The Chimbu are one of the 800 tribes that populate Papua New Guinea. A tribe of pygmies, the Chimbu are among the most feared tribes in PNG. Having sailed to PNG with my All-Girl Crew, I found the Chimbu among the most fearsome in appearance. Especially given their lack of vertical stature.
PNG is a study in contrast. For example, I was lucky enough to attend a Sing-Sing in PNG. Every 2 years the 800 tribes put aside their weapons and instead try and outdo all others in song and costume.
I was there and being in the prime of health had left the safety of the razor wire compound from which the other “white-fellas” and “white-missys” were watching. I wanted a close-up of the contestants on the large field of competition. The judges were on the field, that is where I wanted to be.
A risk for sure given the nature of PNG but I was in shape from years of sailing and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Having stripped off my watch and any jewelry, dressed in flip-flops, a cheap tank top, and ragged shorts I hopefully looked like more trouble than I was worth. A crowd of a few hundred thousand tribes peoples had come to town to watch the sing-sing, so it was quite something to be the only whitefella in the crowd and on the field.
This was a calculated risk. As the only whitefella on the field, I expected everyone would assume that I had some special purpose in being there, that in some fashion my participation must have been sanctioned by someone in high office.
PNG society at the time was colonial and stratified into 3 groups. Educated blackfellas headed the government, ex-pat whitefellas provided the senior management positions and blackfellas from the tribes provided the labor. The blackfellas heading the government and their entourage definitely did not mix with the tribes, except at election time. The ex-pat whitefellas provided communication between the two at all other times.
So with a mix of trepidation and confidence, I made my way through the crowd and onto the field. The experience was well worth the risk. The 800 different groups of performers on the field, elaborate stone age costumes, songs, and dances that day were an experience never to be repeated. Though even the locals told me afterward I was crazy.
The most memorable performers were the Buka Islanders for I rate these people the most beautiful I have ever seen. When I first sighted them the hair stood up on the back of my head. Of this, I was most aware. The women were all my height. 6 feet. The men were a head taller or more. The people were not thin. They were of normal proportion and very muscular.
Their features were not South Pacific or Micronesian Islanders. Likely the result of years of trade and cross-breeding, they were Persian-Arab-Indian in appearance but black in color, with straight hair. But a black I had never seen before. So dark that they appeared almost purple. Dressed in their elaborate costumes of tree bark, fur, and feathers the contrast was striking.
I mention the Buka Islanders in passing because PNG is a land of contrast. Whatever had made the Buka Islanders so incredibly beautiful had the opposite effect when I saw the pygmy Chimbu. I will confess my first Chimbu reminded me of the legend of Rockefeller and the shrunken head. But rather than dwell on my prejudice I will mention the strengths of the Chimbu for this they have aplenty.
The Chimbu have a fierce reputation and the much larger and stronger tribes live in mortal fear of them. Well respected for their skill with the bow and arrow the “white-fellas” such as myself routinely employ the Chimbu as security for the house and family.
While in PNG the ex-pat population lives behind razor wire in fear of “payback”. By custom crime only exists within a tribe in PNG. Like the North American Plains Indian, if you steal from another tribe you are a hero, not a criminal.
To avenge this “coup” requires “payback”. The tribe that has suffered a loss must revenge itself against the other tribe. Not the person that committed the crime, but the tribe. Thus, any tribe member is a potential target. The only exception is children.
This has serious consequences for white people living in PNG because the local tribes consider the white-fellas and white-missys to be all one tribe subject to payback.
So for example if a white person fires a local, payback is required against the white tribe. And since the white-fellas are strong and dangerous, the most common victims are the “white-missys” when left unguarded. And you cannot rely on guards from the tribes, because they fear payback and will disappear at the first hint of trouble. That is often a good warning something is afoot. Your guards disappear.
Out of a sense of decency, I will leave the end result to the reader’s imagination. Enough to say lives are shattered. Everything is hushed up and the ex-pats involved are dismissed from their jobs and flown back to their country of origin. One day they are there, the next they are gone. Through no fault of their own, the sky falls on them.
This is why the Chimbu are hired as guards. They camp out on the roof of the house and are expected to put an arrow or two into anyone trying to come over the razor wire. Which they do.
The police are completely useless to help. They will not attend if you have a gang assault underway because they also fear payback. They will happily attend if you have a dead body full of arrows.
This is no joke. One of my employees was a white-missy married to a local black government official. One night they ended up naked, back to back, successfully fighting off a gang of intruders in their bedroom. They were luckily armed with machetes they kept at the bedside for just such a possibility. I traveled with a machete afterward and slept with a 38 special under the pillow.
The other tribes leave the Chimbu alone. Payback doesn’t apply where fear rules. It is almost like the Chimbu are invisible until you find yourself full of arrows. This explains half of this tale, but the other half is the pig.
The pig is the source of wealth among the stone age tribes. These are wild pigs, with razor-sharp tusks. Not truly domesticated. Quite a different animal than the domestic pig.
Cannibalism and headhunting developed among the pacific islanders, including PNG, due to a lack of protein in the diet. Elevated long-houses developed as a response, allowing defenders to run quickly from house to house, to defend downwards against cannibals. Kuru, a form of prion (mad cow) disease developed from eating human brains. The pidgin name for human flesh on the menu became “long-pig”.
Thus the importance of the pig as a source of protein, wealth, and life. So important that the human females in the tribes wet nurse piglets. Truth. The right breast is reserved for human infants, and the left is for piglets. In this fashion, the sows can be brought into heat earlier to breed the next litter.
Pig culture is huge in PNG. A prized source of wealth and status among the tribes are bracelets formed from the boars’ tusks. Most prized is a tusk that curves back on itself and ultimately pierces the tusk to form a complete circle. Boars are kept, often with tusks curving back fatally into their skulls.
A driver that accidentally runs over a pig and kills it is in serious trouble with the tribe. None of this will be dealt with by the legal system. Significant cash payment is required under the penalty of death.
This also applies to humans. One of the major Cola companies had a delivery truck run over and kill a local highlander. The tribe rioted and began destroying all vehicles with the Cola logo. The Cola company paid approximately $55,000 US cash to settle.
The other tribes heard about the settlement and began dragging the old people, dead or otherwise out of their huts, to throw them in front of the Cola delivery trucks. The Cola branding had to be removed from all delivery trucks in PNG and the windows and windscreens armoured with heavy wire mesh to protect against rocks and bottles thrown at the trucks.
For while the PNG highlanders are stone age peoples, the myth about innocent savages is a myth. The PNG tribes definitely understand extortion. For example. PNG Telecom installed a microwave tower on the top of one of the local mountains. No tribesmen lived there. LIkely none had ever had reason to visit, as the peaks in PNG are extremely steep due to erosion.
However, seeing the tower the local tribe demanded payment or else. And when PNG Telcom objected, as they had many such towers, the tribesmen scaled the peak and destroyed the equipment. Not only did PNG Telcom have to make payment to the tribe as well as the cost of replacing the destroyed equipment, but when the other tribes heard of this event they also demanded payment.
A similar PNG solution was discovered for electricity bills. Having brought electricity to the local tribe, the power company naturally wanted to get paid. The local tribes discovered it was easier to simply beat up anyone that came to collect than to find the cash for payment. The power company tried to turn off the power but discovered that the tribes had gone to the government and told their elected officials they would vote against them in the next election. Free power was restored.
However, the most telling story was the kidnapping of a major Cola company. However, I will need another post to properly detail that story. Like the saying “mañana” in other countries, in PNG the saying is “too hard”. Nothing gets done because everything is “too hard”.
I mention these incidents lest the reader believes this is all too fantastic. Some tale dreamed up over too much kava and palm wine. However, the reason is clear. To allow me to complete the tale of Circus Bruno which the reader would otherwise think impossible.
The tale of Circus Bruno ended with a riot by the tribes as a result of Witchcraft by the Circus Magician in sawing a lady in half. The witchcraft was not in sewing the lady in half. The tribes quite enjoyed that part. Rather the witchcraft was in bringing her back to life. The stone age tribes, never having experienced magic, mistook this for the greatly feared witchcraft.
The circus members having barely escaped with their lives, the elephant was eventually purchased by a popular Cola company, decorated in pink, and marched up into the highlands as product promotion.
The Chimbu people, having no knowledge of the outside world and never having seen an elephant mistook it for the biggest pig they had ever seen.
Having no sense of crime outside their own tribe the Chimbu fell upon the elephant. Killing the animal they quickly butchered it and carried it away as a trophy. The biggest pig anyone had ever seen. No doubt there are tales told even now of the fierce pig and the heroic Chimbu warriors.
It is this event among all others that perhaps best captures the flavor and nuance of PNG when I sailed there with the all-girl crew.