Nomad Station from the air, nestled near the confluence of the Nomad and Hamam Rivers |
Nomad Station, Nomad River in the foreground, station houses in the middle, and airstrip behind |
1.2 First patrol: crossing the Sio River on a makeshift raft. Yuway is poling the flimsy raft, Nogo wears my pack during the tipsy crossing. |
1.4 The immensity of the rainforest (hard to capture on film!). For scale, see the boy standing in the upper middle of the photograph. |
1.5 Yibihilu from the air: A footprint amid a sea of rainforest |
1.6 Yibihilu, place of the deep water: village clearing on a bluff at a bend in the Kum River. The village longhouse is toward the top of the clearing; Bruce and Eileens house is toward its bottom. The photo was taken from the air on returning from a field break, when the plane passed over Yibihilu in route to the Nomad airstrip |
1.7 Gebusi woman, Boyl, stands on a ledge by the rapids of the Kum River. These are overlooked by the Yibihilu longhouse, which is higher on the bluff, above where Boyl is standing. |
1.8 Approaching the Yibihilu longhouse from across the village clearing. |
1.9 Sunset over the treetops, taken from Yibihilu village overlooking the Kum River |
1.13 Good company among children: young boys play on a log. Gebusi children often play on their own in the rainforest near the village. |
2.13 Sanip, a young girl, drinks from a tranquil stream in the rainforest. | |
2.14 Boyl descends through the foliage to cross a river in the forest. |
2.15 Two families from Yibihilu cross one of the largest rivers in a canoe loaded with food and other products obtained during a foraging trip in the rainforest. River-crossings require agility, since Gebusi canoes have no keels and are unstable. |
2.16 Men return by canoe with bananas cut from their garden during a day's outing along the Kum River. |
2.17 First light of day appears over the forest canopy. Large trees are home to many Gebusi spirits. |
2.18 Clearing trees to make a garden: Yuway chops a tree half-way through. A large tree felled in the center of the clearing will knock it and many other trees over at the same time. Chopping trees with steel axes rather than with ones made of stone has allowed Gebusi to clear larger gardens and construct bigger and more numerous houses. |
2.21 A mature grassy hillside settlement. Coconut trees flank the houses, and a few banana plants remain at the descending edge of the grassy clearing, to the right of the photo. |
2.24 A woman’s “carrying capacity”: A woman, Sefomay, comes back to Yibihilu from the forest in late afternoon. She is loaded with two net bags on top of which sits her young son, Mako, who wears his own small net bag. Leaves on Sefomay’s forehead and a bark cape on her back help cushion the weight of her heavy load. Net bags that women weave from forest fibers are a prime element of Gebusi material culture |
7.28 First light on Bruce’s first morning in Gasumi Corners: Dawn from the back porch of Bruce’s house, looking out over garden clearings and secondary forest. |
7.29 Mist burning off in a hot morning sun, from Bruce’s house, Gasumi Corners |
7.30 Early afternoon storm, viewed from Gasumi Corners |
7.31 Storm ending, viewed from Gasumi Corners |
7.32 Clearing following afternoon storm, Gasumi Corners |
7.33 Dusk, Gasumi Corners |
7.34 Early sunset, Gasumi Corners |
7.35 Late sunset, Gasumi Corners |
7.36 The path to Nomad from Gasumi Corners, showing mixed clearing and secondary forest and a family homestead |
7.37 The path to Nomad from Gasumi Corners across the Hamam River, now bridged for foot travel to Nomad Station. |
7.38 The path to Nomad: the edge of the Nomad Station, looking over the edge of the airstrip toward distant mountains to the northeast. |
11.3 Sayu playing in the forest with a toy bow and arrow, 1981. At close range, he would often shoot at grasshoppers or butterflies. |
11.4 Sayu showing us a grasshopper he has shot with his bow and arrow, 1981 |
12.1 Bruce stands in the main clearing of the old village site of Yibihilu, which has since been overgrown by the intruding forest. For Gebusi as well as for Bruce, seeing old habitation sites brings back nostalgic memories of past experiences and of people who have died. | |
