FEATURE FIG. 14: Ancestor figure A. Acquired by the “Dutch Ethnological Missionary Museum” in Tilburg in 1937. This sculpture can be seen in figs. 9, 12, and 13. Ethnographic collection of Gand University. Photo: Benn Deceuninck. water earlier? “When I adopted the posture of the dead man, a general cheer went up. With gestures they made clear that the body had come from them … some men were covered in yellow clay from head to toe, presumably as a sign of mourning.” The contact improved steadily and cheering went up when Captain Le Cocq took a drag from a cigar rolled from green leaves offered to him. On April 29 the journal reads, “In the course of the day the population of the nearby settlements visited us three times. In total, thirty-five able-bodied men appear at the same time. Some ethnographic objects are traded.”12 In the meantime, Chaillet had succeeded in making some sketches of the mountain range from the tree and had taken the necessary measurements. On April 30, the expedition broke camp and returned to the Ketti. Soon they were once again at the spot where they had entered the river. They decided to use their remaining time for further exploration and charting of the mouth of the river. It soon became clear to them that this river between the Hellwig and the Bloemen River had never been navigated before. In memory of a missionary who had drowned at the South Coast in 1896, they decided to call it the Pater Le Cocq d’Armandville River.13 Viegen wrote, “The leader of this expedition, who is a nephew of this celebrated missionary, could certainly not crown his heavy work in any better way than by honoring his uncle.” On May 2 they steamed back to the bivouac ship Zwaluw, where Viegen would have to await the return of the Valk. It didn’t return for another week and Viegen used his time by reading all available books about New Guinea and “from time to time the natives came on board to trade.” Soon after arriving, the Valk steamed back down the Noordwest River with Viegen on board. He noted, “We were sent off by a heavy rain, so that we passed by the villages without even seeing them. However, we were going to call at the last village.” When the ship anchored there, canoes crowded around the ship once more and the call for iron went up. Viegen had a package of nails and observed, “Very soon, the trade became extremely lively. My shop was entirely sold out. I was working this way for hours on end, trading every little trinket for a nail.” While Viegen was busy trading, Captain Le Cocq was the subject of some sort of ritual. He suddenly appeared before Viegen with his forehead entirely smeared with lime: “You missed that, pastor!” Exactly what Viegen collected is not clear, but the published summarized journal of this expedition leaves no doubt that most of the objects were collected along the Noordwest River. Considering his detailed reports and drawings of his research among the Marind-Anim, it is Ketti frequently got stuck in the mud while charting the delta. After Chaillet had painstakingly triangulated some landmarks along the river mouth, they continued upstream on April 22. The river became broader and low swamp shrubs gave way to bamboo, rattans, and breadfruit trees. They passed a settlement but no people showed themselves. The broken-off tree trunks in the water became so dense that they decided to continue using the canoes. Viegen noted that the trip was as monotonous as that of the day before, but then, “Suddenly the men lowered their paddles … they made clear that I should keep quiet and whispered, ‘A crocodile, right there! Don’t you see it, floating on the water?’ Yes I saw it, what a giant animal! Moments later, however, we recognized that the crocodile was in fact the dead body of a man, knees drawn, floating down the river.” On April 24 they passed a small settlement, where they saw people for the first time. They counted twenty men and, after much calling, some of them came alongside in a canoe. After receiving some gifts, the men quickly returned to the river bank. The next morning the expedition reached a point where the river branched around several islands. The weather had now cleared up, and for the first time, Viegen could see the mountain range. Le Cocq’s journal notes, “We made camp on one of the islands … to be able to take measurements of the mountains from there. We made an observation point in a high tree.” Viegen had a fine view of the mountains from his tent. During the night the rained poured down and the next day the sky was overcast so that the mountains remained hidden behind the clouds. Viegen wrote, “Man may make plans, but God decides.” Fortunately, people showed up. At first there were only men. In the journal we read that they wore hardly any decoration, except sporadically a penis shell or a nose ornament. “Generally speaking, however, these men are completely naked … some of them had smeared their upper body with a yellow substance, into which figures had been drawn with their fingers.” Here, too, they are asked for si and gestured that Viegen should come and join them in the canoe. Although Viegen was curious what the men intended to do, he wasn’t willing to take the risk. “Unfortunately I only have one head, which is too dear to me to risk it in the name of scholarship.” Subsequent contacts were difficult. When Viegen approached the men, they retreated, but when he walked away, they followed him. Viegen noted how the men kept pointing in the direction of the sea, then toward the water, and then at their eyes. Might this be connected to the body of the old man they had come across in the
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