Nexus - 1704 - New Times Magazine-pages

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just like a person with large eyes, and breasts like a woman's. The rest of the body looked similar to that of a dolphin. They were so amazed at bringing such an unusual animal to the surface and concerned that it looked so human that they immediately released it into the sea. just like a person with large eyes, and breasts like a Anthropology, University of Virginia, entitled "The Ri: woman's. The rest of the body looked similar to that ofa Unidentified Aquatic Animals of New Ireland, Papua New dolphin. They were so amazed at bringing such an _—_ Guinea".’ Wagner was studying the local people and their unusual animal to the surface and concerned that it culture during 1979 to 1980 when he discovered that they ooked so human that they immediately released it into were all well aware of a scientifically unidentified marine he sea. animal variously called ri (in Barok), ilai (in Susurunga) I was incredulous, and told him that it must have been —_ and pishmary (pidgin English for "fish mary", mary being a dugong. He told me that it was not a dugong, because __ the word used for "woman’). hey regularly caught and ate dugongs, and that this was These island fisherman were well aware of the other quite a different animal altogether. I could not believe | marine mammals that shared their world and stated that hat | was receiving a description the ri was quite different to the of a mermaid and | told him that dolphin, porpoise, pilot whale such an animal could not ° . and dugong, the latter known as possibly exist and that he must They described the wu as bo narasi in Barok, meaning "pig ave heard the description from an air-breathing marine of the ocean" because of its fa a missionary and was then * body, rounded whiskery face and pretending to have observed one mammal with the head, vegetarian eating habits. They imself. To my surprise, my trunk, arms and genitalia described the ri as an air- informant became indignant. breathing marine mammal with He was clearly upset that, of a human, though the he head, trunk, arms and although I had been eager to lower trunk was legless... genitalia of a human, though the ear of the animals he had ower trunk was legless and encountered over his many erminated in a pair of latera years, | refused to believe his ins or flippers. Both sexes had encounter with an aquatic animal that resembled a long dark head hair. The females had obvious uman. It was as if | had questioned his integrity. | mammalian breasts and a body covered in human-like apologised to him and described the strange animal that skin, paler than that of the dark-skinned Melanesian had observed. | still found it hard to believe that had people. The fingernails were long and sharp and the encountered a mermaid. palms of the hands were deeply ridged and calloused. Eight years later, | was amazed to read that others had =‘ The face was somewhat monkey-like and the mouth was also encountered the New Guinea mermaid. In volume — unusual and fish-like. They lived largely in shallow water, one (1982) of Cryptozoology, the interdisciplinary journal of chasing, catching and eating fish, and they slept on sand the International Society of Cryptozoology, there is a __ bars and deserted beaches. paper by Roy Wagner, head of the Department of From the accounts of the local people, Roy Wagner found that the New Guinea mermaid is distributed around the shores o the Bismarck Sea, the Solomon Sea and the Pacific Ocean off the shores of the Bismarck and Solomon archipelagos. They are particularly distributed around the central and southern shores of New Ireland and the straits between the islands o Buka and Bougainville in the northern Solomon Islands. The ri also exis further west around Manus Island and off the north coast of New Guinea, where fishermen at Aitape have caught them in nets. When Wagner asked the local people why they had not shown the animal or reported its existence to the colonia administrators and other authorities, they replied: "But you people know The Amboina Mermaid all about the ri; you put pictures o (from Valentijn's The Natural History of Amboina, them on your matchboxes and reproduced in Carrington's Mermaids and Mastodons, p. Il) canned goods." They described the ri as an air-breathing marine mammal with the head, trunk, arms and genitalia of a human, though the lower trunk was legless... The Amboina Mermaid (from Valentijn's The Natural History of Amboina, reproduced in Carrington's Mermaids and Mastodons, p. Il) 56 * NEXUS JUNE - JULY 2010 www.nexusmagazine.com