Bow Of Old Iatmul Canoe From Middle Sepik, Papua New Guinea

Beautiful prow of the Iatmul canoe from the Middle Sepik of New Guinea Length 80cm for 28cm wide and 20cm high The monoxyl canoe constitutes, for the fishing communities bordering the Sepik River, an essential means of transport, in line with their aquatic environment. The canoe allows women to go to their fishing grounds, it also ensures the transport of people and goods between the different villages. There are several types of canoe, suitable for various uses. All, however, are made using the same techniques and from a tree trunk. In order to better understand the importance of this boat, we will discuss its relationship with the local mythical universe, where it merges with the primordial crocodile ancestor. Nowadays, it takes a week to get to Sepik, via Singapore and Port-Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, then continue by boat and canoe. Note: one week one way. Suffice to say that we do not go every day to this province located northeast of the big island, the western half of which is attached to Indonesia. At the end of the world In this end of the world, the only means of transport is the boat, long canoes carved out of a single trunk, the same models since the dawn of time, often adorned at the bow with a carved crocodile and equipped with the stern, the only concession to modernity, of an engine. Indispensable to go up the Sepik River, which is to Papua New Guinea what the Amazon is to Brazil, all things considered: a monster with swirling brown waters, 1126 km long, folded in wide meanders, like a snake, free to send to France 70 euros for the European Union 150 euros for the rest of the world