Trip Notes August 1999
I went to the Highlands show in Mt Hagen in August. It was incredible!! I shot 15 rolls of film.
I purchased wonderful shields, kina shells, baylor shells, bark belts, woven aprons, woven men's skirts, woven belts, magic bags, human hair wigs. Some shields have old spear tips lodged in the front surface from tribal fights.
My friend Ed from Santa Fe joined me in
Mt Hagen. Ed was so thrilled with the event he booked in for next
years show. We stayed at the Highlander Hotel which is pleasant and secure. We booked
through Trans Niugini Tours on the internet and paid into their
bank account here in California. They were well organized and
picked us up and dropped us off where and when they were supposed
to.
There is an enclosure
for tourists at the show in a prime location. It is protected from the general
public which unfortunately has an abundant pickpocket population and is prone to
small and large riots. Most of the vendors huts were burned down during the
show. The tourist enclosure tickets also permit you onto
the
field with
the dancers. The best place to
be! The big surprise to me was the small number of tourists. There were only
about 50 - 80 each day.
We were at the showground at 7 am each day to watch the dance groups assemble, dress and put on their makeup and to negotiate purchases of some items the dancers were willing to sell.
We spoke to the group from West New Britain who took a week to travel by sea and land to get to the show. They all had matching head dresses that combined the provincial symbol, the national symbol and their tribal totem. Their dance and their costumes were the story of their origins and evolution to humans.
Islands,
Ramu and Sepik Estuaries
Wonderful food bowls. Good prices and quality, good age and designs.
The best depdep are from Marangis Village, between the Sepik and Ramu estuaries. Marangis is built on a sandbar between mangrove swamp and the ocean. The easiest approach is from an entry passage from the Ramu River, especially in the northwest season when the surf can be 6 - 8 feet. Marangis looks out at the huge volcano island Manam.
We went as far as Boroi in the Madang province where I purchased very nice ancestor masks, amulet to dance costume. I wanted a slit gong drum. The Huge drums, nearly 4' high and 8 ' long with wonderful design work and end figures. Not all the drum owners in the village so we were not able to negotiate on any of them. Garamut drums are always made by groups of cousins and therefore owned by cousin groups (kantare) .
Boroi can be reached from the sea during high tide. The entrance sand bar has water over it for about 4 hours of the high tide. Many Sepik people going to Madang make for Boroi as it is the better road head for Madang.
We went up the Ramu as far as Daiden to see their new Haus Tambaran and the preparations for its opening. The Tumbuna dance Masks and their huge costumes are waiting for the ceremony in February next year. I was only permitted to look in from the doorway with a flashlight (being female). The elders don't want anything to contaminate their Spirit House at this stage. Sabastine from the PNG Museum, who traveled with us, was allowed in to see and document the costumes. He told me the masks were very old and would not be permitted to leave PNG. Damn.
We stayed with old friends in Watam Village nearer the Sepik. We arrived during a funeral. The women gathered at the home of the mother of the dead girl. She died in her first childbirth after being in labor for 3 days. The baby lived.
The men gathered in the Haus Tambaran. There was
a long procession of women with beautiful wood bowls full of sago,
fish and greens to the mothers house and the Haus Tambaran. The
women sat with the mother and ate and talked. The girl's father
and husband received the food and the condolences at the entrance
porch of the Haus Tambaran. I had no idea there were so many old
bowls still around. We stopped counting at 130. Watam is quite
a small village. Mourners came from many villages around.
We left for the islands of Rup Rup, Kadovar and Bien in the early morning. Because of bad weather and being too heavily loaded we were unable to manage the outflow of the Sepik to get to Bien Island so we headed for Rup Rup. We took old Heri from Watam with us as our guide not knowing his eye sight is pretty much gone. There is an optimum point to start heading out to sea so that you will spot the islands while still able to see the land. Luckily Heri was able to describe that point accurately to us and we found our way.
We found bowls, depdep, canoe prows, canoe rigging pieces and drums on Rup Rup and Kadovar. More expensive than the main land. Unfortunately we didn't find the small boy who had paddled off the day before in a tantrum after a fight with his mother. In the afternoon the sea was flat and visibility was a good 20 miles from the volcano. The boy's family was out in canoes in all directions looking for him. Our second boat went out to help. We looked for him the next day on our way west to Vokeo and Koil Islands. The boy was not found.
Rup Rup has built a big ocean going sailing canoe as they can no longer afford petrol and fiberglass boats. When I was a child, the island people came to town in small fleets of sailing canoes on Friday afternoon for market day on Saturday. The Rup Rup canoe does a weekly trip to the Murik Lakes market at Mendam. They are talking of building a bigger canoe to get to Wewak but so far cannot get the community to commit to it. The young men have no sailing experience and are concerned that its not safe and of course its slow. The older men say they cannot make the canoe alone.
Papua New Guinea Trip- March 2000.
April River, Sepik River, Washkuk, Blackwater, Yamok.
The March 2000 Journey:
Ron
Perry, his son Scot and my good friend and dentist Bill Lanz joined me in Wewak
to meet up with my crew: Peter Dimi, Pius, Jambe, Bom, Alphonse Marva and Norbet
Kowari to go buying artifacts on the Sepik River.
We were to begin buying on the April River on the upper Sepik and work
our way back to Angoram on the lower Sepik.
Photograph
by Gail Roski 1999
Ron and I flew into Wewak in rain last Saturday, survived several go-rounds of the Fokker F28 before the pilot gave up and headed to Madang. No one had turned on the runway lights in Wewak. We refueled in Madang and returned to Wewak. Air Niugini had found the CAA manager… very late for work.
Scott had arrived in Wewak on Friday and Bill came in from Asia on the
Singapore plane on Sunday. We were
joined on Monday by Sabastine Haraha from the PNG Museum who came on the trip to
document and revise the list of the National Treasures in various villages along
the Sepik.
Peter Dimi and Bom were in Wewak,
ready to take a chartered PMV truck to take our supplies to Angoram.
My mother Laura Martin had done advance shopping for us.
However, the PMV didn’t show up. It
was government pay week and the truck was forced into passenger use.
We rose Sunday morning to the noise
of a large group of Maprik and Wosera people; a truckload had arrived very
early. Fine and fantastic concentration of south Wosera art on display.
Monday morning Peter supervised and Bam packed the truck with food and supplies to go out to Angoram to our boats going up river. Peter would send the boats to meet us in Ambunti on Wednesday.
Peter is very ill with a huge spleen and malaria and will not be coming on the trip. This is the first river trip since 1984 that I have made without Peter. We started with Peter's big single canoe with my 40 hp Yamaha in 1985 and have grown to two houseboats plus single canoe and banana boat for the ocean work.
Tuesday morning Pius appeared in Wewak with Salio’s truck as Angoram had run out of fuel. After loading with fuel they headed back to Angoram, however the truck broke a drive shaft on its return journey and spent the night on the road. The houseboats eventually left Angoram on Wednesday morning with 22 drums of mixed fuel for the 2-day journey to meet us in Ambunti.
We spent the extra time in Wewak buying from a flood of people bearing artifacts from all over the Sepik. Word that we had arrived in town traveled fast. Ron and I worked out our working relationship with a minimum of shouting. I sent a few boxes of things by post that would arrive in the US for my Texas selling trip in April.
We flew to Ambunti Thursday afternoon with Brent in the New Tribes Mission 206. Brent consigned us all to god in prayer. The trip alternated between rain and shine over forest and plain to the Sepik River and Ambunti. Bill sat up front with Brent. I sat next to Ron whose high-speed character quirked with observations and questions.
The houseboats arrived in Ambunti only minutes before we did. The Sepik River was very low. This is the wet season and the Sepik River in March is usually flooded. The gearbox in the old 40 hp motor had died on the way. We arranged to hire a gearbox from Alphonse for the rest of the trip. His motor is no good but the gearbox is fine. Pius fitted the gearbox and serviced the other motors.
We ate dinner at the Ambunti lodge, spent time with 76 yr old Allan Gallagher and his small adopted girl and retired to our tents aboard the houseboats.
At 4 am Jambe began bailing and continued bailing for a long enough for me to get up to see the problem. The stern of the starboard canoe was gushing water at the transom. The stern had broken out the day before when the motor hit a submerged log, but had waited till nighttime to let in water. We filled it with putty and first thing in the morning started a hunt for a new canoe. We have needed to replace this canoe for years. It was Peter’s single canoe that we began using in 1985. It is very difficult to find very large cedar canoes. We follow every rumor and lead to find them. We bought a nice cedar canoe from David of Tungenjam for K600. We turned it down last year when it was K1000. It is three years old, a couple of bad spots that need fixing and a good transom. Tomorrow at Wogamush we will change out the old for the new.
A beautiful misty morning. Clouds hanging on the hills all the way to the water. Cooking smoke mixing with the mist. Breakfast was bacon followed by a real shower at the lodge. Waiting for PIM to come up with timber we will need for new decking, shelving and canoe repairs. We loaded up Alphonse’s generator and freezer.
We left after nine with lumber, nails, and new canoe in hot sunshine. Napped past Yessan and read and wrote to Swagup. Had an afternoon swim. Ron is loosing his voice. Scotty settled in. Sabastine playful, Bom being his usual playful small-boy self. (He is at least 35 years old and the father of 6.) Bill being there and loving every minute. Jambe and Pius each looking after their boats. Without Peter, Pius is Commodore. The men work long hard days when we are running.
We spent the night at a sandbar below the April River on Friday night with the two houseboats docked bow to bow. Not as easy maneuver in a river flowing 7 knots. At 7.30am Saturday we set off again to the April, two houseboats and the new and old single canoes. We stopped at Wogamush to tell them we would visit them on our return. At 10 am I decided we should switch to the single canoe. The narrows of the river and the tree limbs below the surface slowed the double canoes. (If we had persevered another 30 minutes we would have come to where the April is wider.) We were not going to make it to Gahom and out again in daylight at the slow pace of the houseboats.
It was extremely hot and bright, we all burned this day. When we arrived at the confluence of the Sitipa and the April Rivers, Alphonse declared it too shallow to continue. Alphonse was tired or I would have insisted we try. Ron also was against it and nervous about the time. The April was green water and low. We could not have got to Niksak, however the Sitipa was brown and flowing. We lunched on mossy boulders on the Sitipa and turned back.
First stop on the return journey was Bukabuki. Ron, Scott, Sabastine and Kowrie walked over the hill to the New Tribes Mission while Alphonse, Bill and I swam down stream. Kakiru was next. I bought another lovely magic stone bag and some magic bits and pieces. Bitara next was a good mixture of shields, drums and canoes.
There is an intimacy in the narrows of the April after the Sepik. The parrots, kokomos and herons are close enough for Sabastine to practice with Alphonse’ sling shot. Luckily not expert enough to hurt the birds
At around 4.30 we joined the two double canoes tied up at a sandbar, swam and washed up and I cooked dinner for 11 with the help of Josepha (teenage daughter of Alphonse) who is helpful if a bit whiny.
Early Sunday we set off for Sio. The people in all the villages very excited to see us, very warm and welcoming. A cool guy in sunglasses escorted us during our buying, Ron would remember his name. Took about an hour to fill the canoe and off to the double canoes to unload. Ron, Scott and Sabastine went back up to Paru while Bill and I went down to Wogamush to buy. Great garamut, canoes and stools in Wogamush. Ron came down and wanted to redo it all. He is hard to curb.
We left the April to camp on the Sepik River to escape the money/compensation requests from MepSon. Son, along with the other good old boys of Wogamush had come up with the idea that maybe we had provided inadequate financial input into the opening of their Haus Tambaran last year, and perhaps this was the reason for a death of one of the elders since the opening ceremony. Rather than get into it all; debating the possibility and the compensation they had in mind, I expressed my regrets and decided to move on.
Sepik mud-bar and muddy water are not as pleasant as the sandy April. I cooked chicken curry and pleased most people. Our large group broke up into two or three eating groups at night. I joined the crew, as I hadn’t had a chance to talk to them all together and catch up on the list of needs and woes. We need to repair the port side hull of the new houseboat; it has a rotten patch of wood. The new single needs to have its transom worked on. We need to get uniforms with names. The men have an identity they wish to wear. I will come up with a uniform for next trip. They wish for a hat, jacket and trousers.
Monday morning we took the old double to Kupkein with all of us on board. They were very pleased to see us. We bought splendid paddles, name boards, spin tops and bilums. Very fair prices and great quality. The Kupkein's requested I bring back more of the carving knives I had last years, also watches, batteries and medicine. They were very disappointed that Sister Jo wasn’t with us. I told of the plan to have a medicine boat do a regular trip and they were very pleased. Grille is very bad everywhere this year.
I sent the “new” houseboat and the two single canoes down to Swagup to build a saman with the two singles and transfer the load off the houseboats. The “new” houseboat was getting very cramped after loading the big drums, stools and canoes in Wogamush. The crew also bought 5 small canoes in Wogamush for their school kids and we need to carry them somewhere. We put them on the roof last year, however a high wind blew them off, along with empty fuel drums. Pius with the big houseboat ran for shore while the smaller old houseboat rounded up the flotsam.
Washkuk, the village,
is in a barat (small river) to the north of the Sepik.
A pretty and organized village. We
bought our biggest cedar canoe there two years ago.
The canoe should last for the next 10 years.
We bought several good large stools and some name boards, hooks and a
very good medicine bag and stick. I
put in my annual request for their big drum when they build the replacement. They promised as usual to consider it. Sabastine bought a beautiful headdress here.
He is very good at finding treasures.
The Museum will have good additions from this trip.
The small canoes we left at the mouth of the barat were gone. We assumed (correctly) that our other canoes had seen them and picked them up. Part way to Swagup, Sabastine discovered he had left his camera in Washkuk, We turned back to get it.
The Swagup men had pulled all the artifacts for sale out of the Haus Tambaran. They were emphatic regarding a K20 per person fee to enter so I assume some ceremonial process was in the works. We bought nearly everything they offered. The quality and range of masks, prows, name boards and paddles was very fine. After our purchases, their customary caution loosened up. They were happy and friendly with us as we packed up the canoes. The women were pleased we had bought a few of their elegant cone pots. One of the pots was a beauty, large, well used and very sellable.
Tuesday morning. Misty, cool and overcast. Sabastine's nose is peeling. Everyone is looking bush rumpled and bush “groomed”.
First stop Yessan No 1 and Maio. Some very good stools and a good Nokwe. Bill got a good Minja. Brugnawi
came next with the usual cons and more cons.
One superb Garamut but the price is forbidding.
We are now on our way to the Washkuk blackwater (lakes). We are going to try to get to Tungenjam. Doubtful we’ll have enough water but worth a try. They always have good pieces and good spirit pots. Scott is on the motor on our boat, giving Alphonse a break. We are going through a green and narrow baret. Overdressed huge green Victorian vine clad “ladies” line the banks with boas of lawyer cane draping their gowns. A Nagri/Waiwus canoe stopped by to tell us the Amaki baret is blocked but theirs is open for small motor canoes. I want to try to get to Nagri if I can. I asked them to stop and wait for us in Mino. They spoke with great enthusiasm about lots and lots of carvings. We must come!!! I haven’t made it into Nagri before, only Singiok. I would be worth a look. Ron will get his Explorers club badge with this one.
Cocky is sitting up warm in the rafters. He came down for lunch and a pet. I am having such a lovely time with him/her. A sweet but timid bird. He went flying into the water this morning. Sabastine's Eklectus is also sweety. Much more sure of himself and funny. Speaks to all the passing flock of parrots and can imitate my whistles.
In Mino we rented a small single canoe and 15hp motor to get into Waiwus. At 1.45 pm we set off with two of the Mino lads as crew with Alphonse at the helm. We arrived at the junction of the creeks to Singiok and took the left side creek towards Waiwus. We stopped 150 yards up the side creek then walked for about 30 minutes through coffee plantations. Half way into the walk I sent the Mino lad back to bring up the canoe, as the creek was navigable all the way. The coffee plantations had drainage ditches and were clean under the coffee trees which covered in green bean and the flowers with next years crop.
The Haus Tambaran in Waiwus is a small double peaked building next to the posts and a collapsed framework for a new Haus Tambaran. We heard that the construction had been stalled the year before by a fight between clans. The first piece shown to us was a magnificent Minja, 7 foot tall, sweet happy face and the markings of great age. There was some dispute about it being available for sale and we left it to Sabastine to document and get the story
It was already after 4 pm, we had to begin our return trip by 5pm to make the houseboats by dark. The houseboats were waiting at the maus baret (entrance) of the Waiwus/Singiok River. We walked up the creek, populated both sides, buying as we went. Two very nice Nokwe and 30 or so other pieces. Ron bought some bilums. Wealthy village, many tin roofs, flower gardens, fruit trees and many children. We had to turn back before reaching Nagri. They told me the villages join along the creek. Nagri has an airstrip
The Mino lads had brought the canoe all the way to the bottom of the village. We loaded and drifted down with the current to the warabung (river joining ) before we could turn. We picked up Sabastine and Bill and headed down river. The last 30 minutes were a race with darkness and a thunderstorm to the houseboat lights across the lake. We arrived wet before the main deluge set in.
Tungu One was warm and welcoming. We made out way from the lake up through the village to a spectacular Haus Tambaran. The ceiling was a series painted sago plathe. The posts and horizontal beams were brightly painted sculptures of deities. The ceiling construct was indented with cockatoo nests with birds peeking out. We paid for Scott to take photographs K7. The old man G… came down the hill to greet us. He was part of the group who carved the sculpture garden at Stanford and was thrilled to speak to us about it. He had happy memories and beamed the entire visit. Ron went up the hill to his house to see some pieces and Bill and I went on the Tunga 2. Tunga 2 is across a ravine and Sago swamp from Tunga 1. More Yina, Minja and two very old Nokwe for extremely high prices. The old and sacred pieces hidden in locked houses, wrapped in limbum to hide from the non-initiated. Should the non-initiated see the sacred deities they could get sick, even die. Some of the houses were too old and frail for me to go upstairs. The sacred object would be brought out and the area cleared of youngsters and women.
Alphonse caught up with us in Tunga 2 then returned to the houseboat to bring it around to meet us at Tunga 3. Tunga 3 has an old men’s house, smaller than Tunga 1. The home of the eagle and the millipede clans. One of the treasures I bought was a beautiful old Nokwe head with cassowary feather crown and shell earrings.
The creek into Tunga 3 was blocked by a series of floating grass islands blown in by the wind. We paddled and pulled our way out between the islands in a rented canoe, most of our purchases with us to get to the houseboat. Bill and I walked the last 100 yards while the men pulled the canoe through the reeds.
We returned to Tunga 1 to drop off old G… who had spent the morning with Ron having a cup of coffee and talking about Stanford. Out of the Tunga lakes and down river to Mino. I was tired after the long walk through the Tungas, 3 villages on the steep hillsides reaching down to the lake, about 2000 people. Ron swore never to climb the hill there again.
Mino was next. Ron did the top part of the village; I met him with the boats at the bottom. I lost out in a fracas over yesterday’s canoe rental and I left with a sour feeling for Mino and the scammers.
By the time we reached Beglam it was getting dark. We looked at a few things on the bank and went on to Malawai and camped on the far side for the night.
The rest of us took the old houseboat to Malawai to see a huge old Minja. A magnificent 12 foot tall Minja, out of our price range. Malawai is a beautiful village with flower gardens and lots of space between the houses. One household was making “salt” by burning coconut husks and shells. They use the ash for flavoring their cooking.
We left the Washkuk blackwater, crossed the Sepik to the river leading to Wagu in the Wasui Lagoon. It rained and stormed all day, which made for slow going across the chop in the lagoon.
The river up to the lake is a favorite fishing camp for the Ambunti women who go out in groups to net and smoke fish, camping out in tiny lean-tos on the riverbank. We passed several groups returning to Ambunti with heavy loads of fish.
Wagu is the school village of about 360 people for the Nigiru people. Their other village Gahom is on the Sitipa river south over the range. Two nights and three days walk. Wagu is built on a steep isthmus of mica shale and rock. It’s a steep walk to the hausboi and the 20 or so carvings of Gra and Tuknip they had for sale.
Allen Gallagher came over for a beer.
Dinner at the Ambunti Lodge was delicious. Joe does a good job.
Kosbi, an awful rogue and bully, erupted with a lecture on our poor manners keeping the sellers waiting. We had already told the sellers we had finished our purchases; Kosbi was trying to make a name for himself. A pleasant time chatting with Doug of PIM who offered cash help without asking. Talked over our children’s lives and choices.
We are heading down river from Ambunti. Cool, heavy overcast, windy. Fresh tomatoes, cucumber and buns from Ambunti for lunch with tinned mackerel with lemon. The 10 toea buns now are tiny, half the size of last year.
Today as I wrote this we stopped in Japendai, which was empty. Councilor Tom took it all to Port Moresby and sold it successfully to PNG Arts for K6000. He hasn’t returned yet. It’s been 7 months. He sent the money back, which is a credit to him. I am very pleasantly surprised as Tom is a party animal.
Last stop was Pagwi to arrange a truck for tomorrow. 12 ton K700. We are heading down to Yenchenmangua to find a bank to camp on far away from Pagwi and the rascals and cowboys.
My tent zipper is on its last legs. The tent is 15 years old with a lifetime guarantee. Time to take it back to North Face. The last one I took back to the US to repair got lost in the garage and destroyed by neglect.
We are going to have to change the canoe tomorrow after loading the truck. We hit a log docking in Japendai and skinned the last protection we had from the port canoe. It is crumbling daily and won’t last the trip. We are on borrowed time.
Ron is cutting meat for Scott’s curry. He has more complaints than anyone needs to cut meat. He enjoys complaining and giving a hard time to whoever is around. He has adjusted very well to it being my trip. It is quite pleasant and non-stressful now.
Yenchenmangua was very good for Raped Female Demons and very bad for the unpleasant people who own the ground where the village sits now. I was told not to come back as I didn’t respect the people enough to buy everything at their prices. We bought at least 60 pieces from Pius and Robert from each end of the village, the Haus Boi people were much higher in price with very poor quality and I didn’t buy them.
While I bought in Yenchenmangua, Ron went by single canoe into Kandingai, as he wanted a few pieces. The pieces he found were very good.
Korogo was very pleasant and productive. I bought several orators stools, 2 will be good for Mr. Handley. Many nice small Savi masks, Savi hooks and a couple of Mei masks.
After Korogo we took the two houseboats down to Pelangawi to sleep. The heavy pig shit smell sent us across the river to the marmar trees. The cargo canoes came back fully loaded at around 8.30 pm. The truck had not returned from Wewak. Pius’ canoe was unloaded under Arame’s house and he went home to sleep at Yenchenmangua.
Sunday morning was slow and leisurely. The cargo canoes reloaded and headed off to Pagwi. I made scones and at around 11am we crossed the river to the maus rot (trail) for Yamok. 20 minutes into the walk we came across the canoe landing at the lake behind Korogo so I sent back word for Pius to wait for me there the next day.
Tuesday 14th
Running down river to Kaminabit after 2 days buying in Yamok. We spent at least K10,000 and have a very fine load. The cargo canoe is full again and left us this morning at 3 am to go to Angoram to unload. Jambe, Bom and Kowari onboard.
The walk in to Yamok is a fairly flat and uncomplicated hour and a half. It began to rain as we got to the first houses and was a good excuse for a rest. The intense heat and humidity were exhausting. The path is cleared and elevated through the forest, which occasionally covers the path and gives some shade. In between showers we went through the first three Yamok villages till we got to Lenga where we set up to sleep the night at the house of Michael, younger brother of Titus with whom we stayed some years ago. 7400 people in the Yamok group. Three council members. Beautiful villages, gardens and healthy respectful children.
The quantity and quality of pieces was superb. All of us were very excited and pleased with what we bought. Bill found and fell in love with an abandoned garamut, which Sabastine has to consider for export with his superiors at the Museum. Overnight it was decided to buy the drum and take it to Wewak where it will stay if permission is denied to export it. It is a beautiful piece with palai (lizards) on the sides of the head. Overgrown with ferns and creepers that add to its charm and beauty. The drum was removed from the Haus Boi at Lenga some years ago when the clan who made and owned the drum was dissolved due to an excess of deaths and bad luck. All 7 remaining males from the dissolved clan will share in the money. K400 was assigned to paying a team to pull the huge 12 feet long, 2 ton, hardwood drum through the forest for an hour and a half to the river.
Sabastine bought a kapul (possum) for the museum mini zoo while in Yamok. A red female. Very soft and very scared at its removal from home. I put her in my backpack where she stayed quiet and curled up.
As we walked out to the river at Monday noon, we passed many people returning from a delivery run to the river to return to Yamok to help pull the big drum.
On the walk out of Yamok I fell crossing a log bridge when a log broke beneath me. My right foot hyper extended and broke, also bruised an old injury to the bones in my mid foot. I limped back slowly with two sticks. Vicodin and beer erased the pain but not the injury.
We had advance warning of the arrival of the drum and Scott set off to photograph its passage. It roared into sight with about 40 people pulling on a double kunda (rattan) rope, 30 to 40 foot long. Sabastine, with his camera, set up precariously on two logs, Scott teetered on top of a 44-gallon fuel drum to photograph the garamut being pulled onto the double canoe from the shore. Bill was jumping and cheering, both feet off the ground. It was a huge effort, a grand event. The first pull put Titus into the water. A ramp was built from the shore up onto the boat. The drum landed mid canoe across the canoe and stayed there.
We put a plastic diaper on the leak at the bow of the right hand canoe on the old double canoe. We now have so much on board, the clay patch washes out very quickly. Replacing the canoe is constantly put off as the new canoe is too handy as part of the cargo canoe.
Yenchen: Gabby has another very fine finial. Too expensive. He looks well. The village looks smaller each trip. Many Yenchen people have moved to Madang to work in the fish cannery. The cannery likes the Sepik women, as they are good cutting fish.
Today my foot is swollen, very stiff and sore. I have broken one metatarsal for sure. It is jammed out at an odd angle and I can feel where it is broken. Gets me out of the walk up the mountain to Kaningara.
Scott is traveling with us on the old canoe, catching up on his logbook. He is very good timing the distances traveled and making notes. His writing is neat and meticulous.
Kaminabit 3 pm
We tried the Kararau baret but the marmar tree at the entrance was too low for our roof. I couldn’t see too far into the baret, the water was flowing too fast into the baret to take the big boat in so I decided to try next trip.
Kaminabit artifacts very good as usual. Lots of penis covers from the women. Four big bags full. Very few good pigs. Only half a dozen. The men’s work, very good but I have to leave the high priced ones as Kowari has repaired enough for me for a while. Kowari’s first grandchild big and strong girl of about 4 months. Light skin like her mother. I hope she married a better father for her children than Kowari was to her.
There are four new garamut posts here that were carved for Brother someone in Wewak who has since had an accident and is no longer able to complete the purchase. I have made an offer on them.
Friday
We left Kaminabit and slept the night down river on a sand bar. Not too many natnat (mosquitoes) and a good bath; 2 ft deep of fairy floss mud. Next morning set off early and made Govermas by 4.pm. My foot still very swollen and painful. We contracted for a single canoe for Ron to go into the big lake the next morning and anchored downriver in some trees in the SW (rai) wind. Very pleasant spot. Cooked dinner and watched the mountains and the storms.
I bought at Govermas while Ron went off to the big lake. We had arranged with some men from Anganamai to bring some pieces down to the kastan (dock area) at their baret at the base of their mountain. It is an hour’s walk up the mountain to the village.
Govermas was very disappointing. Very poor quality in the carving and painting. Making woodcarvings for the market rather than for themselves. The confusion of purpose shows in the carvings. Govermas used to have plenty of buyers coming as they used to have the best in the Blackwater. The carvers don’t know that the buyers are afraid to come; it’s not the art they need to change but the manners of their youth who make it dangerous to come. A group of men asked what they needed to make to have the buyers come back.
Ron, Scott, Bill, Pius and Sabastine returned at noon with a full canoe load. A few good one legs. They went to Mariama and Anganamai and filled up. Ron decided to skip Sevenbuk. Too bad as I hoped to get a couple of long nosed Tumbuan and Sevenbuk has the most beautiful female version.
Ron, Scott, Bill, Sabastine and Bom walked up the mountain to Kaningara. I took the houseboats out into the lake where there was a lovely breeze. It is a long steep walk up to a splendid Haus Tambaran.
Kriambit had the best small canoes. We bought as many as we could get at good prices. Lovely designs along the sides with good croc head prows. I also bought one of the big man posts from the old Haus Tambaran. I began negotiations last trip when I bought several of the female poles. The tallest center row posts are the male posts. Two rows of shorter posts along the sides of the building are the female posts. The man post will be too long for the container; we will have to cut it somewhere. A baby bat fell out of hole in the top of the pole when it came down. Scott took pictures of the clan owners in front of the pole before it came down. A fantastic pole, one of the best I’ve ever bought. It was carved in the early 70’s. This purchase took a large chunk of the last of our cash.
Kabriman had fair pieces. Their new Haus Tambaran is progressing. Spectacular posts. They will be for the next generation of artifact dealers. All of the posts are superb. A man from Boston offered K25,000 for the posts about 5 years ago, however they had just been consecrated. Now they will stay until the next haus unless this generation succumbs to greed. They were not too happy with our money shortage. We promised to keep more for them next time. However their art has gone the way of Govermas, very rough. Govermas and Kabriman had superb quality and style 15 years ago. It is the cycle of things. Success brings on copycats and quality issues.
Heading down the Blackwater River we stopped twice for some Tungimbit people who had hauled some of their pieces by canoe out to islands and set up shop under some trees. We bought some good pieces and promised to come into the village next trip. Tungimbit has a very impressive Haus Tambaran about 8 – 10 years old. The same island shops appeared with the Yesimbit and Sangrimans. There is a small hamlet of Sangriman people out on the river proper now. I too would move out of Sangriman. It is a hot and wet place where everyone shouts constantly at the top of his or her lungs.
It was late when we got back to the Krosmeri river. I wanted to take a swim, it was extremely hot. We turned upriver to find a sand bank and also to look for the new 2airstrip site. We found a sand bank and had a swim but no sign of the cleared airstrip site. We decided to sleep up river from Mameri. Sleeping in Mameri is very friendly but too noisy. People go by singing and talking all night. We tied up to a shady marmar, which turned out to be on Peter Dimi’s land. Joseph and Beni came up to visit and we arranged to use their single canoe to go in to the lagoon to the airstrip site in the morning. I like Jo and Beni a lot. Jo is very cynical in his old age. He was much more joyful as a young man. Me too I guess. His wife is unhappy too. She has always been aloof, now she is just not around.
7.30am and the island in the middle of the lagoon is a good-looking airstrip site. There is still one large tree in the middle of the clearing runway as Beni has a job for it and wants it as big as possible before he cuts it down. This lagoon has always been the best fishing place for the village and the island a good garden site as it rarely floods. (Same reason it’s the best place for the airstrip) Half the lagoon is now cut off by green growth. The Mameri's say the previous generation cleared it out once but now they are too few for the job and the growth too far advanced. I agreed to supply some tools for the airstrip.
The Mameri women had vast quantities of wonderful woven animals, birds, penis covers and headdresses. Their economic strength and contribution gives them a lot of pride and power in the village. I enjoy buying from them as they are bold and confident and banter with great humor. They are not shy and they don’t get embarrassed too easily. It is so difficult for many of the women in remote villages to deal with me. Many of the men too but they are more used to dealing with strangers.
We spent more than our allocated budget and knew we were going to have trouble with the cantankerous Mindimbits. Lucky for us it was Saturday and the Mindimbits are Seventh Day Adventists and won’t sell on Saturdays… Saved by God this day.
We bypassed Angriman as usual. They are trouble and more trouble. Next stop Wombun.
I stayed on board with my sore foot while Ron bought at Wombun and Tambanum. We moved across to the old lodge site to pick up 108 Koiwut pots from the ex lodge manager. Beautiful!! Some old pieces.
The crew could smell home and wanted to run as far down river as we could. I cooked dinner with some of the last of the food as we cruised then we stopped at a garden camp on the shortcut baret to sleep. We started off for Angoram at 3 am with the spotlights breaking through the fog. Running in the dark makes for bad tempers from the spot lighters and is more dangerous than running in daylight for obvious reasons. Coffee and cookies provide cheer. We arrived in Angoram early Sunday morning. We were pleased to see Salio’s truck in his banis, however he was away in Port Moresby and had banned his brother from driving. We had to search out another truck. Not easy. There are two other trucks in Angoram and they were both broken. We found a visiting truck and contracted with him to start hauling the artifacts on Monday. I had planned on taking my banana boat to Wewak, as it is a pleasant trip by sea. Now it meant that everyone who wanted to get to Wewak had to go with me or wait another day for the truck.
Peter Dimi had come out to Angoram to visit his family as Sister Jo had put off his spleen removal surgery. It was good to see that he was a little better and looked less deathly. We left Angoram later than planned. We were then held up in the Murik Lakes baret as a tree had come down across the waterway. A villager had an axe and Jambe cleared out the blockage. It was late in the day getting out of the Lakes into the ocean and the wind had whipped up some chop. Jambe did a good job getting us over the sand bar. We arrived in Wewak wet and windblown with plans to eat at the Windjammer and drink a glass of wine. Ron was not charmed by the sea trip and said he preferred the land route.
End of Trip Entries
Trucks
arrived daily from Angoram with our treasures.
We packed three containers and headed back to the USA.
I had my foot x-rayed however Sister Jo had gone to Vanimo for emergency
surgery. I could see two breaks and
America was only a week away.
Please read the news on Sister Jo's Medical work and try and find some medicines and or money for her trip in June. Send them Airmail to get to her in time.