The Earthquake: Beliefs and Practices 
in the Central Highlands, New Guinea 
By H. Aufenanger 
Introductory Note 
Earthquakes occur rather frequently in New Guinea. Sometimes they 
are very strong and destructive. I saw people embracing trees, lest they be 
thrown on the ground by the violence of the tremors. In the light of these 
facts it would really be surprising if the natives’ minds had not been occupied 
with the solution of this strange phenomenon. As we shall see from the follow 
ing reports which were given to me by natives of some Highland tribes, most 
of the people believe in an “ur-animal” which causes the earthquake. Others 
think a personal being is responsible. A third group are of the opinion that 
the activity of the sun brings about the shaking of the ground. I present this 
paper without much comment and leave it to my colleages at home to find 
comparisons and relations regarding the earthquake ideas. 
GUYEBI 
When an earthquake occurs, people say : “A Yandara man has died.” 1 
Yandara is the place where the Mondono lies under the ground. This animal 
looks like a huge pig. When it emerges from a hole in the ground, the earth 
trembles. An old Yandara man, whose name is Kariagu, watches over this 
hole. The Mondono’s tail is short and it has large ears. Its hair is brown and 
in very bad order. When the Mondono leaves its hole, the earth loses its 
strenght and so it shakes. If, however, it lies in the ground, it gives strength 
to the earth, being mikai mbana “the foundation of the earth”. (There is a 
possibility that the Mondono is the mythical man whose brother Torima 
changed into a pig and whose name is Mondu 2 .) During an earthquake all 
the other parts of the world tremble, only the ground near the hole keeps 
1 Yandara is in the Gende area, on the northeast side of the Bismarck Range. 
2 Cf. H. Aufenanger und G. Holtker, Die Gende in Zentralneuguinea. Wien- 
Modling 1940, p. 161.