KEY POINTS:
Clearly, the spirits of the ancestors were not happy at a white man being involved in the ancient rituals of Papua New Guinea's Ramu people.
As Justin Friend - very large and very, very white - was invested as a chief of Watam village, the heavens were split with flashes of lightning, thunder roared angrily and torrential rain fell upon us.
The dancing and singing continued despite the storm, and Justin was duly presented with a necklace of dog's teeth, a headdress of pig tusks, shells and cassowary feathers, and a woven billum bag with a design only a chief may carry. But although the villagers were obviously delighted with the occasion, the vile weather made it clear that someone higher up was displeased.
Watam village is at the mouth of the mighty Sepik River, a hot, wet, malarial spot where few foreigners have ventured.
Bob Foley, an American linguist who works out of Sydney University, was allowed to stay there a few years ago to study the language. His enduring contribution to village culture appears to be a special dish produced on festive occasions consisting of a slab of the staple fried sago bread with peanut butter and jam on top.
Now Justin was also being accepted into the village, and with him around 100 passengers from the cruise ship Orion. An old PNG hand, Justin was given the task of organising an itinerary which would give the ship's passengers an insight into the country's extraordinary range of cultures.
Watam, where the ancient Ramu customs have been little changed by contact with the outside world, but which offered easy access to passengers landing from the Orion's fleet of Zodiac boats, seemed ideal.
But, Justin explained to us, before that could happen he first had to make contact with the village, which he did via Foley.
Then he had to stay there for several days while the proposal and its implications for the village were discussed at length by each of the seven clans there.
And finally, when the village agreed, an "Orion Day" committee had to be set up representing each of the clans, agreements had to be reached on how to share the income and rules were drawn up - and posted in public - governing how everyone should behave.
As part of the arrangement the Orion even had to agree to pay for petrol so police officers could come from the nearest town, Angaram, to enforce the rules if necessary. And, to seal the deal, Justin was declared an honorary chief of the village.
When the big day came, the Orion anchored off Watam and Justin went ashore first - "just to make sure they've remembered that today is the day we're coming," he said. "I'm sure they have - we gave them calendars and everything with the dates marked on them - but you never know."
Fortunately, he was able to radio back that the locals had remembered and everything was set to go.
As we headed ashore a large canoe full of warriors with drums came out to escort us to the black-sand beach.
The high chief of the village was there in his traditional costume to shake everyone by the hand and offer a smiling, "Welcome, welcome".
Then singing, dancing men and women escorted us along the path to the neutral territory of the local school. There we were formally welcomed to Watam with more singing and dancing, some brief comments by the chief, the singing of the national anthem and the raising - upside down, someone noticed - of the flags of PNG and East Sepik Province. After that we were free to enter the village proper, led in by an extraordinary dragon, with a traditional
mask for a face, a 10m-long body, covered in grass, decorated with various fruits and flowers, and powered by around 20 locals.
The village centre consisted of a grassy rectangle surrounded by neat pandanus palm leaf huts and lined on this occasion by crafts people from all round the district selling their wares. Before we could go shopping, however, Justin had to be made a chief.
First there were traditional songs and dances which the village will perform every time the Orion visits. But then the women came forward, surrounded Justin, and performed a special ritual. And at that point the heavens made their protest known.
As the rain poured down, the women with their gleaming dark skins, grass skirts, garlands of flowers and beaming faces continued to dance around the bulky white shape of Justin, standing in their midst with an enigmatic smile on his face, clad only in a grass skirt - well, okay, he had shorts on underneath - a marvellously ornate ceremonial feather hat, masses of garlands and necklaces, and not one but two chiefly bags on his arms.
It was an extraordinary scene and one it's hard to imagine being repeated anywhere in the world.
Sadly, when the ceremony ended most of us left, the torrential rain posing a threat to cameras and making it difficult to see the crafts on display let alone buy them. But, at the beach to farewell us, there was the high chief again. "Thank you for coming. Sorry about the rain. Welcome."
* Jim Eagles cruised around Papua New Guinea with help from Air New Zealand (www.airnz.co.nz), Air Niugini (www.airniugini.com.pg) and Orion Cruises (www.orioncruises.com.au).
