one or two really fine looking wives, he is usually to be found talking and taking his
food with Kadamwasila. He has also a few older wives, whom, according to the custom,
he inherited om his predecessor, in that case, his elder brother. The eldest of them,
Bokuyoba, the Dean of the Body of the chief ’s wives, has been twice inherited; she is
now a source of income for her male kinsmen have to supply yams to the chief and an
ob ect of veneration, and is now even relieved of the duty of cooking the chief ’s food.
To’uluwa sat, ate, and talked about his ourney to myself and some of the village
elders assembled there. He spoke of the amount of
a i at present in Kitava, told us
om whom and how he obtained those at which we were then looking, naming the
most important ones, and giving bits of their histories. He commented on the state
of gardens in Kitava, which in one respect, in the production of the big yams ( u i)
are the admiration of all the surrounding districts. He spoke also about future Kula
arrangements, expeditions to arrive om the East in Kiriwina, and of his own planned
movements.
On the aernoon of the same day, people om other villages began to assemble,
partly to hear the news of the chief ’s expedition, partly in order to find out what they
could obtain themselves om him. Headmen om all the dependent villages sat in one
group round the chief, who now had moved to the official reception ground, in ont of
his isiga. Their followers, in company with the chief ’s henchmen, and other inhabitants
of Omarakana, squatted all over the a u (central place), engaged in conversation. The
talk in each group was of the same sub ects, and did not differ much om the conver-
sation, I had heard om the chief on his arrival. The newly acquired armshells were
handed round, admired, named, and the manner of their acquisition described.
Next day, several sou a a (spondylus shell necklaces) were brought to Omarakana
by the various men om neighbouring villages to the West, and ceremonially offered to
To’uluwa (see Plates LXI, LXII, and Frontispiece). This was, in each case a aga (opening
gi), for which the giver expected to receive his oti e (clinching gi) at once om the
store of
a i. In this case we see the influence of chieainship in the relation between
Kula partners. In the inland Kula of Kiriwina, all gis would be brought to To’uluwa,
and he would never have to fetch or carry his presents. Moreover, he would always be
given and never give the opening gi ( aga); while his gi would invariably be oti e. So
that the chief sometimes owes a Kula gi to a commoner, but a commoner never owes
a gi to a chief. The difference between the rules of procedure here and those of an
u a a u overseas expedition is clear: in a competitive overseas expedition, valuables for
exchange are never carried by the visiting party, who only receive gis and bring them
back home; in the inland Kula, the determining factor is the relative social position of
the two partners. Gis are brought to the man of superior by the man of inferior rank,
and the latter has also to initiate the exchange.
The following entry is quoted literally om my notes, made in Omarakana, on No-
vember the Ith, . „This morning, the headman of Wagaluma brought a agi o u
(fine necklace). At the entrance to the village (it is Omarakana), they (the party) hal-
ted, blew the conch shell, put themselves in order. Then, the conch shell blower went
ahead, the men of highest rank took the stick with the agi o u, a boy carrying the
heavy wooden bell pendant on a a o a (wooden dish)”. This requires a commenta-
ry. The ceremonial way of carrying the spondylus shell necklaces is by attaching each
end to a stick, so that the necklace hangs down with the pendant at its lowest point
(see Frontispiece and Pl. LXI and LXII). In the case of very long and fine necklaces, in
which the pendant is accordingly big and heavy, while the actual necklace is thin and
agile, the pendant has to be taken off and carried apart. Resuming the narrative: „The
headman approached To’uluwa and said: Agu u e a, i ana o; aga a a a e; o u a ne
ga a
a i. This he said in thrusting the stick into the thatch of the chief ’s house”.
The words literally mean: „My u e a (food le over), take it; I brought it to-day; ha-
ve you perhaps no armshells?”. The expression „food le over” applied to the gi was
a depreciating term, meaning something which is an overflow or unwanted scrap. Thus
he was ironically depreciating his gi, and at the same time implying that much wealth
still remained in his possession. By this, in an oblique manner, he bragged about his
own riches, and with the last phrase, expressing doubt as to whether To’uluwa had any
Argonauts of the Western Pacific
armshells, he threw a taunt at the chief. This time the gi was returned immediately by
a fine pair of armshells.
It was in connection with the same expedition that the little exchange between two
of the chief ’s wives took place, mentioned before (in Chapter XI, Division II, under )
and one or two more domestic Kula acts were performed, a son of To’uluwa offering him
a necklace (see Plates LXI and LXII) and receiving a pair of armshells aerwards. Many
more transactions took place in those two days or so; sounds of conch shells were heard
on all sides as they were blown first in the village om which the men started, then on
the way, then at the entrance to Omarakana, and finally at the moment of giving. Again,
aer some time another blast announced the return gi by To’uluwa, and the receding
sounds of the conch marked the stages of the going home of the party. To’uluwa himself
never receives a gi with his own hands; it is always hung up in his house or platform,
and then somebody of his household takes charge of it; but the commoner receives the
armshell himself om the hands of the chief. There was much life and movement in the
village during this time of concentrated exchange; parties came and went with a gu a,
others arrived as mere spectators, and the place was always full of a gazing crowd. The
so sounds of the conch shell, so characteristic of all South Sea experiences, gave a special
flavour to the festive and ceremonial atmosphere of those days.
Not all the armshells brought om Kitava were thus at once given away. Some of
them were kept for the purposes of more distant Kula; or to be given on some future,
special occasion when a present had to be handed over in association with some ceremony.
In the inland Kula, there is always an outbreak of transactions whenever a big quantity
of valuables is imported into the district. And aerwards, sporadic transactions happen
now and then. For the minor partners who had received armshells om To’uluwa would
not all of them keep them for any length of time, but part of them would be sooner or
later passed on in inland transactions. But, however these valuables might spread over the
district, they would be always available when an expedition om another Kula community
would come and claim them. When the party om Sinaketa came in March, , to
Omarakana, all those who owned armshells would either come to the capital or else be
visited in their villages by their Sinaketan partners. Of the or so armshells obtained
in Kiriwina on that occasion, only thirty came om To’uluwa himself, and fi om
Omarakana altogether, while the rest were given om other villages, in the following
proportions:
Liluta . . . . . .
Osapola . . . . . .
Mtawa . . . . . .
Kurokaywa . . . .
Omarakana (To’uluwa) . .
Omarakana (other men) . .
Yalumugwa . . . .
Kasana’i . . . . . .
Other villages . . . .
Together:
Thus the inner Kula does not affect the flow of the main stream, and, however, the
valuables might change hands within the „Kula community”, it matters little for the
outside flow.
IV
It will be necessary to give a more detailed account of the actual conditions ob-
taining in Boyowa wth regard to the limits of the various Kula communities in that
district. Looking at Map IV, p. , we see there the boundaries of Kiriwina, which is
the easternmost Kula community in the Northern part of the islands. To the west of it
the provinces of Tilataula, Kuboma, and Kulumata form another Kula community, or,
it would be more correct to say, some of the men in these districts make the inland
Kula with members of neighbouring communities. But these three provinces do not
form as a whole a Kula community. In the first place, many villages are quite outside the
Kula, that is, not even their headmen belong to the inter-tribal exchange. Remarkably
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