PAPUA NEW GUINEA – 1996/01/01: New Guinea Highlands, Near Tari, Huli Dancers With Ceremonial Wigs, Bird Of Paradise Feathers. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)
August 21, 1937
WHAT THEY DO FOR INSOMNIA
Evening Herald Express
“Errol Flynn, old boy, tell us what you do for insomnia?”
After Errol had exploded and used a little language we convinced him we really meant exactly what we said, and he was surprised to find he did have an insomnia cure. Seemed it rarely is needed, but when it is he remembers a long tiresome trek he took in New Guinea one time, afraid to sleep because the local head-hunters seemed determined to add the handsome Flynn top-piece to their collection. Said Errol:
“It’s like counting sheep, only I count head-hunters.”
…
Headhunting History in New Guinea:
Headhunting was practised by many Austronesian people in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Headhunting has at one time or another been practised among most of the peoples of Melanesia,including New Guinea. A missionary found 10,000 skulls in a community longhouse on Goaribari Island in 1901.
Historically, the Marind-anim in New Guinea were famed because of their headhunting. The practice was rooted in their belief system and linked to the name-giving of the newborn. The skull was believed to contain a mana-like force. Headhunting was not motivated primarily by cannibalism, but the dead person’s flesh was consumed in ceremonies following the capture and killing.
The Korowai, a Papuan tribe in the southeast of Irian Jaya, live in tree houses, some nearly 40 metres high. This is believed to be a defensive practice, presumably as protection against the Citak, a tribe of neighbouring headhunters. Some researchers believe that the American Michael Rockefeller, who disappeared in New Guinea in 1961 while on a field trip, may have been taken by headhunters in the Asmat region. He was the son of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
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— Tim
