Other Food Sources Traditional Art Forms—Where are they?

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13.6 Other Food Sources

Other sources of food are: breadfruit oveu or eveu, cabbage kabis, pumpkin parike, cucumber kukava, manioc tapiako, several types of yams varuiva, atagava, riripui, veuveu, utu, taeri, vakore, wild taro vavarai utu, large mushroom keru-keru, and coconut opita. Some of the fruits found in the area include: papaya vavioko, pineapple uusi pineapples being introduced, the Rotokas took the name of another indigenous fruit that resembles pineapple in flavor and texture, Malay apple kakavoro, small red berry with watery consistency otava, mango tavute, bananas already listed, lemon, tangerine, and grapefruit muri. Foods that come from wild sources are young tree leaves which are cooked in bamboo tubes: piuta, kerara, pirisi, sikoi, gogo-vike sour taste and must be eaten with coconut milk and salt, uveuveto grows near the coast, vearua may be eaten by itself, or better with coconut grease; wild taro: uriiko the leaves get bitter with age; it is good cold medicine, kokuoku, petai; leaves from small bushes: gorivu, viveu, sisau, topisi, ivau; tender parts of vines: soko, asiga; cane: kukara, and something similar to cane pitpit which ripens at the same time: oupate; fungi found on dead trees, etc.: kopukosi black, raoto, korove both white, kurosi, kasikasi, karavao tai, akoto the latter is yellow and grows on wild banana trees; shoots of wild bananas: koakoa; and kareko iro a vine used for water. Also, at the higher elevations, there is a type of pandanus tree the growing heart is delicious and tender. Finally, as if this were not enough, the Rotokas have supplemented their diets with store-bought commodities such as: mackerel pike, corned beef, rice, sugar, salt, bread, biscuits, carbonated drinks, tea, coffee, Milo chocolate drink powder, fried crispies of corn or potato origin, etc.

13.7 Preservation and Preparation of Foods

Until recently, this section would have been quite simple. With the introduction of modern equipment, however, the story becomes more complicated. In the end, however, Rotokas people will prefer their traditional foods and methods of preparation. The Westerner’s foods aren’t “strong” and therefore don’t provide the quality of sustenance desired.

13.7.1 Preparation of native salts

The sisiva tree is a source of salt in the Rotokas area. It is a simple procedure to procure salt from this tree; heat is produced at the same time. The tree is cut and split for firewood, the pieces are burned and the solid crystalline-like residue vitavukoara collected either in palm sheath ladles or placed directly into green-cut bamboo sections. Water is added to the ashes and the salt allowed to settle out in a hard crusty mass. If green bamboo is used, the salty ashes are placed in the tube along with water. The salt flavor penetrates the walls of the tube and remains there until the section of bamboo is stuffed with opossum or pig meat. At this point, the ashes are flushed from the tubes which are stored in readiness for the meat. Once the meat has been placed in the prepared tubes, avieua, the salt transfers to the meat and the flavor of the salt tree is tasted in the meat. If the meat remains in the salted tubes too long, however, the flavor can become too strong and the meat is spoiled. It was suggested that after only a few days, the meat should be eaten. Another type of salt plant kaavaaua is not as popular as the first. This succulent plant grows profusely in damp areas, such as the base of waterfalls. The process for deriving the salt from the wood is identical. In addition to the instructions dealing with the ashes, the man telling us about this source mentioned that it was used to give a special quality to a young person’s body so that it would not appear to age. Another source of salt is any kind of tree which has soaked up salt water from the ocean. The Rotokas will find a beached log rakiraki and extract the salt from it in a process similar to that above. The ashes are placed in bamboo tubes in the same way as previously described. The main difference is that the salt flavor from the ocean is considered pleasant, whereas the salt from the sisiva tree, in particular, is “angry” or sharp. In fact, from personal experience, I would say the taste is sharp and not unlike a chemical flavor. Finally, the raatevoi is a bush which, when burned, produces ashes flavored much like the salt of the ocean. The bush grows at high elevations on the slopes of the volcano, Mt. Balbi. The flavor is said to penetrate into the bones of whatever is cooked with it. Neither taro nor sweet potato is cooked with these salts because “it is not right for them”. 174

13.7.2 Cooking methods

The method for cooking opossum in bamboo tubes is as follows: first, the meat is put into the bamboo sections, it is then partially cooked, after which the juices are drained out of the tube. This is repeated until the meat appears to be dried out. Once the meat and bamboo are dry, then a “cap” of washed charcoal is placed in the mouth of the tube, sealing off the meat. An outer cap of dried leaves then plugs the hole. The sealed tube of cooked opossum meat is then placed over the fire in the smoke where it will keep for several weeks or more, depending upon how well it is cared for. The pit method vaagi has previously been described. If the cooking time needs to be shortened, water is poured down a bamboo tube inserted into the food under cover. The increased amount of steam apparently speeds the cooking process. If the food is to be cooked overnight, the top layer of banana leaves will be covered over with earth to help keep rats and dogs out. Besides cooking meats in bamboo tubes and cooking meats and vegetables in the steaming pit over heated rocks, there is the open fire and sauce pan. Tubers of taro and sweet potato, ears of corn, etc. are cooked over an open fire. The “skin” on tubers becomes charred and peels off easily. Sauce pans allow for soups to be made from greens, coconut juice, and pieces of meat. Some meats are cooked by boiling in a sauce pan. Rice, of course, is cooked in this way. The pan may be placed on a wire screen above an open fire, or on a kerosene pressure stove. Some stoves use bottled liquefied petroleum LP gas.

13.8 Cash Crops

Land ownership remains a most important goal, but since pre-European times some changes have taken place in the kinds of land desired and the degree to which individuals are able to satisfy those desires. The most widespread change has been the one accompanying the turn to cash-cropping. Whereas the traditional subsistence crops can be and frequently are grown in small plots on steep slopes and marginal soils, cash-crops—mainly coconuts and cocoa—require lower altitudes, gentler terrain, a narrower range of soil types, and easier access to markets all of which are located on the coast. As we have seen, mountain- dwellers have responded by moving coastwards, but the limits to this kind of solution have already been reached in some places, and are being rapidly approached in others. Others more fortunately located but with clearly limited land areas have transformed much of their subsistence garden land into cash-crop land with a corresponding change of diet. Both these solutions are only temporary in view of the islands’ rapidly rising population, and the latter solution is immediately hazardous because of uncertainties in the market prices of copra and cocoa. There are a few individuals who still enjoy access to all the subsistence and cash- cropping land they can comfortably work—but even this happy situation is threatened, in the long run, by the islands’ expanding population. The conscious need for certain kinds and amounts of arable land is weighty and pressing. At the moment most individuals are perhaps still able to satisfy their own definitions of such needs, but the time is rapidly approaching when this will no longer be so. In fact, both by their own definitions of their land requirements and by those based on scientific appraisal of the islands’ land resources and population trends, the Bougainvillians’ needs for land will soon reach a most dangerous impasse unless huge new measures are undertaken to bring about changes in their ways of earning a living and in their rates of population growth Oliver 1973:205–206. Further background information is provided by Dr. Howlett in her geography studies: By 1906, just over 2,000 acres of land had been leased by the government. By 1910, over 360,000 acres were leased in Papua alone. The Administration allows for 3.3 acres of arable land per capita. This includes allowances for food crops, cash crops, and fallow land. Predictions for future need are based on the rate of natural population increases of the group. This figure is used when taking land for plantations, etc. to make sure that the land needs of the area and people are sufficient Howlett 1967:82. 175

13.8.1 Cocoa

…the most far-reaching changes on Bougainville-Buka in the late 1960s were in connection with cash-cropping. Indigenous cocoa production increased from 174 tonnes dry bean in 1963–64 to 1461 tonnes in 1969–70. In some areas the cocoa earnings of the indigenes increased quite spectacularly during this period and in some places the enthusiasm had almost reached the point of “cocoa madness” Oliver 1973:169. In comparison, the country’s production of cocoa went from 485 tonnes in 1951–52 to 30,000 tonnes in 1978. The value of the latter product was K69 million. In the world, the production in 1977 was 1,370,000 tonnes 695,000 tonnes from Africa and 230,000 tonnes from Brazil. In 1976, of the 24,000 tonnes of cocoa produced in Papua New Guinea, 13,000 tonnes were produced on Bougainville-Buka. At that time, the price of cocoa was K1600tonne. In 1977, the price went as high as K2600 per tonne, but by 1980, it had dropped again to around K1300tonne. During the years when cocoa prices were exceptionally high, the temptation for national agricultural officers to quit and go into cocoa themselves was strong. John T., already mentioned in connection with the chicken project, at one stage was making K74 every two weeks as a government agricultural officer. At that rate, it was figured that the income from five to eight bags of cocoa would be equivalent to a year’s pay. John remained with the agricultural department and has spent much of his time advising cocoa growers. John’s father has been a cocoa grower for many years. He gave the following instructions for raising this cash crop: When you want to grow cocoa, the first thing you must do is clear the jungle growth from the area. The agricultural officer will be needed next to mark out the locations for planting the cocoa seedlings and shade tree cuttings. [Bamboo stakes are used to mark the planting spots.] For each cocoa seedling, there needs to be shade trees akera provided. These are planted on each side of the cocoa seedling. When the young cocoa tree gets to be two to three meters tall, then the shade trees are to be thinned out. Soon the fruit pods will begin to come. When you see the cocoa pods beginning to come, then you must think about building a “cocoa house”. In this house you will place the beans into cases where they will ferment to get rid of the grease. [In the house the fermented beans are then dried over screens by the hot air method.] Personal communication. The explanation is straightforward and perhaps too simple. However, the fact that cocoa is relatively easy to plant, tend, and harvest is exemplified by the explanation and demonstrated by the very rapid increase of cocoa plantings in the Rotokas area. New hybrid strains of cocoa plants K-26 for instance which resist black- rot and die-back are becoming available now for planting. The developers of these new strains promise a significant increased yield, as well. The cocoa beans develop in a pod which grows from a cushion on the trunk and main branches of the trees. Although there are usually two flushes, or periods of maximum production, the pods mature throughout the year and harvesting of the ripened pods takes place at regular intervals. The pods are collected, the case is cut open and the wet beans, usually about thirty in each pod, are extracted. A bush knife is used to open the pod and the wet beans are scooped out with two fingers. It is then necessary to ferment the wet beans which are surrounded by a white, sugary mucilage. The fermenting process takes at least six days and the beans must be turned during this period to prevent the cocoa taking on an unpleasant flavor. In addition, to ensure a successful ferment, the temperature of the beans must rise to between 122 degrees F and 125 degrees F. After the fermenting process is complete, the beans are still wet and it is necessary to dry them so that they will not deteriorate while being transported to overseas markets Lea and Irwin 1967:62. The Cocoa Industry Board is responsible for maintaining the quality of cocoa exported to overseas markets. One problem that arose during the developing stages of the industry was with fermentaries being built which were not up to standard. In the Rotokas area, many fermentaries were built to handle the ever increasing 176 production. Since transportation of the beans was inconvenient, it was easier to build a small fermentary at the site of the cocoa planting. In 1974, the government passed the Cocoa Industry Act, which required that fermentaries be registered. Each Rotokas man who owned a fermentary was required to fill out a form and have his fermentary registered by the government inspector. Some of the information requested on the form is as follows: Name, address, occupation, name of fermentary, owner and manager, date of construction, number and size of fermenting bins, size of drying area, type of drier, and estimated annual output of dried cocoa beans. At that time the registration fee was K5.00. Extracting cocoa beans from harvested pods One interesting development, which almost affected the cocoa driers, quality, and production in the areas around Togarao village, took place in January of 1975. Men from the Electricity Commission flew into the village to estimate the potential output of hydro electricity from the sixty-three meter-high waterfall behind Togarao village. They estimated that the fall could handle a 50 KVA plant which could supply 440 volts, three-phase power. The potential use of the power, besides for residential lighting and power, included the heating elements and blowers in cocoa fermentaries. We were told that the project was approved and the equipment acquired, but the government’s financial situation took a turn and the project was never realized.

13.8.2 Coffee

When we first came to Togarao village, there were many coffee trees in the area surrounding this village and near Ruruvu, as well. Shortly afterwards, however, the coffee trees were removed and cocoa was planted. We had been told that a Government office first told the people to plant cocoa. Another Government officer told them that the area was not suitable for cocoa and that they should plant coffee instead. Apparently some followed this advice and after removing their young cocoa trees, planted Robusta coffee instead. We witnessed the truth of this in our neighbor’s back yard. He planted cocoa on the advice of the first officer, but did not follow the second man’s recommendation. While other Rotokas growers were subsequently removing their coffee and getting young cocoa trees started, our neighbor’s matured cocoa trees were bringing income into his business. Robusta coffee is known as “filler” coffee and does not have the more distinctive, fuller flavor of Arabica grown in the Highlands. Coffee was first grown in Papua New Guinea in the early 1950s. In 1978, ninety-five percent of the coffee grown was Arabica. That year, the 30,000 tonnes of coffee was valued at K69 million. For the Rotokas, however, it was not as lucrative as cocoa. This was true even though it was estimated that coffee requires only about 100 acres for a paying plantation against the 200 to 250 acres required for the production of cocoa. Coconuts require at least 600 acres of arable land for a paying plantation Howlett 1967:91. 177

13.8.3 Copra

Although the copra production has greatly increased on Bougainville-Buka in recent years, there has not been a significant change in the cash income from this source for the Rotokas people. In the Province as a whole, indigenous copra production rose from 1,935 tonnes in 1963–1964 to 6,587 tonnes in 1969–1970. Copra is produced only on or near the coast and most of the coconuts are interplanted with cocoa, which brings in even more cash for the Rotokas.

13.8.4 Other crops

What is raised in the vegetable gardens and not eaten is often sold for cash at markets on the coast. Since the copper mine went into operation, there has been a new source of interest in the variety of vegetables grown at upper elevations in the Rotokas area. Previously, local plantation workers would buy vegetables from the Rotokas. It has already been mentioned that Irish potatoes was a crop produced and exported to plantations and to Arawa in the days of Bougainville Air Services. This crop is no longer grown to the extent that it was in those days. Only a few Rotokas continue the cultivation of potatoes. 178 14 Rotokas Arts and Crafts 14.1 Traditional Art Forms—Where are they? Oliver makes the following observation about the art of Bougainville-Buka: Some casual observers might be led to assert that they have no art; only crafts. Such observers would perhaps also agree, tacitly, with the definition of primitive art as being those things Europeans call “art” made or done by people Europeans call “primitive” While it is of course true that most but not all of the designs executed by these islanders were associated with objects of practical utility, for example, house posts, canoe prows and paddles, bamboo containers, spear shafts, etc.; or with items of ceremonial or religious use, for example, wooden trumpets, images, etc., this does not render such objects un-artistic. As in all human societies, there were skilled and unskilled designers and carvers and weavers, and those that were skilled should be called artists even though they were also, or principally, gardeners and fishermen Oliver 1973:66. The art and crafts described in this chapter have changed in importance over the years. Some of what was used in the past is now only for sale to tourists and expatriate mine workers. Some forms are still admired, such as cicatrization, but no one is ready to follow the custom. It is a time of deciding upon the Upe custom and the fate of the beautifully-designed and constructed hats. It is hoped that the importance of the Rotokas art heritage will remain high, despite the pressures to commercialize and move into the contemporary cultural scene.

14.2 Body Markings—Cicatrization