There can be little
doubt that this was a magical rite performed by the dugong-men to make
the dugong come towards the island of Mabuiag. The dugong used in this
ceremony was given to the turtle-men.
When only one turtle was obtained on a turtle expedition it was taken to
the _kwod_ of the turtle-men, who performed a pantomimic ceremony which
symbolised the increase of turtle.
The origin and significance of totemism is still very obscure, and it
is possible that quite different social, magical, and semi-religious
institutions have been grouped together somewhat artificially as
totemistic.
A very plausible hypothesis that Australian totemism is mainly an
economic custom has recently been suggested independently by Dr. J. G.
Frazer and Professor Baldwin Spencer. According to this view it is the
business of certain groups of people, or clans, to preserve, or increase
by means of magical rites, particular foodstuffs or objects of especial
utility for the benefit of the whole tribe or community.
The behaviour of the dugong-men and turtle-men in Mabuiag certainly seems
to support this very suggestive explanation, and I am inclined to think
that it will receive additional corroboration when the Papuan evidence is
forthcoming. It might be mentioned in this connection that though rain is
not a totem, the office of _aripuilaig_, or “rain-maker,” was hereditary
in Mabuiag, and consequently rain-making would be the function of a
particular family.
In Mabuiag a woman kept her totem when she married, and I was informed
that children inherited their father’s and mother’s totems, but the
father’s was the chief one. I was also informed that though a man might
not marry a Mabuiag or Badu woman belonging to the same _augŭd_ as
himself, this restriction did not apply to women from other islands.
In dealing with totemism in Kiwai I have already pointed out the value
of belonging to a totemistic clan when visiting another village, and we
found the same to apply among the western islands of Torres Straits.
A man visiting another island would naturally be looked after and
entertained by the residents who belonged to the same _augŭd_ as he did.
In warfare a man would never willingly or intentionally kill an enemy who
he knew belonged to the same totem as himself. So that apart from its
supposed economic use, totemism was undoubtedly an ameliorating influence
in social intercourse, and tended to minimise inter-tribal antagonism.
During my former visit to Mabuiag, and on the present occasion, I
failed to discover any very important ceremonies in connection with
the initiation of the boys into their respective clans, though I have
published an account of some initiation ceremonies that were held at Tut,
or Warrior Island, during which the lads were secluded for a month in
tents made of mats.
Seligmann discovered in Mabuiag a very interesting custom relative
to the seclusion of girls on attaining womanhood. Remarkable as this
practice was, very similar customs from various parts of the world have
been recorded by Dr. J. G. Frazer in his erudite study in comparative
religion, _The Golden Bough_. The following is from the preliminary
account already published by my colleague:—
“When the signs of puberty appeared, a circle of bushes was made in a
dark corner in the house of the girl’s parents. The girl was fully decked
with leaves, and she sat in the centre of the bushes, which were piled
so high round her that only her head was visible. This seclusion lasted
for three months, the bushes being changed nightly, at which time the
girl was allowed to slip out of the hut. She was usually attended by two
old women, the girl’s maternal aunts, who were especially appointed to
look after her. These women were called _mowai_ by the girl; one of them
cooked food for the girl at a special fire in the bush. The girl might
not feed herself nor handle her food, it being put into her mouth by her
attendant women. No man—not even the girl’s father—might come into the
house. If he did see his daughter during this time he would certainly
have had bad luck with his fishing, and probably smash his canoe the
first time he went out. The girl might not eat turtle or turtle eggs; no
vegetable food was forbidden. The sun was not allowed to shine on her.
‘He can’t see day time; he stop inside dark,’ said my informant.
“At the end of three months the girl was carried to a fresh-water creek
by her _mowai_, she hanging on to their shoulders so that not even her
feet touched the ground, the women of the village forming a ring round
the girl and her _mowai_, thus escorting them to the creek. The girl’s
ornaments were removed, and the _mowai_ with their burden staggered
into the creek, where the girl was immersed, all the women joining in
splashing water over the three. On coming out of the water one of the
_mowai_ made a heap of grass for her charge to sit on, while the other
ran to the reef and caught a small crab. She tore off its claws, and with
these she ran back to the creek, where a fire had meanwhile been made,
at which the claws were roasted. The girl was then fed on these by the
_mowai_. She was then freshly decorated, and the whole party marched back
to the village in one row, the girl being in the centre, with the _mowai_
at her side, each of them holding one of the girl’s wrists. The husbands
of the _mowai_ (called by the girl _waduam_) received her, and led her
into the house of one of them, where all ate food, the girl being then
allowed to feed herself in the usual manner. The rest of the community
had meanwhile prepared and eaten a feast, and a dance was held, in which
the girl took a prominent part, her two _waduam_ dancing, one on each
side of her. When the dance was finished, the _mowai_ led the girl into
their house and stripped her of her ornaments. They then led her back to
her parents’ house.”
One day Cowling invited us to go in his centre-board cutter to Pulu, as
he knew we were anxious to visit that sacred islet, and we took with us
Gizu, Tom, and Peter to act as guides. We had a spanking sail round the
eastern and southern sides of Mabuiag, and soon reached Pulu, a small
rocky island on the reef on the western side of Mabuiag. We landed at
Mumugubut, a pretty little sandy bay surrounded by granitic rocks, which
were fissured and undercut in an extraordinary manner. To the right,
projecting high from massive boulders, was a gigantic Γ-shaped rock,
which is called Kwoiam’s throwing-stick. This redoubtable hero implanted
his weapon here after the slaughter of a number of Badu men who had
humbugged him. Kwoiam had followed these men from Mabuiag, and landing
elsewhere on the island, walked close to this tiny bay. Natives point out
a rock lying on the ground against which Kwoiam pressed his foot when
preparing to throw his spear against his sleeping foes, but concluding
this spot was not suitable he made a détour inland, and took up a
position whence he commanded a better view of the unconscious Badu men.
He again prepared to hurl his spear, pressing hard with his right foot
against the ground, which immediately became a shelf of rock to give him
a better purchase for his foot. A little inland from the bay are a number
of large slabs of rock which represent the bodies of the men killed and
decapitated by Kwoiam.
To the left of Mumugubut are some smoothed rocks on which are perched
immense boulders. A casual observer seeing similar rocks in Europe
would not hesitate to describe these also as glaciated rocks and
_blocs perchés_. As a matter of fact, they are due to the same kind of
weathering that carves out the Devonshire tors, and which leaves the
large granite boulders on the flanks of Dartmoor.
We passed round these rocks, and then struck inland. A short way from the
beach is a cleft in the rocks, which in some places is very narrow, but
in others widens out to leave two or three various-sized but small open
spaces, which were utilised in former days as the retiring-rooms of the
men engaged in certain ceremonies. One compartment was the cooking place,
another the “green-room”; and in this latter was a great overhanging
rock, under the shelter of which were kept the “properties.” No women
were allowed to come near this spot.
We scrambled over rocks and through scrub, and soon came to an open bay,
with a fair amount of level ground below it.
The southerly end of this area was the _kwod_, or tabooed camp of the
men. To the left, and at high-water mark, is a huge boulder with an
overhanging smooth surface facing the _kwod_. On this smooth surface
are some nearly effaced paintings in red of various animals, also some
handprints made by placing the outstretched palm and fingers on the rock,
and splashing the rock with powdered charcoal mixed with water. The
handprint thus appears white on a black background. The legend of the
origin of this rock is as follows.
Once upon a time, when the Mabuiag people were camping there, the boys
and girls, in spite of the prohibition of their parents, were fond of
continually twirling round on the beach with their arms extended. They
played in this way every night till this great rock fell from the sky as
a punishment, and killed every man, woman, and child on the island, with
the exception of two sweethearts, who fled and crossed over to Mabuiag at
Kakalug. They bit a piece of a _kowai_ tree that grew there, and “that
medicine stop that stone.” This pair of lovers became the progenitors of
the present population. Parents still tell their children never to play
this game (_gugabidĕ tiai_) at night, lest a similar catastrophe should
recur. The rock is called _menguzikula_, or “the stone that fell.”
Near the centre of the _kwod_ is a large oblong heap of dugong bones,
_koi siboi_. At short distances from this were the fireplaces of the five
chief clans. These were so arranged that the _Sam_ (cassowary), _Kodal_
(crocodile), and _Tabu_ (snake) fireplaces were comparatively close
together, whereas the _Kaigas_ (shovel-nose skate) and _Dungal_ (dugong)
were much further apart. This corresponds to a grouping of the three
first as the “children of the big _augŭd_,” the name of which was named
_kotibu_.
The two last were the “children of the little _augŭd_,” which was
called _giribu_. _Kotibu_ and _giribu_ were two crescentic ornaments,
or insignia, made by Kwoiam of turtle-shell; the former was worn on the
upper lip, and the latter on the chest.
It appears to me that we here have a most interesting stage in the
transformation of totemism, since we have the two main groups of the old
totem (_augŭd_) clans associated with relics of a national hero. There
are other facts which point to the rise of a local hero cult, the hero
himself (although he belonged to the _Kaigas_ clan) being _augŭd_, as
were also _kotibu_ and _giribu_.
It is very rarely that artificial objects are adopted as totems, and I
believe this is the only instance of an individual man being spoken of
as a totem. Although the natives called him _augŭd_, they were evidently
extending the use of that term to a point beyond which it could logically
be applied; but having no name for the idea they were striving after,
they were forced to employ an old term, though the meaning was strained.
[Illustration: PLATE XII
MAN DRESSED UP FOR THE DEATH-DANCE
DIVINING SKULLS
1 SKULL OF MAGAU OF NAGIR
2 A MURRAY ISLAND SKULL]
At the back of the _kwod_ are two heaps of Fusus shells—one slightly
larger than the other—the _koi mat_ and the _mŭgi mat_ (_koi_ means
“large,” and _mŭgi_ is “small”). A short distance to the side of these
are two small heaps of shells called respectively _koi augŭdau kupar_ and
_mŭgi augŭdau kupar_, and beyond the latter is a double row of dugong
ribs called _mŭgi siboi_.
These five shrines are close to the bushes and rocks that form the
south-easterly border of the kwod.
[Illustration: FIG. 12. THE KWOD OR CEREMONIAL GROUND IN PULU]
The great annual ceremonies were held here at the rising of the star
_Kek_ (Achernar, α of Eridanus, of our constellations).
The annual death-dance first took place, at which men with leafy masks
and bodies covered with the yellow sprouting leaves of the coco-palm
danced with bow and arrow, and mimicked in their gait and attitudes
persons recently deceased. The women, who sat a long way off, recognised
the individuals who were personified, and with tears and lamentations
called out, “That’s my husband!” “Oh, my son!” according to their
relationship with the deceased.
Women, too, have spirits that live after death, but, as that sex is by
universal consent tabooed from performing sacred ceremonies, they could
not personate deceased women; so men performed that office clad in a
woman’s petticoat, and carried brooms in their hand, their faces being
hidden with the customary head-dress of leaves.
It was a remarkable fact that these people appear to have noticed that
hilarity is a natural reaction at funerals, and this was provided for in
the person of a sort of masked buffoon, the _danilkau_, who “played the
fool” behind the back of some of the more serious performers.
The adoption of the lads into their respective clans took place
immediately after the death-dances. So far as I could gather, there were
not such important ceremonies on this occasion as in the case of the Malu
cult of Murray Island. I believe that masks were not employed at this
time.
The only initiation ceremony, if such it can be called, that I could hear
of was the chastising or torturing of the lads, more particularly the
bad ones, in the _kwod_. The good boys were let off very easily, but a
naughty one might be speared in the hollow of the knee by a stick armed
with the spine of a sting-ray, or scraped with the rough, spiny skin of
a ray, or be beaten about the ears and elsewhere with the nests of green
ants, who bite ferociously, or chastised with wasps’ nests. So far as
we could learn, neither here nor in Murray Island was the bull-roarer
employed at the initiation ceremonies. Here it was swung in connection
with turtle ceremonies; it was also useful in making garden produce grow,
but it was not used to make wind or rain.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.
Drawing by Gizu of a _danilkau_, the buffoon of the funeral ceremonies.
He wore a leafy head-dress, in which is inserted a long feathered
filament; on his chest are two crossed shoulder-belts and a shell
ornament; a fringed belt is round his waist, from which depends in front
an empty coconut water-vessel; his legs are provided with ornamental
bands.]
The _kernge_, or lads to be initiated, were grouped on the further side
of the _koi siboi_. They remained in the _kwod_ for several days, during
which time they are instructed by their uncles (mothers’ brothers only)
in the moral code and customs of the community.
At the end of the _kwod_ was a forked post; on this were hung, after the
war-dance, the decapitated heads of the enemy that had been slain in
battle. In front of this post are stones which mark the spot where the
wedding-gifts were heaped of a certain legendary spirit named Tapĕbu who
married a Mabuiag girl.
On some of the rocks beyond the ceremonial camp we found a few simple
pictographs; we photographed and sketched some of these. One group
consists of two _mŭri_ dancing, and another beating a drum. A _mŭri_ is
a spirit that descends and ascends water-spouts. It has only two front
teeth in each jaw. The water-spout is called in Mabuiag _klak markai_, or
“the spear of the spirits.” It is with these that the spirits (_markai_)
catch dugong and turtle.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.
Drawing by Gizu of Mŭri ascending a water-spout (_baiu_). The black cloud
above is called _baib_, and the spray _sap_. One water-spout is spearing
a dugong.]
Under some of the boulders were a few human bones in a very bad state of
repair.
Later on we struggled towards the centre of the island, scrambling up and
over boulders, and forcing our way through dense tangled bush. Finally
we came to an immense block of stone, the eastern face of which overhung
to a considerable extent, forming a small, low cave, which some fifteen
or twenty years ago had been nearly filled up with earth by a South Sea
teacher. In the old days, this cave was the storehouse of the skulls that
were obtained in the forays. Most of the skulls were placed in heaps
at the back of the cave, while some were kept in two long baskets. In
this cave were also kept the two ceremonial stone clubs and the sacred
emblems, the mysterious _kotibu_ and _giribu_. The skulls in the baskets
were painted red, and were said to have been provided with noses made of
beeswax and eyes of mother-of-pearl, but this was probably done in only a
few cases. Forty-nine of the skulls from this cave were obtained by the
British Museum (Natural History Museum) from the Rev. S. Macfarlane, and
the collection has been described by Mr. Oldfield Thomas in the _Journal
of the Anthropological Institute_, vol. xiv. p. 328.
The mouth of the cave was built up on each side with large Fusus shells.
Now the glory and mystery have departed, and earth and stones almost
entirely fill up the space beneath the overhanging rock. We obtained one
or two broken skulls and a number of fragments of skulls.
When any man was on his way to visit the _augŭds kotibu_ and _giribu_,
the latter left their respective baskets in which they were kept and
came to the entrance of the cave, but when the visitor came close, the
_augŭds_ returned to their baskets and made a scraping noise; but the man
never saw them moving, he only found them lying in their baskets.
Outside the cave are two oblong patches of Fusus shells, called
respectively _koi mat_ and _mŭgi mat_; the former belonged to the big
_augŭd_, and the latter to the little one. Each _mat_ was called the
_mari_ of the _augŭd_. A _mari_ is a spirit, shadow, or reflection.
When the baskets showed signs of decay, new ones were made at the next
_kek_ season. The men belonging to each _augŭd_ gathered a plant called
_boz_, the stem of which forms a kind of rope, and placed it on the
_koi-_ and _mŭgi-augŭdau_ _kupar_ in the _kwod_, and later transferred
each bundle of _boz_ respectively to the _koi mat_ and the _mŭgi mat_. A
_mat_, it will be remembered, is a heap of Fusus shells. The symbolism of
the operation is pretty obvious. The material of which the sacred baskets
were to be made was dedicated or sanctified by first placing it on the
“navel” of the _augŭd_ and then on its “shadow.” I found afterwards that
a heap of shells, _augŭdau kupar_, or “navel of the _augŭd_” occurred in
the _kwod_ of the islands of Tut, Yam, and Muralug; the Kwoiam cult also
extended to the latter island.
A large plaited mat was placed opposite the _koi mat_ and _mŭgi mat_;
on these the men of each division sat, and not one of them could budge
from his mat for any purpose until the basket was finished. This was
accomplished at sundown, and “every one feel glad, time to spell and
walk about.” The following day the baskets were taken to the cave, and
the contents of the old baskets transferred to the new. There were other
details that need not be mentioned here.
All the sacred relics of Kwoiam were burned at the instigation of Hakin,
a Lifu teacher at the time when the Rev. S. Macfarlane was on Murray
Island. The Mamoose gave his consent to their destruction, but only a
South Sea man, Charley Mare, dared destroy these _augŭds_, he burnt them
on the spot.
The natives say that when the Mission party started for home the water
was quite smooth, there being no wind whatever. As their boat rounded
Sipungar Point, on their return, a sudden gust of wind made the boat heel
over and nearly capsize, and that same night Charley’s body swelled up,
and he was sick for a fortnight.
Kwoiam is such a central feature in the legendary lore of Mabuiag that it
is desirable that a brief outline of his story should be told, since the
saga of Kwoiam is too long to be here narrated in full.
Kwoiam lived with his mother, who was blind, and he had an uncle for his
henchman. One day, when his mother was plaiting a mat, Kwoiam abstracted
with his toes a strip of leaf his mother was about to use, and missing it
she asked who had taken it. Kwoiam confessed, and his mother cursed him;
this made him angry, and he went outside the hut and called to his uncle
to get the sprouting leaf of a coconut palm that he might deck himself
for the war-path. When he was so accoutred he killed his mother, and then
went on the rampage to avenge her death, or as it was told to me, “to pay
for mother.”
He went to several islands and to the mainland of New Guinea, sometimes
slaying the population of a whole village, at other times merely
requesting food or a new canoe. Eventually Kwoiam returned with a
canoe-load of human heads, and he ordered his uncle to clean them for him.
On one occasion certain Badu men fooled him, refusing to give him some
fish for which he had civilly asked them. These men retired to the island
of Pulu for a midday siesta; Kwoiam followed them there and killed them
all except two, who made their escape, but one of them had his leg
transfixed by a javelin hurled by Kwoiam. The two survivors died on
reaching Badu immediately after they had narrated the fate of the others.
An expedition of Moa and Badu men was sent to retaliate; but Kwoiam
killed all who were sent against him except four men. A second very large
avenging expedition was sent, but when fighting against these Kwoiam’s
throwing-stick broke, and he was helpless. He slowly retreated backwards
up his hill, and when the enemy pressed too closely upon him, he rushed
forward, unarmed as he was, and frightened back his foes; this happened
several times.
As soon as Kwoiam reached the summit of the hill he crouched in a prone
position and gave up the ghost. A Moa man rushed up to him and began
to cut off his head with a bamboo knife, but he had only made a small
incision when he was stopped by another Badu man, who said, “No cut him
head; he great man. Let him lie where he stop; he master over all these
islands.” So instead of insulting the dead warrior they did him honour,
and piled over his body their bows, arrows, javelins, and stone clubs,
saying that now Kwoiam was dead all the fighting was over. The cairn
erected over his grave remains to this day, and on it are placed three
ancient shell trumpets.
The informant closed his narrative of this saga with the following
sentiment: The fame of Kwoiam caused the island of Mabuiag to be feared
for many a long day, and although the island is rocky and comparatively
unfertile, Kwoiam covered it with honour and glory. Thus showing how the
deeds of a single man can glorify a place in itself of little worth.
We spent one very pleasant day in visiting the spots associated with this
legendary hero. On the plain near the sea is a large oval boulder, the
head of the luckless mother. As we ascended the hill called Kwoiamantra
(I think this means “Kwoiam’s ridge”) we passed between a long double
row of stones that represented the heads taken by Kwoiam on the famous
voyage when he paid the blood-price for the death of his mother. A short
distance up the hill were some rocks, from out of a cleft in which
a perennial stream flows. It arose in this wise. One day Kwoiam was
thirsty, and he drove his spear into the rock, and water gushed forth and
has never ceased to flow. The water fills a rock basin, and from this it
trickles into a lower pool, and thence the stream flows down the hill.
Ten years before I was informed that only old and important men might
drink from the upper pool, whereas the lower was free to all; the penalty
of unworthily drinking from the upper pool was premature greyness. I
asked if I might drink there, and they were good enough to think that my
claims were sufficiently strong. Apparently I was presumptuous, as the
penalty has been inflicted!
On a rock between the two pools is a slight concavity in which Kwoiam
used to sit, and in front of it are several transverse grooves in the
rock, caused, it is stated, by Kwoiam straightening his javelins there by
rubbing them across the rock.
Near the top of the hill is a rough U-shaped wall of stones about two
feet in height, which marks the site of Kwoiam’s house; his mother lived
on the flat land near the sea. Behind Kwoiam’s house is a tor which
commands an extensive view, not only of Mabuiag and of some of the islets
around, but there is a fine panorama of the great islands of Moa and Badu
some five miles distant. This was the favourite look-out of Kwoiam, and
it was from here that he saw the fleets of canoes from Badu and Moa that
were crossing over to attack him.
As I sat there I thought of the deeds of the berserker. Below to the left
was the grassy plain studded with pandanus and other trees where he was
born and where he had his gardens. The site of his mother’s hut is now
occupied by a South Sea man, who has married a native woman, and aliens
till Kwoiam’s garden lands.
Far away was the prosperous village by the sand beach, nestling under
the shade of a grove of coconut palms, the new church witnessing to the
change that has come over the island.
In the old days, scattered throughout the island, were the hamlets of an
agricultural fisher-folk, who, though fierce and savage, regulated their
conduct by a code of morals that, so far as it went, was unimprovable.
The emotions of awe, veneration, and mystery were cultivated by bizarre
and sacred ceremonies; and the custom and sanction of ages had imbued
their rude life with a richness of sentiment and a significance that we
can scarcely realise.
Now the people are all gathered into one place under the ægis of a new
religion, and are held together by an alien form of government. There is
no glory, no independence, nothing to be proud of—except a church built
by contract. Fishing is mainly practised to gain money to purchase the
white man’s goods and the white man’s food. The dull and respectable
uniformity of modern civilisation has gripped these poor people; but,
to their credit be it spoken, they are still proud of the apotheosised
Kwoiam.
Behind low-lying land were wooded hills that sent a spur forming the
northern limit of the bay, and beyond this again were several low rocky
islands. The pale green water fringed the bay with white surf, and beyond
the limit of the fringing reef the deeper water assumed a fine blue hue.
It was a pretty sight. The sear colours of the parched plain relieved
with patches of the various green of coconut palm, banana, scrub, or
garden plots. The red rocks variegated with green foliage, and the
greens and blues of the sea relieved by a frill of white where the waves
encircled the island shores.
On turning round one saw the long sky-line of the islands of Moa and Badu
toothed with high hills, all colour being lost in the grey distance of a
moisture-laden atmosphere. Here and there, along the coast, could be seen
clouds of smoke, as the natives burnt the dead undergrowth to make their
gardens. To the right various islets relieved the monotony of the waste
of waters.
On the other side of the crest, overlooking Pulu and other islands, was
the grave of Kwoiam. The low cairn was nine feet in height, with the head
due east; it was surmounted by three reputed shell trumpets of the hero.
How I longed to excavate the site! But I could not get permission from
the natives, and I unwillingly gave way rather than rough-ride over their
sentiment.
One little incident was very amusing as illustrating the change that has
of recent years come over the people. I wanted one of the natives who
had accompanied us to put himself in the attitude of the dying Kwoiam,
so that I might have a record of the position he assumed, photographed
on the actual spot. It took an incredible amount of persuasion to induce
the man to strip, although he was a friend of ours, who knew us well.
Eventually we succeeded, but the prudery he exhibited was ludicrous, and
he managed to do all that we required without bringing a blush to the
most sensitive cheek. There were, of course, only ourselves, and no women
were present.
The bushes on the side of Kwoiam’s hill have most of their leaves
blotched with red, and not a few are entirely of a bright red colour.
This is due to the blood that spurted from Kwoiam’s neck when it was cut
at his death; to this day the shrubs witness to this outrage on the dead
hero.