The Fly River is the largest river in New Guinea. It rises from about
the area where the Dutch, German, and British territories abut, and
flows into the western side of the Gulf of Papua. For a great part of
its course it flows through low-lying and often swampy country, which
is but sparsely inhabited, except in the delta region. For our present
purpose we need only consider the delta and the middle region of the
river. Owing to the carelessness of collectors, it is very difficult to
determine from what exact district many objects labelled “Fly River”
actually come.
The largest island in the delta of the Fly River is Kiwai, and this
contains several villages. Almost the only objects which can be safely
referred to Kiwai are the tubular drums with “jaws” at one end. There
can be but little doubt that the carving represents the head of the
crocodile, just as in the large Torres Straits and Daudai drum the
“jaws” probably are derived from the same reptile. The carving on the
Kiwai drums is boldly executed, and usually filled in with red and
white pigment.
So far as I can discover, the etching on the bamboo tobacco-pipes is
similar in many respects to that on those from the previous district,
but the zigzag lines are usually much coarser, and the punctate line is
either rare or absent.
In some of the islands in the delta of the Fly River, at Daumori for
example, carved wooden slabs, more or less ovoid in contour, are
suspended on the front of a house for good luck; some of these are also
employed as figure-heads for canoes to ensure successful voyages. They
have carved upon them conventional human faces, and occasionally whole
figures, accompanied by simple patterns.[5]
[5] I hope to publish shortly a paper in the _Internationales
Archiv für Ethnographie_, on the designs which are incised on
the skin of these natives.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.—Rubbing of one side of the decoration of a drum
from the Fly River, in the Museum at Rome; one-fourth natural size.]
_Middle District of the Fly River._—The most extensive collection of
objects at present in Europe from the interior of New Guinea along the
Fly River is that in the museum in Rome. These were “collected” by
Signor d’Albertis, mainly at what he named “Villaggio dei cocchi,”
which is probably the same place reached by Sir William MacGregor on
January 7th, 1890; it is situated about 380 miles from the mouth of the
river.
The drums from this district differ in shape from those from other
parts of the Possession, and a somewhat elaborate ornamentation is
carved on them in low relief. The means do not at present exist for
elucidating the significance of these designs (Fig. 8), which are
compounded of crescentic lines, leaf-like and triradiate elements and
spirals. Some of the figures certainly look as if they were intended to
represent leaves; if this is the case, it may be due to some influence
from the north, for we find that leaf-designs are employed in the north
of Netherlands New Guinea. Dr. M. Uhle[6] states that “the influence of
the plant ornamentation of the East Indian Archipelago is also found
in West New Guinea. Although it is essentially characteristic of the
western portion of the East Indian Archipelago, isolated examples are
not wanting in the ornamentation of the eastern.” He thinks he can
trace the plant motive in South-West New Guinea as far as Wamuka River.
[6] “Holz- und Bambus-Geräthe aus Nord West Neu Guinea,”
_Publicationen aus dem Königlichen Ethnographiscen Museum zu
Dresden_, vi., 1886.
The bamboo pipes are also decorated in a characteristic manner, the
pattern being caused by a local removal of the skin of the bamboo,
so that it shows darker against a light background. There is usually
considerably more regularity in the decoration than occurs on the
drums.