IDNO

P.975.ACH1

Description

On Catalogue Card: “Tomog zogo, Mer.”

The men of the Tomog zogo sitting behind the stones in the "right position and attitude for consulting the zogo". From left to right are Jimmy Dei, Kaige, Enocha, Mamoose Arei Harry and Ulai. In the foreground are the stones are great fuscus shells of the zogo, and in the background is bush. [JD 08/08/2019]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Torres Strait; Mer

Cultural Affliation

Torres Strait Islander

Named Person

Mamoose Arei Harry; Jimmy Dei Day; Kaige; Enoka; Ulai

Photographer

Wilkin, Anthony

Collector / Expedition

Haddon, Alfred Cort [Cambridge University Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Straits, 1898 - 1899]

Date

17 August 1898

Collection Name

Mounted Haddon CollectionTorres Strait Island Expedition

Source

Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Publication: Image published in Reports VI: XXIII fig. 3 captioned “Tomog zogo (p. 261)”. [Jude Philp 28/5/1999]

Publication: Image published in Head-hunters; black, white, and brown by Haddon, Alfred C. (Alfred Cort), 1901. (London Methuen), pl. VIIa and captioned "Tomog Zogo."
Related text on p.54 notes: "The following afternoon we all went to the zogo; Bruce came
too. Strangely enough he had not previously seen or heard of this zogo. We had with us the Mamoose, Enocha, Jimmy Dei, Ulai, and Kaige, all of whom belonged to the zogo. We learnt
the names of the stones, and then at our request the zogo men placed themselves in the right position and attitude for consulting the zogo, and then they were photographed. It was very suggestive to see the reverent affection the old men had for the zogo, and they seemed gratified at the care with which it had been cleaned and mapped.
This famous zogo consists of a collection of stones, on each of which was formerly placed a large shell, usually a great Fusus or a helmet-shell; each stone, with its shell, represented a
village or a district of the island. A little way off was a single stone and shell that stood for the whole island. Divination was accomplished by the voices and movements of birds, lizards, insects, or the appearance of natural objects. Anything that happened to the separate stone and shell concerned all the inhabitants of the island ; but anything that happened to one of the grouped stones and shells related only to the man or men who live in the house or district represented by that particular stone and shell. There was thus a means for both analysis and synthesis." [JD 08/08/2019]

Date: Haddon visited this zogo in 1888 he writes that he was unsatisfied with the photographs he took at that time (N.22805.ACH2; N.22806.ACH2; P.1156.ACH1) and so went 16th August with Jimmy Day and a policemen to clear and map it. On 17th he returned with “the Chief (Mamus) and several others who belonged to the zogo - We got names put to the stones and then the zogo men put themselves in the right place and attitude for consulting the zogo and then they were photographed” (1898: 198-9). [Jude Philp 28/5/1999]

Publication: Image published in 'Recording Kastom: Alfred Haddon’s Journals from his Expeditions to the Torres Strait and New Guinea, 1888–89, 1898–99', Edited by Anita Herle and Jude Philp (Sydney University Press), Fig 7.10, and captioned: "Tomog zogo oracle with five Meriam men (l-r) Jimmy Dei, Kaige, Enocha, Arei and probably Ulai. Mer, 17 August 1898. MAA N.23234." [JD 13/03/2020]