The Mafulu | Page 8

Fathers' lines are
admittedly not exact, they and the information supplied by the Fathers
to me are likely to be more trustworthy in these respects, especially as
regards boundaries near to the actual Mafulu villages, than the earlier
statements of Dr. Strong, as they are the outcome of recent and careful

investigation; and, as regards Mt. Pizoko, I may mention that Dr.
Strong himself seems to have subsequently regarded that mountain as
being within the Mafulu district, [10] which brings it into the Fuyuge
area.
The inclusion of the upper valley of the river Chirima within the
Fuyuge or Mafulu-speaking area is perhaps surprising, as this valley is
separated from the general Fuyuge area by one of the southern ridges of
Mt. Albert Edward, and more or less so by the ridges of Mt. Stone
Wigg and the Wharton range, and as the Chirima is a tributary flowing
into the Mambare river, which is one of the great watercourses of
Northern New Guinea. The Mafulu Fathers, however, had no doubt as
to the correctness of the inclusion, which seems to open out the
possibility of some, at all events, of the Fuyuge people having northern
associations; and indeed Monseigneur de Boismenu told me that he
believed that the Mafulu people were in touch with Northern New
Guinea, and got some of their shell ornaments, or the shells from which
they were made, from the northern coast.
It is interesting, therefore, to turn for the purpose of comparison to the
report of Mr. Monckton's expedition to Mt. Albert Edward by way of
the Upper Chirima valley in 1906 [11] and the illustrations
accompanying it, with which I incorporate a description of the people
of this valley given to Dr. Seligmann by Mr. Money, who was with Mr.
Monckton. [12]
From these it appears that the Upper Chirima people are short in stature
and sturdily built. Both sexes wear the perineal band, the front of which
is made (I am not sure whether this applies to women as well as to men)
to bulge out by padding. In some cases the men's hair is tied up in a
bunch with string, and in others it is bound up in various styles with
native cloth. Some of the men have their hair done up in small plaits
over the forehead. All the above descriptions, except that of the
padding of the band, are applicable to the Mafulu. Some of the Chirima
houses have a curious apse-like roof projection over the front platform,
which is a specially distinctive feature of a Mafulu house, and one with
this projection figured by Mr. Monckton is indistinguishable from a

typical Mafulu house. The Chirima people place the bodies of their
dead on raised platforms, and apparently sometimes put the body of an
infant on the platform erection of an adult, but below the latter. This
also is a practice of the Mafulu; and, though the latter people confine
platform burial (if such it may be called) to chiefs and their families
and important persons, it is possible that some such limitation of the
custom exists in the Chirima valley also, but did not come under Mr.
Monckton's notice. A burial platform figured by him might well be a
Mafulu burial platform, except that the curious cone-shaped receptacle
for the child is a form for which I cannot vouch as regards the Mafulu.
The Chirima have a special and peculiar form of netting, which Mr.
Monckton's illustration shows to be identical with the special form of
Mafulu netting. On the other hand, as regards the Chirima weapons,
implements and utensils, a comparison of Mr. Monckton's verbal
descriptions and figures with what I have seen in Mafulu, and describe
in this book, leads me to the conclusion that, though many of these are
similar to those of Mafulu, some of them are different. As examples of
this I may say that the drill implements of the Chirima people are very
similar to, and their stone cloth-beaters appear to be identical with,
those used by the Mafulu; whilst on the other hand their war bows are
much longer, [13] and their method of producing fire seems to be
totally different; also they apparently have bull-roarers, which to the
best of my knowledge are unknown among the Mafulu. Again some of
the Chirima weapons, as figured by Mr. Monckton, disclose ideas of
artistic design, including that of the curved line and a rude
representation of a man, which I have not met with among the Mafulu.
As regards this last point I draw attention to Mr. Monckton's figures of
carving on a bow and on wooden clubs. I think, however, that in such
matters as these local differences might well arise between people who
are really more or less identical, especially if their