115
nates when it is struck. The bird gazes out into
the distance toward the faraway land of the enemies,
which it perceives as being “birds cleaning
their plumage” or “fi sh jumping in the water,”
all ripe to be killed. This perception is corroborated
by the expression kau-tu, which is used in
Aupik in the area west of Maprik.11 It is the term
for a collective fi shing technique practiced by the
members of a shared clan that involves the construction
of a dam on a waterway (Gobikambe,
1984: 112–115). Similarly, among the neighboring
Manambu, the term ka’aw, very much like
kau, means an overabundance of the vital urge
and of the competitive spirit. The word is related
to the kaiyik, which animates the body and
also is used for yams to describe their capacity to
grow (Harrison, 1982: 157–158).12 Although he
doesn’t state the specifi c circumstances, Bateson
writes that after a headhunt, “One brought back
the body of the enemy to the village whenever
possible for it to be ritually killed by a man
who wore a mask representing an eagle. The
murder symbolically became not only the act of
the killer alone, but that of the entire village”
(Bateson, 1971: 151). This information makes
it clear that murder was an act that involved the
entire community embodied by a man hidden
behind a mask that itself represented the gable
bird. Bateson adds, “The Iatmul say that prosperity,
the abundance of children, health, the
dances, and the beautiful ceremonial house all
result from a successful headhunt.” It is likely
that this murder was committed in front of
the façade (the ndamangeko) of the ceremonial
house (fi g. 18), near what is known as the waak
mound. Brigitta Hauser-Schaüblin (1986: 12)
mentions the case of a man from Kararau who,
as a child during his initiation period, had killed
a little girl that the Nyaura had given his village.
He did so while staring at the summit of the ceremonial
house’s façade, the place best suited for
a murder. Another story told by Thomas Ngawi
of the village of Angriman (Coiffi er, 1994: 1466)
also confi rms the fact that enemies were brought
back alive to be decapitated near the waak in
front of the façade of the men’s house. Among
the Eastern Iatmul, a gable mask was situated
on the ngekau. Its tongue was sculpted as a war
spear emerging from the mouth and represented
speech.
GABLE SCULPTURES OF THE SEPIK
FIGS. 27a and b: Pair of gable
sculptures from the Nyanglambi
ceremonial house in the Sawos
village of Nangosap, Papua New
Guinea.
H: 101 cm.
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac,
Paris, invs. 72.1963.5.12 and 72.1963.13.
.