Kandepe Overview

The Kandep region is dissected by the Lai-Purari River that runs from north to south. Though the people of Kandep belong to one dialect group according to the linguist Paul Brennan (1982), Enga tribes on the east of the river are known as the Atone, while those on the west side of the Lai-Purari are called the Katinja.

Atone Enga maintain alternate residences in the Lai and Tsaka valleys and in the north Mendi area, where they take refuge during times of frost. The Katinja Enga are closely associated with the Wola and Huli and are often fluent in three languages: Enga, Huli, and Katinja. Marked differences exist between Atone/Kandep and Katinja in styles of dress, dialect, and ritual. The Atone traditionally wore bark belts and the Katinja rope belts. The ritual repertoire of the Katinga is complex. To the west of the Katinja are a few Enga groups in the Wage valley that were not included in our research. Historical traditions recount a major war between the Atone and Katinja long ago (see Timitopa and Yamape origin traditions).

Of all the areas of Enga, Kandep has one of the harshest environments. During the 20th century, ‘killer’ frosts occurred in 1900, 1941, 1972, 1990, and 1997 — approximately once a generation (Wohlt 1978:110), sending inhabitants as refugees into lower valleys. Those who left too late died along the way. In addition to frost and drought, there are accounts of other natural disasters that occurred “long ago,” which cannot be placed in any specific generation. One such historical narrative describes a massive flood that wiped out gardens and most trees directly surrounding the swamps. Even today, when digging drainage ditches near the swamps, people find the trunks of trees that died at that time.

Though the forests of the Kandep area provided game and pandanus, virtually all of the Kandep land lies over 2300m. At least fourteen tribes claim pre-sweet potato origins in the Kandep area during their early historical traditions prior to the sixth generation. Six out of fourteen Kandep origin traditions portray tribal founders as agriculturalists. These are tribes claiming origins in southern areas of Kandep who had access to land in the Kaumbo valley (1800-2000m) where reliable taro, banana, and sugarcane cultivation was possible. These tribes also maintained access to alternate residences in surrounding lower valleys of Mendi, the Lai, and Lagaip, where they took refuge during periods of frost until conditions improved.

Hunting and reliance on pandanus and other wild foods is mentioned as the primary subsistence mode for eight out of fourteen origin traditions for Kandep tribes, largely those residing at the northern end or western side of the swamps. Greens (Rorippa sp.), called auwa in Enga, are the only domestic foods said to be cultivated by groups living north of what is Kandep station during the early generations of historical traditions. These groups covered a vast high-altitude area extending north to the Lagaip and west to the Porgera valley.

Notably, the only area of Enga where pigs are attributed substantial social and symbolic value in this early period, is Kandep, the one with the harshest environment for gardening. Pigs are mentioned in twelve out of fourteen Kandep origin traditions. There is no mention of pigs being fed with cultivated crops; rather, they appear to have thrived primarily on foraging in the swamps with household scraps provided to keep them tame. The importance of pig husbandry may reflect the higher social and exchange value attached to pigs by Mendi and Huli neighbors. Alternatively, because Kandep lacked major trade goods and maintained relations with lower valleys through trade and exchange (Waddell 1975, Wohlt 1978), residents may have relied on pigs as their principal currency of exchange.

Most tribes in the Marient trace their origin to Mandi speakers to the south. It was beyond the scope of our project to trace the history of these groups. For discussions of Mandi or Wola social organization and culture, see Ryan 1955, 1959, 1969; Sillitoe 1979; Mawe 1986 and Lederman 1986.