Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by American Museum of Natural History.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
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The old chief invited me into his house and gave me
to eat I worked breadfruit and bananas. After the
Kai-Kai - he taking a bite out of everything handed
to me - he showed me some of his prize belongings - bone
ornaments, and dyed wood, none of which he would part
with. The final exhibit was a yellow double-page spread
from the "Illustrated London News," acquired by purchase
from someone who had gotten it at Numa Numa. The
date was almost to a day 3 years ago - April, 1925.
On one side were views of Tutankhamen's tomb and on the
other a picture of Rabindranath Tagore and another of a
Ouk-Ouk mask from New Ireland - a strange coincidence
all round. He wrapped carefully in dried leaves, and
replaced it in its bamboo case. The interior of the
houses are divided into rooms by walls of plaited bamboo.
The women and children are in a separate one with no entrance
from the interior. All the young men and monkeys, with hats,
live in a special abode until they take wives, when they
are privileged to have a house to each man, and all keep
in the building. Long strips of bamboo are split into longi-
tudinal sections, and plaited over five and under five, revers-
ing the green side of the wood every other strip.
burning stick
chief's house
women &
children
chief
another pattern
Young Men's house