Lote today occupies the high country south of Laiagam around Kepelama and Mapumanda. They consider themselves to be part of the Sambe tribe because the woman who gave birth to Lote was a Sambe Kaimuli woman from Kanake. The origin story is a commonly told one in Enga and took place in the eighth generation:
A long time ago, Lote land was bush and nobody lived here. One day a woman and her daughter from Kanake near Laiagam came here to collect elyoko branches for making strings for net bags. It began to pour with rain, so they rushed to a nearby rock shelter and took cover. They stood there wet and shivering. While they were huddled in the rock shelter, a man climbed up the slope and saw the two women.
“Where did you come from?” He asked.
“We came from Kanake to collect elyoko branches and it began to pour so we took shelter here,” they explained. “We are very cold and are longing for a fire. Would you make us a fire?”
“I do not make fires for nothing,” the man replied.
“All right,” said the mother, “You may sleep with the girl tonight if you make us a fire.”
The man proceeded to make a fire with his friction sticks and soon the fire was ablaze with sparks flying around the rock shelter. They spent the night there and the girl slept with the man.
The next morning, the man bade them farewell saying, “Go on your own way with your elyoko branches, but first, I want to say one thing. If the girl bears a child, bring it to this rock shelter for this is my home.”
After saying this, the man left, and before their very eyes he changed into a pandae bird and flew away. They picked up their branches and went home.
The mother and daughter went back to Kanake where the daughter realized that she was pregnant. She gave birth to a son whom she named Lote. When the child was two to three years old, the mother brought him to live at the rock shelter as the man had instructed. There he grew up to be a strong, tall young man. His father took him aside one day and told him,
“I did not live on this land, however, you can go to Keame and set cassowary traps and do the same in Lakape and Lome.”
Lote did as his father told him and stayed on the land trapping cassowaries. It became his land.
One day, Lote heard that there was to be a dance at Mamale. He was a very tall man and dressed himself very handsomely, adding the final touch of a necklace made of cassowary claws. He went to the dance and as he approached, people were very impressed and parted to give way to him.
“He must be a cannibal, look at the necklace of human toenails around his neck!” some of the spectators whispered and drew back. Lote joined the line of dancers.
Despite the general impression he gave of being a cannibal, one Kunalini woman was brave enough to go and dance beside him. While they were dancing, she asked him,
“Where do you live?”
“See that mountain over there with the red soil, well, that is where I live. If you would like to come over in the evening, I will be there,” he answered.
The Kunalini woman was named Tamako. She was one of the most beautiful women in the area, she attracted many suitors and was the subject of much gossip. No one had the courage to approach her and ask her for marriage until Lote did, and so she became his wife.
Lote and his wife moved to Mamale and had a son. Tamako discovered that Lote was not a cannibal but a great hunter of cassowary. She named her son Kaiti for the cassowary meat which she ate regularly, which was considered by others to be the food of wealthy families. She named their second son, Kamapu, as an indication that he was born from a family of high status. Her third child, a daughter, she named Kandelyo so that she could become wealthy and be highly regarded. After that she had three more children, Watiti, Ipane and Kepe.
(Sipisipi Pote, Lote Ipane clan, of Kupitu, Mapumanda
From this tradition, it is clear that Lote was originally a highland hunting group that moved down to Mamale at the beginning of oral history to settle in an area to which they had rights through marriage ties. Their downward movement from the high country to the valley bottom coincides with that of a number of other groups in the Lagaip. With the Sambe-Kunalini fight that occurred in the fifth to sixth generation, Lote’s wife’s tribe was driven out of the Laiagam area and Lote resettled in its area of origin in the high country of Mapumanda. By this time, the arrival of the sweet potato should have made horticulture more profitable in Lote’s land of origin.
In addition to the sons of Lote mentioned here, the Kupai clan near Longape in northern Kandep claims to be descended from another of Lote’s sons, Kambi. Kambi married a Kamani girl and moved to the Longape area.
The Lote tribe held its Kepele ritual at Kepakanda where the skulls of the male ancestors in the tribe were kept.
CLANS AND LOCATIONS
Lote
| Clan | Location | Nearest school or aidpost |
|---|---|---|
| Kaiti | Kanale | Kepelama |
| Kamapu | Pyakaini | Kepelama |
| Kandelyo | Lupunalisa | Mapumanda |
| Watiti | Mendapausa | Mapumanda |
| Ipane | Kupite | Mapumanda |
| Kepe | Kendelyama | Mapumanda |
| Kupai (part of Kamani) | Longape | Longape |