Warrior Gives Museum Living History : Cultures: William Eiya of Papua New Guinea captivates schoolchildren and adults with account of his life. His view of L.A.: ‘Not enough fresh air.’

Activity came to a sudden halt at the chic Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel when William Eiya arrived Friday for a luncheon engagement.

Maybe it was because he walked in barefooted, wearing a huge, bat-shaped wig constructed from human hair and bird feathers atop his head. Or maybe it was because he rustled across the lobby wearing only a skimpy loincloth made from beads, thatched vines and pigs’ tails around his waist.

Eiya is a Stone Age jungle warrior from the remote central highlands of Papua New Guinea who stopped briefly in Los Angeles on his first trip to the United States.

During a quick visit to the county Natural History Museum where he wanted to gaze at dinosaur bones, Eiya surprised schoolchildren on an American history field trip by displaying his own polished bone club and telling them of the seven wives he left back home.

At the hotel, his unexpected appearance startled society matrons and prompted double takes from businessmen crowded into the hotel bar.

“He was stopping traffic outside,” said Inger Drysdale of Pasadena, who was so jolted by the sight of Eiya that she at first failed to notice the woman she had come to the hotel to meet, Ann Pascoe.

“I thought you were going to walk into the wall,” said Pascoe, of Seattle.

Said businessman Joseph Fuenzalita of Encino: “You don’t normally see people like that here. You see it in Hollywood, not Beverly Hills.”

You don’t see sights like he was seeing on Friday back home in the Tari Basin of eastern New Guinea, either, acknowledged Eiya--who had stopped on his way to a travel agents’ conference in Houston. He was flown here by Air Niugini, the national airline of Papua New Guinea.

“I’m going to tell people (back home) about the United States,” he said. “I’m going to tell them you can’t live here without a car. I could not live here. There are too many cars and big buildings. There’s not enough fresh air.”

Eiya, who figures he is about 42 years old, is a member of the Huli tribe. About 38,000 Hulis live in scattered hamlets across the center of New Guinea. Their existence was discovered in 1935.

Known in New Guinea as “wig men” because of the intricate human-hair wigs and ceremonial face paint worn by males, the Hulis are subsistence farmers who grow sweet potatoes, taro and sugar cane in fenced gardens. They are also known as a warlike people who arm themselves with bows and arrows; in the past, skirmishes between Huli groups have involved thousands of arrow-shooting marksmen and lasted for months.

But Eiya, who works as a tour guide when he isn’t tending his own vegetable garden, indicated he is more of a lover than a fighter.

“I have seven wives,” he told wide-eyed fifth-graders from Locust Elementary School in Fontana at the Natural History Museum. “I’ll probably have another 10 wives. I’ll stop when I’m 60.”

He said he had to pay a fee of about 25 pigs to the parents of each of his wives. “You have to build separate huts for every one of them because they don’t like to live together,” he added, explaining that the huts are scattered around the edge of his vegetable garden.

So far, Eiya said, he is the father of two girls and one boy--by his first wife. He said he is looking forward to the day when they marry and he collects his own pig payoff.

At the museum, the children weren’t exactly hog wild about the Huli marriage custom, however.

“Seven wives would fight with each other,” said Donnie Mason, 10. “I only want one wife. I have just one girlfriend now.”

Said classmate Jennifer Childers, also 10: “Donnie wishes he had more girlfriends!”