Most Itokone elders know their origin tradition and are amused to tell it in varying degrees of detail. It goes like this:
A long time ago in Lamandaimanda there lived a man named Pondoliane. The legend does not tell where he came from or why he settled there but begins when he was already living there near a large rock that can still be seen today. Pondoliane had no genitals and longed to be able to grow some. He often scratched his crotch hoping that a penis and testicles would suddenly appear, but to no avail.
A woman often came up from Yakati Pausa where the Kaekini clan is settled today. She was an arrogant woman who would come and ask Pondoliane to pluck out the pubic hair around her vagina. Pondoliane did as she asked and plucked out her pubic hair with his fingers while she sat blatantly exposing herself. The incident always took place on a small flat piece of land called Kanai which was sometimes called “the place where the pubic hair was plucked.”
One day Pondoliane asked himself why he was doing this and decided that it could not go on forever. He thought and thought and tried to come up with some idea as to how to get even with this woman who mocked him and to put an end to the matter for once and for all. In the meantime, he built a man’s house at Kungupilama and moved down from Lepale to live in his new house where there was much more sunshine. From Kungupilama, Pondoliane still had to go down to Kenai to pluck the pubic hair of the Kaekini woman. The woman still came up to Kenai via Lamandaimanda to have her hair plucked.
By then Pondoliane was determined that he would never pluck out her pubic hair again. He made a plan and set out from Lamandaimanda to Lepale setting up traps for bush rats, possums and birds as he went up the ridge. Then he set traps from Lepale down to Kangupilama and from there further down to Easmanda. He continued to set traps at Makao, Nakao, and Kondamanda and went as far as Wapomanda. From there he set traps all the way up the ridge to Kejetapusa. It took two days for him to set all these traps. He considered his lines of traps as marking off the boundaries of the land which belonged to him for the time being and forever.
On the morning of the third day, Pondoliane went out as early as possible to check his traps. From Nakawane, he set off to check every single trap he had set. He went as far as Pokatisa and his net bag was already full of the game he had trapped between the two places. He carried the bag home and unloaded it. Then he went off to check his other traps between Kondamanda and Wapomanda and again came home with a full net bag. He unloaded that and then went to check his traps between Kamasa, Tilyaposa and Lomeamanda. Once again, his net bag was full of bush rats, birds and possums which he brought home and unloaded.
At home it took him a full day to pluck the feathers off the birds and two more days to singe the fur off the bush rats and possums. Then he began to roast some of his game in an earth oven. He roasted the first lot in the name of his father and then strangely enough his crotch began to itch. It became so itchy that while he was roasting the second lot, he could not stop scratching. He roasted the second lot in the name of his mother, and then a lump that resembled the beginning of a boil began to form where his genitals should have been. He roasted the third lot in the name of his brother, and his penis grew to such a length that he could stretch it out in front of him. The fourth lot, he roasted in the name of his cousins, and his penis grew to a considerable length. The fifth time he roasted bush rats, birds and possums in the name of his aunts and uncles, his penis grew to a remarkable length and its head rested near the path. The sixth time, he roasted in the name of his nephews and nieces, and his penis grew to an unspeakable length so that its head rested on the banks of the Lai River. It was too late to do anything about it, so Pondoliane said to himself, “Oh father, what has happened to me?” The penis then crossed the river to Kuiamanda. It took seven days for his penis to grow to such a length.
At this moment, when Pondoliane was standing at Kungupilama, that he heard a voice calling from Kanai.
“Come weed my garden,” the woman called, wanting him to come and pluck her pubic hair. He went inside the house and took out a net bag, coiled up his penis and stuffed it in the bag. From a distance, Pondoliane saw the woman sitting there with her legs spread wide apart and her vagina openly exposed. Pondoliane became sexually aroused and his penis grew stiff and erect. The net bag shook as the penis tried to spring out, but it could not as he had taken the string and woven the bag closed. Pondoliane held the opening of the net bag tightly and ran towards Kanai.
“Hurry up, it is full of weeds now. What is taking you so long?” the woman called out.
“Don’t worry, I’m coming,” replied Pondoliane. When he was within reach of Kanai, he opened the netbag, and the powerful penis flung itself out of the net bag ripping through the entrance. It penetrated the woman’s vagina with such force that it came out of her mouth. The woman was hooked on the wild and uncontrollable penis. It carried her down to the Lai River at which point Pondoliane went down to Muimanda, which is now Waiminakuni land, laid it against a Napu tree and cut it off. It went down the Lai River with the woman.
With his penis bleeding, he came this way to Tilyaposa and crossed the Giba Bridge and rested on the Giba stone. Then he went on to Lamandaimanda and smoothed the tip of his penis off against a stone. The marks where Pondoliane smoothed his penis can still be seen on the stone today. Now that he had a normal penis, Pondoliane married and had a son Itokone. Itokone had seven sons, Mupa, Lundope, Lanjetakini, Napukini, Koeakini, Tandaka, and Nenae. His wife thought that Nenae was going to be her last child, so she named him accordingly. However, later she gave birth to another son whom she named Tandaka because she suffered terribly during labor. By that time her breasts had dried up, and Tandaka was suckled from the last bit of milk in them.
(Kome Pimbinai of Itokone, Lamandaimanda)
Although the Pondoliane tradition at first strikes one as a most unusual tale, it is clear from Kome Pimbinai’s words, that it is a metaphorical myth telling of the beginning of Itokone’s tribal maturity and potency expressed in the marking and defense of boundaries. When put in the perspective of other events occurring in the Lai and Tsaka valleys for some 10 generations, it takes on even more meaning. During this period, other tribal histories tell of the movement of tribes from the east into the Tsaka and Lai valleys, presumably due to the expansion of populations.
From the southwest came Lyomoi into the Tsaka, Yoponda and Nenaini and others into the Minamba and from the west, Depe and Lyipini moved into the Biripa area. After a quarrel with its brother tribe Yalumani, Kandawalini moved down the Lai River to become a neighbor of Itokone. With this influx of people in the Lai, tribes originally settled in the Lai felt the need to define and defend their land. Thus, in the Pondoliane myth, Pondoliane is “teased” by the encroachment of Kaekini and holds a ritual to reach manhood, define its boundaries and put an end to the humiliation from its neighbors. Through the ritual of roasting forest products along tribal boundaries in the name of all his relatives, Pondoliane pulled his people together to become the tribe that it is today. This process of marking boundaries and formation of tribal identity also occurred in surrounding tribes around the same time.
Such is a myth underlying Itokone tribal identity. Other early legends tell of other aspects of Itokone history, in particular, its relations with surrounding tribes and its role in the trade. One of the oldest of these describes Pondoliane’s origins:
The first men originated along with boogeymen, and it is said that boogeymen did not have sexual organs and so man also did not have them in times past.
In Lamandaimanda at Kola a long time ago, a sing-sing was held. A man who had many sons, dressed them up for the dance. He gave them each traditional ornaments and bird of paradise plumes. However, there was one young boy who was the son of one of his last wives who was not given any of these things. He was particularly disappointed when he was not given a bird of paradise plume to wear in the dance. For this reason, he ran away from home and headed towards the Tsaka valley. He slept at Kunjamanda from where he could look down into the Tsaka but decided that he must go further or else his parents would find him and bring him home. Pondoliane went down into the Tsaka and spent the night at Pokatisa. From there he went on to the ridge top and saw the Lai valley below him. The land was vacant with no sign of human habitation.
He dug a ditch and fortified the area on which he chose to build a house. This place was called Lepale. Then he built a men’s house and planted gardens. He called the place Lamandaimanda in memory of his home in Kola.
(Lenange Kandawane of Itokone, Tilyaposa (Pumakosa))
When asked about the meaning of this legend, few Itokone would agree that its tribal origin was in Kola (Tambul) despite strong ties with the area. We also asked about Itokone origins in Tambul, particularly among Lyomoi clans for whom this legend is typical, but they said the same. Since it is unusual that origin and migration legends are not confirmed by both the migrants and those left behind, it is most probable that this is not a migration legend at all but a metaphor saying that Itokone was the distant younger brother in the cluster of Tsaka-Tambul peoples. Cultural similarities in dress and rituals as well as trade ties between Itokone and tribes in the Tsaka and Tambul support this view. Itokone’s central role in the trade was secured when Itokone is said to have married Kuame of the Yambatane tribe. Kuame was the sister of Kitalini, the man who is attributed with having begun the Yae Tee exchange cycle. Through this “marriage” of the two tribes, Itokone and Yambatane became major allies in the Yae Tee.
While maintaining its major affiliation with tribes to the southeast, Itokone gained a foothold in the west. Most likely long ago, Itokone had land claims far to the west at the salt springs of the Yandapo. A well-known legend given in both Sambe and Yanaitini history tells of how Itokone and Sambe agreed to meet to divide up the land in the Yandapo and how Itokone “woke up” early and arrived at the meeting place first, thereby getting most of the land with the salt springs.
Itokone traveled back and forth to the Yandapo, making salt at the salt springs and trading it for axes that made their way along routes from western highlands. After some time, Itokone apparently felt that demands of the trade were too high to meet given the long journey. On one trip to the Yandapo, Itokone and his brother, the founder of the Yanaitini tribe, discovered that sweet potato grew well at Teremanda near Wabag which was approximately halfway between Itokone land in the Lai and its claims at the salt springs. Itokone thus left his brother to settle at Teremanda and make salt in the Yandapo, while Itokone returned to Lamandaimanda in the mid-Lai where he acted as a middleman, exchanging axes which he obtained from the east with salt from his brother in the west. Later, the trade along this route from Tetemanda to Lamandaimanda to Tsaka Laiagama and on to Tambul gradually developed into ceremonial exchange and this became the major route for the Yae Tee exchange cycle.
Itokone also had on its land the only major known source of high-quality stone for axes in Enga province. Stone from the Itokone quarry called sambe, alokaia or molokea was obtained from large boulders in a creek near Lamandaimanda called the Kamongomasa quarry or ‘big men’s quarry’. It was of poorer quality than axe stone obtained from large quarries in Western Highlands but nonetheless was a source of wealth for Itokone in the past. John Burton has analyzed 623 axes with known locations in the Brennan collection at the Enga cultural center and found that only 25 (4%) of these are likely to be axes from the Itokone quarry. Most of the axes from the Itokone quarry were found in the Wabag and Wapenamanda districts However, although Sambe axes were not as widely used in Enga as those from quarries in the Western Highlands in the more recent generations, earlier in Enga history when the trade from Western Highlands might have been less developed, they could have played a more important role. The only evidence we have been able to gather that might support this is the fact that in numerous genealogies of tribes and the Kandepe areas, marriage with Itokone women is mentioned and indicates that Itokone had a wider sphere of influence than many other tribes in the Lai.
Itokone Dispersal
Itokone, like all other tribes in the Lai, experienced severe conflict with neighboring groups as well as pressure on land. Itokone’s brother group Yanaitini moved west to Teremanda near Wabag, and four to six generations ago two clans of Itokone broke away and moved to the area just north of where Mambisanda hospital is today. The reason for their leaving is told in the following legend:
A long time ago, there was a serious outbreak of a skin disease like scabies that attacked the pigs of the Koeapukini and Napukini clans. The disease was contagious and spread to the pigs of Mupa and Nenai. This happened when the pigs roamed around together in the bush.
Mupa and Nenai blamed Koeapukini and Napukini for the spread of the disease and they replied, “We did not tell the disease to attack your pigs.” A fight broke out between them as a result. Koeapukini and Napukini were bitter over the senselessness of the fight and left for the Mambisanda area. They now live there along the Timini gorge.
(Pyaso Pitu of the Itokone Nenae clan, Tilyaposa)
The remaining Itokone clans remained clustered in their original homeland with only smaller segments leaving after conflicts. One example of this is the departure of a smaller group to join Yanaitini in Tetemanda some four generations ago described in the following tradition. Although it only applies to a small group, it is worth mentioning because it describes the pressure on land felt at the time:
Namuni was a son of Lipu who was killed in a tribal skirmish between the Kandawalini Anjo clan and Itokone. The widow of Namuni, his children and other relatives were taken to Tetemanda by a man named Andati Mambelepa. The reason for this was that Namuni owned large tracts of land and other Itokone tribesmen felt threatened by his owning so much of the land. Should his family continue to live there and occupy so much of the land, then there would be a shortage of land in the long run. Itokone Lipu, Pusela and other members of the clan said to each other scornfully, “We are not going to look after Namuni’s widow and children, are we?”
Knowing that they were no longer welcome, Namuni’s wife and two of his sons, Yaku and Talemane went and settled at Tetemanda near Wabag. However, one son stayed here and he is my forefather.
(Pyaso Pitu, Itokone Nenai, Tilyaposa)
Another version of the legend told by Kome Pimbinai says that it was Namuni himself who left for Teremanda after a fight with his many brothers over garden land. As he left, he made a vow that he would never again see sugar cane, yams and bananas but would spend the rest of his life eating salt and sweet potatoes. Both legends mention problems over land, and the latter contrasts the diet of the mid-Lai – sugar cane, taro and yams – with that the higher altitude area of Teremanda, sweet potato and salt.
Itokone traditions leave us with the intriguing question of why Itokone in the mid-Lai claimed the land far away in the Yandapo and gained control of the axe and salt trade. The pattern of claiming land in a distant area appears to be unique to Itokone and is not mentioned in any other Enga tribal histories. As far as we could determine from legends of other tribes, the situation was as follows: In early origin traditions, the area of the salt springs was not inhabited permanently and people from considerable distances away came to the Yandapo to make salt.
Those west of the Yandapo were oriented more towards the salt springs at Pipitaka. The population was sparse at that time and there was no shortage of salt pools in the Yandapo.
Legends from eastern Enga and the Mendi area tell of individuals traveling freely to the Yandapo making salt and returning home undisturbed by any people living there or others who also came to make salt. Use of the pools was probably limited only by the time and effort that it took to travel the distance to the Yandapo, cut the billets, soak them and transport the salt back.
Only after the growth of exchange networks was the demand for salt intensified and were claims of ownership made for the salt pools. Itokone with its close connections to the east must have felt the increased demand for salt and other trade goods earlier than many tribes in the Wabag area. Realizing the potential benefits, it set up its brother tribe Yanaitini at Teremanda to keep control of the salt pools and provide salt to exchange with axes. Subsequently, other clans around Wabag also claimed ownership of other pools. In contrast, tribes to the west such as Sambe did not have the necessary contact with the east to foresee the increasing demand for salt and so even though they were closer to the pools, did not make their claims until it was too late.
members interviewed
Itokone
- Pulipyu Lendeane, Pyaso Pitu, Lenange Kandawane, Kopilyo Tipitape and Kome Pimbinai of the Itokone tribe from Lamandaimanda and Pompobusa.
- In addition, we interviewed members of the Napukini and Koeakini clans at Mambisanda who confirmed the information from Pompobusa, although the names of these men were lost on stolen tapes.
CLANS AND LOCATIONS
Itokone
| Clan | Location | Nearest school/aidpost |
|---|---|---|
| Mupa | Lamandaimanda | Pompobosa |
| Lundope | Kanjalaposa | Pompobosa |
| Lanjetakini | Wapomanda | Pompobosa |
| Napukini | Takaeposa | |
| Koeakini | Polyaposa | |
| Nenae | Tilyaposa | Yangili? |
| Tandaka | Kembemanda |