In approximately the ninth to tenth generations, Pumane, Wau, Angalaini and Andamani were settled on the eastern side of the Keta River. Their history is a troubled one and due to serious tribal fighting in the area at the time of our research, we found it difficult to get details on the history of the area. For Pumane and Wau there are two origin myths. One states simply that an ape bird gave birth to Pumane and Wau in a cave near the Keta River. The other claims that Pumane origins in the Porgera area. There are several versions of the latter tradition although the central events remain the same. The following is the clearest version we have recorded:
A long time ago, a possum-man by the name of Saa Komaipa gave birth to my forefathers. He did not have one or two children, but many and these were the founding fathers of tribes in Porgera, Paiela and Tari. Saa Komaipa forbade his sons and grandsons one thing – nobody was allowed to see him when he was in his house. One of his sons, however, became very curious as to why they should not see their father and went secretly to watch him. He returned and told the rest of the children what he saw,
“As you know our father forbids us to come near him in this house. Well, I have found out what his secret is. He climbs up the center post of the house, pushes through the thatch on the roof, gathers in the branches within his reach and feeds on the leaves.”
The rest of the children were astounded and went to their father and asked him lots of questions. Finally, one asked,
“One of our brothers came and told us that you eat leaves. Is that true?”
The father knew that his secret was disclosed, that his children knew that he was really a possum-man. He was very upset and called for the son who had told his secret to the others. As the son approached the house, his father shot him with an arrow. Although Saa Komaipa thought he had killed him, the boy was only wounded and climbed down the banks of the river into the riverbed. He followed the river downstream to the area north of Tari. Weakened by the arrow wound, he collapsed in the grass, unable to go further.
When he was lying there, a girl found him and gave him food. She brought him home and some men from her family cut out the arrow splinters with bamboo knives. After that he gradually recovered. He remained with the girl and her family and together they grew up. While he was staying with them, he returned to his homeland and brought back some salt. Delighted by the taste, they asked him and the girl to go to the Keta River near Laiagam to make salt.
The two left for the Keta and while they were there, they realized that the girl was pregnant. Because they had grown up together in the last years, she was considered his sister, and they were afraid that her family would accuse them of incest. After she gave birth, the young man urged the girl to get rid of the baby, but she could not bear to do so, so she hid it in the hollow of a tree. Some birds noticed it and looked after it by giving it water to drink from a nearby pond called Kamunda.
One day some of the inhabitants of the area were making gardens near the pond. Some boys noticed the birds flying back and forth near the pond and went to see if they could find some eggs. One of the boys climbed the tree and to his surprise found a baby in the tree hollow. He took the child home to his family, but it would not stop crying. Then he thought that he would try to feed it the same water with which the birds had fed it, so he went back to the pond and fetched water. The baby drank and stopped crying.
The boy was adopted by the group of people living at the Keta and grew up to be a man. He was named Pumane. He got married and had children.
Some generations later, a fight broke out between Pumane and Mulapini. It was a very large tribal fight and all of the houses and food gardens on both sides were burnt and destroyed. The Pumane men did not know where to go or what to do. At this time, Maipange came from Porgera and saw his relative in this sorry state. Pumane asked him,
“Where shall we go now? Shall we go right or left, East or West?”
“There is no reason to worry,” answered Maipange. “I have plenty of land beyond the clouds and that is where we shall go.” Pumane and Wau moved to Porgera with Maipange and there they remained until today. Pumane being called Pulumani and Wau, Waiwa.
(Kuala Muli, Maipange clan, Porgera)
The two origin stories are not necessarily contradictory. From the variations in different versions, it becomes clear that Pumane and Wau did originate at the Keta and that around the beginning of oral history or earlier, Pumane was joined by a segment of immigrants from the Porgera-Tari area who came to make salt. It was through the Porgera segment that Pumane and Wau obtained rights to migrate to Porgera after their great fight with Mulapini.
The Mulapini-Pumane fight in which Wau helped Pumane is not remembered in detail in Pumane history, except that it was over a homicide and took place approximately the sixth generation. Pumane and Wau suffered such severe losses that they had to flee. Pumane’s neighboring group on the west side of the Keta, Sakate Yaka, then moved into the valued land near the salt springs. Sakate Yaka was related to Pumane by marriage and may have obtained the land for this reason. However, it seems likely that Sakate may also have put pressure on Pumane and Wau to leave the area, although this is not explicitly stated in their oral history.
Angalaini and Andamane have an origin story similar to that of Pumane and Wau, and some informants felt that the origin of these four tribes were intertwined. The following is the legend of the origin of Angalaini and Andamane and how these groups migrated out of the Keta region. Like many Enga origin traditions, that clearly involved entire tribes or parts of tribes that are spoken of in terms of the tribal founders.
“A long time ago, a baby boy named Kuna was found in the hollow of a pai tree by two young women named Kipini and Dipini of the Pumane tribe. The two women were walking by the tree when they heard the baby crying, climbed up and found him and delighted to have the child, took him home. They breastfed him, but he continued crying, so they tried to give him sugar cane juice. He still kept crying, so they fetched water for the baby from the lake called Ipa Nee Mangi and only then did he stop crying. Kuna grew up under the care of the two women and married one woman from the Ukupa tribe in Porgera with whom he had the son Angalaini and another woman with whom he had Andamane.
One day when Andamane and Angalaini were young men, Andamane went down to the banks of the Lagaip River. He looked over to the other side and thought to himself how much nicer it looked on that side. He swam across the river, built himself a small hut on the other side, and set possum traps. He trapped many possums and sent some home to his brother, mother and her co-wife who had stayed at home.
During one of his hunting trips, Andamane went further north than usual and reached a place called Paindaka. There he met a man who asked him how he happened to come to Paindaka and what was the purpose of his visit. Andamane explained that he was out hunting and had just ended up at Paindaka. The man told Andamane to follow him and they climbed up and up until they reached Liando where there was a settlement. There, the man taught Andamane to fight and become a warrior. After that they returned by a different route and the man showed Andamane some land at Paindaka on which he could settle. When they came to Paindaka, the man left him. The man’s name was Auketane of the Mulapini tribe.
Meanwhile, Andamane’s mother, her co-wife and his brother Angalaini thought that Andamane was dead since he had been gone for so long. They slaughtered pigs, held a funeral feast for him and then left for Mungalepa in Porgera, where Angalaini’s mother came from. After they left, Andamane crossed the Lagaip to Keokungusa and went home to find nobody home. He knew where his family had gone and so followed them to Mungalepa and spent the night in Ingilipa rock shelter.
The next morning, Andamane got up and went down to Mungalepa. There he saw many people busy digging a new garden for his mother and family. People saw him coming and called out to his mother. Just then a bird flew by and perched in a tree branch. Andamane shot it down with his bow and arrow. When the women in the garden scrambled to grab it, he told them to let it go and then picked it up himself, built a fire with dry branches, roasted and ate it.
Andamane stayed with his family for a while before returning to Paindaka. While they were there, a fight broke out and Andamane shot and killed many men. The people at Mungalepa asked him to leave saying,
“Palayapo langa paia Londa,” Andamane and Angalaini left Mungalepa and Andamane returned to Paindaka and Angalaini to the Pipitaka area. From there, their clans spread.”
(Kunali Mune, Mulapini Andamane clan, Paindaka)
This tradition needs some interpretation. First of all, the origin story of the Pumane women finding the baby Kuna in a tree is most likely a metaphor for Andamane and Angalaini groups being adopted by Pumane. The story of Andamane going hunting and being given land by Auketane of Mulapini is an explanation for why Andamane is a clan in the Mulapini tribe today and not part of Pumane. The part of the story describing how Auketane taught Andamane to fight and gave him land, sets the stage for events in the later history of Pumane and Mulapini. Some two generations after these events, the large war broke out between Pumane and Wau and Mulapini in which Andamane helped Mulapini. Mulapini devastated Andamane’s natal group Pumane to the extent that they left the area for Porgera.
Angalaini history from Porgera adds some details to the legend. Angalaini’s mother was a woman from the Ukupa tribe in Porgera. When Angalaini returned to his mother’s land, the Ukupa tribe moved on to the Paiela area, willingly giving the land over to Angalaini. Although the legend states that Angalaini and Andamane both moved back to the east after the fight at Porgera, in reality, a large segment of Angalaini remained at Porgera and only a smaller segment returned to their home at Pipitaka where they live today.
When Andamane was adopted into the Mulapini clan, he was no longer directly involved in the Kepele ritual cycle as the Kepele was only held in groups living on the south side of the Lagaip. Angalaini participated in the Pipitaka Kepele which at that time was shared by Pumane, Wau and Sakate Yaka tribes, and started their own branch of the Kepele when they moved to Porgera.
CLANS AND LOCATIONS
Pumane, Wau and Angalaini did not expand to the size of a tribe and so remain clans today. For this reason, we will not list their sub-groupings. Andamane grew into one clan in the Mulapini tribe.
| Clan | Place | Nearest school or aidpost |
|---|---|---|
| Pumane (Pulumani) | Ainowe | Porgera |
| Wau (Waiwa) | Uplaikaka | Porgera |
| Angalaini | Mungalepa and | Mungalepa and |
| Pipitaka | Laiagama | |
| Andamane | Paindaka | Tukusanda |