James
08-13-2002, 7:33 AM
Anyone read Paul Theroux’s “The Happy Isles of Oceania” (first published 1992)? He travels across the Pacific in a canoe, using flights and boat hops to carry him from one group of islands to another. In the Trobriand Islands, just east of Papua New Guinea, he discovers some interesting traditions, I quote from the book, he is talking with some natives:
“The Yam Festival is very un-Christian,” John said, and the others smirked at me. “The girls and the women just rush at you. They grab at you everywhere” – and he gestured at his groin and frowned.
The others shrieked with laughter.
“It is not funny,” John said, sadly.
“It is unusual,” I said.
“It is worse than unusual,” John said. “The women can hold you down. There might be seven or eight of them. They hold you down and one of them sits on your face and laughs at you and she presses her waist against you.”
“Presses her waist?”
“Her thing,” John said.
“Her wila,” someone said, and there was more laughter.
“I get it,” I said.
“There is much fornification, and even rape,” John said, with great solemnity. “yes, I tell you, five or six girls can rape a man. They take a man and they sit on him, and they touch him and when his –“
“Kwila!” someone said.
“Yes, when his kwila gets hard the lucky one sits on it. What do you think of that?”
Later on, still in the Trobriands, Theroux is talking to someone else:
“I saw the girls doing the mwaki-mwaki,” and he giggled at the thought of it. He had dusty hair and a brown scarred face. “Wearing short skirts.” That meant the brief, bristly grass skirts. “They lifted their skirts up. They show their arse and private parts.”
“What will happen if we go there?”
“They will rape us.”
“How can they rape us if we just lie there? It’s physically impossible.”
“They will” – and now he smiled his red-toothed betel-juice smile – “sit on our faces”.
“Does that frighten you?”
“Very much.”
“They wouldn’t attack a dim-dim (white person) like me.”
“Yes. One was attacked some years ago. And Dennis” – Dennis was the local Member of Parliament, but a dim-dim – “they chased Dennis last year.”
Apparently this all happens during the Yam harvest which is in June/July. Bear in mind this was written in the early 1990’s, so fairly recent. Looks like I’ve sorted out my next holiday destination….!
“The Yam Festival is very un-Christian,” John said, and the others smirked at me. “The girls and the women just rush at you. They grab at you everywhere” – and he gestured at his groin and frowned.
The others shrieked with laughter.
“It is not funny,” John said, sadly.
“It is unusual,” I said.
“It is worse than unusual,” John said. “The women can hold you down. There might be seven or eight of them. They hold you down and one of them sits on your face and laughs at you and she presses her waist against you.”
“Presses her waist?”
“Her thing,” John said.
“Her wila,” someone said, and there was more laughter.
“I get it,” I said.
“There is much fornification, and even rape,” John said, with great solemnity. “yes, I tell you, five or six girls can rape a man. They take a man and they sit on him, and they touch him and when his –“
“Kwila!” someone said.
“Yes, when his kwila gets hard the lucky one sits on it. What do you think of that?”
Later on, still in the Trobriands, Theroux is talking to someone else:
“I saw the girls doing the mwaki-mwaki,” and he giggled at the thought of it. He had dusty hair and a brown scarred face. “Wearing short skirts.” That meant the brief, bristly grass skirts. “They lifted their skirts up. They show their arse and private parts.”
“What will happen if we go there?”
“They will rape us.”
“How can they rape us if we just lie there? It’s physically impossible.”
“They will” – and now he smiled his red-toothed betel-juice smile – “sit on our faces”.
“Does that frighten you?”
“Very much.”
“They wouldn’t attack a dim-dim (white person) like me.”
“Yes. One was attacked some years ago. And Dennis” – Dennis was the local Member of Parliament, but a dim-dim – “they chased Dennis last year.”
Apparently this all happens during the Yam harvest which is in June/July. Bear in mind this was written in the early 1990’s, so fairly recent. Looks like I’ve sorted out my next holiday destination….!