Bundi. The Culture of a Papua New Guinea People.

Nerang, Qld: Ryebuck Publications, 1983. x, 165pp, index, map, glossary, num bw & col photographs, pictorial endpapers. Or pictorial laminated boards. Some foxing to prelims, otherwise excellent. SIGNED and inscribed (to Phil) by author (David Fitz-Patrick) on title page. The Bundi live in the Highland fringe of the Bismarck Ranges in Papua New Guinea. They occupy a position between the Ramu River lowlands and the cordillera in the foothills and auxiliary ranges and slopes from 500 to 1500 metres. The Bundi are also middle men in the trade between the Usino of the Ramu lowlands and the Highland chimbu. the Bundi provide consumables like piglets and sweet potatoes, prestige items like shell body ornaments and capital goods like palmwood bowls and palmleaf mats. From the Usino they receive such consuambles as dried meats and fish, lime, areca nuts, coconuts; prestige items like birdsof paradise plumes and capital goods such as wooden bowls. In pre-contact times they were the link for stone axes, and they and the Usino traded different kinds of salt and tobacco. This important book was co-authored by John Kimbuna, raised a Bundi. Their ethnography is a truly sensitive portrayal of traditional, pre-contact Bundi culture. Lavishly illustrated throughout.. Signed & Inscribed by the Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good. 4to.