163 stated that birds such as the dove and the hornbill do good by spreading seeds and “replanting the forest.”
Flying foxes also do some good by dispersing sago palm seeds in new areas. It is sad to say that since no regulations have been passed, the many high-flying hornbills coming back to
their roosts in the evenings are not seen any more. There is a noticeable decrease in doves and other game birds, too.
Game
A list of vavarai kare or wild birds and animals commonly hunted includes: koie wild pig—spear, bow and arrow, snare, pit; koorato opossum—bow and arrow, cut down tree and kill with bush knife or bow and
arrow; karukava large rodent something like an opossum—bow and arrow; aatu flying foxfruit bat—bow and arrow, shotgun at night with flashlight; ovuveo hornbill—shotgun, bow and arrow; kurue dove—
shotgun, bow and arrow, net; various smaller parrots and birds—bow and arrow, net; raorao grub of large beetle—axe, knife and hand.
Opossum is a favorite meat. Men will cut down a fairly large tree, if they discover that the nest of an opossum is located in its branches or trunk. With the convenience of flashlights at night, it is not uncommon
for a villager returning home from gardening or hunting to spot an opossum in the branches and bring it home for a meal. A friend and I were walking along a trail when we spotted a piece of soil on a large stone. My
friend said that an opossum had been killed in the area only recently and this was a notice to that effect.
Hunting shelter
Depending upon the size of the hunt, the amount of game desired, etc., the hunting shelter may consist of a few leaves on a frame or a construction with sago palm thatch roof and bamboo mat walls. I have seen two
sites used by large groups of hunters and their families. One included a good-size, properly-constructed shelter with firewood storage area, etc. The other was several hours from any village and consisted of only temporary
shelters. There were remnants of bamboo tubes which had been used to encase the meat for transport and for storage purposes.
Fires are necessary for keeping warm at higher elevations where wild game is more plentiful and for cooking. If it is inconvenient to carry a firestarter embers encased in leaves, then a fire can be started from
wood found in the jungle.
Fire-starting setup
To start a fire by rubbing pieces of wood together is termed aatauparevoi he is starting fire with wood. The diagram shows the placement of the pieces on the prepared base. There are at least two types of trees that
are good for starting fires, the riiriikoto and the takopaua tree.
13.1.2 Pig hunting
There are some men in the area who are particularly adept at hunting pig. Some have very good dogs, and others have exceptional equipment. One of the men with good dogs stated that he needed another dog to
complete the pack. I asked how much he would have to pay for a good hunting dog. He replied that the prices range from between four to ten dollars per dog. This was in the late 1970s and the prices have gone up since
then.
164 One particularly successful pig hunter shared the secret of the concoction with which he prepared his dogs
for the hunt. When he got into the area where he knew pigs were to be found, he would prepare this mixture and give it to the dogs to eat just before going after a pig. To prepare it, bits of tree bark or shavings from the
tree itself were gathered from those trees known to have a bitter sap. He would then get scrapings of bark from the trees where the pigs rubbed themselves. This would include some of their hair, sweat, etc. rubbed off in the
process. If any remnants of food had been left by foraging pigs, these would be included in the mixture. The white sulfur compound from the Pioto, and sometimes the hot ginger tagotago was also a part of it. All of
these materials were mixed together and wrapped in a leaf. Water was then poured over the top of the bundle, and allowed to seep through. The leaf bundle was squeezed over cooked sweet potato and the extract was
blended in with the dogs’
food. If the dogs were turned away by the bitterness, then a can of fish was added. Having eaten this concoction, the dog is apparently more sensitive to pig odors and is irritated by the
sulfur compound from the hot spring and by the bitter bark and ginger. My friend would follow the dogs with his spear made of a World War II bayonet wrapped with steel wire onto the spear shaft. He is one of the
Rotokas in this area better known for his abilities to “bring home the bacon” Following is an account of a pig hunt in which our family was invited to participate. The pig was located
in the jungle, but had been somewhat domesticated. In fact, this particular pig, vovo, had been designated by our good neighbor the previous year as belonging to my wife.
On Saturday morning, July 12, 1969, our family, along with the neighbor’s family, walked to the pig area up in back of Togarao village. We had been following pig tracks for some time when we doubled back to a
spot where the women and children stayed. The two hunting dogs, the two men and I went back into the jungle area. One man had rubbed a very
strong smelling leaf on the noses of the dogs before letting them go. The purpose was to enhance the dogs’ ability to smell the pigs from long distances. From time to time he would call out, “Vovo,” and in time we
heard the grunts of the pig not far away. The two dogs rushed on ahead and found the pig. When they bothered her two young, she turned and came for us. While our neighbor tried to calm the pig, I went up but not far
enough a small tree nearby The pig eventually calmed down about the same time we heard and spotted another smaller male pig behind us. This other pig was, in fact, the pig that he intended to kill for my wife. As
the pig approached us, our friend ran towards him with his spear and bush knife. The spear had a rod just over a meter in length attached to the shaft of the spear with wire. There was a barb filed into the rather dull tip of
the iron rod. The shaft was about 1-13 meters long.
Si.’s Pig Spear
Si.’s first throw missed the pig. He retrieved the spear and once again chased the pig. When he was within distance, he threw the spear a second time and it entered high on the back, hindering its forward progress.
Immediately, the larger of the two dogs was onto the pig, holding its snout down to the ground. While Va. was still catching up to us, we rolled the pig over on its side and stood on top of it to keep it from going further. Si.
then removed the spear and plunged it a final time into the pig’s neck, trying for the jugular vein. I was then instructed to cut down a small tree for a club. Si. then took this section of tree and smashed the skull of the pig.
Not dying easily, the pig was eventually suffocated by two small tree branches stuffed up the nostrils. The mouth was tied shut with vine. Deciding that the animal was dead, we tied the legs together with strips of bark
and hung the pig from a pole cut from another young tree nearby.
After joining the waiting families, we all walked down the ridge to a point on the Ivitu river not far above the village. When we arrived at the river, the belly was immediately cut open and the viscera was loosened.
Before taking it out completely, Si. shoved a wad of leaves into the pig’s anus. All of the organs were then removed.
In the meantime, Va. had gone to gather short pieces of dead bamboo, which were heaped in a pile near the stream. We then cut tree limbs into sections and laid them from the top of the stream bank in a way so as to
165 form a “v”-shaped framework. Under this, a hot fire was built using the dead bamboo. This fire was started
from smoldering embers encased in banana leaves. The pig was then laid on top of the frame and the hair was singed off the body. The process was
considered finished when the skin of the pig appeared to be charred and began to split open. The blade of the bush knife was used like a razor to “shave” off the burnt hair leaving white partially-cooked skin exposed.
The pig was then removed from the fire and washed in the fast-flowing stream. More hair and charred bits were scraped and cleaned off the carcass. While the pig was being carved into pieces, the intestines that had
been placed in the stream and weighted down with stones were taken by the mother and oldest daughter to be cleaned. The stomach was taken and emptied into the stream. It was opened and “scrubbed” on a large stone in
the stream exactly like one would scrub clothes on a stone. Then working together, they split open the lengths of intestines with small sharp pieces of bamboo and emptied the contents into the stream. After scrubbing these
as well, the entire mass of entrails was stuffed into bamboo tubes for future smoking and preservation. After a considerable period of curing time, these, too, would be eaten.
After I had removed the skin, the rest of the carcass was cut into pieces small enough to be inserted into more bamboo tubes called tuikopa kuvu. The sections were about a meter in length and about six to eight
centimeters in diameter. They were left naturally closed off by the joint in the tube at one end and plugged at the open end by a wad of leaves. Before being plugged, a thin strip of bamboo was cut and inserted into the
end of the bamboo in such a way as to hold in place the contents of the tube while it was being tipped and drained of excessive fluids. Because flies by this time were gathering, the tubes were put into the smoke of the
fire open side up.
Section of bamboo used for preserving meat—Tuikopa kuvu
One hind quarter of the pig had remained uncut to be cooked for the feast. It was later cut into large sections and wrapped in leaves. This meat was cooked in a vage pit oven similar to that described in section
13.7.2. In this instance, the pit was dug beneath the porch of Si.’s house. It was lined with banana leaves and the meat, along with packets of chayote greens, was laid on top of these leaves. Pre-heated stones were then
placed on top of the packets of greens and leaf-wrapped meat. A half 55-gallon drum split in two lengthwise was then placed as a lid over the entire contents of the pit. The meat was cooked for about eighteen hours. It
was delicious
The bamboo tubes with meat to be stored were placed over the fire in the cook house. They remained here until cooked and then were placed in a rack above the fire where the smoke helped to preserve them. The meat
would last for several months, if well cared for. We were encouraged to eat the meat given to us in tubes after a week, “lest it get too strong tough.”
The entire process of hunting, killing, cleaning, and filling the tubes took about three and a half hours. The pigs kept by Si. and his family were contained in a prescribed area by deep trenches cut into the
ridges. A ridge may be chosen with sides too steep for a pig to climb. This provides one border of the pig area. The other borders if not natural barriers would be provided by digging trenches too wide to jump across and
too deep to allow a pig to enter and escape again. These ditches were called apui, and in the old days were dug with “shovels” carved in the shape of a canoe from wood. Coconut shells were used to scoop out the dirt. The
trenches we saw were over three meters deep at the ridge and became shallower further away. A house is usually built within the boundaries of the pig area in which the caretakers live. A family may stay away from
the village for a week or two at a time, feeding the pigs and guarding them. Sweet potato is used as pig feed, either cooked or raw.
In the late 1960s, pigs raised in these areas near the village were selling for about K4.00 for young pigs and up to K30.00 for mature adults. Those prices have no doubt been inflated over the years since. In the
Rotokas area, pigs are not normally allowed to roam freely through the villages. Young pigs may be kept for a while, but eventually find their way into these yards away from the village area.
166
13.1.3 Fishing methods
