DOI issue:
No. 108 (March, 1902)
DOI article:Praetorius, Charles J.: Decorative art in New Guinea, [1]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19875#0110
Decorative Art in New Guinea
the coast of the mainland. As the interior consists mechanical form. A shell was used as an adze
of dense jungles, mountain ranges, and swamps, the blade, but it soon became worn with work and
many tribes speaking different languages, and being continual sharpening, and was thrown away when
in a chronic state of intertribal war-
fare, of the people little can be said.
The Papuans are a well-shaped,
black frizzly-haired people, often
cannibals and always great fighters.
Having killed an enemy and eaten
him, they believe they acquire all his
fighting capacity in addition to their
own. The name "Papua" probably
refers to .their frizzly hair. In the
Malay language " Pua-Pua," which is
easily contracted into Papua, signifies
crisped. The natives are very proud
of their hair, and seldom cut it, with
the result that sometimes it grows
eighteen inches in length, and when'
teased out with their wooden combs
it has a mop-like appearance.
Very few of the wood-carving tools
with which the natives of the old
days used to work now exist. What
remain are all of extremely simple
too short, and the mussel-shell knives
and scrapers were soon discarded with
so many suitable new shells at hand.
With the appearance of iron axes and
tools from Europe, the shell knife soon
disappeared, but stone chisels were
kept longer, being of some value among
the natives. The jaw-bone of a kan-
garoo, with the front incisor in position,
was used as a graver, and a boar's tusk
served as a plane, while a piece of
shark-skin fastened to a stick formed a
fairly good file.
With these tools the carving was
executed, the rough work being accom-
plished with a stone axe and adze. For
smoothing and cutting, the files, scrapers,
carved wood head-rests alld shdl knives were used- the dri11
from British new guinea was a most ingenious contrivance. The
97
the coast of the mainland. As the interior consists mechanical form. A shell was used as an adze
of dense jungles, mountain ranges, and swamps, the blade, but it soon became worn with work and
many tribes speaking different languages, and being continual sharpening, and was thrown away when
in a chronic state of intertribal war-
fare, of the people little can be said.
The Papuans are a well-shaped,
black frizzly-haired people, often
cannibals and always great fighters.
Having killed an enemy and eaten
him, they believe they acquire all his
fighting capacity in addition to their
own. The name "Papua" probably
refers to .their frizzly hair. In the
Malay language " Pua-Pua," which is
easily contracted into Papua, signifies
crisped. The natives are very proud
of their hair, and seldom cut it, with
the result that sometimes it grows
eighteen inches in length, and when'
teased out with their wooden combs
it has a mop-like appearance.
Very few of the wood-carving tools
with which the natives of the old
days used to work now exist. What
remain are all of extremely simple
too short, and the mussel-shell knives
and scrapers were soon discarded with
so many suitable new shells at hand.
With the appearance of iron axes and
tools from Europe, the shell knife soon
disappeared, but stone chisels were
kept longer, being of some value among
the natives. The jaw-bone of a kan-
garoo, with the front incisor in position,
was used as a graver, and a boar's tusk
served as a plane, while a piece of
shark-skin fastened to a stick formed a
fairly good file.
With these tools the carving was
executed, the rough work being accom-
plished with a stone axe and adze. For
smoothing and cutting, the files, scrapers,
carved wood head-rests alld shdl knives were used- the dri11
from British new guinea was a most ingenious contrivance. The
97