CAPE YORK NATIVES
On November 2nd, Ray, Seligmann, and I went with Mr. Douglas to Somerset,
in Albany Pass, Cape York, to visit Mr. Frank Jardine. We reached
Somerset early in the afternoon and left at ten next morning. Mr.
Jardine is probably the oldest resident in the Straits, and has seen a
great deal, but he does not care about the natives, and could tell us
very little that we particularly wanted to know. We went prepared to
measure and study the Australian natives of the Gudang tribe, of which
Macgillivray wrote; but they have all died out, or at all events none now
live in their own country, the same remark also applies to neighbouring
tribes. We were greatly disappointed, as it was important to determine
whether they had any relationship to the islanders. It was very saddening
to be continually pulled up in our researches by the oft-repeated cry of
“_Too late!_”
As an illustration of the way in which natives did their best to
assist us in our work, I must mention the thoughtfulness of a certain
policeman on Thursday Island named Jimmy Matauri, who was a native of
Yaraikanna tribe of Cape York. On November 7th, Jimmy sent me four of his
fellow-tribesmen who had come to Thursday Island on a shelling boat. We
were very glad of this opportunity to measure them, as they filled up an
annoying gap in our work, these people being virtually the same as the
nearly extinct Gudang, whom we failed to meet at Somerset. Physically
they are fairly typical Australians—the six men measured had an average
height of 5 feet 4 inches, and they had long, narrow heads, and I should
imagine there is extremely little if any Papuan blood in their veins.
As soon as the men were measured, I inquired about their bull-roarers. I
led up to the question by referring to the middle upper front tooth which
was absent in all of them, and which I knew must have been knocked out
during initiation ceremonies. They acknowledged having the bull-roarer
which they called _umbalako_, and promised to make some for me. There
was a public holiday the following day as it was the Prince of Wales’
birthday, and nearly all the white residents went for a picnic to Goode
Island, where there were some sports for the coloured population. I had
intended going to the picnic, but as our Cape York friends were coming
again, Seligmann and I remained behind to see them.
[Illustration: FIG. 24. BULL-ROARERS
_Umbalako_ of the Yaraikanna tribe, Cape York. About one-thirteenth
natural size]
In the afternoon they turned up with the promised bull-roarers. These
were 5¼ inches in length and painted red, black, and white. There were no
sticks as there should have been, so we supplied the men with a broken
box-lid, a tomahawk, and a knife, and the omission was soon rectified.
Whilst this was being done in an out-building, Sarah, the waitress,
brought us out a cup of afternoon tea, and the natives deftly hid the
bull-roarers. For a woman to see a bull-roarer would be a terrible
sacrilege, and there was evident relief when the unsuspecting Sarah took
her departure.
After taking their photographs we had a talk on their customs, and
more particularly on their initiation ceremonies. When the boys have
“little bit whiskers” they are taken into the bush about the end of
the south-east monsoon, and the _langa_, as the lads are called, are
isolated for a variable period lasting from a month to a year, apparently
according to the age of each lad. Each _langa_ is looked after by a
_mawara_ (his future brother-in-law) who anoints him with bush medicine
in the hollow of the thigh (near the head of the femur), in the pits
of the groin, the hollows above the collar-bones, the hollows of the
temples, and at the back of the knee. This is done to make the boy grow.
During the period of seclusion the _langa_ wears a short kilt; he is not
allowed to talk nor play, and has to remain all the time in the _tera_,
which corresponds with the _kwod_ of the islanders.
At the end of the period the real ceremonies are held, in which all the
men participate. The _langa_ are painted red, white, and black in a
fearsome manner and otherwise decorated.
In the _Yampa_ ceremony the _langa_ sit in front of a screen, which has
somewhat of a horse-shoe shape; the men of the tribe are stationed a
good way off behind the screen, and quite out of sight of the initiates.
A tall post is erected within the inclosure, and a man climbs up this
and addresses the people beyond, stating that the _langa_ have been well
looked after, and asking for food. The people then throw food to him
while he is still up on the post, the food being tied up in palm leaves
or in baskets. If the _anachena_ fails to catch one of the bundles, he
comes down the pole and another climbs up, and so each take their turn
till all the food has been thrown.
The swinging and exhibition of the bull-roarer follows this ceremony,
but of course no women or children are allowed to witness this. Finally
a front tooth is knocked out, and then the lad is recognised as a man. A
year later the _okara_, or test for endurance, supplemented the earlier
ceremony of initiation.
At this stage of our talk Seligmann and I were called to dinner, but our
four friends said they would return later, when it was dark, as they
wanted to paint themselves up and show me exactly how the bull-roarer was
swung before the _langa_, and which they said no white man had ever seen
before.
After dinner Jimmy Matauri came for us, and we went with him to an open
spot behind some sheds and houses. There were our four friends, with
very little on in the way of clothing, but with their bodies variously
lined with whiting which I had previously given them. They swung the
bull-roarers first, circling them round their heads, and produced the
ordinary buzzing noise. Then they rapidly turned, facing the opposite
direction, and at the same time swung the bull-roarers horizontally with
a sudden backward and forward movement of the hand, which made them give
out a penetrating yelping “Bow-wow!” It was a weird sound, and extremely
incongruous in an environment of corrugated iron sheds, and not far from
a steam merry-go-round, with its grating machinery, discordant whistles,
and monotonous music, blatantly making merry on the occasion of the
Prince of Wales’ birthday! The contrasts which greet one constantly in
such places as these are often most violent.
The four natives then gave a short exhibition of a dance, which consisted
of a slow walk, strongly flexing each leg alternately, and occasionally
standing still momentarily, bending the head from one side to the other,
the men uttering low grunts all the time.
Next they gave a demonstration of the method used in knocking out an
initiate’s front tooth. The subject lies on the ground on his back, with
his head resting on the operator’s lap; the latter takes a kangaroo bone
in his left hand, and a stone in his right, and inserts the former first
on one side and then on the other of the tooth to be extracted, the
bone being worked sideways; this is done several times till the tooth
is loosened. The tooth is then smartly tapped, and with each tap the
name is mentioned of one of the “countries” owned by the lad’s mother,
or by her father, or other of her relatives. These are given in order,
and the name spoken when the tooth breaks away is the country to which
the lad belongs in future. The lad is then given some water with which
to rinse his mouth, and he gently lets the gory spittle fall into a leaf
water-basket. The old men carefully inspect the form assumed by the
clot, and trace some likeness to a natural object, plant, or stone; this
will be the _ari_ of the newly made man. So far as I know, this is a
previously undescribed method of fixing the territory of an individual,
or rather that land over which he has hunting, and root and fruit
collecting rights. It is worth noticing that only the lands belonging
to the mother’s family were enumerated; that is, a boy inherits from
his mother and not from his father. Thus the mother’s land goes to her
children, and a father’s to his nephews and nieces. On November 10th the
same natives came again for a talk in the afternoon, and we obtained some
additional information from them. Tomari, one of the most intelligent of
them, has three _ari_: (1) _aru_, a crab, which fell to him through blood
divination at initiation in the manner just described; (2) _untara_,
diamond fish; (3) _alungi_, crayfish. The two latter were given to him as
the result of dreams. It appears that if an old man dreams of anything at
night, that object is the _ari_ of the first person he sees next morning;
the idea being that the animal, or whatever appears in the dream, is the
spirit of the first person met with on awakening. Tomari’s father was
a carpet-snake, his mother an oyster, and his wife a particular kind of
fruit. The _ari_ is very similar to the _manitu_ or _okki_ of certain
North American tribes, or to the “personal totem,” as Dr. J. G. Frazer
terms it in his valuable little book on _Totemism_.
Women obtain their _ari_ in the same manner as men. If it was true, as I
was told, that men and women may not marry into the same _ari_ in their
own place, but may do so when away from home, its sanctity is local
rather than personal. A wife must be taken from another “country,” as all
belonging to the same place are brothers and sisters; which indicates
that there is a territorial idea in kinship and in the consequent
marriage restrictions.
[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF BRITISH NEW GUINEA.]