NEW BRITAIN’S “GIANTS”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28832, 28 February 1959, Page 10

NEW BRITAIN’S “GIANTS”

Mysterious Race Of Nomads

[By WILLIAM GASSON] (Port Moresby by Airmail Reuter)

Contact ' has again been made with a race of nomadic people, popularly called “The Giants” in the isolated regions of New Britain Island in Papua—New Guinea. Within the matter of a few weeks, two patrols met these exceptionally tall people, who have powerful chests and abnormally long arms. Compared with the five-foot high tribesmen that live in niany of the highland areas on the mainland, these people from the PasSismanua and Gimi divisions of New Britain would appear as giants. Even Patrol Officer D. B. Moorhouse, who is 6ft 2in, and who led both patrols into the area, claims he was dwarfed by these natives.

Although contact has been made with the “giants” before, they keep well to themselves and administration influence has been slight. Many of the tribe have never seen a patrol for, with considerable skill, they have managed to avoid earlier attempts to reach them.

A special patrol that went into the area succeeded in making contact with about 400 of these people. In his report on the trip, Mr Moorhouse says the family groups live and roam in the bush and are dominated by powerful leaders.

Most of the leaders have in the past come into contact with patrols, but they have not brought their family members or kinsmen with them and they have not taken their patrols to all of their villages. Mr Moorhouse said patrol officers had often come across villages where there was ample evidence that the people had recently moved on. Mr Moorhouse classified these timid, though tough, nomads into three groups: those who express willingness to appear for census in the future and those whose names are entered in the village books; those living in food gardening areas relatively close to settled villages and who might line up for census in the future; and those who still remain inland wanderers and who may for some time still display some reluctance to appear. Mr Moorhouse said the first group consisted of 29 men, women, and children whose names were recorded. “These people live near the established villages and come into contact daily with the inhabitants,” he said. “The second group consists of a number of family groups totalling 108 who live some one to three hours’ walk north of the main track and whose whereabouts are not specifically known. The final group of 131 people is that of men, women and children of the Miu-Mimul district. They are perhaps not nomads in the true sense of the word; as they do have some permanent food gardens. These, however, are situated far apart and the tending of these gardens together with the foraging from the forest gives rise to a constant movement.” A Festival To win the confidence of these people, Mr Moorhouse told the headmen to bring in their clans for a sing sing (festival gathering). Four pigs, rice and meat were given by the patrol to the 400 people that came out of the bush to attend, and the dancing continued all night. Mr Moorhouse said the native people were recovering from the effects of a drought they had suffered the year before. Aid posts had been established in the area and were maintaining the health of the people. In place of :he dank, dirty and not very weatherproof traditional houses, the native people were building their homes from weatherboarding. The penetration of these patrols is gradually having its effect on these remote people. Many ageold customs have died out. Administration officers who spent their early days in these areas recall the times when tribes near the “Giant” race practised binding the heads of their children with

bark cloth to give them the elongated skulls characteristic of some African tribes. Another tribe was said to have practised the Indian custom of suttee—that of killing the wife of a dead man. In New Britain, though, they were not burned to death—they were strangled.