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The Bulletin of the Field Museum of Natural History

Working for the
future: Field Muse-
um internships

in research and
collections

Two-for-one tickets
for acclaimed film,
A Brief History of
Time, available to
members

“The Edwards
Ledger Drawings:
Folk art by Arapaho
Warriors,” in the
Webber Gallery

of music, dance, sto-
rytelling, and other
free programs for
Museum visitors

A complete schedule

the Field

September/October 1992

SCENES
FROM SENEGAL

Members of the team developing the Muse-
um’s major new exhibit on Africa were in
West Africa recently collecting materials for
display. Staff photographer James Balodimas
documented contemporary life in Senegal.
A selection of his scenes and portraits.
Picture story, Page 3

STALKING THE BORNEAN GECKO

By John C. Murphy
Division of Amphibians and Reptiles

y first chance to see the

Borneo countryside came

on the ride from Lahad

Datu to the Danum Valley

Field Center, which would
be my base for a survey that would help gauge
the impact of logging on the local ecology.

The small airport at Lahad Datu on the
Malaysian side of the island was crowded and
the distinctive odors of grease and curry filled
the air. Several of us climbed into the passenger
van from the Field Center and within a few
minutes we were passing through plantations
on the outskirts of Lahad Datu. As the van
stopped at a vegetable stand, Hans, a Swedish
geologist and geographer, lectured me on the
economic botany of Sabah Province. My
employees for the next two months — Paul
Yanbun, Freddie Paulus, and Frederic Francis
— were asleep in the back seat. My immediate
concern was how to communicate with these
young Dusun men; of the three, only Paul had
shown an interest in speaking to me in English.
The trio spoke their tribal language and Bahasa
Malay, and I knew only a few words of the lat-
ter. The success of my endeavor depended
heavily on the three and on my ability to follow
them through the forest, recording data on the
amphibians and reptiles they collected.

The scenery was reminiscent of places I
had been in the neotropics but the roadside
fauna indicated I was in the Old World. A
short-tailed macaque sauntered across the road
and a large water monitor lizard slid into the
underbrush as we passed. Before the three-hour
trip was over all of us were ankle-deep in mud,
piling rocks and branches under the wheels of
the van to free it from a mud hole — one which
I would come to know on a personal basis in
the weeks ahead.

My purpose in traveling to the Danum Val-
ley was to conduct part of a study comparing
the amphibian and reptile communities of
unlogged rain forest with those of logged rain
forest. The results of this study, funded by the
National Geographic Society through a grant to
the Field Museum, will allow an assessment of
the impact of logging on amphibian and reptile
communities. Robert Inger and Harold Voris of
the Museum’s Division of Amphibians and
Reptiles had visited Danum in 1986 and 1987
and done some preliminary collecting, accom-
panied by Sharon Emerson of the University of
Utah. Voris was to help me set up the study
sites and establish a work routine on this trip.

Danum was chosen as part of this study
because it sits at a boundary between secondary
forest, which had been selectively logged
decades ago, and a large tract of almost
untouched primary rain forest. I say almost
untouched because it contains a network of
trails that are maintained by Field Center per-
sonnel, and also contains some experimental
plots at its perimeter that have had vegetation

John C. Murphy

A cat gecko clambers over a leaf

removed. However, most of the 450-square-
mile primary forest area is undisturbed by
humans and there are no tribal people currently
living within its borders. Unfortunately, this
piece of pristine tropical real estate is protected
from logging only until 1995, when it will be
reviewed for possible logging concessions.

The site currently harbors an excellent
population of orangutans, and probably at least
a few very rare Sumatran rhinoceros. Anticipat-
ing the opportunity to see these and other tropi-

cal forest mammals added to the excitement of
the possibility of encountering king cobras and
reticulated pythons. Both of these snake species
are known to inhabit the Danum Valley around
the Field Center.

I discovered that living conditions at
Danum were quite comfortable for the tropics.
The guest house was built into a hillside over-
looking the Segama River, which flows east-
ward into the Sulu Sea at Lahad Datu. The five
bedrooms had screened windows, ceiling fans
run by an electric generator during waking
hours, and private showers. There was a living
room/library/dining-room area and a kitchen;
outside, under an attached roof, was a laundry.
The guest house also had a large population of
very vocal chic-chacs, or house geckos, lizards
that usually made their presence known after
dark. The rooms were elevated about a meter
and accessible by a covered wooden walkway
that was open on one side.

At night the walkway was lighted and bats
would patrol the airspace for insects. It was not
uncommon to have them brush your shoulder

(Continued on page 11)

CANOE REVIVAL IN THE MARSHALLS

By Giff Johnson
Masuro
ennis Alessio was line-fishing off
the stern of a large sailing ship
anchored in Ailinglaplap Atoll’s
vast lagoon in 1989 when a group
of six young lads paddled a small outrigger out
to the ship. Hopping aboard, the young Mar-
shall Islanders clustered around Alessio, an
American and a boat builder by trade, who
admired their canoe. But the boys weren’t
impressed when he told them their canoe
looked great. Alessio recalls he asked the old-
est boy, who was about 13, if he liked the
canoe. “No,” came the reply. Why? Alessio
asked. “An outboard-engine boat is the best to
have,” the boy said. Why? Alessio asked again.
“Because it is.”

Alessio didn’t let it go. If you were sitting
on the beach with an outrigger on one side of
you and a motor boat on the other, he asked
them, and you spotted a school of fish in the
lagoon, which would you use? And, he added,
there’s no gasoline in the boat and none on the
atoll and there hasn’t been any for months.
How are you going to get out and get the fish?
The boys put their heads together, arguing
among themselves over the two boats. Finally,
Alessio says, the leader turned to him and said,
“Emman karkar’ (“the canoe is best’).

“Western ideology has conditioned people
in the Marshalls to believe that Western things
are better,” Alessio says. “Most people don’t
realize how perfectly designed a canoe is for
these atolls.”

Giff Johnson

Since 1989, Alessio has directed the Waan
Ael6f Kein [Canoes of These Islands] Project
for the Alele Museum, the national museum of
the Marshall Islands. The Marshallese outrig-
ger canoe at the center of the Pacific exhibit in
the Field Museum served to launch the Waan
Aeloi Kein Project. The trustees and staff of
the Alele asked Alessio to head a project to
replace the canoe that was sent to Chicago for
exhibit. What started as a one-canoe project
quickly developed into an expansive canoe-
documenting process. “There was no informa-
tion written anywhere about Marshall Islands
canoe designs,” Alessio says. During the time
the initial canoe was being built, the project
took on a life of its own as people saw the
potential for the program, he says.

“Western boat designers still haven’t
caught on to the ingenuity and genius of the
design of Marshallese outrigger canoes,”

(Continued on page 10)

The 50-foot “walap”
(voyaging) canoe tak-
ing shape in the
Majuro workshop. In
trial runs at the end
of July, the canoe
reached cruising
speed of 12 knots
while carrying a full
crew and observers.
The Western
sailors and explorers
who first encoun-
tered the Marshallese
wrote glowingly of
the speed and grace
of their canoes, but
modern boat design-
ers have been slow
to learn from them.

Robert L. Welsch
(left) and Jack Mac-
Donald, a Museum
volunteer, unwrap
carved figures from
New Guinea donat-
ed by Dorothy
Goldberg of Des
Moines.

WORKING FOR THE FUTURE

By Willard L. Boyd
President, Field Museum

s the nation is suffering from a
severe shortage of scientists and
other trained museum personnel,
the Field Museum is working to
counter the spiraling downward trend. We are
providing intensive programming to stimulate
the interest of college, high school and junior
high students in science and museum careers.

Recent studies by the National Science
Foundation and others have helped to identify
reasons why young people are reluctant to pur-
sue science careers. A lack of scientific experi-
ence and a rift between science education and
the everyday activities of scientists are fore-
most among these.

By being exposed to hands-on experiences,
college and pre-college students begin to see
biological sciences and other museum careers
as attractive options. The learning experience
the Museum offers varies according to each
student’s educational preparation and area of
interest. However, whether the trainee chooses
to work on a scientific research project, the
curation and management of a particular col-

GIFT
TO COLLECTIONS

recent donation of wooden arti-

facts from Papua New Guinea

and Vanuatu helps fill a gap in

the Museum’s collection, accord-

ing to Robert Welsch, visiting
associate curator of anthropology. The fourteen
objects, most of them from the Sepik River area
of New Guinea, date from the 1950s, ’60s, and
early ’70s. The Museum’s world-renowned col-
lection of Sepik River materials was mainly
gathered by curators A.B, Lewis and George A.
Dorsey in the period before World War I, by
the Crane Expedition in
the late 1920s, and in the
past two years by Welsch,
who has been comparing
contemporary crafts, tech-
nology, and trading pat-
terns with those observed
by Lewis in 1909-13.

The new collection
is a gift from Dorothy
Goldberg of Des Moines
in memory of her hus-
band, Dr. Louis Goldberg,
who died in 1975. The
Goldbergs acquired the
objects from the late
Karol LaCasse, who was
for many years associated
with the Roman Catholic
mission in Wewak.
Among the artifacts are a
slit gong, a suspension
hook, a shield, and
numerous carved and painted objects including
a six-feet-four-inch figure that may have served
as a house post.

Connie Crane, an Associate of the Depart-
ment of Anthropology and a member of the
steering committee of the Collections Commit-
tee, a donor group interested in the Museum’s
ethnographic collections, said Mrs. Goldberg’s
gift is “just the kind of thing we want to
encourage: important pieces that fit well into
the Museum’s holdings.”

September/October 1992 PR

lection, participation on an exhibit develop-
ment team, or a public education program, each
is given specific responsibilities and placed
under the guidance of a museum professional.

There are several on-going programs at the
Field which offer opportunities for educational
and career training: internships, fellowships,
special projects linked to exhibits or research,
work study, cooperative education, and the vol-
unteer program. Some initiatives are sponsored
solely by the Field Museum, others are in part-
nership with other educational institutions.

This summer, we were fortunate to receive
funding from the National Science Foundation
that enabled us to involve seventeen minority
and women uundergraduate life-science majors
in a collections program. Working side by side
with curators and collection managers in botany,
geology, and zoology, the trainees gained first-
hand experience in the use of collections and our
unique interdisciplinary program.

Also this summer, in cooperation with the
University of Chicago and supported by a grant
from the Illinois Board of Higher Education,
we were able to bring five undergraduate stu-
dents to the Museum to pursue research in biol-
ogy, anthropology, and geology. Under the

>

Heather Bilandic
(left), Women’s Board
president, and Mary
Kay Eyerman and
Diane Dean, benefit
co-chairs, meet with
Dan Skoda (center),
president of Marshall
Field’s, and Sandy
Boyd, president of
Field Museum, to plan
the fashion show
being held September
11 at Field Museum.
For further informa-
tion call the Women’s
Board office at

(312) 322-8870.

Joan Hackett

ERRATA

direction of a curator the students gained expe-
rience in collections-based inquiry.

Students from both of these programs
joined other interns in bi-weekly seminars and
collections tours. The curators designed the
seminars to introduce students to the breadth of
collection-based research at the Field Museum.
Exposure to the range of scientific disciplines
to which systematic collections contribute, and
to modern methods of field research, encour-
ages a greater appreciation of the value of
museum science and careers.

These programs were just a few of the
many offered at the Field this summer to attract
and retain students in scientific study. The
Field Museum is taking steps to offset the criti-
cal shortage of trained scientists and other pro-
fessionals crucial to the museum world. We
will continue to provide hands-on museum
training. By doing so, we hope ultimately to
attract a rich pool of museum professionals
who will work to address and communicate the
critical issues concerning global conservation,
biodiversity, and human cultures.

The July/August issue of In the Field went to press with some informa-
tion missing from the obituary of Edna Staehle, a Sustaining Benefactor
of the Museum and a charter member of both the Founders’ Council and
the Women’s Board. Mrs. Staehle died May 13 at the age of 84.

NOTE TO LIBRARIANS: 1992 numbers of In the Field: The Bulletin of the
Field Museum of Natural History are Volume 63. Numbers 2, 3, and 4
(March/April, May/June, and July/August 1992) were mistakenly marked
Volume 62.

In the Field

September/October 1992
Vol. 63, No.5

Editor:
Ron Dorfman

Art Director:
Shi Yung

Editorial Assistant:
Jessica Clark

In the Field (ISSN #1051-4546) is published bimonthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake
Shore Drive, Chicago IL 60605-2496, Copyright © 1992 Field Museum of Natural History. Subscriptions $6.00 annu-
ally, $3.00 for schools. Museum membership includes In the Field subscription. Opinions expressed by authors are
their own and do not necessarily reflect policy of Field Museum. Unsolicited manuscipts are welcome. Museum
phone (312) 922-9410. Notification of address change should include address label and should be sent to Member-
ship Department. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to In the Field, Field Museum of Natural History. Second
class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois.

‘«

Photographs by James Balodimas

i

Celebration of Tabaski: For this impor-
tant feast day, fathers and sons attend
prayers at the Grand Mosque in Dakar
(top left). Preparing for the holiday are
(clockwise from left) four generations
of women; Issa, Ibrahema, and Iddi
Diallo in traditional dress; Issa tending
the family sheep that will be slaugh-
tered for the feast.

taff photographer James Balodimas
accompanied a Museum team collecting
materials for display in the new multidis-
ciplinary exhibit on Africa that will open next
year. This selection of his photographs depicts
aspects of life in contemporary Senegal.

The Slave House on
Gorée Island: Slaves
were kept in rooms
no larger than six by
nine feet, with as
many as 30 people to
a room. The slaves
were brought out
into a courtyard
(below) for auction
while the bidders
stood on the second-
floor balcony.

Above: Haircuts al fresco. Barbers on Dakar
street corners charge about $3.

Right: This young musician makes the rounds of
Dakar hotels every night singing and playing the
cora.

“The Door of No
Return” (right) led
to a docked square-
rigger waiting to
transport the slaves
to America.

The historic Slave House on Gorée

Island. Joseph Ndiaye, below, curator of
the house, conducts research and educa-
tion programs on the slave trade.

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN’S GROUP

Jacqueline M. Carter, right, assistant to President Boyd, exchanges address-
es with Manoko Leah Moleele of Seshego, South Africa. Ms. Moleele was
among 132 South African women who visited the Field Museum during the
45th annual conference of the National Council of African Women, held in
Chicago July 8 — 21. The women — educators, social workers, and health
professionals — were interested in the Museum because of its use by
teachers as a classroom resource. The Chicago meeting was the group’s
first in the United States.

Trading in Futures?

LOCKED IN STONE

4 ocked in Stone: The Prehistoric Creatures of
Fossil Lake” remains on view through Novem-
ber 15, featuring over 100 select examples of the
specimens collected at Fossil Lake by Lance

Grande, associate curator of fossil fishes in the

Department of Geology. Wyoming’s Fossil
Lake is unusual both because of the extraordi-
nary preservation of its specimens and

Diane Alexander White / GN86425.34

because an entire lake sys-
ee tem representing a
— ~ munity of organisms
from the Early Eocene

contemporaneous com-
period, 52 million years ago,

Make a significant impact on Field Museum's future

by trading in your appreciated stock today.
By contributing your highly appreciated/low-yielding stocks to the
Museum’s Pooled Income Fund, you can generate immediate benefits:

* Increase your annual income ® Receive an incorme-tax deduction

of limestone.

.

NEWS FROM THE PAST

An array of fossils gathered by amateur paleontologists affiliated with the
Mid-America Paleontological Society was displayed in the North Lounge
during the June 28-July 1 meeting of the 5th North American Paleontologi-
cal Convention (NAPC.V). The convention, held at Field Museum, attracted
nearly 600 paleontologists from 18 countries.

September/October 1992 4!

has been preserved in one layer

e Avoid capital gains tax

Atthe same time, you'll join others committed to making Field Museum
a community center for lifelong learning for future generations.

To find out more about the Museum's Pooled Income Fund,
please call or write for your complimentary copy of
“How the Pooled Income Fund Works for You, and Us, .’.”

Contact Melinda Pruett-Jones
Field Museum of Natural History * Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, Illinois 60605
(312) 322-8868

With that immortal question begins A Brief History of Time, Exrol Morris's acclaimed film inspired
by Stephen Hawking’s worldwide bestseller of the same name. The film won the Grand Jury Prize
for Best Documentary of 1992 at the Sundance Film Festiyal, where Errol Morris also won the
Documentary Filmmakers Trophy, :

Physicist Stephen Hawking has become perhaps the best-known scientific thinker today, his

accomplishments all the more staggering given that he is confined to a wheelchair with the debili-
tating illness amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which has left him unable to move or speak.

Field Museum members are invited to see A Brief History of Time when it opens its
theatrical run in Chicago. Members can bring this ad (photocopies not accepted) to Loew's Fine
Arts Theater for Monday through Thursday performances, September 8-24, and purchase two full
admission tickets for the price of one. 2

Member Name 3

Address

Guest :

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

FOLK ART BY ARAPAHO WARRIORS

he Edwards Ledger Drawings: Folk

Art by Arapaho Warriors will be on

display from September 12 to Octo-

ber 25 in the Webber Gallery. An
exhibition of rare 19th century colored-pencil
depictions by Native American warriors of
their battles and exploits, this collection of
drawings illuminates then-vanishing traditions
of Plains Indians pictography and warfare.

From symbols used on shields and cloth-
ing, to buffalo robes, to paintings on hides
depicting history and important events, stylized
drawings provided a non-verbal means of inter-
tribal communication. The introduction of col-
ored pencils and paper, however, presented the
Arapaho and other Native Americans with a
new medium for recording their brave deeds.

A picture like “Sitting Bull Encounters a
Soldier” shows both the influence that settlers
had on Native American lifestyle and the con-
flicts which arose between the two groups. Sit-
ting Bull (an Arapaho warrior; not the famous

Sioux leader) is wearing a military blouse with
chevrons as well as his traditional moccasins.
He is wielding a pistol against the soldier, hav-
ing first “counted coup” on him with his bow.

Counting coup meant touching an enemy
with a weapon without wounding him — it
served as an insult, and conferred glory to the
warrior. Native American artists strove to tell
the entire story of an encounter in one drawing;
the presence of both Sitting Bull’s rifle and his
bow in this picture exemplifies this tendency.
Other techniques of storytelling included the
tracing of the path of a warrior’s horse, and the
representation of multiple shots by multiple
rifles floating in the air near the target.

One will not find the conventions of per-
spective here, or the view of a single instant in
time. Instead, one will find a literal pictorial
translation of encounters between Arapahos,
Utes, Pawnees, Crows, Mexicans, and Ameri-
cans. Such art has all but disappeared, and
these drawings provide a record of an important
period of transition in
the history of Native
Americans.

Pre-dating the
1870s, the drawings
were assembled by
Peter Edwards, a 19th
century jeweler, set-
tler and gold miner,
and were originally
published in book
form -

A September 26
seminar (see box at
left) complements the
exhibit.

CALL OF THE WILD

n November 14, the Field Museum

will open a new permanent exhibit

that spotlights collections from the

Museum’s past and merges them
with research from the Museum’s present to
create a timely message concerning the future
of our world. “Messages from the Wilderness”
completes the animal-kingdom exhibits in the
Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Wing off Stanley
Field Hall.

“Messages,” which depicts North and
South American mammals and their habitats,
does not argue that the earth’s damaged
ecosystems are beyond repair. But the exhibit
does present images of the Americas under
siege, and uses these images to encourage peo-
ple to take a greater responsibility for the nat-
ural world.

Central to the exhibit are 18 habitat groups
featuring scenes from the Americas — from the
icy waters of the arctic circle, to tropical jun-
gles in Venezuela, to the windswept grasslands
of extreme southern Argentina. These exhibits
were created early in this century, when many
of the world’s best taxidermists worked at Field
Museum,

To complement the artistry of these scenes,
and to give the animals and habitats a voice,
“Messages from the Wilderness” transforms the
visual context of the hall. Rustic park signs,
cedar shingle roofs, and notes from “park
rangers” greet visitors at each diorama. At sev-
eral stops, recorded messages allow visitors to

hear rangers explain the behaviors of mammals
in the displays.

Suggestive scenery placed throughout the
hall enhances the experience of visiting wilder-
ness parks: craggy rocks hide a cougar’s lair;
Northwest rain forest canopy extends beyond a
scene of resting and foraging elk; palm trees
connect displays of tapirs and marsh deer to
mimic Brazil’s huge Pantanal wetland. These
scenic elements and new interpretive material
invite visitors to step beyond the Museum and
into the living world of each diorama.

The underlying message of the exhibit is
that all life is interconnected. Animals, plants,
and many inanimate features in the environ-
ment depend on, and affect each other, in ways
we often do not fully understand. In keeping
with this message, spe-
cific habitats become as
much a part of each dio-
rama’s story as the ani-
mals themselves
through labels, pho-
tographs, videos, and
hands-on activities.
With the help of these
devices, visitors can
explore the intriguing
telationships among
plants, animals, and
habitats that are respon-
sible for so much of the
diversity in nature.

i
ee {ey i

, q

ihe et ei eS Tits

“Sitting Bull Encounters a Soldier.” The soldier has fired over the warrior’s
head; Sitting Bull gets off six shots, wounding the soldier twice.

On the quarterfold cover: “Leading a War Party, Heap of Bears Finds His

Victim. ” As a leader of a raid or war party against the Utes, Heap of
Bears carries a tomahawk decorated with otter furs.

HELD MUSEUM

THE SMART WAY TO HAVE FUN.

No exhibit about the environment could be
complete without a discussion of the major
threat facing our planet: human overpopulation.
A centrally located station explores this issue
with photographs, statistics, and activities invit-
ing visitor participation. A second station
engages visitors in contemplating “Why should
we care?” — emphasizing that we all share one
ecosystem, and depend on it for our most basic
needs. “Messages from the Wilderness” will
help visitors understand and appreciate these
dynamic interrelationships and recognize that
humans are an integral part of the ecosystem.

The bison diorama in
“Messages from the
Wilderness.” Once
numbering in the
millions, the bison
was nearly extermi-
nated — and with it
the entire prairie
ecosystem.

5 September/October 1992

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER EVENTS

g 5 Saturday

World Music

Performance of folk music from Bolivia,
featuring Raices del Andes. 1 p.m.

9/12 ae

Exhibit opens

“The Edwards Ledger Drawings: Folk Art by
Arapaho Warriors” opens in the Webber
Gallery. (See article overleaf.)

9/14 sini

Camera Club

The regular monthly meeting of the Camera
Club will begin at 7:45 p.m. All are wel-
come. Please enter by the West Door.

9/14 seni

Collectors

The Collections Commitee hosts “Convers-
ing with Collectors: A Panel Discussion.”
Four members of the group will discuss
how they built their personal collections;
African, Asian and Native American
materials will be represented. The mod-
erator will be Bennet Bronson,
chairman of the Department of
Anthropology and curator of Asian
archaeology and_ ethnology.
5:30-7:30 p.m.

Call (312) 322-8874.

9/ 1 9 Saturday

Family Overnight

Bring the kids (grades 1-6) and sleep over
at the Field Museum. Natural science
workshops, fllashlight tours, entertainment,
an evening snack, and Continental break-
fast Sunday morning. $35 per adult, $30
per child. Pre-registration required. Call
(312) 322-8854.

September/October 1992 6

O/27 hs

Chicago Waterways

Our 70—mile guided boat tour along
Chicago's inland waterways provides a
unique perspecitve on the ecological,
economic, and communal history of
greater Chicago. 8:45 a.m.—4 p.m. $42
($35 for members) Pre-registration required.
Call (312) 322-8854.

9/30 seins

Herpetologists

General meeting — Chicago Herpetologi-
cal Society. Gary Ferguson of Texas Chris-
tian University will discuss the biology of

true (Old World) chameleons.

James Simpson Theater, 7 p.m.—10 p.m.

1 0/ 4 Sunday

Masquerades

People have made masks for over 30,000
years and they can be found on almost
every continent on earth. Adults and chil-
dren grades K-4 can see a variety of masks
from Field Museum's and Mask Artist and
instructor Lea Atiq's collections. After a
performance featuring masks from around
the world, create a mask of your own.

10 a.m.-noon $18 covers one adult and
one child ($14 for members). Pre-registra-
tion is required: Call (312) 322-8854.

1 0/ 1 0 Saturday

Marsh bird-watching

Fall brings a variety of migrating shore and
song birds to the 31,000 acre Horicon
Marsh in east-central Wisconsin, including
sandpipers, plovers, and warblers. Learn

about the marsh ecosystem and enjoy a_

day of bird-watching. 9 a.m.—9 p.m. $42
($36 for members). Pre-registration is
required. Call (312) 322-8854.

10/11 sou

Birds program

“Behind the Scenes with the Division of
Birds.” Bird Collection Manager Dave
Willard will lead families through the
museum's bird collection (third-largest in
the U.S.) to examine some of the world's
most colorful and spectacular avian
species. 7~9 p.m. Admission is $9 per per-
son ($7 for members). Pre-registration is
required. Call (312) 322-8854.

Geography activities

Geography Quiz Computer
Game, Passports exhibit
self-guided tours, Earth-
quakes and Plate Tectonics
activity and others .

10 a.m.—3 p.m.

10/28 seinin

Herpetologists

General Meeting — Chicago Herpetologi-
cal Society. James Vial of the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency’s Declining Frog Task
Force explains why some scientists believe
the world's frogs are disappearing. Simpson
Theater, 7 p.m.—10 p.m.

John C. Murphy

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

FALL PROGRAMS FEATURE
EGYPT AND SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

oin the Museum's Department of Edu-

cation in exploring Africa this fall.

Take this opportunity to hear guest

lecturers, learn about Field Museum's
upcoming Africa exhibit, explore Egyptian his-
tory — and don't miss the jazzy sounds of Gur-
tufio, a group of Venezuelan musicians with a
strong African influence. For a complete sched-
ule of fall programs, call (312) 322-8854.

Lectures:

The Royal Art of Benin

Kate Ezra, Ph.D., Associate Curator, Dept. of
the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Friday, October 9 at 7 p.m.

$9 ($7 for members)

From the 1300s through the 1800s, the royal
court artists of the Kingdom of Benin expertly
created exquisite brass, ivory, terra cotta, and
wood objects to honor
the king and adorn his
palace. Kate Ezra will
present a slide-illustrated
lecture focusing on the
history, culture, and art
of Benin, based on
pieces in the collection
of the Metropolitan
Museum.

Africa's Legacy

in Mexico

Tony Gleaton, photogra-
pher, Los Angeles
Saturday, October 24

at 2 p.m.

$9 ($7 for members)
After the Spaniards conquered the Aztec
Empire in 1521, millions of enslaved Africans
were brought.to Mexico. Photographer Tony
Gleaton will present a slide-illustrated lecture
on the history, lives, traditions, and culture of
these Mexican people with an African heritage.
He will focus on the people living in the states
of Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Veracruz where he
has spent the last five years sharing and docu-
menting their daily lives.

Adult Courses:

“Africa’’: Introduction to an Exhibit
Deborah Mack, Ph.D. ¥
Senior Exhibit Co-Developer, Field Museum

Saturdays, Sept. 19-—Oct. 3, 10 a.m.—noon

$35 ($30 for members) —

Caravans across the Sahara, a museum situated
in the “House of the People” in Cameroon and
the historic dispersal of Africans to the Ameri-
cas are three “stories” addressed in the Muse-
um's Africa exhibit scheduled to open in 1993;
Dr. Mack will present a model of the exhibit,
slides, video, and artifacts to highlight these
“stories.” ,

In Preparation for “‘Africa”
Deborah Mack, Ph.D.
Saturday, October 3, 2-4 p.m.
$12 ($10 for members)

Dr. Mack will describe her recent collecting
trip to Senegal to obtain materials for the sec-
tion on contemporary Senegalese family life.
Video, slides, a model of the Africa exhibit,
artifacts and collected objects will illustrate the
lecture.

New Kingdom II: The Ramesside Era
Frank Yurco, Egyptologist

Tuesdays, Sept. 22—Oct. 27, 7-9 p.m.
$65 ($55 for members)

This course continues from the spring New
Kingdom course and will focus on and com-
plete the political history of Egypt in the age of
the Ramesside kings of the 19th and 20th
dynasties (1371-1070 B.C.).

Royal Women of Ancient Egypt
Kathleen Picken, Historian and Lecturer
Thursdays, Oct. 8-Nov. 12, 7-9 p.m.
$65 ($55 for members)

Cleopatra and Nefertiti are but two of the many
famous women in Egyptian history who were
instrumental in building a nation. The class will
combine gallery visits, slides, readings and lec-
tures to produce a picture of the life, times and
expectations of royal women of ancient Egypt.

Art objects from the royal court of Benin.
The head, below, is in memory of a queen-
mother. These pieces are from the Perls
Collection in the Metropolitan Museum.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

PERFORMING ARTS

GURRUFIO

enezuela, a country characterized by
\ / diverse geography, climates, and peo-
ple, has a rich indigenous culture that

has been strongly influenced by Spanish and
African cultures. Gurrufio, a group of four vir-

tuoso musicians from Venezuela, is making its .

second tour of the United States — appearing
in Chicago for a performance at the Field
Museum. Their music reflects an exciting
diversity of rhythms, instruments, and ways of
singing and playing. Members of the ensemble
travel throughout Venezuela gathering music
and folklore that they interpret through their
‘own compositions and those of other Venezue-
lan composers. Instruments featured are the
cuatro, bandola, mandolin, guitar, flute, mara-
cas, and harp.

Sunday, October 4 at 4 p.m.
$15 ($12 members)
$10 seniors and students

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Become a Member
of the Field Museum of Natural His-
tory and receive these benefits:

Free admission
Free coat checking and strollers
Invitation to Members’ Night

- Priority invitations to special exhibits
Free subscription to In the Field
13-month wall calendar featuring exhibit
photographs
Reduced subscription prices on selected
magazines
Opportunity to receive the Museum’s
annual report
10% discount at all Museum stores
Use of our 250,000-volume
natural history library
Discount on classes, field trips, and seminars
for adults and children
Members-only tour program
Opportunity to attend the annual
children’s Holiday Tea
Discount at Chicago’s largest furniture
wholesaler

Children’s “dinosaur” birthday card

VON NYS VE NY WON Vy

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
New Members only. This is not a renewal form.

Please enroll me as a Member of the
Field Museum of Natural History

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MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES

C) Individual — one year $35 / two years $65

@) Family — one year $45 / two years $85°
(Includes two adults, children and grand-
children 18 and under.)
Student/Senior — one year $25
(Individual only. Copy of I.D. required.)

C) Field Contributor — $100 - $249

@) Field Adventurer — $250 - $499

() Field Naturalist — $500 - $999

C) Field Explorer — $1,000 ~$1,499

All benefits of a family membership

— and more
C) Founders’ Council — $1,500

Send form to:
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at Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL 60605

7 September/October 1992

VISITOR PROGRAMS

September 19:
“Tibet Today” and
(right) Fan Wei-tsu

Arthro-cart

Saturday, September 5

10am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.
11am—4pm Insect Specimen Prepa-
ration Watch as museum scientists
prepare insects for the research col-
lection.

1 pm World Music performance of
folk music from Bolivia featuring
Raices Del Andes.

Sunday, September 6

10am—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.
11am—4pm Insect Specimen Prepa-
ration Watch as museum scientists
prepare insects for the research col-
lection.

Friday, September 11
11am—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Saturday, September 12
11am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.
1pm World Music performance of
jazz saxophone by Ari Brown.

Sunday, September 13
11am—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.
1pm World Music performance of
Latin American music by Maya
Marimba.

Friday, September 18
11am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Saturday, September 19
11am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.
1pm World Music performance of
the zheng, (the Chinese zither) by
Fan Wei-Tsu.

1:30pm Tibet Today & A Faith in
Exile—A slide presentation.

Sunday, September 20
11am—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.
1pm World Music performance of
African and Carribean dance by
Darlene Blackburn.

Friday, September 25

™ 11am-—3pm Arthro-
cart: Insect, arachnid,
& arthropod activities.
Saturday,
September 26
11am-—3pm Arthro-
cart: Insect, arachnid,
& arthropod activities.
1pm World Music per-
formance of Indone-
sian Dance courtesy of
the Indonesian Con-
sulate in Chicago.

September/October 1992 $

Sunday, September 27

11am—2pm Ledger Art Demonstra-
tion by Lakota artist, Francis
Yellow.

11am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Thursday, October 1

10am -1pm Weaving Demonstra-
tion by the North Shore Weaver's
Guild.

Friday, October 2
11am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Saturday, October 3

11am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.
1pm World Music performance fea-
turing flutes from Australia and
Japan by Douglas Ewart.

Sunday, October 4
11am—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Thursday, October 8

10am -1pm Weaving Demonstra-
tion by the North Shore Weaver's
Guild.

Friday, October 9
11am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Saturday, October 10

10am -1pm Weaving Demonstra-
tion by the North Shore Weaver's
Guild.

10am -3pm Geography Quiz Com-
puter Game, Passports exhibit self-
guided tours, Earthquakes and Plate
Tectonics and other geography
activities.

11am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Sunday, October 11

11am-3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.
14pm Weaving Demonstration by
the North Shore Weaver's Guild.

Wednesday, October 14
10am-1pm Geography Quiz Com-
puter Games, Passports exhibit self-
guided tours, Maps and other geog-
raphy activities.

Thursday, October 15

10am -1pm Weaving Demonstra-
tion by the North Shore Weaver's
Guild.

Friday, October 16
11am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Saturday, October 17

10am—1pm Weaving Demonstra-
tion by the North Shore Weaver's
Guild.

10am—3pm Geography Quiz Com-
puter Game, Passports exhibit self-
guided tours, Earthquakes and Plate
Tectonics, and other geography
activities.

11am—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities..

Sunday, October 18

11am—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.
14pm Weaving Demonstration by
the North Shore Weaver's Guild.

Wednesday, October 21
10am—-1pm Geography Quiz Com-
puter Games, Passports exhibit self-
guided tours, Maps and other geog-
raphy activities.

Thursday, October 22

10am -1pm Weaving Demonstra-
tion by the North Shore Weaver’s
Guild.

Friday, October 23
11am-—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Saturday, October 24

10am—-1pm Weaving Demonstra-
tion by the North Shore Weaver's
Guild.

10am—3pm Geography Quiz Com-
puter Game, Passports exhibit self-
guided tours, Earthquakes and Plate
Tectonics, Flag Display and other
geography activities to celebrate
United Nations Day.

11am—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Darlene Blackburn,
September 20

Sunday, October 25

11am-3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.
14pm Weaving Demonstration by
the North Shore Weaver's Guild.

Wednesday, October 28
10am—3pm Geography Quiz Com-
puter Games, Passports exhibit self-
guided tours, Maps and other geog-
raphy activities.

Thursday, October 29

10am -1pm Weaving Demonstra-
tion by the North Shore Weaver's
Guild.

Friday, October 30
11am—3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Saturday, October 31

10am—1pm Weaving Demonstra-
tion by the North Shore Weaver's
Guild.

11am-3pm Arthro-cart: Insect,
arachnid and arthropod activities.

Webber Resource Center
Native Cultures of the Americas
Books, videotapes, educator
resources, tribal newspapers and
activity boxes about native peoples
of the Americas are available.
Daily 10am—4:30pm

Harris Educational Loan Center
Chicago area educators may bor-
row activity boxes and small diora-
mas from Harris Center. For more
information call: (312) 322-8853.
Open House Hours:

Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:30-5pm
Saturdays 9am—5pm

Place For Wonder

A special room of touchable objects
where you can discover daily life in
Mexico, in addition to an array of
fossils, shells, rocks, plants and live
insects.

Weekdays: 12:30-4:30pm
Weekends: 10am—4:30pm

Pawnee Earth Lodge

Walk into a traditional home of the
Pawnee Indians of the Great Plains
and learn about their daily life dur-
ing the mid-19th century. Free pro-
gram tickets available from the
Information Desk in Stanley Field
Hall.

Weekdays: 1pm program
Saturdays: 10am—4:30pm;
Free ticketed programs at
11, 12, 2 & 3. Sundays:
10am—4:30pm

Craftspeople, demonstra-
tors, storytellers and per-
formers are sought to par-
ticipate in a variety of pro-
grams in 1993. To be con-
sidered, please send a
resume, photographs or
tape cassettes of your
work, and a self-
addressed, stamped,
return envelope to Visitor
Program Manager,
Department of Education,
Field Museum of Natural
History, Roosevelt Road at
Lake Shore Drive, Chica-
go, Illinois 60605. The
deadline for submission is
November 1, 1992.

Volunteers are needed for
group and public pro-
grams in “Ruatepupuke: A
Maori Meeting House,”
an exhibit scheduled to
open in March 1993.
Training begins in early
January. For more infor-
mation, please contact the Museum
Volunteer Coordinator, (312) 922-
9410, extension 360.

WORTH
ANOTHER
VISIT

: ngs é
bers’ tunnel, examine the funerary b

pharaoh, and conclude your journey in an

Egyptian marketplace.
On the Second Floor

* “Gems” — the science and social history of
precious stones.

¢ “China” includes case after
case of beautiful pottery, cer-
emonial objects, clay figures,
musical instruments, and a
very special case depicting the
Ten Courts of Purgatory.

° “Traveling the Pacific” and “Pacific Spirits,”
_ two of the Museum’s newest exhibits, feature

artifacts and spect peed dioramas oF

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

BOOKS ON NATURAL HISTORY

Recent books on natural history topics for
adults and children:

John and Julie Batchelor,

In Stanley’s Footsteps:

Across Africa from West to East

New York: Sterling Publishing, 1990

The Batchelors retraced the journey of famed
newspaper reporter and explorer Henry Morton
Stanley — who found the missing Dr. Living-
stone — in his attempt to rescue Emin Pasha.
The authors chronicle both Stanley's journey
and their own; the book includes contemporary
color photographs and period engravings.

John Cassidy, Explorabook: A Kid’s Science
Museum in a Book

Palo Alto: Klutz Press, 1991

A very amusing book from the Exploratorium
in San Francisco with instructions for simple
science experiments, as well as scientific tools
like a mirror, magnifying glass, and a diffrac-
tion grating right between its covers.

Arthur C. Clarke, How the World Was One:
Beyond the Global Village

New York: Bantam Books, 1992

This newest release from the author of 2001: A
Space Odyssey offers Clarke’s personal history
of the field of telecommunications and his pre-
dictions about the ways in which developments
in communications technology will change the
interactions of humans around the world.

Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin and Darryl
Wheye, Birds in Jeopardy

Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1992
Reviews the status of birds currently federally
listed as Endangered or Threatened, or listed by
the National Audobon Society as suffering
local or widespread decline, as well as provid-
ing pictures and stories about birds that have
been driven to extinction in the past two cen-
turies in the United States and Canada.

G.E. Fogg and David Smith,

Explorations of Antarctica:

The Last Unspoilt Continent

New York: Sterling Publishing, 1991

A combination of Fogg’s scholarship and
Smith’s unusual oil and water-color paintings
represent the ecology and history of exploration
of, and controversy surrounding, this harsh and
mainly unknown continent.

Hilary Dole Klein and Adrian M. Wenner,
Tiny Game Hunting

New York: Bantam, 1991

A paperback about environmentally healthy
ways to trap and kill the pests in your home and
garden, this book discourages the use of pesti-
cides, and describes ways to encourage “good
bugs” to eat “bad bugs,” and other natural
repellent methods.

Don Lessem, Kings of Creation
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992
Lessem examines the ways in
which a new generation of paleon-
tologists are debunking older theo-
ries about the physiology, behavior
and demise of the dinosaurs.

Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan,
Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of
Microbial Evolution

New York: Touchstone Books, 1991
This controversial book, reprinted in
paperback, claims that the evolution of
human life is based on, and subject to,
cooperation between microbes. Described
as “knocking humankind off its transcen- ©
dental pedestal,” it presents a vivid new
theory of the process of evolution.

Chris Mattison, A—-Z of Snake Keeping

New York: Sterling Publishing , 1991
Herpetologist Chris Mattison provides tips for
the care and feeding of snakes in one’s home,
and describes the habits and habitats of an array
of serpents, from albinos to sand snakes.

Theodore Roszak, The Voice of the Earth
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992

Cultural critic and history professor Roszak’s
previous works include Where the Wasteland
Ends and The Making of a Counterculture. In
this book, Roszak creates an “ecopsychology,”
claiming that human mental and physical well-
being is linked to the well-being of the bio-
sphere.

Tony Soper, Oceans of Birds

New York: Sterling Publishing, 1990
Describes and illustrates the habits and habitats
of coastal and sea birds rarely seen by anyone
but sailors.

David Suzuki and Peter Knudtson,

Wisdom of the Elders

New York: Bantam Books, 1992

In an attempt to provide “the foundations for a
new global environmental ethic,” Suzuki and
Knudtson explore beliefs about the interrela-
tionship between humans and nature shared by
Western science and the wisdom and stories of
native peoples from around the world.

Peter Ward, On Methuselah’s Trail: Living
Fossils and the Great Extinctions

New York: W.H. Freeman and Co., 1992
Ward examines animals and plants from around
the world which have survived with little or no
change for millions of years and which have
become a focal point in the discussion of the
causes of the “great extinctions.”

CONFERENCE ON CHINESE CELADON

hejiang province in China has been
/ famous for the delicate grey-green
glazed ceramics known as “celadon
wares” for over 2,000 years. There are two
kinds of Zhejiang celadon: Yue ware — the
older of the two, favored by 8th and 9th century
tea drinkers because of the contrast it made with
the tea — and Longquan ware, dating from the
11th century, prized for its jade-like qualities.
Shards of both types of pottery have been found
in East Africa and Madagascar, making celadon
ware a useful index to understanding early
East-West communication and trade.
Because the Field Museum has a substan-
tial collection of both types of ceramics, the

Anthropology Department has jointl mn
an international conference in : Kong,
August 24-26, on Yue and Longquan ware with

the Centre of Asian Studies at the University of
Hong Kong. Other sponsors include the T.T.

Tsui Museum, Mr. Joseph Hotung, and Artsand
Education, Ltd. Archaeologists and ceramic ~_ :
specialists from China, Japan, Sri Lanka, |
Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Phillipines —
and the United States were scheduled to attend. ~

9 September/October 1992

Giff Johnson

FROM THE FIELD

Right: The outrigger
in the Field Museum
exhibit was owned
by Jima Jimna, who
built it in 1977. Its
outrigger float was
salvaged from an
older canoe that
washed up on the
beach. Jimna and
Jennade Leon came
to Chicago to pre-
pare the canoe for
exhibit.

Below: Visitors fre-
quented the work-
shop in Majuro
where the “walap”
was being built. The
race against
Hokule’a is in
September.

CANOES...

(Continued from page 1)

Alessio says. “Marshallese are among the most
advanced engineers in hydrodynamic design.
Over the centuries they fine-tuned the craft.”
Paradoxically, while outsiders have failed to
recognize the value of Marshall Islands canoes,
so too have islanders themselves, Until recent-
ly, that is.

The project kicked off in 1989 on a
shoestring budget but with an ambitious agen-
da: to document the five major outrigger canoe
designs in the Marshall Islands for the benefit
of future generations. Filming, photographing,
and recording every phase of building different
style outriggers furnished the project with a
wealth of information. But perhaps more
important, it sparked a remarkable outpouring
of enthusiasm and pride from the builders and
the communities involved in the projects.

The Marshall Islands is a watery nation of
low-lying coral atolls sprinkled across 500,000
square miles of Pacific Ocean about ten degrees
north of the equator, with a population of about
49,000. Prior to World War II and the arrival of
the Americans, outrigger canoes were the pre-
ferred — indeed the only practical — mode of
travel for islanders: The total land area on many
islands doesn’t approach the size of an average
city block. For hundreds of years, Marshall
Islanders were among the leading Pacific voy-
agers and navigators, sailing scores of miles on
the open ocean with nothing to guide them but
their knowledge of the stars, the waves, and
ocean sweUs and currents.

Since the 1950s there has been a steady
decline in the use of outriggers, a pattern that
has closely paralleled the wholesale disruption
of island people’s identity and customs by rapid
modernization. Some remote outer atolls still
rely on outriggers, but the extent of use is noth-
ing compared to the pre-World War II period.

The Alele Museum launched the Waan
Aeloi Kein Project hoping to prevent the total
loss of knowledge at the very heart of Marshall
Islands society. Alessio recalls that as the pro-
ject began documenting canoes, everyone was
supportive and interested because canoe build-
ing is “all Marshallese.”

Yet what really stimulated a resurgence of
demand for outriggers was the Persian Gulf cri-
sis. Within days of the
outbreak of war in the
Middle East, gas
prices in the Mar-
shalls’ capital city,
Majuro, shot up. And
the far-flung outer
islanders suddenly
found themselves pay-
ing $4 a gallon for
gas.

“Within a week we
had about seventy
calls from the people
all over the Marshall
Islands wanting to buy
outrigger canoes,”
Alessio says. This
confirmed his thesis
that the outrigger
canoe can, especially
in modern times, serve
a practical economic
function. Most outer
islanders survive on
what is basically a subsistence diet. “There’s no
way most people can afford to buy outboard
engines and pay for gas,” Alessio says.

Times have changed, however, since the

September/October 1992 10

John Weinstein and James Balodimas

I9\h century. No longer are people growing

“ breadfruit trees specifically for building canoes.

For canoe building to remain viable today, the
main hull of the traditionally designed canoes
must be built using contemporary materials
such as plywood, Alessio says. All of the other
parts can be taken from the limbs of trees — a
sustainable use of natural materials. Integrating
modern materials with traditional designs is one
of the aims of the Waan Aeldi Kein Project.
Since 1989, the project has helped to build
and documented four different canoes on differ-
ent atolls with different builders. Several of
these have employed plywood for the hull,
while the outriggers and masts have been made

from local materials.

The project’s most ambitious canoe project
was launched in February: the building of the
country’s first voyaging canoe in more than 30
years. Impetus for the voyaging canoe was pro-
vided by the VI Festival of Pacific Arts — the
cultural Olympics for the Pacific — in Raroton-
ga, Cook Islands in October.

Unlike most of the previous canoes, which
were constructed on the isolated outer atoll
homes of the master builders, this 50-foot
walap or voyaging canoe was built in the heart
of downtown Majuro, the capital and urban
center (population 23,000) of the Marshalls.
Eight men from Enewetak Atoll — the farthest
of the far-flung atolls in this nation — worked
feverishly to get the outrigger in the water in
time for a race to the Festival site against the
famed Hawaiian sailing canoe Hokule’a. Their
work did not go unnoticed.

A constant flow of school classes, youth
and elders by the dozen, tourists, and members
of the news media stopped by the old ware-
house where the canoe was being built to watch
the canoe take shape. Many stayed for hours,
watching the progress. “The exciting thing for
me is to see Majuro youth, who have never
been exposed to traditional canoes, get so excit-
ed,” Alessio says. “To see their enthusiasm
makes it all worthwhile.” The canoe appears
anachronistic in Majuro’s modernized social
environment where more than 2,000 vehicles
ply the roads day and night, discos and bars are
a preferred entertainment, and nine-to-five jobs
are the rule. But precisely because there are so
few things that are truly Marshallese in this
small city, it isn’t dismissed by the younger
generation as old and outdated. “There is an
intangible quotient to the canoe in Majuro,”
Alessio says. “It is building a sense of pride and
status. It is much more meaningful than a video
because it is all Marshallese. The earrings and
ponytails that boys wear nowadays are not Mar-
shallese. But a canoe takes knowledge to
accomplish; there’s a sense of accomplishment.

“If you’re a young person with a sense of
accomplishment in your culture everything in
your life is easier.”

As the date for the South Pacific Festival
of Arts drew nearer, the support for the project
grew. Government agencies and private busi-
nesses donated funds and services. Where once
Alessio had to scrounge for every nickel, the

project was now able to hold its own financially
because of its community and international sup-
port. In addition to the Marshall Islands govern-
ment, grants came from the U.S. and Australian
govesnments as well as private groups and local
businesses.

The Marshall Islands voyaging canoe will
be transported to Aitutake Island in the Cook
Islands in September, where it will join
Hokule’a and other traditional canoes for a 140-
mile sail into Rarotonga for the opening of the
Festival of Pacific Arts.

The Waan Ael6f Kein project isn’t closing
up shop with the completion of this voyaging
canoe. “We'll build and document two more on
two outer atolls after the
Rarotonga project is fin-
ished,” Alessio says.
“We've got so much
information on canoe
designs. We'll put it in
the archives, but I’ve
never wanted it to sit on
the shelf.”

The spin-off benefits
of the documentation
process are almost limit-
less, he believes. He’s
hoping the information
they have developed can
be used for vocational
education and training

programs for students
and out-of-school youth. Incorporating canoe
building into established vocational training
programs could get canoes into daily use in the
urban centers. “If every school had an outrigger
canoe, there could be local and national races,”
he says. “Basketball and baseball are great
games, but they’re not Marshallese. Canoe rac-
ing is more Pacific than any other sport in the
region.”

Similarly, written and videotaped programs
from the project can be used as a base for Mar-
shallese history courses in the schools. Eco-
nomically, Alessio says that a canoe costs only
a fourth to a third as much as an outboard-
engine boat to operate. In Kiribati, the closest
neighbor of the Marshalls to the south, a recent
study showed that 72 percent of all the com-
mercially caught fish was brought in by tradi-
tional outrigger canoes, he says. That nation has
more than 5,000 canoes still in operation. “Kiri-
bati didn’t have the money to develop rapidly.
The Marshalls did and it threw away the old for
the new,” he says. In Namdrik and Ailuk, two
atolls where the project documented canoe
building, outriggers were bringing in two tons
of fish per week. “If people are eating well,
their outlook on life is different,” he says.

Alessio observes tha* canoes are the most
appropriate vehicle for transportation within
atoll lagoons that are as large as 30 miles across
and dotted with small islands. “You always get
there on a canoe,” he says. “With a motor boat,
you may not if the engine goes down. You
almost never hear about anyone getting lost at
sea in a canoe; it’s always in motor boats.”

The boat builder says that taking pride in
canoe building and sailing doesn’t mean you
have to live in a traditional house and eat all
traditional foods. “People don’t want to go
back,” he says. “But knowledge of canoes and
sailing sets a Marshallese aside from every
other culture. It identifies who they are.” Giv-
ing young islanders a strong sense of identity
provides a base of accomplishment from which
Marshall Islanders can participate in — and not
be overwhelmed by — the Western economies
and urban ways of life.

Giff Johnson was editor of the weekly Marshall
Islands Journal for more than seven years and
is now a freelance writer based in Majuro.

John C. Murphy

BORNEO ..

(Continued from page I)

or face as they foraged
along the walkway.
Morning wake-ups in
Danum are spectacular.
Because the valley is
only six degrees north of
the equator the sun rises
about 6 a.m. every day of
the year and sets about 6
p.m. The pre-sunrise
noise is mostly birds, but
gibbons quickly add their
unforgettable, reverberat-
ing calls. When these are
combined with the five
species of hornbills that
are all calling simultane-
ously, sleeping-in is
impossible.

The first morning in the field, we set up a
half-kilometer transect along a stream draining
a secondary forest. Its boulder-studded gravel
bottom, torrents, and waterfalls made walking
and climbing difficult on some parts of the
transect, but as long as we moved slowly and
watched the footing it was relatively safe. Paul,
Freddie, and Frederic did not seem to be both-
ered by the footing or the slippery rocks and
they moved as comfortably up and down the
stream as the rock-skipping frogs.

Our first night’s work was on a trail

through primary forest close to the field station.
During a 150-minute walk through the forest
we collected 37 amphibians and reptiles,
observed a mouse deer (a miniature deer that is
more the size of a large rabbit than a mouse),
and got an excellent view of a tarsier (a
prosimian with huge eyes and a long tail that
jumps from tree trunk to tree trunk).

Among the animals we found that first
night was a medium-sized, slow-moving lizard
with a prehensile tail, a cat gecko. These geck-
os are named for their retractile, cat-like claws.
A frog call that consisted of one musical note
often seemed to be coming from every direc-
tion. One of the workers took a parang (a large
knife) and cut a hole in a small sapling. Water
ran out of the cavity and a small tree-hole frog
soon followed. Three snakes were collected,
two red-bellied kukri snakes and a blunt-head-
ed snail-eating snake. All three were in the veg-
etation, a meter or more above the ground.

Immediately off the trail was a small
swamp. We headed into what appeared to be a
wall of dense vegetation, which quickly opened
up. The substrate had three inches of water and
a foot or more of mud. Insects were attracted to
our headlamps, and with each breath, dozens of
little arthropods were drawn into our nostrils.
As we scanned the water’s surface the eye-
shine of numerous frogs became apparent, and
within a few minutes we collected several ranid
frogs, mostly yellow-bellied puddle frogs and a
greater swamp frog. The swamp was an
unpleasant place; besides the bugs there were
spiny palms. These large sharp-spined plants
drop their leaves into the water, so when you

John C, Murphy

grabbed a frog it was likely to result in a spine
under a fingernail or in a knuckle.

Despite these hardships, field work at the
Danum study sites has produced almost 40
species of frogs — about equal to the total
number of frog species found in the entire state
of Illinois. What makes this number impressive
is that the Danum study sites were all within 15
miles of each other.

One of the greatest disappointments of my
trip was not seeing any really large snakes. The
largest snake we observed during this trip was
on a night transect on a stream in a bit of sec-
ondary forest; Paul was
working upstream about
50 feet from me. As I
looked upstream the
beam of his headlamp
was bouncing toward me
and in his excitement he
was having difficulty
telling me he wanted my
thick leather gloves. We
returned to his original
position, and gliding
across the stream in front
of us was a large man-
grove snake. It was at
least six feet long and
Paul was anxious to grab
it, but hesitant to do so without gloves. I was
mildly amused by this situation since I had seen
him pick up, bare-handed, a small Wagler’s pit
viper a few weeks before. At that time we had a
serious discussion about taking risks that could
lead to injury or death. Within moments of my
giving him the gloves he had
the snake in hand and in a
bag.

Although we were
actively searching for snakes
— spending at least five
hours in the field daily, and
recruiting help from the peo-
ple at the field station — we
collected only 50 snakes in
50 days of work. Nineteen
species were represented
among these 50 snakes, and
most of them were small fos-
sorial forms or the young of
moderate-sized species. Only
two of the fifty were ven-
omous. Our most common
finds were black collared
snakes, a tiny species with a pointed nose and,
surprisingly, no collar (at least not on any of
the specimens we collected). All of these were
found by sorting through leaf litter. Snakes are
difficult to find in tropical rain forests; their
cryptic coloration, secretive habits, and per-
haps-low population densities decrease the
opportunities for encounters with humans.

As we neared the end of our stay at
Danum, I still had not seen an orangutan
despite the fact that almost everyone else at the

Field Station had seen one or more of the
red apes. I blamed this ill fortune on my
three workers. As we would enter the for-
est for the morning’s work, these guys
would move as fast as possible toward
our destination, singing all the way. In
fact, the most English I could ever elicit
from Frederic at one time was lyrics to
old rock and roll songs. “Do-ah didee
didee dum didee do” was his favorite, but
I am not sure this passes for English.

On the day before we were to leave,
however, Theo DeVries, a Dutch ecolo-
gist who had been studying leaf-litter
arthropods at Danum for the past two
years, showed up and told us of a large
male orangutan on the west trail. He was
in a small tree, feeding on green fruits,
and seemed undisturbed by our arrival,
but eventually
realized that we were
blocking his escape,
and showed his agi-
tation by attempting |
to urinate on us. {
Eventually he decid-
ed that he would not
tolerate our presence
any longer, and as he
descended all of our | ~
hearts started to beat |
a little more rapidly.
As we backed away,
however, so did the
orang.

The next morn-
ing we left Danum. The roads in Sabah are
poor by American standards and for much of
the drive we could not exceed five miles per
hour. The scenery was quite depressing; oil
palm plantations have replaced much of the
tropical rain forest. Borneo is no longer a
wilderness — Danum Valley and a few other
locations are the last large expanses of primary
forest remaining in Sabah. The good news is
that if areas of secondary forest are allowed to
regrow, with some nearby patches of primary
rain forest, most or at least many of the rain
forest flora and fauna may survive the massive
deforestation. However, there is no doubt
humans have done some serious environmental
damage to the island.

Studies like the one being carried out at
Danum and another in southeast Asia by Inger
and Voris will provide the information needed
by governmental agencies to make sound man-
agement deci-
sions on log-
ging. Critical
questions —
where not to cut
trees, how large
an area needs to
remain uncut to
maintain the
species found in
it, and what
species can and
cannot survive
logging opera-
tions — are
important in
managing the
region’s biodi-
versity.

John C. Murphy

John C. Murphy is an Associate of the Muse-
um’s Division of Amphibians and Reptiles,
teaches biology and geology at Plainfield High
School in Plainfield, Illinois, and is active in
the Chicago Herpetological Society.

Top: A side pool of
water along a larger
stream provides an
excellent egg-laying
site for several differ-
ent kinds of frogs.
Pictured are Harold
Voris (left) and Paul
Yanbun.

Left: The Oriental
whip snake is com-
mon in the Danum
Valley but is difficult
to find because of its
thin green body that
resembles a plant
stem.

Bottom: Hose’s tree
toad, a common toad
that breeds along
streams and spends
its time in trees and
bushes.

11 September/October 1992

winaia

Exploring Amazonia

and Colonial Brazil ..s*
October 31 to November 17

Step aboard the World Discoverer to explore Amazonian tributaries and settlements;
cruise the Brazilian coast, docking to marvel at natural and human-made wonders.

Expedition cruising is for travelers who have a love for wilderness and a taste for adventure. This! 8-day,
17-night voyage will allow for an exciting, spontaneous and ricn exploration of the legendary Amazon and historic
Brazilian colonial cities. Stops on the itinerary may include: Lago Cararacu, a lake and fishing town off the
Amazon; Boca de Valeria, a Caboclo village built on the site of a prehistoric Indian Community; Belém, the capital
of northern Brazil's Para State and the chief commercial center and port of the Amazon River Basin; and Fortaleza,
where fresh seafood is sold daily off traditional jungada sailing rafts.

Throughout this journey, travelers will be accompanied by an experienced expeditition leader and a
distinguished group of naturalists. Dr. Thomas G. Lammers, assistant curator of vascular plants in the Department
of Botany at Field Museum, will also be on board to provide in-depth information on the plant life of the region.

Please take this opportunity to visit one of the world's most beautiful areas — the departure date is
October 31! Prices range from $4,900-S7050 — a substantial savings exclusively for Field Museum travelers.

Madagascar
November 6 to November 23
Island of the Ancestors and Nature's Sanctuary:

One of the world's most fascinating and unique
destinations.

A wondrous immersion in Malagasy art and culture and an
opportunity to see an amazing array of plants and animals,
including the sacred black lemur, found nowhere else on earth.
The itinerary includes Antananarivo, Ranomafana National Park,
Nosy Be, Lokobe Reserve, Nosy Komba, Fort Dauphin, Berenty
Reserve, and Perinet Reserve.

The tour is priced at $6,425 per person, including airfare.

1993 Tours:

Land of the Maya — and Belize's Barrier Reef — January 18 to 26

Explore the earliest American civilizations and the unspoiled realm of Belize’s coral reefs.

West Africa: Senegal and Mali — January 27 to February 11

Experience these rich and diverse cultures as few Americans ever will.

The Galapagos Islands — February 5 to 16

Journey to the consummate naturalist's paradise aboard the M.V. Santa Cruz.