Interesting Discoveries

How Papuans Write

Love Messages On A Nut

From Our Canberra Correspondent.

Canberra, Dec. 10.

THE Papuans may not know any thing about Morse signals or radio, but they have a way of transmitting code messages to one another which gives promise of development.

Imagine a young man of Manly sending a nut with a few scratches on it to a young man of Bondi, and the latter being able to read it: “Your girl is waiting for you; no humbug.”

Or a married man receiving a nut from a friend, giving him the news: “Your wife’s head is no good; she is hum bugging with other men.”

That is the way they communicate with one another down on Rossel Is land—by nut-letter. Sir Hubert Mur ray, Lieutenant-Governor of Papua, has sent a report on the subject to the Department at Canberra.

In November of last year Sir Hubert informed the Department that what was believed to be the first step to wards a system of writing among the natives of Papua had been revealed during investigations arising out of re cent murders in the Territory. Sera waka, a native of the village of Dotata on the Turama River, reported that he had been away for four days, and on his return to his household, which com prised two women, two girls and two boys, he found that the women and girls had been decapitated and the boys had disappeared.

A Government official, Mr. Austen, and some police then set out in pur suit of the murderers and, after travel ling several days, they came across some sticks and leaves arranged in a peculiar fashion.

How Message Was Inter

Preted.

Serawaka interpreted this as a mes sage from the Oberi natives. He said two sticks represented the two sago adzes of the married women. The two smaller sticks represented the sago adzes of the two girls. Then there were two small bows, with arrows, giv ing the idea of small boys’ toy bows.

Calamus leaves on the sticks were the mark of the men who made the signs.

Thus, according to Mr. Austen’s re port, the whole message read: “We, the Oberi, have killed two women and two girls; two small boys are with us and alive. Come if you dare.”

Mr. Austen was unable to ascertain from Serawaka how it was that he knew the boys were alive, except that it had something to do with the way the arrows were tied. Probably the fact

that the arrows were tied to the bows was a way of saying that no arrows had been fired—the boys had not been killed.

“The incident,” Sir Hubert Murray wrote at the time, “seems to me to be of interest as indicating the first step towards a system of writing. I am not aware of any similar instance of pictography in Papua.”

It may be added that the two small boys were recovered from the Oberi in June last.

Betel-Nut Messages.

Now comes a further interesting re port from the Lieutenant-Governor Writing under date September 8, he forwards a letter received from Mr.

H. Stuart Russell, together with a memorandum from the Government anthropologist, in connection with betel-nut messages on Rossel Island.

In forwarding several of these let ter-nuts, Mr. Russel explains that the marks on the nuts denend for their specific meaning largely on previous arrangements between the sender and the recipient.

A boy might arrange with a depart ing friend to send him a nut with cer tain marks on it to convey certain news. Special marks might signify a man, a woman, a boy or a girl. A birth, a death, would be represented by a special mark. Thus, a boy who had received a nut with a slice taken off it was able to tell that his sick uncle had died.

There seems to be possibilities in nuts. Sometimes they contain instruc tions for purchasing trade goods—cal ico, knives, etc. So far, no system of stamping them has been devised.

The letter-nuts, which were sent on

to the Department by Sir Hubert Murray, have been forwarded to Pro fessor Radcliffe Brown, of the Depart ment of Anthropology, Sydney Uni versity. I