Food from Eastern Forests

The animal foods obtained and consumed by peoples living in and on the edges of rainforest, and the extent to which they are relied upon, reflect animal geography. The places we are concerned with here - Sulawesi, the islands of Nusa Tenggara, Timor, Maluku and Irian Jaya- all lie east of Wallace's Line. As we move eastwards through Wallacea there is a decrease in the numbers of terrestrial mammals and reptiles, characteristically Asian species being replaced by Australo-Pacific ones. Only in Irian Jaya does the diversity of these species begin to increase again. Large mammals in particular are rare or absent, and hunting is for the most part - small game hunting.

Sources of animal protein

The most important game throughout this area are wild pig and rusa deer, but these species have been introduced by human agency, and in Irian Jaya in particular the domestic and wild pig populations interbreed to a considerable extent. Indeed, other animals now important sources of food also appear to have been deliberately introduced: the feral water buffalo in parts of Sulawesi, the muntjak on Lombok, at least one species of civet in the Moluccas, and very possibly the cassowary on Seram. We now know that those tropical rainforest plants most frequently extracted by humans are often managed in ways which make the usual distinctions between cultivated and wild, domesticated and non-domesticated very fuzzy. It would seem that a similar situation pertains in the relations between humans and much rainforest megafauna in Indonesia. This is quite understandable when we consider that the duration of human interaction with rainforest species stretches back at least 10,000 years.

After pig and deer, various other mammals are locally significant. Among the Wana of eastern Sulawesi the anoa (Anoa depressicornis ) is hunted. Another bovid, the feral buffalo is hunted by the Maronene in southeast Sulawesi. The Tobaku hunt wild cattle, civets, macaques, squirrels and, reportedly, 10 species of rat. Some arboreal marsupials are hunted in Sulawesi (cuscus), but become much more important in the Moluccas and, especially, in Irian, where various possums, cuscus, tree kangeroos, and ground-living wallabies and bandicoots are regularly sought. The babirusa was formerly hunted in both Sulawesi and Buru, but is now rare. The larger fruit bats are patchily important throughout the area.

Of the birds, the most significant source of food is the cassowary, hunted in Irian and Seram for its lean thigh meat. Hornbills and other larger birds are also occasionally hunted for meat, both by indigenous peoples and opportunistically by migrant incomers. Megapodes are a common source of eggs in the Moluccas and Irian. In some parts of New Guinea they may be a crucial source of protein. Thus, the Daribi of Papua New Guinea reportedly collect as many as 280 eggs at a time, providing about 9 grams per person day. Other eggs (including those of cassowaries) are collected when available.

Among the reptiles, the main sources of food are the reticulate python and monitors. Frogs are sometimes important in protein-deficient areas.They are collected by Wana and Tobaku in Sulawesi, also in certain parts of Seram and widely in Irian. Freshwater fish may be locally important, but overall do not have the same significance as in the extensive lowland and slow-flowing riverine areas of Borneo and Sumatra.

The most important invertebrates are probably crustacea and molluscs collected in freshwater streams and rivers. The most important insect food is undoubtedly the larva of the sago weevil, Rhynochophorus bilineatu s. Insects as a whole are most important in Irian where, in addition to the sago grub, the caterpillars of various Saturnid and Noctuid butterflies, wasp larvae, the bugs Leptoglussus australis and Oncomeris, and spiders (Nephelia ) are favoured. Large crickets are considered a great delicacy by the Nuaulu of Seram. Honey and honeycomb is widely collected from various species of wild bee.

Techniques of hunting and collecting

Most traditional hunting is undertaken by single individuals using dogs, bow-and-arrow and spears on the fringes of settled areas. It is often nocturnal. Group hunting is also found, though is more likely to be associated with special occasions, such as rituals.The equipment varies depending on the prey and on the area. Hunting pigs requires a heavy spear with metal head, while cuscus and bats need a lighter spear which can be thrown upwards. These are often made from a single piece of bamboo. Also, different species are associated with different kinds of arrow head. Hunting cave bats may involve fire brands and sticks, and snakes rattan lassos. Blowpipes are known from parts of Sulawesi. Various traps are used: pits, snares for arboreal and ground animals, and deadly spring-loaded spear traps. Spears, baskets, bow-and-arrow, root poisons and stone dams are all used in freshwater fishing, and harpoons also in Gorontolo, Sulawesi.

Among traditional peoples, hunting and the preparation and distribution of forest meats, is a highly ritualised activity. The hunting of particular species may be limited by totemic or other proscriptions. Once game is caught, especially big game, it is subject to specific rules of dismemberment, distribution and sacrifice to ancestors. Other rituals may ensure that the spirit of the killed animal is returned to the cosmos. The extent to which such rituals are a form of regulation of resources is probably slight. However, there are often other deliberate measures to regulate meat supply, such as the sasi institution in the Moluccan islands.

The significance of forest foods

The extent to which hunting and the collection of forest animal foods is important in eastern Indonesia is related, as elsewhere, to the overall pattern of local human subsistence. Animals are a regular and primary source of protein only amongst hunter gatherers such as the Tugutil of Halmahera and peoples engaged in low intensity swidden cultivation, such as the Nuaulu. Among coastal fishing peoples they almost always take second place. The more intensive agricultural production becomes, the less important forest animals, except as famine foods or for trade. This is not to dismiss their economic significance, as what typifies traditional high intensity monocropping of rice, or other grains or tubers, is its vulnerability to periodic failure. At such times knowledge of, and access to, forest food of all kinds becomes crucial.

Development has affected traditional methods of forest extraction in several, contradictory, ways. On the one hand, substitution of rifle for bow-and arrow, or fish bombs for endemic plant poisons, has increased rates of potential extraction. However, government controls on firearms tend to minimize the effect of this. Overall, decrease in game numbers probably has more to do with population pressure, commercial hunting and deforestation. On the other hand, increasing Islamization of eastern Indonesia has led to a fall-off in pressure on wild pigs and in many areas they are considered major pests, often destroying the possibility of effective horticulture. Similarly, patchy deforestation multiplies those grassland niches suitable for grazing deer, raising their numbers in the short-term.