Notebooks from New Guinea: Field Notes of a Tropical Biologist

269 Pages·2009·2.81 MB·English

by  Vojtech Novotny

NOTEBOOKS FROM NEW GUINEA

NOTEBOOKS FROM
NEW GUINEA
Field notes of a tropical biologist
VOJTECH NOVOTNY
Translated from the Czech by
DAVID SHORT
Illustrated by
BENSON AVEA BEGO
1
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
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qVojtechNovotny2009
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1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
...IwastobegintheeightyearsofwanderingthroughtouttheMalay
Archipelago, which constituted the central and controlling incident of
my life.
AlfredR.Wallace
MyLife:ARecordofEventsandOpinions
1905
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Contents
=
ANoteonthe EnglishTranslation xi
By Way of Introduction 3
HowI got toPapua New Guinea 5
...andwhatcamenext 7
8
MALARIA INTERMEZZO
Island of a Thousand Tongues and a Wild,
Wild Landscape 11
Don’tgo talking tothe neighbours! 13
The riseoffolklore 22
Buy theBookof Books, we have noother 25
Luckyseventeen 28
The ageofdarkness 30
The character ofaNewGuineatown 32
Inthe Adventist aviatorswe trust! 34
37
MALARIAINTERMEZZO: MaburaHill,1997
The sightof aXeetinglandscape 38
The dwarf andthewhale 40
Bloodmaybe thicker,but... 42
Givingandgetting betweenenemies 43
Viewsonwomen 45
Wouldyoucare for anextrawife? 48
Our houseis ourcastle 50
viii Contents
52
MALARIAINTERMEZZO: Honolulu,1998
Onthe origins ofdisease 54
Piga` la papuenne 57
New Year’sEve amongthe natives 59
The sad Wnaleof afuneral feast 62
Thou shaltnoteatthyneighbour 64
Livingwithanepidemic 68
The spiritsofKarkarIsland 70
Old and New Customs of a Tribal Society 73
What the forestpeoplethink 75
The lossofthe Titanic 83
The artofchronometry 85
Yeshallnot succour your neighbour 87
89
MALARIAINTERMEZZO: NewBritain,1999
Null modosine ulla 89
Theychewed andwereof goodcheer together... 91
Grasstherapy 92
Fly-drive? 95
The dearest beerinthe land 97
Dying inpairs 98
Moneytoburn 100
102
MALARIAINTERMEZZO: Madang,2000
Onwardsand upwards,ye menofgreed! 104
Malariamedicine 106
If there’s nomagiciantohand, youcan always
trythe doctor 109
Wherethereis no doctor 112
Shipsthatdo notcomea-sailingby 114
The Antichristofthe endof themillennium 116
We’vegot ameme,aren’twe the luckyones! 121
Contents ix
MALARIAINTERMEZZO: Cˇeske´ Budeˇjovice,2001 123
The ComingofBlackJesus 125
The planetest 127
The daya helicopterXiesin 130
Forest games 132
Where monkeysdefecateon people’sheads 134
The problemsof arich nature conservationist 136
Well begun... 138
142
MALARIAINTERMEZZO: Madang2001
The arrow phenomenon 143
Frontieror frontier 145
Onthefringe 147
Thosepasturesgreen beyondthe oceanwave
andothers yet withinthe deepestgrave 148
Amatteroflifeanddeath 150
Thatsenseoffear 152
AMelanesianLittle Otik andother Wlmreviews 155
The hippoandthe cathedral 158
How to Do Science in Papua New Guinea 161
The historyofoneresearchpublication 163
Scientists,missionaries,gold-diggers 174
Andit wassucha beautifulhypothesis 177
179
MALARIAINTERMEZZO: Wanang,2002
Howwedidn’tsay thankyouto thespirits ofthe forest 180
Analysisof aluckycharm 183
TheweevilsofBaiteta 184
Boredom inthe jungle 187
Twokinds ofscience 189
Footballin ajungle clearing 192
196
MALARIAINTERMEZZO: Galisagan,2006
Great secretsofscientiWc research 198