certain burdensome restrictions, which are probably dictated by a fear
of the ghost. Thus all the time till the effigy of the deceased has been
made and a feast given in his honour, they are obliged to remain in the
house without going out for any purpose, not even to bathe or to fetch
food and drink. Moreover they must abstain from the ordinary articles of
diet and confine themselves to half-baked cakes of sago and other
unpalatable viands. As these restrictions may last for months they are
not only irksome but onerous, especially to people who have no slaves to
fetch and carry for them. However, in that case the neighbours come to
the rescue and supply the mourners with wood, water, and the other
necessaries of life, until custom allows them to go out and help
themselves. After the effigy of the dead has been made, the family go in
state to a sacred place to purify themselves by bathing. If the journey
is made by sea, no other canoe may meet or sail past the canoe of the
mourners under pain of being confiscated to them and redeemed at a heavy
price. On their return from the holy place, the period of mourning is
over, and the family is free to resume their ordinary mode of life and
their ordinary victuals.[501] That the seclusion of the mourners in the
house for some time after the death springs from a fear of the ghost is
not only probable on general grounds but is directly suggested by a
custom which is observed at the burial of the body. When it has been
laid in the earth along with various articles of daily use, which the
ghost is supposed to require for his comfort, the mourners gather round
the grave and each of them picks up a leaf, which he folds in the shape
of a spoon and holds several times over his head as if he would pour out
the contents upon it. As they do so, they all murmur, "_Rur i rama_,"
that is, "The spirit comes." This exclamation or incantation is supposed
to prevent the ghost from troubling them. The gravediggers may not enter
their houses till they have bathed and so removed from their persons the
contagion of death, in order that the soul of the deceased may have no
power over them.[502] Mourners sometimes tattoo themselves in honour of
the dead. For a father, the marks are tattooed on the cheeks and under
the eyes; for a grandfather, on the breast; for a mother, on the
shoulders and arms; for a brother, on the back. On the death of a father
or mother, the eldest son or, if there is none such, the eldest daughter
wears the teeth and hair of the deceased. When the teeth of old people
drop out, they are kept on purpose to be thus strung on a string and
worn by their sons or daughters after their death. Similarly, a mother
wears as a permanent mark of mourning the teeth of her dead child strung
on a cord round her neck, and as a temporary mark of mourning a little
bag on her throat containing a lock of the child's hair.[503] The
intention of these customs is not mentioned. Probably they are not
purely commemorative but designed in some way either to influence for
good the spirit of the departed or to obtain its help and protection for
the living.
[Sidenote: Rebirth of parents in their children.]
Thus far we have found no evidence among the natives of New Guinea of a
belief that the dead are permanently reincarnated in their human
descendants. However, the inhabitants of Ayambori, an inland village
about an hour distant to the east of Doreh, are reported to believe that
the soul of a dead man returns in his eldest son, and that the soul of a
dead woman returns in her eldest daughter.[504] So stated the belief is
hardly clear and intelligible; for if a man has several sons, he must
evidently be alive and not dead when the eldest of them is born, and
similarly with a woman and her eldest daughter. On the analogy of
similar beliefs elsewhere we may conjecture that these Papuans imagine
every firstborn son to be animated by the soul of his father, whether
his father be alive or dead, and every firstborn daughter to be animated
by the soul of her mother, whether her mother be alive or dead.
[Sidenote: Customs concerning the dead observed in the islands off the
western end of New Guinea.]
Beliefs and customs concerning the dead like those which we have found
among the natives of Geelvink Bay are reported to prevail in other parts
of Dutch New Guinea, but our information about them is much less full.
Thus, off the western extremity of New Guinea there is a group of small
islands (Waaigeoo, Salawati, Misol, Waigama, and so on), the inhabitants
of which make _karwar_ or wooden images of their dead ancestors. These
they keep in separate rooms of their houses and take with them as
talismans to war. In these inner rooms are also kept miniature wooden
houses in which their ancestors are believed to reside, and in which
even Mohammedans (for some of the natives profess Islam) burn incense on
Fridays in honour of the souls of the dead. These souls are treated like
living beings, for in the morning some finely pounded sago is placed in
the shrines; at noon it is taken away, but may not be eaten by the
inmates of the house. Curiously enough, women are forbidden to set food
for the dead in the shrines: if they did so, it is believed that they
would be childless. Further, in the chief's house there are shrines for
the souls of all the persons who have died in the whole village. Such a
house might almost be described as a temple of the dead. Among the
inhabitants of the Negen Negorijen or "Nine Villages" the abodes of the
ancestral spirits are often merely frameworks of houses decorated with
coloured rags. These frameworks are called _roem seram_. On festal
occasions they are brought forth and the people dance round them to
music. The mountain tribes of these islands to the west of New Guinea
seldom have any such little houses for the souls of the dead. They think
that the spirits of the departed dwell among the branches of trees, to
which accordingly the living attach strips of red and white cotton,
always to the number of seven or a multiple of seven. Also they place
food on the branches or hang it in baskets on the boughs,[505] no doubt
in order to feed the hungry ghosts. But among the tribes on the coast,
who make miniature houses for the use of their dead, these little
shrines form a central feature of the religious life of the people. At
festivals, especially on the occasion of a marriage or a death, the
shrines are brought out from the side chamber and are set down in the
central room of the house, where the people dance round them, singing
and making music for days together with no interruption except for
meals.[506]
[Sidenote: Wooden images of the dead.]
According to the Dutch writer, Mr. de Clercq, whose account I am
reproducing, this worship of the dead, represented by wooden images
(_karwar_) and lodged in miniature houses, is, together with a belief in
good and bad spirits, the only thing deserving the name of religion that
can be detected among these people. It is certain that the wooden images
represent members of the family who died a natural death at home; they
are never, as in Ansoes and Waropen, images of persons who have been
murdered or slain in battle. Hence they form a kind of Penates, who are
supposed to lead an invisible life in the family circle. The natives of
the Negen Negorijen, for example, believe that these wooden images
(_karwar_), which are both male and female, contain the souls of their
ancestors, who protect the house and household and are honoured at
festivals by having portions of food set beside their images.[507] The
Seget Sélé, who occupy the extreme westerly point of New Guinea, bury
their dead in the island of Lago and set up little houses in the forest
for the use of the spirits of their ancestors. But these little houses
may never be entered or even approached by members of the family.[508] A
traveller, who visited a hut occupied by members of the Seget tribe in
Princess Island, or Kararaboe, found a sick man in it and observed that
before the front and back door were set up double rows of roughly hewn
images painted with red and black stripes. He was told that these images
were intended to keep off the sickness; for the natives thought that it
would not dare to run the gauntlet between the double rows of figures
into the house.[509] We may conjecture that these rude images
represented ancestral spirits who were doing sentinel duty over the sick
man.
[Sidenote: Customs concerning the dead among the natives of the Macluer
Gulf.]
Among the natives of the Macluer Gulf, which penetrates deep into the
western part of Dutch New Guinea, the souls of dead men who have
distinguished themselves by bravery or in other ways are honoured in the
shape of wooden images, which are sometimes wrapt in cloth and decorated
with shells about the neck. In Sekar, a village on the south side of the
gulf, small bowls, called _kararasa_ after the spirits of ancestors who
are believed to lodge in them, are hung up in the houses; on special
occasions food is placed in them. In some of the islands of the Macluer
Gulf the dead are laid in hollows of the rocks, which are then adorned
with drawings of birds, hands, and so forth. The hands are always
painted white or yellowish on a red ground. The other figures are drawn
with chalk on the weathered surface of the rock. But the natives either
cannot or will not give any explanation of the custom.[510]
[Sidenote: Burial and mourning customs in the Mimika district.]
The Papuans of the Mimika district, on the southern coast of Dutch New
Guinea, sometimes bury their dead in shallow graves near the huts;
sometimes they place them in coffins on rough trestles and leave them
there till decomposition is complete, when they remove the skull and
preserve it in the house, either burying it in the sand of the floor or
hanging it in a sort of basket from the roof, where it becomes brown
with smoke and polished with frequent handling. The people do not appear
to be particularly attached to these relics of their kinsfolk and they
sell them readily to Europeans. Mourners plaster themselves all over
with mud, and sometimes they bathe in the river, probably as a mode of
ceremonial purification. They believe in ghosts, which they call
_niniki_; but beyond that elementary fact we have no information as to
their beliefs concerning the state of the dead.[511]
[Sidenote: Burial customs at Windessi.]
The natives of Windessi in Dutch New Guinea generally bury their dead
the day after the decease. As a rule the corpse is wrapt in mats and a
piece of blue cloth and laid on a scaffold; few are coffined. All the
possessions of the dead, including weapons, fishing-nets, wooden bowls,
pots, and so forth, according as the deceased was a man or a woman, are
placed beside him or her. If the death is attributed to the influence of
an evil spirit, they take hold of a lock of hair of the corpse and
mention various places. At the mention of each place, they tug the hair;
and if it comes out, they conclude that the death was caused by somebody
at the place which was mentioned at the moment. But if the hair does not
come out, they infer that evil spirits had no hand in the affair. Before
the body is carried away, the family bathes, no doubt to purify
themselves from the contagion of death. Among the people of Windessi it
is a common custom to bury the dead in an island. At such a burial the
bystanders pick up a fallen leaf, tear it in two, and stroke the corpse
with it, in order that the ghost of the departed may not kill them. When
the body has been disposed of either in a grave or on a scaffold, they
embark in the canoe and sit listening for omens. One of the men in a
loud voice bids the birds and the flies to be silent; and all the others
sit as still as death in an attitude of devotion. At last, after an
interval of silence, the man who called out tells his fellows what he
has heard. If it was the buzz of the blue flies that he heard, some one
else will die. If it was the booming sound of a triton shell blown in
the distance, a raid must be made in that direction to rob and murder.
Why it must be so, is not said, but we may suppose that the note of the
triton shell is believed to betray the place of the enemy who has
wrought the death by magic, and that accordingly an expedition must be
sent to avenge the supposed crime on the supposed murderer. If the note
of a bird called _kohwi_ is heard, then the fruit-trees will bear fruit.
Though all the men sit listening in the canoe, the ominous sounds are
heard only by the man who called out.[512]
[Sidenote: Mourning customs at Windessi.]
When the omens have thus been taken, the paddles again dip in the water,
and the canoe returns to the house of mourning. Arrived at it, the men
disembark, climb up the ladder (for the houses seem to be built on piles
over the water) and run the whole length of the long house with their
paddles on their shoulders. Curiously enough, they never do this at any
other time, because they imagine that it would cause the death of
somebody. Meantime the women have gone into the forest to get bark,
which they beat into bark-cloth and make into mourning caps for
themselves. The men busy themselves with plaiting armlets and leglets of
rattan, in which some red rags are stuck. Large blue and white beads are
strung on a red cord and worn round the neck. Further, the hair is shorn
in sign of mourning. Mourners are forbidden to eat anything cooked in a
pot. Sago-porridge, which is a staple food with some of the natives of
New Guinea, is also forbidden to mourners at Windessi. If they would eat
rice, it must be cooked in a bamboo. The doors and windows of the house
are closed with planks or mats, just as with us the blinds are lowered
in a house after a death. The surviving relatives make as many long
sago-cakes as there are houses in the village and send them to the
inmates; they also prepare a few for themselves. All who do not belong
to the family now leave the house of mourning. Then the eldest brother
or his representative gets up and all follow him to the back verandah,
where a woman stands holding a bow and arrows, an axe, a paddle, and so
forth. Every one touches these implements. Since the death, there has
been no working in the house, but this time of inactivity is now over
and every one is free to resume his usual occupations. This ends the
preliminary ceremonies of mourning, which go by the name of _djawarra_.
A month afterwards round cakes of sago are baked on the fire, and all
the members of the family, their friends, and the persons who assisted
at the burial receive three such cakes each. Only very young children
are now allowed to eat sago-porridge. This ceremony is called _djawarra
baba_.
[Sidenote: Festival of the dead. Wooden images of the dead.]
When a year or more has elapsed, the so-called festival of the dead
takes place. Often the festival is held for several dead at the same
time, and in that case the cost is borne in common. From far and near
the people have collected sago, coco-nuts, and other food. For two
nights and a day they dance and sing, but without the accompaniment of
drums (_tifa_) and gongs. The first night, the signs of mourning are
still worn, hence no sago-porridge may be eaten; only friends who are
not in mourning are allowed to partake of it. The night is spent in
eating, drinking, smoking, singing and dancing. Next day many people
make _korwars_ of their dead, that is, grotesque wooden images carved in
human form, which are regarded as the representatives of the departed.
Some people fetch the head of the deceased person, and having made a
wooden image with a large head and a hole in the back of it, they insert
the skull into the wooden head from behind. After that friends feed the
mourners with sago-porridge, putting it into their mouths with the help
of the chopsticks which are commonly used in eating sago. When that is
done, the period of mourning is at an end, and the signs of mourning are
thrown away. A dance on the beach follows, at which the new wooden
images of the dead make their appearance. But still the drums and gongs
are silent. Dancing and singing go on till the next morning, when the
whole of the ceremonies come to an end.[513]
[Sidenote: Fear of the ghost.]
The exact meaning of all these ceremonies is not clear, but we may
conjecture that they are based in large measure on the fear of the
ghost. That fear comes out plainly in the ceremony of stroking the
corpse with leaves in order to prevent the ghost from killing the
survivors. The writer to whom we are indebted for an account of these
customs tells us in explanation of them that among these people death is
ascribed to the influence of evil spirits called _manoam_, who are
supposed to be incarnate in some human beings. Hence they often seek to
avenge a death by murdering somebody who has the reputation of being an
evil spirit incarnate. If they succeed in doing so, they celebrate the
preliminary mourning ceremonies called _djawarra_ and _djawarra baba_,
but the festival of the dead is changed into a memorial festival, at
which the people dance and sing to the accompaniment of drums (_tifa_),
gongs, and triton shells; and instead of carving a wooden image of the
deceased, they make marks on the fleshless skull of the murdered
man.[514]
[Sidenote: Beliefs of the natives of Windessi as to the life after
death. Medicine-men inspired by the spirits of the dead.]
The natives of Windessi are said to have the following belief as to the
life after death, though we are told that the creed is now known to very
few of them; for their old beliefs and customs are fading away under the
influence of a mission station which is established among them.
According to their ancient creed, every man and every woman has two
spirits, and in the nether world, called _sarooka_, is a large house
where there is room for all the people of Windessi. When a woman dies,
both her spirits always go down to the nether world, where they are
clothed with flesh and bones, need do no work, and live for ever. But
when a man dies, only one of his spirits must go to the under world; the
other may pass or transmigrate into a living man or, in rare cases, into
a living woman; the person so inspired by a dead man's spirit becomes an
_inderri_, that is, a medicine-man or medicine-woman and has power to
heal the sick. When a person wishes to become a medicine-man or
medicine-woman, he or she acts as follows. If a man has died, and his
friends are sitting about the corpse lamenting, the would-be
medicine-man suddenly begins to shiver and to rub his knee with his
folded hands, while he utters a monotonous sound. Gradually he falls
into an ecstasy, and if his whole body shakes convulsively, the spirit
of the dead man is supposed to have entered into him, and he becomes a
medicine-man. Next day or the day after he is taken into the forest;
some hocus-pocus is performed over him, and the spirits of lunatics, who
dwell in certain thick trees, are invoked to take possession of him. He
is now himself called a lunatic, and on returning home behaves as if he
were half-crazed. This completes his training as a medicine-man, and he
is now fully qualified to kill or cure the sick. His mode of cure
depends on the native theory of sickness. These savages think that
sickness is caused by a malicious or angry spirit, apparently the spirit
of a dead person; for a patient will say, "The _korwar_" (that is, the
wooden image which represents a particular dead person) "is murdering
me, or is making me sick." So the medicine-man is called in, and sets to
work on the sufferer, while the _korwar_, or wooden image of the spirit
who is supposed to be doing all the mischief, stands beside him. The
principal method of cure employed by the doctor is massage. He chews a
certain fruit fine and rubs the patient with it; also he pinches him all
over the body as if to drive out the spirit. Often he professes to
extract a stone, a bone, or a stick from the body of the sufferer. At
last he gives out that he has ascertained the cause of the sickness; the
sick man has done or has omitted to do something which has excited the
anger of the spirit.[515]
[Sidenote: Ghosts of slain enemies dreaded.]
From all this it would seem that the souls of the dead are more feared
than loved and reverenced by the Papuans of Windessi. Naturally the
ghosts of enemies who have perished at their hands are particularly
dreaded by them. That dread explains some of the ceremonies which are
observed in the village at the return of a successful party of
head-hunters. As they draw near the village, they announce their
approach and success by blowing on triton shells. Their canoes also are
decked with branches. The faces of the men who have taken a head are
blackened with charcoal; and if several have joined in killing one man,
his skull is divided between them. They always time their arrival so as
to reach home in the early morning. They come paddling to the village
with a great noise, and the women stand ready to dance in the verandahs
of the houses. The canoes row past the _roem sram_ or clubhouse where
the young men live; and as they pass, the grimy-faced slayers fling as
many pointed sticks or bamboos at the house as they have killed enemies.
The rest of the day is spent very quietly. But now and then they drum or
blow on the conch, and at other times they beat on the walls of the
houses with sticks, shouting loudly at the same time, to drive away the
ghosts of their victims.[516]
That concludes what I have to say as to the fear and worship of the dead
in Dutch New Guinea.
[Footnote 475: G. Bamler, "Tami," in R. Neuhauss's _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_,
iii. (Berlin, 1911) pp. 489-492.]
[Footnote 476: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 507-512.]
[Footnote 477: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 513 _sq._]
[Footnote 478: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 514 _sq._]
[Footnote 479: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 515 _sq._]
[Footnote 480: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ p. 516.]
[Footnote 481: G. Bamler, _op. cit._ pp. 493-507.]
[Footnote 482: J. L. van Hasselt, "Die Papuastämme an der Geelvinkbai
(Neu-guinea)," _Mitteilungen der geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_,
ix. (1890) p. 1; F. S. A. de Clercq, "De West en Noordkust van
Nederlandsch Nieuw-Guinea," _Tijdschrift van het Kon. Nederlandsch
Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, Tweede Serie, x. (1893) pp. 587 _sq._]
[Footnote 483: J. L. van Hasselt, _op. cit._ pp. 2, 3, 5 _sq._; A.
Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_ (Schiedam, 1863), pp. 28
_sqq._, 33 _sqq._, 42 _sq._, 47 _sqq._]
[Footnote 484: J. L. van Hasselt, "Die Papuastämme an der Geelvinkbai
(Neu-guinea)," _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_,
ix. (1891) p. 101.]
[Footnote 485: H. van Rosenberg, _Der Malayische Archipel_ (Leipsic,
1878), p. 461.]
[Footnote 486: H. van Rosenberg, _op. cit._ p. 462.]
[Footnote 487: M. Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_ (Berlin, N.D., preface dated
1899), pp. 401, 402.]
[Footnote 488: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_
(Schiedam, 1863), p. 77. Compare O. Finsch, _Neu-Guinea und seine
Bewohner_ (Bremen, 1865), p. 105.]
[Footnote 489: F. S. A. de Clercq, "De West- en Noordkust van
Nederlandsch Nieuw-Guinea," _Tijdschrift van het Kon. Nederlandsch
Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, Tweede Serie, x. (1893) p. 631. On these
_korwar_ or _karwar_ (images of the dead) see further A. Goudswaard, _De
Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, pp. 72 _sq._, 77-79; O. Finsch,
_Neu-Guinea und seine Bewohner_, pp. 104-106; H. von Rosenberg, _Der
Malayische Archipel_, pp. 460 _sq._; J. L. van Hasselt, "Die Papuastämme
an der Geelvinkbaai (Neu-Guinea)" _Mitteilungen der Geographischen
Gesellschaft zu Jena_, ix. (1891) p. 100; M. Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, pp.
400 _sq._, 402 _sq._, 498 _sqq._ In the text I have drawn on these
various accounts.]
[Footnote 490: J. L. van Hasselt, _l.c._]
[Footnote 491: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, pp.
78 _sq._; O. Finsch, _Neu-Guinea und seine Bewohner_, pp. 105 _sq._]
[Footnote 492: A. Goudswaard, _op. cit._ p. 79; O. Finsch, _op. cit._ p.
106.]
[Footnote 493: J. L. van Hasselt, _op. cit._ p. 100.]
[Footnote 494: A. Goudswaard, _op. cit._ p. 78.]
[Footnote 495: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 632.]
[Footnote 496: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 632.]
[Footnote 497: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 632.]
[Footnote 498: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, pp.
70-73; O. Finsch, _Neu-Guinea und seine Bewohner_ pp. 104 _sq._; M.
Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, p. 398.]
[Footnote 499: J. L. van Hasselt, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen
Gesellschaft zu Jena_, iv. (1886) pp. 118 _sq._ As to the spirit or
spirits who dwell in tree tops and draw away the souls of the living to
themselves, see further "Eenige bijzonderheden betreffende de Papoeas
van de Geelvinksbaai van Nieuw-Guinea," _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Landen
Volkenkunde van Neêrlandsch-Indië_, ii. (1854) pp. 375 _sq._]
[Footnote 500: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, p.
73; J. L. van Hasselt, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft
zu Jena_, iv. (1886) p. 118; M. Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, pp. 398. _sq._]
[Footnote 501: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, pp.
75 _sq._]
[Footnote 502: J. L. van Hasselt, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen
Gesellschaft zu Jena_, iv. (1886) 117 _sq._; M. Krieger, _op. cit._ pp.
397 _sq._]
[Footnote 503: A. Goudswaard, _op. cit._ pp. 74 _sq._]
[Footnote 504: _Nieuw Guinea ethnographisch en natuurkundig onderzocht
en beschreven_ (Amsterdam, 1862), p. 162.]
[Footnote 505: F. S. A. de Clercq, "De West- en Noordkust van
Nederlandsch Nieuw-Guinea," _Tijdschrift van het Kon. Nederlandsch
Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, Tweede Serie, x. (1893) pp. 198 _sq._]
[Footnote 506: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 201.]
[Footnote 507: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ pp. 202, 205.]
[Footnote 508: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 211.]
[Footnote 509: J. W. van Hille, "Reizen in West-Nieuw-Guinea,"
_Tijdschrift van het Kon. Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_,
Tweede Serie, xxiii. (1906) p. 463.]
[Footnote 510: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ pp. 459 _sq._, 461 _sq._ A
German traveller, Mr. H. Kühn, spent some time at Sekar and purchased a
couple of what he calls "old heathen idols," which are now in the
ethnological Museum at Leipsic. One of them, about a foot high,
represents a human head and bust; the other, about two feet high,
represents a squat sitting figure. They are probably ancestral images
(_korwar_ or _karwar_). The natives are said to have such confidence in
the protection of these "idols" that they leave their jewellery and
other possessions unguarded beside them, in the full belief that nobody
would dare to steal anything from spots protected by such mighty beings.
See H. Kühn, "Mein Aufenthalt in Neu-Guinea," _Festschrift des
25jährigen Bestehens des Vereins für Erdkunde zu Dresden_ (Dresden,
1888), pp. 143 _sq._]