The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-09
HOMICIDE PARTY
MURDERS AS DUTY
MEANS OF SOCIAL RELAX ALTON
ETIQUETTE AND NECESSITY
IN pApUA,

Ahutdti In FGAF N'AiiiAtli III GDudt
where European civilization has never
penetrated Though life in the set
tied districts is probably safer than
in most parts of England or Austria
iia), for murder to these outside
tribes is not a crime at all; It is
sometimes a duty, sometimes neces-
sary part of social etiquette. some
times a relaxation and always a pas
sion.
Simple lust for bIood-we are told
by Colonel j. III. +. Murray in a vol
ume ("Papua. or British New
which can be found for some muir
ders, as. for instance, where unpro-
voked attacks are made upon unof-
Tending villages, and where harmless
strangers are wantonly slaughtered.
Our authority remembers a case
where SOME natives of the Main
Range, who, should have been rea-
sonahly civilized. cut the threats of
two runaway carriers and could give
no explanation except that the car
riers Cooked cold and hungry" and
even more difficult to understand was
the reasoning of q Shooting boy"
or native employed TO shoot game
for a European, who met a sick ma
tive on the road and forthwith
FEtl dilEItl BtIAF Owns DIS Ills iNdSDEl
that the sick man had asked to be
carried over the river, and that he
was much too heavy.
Most murders, however, arc com
mitted either to pay back for some
previous murder. real or supposed, or
else to comply with the native etl-
uuette, or to assure the social posi-
ton Of the assassin. A curious thing
* that you generally find e pig mixed
up in the case at some stage or an
other--in fact, cherche le pore would
not be a bad maxim for a Papuan
detective.
When the process Of paving back
once commences it can never come to
an end, for there is always a life to
be paid for" 1t Is encouraged by
the rooted conviction entertained by
all but the most civilized Papuans
that except in the case Of the old and
decrepit there is no such thing as
natural death, so that when a young
man or women dies suddenly. or even
after an Illness, the death lis ascribed
to the Vaccinations Of some sorcerer,
and a life must be taken in payment
This sometimes applies even when
"a native is taken by "A crocodile or
dies from snake bite. it is true that
in the latter case the mans death
is regarded in some places as due to
the fact that his wife did not give
him enough breakfast a theory which
used 10 be attended with disastrous
results TO the wife, but ii is also
attributed to the malevolence Of an
enemy-for snakes as well as Croco-
dies are regarded as being under the
control of sorcerers.
To return TO the blood feud IT
every death must be avenged, inces-
SAINT warfare is the necessary result.
for when once the system Of paying
one side is exterminated. Sometimes,
by accident. the guilty man is killed,
but of course, in many Instances, as,
for example in the case Of death
from sickness. there is no guilty man,
Colonel Murray once had to try three
men for a murder committed at the
hack of the Rigo district; the wife
of one of them had died. and it was
therefore necessary to get payment
the only question was from whom the
payment was to be taken.
Fortunately $50 he thoueht) the
bereaved husband had some leaves
which he had picked up from tree
in the neighborhood. and which had
the power 10 call up the spirits Of the
living and the dead. so no put these
under his head and went to sleep, and
saw in his dreams his dead wife and
the faces Of some natives of Il neigh
boring village. IHeSe faces looked
angry. SO it was clear that they were
theses OF. the murderers of his wife,
and vengeance was consequently TIA
ken. not upon them, but upon some
other natives of their village for, as
a rule. in Papua it does not matter
much about the individual, SO long
as YOU hit what you take TO he the
right family or community.
In this case II the government had
not stepped in and spoiled the sport
there was a very pretty vendetta
which would have lasted till one or
other of the villages concerned be
came extinct or sought refuge else
where. AS It was the murderers
served three years In Port Moresby
Jail. and went back to their village
with minds at least partly diaabused
Of the idea Of divination by leaf. and
thoroughly convinced that murder,
though attractive as pastime, was
hardly worth the candle.
Similar cases of murders to avenge
the death Of persons killed by puri
puri, or sorCery, are very numerous
: II he death ie e.