HEADINGB Mr. Umal's Mistake: The theme of Pinihas' discourse was the murder of Mr. Umal, which was different in many respects from the previous killings and gives rise to further revelations relevant to Orya war practices and manhood. Umal, whom Pinihas referred to as Mister. (Tuan from Indonesian), was the district officer of the governmentBEGIN ENOTEPinihas reveals quite a different view of the Dutch government compared with Martin Maware, whose narration was the basis of the article Of Paradise Lost. The Orya people also remember the Dutch for forcing them to carry large burdens as coolies, for forcing the people to work without pay, and for beating people who were lazy or uncooperative. The Dutch also did not like people to spend long periods of time in the jungle away from their villages, and this was resented as it interfered with the normal hunting and gathering life style of the Orya people.END ENOTE, a man from Ambon. His headquarters were in Bonggo village on the coast. He was a very handsome man, a favorite of all the girls, and he evidently used this to full advantage in every village he went to. In Guay however, his nightly partner, Yakoba, had been promised in marriage to the jealous Nos‰n. Yakoba had already been presented to Nos‰n, and taken to his house to live with him, but the marriage was not consummated. Nos‰n had not yet killed a man, and she rejected him, running instead to the handsome outsider.BEGIN ENOTEThe bride price had not been paid, because normally Orya couples live with each other first, and payment is made when it is clear that the man will stay with her. At this time, however, a man who rejected one bride would have a hard time finding other parents willing to give him another.END ENOTE This happened within a month of the Kaptiau killings. Pinihas lets us in on some of the intrigue: BEGIN NUMBERED @Set(counter=0) This is about Mr. Umal, who tried to hide Yakoba because she had already been given to Nos‰n. So he hid her (repeatedly). But Markus secretly saw her, when he was letting her down with his hand from his window. He was letting her down just at dawn, the chickens hadn't come down yet [from their trees]. So that's why Markus told father [bian, in an extended sense, actually Pinihas' father's younger brother, Olka, who was also Yakoba's true father], BEGIN HYPHENS "Guess what I saw -- Umal hiding Yakoba, Mr. Umal today, I saw it at dawn when it wasn't light yet: He was lowering her from the window to the ground, to hide her." END HYPHENS So he told Markus, his son, [actually Markus was Olka's esya wal, Olka's mother's brother's son] BEGIN HYPHENS "Don't spread it around. What does he think he's doing (with her)? He'll find out!" END HYPHENS Well then, after that my father [his real father] S‰nwal, the Head of the village, rang the bell [for people to gather]. He gathered them together in the evening, and Boyo [Olka's mare, the husband of Olka's na‹ml‹ sister's daughter] had whispered to his mosa [brothers in law, as described below], BEGIN HYPHENS "When the Head [S‰nwal] asks us, `Who will accompany Mr. Umal to Bonggo village?', when you see me raise my finger, you also raise your fingers." END HYPHENS So, then my father [S‰nwal] asked, BEGIN HYPHENS "I gathered you to see about accompanying Mr. Umal. No other reason, but for you to show him to Bonggo." END HYPHENS Well right away Mahli [also called Boyo], Wasina, Nos‰n, Waga, and Syanga (who was just little) all raised their hands. And then they went off. They told him (S‰nwal), BEGIN HYPHENS "We'll accompany him. No need for anyone else to go." END HYPHENS So he told them, BEGIN HYPHENS "Why not. Go ahead and just you go with him, just your family." END HYPHENS So they tied up the [big] tins for him (Mr. Umal), and then went off. END NUMBERED Olka, the father of Yakoba, did not go along, but all those who did were related to him. Nos‰n, Yakoba's husband by promise, must have been quick to volunteer. Wasina was Olka's sister's son (na‹ml‹), and Waga was Olka's wife's brother's son (whom he called son, tane). Boyo (also called Mahli) who became a leader of the group, was Olka's niece's husband.BEGIN ENOTEWasina was also Boyo's true mosa, Boyo's wife's younger brother. The term is also reciprocal: Wasina also called Boyo mosa, his older sister's husband. The other three men were also Boyo's extended mosa, that is, they were actually related through Boyo's wife's grandfather's brother's grandsons.END ENOTE Boyo used the killing of Mr. Umal and Amus (the policeman who was along for Mr. Umal's protection) to settle another score that he had with the people of B‰r, as we shall see. HEADINGB Bow Magic: However, there was a slight complication: BEGIN NUMBERED @Set(counter=14) Now father [S‰nwal] himself also went along, [and that wouldn't have mattered], but an old woman, Augustina, or Ahlw‰ [her earth name] was also going along. They could have killed him at S‰yu (a sago swamp near Guay). So he (S‰nwal) said to them, BEGIN HYPHENS "A woman is with us. You go on and take him farther." END HYPHENS So they took him down the Blidam [river]. END NUMBERED At first, I naively assumed that Boyo's party did not kill Mr. Umal at a closer location because of not wanting to disturb the innocent old lady, Ahlw‰. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here Pinihas did not elaborate, probably because he did not want to explain the following custom to me. The woman, Ahlw‰, was S‰nwal's bow magic partner (lit: bow magic spirit (jana dowal, jana kwala basa dowal). She was along to help S‰nwal work magic to ensure successful killing. S‰nwal's bow magic partner was his older brother's wife (mosa or sowe). If a man was married, his bow magic partner was the wife of his war partner (eijone). This was the case here: S‰nwal's eijone was his older brother Y‰, Ahlw‰'s husband. War partner families enjoyed very close relations, and often ate together and shared in work projects. Because of this close relationship, the identity of the jana dowal of married men was common knowledge. The identity of an unmarried man's jana dowal, however, was kept in strict secrecy. She could be any woman, relative or non-relative. A man's first jana dowal could be his own mother or his sister, married or unmarried. Before leaving the village each of the men had received a magic cigar from their bow magic partner. The woman would receive tobacco from the man, and sleep with it next to her head. She would then roll the tobacco into a cigar and rub vaginal fluid on it. The man would approach her on the departure morning, but not in her line of vision. The partners would stand back to back, and the woman would give the magic cigar to him, but not look at him. He would leave, again without entering her line of sight. This ritual was to protect the man from being seen by the enemy. The cigar was saved and smoked when the warriors came very close to the enemy village.BEGIN ENOTEThis probably took place when Sawal waved the gwaho in the raid on Kaptiau described above.END ENOTE Smoking the cigar gave power to escape penetration by enemy arrows. Bow magic partners were not allowed to see the murders, however, because this would ruin their effectiveness in working future bow magic sorcery. After the others left them, S‰nwal and Ahlw‰ took off their cloths, and while touching her vulva, he waved a cassowary bone knife (gwaho) in the direction of the hoped for murder site, invoking his grandfather's name, and saying, "Let my sons kill men." Sexual relations, or any kind of penetration of the vagina during this ceremony were taboo, as this was believed to bring about penetration (by arrows) and death, rather than the victory, of the warriors.BEGIN ENOTEAlthough the jana dowal tradition is now abandoned, the people still practice a similar tradition for hunting pigs, gwe dowal, but this is practiced with one's wife.END ENOTE It might be supposed that, since the blood of victims gave power, that the meaning of touching the vulva would be to appropriate the power of the woman's menstrual blood. Again, this is not the case. Menstrual blood was strictly avoided, and this ceremony could not be done if the woman was menstruating.BEGIN ENOTEMenstrual blood is feared and avoided by all Melanesian cultures.END ENOTE Instead it was the vaginal fluid that had the power. The man rubbed the fluid on his body, and especially over his eyes, where it was believed to improve the ability to see the enemy. This ritual was carried on only by the war chief (mambli), so the other men on this trip would not have performed it. Having given the macabre blessing, S‰nwal and Ahlw‰ returned to the village, and we rejoin the narrative: BEGIN NUMBERED They took him (Mr. Umal) down the Blidam river, until they arrived at B‰r (a hamlet near Klatra). Then they slept together with him. In the morning, they made stir fried sago for Mr. Umal. The man from Ambon, that policeman took a bath. [This is the first mention of there being another outsider along.] Mr. Umal himself took a bath. He combed his hair, then they told him, BEGIN HYPHENS "Eat this stir fried sago." END HYPHENS They gave him some tea in a mug. Then right away Boyo and Nos‰n they signaled themselves with their eyes, "Now." Nos‰n did it to Mr. Umal with a machete. Oh but he hit too high, at the base of the skull. But Amus (the policeman) was immediately beheaded by Boyo. His head dangled down (from a bit of skin in front). Well Nos‰n had missed, so he gave him another stroke on neck, and Mr. Umal's head dangled down. First he stood up like a tree stump, without a head, and his blood squirted up, then he fell. END NUMBERED HEADINGB Another Method for Settling a Score: Boyo (or Mahli) had a separate score to settle that did not involve either Mr. Umal or the policeman. The people of B‰r (a small hamlet near Klatra) had been in on the killing of Kanggau, who was his trading partner. (He had also called Kanggau his older brother, since the older man was a distant relation.) Note the terms Boyo uses to speak about settling his grudge: BEGIN NUMBERED @Set(counter=70) This is the reason Mahli (Boyo) killed him there: The Guay (and Klatra) people had killed his trading partner when they killed Yonas and Kanggau. He was his very good trading partner, so he thought like this, " BEGIN HYPHENS Ha... That Simon, a man is he, a dangerous man is he!" (Who does he think he is!) END HYPHENS [Simon was Chief Sawal's Christian name. Sawal was seen to be responsible, since he was the mambli of Klatra. (He was also the man who waved the cassowary bone knife to entice Kanggau to come out of his village.] That's the reason Mahli led them to kill Mr. Umal at B‰r. His sister Sapde did not cut her hair, [as a sign of mourning and refusing to give up the grudge], so that's why they killed him there. So when Wasina and Nos‰n told him to go ahead an kill him at Yalngun headwaters, saying, "Let's do it here," Mahli told him, BEGIN HYPHENS "Nope, not here. Sawal caused me to lose out by killing my good trading partner for me, Kanggau. [Actually Guay was also in on it, but since he had married a woman from Guay, he could not hold a grudge against them.] We'll do it at his village, so that he will say, `Oh Mahli too is a man, is he. Well is that so, Mahli too is a man, so at my village he killed the rotting (decayed) man.' (We'll do it there) so Sawal will also know that about me." END HYPHENS END NUMBERED Mahli (Boyo) settled the score in this way: The soul of a murdered man is thought to become malevolent ghost (jana zi hwal), so by murdering at B‰r, he forced all the residents to move. In fact, the Orya people will still not stay at the old village site, but can stay near it. Note also, (in 75 above) that Boyo's real desire is that the people of B‰r find out that he is a dangerous man. Here again we see manhood defined in terms of murder. But the neophyte Syanga, who was still just a boy (of perhaps 11 years old), got his first crash course in manhood: BEGIN NUMBERED @Set(counter=32) Well Syanga, my older brother (by S‰nwal's first wife), ran, (but they called to him,) BEGIN HYPHENS "Hey, we're (inclusive) (just) killing some men, so why are you running! Killing men in war is like this." END HYPHENS Mahli, or Boyo as he was called, caught him with his hand and brought him back. My older brother (Syanga) then himself stabbed Mr. Umal with a bone knife (wihet). [Actually, they took his hand and helped him stab Mr. Umal.] After that Markus, and all of the men stabbed his body, and then they came up toward here, up to Tahyal T‰rik. [They left all the packages they had been carrying, and took with them only the policeman's Carbine rifle.] END NUMBERED HEADINGB The Reaction At Home: There was a mixed reaction to the news of the killing of Mr. Umal and the policeman. Many people were afraid of reprisals from the Dutch government, and Yakoba, of course, grieved. S‰nwal, however, had obviously approved of the killings, so his reaction is especially puzzling: BEGIN NUMBERED @Set(counter=37) There we lived. I was small then. Then soon after my father fought with Wasina, with his na‹ml‹ (his sister's son). His sons ran from him (S‰nwal, [not wanting to incur his anger]). So my father fought with his nephew there, Wasina, out of anger at the killing of Mr. Umal. But then Pit's father, Nos‰n [a second man called Nos‰n, from Klatra], shot Wasina with a bamboo arrow (in the leg). Then Wasina sat down (rested), having fought with his baba. [Nos‰n was Wasina's mother's relative. A true baba is one's mother's brother.] Finished. END NUMBERED This is a very confusing narrative, but here is what happened: Nos‰n from Klatra (not the fiance of Yakoba) was living with S‰nwal, and both men had been trading partners with the policeman that was killed. Now S‰nwal had obviously known about the planned murders, since he performed sorcery to help make it successful. He had wanted his young men to get experience, but when his wife's relation, Nos‰n, came from Klatra, he feigned anger at the men who killed the policeman. Actually, Wasina should not have been the focus of the anger, since he gave the death stab, not to the policeman, but to Mr. Umal. The other men who were directly responsible for the policeman's death ran off, not wanting to incur wrath over this issue. Wasina, however, decided to stand up to this, with these words, "As if you are the only man, the only man-killer! I also am a man, just as dangerous as you [Nos‰n and S‰nwal]!" (Nos‰n wore a mleyan nose piece, indicating he had previously given the death stab to a woman.) After venting his anger, however, he apologized to Nos‰n, who was also his uncle (extended baba, his sister's husband's relative). In apologizing, he offered his thigh to be stabbed with an arrow, a traditional way of settling an outrage or legal offense. Nos‰n took a metal barbed crocodile arrow in his hand and stabbed him in the leg, and also extracted the arrow. This, however, rekindled Wasina's anger, and he took a club and hit Nos‰n. At this point, Chief S‰nwal broke up the fight, and gave Wasina two blows with a club to put him in his place. The men put down their clubs, but as we shall see later (Sentence 60), Wasina's angry words, "I also am a man," were seen as a threat to S‰nwal's leadership, which he could not abide. For different reasons, Yahom was also not happy about the killings: BEGIN NUMBERED @Set(counter=45) Lore, who lives over there, her father, Yahom, was lame. At that time he cried constantly, like this, BEGIN HYPHENS "Oh they'll kill me! As if I had legs!" END HYPHENS So he was apprehensive, BEGIN HYPHENS "They shouldn't have killed Mr. Umal. Misters shouldn't be killed. Oh, they [the government] will kill us." END HYPHENS So because of that father told them, BEGIN HYPHENS "You'll be the ones to carry Yahom around." END HYPHENS So it was that Mahli [and his group] carried him over to Molga (mountain). So then they did it, took him up to Hiatek village (part of that mountain), brought him up and built a house for him. And so Yahom lived there. And then they celebrated Mr. Umal's death, and so it was finished. END NUMBERED Yahom's apprehensions are understandable. He was lame in both legs (probably a polio victim), and therefore was considered as only half a man. He did succeed in marrying, but only because there was a very undesirable girl (daulsun) in Guay who offered herself to him. His relatives did not help him with his bride price, since he could not help them, even with garden work. Since the young men were "feeling their oats", S‰nwal gave them the task of carrying Yahom on the long journey to Molga, their mountain top refuge. The word 'celebrated' (w‰rgweblan) above (Sentence 53) translates a word meaning to "decorate the body because of him". A red body paint called ebwin kala (lit: butcher bird blood)BEGIN ENOTEThe ebwin bird is supposedly a bearer of news and the people listen for his omens. The bird is believed to have connections with the world of the dead. The body paint was a mixture of a special red clay, which was baked and powdered, coconut oil, and left over blood from the dead man. It was bright red and long lasting.END ENOTE was applied to the bodies of all four war partners and the people sang and danced all night. The morning after, a large exchange of meat, sago, tobacco and betel nut was given between the clans of the fighting partners. In this case, the second death blows were given by Wasina and Waga, so they became eligible to wear the mase te, the long nose piece. Nos‰n and Boyo, the ones who actually beheaded the two men, were also painted red, but did not yet have the right to wear the mase te. HEADINGB How Life Fared for Yakoba and Yokbet: When Nos‰n told Yakoba, "I killed your man," she cried, but only for one night. When later Nos‰n was decorated (w‰rgweblan), Yakoba was suddenly more taken with him. Here again, having killed, Nos‰n became more desirable. She married him, but they had no children. After becoming a widow, she married again, but was again barren, and so was divorced. (Barrenness is one of the most common reasons for divorce, or, in the old days, taking a second wife.) She outlived her third husband also, then also died. Since Mr. Umal was from Ambon, there was no need to settle the scores. They never met with Ambonese and feared no reprisals. The policeman, however, was from Bonggo, the seat of district government at that time. The little girl, Yokbet, was therefore given to cover the arrow shaft. Coauthor Simon Ti Eis estimates that she would have been seven years old or younger. BEGIN NUMBERED @Set(counter=123) What I first told you, about Mr. Amus (the policeman), I also left one thing out. They also took a wife, Yokbet, the Head of the Village [of Guay], Bertus' younger sister. Her role was to cover the head of the Bonggo man. [Another idiom for "burying the hatchet".] So she's the one living there, Yokbet, but she didn't marry. She just lives there.BEGIN ENOTEAfter going to grade school at Bonggo, Yokbet has now married and has two children. This must have happened after Pinihas told me the story in November 1985.END ENOTE She was given there to dip up water with the (dead) man's skull, but she didn't marry. ('Dip water', yet another idiom for "burying the hatchet".) He was also a Bonggo man, so she was to dip water with Amus' skull. They also at Kaptiau took Sipora, to also dip water with the skulls of Kanggau and Yonas. END NUMBERED The murders of Mr. Umal and the policeman happened around the time the Japanese fled from the invasion of the Allied forces: BEGIN NUMBERED @Set(counter=67) Oh yeah, I left out one thing. When they killed Mr. Umal, then the Japanese (soldiers) burned him up with the house at B‰r. Burned him up with the house, having already become bloated, END NUMBERED HEADINGB The Killing At Betap Since planes were flying overhead and foreigners were engaging in war all around them, there was no retribution by the Dutch government. The people, under S‰nwal's leadership, decided to use the opportunity further to embark on another war of their own, this time to distant Betap. The people cite two reasons for this war: 1. The people were encouraged by the killing of Mr. Umal and the policeman, and wanted to make an even bigger name for themselves. The big name was also a form of insurance, making others afraid to make reprisals. 2. In addition, the people of Betap were held responsible for the devastation of Sigi by a plague of sickness. The people of Betap were believed to be masters of kwimal, a type of sorcery where a man can travel in the spirit and inflict internal wounds on an enemy. The spirit will appear in the form of a bird to the victim, but by the time he sees the bird, it is too late. BEGIN NUMBERED @Set(counter=53) For that reason father took us over there to Klatra's territory. Therefore he led us and lived with us at Klatra's territory. So he stayed... and then he gathered the people together, again he was in command. After that he led the people in killing at Betap. At Bo village they pounded sago for fulfilling the grudge against Betap, then he gathered them, and killed people at Betap. Father took the grudge there, with all the warriors of Guay. [including Guay, Dore, and Klatra villages] Wasina was the only one he forbid, BEGIN HYPHENS "You don't go along. I don't work with you. All the rest go." END HYPHENS Then they killed at Betap, father leading. They killed seventeen at Betap, women, men, young girls, also very good ones. They killed women, men, big men. They killed so that their partners could decorate. Then they came back. Father decorated himself at Sigi. Others decorated themselves over at Molga. END NUMBERED The casualties at Betap might have been higher, but most of the able-bodied people had gone to another village for a party. S‰nwal's victim at Betap was an old man. The man was squatting on the ground and looking in a mirror while shaving. He belatedly saw S‰nwal's approach in his mirror. In this it can be seen that the type of murder was not important in defining manhood. The blood of the murder added power to the killer even if he succeeded by treachery, or even if the victim was defenseless. Since Betap is so far from Guay, no girls were given to settle the score. HEADINGB On Desireable Qualities of Men: Having achieved the status of manhood does not automatically make one desirable for marriage. Other desirable qualities for men include industriousness, and particularly prowess in killing pigs. Having a bad case of skin fungus, however, will make either a man or woman undesirable (datas‹n, daulsun, masculine and feminine forms). However, if a man with skin fungus is a good hunter, the parents of the bride will encourage their daughter to marry him, because they know they will get frequent gifts of meat. Pinihas also illustrated this subject when talking about his ancestry, giving the story of datas‹n man meets daulsun girl. Note even here, however, the fear of treachery: BEGIN NUMBERED @Set(counter=137) My mother's ancestor was a coastal woman, Tamwae was her name. A man from B‰bo married her, the coastal woman. So therefore the coastal people tell me when they meet me, BEGIN HYPHENS "No worries about you. Your ancestor was a girl from here." END HYPHENS They told me (so) a long time ago, shortly after the killing. But now, I'll tell you about the one I just named. (Tamwae) There was a man from B‰bo, a man with (flaky) skin fungus, a man no one would marry (datas‹n), he went out repeatedly to Kaptiau [the coastal village], to see his trading partner. There he said about a coastal woman with skin fungus, whom he desired, " BEGIN HYPHENS Oh... If only he would give her to me (to marry)..." END HYPHENS So he said to his trading partner, BEGIN HYPHENS "Oh, that girl who stays in your house, would you perhaps give her to me?" END HYPHENS And the coastal man said, BEGIN HYPHENS "Oh, I don't know, because I think of you, `He wants to kill her treacherously.' As if that girl there is good." END HYPHENS Then he said, BEGIN HYPHENS "Of course you will, since it is I who will have her." END HYPHENS (The man responded,) BEGIN HYPHENS "But others will kill her, from your tribe." END HYPHENS And (the B‰bo man) responded, BEGIN HYPHENS "Who would kill a man's wife. I, in my village, am a man no one will marry." END HYPHENS So, after that the (coastal) man asked her, BEGIN HYPHENS "Wow, that man from B‰bo over there who stays with me, the man no one in B‰bo will marry, would you marry him?" END HYPHENS And then she said, BEGIN HYPHENS "I would, but but I'm a little fearful, like this, will he act treacherously to kill me?" END HYPHENS So, he (the B‰bo man) stayed there, (because) he (the coastal man) told him, BEGIN HYPHENS "First walk together here, and stay together. Then later go up together to your village. Then bring her back here, then I'll know about you, `He truly did it to marry her. He really desired to marry her. He desired her in a good way.' " END HYPHENS END NUMBERED HEADINGB Implications on the Value of Men in Present Society Following are characteristics that the Orya people enumerate as marking manhood: hair on the chest and back, a well developed beard, and to be dangerous (jal-jal), which includes being able to protect a wife, to be able to kill, and to work sorcery. The transition to manhood, at the time of Pinihas' story, was marked by having killed a man,BEGIN ENOTEThe word translating 'kill' in this context is tan, which means kill, or penetrate the skin. It was seldom that a victim would die after being shot just once with the bows that they use.END ENOTE or having given the second death stab. Having contact with the blood of the victim was an important source of power (mana). Men were not decorated for deaths caused by sorcery. Killing was also the method used to achieve status, and Orya chiefs did not inherit their positions, but achieved them by becoming man killers (mambli). Other modern day alternatives for achieving self-esteem have suggested themselves. In the days of the transition between the Dutch and Indonesian governments, five Orya men left their area and became policemen. All five are now retired, but are very much respected by the Orya people. While this would be one acceptable way for Orya men to achieve status, educational standards for entering the police or armed services are out of their reach. (Almost no one among the Orya people have more than a 6th grade education. A number have gotten grade school certificates through a testing program, but by that time they have families and are too old to enter the armed forces.) Obviously, no government could allow the traditional warlike practices of the Orya people to continue, and modern weapons would have to be used to keep the peace. The inevitable has happened with devastating effect. I have often heard complaints such as this: "I too am a man, I too have a penis. But when those men came carrying guns, I became a woman." Note that the opposition they express has very little to do with the government or with political issues, but has everything to do with their loss of manhood. Since Orya men lost their self respect in their own eyes, they also lost their position in the eyes of the women. But since men lost their identity, the women, whose identity is defined as a counterpart of man, also lost their identity. As a result, the Orya people are now aimless, and have a very low self concept. Only a smoldering anger remains. Old crafts and skills are seen as having no value and are not taught. Government workers often confide their dismay at not being able to motivate the Orya people to improve their own living standards, or to work for the community good. Traditional chiefs also can exert little influence over the people, since they are no longer mambli. Given this need for male significance as they began to enter the world of the twentieth century, it is very significant that Daud Sasbe, the prophet of the Orya cargo cult,BEGIN ENOTEThis is described in the article Of Paradise Lost in this volume.END ENOTE chose to remake the war partner (eijone) relationship. His efforts failed to give the Orya people what they needed, but clearly, the only hope for the Orya lies in finding an acceptable path to manhood.