101
FIG. 17 (above): Figurine.
Tolai; Gazelle Peninsula,
New Britain.
H: 17 cm.
Photo © Bart van Bussel.
FIG. 15 (above): Six
tatanua dance masks on
display.
Photo © Bart van Bussel.
Four of these masks are noted by
Öberg to have been collected at his
place “Mongal” in northern New
Ireland between 1901 and 1907.
FIG. 16 (right): Closeup
of a tatanua dance mask.
Photo © Bart van Bussel.
CARL WILHELM ÖBERG
New Guinea interior. Here he noticed most of
the local population wearing septum ornaments
in their noses.
His interactions with the native population
occasionally resulted in intimate relations with
its female members, which he sometimes briefly
refers to in his writing. He mentioned one situation
at Gardner Island when he went ashore
to have “a bit of kajfa,” and upon returning to
the ship in the morning was told that a masculine
native individual had been there asking for
him.23
While Öberg lay at anchor in Herbertshöhe on
November 5, 1899, the ship Nugurea arrived,
signaling that it was in urgent need of a doctor.
At the Admiralty Islands, the crew onboard
the accompanying ship Nukumanu had been
attacked while engaging in their usual trade
business with the locals, who killed the captain
(“a mad German,” as Öberg describes him), the
first mate, and ten native crewmembers. This
incident and several other assaults and conflicts
that occurred are mentioned by Öberg, and he
himself experienced this on the island of New
Hanover (Lavongai).24
In 1898, he mentions buying a piece of land at
Lasare, near Pargail (likely Bagail, Nusa Island,
New Ireland). At the time, he was busy transporting
copra for his new employer, J. O. Mouton
& Co., at Kinigunan, New Britain.
AFTER 1900
In 1901, Öberg moved on to a position at Mongal,
situated at the northern end of New Ireland
near Kapsu, there working as manager of a copra
station belonging to J. O. Mouton & Co.
Here he was in charge of four ships with twenty
native crewmembers, which constantly sailed
to and from the nearby plantations with copra,
sometimes bearing other goods such as taro.25
For six years, Mongal was his place of work and
residence.
In 1900, the town of Käwieng (Kavieng), some
20 km north, was designated as the seat of the
German colonial government for the northern
district of Neu-Mecklenburg (New Ireland). As
such, Öberg sometimes had to go there to deal
with matters of importance.
During his first years in the region, Öberg was
regularly visited by district official Franz Bu-