The Decomposition of an Event

In one of the most remarkable visual memorials to first contact in the Papua New Guinea Highlands, Michael Leahy recorded the greeting given his companion, the patrol officer A. D. O. James Taylor.' A sequence of photographs shows him approaching a group of some eight men, taking off his hat, and opening his arms as he walks toward them. The men stand their ground, and are finally seen shaking hands. The event took place in 1933 in the mid-Wahgi; the people appear to be from the outskirts of what afterwards became known as the Mt. Hagen area. Taylor removed his hat to give a clearer view of his face. But I wonder if that simple act was not more disconcerting to the watching men than reassuring. I do not have access to evidence in the conventional sense. That the shot of