Note on the Kuni People
Reading edition
Father Egedi, who has studied the Kuni people, and has written a series of articles about them in numbers of Anthropos, told me that he regarded them as being a cross between the Papuan-speaking Mafulu and the Melanesian-speaking Papuo-Melanesians of Mekeo and the adjoining coast. Whether or not this is absolutely and strictly correct is a question upon which I will not venture to express an opinion.
In general physique and appearance the Kuni are distinctly and strongly of the type of the Mafulu, whilst their language is Melanesian; and, as regards other matters, they in some respects resemble and in other respects differ from the Mafulu.
Father Egedi speaks of their hair as being “generally black, rarely bright, and more rarely chestnut”; and as to this, I would refer to the fact that the predominating colour of hair among the Mafulu is dark or darkish brown, so that in this respect the Kuni apparently tend more to the black-haired coast type of native than do the Mafulu.
Concerning matters other than physique and language, as I only passed through the Kuni district, and did not attempt serious ethnological investigation there, I can say but little beyond what I learn from Father Egedi’s articles and a few other sources; and the material thus available only deals with a few questions.
The Kuni superstitious remedies for illnesses, as described by Father Egedi, are quite different from those of Mafulu, and their food restrictions, as enumerated by him, are in some respects substantially distinct from those of the Mafulu, though some of them are more or less similar.
According to him Kuni women, though they may not enter the village kufu or club-house, are allowed upon its platform, which is not the case with the Mafulu emone; and eldest sons of Kuni influential people may not enter into the kufu until their parents have given a specific feast, which custom is apparently not identical with that of the Mafulu above described by me, and which applies to all sons of all members of the village, and not merely to those of influential people.
The Kuni houses differ from those of the Mafulu, being more or less round or oval in apparent shape, even though the floor is rectangular. Also according to Father Egedi, Kuni kufu are of several various sorts, and some of them are constructed in specific ways, and have specific carved and painted decorations, some of which are imitative of animals and objects held in veneration; and these different types of club-house, which include one used only by elderly bachelors and widowers, have specific names—all of which is quite different from what is found in Mafulu. Among these club-houses Father Egedi includes one built at feast times higher up the ridge, outside the village, for guests’ accommodation, which, though apparently somewhat similar in purpose to the guests’ houses at a Mafulu feast, differs from them in form. Indeed, as regards building construction, the only point of strong similarity between the Kuni and the Mafulu which I can trace is the long fireplace extending from front to back of the building, which with the Kuni is apparently very like that of the Mafulu.
Father Egedi’s statement as to Kuni cannibalism, that speaking generally it appears to be confined to the bodies of people killed in war or in private vendetta, and that, though other cases are recorded, they are regarded as a violation of a custom and are detested, might be equally well said of the Mafulu; though I did not actually hear of any known record there of the other cases mentioned. Again his statement that the actual killer must not share in the feast holds good with the Mafulu; but I believe that this idea exists elsewhere also.
I recognise that the above comparative notes on Kuni culture are only of a very fragmentary character; but Father Egedi expresses the general opinion that, though the language of the Kuni people is Melanesian, their habits and customs “may be considered as making one with those of the Mafulu people.”
On the whole question of Kuni relationship it can, I think, hardly be doubted that the Kuni have some characteristics which are clearly those of the Mafulu and other central mountain tribes, and others which are obviously those of the Papuo-Melanesians of the adjacent plains and the coast beyond; and the only question seems to be the nature and origin of the Kuni relationship to these two types of people. It may be, as suggested by Father Egedi, that they are actually a cross between these two mixed types; or, if the suggestion in my concluding chapter as to the possible presence in these Mafulu and other mountain people of Negrito blood be correct, it may be that the Kuni people are merely another result of the general Negrito-Papuo-Melanesian intercrossing, in which the Papuan and Melanesian elements have been more predominant than they have been with the Mafulu.