The Mafulu | Page 7

to the people by their Mafulu neighbours, whilst
Afoa is the name given to them by the Kuni people, and is adopted in
the Geographical Society's map. [3] As regards the Kuni people, their
name is the one adopted by themselves.
Concerning the boundaries of the Fuyuge linguistic area as above
indicated, and the people whose districts adjoin that area, I propose

here to draw attention to four names, and to refer to some observations
bearing on the subject of the probable Fuyuge boundary which are to be
found in existing literature.
The term Kovio, though primarily the name of Mt. Yule, and properly
applicable to the people living in the neighbourhood of that mountain,
is now, I think, often used to express all the mountain tribes of the
hinterland of the Mekeo and Pokau, and perhaps the Kabadi, districts.
But the use of this name has not, I believe, been generally associated
with any question of linguistics.
The area in the map which is called by the Fathers Boboi is occupied
by people whose language, I was told by the Fathers, is Papuan, but is
distinct from the languages of the Ambo and the Fuyuge areas.
Kamaweka is a name which appears in several of Dr. Seligmann's
publications. It seems to have been originally used by Captain Barton
to designate the natives of the district of which Inavaurene, to the
north-east of the Mekeo plains, is the centre, but to have been
afterwards regarded as a somewhat more general term; and I think Dr.
Seligmann uses it in a very general sense, almost, if not quite,
equivalent to the wide application above referred to of the term Kovio,
and which might include the Papuan-speaking Boboi and Ambo people,
and even perhaps the people of the northern Mafulu villages. [4] But
here again the use of the name has, I think, no reference to linguistics.
If the Fathers' linguistic boundary lines are substantially correct, each
of the two terms Kovio and Kamaweka, as now used, would appear to
cover more than one linguistic area; and in any case these terms seem
to have widened and to have become somewhat indefinite. It will be
seen on reference to the map and to Father Egedi's information as to the
Oru Lopiku and Boboi boundaries that both Mt. Yule and Inavaurene
are within the area which the Fathers call Oru Lopiku, but that
Inavaurene is not far from their Boboi area. I suggest that it would be
convenient for the present, pending further investigation and
delimitation on the spot, and until we know something of the difference
between the languages of the Oru Lopiku and Boboi people, to adopt
the term Kovio as a general name for, and confine it to, the two areas

Boboi and Oru Lopiku; though for linguistic purposes the names Boboi
and Oru Lopiku, which at present indicate very little to us, may
eventually be accepted and come into general use.
The Koiari people of the foothills and lateral spurs behind the Motu
area, also referred to from time to time in Dr. Seligmann's writings,
must be eastern next door neighbours of the Fuyuge-speaking people,
the western boundary of these Koiari being stated by him to be the
Vanapa river, [5] and they being in fact regarded by him as being the
eastern neighbours of the natives of "the mountains inland of Mekeo
Nara and Kabadi," [6] and being referred to by him as being the people
from whose district the Kamaweka and Kuni are reached by "passing
westward"--the word used is "eastward," but this is obviously a
printer's error--"in the mountains, keeping roughly parallel with the
coast." [7]
Turning to the question of the Fuyuge boundary, Dr. Strong says that
the Fuyuge people occupy the upper waters of the St. Joseph river, [8]
and he is quoted by Dr. Seligmann as having stated that the Afoa
language "is spoken in the villages on Mt. Pizoko and the northern
slopes of Mt. Davidson," and that "the Afoa villages lie to the north of
the Fuyuge-speaking communities, stretching westward for an
unknown distance behind Mt. Davidson." [9] If the information given
to me verbally by the Fathers of the Mission of the Sacred Heart and
the red linguistic boundary lines roughly drawn by them, and
introduced into my map, be correct, these statements require
modification, for according to the Fathers the Mafulu or
Fuyuge-speaking area does not include any part of the St. Joseph river,
as its extreme north-westerly corner lies to the east of the
junction--close to the boundary line between the Afoa (Ambo) and the
Kuni areas--of the rivers Alabula and Aduala, and Mt. Pizoko is within
the Fuyuge area, and not within that of the Afoa, and Mt. Davidson is
within the Boboi area. I think that, though the