Pumane and Aiyele

“The first man, Akali, gave birth to his sons near Lake Ipea in the Sirunki plateau, or that is what we assume. Akali gave birth to Lyaini and Sakalini, Malipini and Potealini and others including Pumane and Aiyele. Because the Sirunki area was overcrowded by the sons of the first man, Pumane and Aiyele migrated to the upper Ambum valley and settled near Anditale. Some Lyaini and Sakalini groups also settled there, so there were four sons of the first man living in the Ambum valley until a fight broke out…”

(Busa Kipukapo, Aiyele Takeyo clan of Laialama)

Other Pumane and Aiyele origin myths are similar except they mention that Sirunki was a cold and infertile area. Closer questioning on the exact location of groups in origin traditions gives the following picture. Pumane clans claim to have already been settled in the Ambum with only a few, if any, of their members in the Sirunki area. Pumane land extended from Tsikiro to Kundisa with Pumane groups settled alongside Aiyele groups. Aiyele was located in the Tambitanes area and on the southeast side of Lake Ipea where Kunalini clans are settled today, a fact confirmed by both Aiyele and Kunalini elders. Aiyele groups extended from Sirunki across the plateau and into the upper Ambum valley as described in the origin myth.

Some Aiyele oral traditions suggest that parts of the Aiyele Tiakai and Aiyele Toke clans were beginning to move into the upper Sau valley. For example, a segment of Aiyele Toke migrated from Sirunki to the Sauanda area in search of more fertile land at lower altitudes prior to the seventh generation. A segment of the Aiyele Tiakai clan migrated from Kasi in the Ambum valley to Sauanda in the upper Sau after a severe epidemic. Later part of the Malipini Sakatawana clan from Sopasa moved into the vacated land.

In addition to historical traditions, there are two Tiakai traditions which suggest early migration into the upper Sau. The first says that some Tiakai clansmen moved to the Sauanda area after a fight over pandanus with other Aiyele groups. A second concerns a group of Aiyele previously settled at Tiakamanda above Kundisa. In this legend, an Aiyele man named Katape slept with his wife’s two sisters when they came to visit. When neighboring clansmen heard of the incident, they became outraged and drove him out of the area. He settled in Sauanda with the three women who later bore several sons. The only one of the sons whose descendants formed an important clan was Tiakai. Toke and Tiakai clans in the Sauanda area first lived side by side until a fight broke out between them over the rape of a woman at a sing-sing. Toke clans then settled on the north side of the Sau River and Tiakai clans on the south side.

The vast majority of Pumane and Aiyele clans left the Ambum in the sixth to seventh generation, after their wars with Lyaini and Sakalini. Here is one account of the war told by a Pumane informant:

We were unable to obtain any detailed descriptions of the war from Aiyele clans except that the Lyaini-Sakalini and Pumane Aiyele conflict drove all Aiyele and Pumane clans out of the Sirunki and Ambum areas and that this happened within a rather short period of time, a few months. Lyaini and Sakalini were also assisted by Kunalini who had been driven out of Laiagam in its war with Sambe and were seeking new land.

Even though Enga groups may have been rather small in the sixth to seventh generation, with clans composed of some 50-100 people, the scale of this battle should not be underestimated. The coordinated efforts of Lyaini-Sakalini, Kunalini in the upper Ambum, and Yakani-Yanaitini in the lower reaches of the valley, resulted in driving out all clans from the entire Ambum valley. Neither Pumane or Aiyele nor Lyaini-Sakalini groups deny that the underlying motivation was to obtain land. This Ambum war came at a time when Lyaini and Sakalini groups were shifting from dependence on hunting to dependence on agriculture and sought fertile land at lower altitudes.

Dispersal of Pumane and Aiyele Clans

While Pumane groups settled in the upper Sau valley, Aiyele groups dispersed widely to the north. Toke and Tiakai clans remained centered around Sauanda where they had previously settled, while Neo and Takeo clans passed through Sauanda and then moved north into the rugged area of the Wale and Tarua rivers where they are located today. Clans of the Lakani tribes settled in the Laialama area, moved eastwards, and gave over some of their land willingly to Aiyele. Their eastward movement was due to their own internal strife, not to Aiyele migrations. As Aiyele moved north, their history does not mention contact with any non-Enga groups. This is probably because the Lakani and Waitini migration to the north and east preceded Aiyele movements and drove away previous inhabitants to the north and northeast (see Waitini and Lakani history). Aiyele clans in the Sauanda area were active in hosting warring clans from both Sene-Yokasa and Yakani in the Great Ceremonial Wars, thereby re-establishing a strong position in networks of trade and exchange.

CLANS AND LOCATIONS

Pumane

Note: Two clans of Pumane, Lyainiwane and Sakaliniwane are named after Lyaini and Sakalini who drove Pumane and Aiyele out of the Ambum. The clans listed here may also be considered sub-clan with the larger clans being Sane and Yaupu.

Aiyele