Lot 191 D α

Cf. Kelm, H., Kunst vom Sepik, volume 1, Berlin, 1966, fig.45, for a similar crocodile collected between Ymas and Asangamut on the Yuat River and acquired by the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin from Lemaire in 1962.
The present lot was collected by Gerrits in the village of Yaminbot, in September 1965, in the same geographic area as the Berlin crocodile. At that time the carving
had been placed outside the men’s house and no longer served a ceremonial function but Gerrits’ informants told him it was called Manba, and had once been stored inside the men’s house where it played an important role as part of initiation rites. On such occasions the crocodile was lifted high in the air by men hidden from sight and bamboo flutes were inserted into four holes in the crocodile’s sides the sound represent- ing the roar of the animal. Women outside the men’s house cried as their sons were “devoured” by the crocodile. The general name for these carvings was taki.