120 unlikely that he didn’t record anything about the shields and sculptures he collected, but it’s not in this account. Viegen concludes his journal by writing, “I could add many things to this, but where would I end if I wanted to tell everything that aroused my interest? And many of these curiosities would hardly be interesting to the readers of the Annals. I hope to come back to them elsewhere.” I am convinced that Father Viegen would have loved to do that but perhaps he never got around to it. And thus ends the journey of the first Catholic missionary to venture deep into Asmat territory. Shortly hereafter, the exploration detachment was moved in the direction of the Digul River, which brought an abrupt end to military activity in this area. It wouldn’t be until 1941 that these people saw a missionary again.14 The Valk steamed back to Merauke, with a sizeable collection of ethnographic objects on board. Among them were at least twenty-one Asmat shields and twelve wooden anthropomorphic figures that, upon leaving the Noordwest River, were about to embark on a long journey around the world—a journey that is still not at an end for some of them. OBJECTS ON THE MOVE: MERAUKE Viegen wrote to his Father Superior on June 1, 1912, “Having embarked upon a journey on the 14th of April, I have only returned to Merauke on the 22nd of May.”15 In this letter he reported he was badly sick with stomach cramps just after his return and very busy. “This is the reason why I am still not writing about my journey and have to finish my correspondence in a hurry.” However, his later letters do not return to the subject of this journey. In a letter dated October 11, 1912, Viegen wrote, “I don’t know whether I had already informed you that we have taken a sick gentleman, who arrived here with blackwater fever, into our house. His name is Lewis16 and he is from New York. He has been travelling in the tropics for three years, visited New Pomerania and German New Guinea, etc., to collect ethnographic objects for the museum of his city. He wants to conclude his voyage with Merauke. However, he arrived there extremely sick … his plans to travel around here will probably come to nothing. In any case, I advised strongly against it … but I don’t know what he will do … the American … simply does as he pleases … apart from his American peculiarities, he is a cheerful man … he said that he was not too worried about his disease. He would charge us with caring for the collection. Money was not an issue for him. He had quite a sum with him …”17 More than a month later, Viegen wrote about him again: “Lewis is
ïTribalPaginaIntera_layout
To see the actual publication please follow the link above