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

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Expedition Film Footage


Film Selection Number 1

Description:
SURABAJA–MAMBERAMO
Expedition from Surabaja (Soerabaia), Java, and Makassar (Macassar), Celebes, to the Mamberamo River, Netherlands, New Guinea
April–May, 1926
Surabaja
First tests of the expedition's seaplane
April 1, 1926

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 2

Description:
Surabaja Naval Station
Loading the Fomalhaut, a Dutch Coast Guard Ship
Expedition members: Albert (Prince) Haymer [sic], Hans Hoyte, Dr. Van Leewans [sic, = van Leeuwen], C.C.F.M. Le Roux, Matthew Stirling, Dutch military escort, and Malaysian convicts
April 7, 1926

[See Stirling's April 9th journal entry]

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 3

Description:
Makassar
Malaysian (Ambonese) military escort, and Dyak carriers (Borneo natives) loading canoes onto the Fomulhaut [sic], observed by Celebes natives
Dr. Van Leewans [sic], Anji Ipoei (Dyak chief), and Matthew Stirling
April 12, 1926

[See Stirling's April 12th journal entry]

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 4

Description:
Seroei (Soeroe) Harbor
Jobe (Japen) Island, the expedition's rendezvous point
Views on deck of the Albatross
April 28, 1926


Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 5

Description:
Approaching the mouth of the Mamberamo River
Approaching the Van Rees Mountains on the Mamberamo River, with views of flooded Papuan colonies
April 28-29, 1926

[See Stirling's April 29th journal entry]

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 6

Description:
Albatross Camp
Dyaks building the camp, canoe racing, and dancing
Hans Hoyte, Stanley Hedburg [sic], and Albert Hamer at repair bench
April - May, 1926

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 7

Description:
Albatross Camp
Havik Island
Camp views
Dyaks preparing for canoe transport
May, 1926

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 8

Description:
Members of the expedition, including:
Dr. Van Leewans [sic], C.C.F.M. Le Roux, Captain Hoffman, M.D., Lieutenant Jordans, Captain Posthumous, Richard Peck, Stanley Hedburg [sic], Hans Hoyte, and Albert Haymer [sic]

[See Stirling's June 10th journal entry]
[See Hedberg's June 10th journal entry]

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 9

Description:
Seaplane launching
Raft built for seaplane
Radiator repair
Loading foodstuffs

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 10

Description:
Van Rees Mountains
Central Lakesplain
Rouffaer River
Snow-capped Central Mountains

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 11

Description:
Mamberamo River
Canoe transport through rapids in Van Rees Mountains, and Albatross Camp

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 12

Description:
TAKUTAMESA PAPUAN
Indigenes along the Mamberamo River on the coastal side of the Van Rees Mountains
Netherlands, New Guinea
May, 1926
Takutamesa natives at Albatross Camp
Men wearing braided palm fibers (serving both as garment and as armor) and bark cloth
Manufacturing arrowheads

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 13

Description:
Native preparation of hair-dress by wrapping hair in rattan fibers and then coiling around the head
Stanley Hedburg [sic] bargaining for palm-leaf bustles
Albert Haymer [sic], Hans Hoyte, and Stanley Hedburg [sic] with natives, near mechanic's tent

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 14

Description:
Takutamesa village of Bisano, in the Van Rees Mountains
Cooking sago
Demonstrating armor
Braiding palm fiber
Native canoe on the Mamberamo River

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 15

Description:
ROUFFAER PAPUAN
Indigenes along the Rouffaer and the Brown Rivers, south of the Van Rees Mountains
Netherlands, New Guinea
Mid-June, 1926
Along the Rouffaer River
Batavia Camp
Charring the bottoms of the canoes to lighten them
Drying ethnological specimens

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 16

Description:
Motor Camp on the Rouffaer River
Views of flooded camp
Three Dyaks fishing

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 17

Description:
Along the Rouffaer River
Native houses and canoes
Stanley Hedburg [sic] trading with natives on a sand bar

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 18

Description:
Brown (Karikai) River natives
Demonstrating nose ornament, palm leaf bustles, and use of stone ax

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 19

Description:
Rouffaer River natives with Stanley Hedburg [sic] and Matthew Stirling
Using a knife for the first time
Demonstrating stone ax
Trading for braided palm fibers worn about the waist

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 20

Description:
THE DEM - I
Indigenes along the upper Rouffaer (Yamo) River in the Nassau Mountains
Netherlands, New Guinea
September, 1926
Enroute up the Rouffaer River

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 21

Description:
Tombe Village
First contact with young girl (September 3, 1926)
Igoon, the village leader, and his family
Visitors arriving to see the expedition
Interior of native house
Explorer Camp [also referred to as Exploration or Explorators Camp]

[See Stirling's September 3rd journal entry]

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 22

Description:
Damuneru (Damoenaroe) Village
Demonstration of greeting
Matthew Stirling and Stanley Hedburg [sic] taking craniometric measurements
September 8, 1926

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 23

Description:
Tombe Village
Visitor staging mock battle
Manufacturing a bow with a stone knife

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 24

Description:
Playing a jew's-harp
Making string from bark, and simultaneously weaving the net bag
Drinking water from a bamboo tube

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 25

Description:
Fencing a cleared area, using a stone ax
Women working in sweet potato garden
Demonstrating method of amputating fingers

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 26

Description:
THE DEM - II
Indigenes along the upper Rouffaer (Yamo) River in the Nassau Mountains
Netherlands, New Guinea
Late September - December 15, 1926
Views on trip up the Delo River Valley

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 27

Description:
Damuneru Village
Stanley Hedburg [sic] and leader of village, smoking together

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 28

Description:
Tombe Village
Demonstrating stone ax and metal knife
Shaving with stone knife
Killing a pig for a feast
Making a fire

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 29

Description:
Domuneru [sic] Village
Preparation for a feast
Dance before the feast
Killing a pig
Heating rocks

Video Link: MP4 Video


Film Selection Number 30

Description:
The expedition left the DEM on November 6, 1926
Transport arriving at Albatross camp on the Mamberamo River
December 5, 1926
Mouth of the Mamberamo River
December 15, 1926

Video Link: MP4 Video



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