Lyongeni and Yangupini

Lyongeni and Yangupini are settled near Kompiam station today. Often it is said that Tinilapini and Yangupini are clans in the Lyongeni tribe, although actually Yangupini and Tinilapini have their own origins. There is no origin tradition for Lyongeni other than that they were originally settled in the Pina area. In approximately the seventh generation, trouble broke out in the Tsaka and groups like Aiamane and Inapini were driven out to Kompiam. The underlying reasons for the trouble in the Tsaka are not stated in historical traditions. Problems in the Tsaka had their reverberations in the Lai which eventually led to Lyongeni’s departure from the Lai as well.

Although the details of these fights belong in the history of the Lai, we will briefly outline them here to give an idea of the complexity of relations in the Tsaka and Lai between five and seven generations that resulted in so many groups leaving for Kompiam. First, Aiamane was driven out of the Tsaka by their brother tribe Ulidane in the seventh generation. Then they crossed the ridge between the Tsaka and the Lai and settled in the Pina area with the permission of Kaekini Mapumanda who were already settled there. Ulidane was not satisfied with Aiamane being so close, and after persuading Sikini groups that Aiamane was a troublemaker, Sikini and Ulidane chased Aiamane on to Kompiam in what must have been a series of fights, the last of which occurred in the fourth to fifth generations.

Two generations after Aiamane left the Tsaka, another major fight broke out between Yambatane and Sikini over the timing of a sing-sing (see Sikini history). The result was that four of the Sikini Londeale tribes left the Tsaka and resettled in the Pina area. A complex series of events followed. Yambatane was not content to end the fight there. They hired a man from the Itokone Lundope clan to set up a rope ladder at night to allow them to scale the cliff below the men’s house where Sikini men had taken refuge. The Itokone man agreed and Yambatane men were thus able to attack the men’s house at night, killing two men.

The news spread that an Itokone man had betrayed Sikini, and the Kandawalini clan became involved in the dispute as well. They were at war with the Itokone Lundope clan who had betrayed Sikini and told Sikini that if they took revenge and killed a Lundope man, they would receive the land in payment.

After some time, Sikini realized that the land at Mapemanda was not sufficient for their needs and sought land lower down in the Lai valley near Pina. On an occasion when a Lyongeni man stole a bird from the trap of a Sikini man, Sikini used the excuse to escalate the fight and drive the entire Lyongeni tribe, as well as fragments remaining from Aiamane, out of the Lai valley to Kompiam. They then took over Lyongeni land near Pina. Lyongeni first took refuge with Tinilapini at Wee in the Lai while others went to Maliposa between Wee and Kompiam.

Exactly which groups stayed at Wee and which at Maliposa and how long it took them to settle in Kompiam is unclear. Apparently though, Aiamane had urged Lyongeni to join them in Kompiam and when Lyongeni finally left the Lai, Aiamane welcomed them and gave Lyongeni clans land not far from Kompiam station. From there Lyongeni clans expanded to the east, some settling in the Yaemanda and Luma areas, some looking for land and others taking refuge after fights.
 

Yangupini

Lyongeni was also joined in Kompiam by a clan from the Yangupini tribe, an Enga speaking tribe in Western Highlands Province. Yangupini is a tribe which had its origins in the high country of Tomba near the border of Enga and Western Highlands Province (W.H.P.). Most of Yangupini is located near Tomba in W.H.P. today, with another large group segment near Kuma in Southern Highlands Province (S.H.P.). The Kompiam segment was founded by Yangupini clans, which left Tomba in the fourth to fifth generation after an internal fight over firewood and joined Lyongeni. Today they are considered to be a clan of Lyongini. As with other clans in the Kompiam area, Lyongeni, Tinilapini and Yangupini have little awareness of their broader tribal identity and conduct most activities with the clan or sub-clan.

CLANS AND LOCATIONS

Lyongini

*Most of the Itasi and Laletepa clans of Tinilapini moved to Kompiam and most of Angi and Kiningkini and Angi stayed in the Lai although there are some segments of the latter two in Kompiam as well.