by Carl Hoffman
85 When he visited Otsjanep three months later: Lapré, “Patrol Report Otsjanep, re: the headhunting on Omadesep Ultimo December 1957.”
10. MARCH 1958
87 Cameras flashed: Jones, The Possible Dream, p. 70.
88 “Prince and pauper, patrician and coolie”: Ibid., p. 57.
88 Sukarno emphasized Indonesia’s: Ibid.
89 For the Dutch, keeping its Papuan colony: Arend Lijphard, The Trauma of Decolonization (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1966), pp. 39–48.
89 Percy Spender, Australia’s minister for external affairs: “Australia’s Attitude on West New Guinea Unalterable: Spender,” Canberra Times, November 26, 1954; Bilveer Singh, Papua: Geopolitics and the Quest for Nationhood (Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2008), pp. 65–67.
89 winning 27 percent of the votes cast: Jones, The Possible Dream, p. 73.
90 “New Guinea had been the abandoned child”: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.
90 Jones’s words to Sukarno notwithstanding: Ibid., p. 70.
90 “It is essential for the Netherlands to see to it”: John Saltford, The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962–1969: The Anatomy of Betrayal (London: Routledge, 2006), p. 10.
91 The Dutch foreign minister, Joseph Luns: Ibid., pp. 10–11.
91 Returning West New Guinea to Sukarno: Ibid.
11. MARCH 1961
95 “I’m finally in New Guinea”: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, March 29, 1961, MMA Archives.
96 Heider had arrived the day before: Author’s interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011.
96 Michael perched in the cockpit: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, March 29, 1961, MMA Archives.
96 Michael scrambled into his seat: Ibid.
96 As Abby had done with Nelson: “Rocky as a Collector,” New York Times, May 18, 1969.
96 when he was eleven: Morgan, Beginning with the End, p. 215.
97 By the time he was nearing the end: Author’s telephone interview with Betsy Warriner, then girlfriend and later the wife of Samuel Putnam, June 2011.
97 to have a big adventure: Ibid.
97 Gardner ran the Harvard Film Study Center: Robert Gardner, Making Dead Birds: Chronicle of a Film (Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum Press, 2007).
98 In 1959 he’d begun casting about for the right project: Ibid., p. 7.
98 Gardner contacted Victor de Bruyn: Ibid., p. 8.
98 De Bruyn suggested a film about the Dani tribes: Ibid., pp. 12–19.
99 The United States and the Soviet Union: Author’s interview with Jan Broekhuijse, Nieuwkoop, Netherlands, December 2011.
99 like most observers fascinated with indigenous people: Gardner, Making Dead Birds, pp. x–xv.
99 At lunch one afternoon on Martha’s Vineyard: Author’s telephone interview with Peter Matthiessen, November 2011.
99 on the steps of the Peabody Museum: Author’s interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011.
99 Michael plunged in, learning everything: Gardner, Making Dead Birds, p. 25.
100 “My first reaction was one of terror”: Ibid., p. 33.
100 “At least my typing will get a good practicing”: Ibid.
100 “I have received all sorts of useful pointers”: Ibid., p. 34.
100 “I can assure you that he knows”: Ibid., 35.
100 “The flight in was spectacular”: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, April 2, 1961, MMA Archives.
101 A few days later they brought hundreds: Ibid.
101 a strong first impression: Outtakes from interview with Peter Matthiessen for The Seekers of the Lost Treasure (Discovery Channel, 1994).
101 as beautiful as Michael described it: In March 2012, I spent nearly a week in the Baliem Valley, where elderly Dani tribesmen who met and remembered their encounters with the Peabody expedition showed me the locations where Gardner and his team had worked.
101 The team shared civilized meals: Author’s interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011.
101 Michael found them “emotionally expressive”: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, April 14, 1961, MMA Archives.
101 “Polik, the warrior,” he wrote: Ibid.
102 They were so close to the action that one day: Author’s interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011.
102 “They went to war with a set of rules”: Author’s telephone interview with Peter Matthiessen, November 2011.
102 He “shot wildly,” he wrote: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, April 14, 1961, MMA Archives.
102 “Michael went away in tears”: Outtakes from interview with Peter Matthiessen for The Seekers of the Lost Treasure (Discovery Channel, 1994).
102 “Mike was very quiet”: Author’s interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011.
102 While Elisofon, the professional, would pose them: Ibid.
102 In the evenings Heider was astonished: Ibid.
103 “there is a large opportunity for me”: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Samuel Putnam, April 29, 1961, MMA Archives.
103 “Michael’s father had put him on the board”: Author’s interview with Karl Heider, Columbia, SC, June 2011; see also minutes of Museum of Primitive Art’s board meetings, MMA Archives.
104 “Collecting along the Sepik”: Robert Goldwater, letter to Michael Rockefeller, May 5, 1961, MMA Archives.
104 “looking forward to your coming up”: Ibid.
104 The two linked up in the capital: René Wassing, “Report from the Journey to the Asmat Region with the Gentleman M. Rockefeller,” National Archive of the Netherlands.
105 He’d finished high school late: Author interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.
105 “Make contact”: Ibid.
105 There wasn’t much to do: Ibid.
106 As there would be for years to come: in 1970: Trenkenschuh, ed., An Asmat Sketchbook Nos. 1 and 2, p. 37.
106 and even in the early 1980s Schneebaum: Schneebaum, Where the Spirits Dwell, p. 74.
106 Still, van de Waal traveled undefended: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.
106 their first encounter with Australian explorers: Schieffelin and Crittenden, Like People You See in a Dream, p. 222.
107 when Francisco Pizarro met the Inca emperor Atahualpa: Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel, p. 68.
107 When Englishman Charlie Savage arrived in Fiji: Ibid., p. 76.
107 an investigation of the Strickland-Purari patrol: Schieffelin and Crittenden, Like People You See in a Dream, pp. 231–32.
108 All of Asmat was based on reciprocation: For Asmat culture and cosmology, see Schneebaum, Where the Spirits Dwell; Knauft, South Coast New Guinea Cultures; Zegwaard, “Headhunting Practices of the Asmat of Netherlands New Guinea”; Eyde, “Cultural Correlates of Warfare Among the Asmat of South-West New Guinea”; Trenkenschuh, ed., An Asmat Sketchbook Nos. 1 and 2; van Kessel, “My Stay and Personal Experiences in Asmat”; and Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller.
108 Van de Waal showed Michael and Wassing around: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.
109 Van Kessel, he wrote Goldwater a few days later: Michael Rockefeller, letter (undated) to Robert Goldwater, MMA Archives.
109 “There has been something mysterious about my arrival”: Michael Rockefeller, field notes, MMA Archives.
110 But with the help of Gerbrands and Eyde: Ibid.
111 Michael was in ecstasy as hundreds of warriors: Ibid.
111 They left two days later at three p.m.: Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 107.
111 “First there was the quiet, leisurely departure”: Ibid.
111 “I only wish I could have somehow recorded”: Ibid., p. 111.
112
After seven hours, they arrived at a bivouac: Wassing, “Report from the Journey to the Asmat Region,” National Archive of the Netherlands.
112 And when he asked to see carvings: Michael Rockefeller, field notes, MMA Archives.
113 “This was one kind of object that”: Ibid.
113 Certain songs are so powerful: Author’s interview with Vince Cole, Agats, Papua, March 2012.
114 “There is no magic involved and no offering”: Michael Rockefeller, field notes, MMA Archives.
114 “an elusive personality”: Ibid.
115 “This was an old, beautiful one of a kind”: Ibid.
116 In the tangled knot of Asmat allegiances: Ibid; Wassing, “Report from the Journey to the Asmat Region,” National Archive of the Netherlands.
117 he had given a daughter to Dombai: Author’s interview with Kosmos Kokai, Basim and Pirien Village, Papua, February 2012.
117 “It was a marvelous paddle upstream”: Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 127.
117 The river twisted and turned and narrowed: Wassing, “Report from the Journey to the Asmat Region,” National Archive of the Netherlands.
117 Tatsji let out a long, melodious yell: Ibid.
118 “Now this is wild and somehow more remote country”: Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 128.
118 Michael continued on in the morning: Michael Rockefeller, field notes, MMA Archives.
118 found seventeen bisj poles: Ibid.; Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 141.
119 Michael noted that the poles seemed to have been carved: Michael Rockefeller, field notes, MMA Archives.
119 In exchange for tobacco: Wassing, “Report from the Journey to the Asmat Region,” National Archive of the Netherlands.
119 Michael gave them a partial down payment: Ibid.; Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 142.
120 “On our way to Biwar we had to cross”: Michael Rockefeller, field notes, MMA Archives.
120 Three days later, they arrived at the rendezvous: Ibid.; Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 142.
12. MARCH 2012
126 Tobias Schneebaum romanticized the Amazonian: Schneebaum, Keep the River on Your Right, pp. 100–110.
13. SEPTEMBER 1961
136 “What time is it and where am I”: Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 44.
136 “I think I can report with some confidence”: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Robert Goldwater, July 9, 1961, MMA Archives.
137 “He arrived in Otsjanep and was immediately stabbed/shot”: Hubertus von Peij, letter to Herman Tillemans, February 3, 1962, OSC Archives.
138 was “unique” for the United States: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Robert Goldwater, July 9, 1961, MMA Archives.
138 Goldwater wrote van Kessel: Ibid.
138 “Mr. Rockefeller is, as you know”: Robert Goldwater, letter to Cornelius van Kessel, July 27, 1961, MMA Archives.
138 “for its lack of acculturation”: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Robert Goldwater, July 9, 1961, MMA Archives.
139 Although Gaisseau was able to get the village: Tony Saulnier, The Headhunters of Papua (New York: Crown, 1963), pp. 69–92.
139 “with equally as talented sculptors”: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Cornelius van Kessel, June 10, 1961, MMA Archives.
139 “I will not exclude Otsjanep”: Cornelius van Kessel, letter to Michael Rockefeller, August 1961, MMA Archives.
139 “objectives; themes of investigation”: Michael C. Rockefeller, field notes, MMA Archives.
140 After a few days in Hollandia: Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 44.
140 “The key to my fascination with the Asmat”: Ibid.
141 “Nights here are really the most fun”: Ibid.
141 There was a single government vessel: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.
141 The catamaran was great on the rivers: Ibid.
141 “The sideboards were only ten”: Ibid.
142 “He was stuck, flabbergasted”: Ibid.
142 “I came in my own catamaran”: Ibid.
142 “Will you sell it to me”: Ibid.
142 He wanted to have a forty-five-horsepower outboard: Ibid.
142 At the local Chinese general store: Accounts of M. C. Rockefeller, MMA Archives.
143 “Both Rene Wassing and I”: Michael Rockefeller, letter to Cornelius van Kessel, October 7, 1961, MMA Archives.
143 They made a quick swing south first: Michael Rockefeller, field notes, MMA Archives.
144 “The evening was crystal clear”: Ibid.
144 “The Asmat has a special shout”: Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 45.
144 Over the next three weeks, he and Wassing: Ibid., p. 46.
144 He made intricate drawings of designs: Michael Rockefeller, field notes, MMA Archives.
144 “The only difference between Mark Twain and us”: Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 46.
145 “making use of the Sisters’ major contribution”: Ibid.
145 “The Asmat is like a huge puzzle”: Ibid.
147 Father von Peij got wind that two boys: Author’s interview with Hubertus von Peij, Tilburg, Netherlands, December 2011.
148 On Wednesday, November 15, at five p.m.: Ibid.
148 They sipped their tea and sat in chairs: Ibid.
148 “I’m leaving for Atsj on Friday”: Ibid.
148 “I have to go to Per first”: Ibid.
15. NOVEMBER 1961
157 The catamaran was fully loaded: Interview with René Wassing, as recounted in Morgan, Beginning with the End, pp. 22–24; Accounts of M. C. Rockefeller, MMA Archives.
158 They spent the night: Author’s interview with Hubertus von Peij, Tilburg, Netherlands, December 2011.
159 Wassing took the throttle: Morgan, Beginning with the End, p. 22.
159 Wassing throttled back: Ibid.
160 If we get swept out to sea, no one will find us: Ibid.
160 They weren’t afraid: Ibid., pp. 22–24.
160 Michael and Wassing gathered what they could: Ibid.
160 It wasn’t long until a wave: Ibid.
160 They salvaged what they could: Ibid.
160 they reached Agats at ten-thirty p.m.: Dutch Navy, telex to patrol ship Snellius, National Archive of the Netherlands.
160 the radio was buzzing: Dutch Navy, telex to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, November 20, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.
160 Dutch authorities in Agats scrambled the government vessel: Ibid.
161 But the boat had been inspected the day before: Author’s interview with Hubertus von Peij, Tilburg, Netherlands, December 2011.
161 And it had no operating radio: Dutch Navy, telex to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, November 20, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.
161 They pried a couple of boards: Morgan, Beginning with the End, p. 23.
161 Michael with the motor’s empty fuel tank: Ibid.
161 Wassing thought they were three miles off the coast: Reuters report, dossier 39666, Ministerie Van Binnenlandse Zaken, National Archive of the Netherlands.
161 “Let’s try to paddle again”: Morgan, Beginning with the End, p. 23.
162 “If you can make it, I don’t do it”: Ibid.
162 Michael had the one fuel tank already strapped: Ibid.
162 It was eight a.m. on November 19: Dutch Navy, telex to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, November 20, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.
162 He was swimming against the outflowing tide: Tide tables for Dutch New Guinea.
162 “I think I can make it”: Reuters report, dossier 39666, Ministerie Van Binnenlandse Zaken, National Archive of the Netherlands; Morgan, Beginning
with the End, p. 23.
162 until he became a dim form, three dots: Ibid.
16. NOVEMBER 1961
164 So it was that, on the evening of November 18: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962.
164 Ajim, a short, powerfully built man: Cornelius van Kessel, photo, OSC Archives.
164 He wore six-inch-wide rattan bracelets: Ibid.
164 There were Fin and Pep and Dombai: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962.
164 They paddled down the Ewta at slack tide: Tide tables for Dutch New Guinea.
165 They made Pirimapun on the morning: Author’s interview with Hubertus von Peij, Tilburg, Netherlands, December 2011; author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.
17. NOVEMBER 1961
166 At nine a.m. on Sunday, November 19: Dutch Navy, telex to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, November 20, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.
167 If that wasn’t bad enough, the very next day: Singh, Papua, p. 77.
167 the Dutch Royal Air Force kept a squadron: Author’s telephone interview with Rudolf Idzerda, January 2012.
167 The plane was the first designed: See Military Factory, “Lockheed P2V Neptune Land-Based Patrol Aircraft/VP Transport,” available at: http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=514; and Wikipedia, “Lockheed P-2 Neptune,” available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-2_Neptune.
167 a range of four thousand miles: Ibid.
167 At thirty-eight, the former fighter pilot: Author’s telephone interview with Rudolf Idzerda, January 2012.
167 Late on the morning of November 19: Ibid.
167 Von Peij, waiting for Michael: Author’s interview with Hubertus von Peij, Tilburg, Netherlands, December 2011.
167 Farther down the coast: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962.
167 After three hours, Idzerda’s navigator: Author’s telephone interview with Rudolf Idzerda, January 2012.
168 René Wassing spotted the plane: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.
168 As soon as Idzerda located the boat: Author’s telephone interview with Rudolf Idzerda, January 2012.
