"By Aeroplane to Pygmyland" Accounts of the 1926 Smithsonian-Dutch Expedition to New Guinea

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Journal of Stanley Hedberg
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October 18, 1926 : Explorators Camp/Tombe Village


Monday
October 18
1926

Leroux and Van Leeuwen were off early. One of the carriers was sick and we loaned them Oompah as a carrier. The soldier who had cooked for Doc and I the last two nights below will cook for us here until he returns. The newcomers were on hand early and eager to trande [sic, = trade]. One could see that they had never had contact before for {F4.41} they were highly nervous and excited. They also did not haggle over prices. At first one did all the trading running back and forth from the village to our camp bringing one article at a time. Finally after a half hour of this the others came and traded. One went into a frenzy of excitement when Matt gave him four large cowries for a bag decorated with wild pig tusks. They are colorful with their head dress and bags and have many beautiful things which will be added to our already good collection. At nine thirty, four Dyaks arrived in a transport from Head Camp[,] so we will have additional food. Not all of them are here as yet. They reported they made the trip in four days. It is good to see the food unloaded. Matt is busy trading and between times sorting the remainder of the collection to go back with the transport tomorrow. One Dyak reported Hamer as being at Head Camp. We hope so for it will mean more film. We have only two thousand two hundred feet left and much to shoot here at Tombay[.] Dr. Van Leeuwen said he would write Matt a note if there was anything interesting to see from Saleh’s top and Dick will go up and shoot a picture of the snow mountains if they are visible. They gathered around again this morning watching the typewriter activities and one was dispatched to the village to bring some of the women who had not witnessed this sensational advent[,] so they came and brought their babies. They stand silently by and watch tapping their penis cases in unison while the women fan their breasts. The smallest pygmy woman picks up a spoon and admires it with interest and one by one the breakfast dishes are held up for inspection while a great conversation takes place among them. If we could only report what they are saying. They get a thrill from watching me jungle [sic, = juggle] three lemons and a few other tricks which we demonstrate to them get a good response. They are having as much fun out of it as we are. They like to have me strike a match and light their cigarettes. They are after us constantly for a light and like to try it themselves. At first they are {F4.42} rather clumsy and use several matches to get a light. They are also a little afraid of it. It is a great victory when after two or three attempts they finally get their cigarette lighted. The match trick with the handkerchief is always a good one, especially when you let them break the match into bits themselves. The bell on the typewriter causes a general discussion of which we can only surmise. They think the bell is inside somewhere and that there is something very mysterious about it. I show them pictures of American women and they gaze long and ernestly [sic] at them. Their hair and their head ornaments as well as the beads call for a long ernest [sic] discussion. The women are not so much interested as the men except in the clothes. They are like all women in that respect. They are expecially [sic] interested in the children’s pictures also and seem pleased when we lie and tell them they are ours. Another chap wants a lite so I have to stop again. He is one of the shy birds so I tell him to do it himself but he is too nervous. The other chap who has succeeded is disgusted plainly and shows it and then proceeds to show him how to do it. He has learned pretty well by this time and forgets that it took him three or four matches at the start. The remainder of the convicts arrived a half hour later and we have some more food. The soldier brings up in the rear and has the letters, with onr [sic] for Dick from Hamer I presume. All of the people we have met have from one, two to three of their fingers cut off at the first joint. The women usually have two, the index finger and the next one. Must be some religious ceremony. Hamer has sent a note full of interesting news. He evidently missed our telegram message. The army wireless is at Motor Camp and Hamer reports the army sergeant as saying he will send any of our messages. I am wondering if our message went. I hope it did but suppose the other went first. We also got an {F4.43} additional supply of some luxuries such as I forgot how to spell but one is butter, another is jam and some dried apples. Oh Boy, what festing [sic, = feasting] will be done now with the potatoes for we have butter and salt to make them more tasty, if that could be possible. In the afternoon we went to the village to see that [sic, = what] movies we could shoot. The sun was beating down and it was very warm with the result that the natives were all inside. We induced them to come out for a general picture for they had all of their ornaments on and it was a hard thing to refuse to trade for them for they were anxious to trade. We also got a good close up of Igoone’s small girl and the men folks drinking water out of a long bamboo pole they use to carry water in. Later a woman came in from the garden loaded with potatoes and greens for the evening meal. She was carrying two good sized pieces of log on top of her head. Dick got all of that. The best way to get them is to be set and shoot whenever they do their stuff for they are natural then and not so when you try to arrange or tell them how to do anything you want them to do. We were in Igoone’s house around the fire and they cooked potatoes. That interior scene will be good but we will have to remove one side of the house to get enough light in it so that it can be taken. Think it can be done, it will make an excellent picture. After we had returned and had our afternoon tea all of the women folks and the men folks of the village returned our call. They had their things to trade and kept Doc busy until almost dark. They are just like children and were pleased with anything he gave them. He treated them all the better and gave them more than usual because they did not haggle over prices as those folks above had done. One of the women was rather good looking and had a flapper twist and turn to her every movement. She was very bashful though. Matt wanted the ornament around her neck which consisted of cassowary bones and cacoons. She was not willing to part with it and her {F4.44} eyes flashed as her husband suggested that she trade it for a bunch of good cowries. The others laughed and she retired behind one of our Klamboos shyly as though he had tried to buy a shimmy or underskirt from a woman in the states. After a great deal of urging on her husband[’]s part[,] she tore off a few of the cassowary bones and blushing through the charcoal and greese [sic] on her face (they were all decorated for the occasion) she removed it and handed it over. One could see easily that she was doing it with much misgiving although the five large cowries should have given joy to her heart. It was something that was evidently dear to her heart. The men folks were pleased with the treatment Matt had given them in the trades and jumped up and down with glee as they got their cowries. One of them[,] after the trading was over[,] grabbed Matt around the waist and hugged him [in a] tight embrace to show his appreciation. The others gave him potatoes and other small gifts making it plain they were presents and expected mothing [sic] for them. These people are certainly much better to study and work with than those we were with above. We should get some good material here in the next week or so. Matt also decorated several of them up with yellow and red chalk and it pleased them immensely. Igoone’s [sic] even came over and asked to be decorated likewise. Matt finished packing the rest of the collection in tins and it is now ready to go down with the returning transport when it leaves day after tomorrow. Igoone’s house is one of the best I’ve been in. It is much larger than the others and has a dome roof.




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