Viewing page 79 of 185

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-61-

down like an apron in front.  Strings of colored beads reached from the shoulders to the waist, crossed like suspenders.  On their heads were turbans of turkey red cloth, trimmed with small shells, and into the turban were stuck the feather head-dresses of the national costume.  The feathers, mostly from cockatoos and parrots but with occasional delicate sprays of bird of Paradise feathers, stand up, adding ten inches to the men's height, and  small bits of red and green flutter in the breeze.  They wear arm bands of shell, into which are stuck long bunches of palm-leaf strips, yellow and green, and bunches of bright croton leaves.  The men in the orchestra, instead of the feather head-dress, wear a top knot of fresh green ferns, with a short palm fringe falling down over their eyes.  The[[strikethrough]] y [[/strikethrough]] dancers carried s all wooden shields and swords.

The women wore hand-woven sarongs, jackets of printed red and white cotton, silver and sea shell bracelets, bead necklaces, belts and head dresses of strung rings of brass and nickel.

     Williams photographed each [[strikethrough]] member of the group [[/strikethrough]] man and woman singly and in groups, using color film.  Certainly there was no lack of color in these outfits.  Then everybody went across the road to an open meadow, and the dances were performed for the benefit of the movie camera.

The Chakalele dances are war dances.  The women, lined up in front, dance quietly, with small movements of hands and feet, turning their downward glances first to one side and then to the other.  The men in back of them, chanted a war song, and waved their swords and shields while they stamped about on the grass.  Then two of the warriors put on a fighting dance, which ended with one of them killing the other, cutting off his head, and dancing away with the feather head-dress.  The orchestra, of bamboo flutes and conch shells, played weird music, while one man counted the rhythym aloud in a chant.

The Maroe-maroe dance was the last one in the group.  It was originally the dance done around the cut-off head of a vanquished enemy.  In these days the dance is done at night around a lantern, and is accompanied by impromptu songs retelling all the events of the day.  Bill tossed his helmet into the center of the ring to represent a head, and  men  and women jned hands and moved in a slow circle around it, singing an endless song.

Afterwards we adjourned to the resthouse verandah and served refreshments to the Controller and Mr. Meijlink and the doctor, who had come to see the show.

[[strikethrough]] April [[/strikethrough]]
May 1 -

Memorable as the first day on which we could observe the maleos eating anything.  We now have nearly twenty of them, and they are shy, wild birds. Some of them were distinctly seen to eat brown rice and papaya, and our spirits rose considerably.

In the afternoon the school children came and sang songs and danced for us.  Little girls wore pink jackets, and sarongs of various colors; little boys wore long trousers and pink or red jackets.  Each child clutched a Dutch flag in one hand and a large handkerchief in the other.  Some of the songs were very pretty, one was "Noesa Ina", and another was "Kole-kole."