Ingi and Nenge have different origin traditions though they consider themselves to be ‘brother tribes’ owing to more recent associations. We could not determine if their origins were amongst Enga speakers, or whether they were originally Lembena or Wapi speakers and later became absorbed into the Enga population.
Nenge
We could find no elders who knew an origin legend for Nenge. Their history only states that they were originally settled in the area directly north of Kompiam station. The Sokone clan of Nenge was located at Wapomanda where the Malipini Wailuni clan is settled today and the Yapetalini clan at Sambeamanda where the Kungu-Tiaka clan of Lyua is located today. As Enga clans migrated eastward from the Ambum valley, Nenge clans moved towards Labalama making several stops along the way. Because they did not feel at home in the low altitude area of Labalama and because several of their clansmen died from the bites of poisonous adders, they eventually moved on into the Lurisau area.
The first contact between Nenge and Ambum tribes is mentioned in a tradition told in symbolic language in which a Malipini man comes into Nenge land hunting and meets a Nenge man. It is not clear if this happened at Wapomanda or once Nenge had moved to the Labalama area.
The Nenge man welcomed him and brought him to his house where he offered him raw food. The Malipini man refused the food, saying that he never ate his food raw. Then he took out his fire sticks, made a fire, heated stones and roasted the food in an earth oven. He took the cooked food and gave it to the Nenge Sokone man to eat. The Nenge man liked the taste of the cooked food and from then on used fire for cooking. Later they exchanged wealth, Malipini giving Nenge fire sticks in exchange for stone axes.
(Summarized from a tradition told by Lyambiane Wialya of the Nenge Sukone clan, Labalama).
A very similar tradition was also told to us by Angane Kekepata of the Sakatawana clan at Toalimanda near Pakalilyama:
A Sakatawana man went to Labalama and met Nenge/Sokone clansmen who were feasting on many kinds of raw meat. He showed them how to roast meat, and they were very pleased with the taste and amazed by the fire. Later he returned to his place and brought back fire sticks which he traded with Sokone for axes.
Of course, these traditions cannot be taken literally, but both suggest that Nenge practiced a different lifestyle than Ambum groups in the past and that groups coming from central Enga considered themselves more advanced. No human groups are known in the world that do not have control of fire. Both also suggest that Nenge became a key middleman in the early stone axe trade.
Ingi
Ingi is closely associated with the Kitapane clan of Lyongeni located at Kaiputes near Kompiam station. Ingi does not, however, fall within Lyongeni genealogy and therefore may have been a group that was originally in the Kompiam area and that was later absorbed by immigrant Lyongeni clans. Whether they were originally Enga speakers or members of other linguistic groups such as the Lembena or Wapi was not known by the elders we interviewed. What is known is that they left Kaiputesa after the following dispute:
In the clan of Kitapane at Kaiputesa, there lived a family. The parents wanted to go somewhere and told the children to look after a boar. The children did as they were told, but when they were not watching, the pig broke the rope by which it was tied and entered the garden of a neighbor. Before anybody noticed the pig, it had time to badly damage the garden.
When the owner saw what had happened to his garden, he got very angry and killed the pig on the spot. After finding out who was responsible for the pig, he beat up the two young boys who were supposed to be taking care of it. When the parents returned and found that their pig was dead and their sons badly beaten, they fought with the owner of the garden. Other clansmen took sides.
When the fight came to an end, the owner of the pig and his supporters accused the family of being greedy for land and said that they would no longer remain and live with them as neighbors. They left and went towards Labalama. They slept on the way at Wapya but got into a fight during which they killed a man, so they continued on and ended up near Labalama. Some went on to Yengisa. Here at Labalama we settled on land belonging to the people of the Putini, Kunjaini and Matalini clans. These are the people whom I mentioned earlier who dwindled in number and eventually died out during the epidemic some four generations ago. (See Putini, Kunjaini and Matalini origin traditions).
(Councillor Laima Lalyo of the Ingi Kapandane clan, Labalama)
In keeping with their role in the trade of earlier generations, Ingi and Nenge became major participants in the Yae Tee exchange cycle.
CLANS AND LOCATIONS
Nenge clans and locations
| Clan | Location | Nearest school/aidpost |
|---|---|---|
| Sokone | Tapakendosa | Labalama/Lurisau |
| Yapetalini | Makale | Labalama/Lurisau |
Ingi
| Clan | Location | Nearest school/aidpost |
|---|---|---|
| Kapandane | Kamalama and Yengis | Labalama and Yengis |
| Kukatini | Lurisau and Yengis | Lurisau and Yengis |