Man-Eaters of
Baliem
Valley
By Elsie V. Gleason
C. & M. A. Photos
Outline map pin-pointing Lloyd and Doris Van Stone’s mountain mission station.
H i d d e n b e h in d mist-shrouded mountain ranges up to 16,000 feet high lies Baliem Valley in the heart of Dutch New Guinea. Four tribes live in the area: the Kapaukus, the Monis, the Uhudunis and the Danis. The Danis, most progressive, have the nicest houses and gardens; are the only ones to raise pigs. These fierce tribesmen smear themselves with pig fat and red clay, wear little else besides a gourd and live in small round houses. The women dress in grass skirts, care for the gardens and live in long community houses. The tribes are constantly in conflict. The victims of battle are taken home by the victors, the body, flaunted before the relatives standing at the boundary line begging for its return, is finally hacked in pieces, cooked and eaten. Christian and Missionary Alliance mission aries invaded this dark valley in April of 1954. The first to arrive were the Rev. and Mrs. Lloyd Van Stone. They came to the Dani tribe who accorded them the honor of being the first white people ever accepted into the tribe. The ceremonies consisted of the killing of a pig and mixing the blood, caught in a banana leaf, with the fat and smearing it over the bodies of the candidates. Thereafter they were privileged to roam at will in that vale of lost souls.
Naked Danis bombarded Van Stone with questions. Puzzled because he cannot understand every word, they put their faces close to his and shout. When missionaries put tin roof on house the natives glee fully raked their spears across it for several nerve-racking days. 16
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