Evening star., 1929-07-02
MUMM|ES FEATURE
'BRANDES' DISPLAY
OF PAPUAN OBJECTS
Dried Human Skins Stuffed
With Clay Are War Trophies
of New Guinea Tribesmen.
VISIT VILLAGES NEVER
ENTERED BY WHITES
People Living in High Stone Age,
Warlike and Artistic, Have
No Written Language. -
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
Three dried human skins stuffed with
clay are the most conspicuous objects
in large collection just turned over to
the National Museum by DR.. E. W.
Brandes of the Department Of Agricul-
ture.
The collection was brought back q
few weeks ago by DR.. Brandes after an
airplane exploration Of the interior OF
British New Guinea, during which he
visited many Papuan and pigmy villages
never before entered by a white man
Besides the stuffed mummies, he
gathered up q great number OF bows
and arrows, axes, articles of apparel
war drums, baskets, blankets, head
decorations and household effects.
These people, practically unknown to
technologists 1t was explained at the
National Museum, are living in q high
stone age culture. Ingenious, war-like
and artistic, they have not reached the
stage Of written language.
Mumn,ies Trophies of War.
The gruesome mummies are trophies
of war. They are the customary decora-
of the communal straw houses. Where
the young white man decorateS his room
with photographs of his best girls the
New Guinea Papuan hangs up the
stuffed bodies Of his enemies. No room
Is considered quite complete without one
After killing his enemy-every one Is
supposed TO have an enemy--the Papuar
cuts OF the arms and legs and skins the
head and trunk. Clay is then intro
duced. The skin shrinks around the
clay, becomes hard like leather, and the
final result of this strange art of human
taxidermy is like large armless and
legless doll. The face then Is painted
grotesquely and the object Is ready to
be hung up. In some cases only the
head is skinned and stuffed. There are
several of these in the Brandes collec-
ton. Whenever he kills an enemy" the
Papuan himself is that much nearer to
the status of stuffed specimen decorat-
ing some other youths bachelor quar-
ters, because he becomes an enemy" OF
the slain mans relatives.
Other gruesome objects in the collec-
ton are human jaw necklaces. The
New Guinea warrior wears around his
neck the lower jaws Of as many as pos
sible Of his ancestors as good luck tails
mans. It Is considered sign of respect
for ones father to wear his jaw, inciud-
ing his spirit, to protect his descendant
Pipes Are Curiosities.
Curiosities of the collection are thu
the natives drink smoke" The to-
bacco smoke first is blown into q hol.
low tubs. closed at both ends, where II
Is retained in a bundle of rattan fibers
which have the appearance Of q tele.
phone cable. Then the pipe is passed
around q gathering, each man taking q
sip" from an opening in the stem
An excellent quality of tobacco is car.
r1ed around by the natives in enormous
tobacco pouches, represented in the COL
lection. Although apparently entirely
cut on from commerce with the outside
world. they seem in some way to have
discovered the secret of the Cultivation
and use Of tobacco. Where the ans
plants came from is unknown.
The natives Of the New Guinea in
terror are not much on dress. The
women wear nothing at all and the mer
only shell protective devices when they
go into the forests. The collection con.
tains large number of these. The mer
also wear ornate head dresses, made OF
blrd-of-paradise feathers. Birds OF
paradise are natives of the island anC
their plumage is highly priced.
The armory of the native Is varied
and very effective, consisting Of enor.
nous bows with bamboo strings. MOS,
or these can be bent only by a VERY
powerful man. Mr.. Brandes brought
back q large collection of them, The
arrows are of bamboo and from three tc
nve feet long. Stone or bone heads are
attached to the arrows and the ends
are elaborately barbed, either by cary-
ing the bone or by the use of fish spines
Once one of these arrows had struck the
body 1t would be impossible for the VIC
tim to pull it out.
Stone Axes and Adxes Marvels,
The stone axes and adzes are mar
vels OF stone age culture and with one
OF them o tree could be chopped dowr
almost as well as with q modern steel
ak. The heads are light, but hare
and quite sharp. Some of the imple-
ments are ingeniously contrived SO that
they can be used either as axes or adzes
The Papuan bachelor Is good house
keeper. He doesn't have many clothes
TO worry about, but he takes care OF
those he has. with elaborately carved
sent the apex OF his artistic accomplish
ment. He also has elaborately woven
bags, with decorative designs in shells
These concha shells are used both TO,
decorations and for money, and DR.
Brandes used them in most Of his pur-
chases Of curios. His exploration, un.
dertaken for the sugar division OF the
Department Of Agriculture, is the most
extensive Of this almost unknown cor.
ner of the world, since the airplane ex-
pedition Of Mathew w. Stirling, now
chief Of the Bureau of American
Ethnology, four years ago into the
depths Of Dutch New Guinea. In the
British end Of the great island, Brande.
found much the same sort of people
pigmies and powerfully built Papuans
The two cultures are closely parallel
but many objects In the Brandes col.
lection are unduplicated in the Stirling
collection.
Dropping suddenly out Of the skie.
into the isolated villages, whose people
never before had seen a white man
Brandes was received as a supernatural
visitor, and the people turned over tc
him some Of their prize possessions
Most of the territory he visited wa:
entirely unknown.
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