Anthropos: Anthropos, 18/19.1923/24

Anthropos, 18/19.1923/24

Bibliographic Data

Journal

Structure Type:: Journal

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714789

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714789

Persistent identifier:: BV041701500

Title:: Anthropos

Other Titles:: Anthropos

Place of Publication:: Fribourg

Publisher:: Ed. St. Paul, Anthropos-Institut

Year of Publication:: 1906

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Domain:: Social and cultural anthropology > General overview

Journal Volume

Structure Type:: Journal Volume

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-709512

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-709512

Persistent identifier:: DE-11-001853195

Title:: Anthropos, 18/19.1923/24

Year of Publication:: 1919

Call Number:: LA 1118-16/17

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Journal Issue

Structure Type:: Journal Issue

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Rossel Island Religion 1 . By W. E. Armstrong, M. A., Cantab. Rossel Island, the most easterly island of an archipelago which stretches eastward for 200 miles from the mainland of Papua, has for some time been a mystery to ethnologists, as no doubt it always has been to the Melanesian inhabitants of the archipelago itself. The island is in the middle of the Mela nesian world, and though there is an underlying thread of uniformity through out Melanesian culture as we know it, the culture of Rossel Island, in spite of certain Melanesian features, stands out as thoroughly un-Melanesian. Religion, to use the simplest designation, is an outstanding feature, though the term, for reasons which will appear later, is perhaps not strictly accurate; hardly less important is the complicated system of currency, which combines with the ordinary functions of a currency a means of calculating interest-charges. Iti both these respects, magico-religious and economic, Rossel Island culture is quite unlike anything that has come to light not only in Melanesia and New Guinea but in any part of Oceania. The following account deals only with the magico-religious aspect of this peculiar culture. One of the most striking features of Rossel Island is the fringing reef, which recedes at the East end of the island to a distance of some ten miles a nd encloses the uninhabited and solitary little island of Loa. At the West en d there is an even larger lagoon formed by the trailing away of the reef f° a distance of some twenty-five miles from the main island. There is thus 110 part of Rossel exposed to the open sea, and the island may be regarded as lying within a lagoon two or three times its own size. The sea beyond appears limitless in all directions, though Sudest to the South-west may occasionally be seen and its presence more frequently inferred generally from a line of cloud. It is not, therefore, surprising that the sea and the lagoon with its encircling reef should be regarded by the native as fundamental and beyond the need of explanation. In the beginning we find Temewe, the sea floor of a lagoon bounded by the reef with the open sea beyond, but there is no land anywhere. This strange country beneath shallow water was inha bited by a strange people, human in pattern and immortal, and the chief of these people was Wonajo. Wonajo made the land and then betook himself ^ the highest peak, Mt. Rossel, which he made his home, though the little Nland of Loa at the extreme Eastern edge of the surrounding reef is also 1 1 This article is based on material obtained during a ten-weeks visit to Rossel Island hile acting as Assistant Anthropologist to the Papuan Government. I had been in some time previous to this on ethnological work as Anthony Wilkin Student of University with additional financial help from the Percy Sladen Trust Fund. AlU hropog xvm—XIX. 1923-1924 1 Papua ¡ 0r W Cambridge

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