100
FIGS. 14a and b (right):
Accompanying photo for
a newspaper article with
the headline: “Cannibal
chieftain in Stora Skedvi.
C. W. Öberg has donated
his collection to the
Hometown. The strange
museum opens on
Sunday.”
Aftonbladet, 22 June 1931.
Private collection.
Photo © Thomas Otte Stensager.
Öberg is pictured holding a spear
(see fi g. 12) outside his cabin in
Hysta, Sweden, next to his tall
malangan pole that was raised for
the occasion (fi g. 9).
FEATURE
This practice of being secretly unseen armed
was at another occasion observed by Öberg
just off the island of Lihir (Gerrit Denys), when
natives were approaching the boat in the water
carrying spears with their toes. Sometimes,
he tells, this tactic succeeded in surprising the
crews.20
Another careful observation made by Öberg in
early 1898 when visiting Port Moresby in New
Guinea clearly made enough of an impression
on him that he took note of it: “The women are
tattooed all over their bodies, and their faces
are also decorated with a broad band from the
hairline in the forehead down to the tip of the
nose, and then a broad band running from each
of the ears along the cheeks till the corners of the
mouth, and more small lines.”21 This description
corresponds well with the tattoo styles worn by
both Waima and Mailu women of the Papuan
Gulf and along the southwestern coast of New
Guinea. Photographs showing comparable patterns
were taken by Reverend William G. Lawes
between 1881 and 1889.22
A few days later, Öberg anchored further
south at the island of Samarai in Milne Bay,
where gold prospectors were waiting for the
rainy season to end before venturing into the
records the purchase of a malangan pole, acquired
at “Kap Su” (Kapsu), northern New Ireland,
in 1886 (fi gs. 1 and 9), and a later purchase
in 1889 of bows and arrows from Bougainville
in the Solomon Islands (fi g. 8). One bow with
arrows was paid for with fi ve tobacco sticks.17
These collection dates clearly confi rm his presence
at those locations.
His fi rst job in the region that we know of
was as a shipboard labor recruiter for E. E. Forsayth
& Co., owned by Emma Kolbe, known as
“Queen Emma,” to man her plantations around
Herbertshöhe (Kokopo) and Blanche Bay. In addition,
he collected a good quantity of seashells,
which he traded. Like many other colonial offi -
cials, traders, and travelers, the crew of this ship,
Öberg included, were invited to a sumptuous
dinner at the bungalow of Queen Emma.
The notes Öberg made regarding recruiting
indicate that this was focused on the islands of
Buka and Bougainville in the Solomon Islands
and also along the east coast of New Ireland.
His references are short, such as: “We bought
6 Kanaks and one …,” “went ashore at several
locations to recruit,” “along the east coast
of Buka and recruited 25 boys,” and “Sailed to
Bougainville to acquire more recruitments.”18 In
1930, after Öberg had returned to his Swedish
hometown, he gave an interview about his life
in the South Seas, which includes some words
about recruiting:
Labor for the plantations had to be recruited from
the nearby islands and not from the same location,
since the local people would not work, as they were
already at their home. A recruiting vessel carried
a crew of about twenty. As the vessel anchored
beyond the coral reefs, two smaller boats were
used to go ashore, meeting the local natives at
the beach. If anyone was willing to do service, an
amount of various goods was given to the relatives
as a compensation. The other boat was armed,
waiting for action if any hostile aggression should
occur. No natives were to approach with arms,
and as long as women and children were present
no danger was perceived. On the other hand, if
the group of natives was composed only of men
as the boat reached shore, it was best to withdraw
immediately, for if you looked carefully and found
that every man had one foot partially out of sight
in the sand, then you knew that they hid one and
two spears between their toes.19