The Bullroarer Atlas

No. PNG160

Nalik

Papua New Guinea · New Ireland · Oceania · Sahul

Function not recorded

Long gray-brown Middle Sepik bullroarer carved with a central animal motif and small animal heads at both ends.
Plate I. Representative — not this record’s object. A similarly carved New Guinea bull-roarer with a small animal head. CC BY-NC-SA · Image source

The Nalik of northern New Ireland knew both the bullroarer and the slit-gong. The Nalik are far better documented for their malagan mortuary carvings, the word itself a Nalik one, than for any bullroarer rite.

New Ireland is likewise largely unknown. While the slit-gong is reported by all informants, its lack of esoteric significance, except for a small minority, makes the area tentatively negative.

Gourlay 1975, Sound-Producing Instruments in Traditional Society (New Guinea Research Bulletin 60): region J, New Ireland

Particulars

Function
Not recorded.

Source

K. A. Gourlay, Sound-Producing Instruments in Traditional Society: A Study of Esoteric Instruments and Their Role in Male-Female Relations, New Guinea Research Bulletin 60 (Canberra and Port Moresby, 1975), Table 1, entry 160

View the source

  • New Hanover (incl. Tungak, Lavongai)Papua New Guinea · New Ireland · Function not recorded
  • King / KalilPapua New Guinea · New Ireland · Restricted
  • LaksPapua New Guinea · New Ireland · Restricted
  • Baluan IslandPapua New Guinea · Manus · Function not recorded
  • HubePapua New Guinea · Morobe · Function not recorded
  • KurtiPapua New Guinea · Manus · Function not recorded

Part of The Bullroarer Atlas, companion to The Eve Theory of Consciousness.