IDNO

T.151585.RPT

Description

On Catalogue Card: "237. S.P. New Guinea. Gumine. 35mm.Ekta." [Poignant's manuscript]
"23 to 28. Martin and Erita stalk Cassowary chick." [Poignant's typed text]

Place

Oceania Melanesia; Papua New Guinea; Highlands Region; Chimbu Province; Gumine District; Gumine [Simbu Province]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Kaleku (also known as Martin); Erita

Photographer

Poignant, Axel

Collector / Expedition

Date

1969

Collection Name

Poignant Collection

Source

Poignant, Roslyn

Format

Colour Transparency

Primary Documentation

Other Information

T.148696.RPT - T.152693.RPT were located in the drawer file of transparency sheets, numbered C1021/.

T.151557.RPT - T.151580.RPT were located in a transparency sheet, numbered C1021/122.

Publication: Similar image published in Poignant, Axel and Roslyn. 1972. Kaleku. London: Angus and Robertson, p.27. [KK 16/08/2022]

Bibliographical reference: Poignant, Axel and Roslyn. 1972. Kaleku. London: Angus and Robertson, p.26. This extract comes from a children's book, written about a boy named Kaleku and his family in Gumine: "'You say you are a great hunter,' his father [Kuman] said. 'Go into the bush and bring back a tree – kangaroo or bird, a rat or even a lizard. But if you see a wild pig or a cassowary you must take care. They are very fierce and dangerous and might charge you.
'May I come?' asked Erita.
Kaleku shook his head. 'You'll make too much noise and frighten everything away.'
'I'll be very quiet. Besides, I can carry your catch in my bilum.'
'That's a good idea,' Kaleku agreed.
Off they went through the long grass. The afternoon was hot. Nothing moved in the bush.
'We won't catch anything until it's cooler,' complained Kaleku.
Just then, Erita saw a movement in the low grass.
'Look! Look!' she whispered.
A young cassowary stood there; only the jerking of his head betrayed him.
Kaleku guessed that something must have happened to the mother bird. Perhaps another hunter had killed her.
He raised his bow and arrow and fired. The arrow fell wide and the bird darted away.
Thrusting his weapons into Erita's hand, he rushed after the cassowary and caught it, folding its long powerful legs under its body so that it couldn't kick him as he carried it home.
Father was pleased with Kaleku because he had caught the cassowary alive. Some of its feathers would make a fine head – dress and it would soon grow new ones.
'You must feed Ebe and look after him well,' said Father.
That wasn't hard. Eve soon became so tame that he ran after the children wherever they went. Ebe is the word for a cassowary." [KK 16/08/2022]