Chapter VI was the one I saw on the beach of Omarakana.

On the actual expeditions, much of the ceremonial and all the rules of the Kula gifts, as well as of the pari and talo'i, the initial and farewell presents, are the same as in the South-Western branch of the Kula. The best plan will be to tell the story of a typical uvalaku expedition from Kiriwina to Kitava, noting the similarities and emphasising the differences, while one or two points of divergence will claim our special attention. There is a small, but interesting incident called youlawada, a custom which allows a visiting party to attack and damage the house ornaments of a man, to whom they bring a gift. Another important speciality of this Eastern Kula is the association of a mortuary feast called so'i with particularly abundant distributions of vaygu'a.

I had opportunities of collecting notes about the North-Eastern Kula and of making observations during my residence in Omarakana, in 1915-1916. I saw several expeditions from Kitava arrive on the beach, and camp for a few days. To'uluwa went twice to Kitava, and his return from one of these visits has been described in the last chapter. He also once started for an expedition there, of which I was a member. There was a change of wind, some time in September, and with the North wind which we hoped would last for a few hours, it would have been possible to cross to Kitava and to return at our pleasure with the prevailing South-Easterly. Half-way to our goal, the wind changed and we had to return, to my great disappointment, though this gave me a good example of the entire dependence of the natives on the weather. Unfortunately, To'uluwa got it into his head that I had brought him bad luck, and so when he planned his next trip, I was not taken into his confidence or allowed to form one of the party. Two years later, when I lived in Oburaka, about half-way between the Northern and Southernmost end of Boyowa, several expeditions from Kitava visited Wawela, a village lying across on the other side of the island, which here is no more than a mile and a half wide; and one or two expeditions left from Wawela for Kitava. The only big expedition which came under my notice was the uvalaku which was to leave some time in April or May, 1916, from Kiriwina to the East. I saw only the preparatory stages, of which the launching was described in Chapter VII.

Let us imagine that we follow the course of this Kiriwinian uvalaku. The first general intimation that it would take place, came after one of the visits which To'ulawa made to Kitava. He had heard there that a considerable quantity of armshells was soon to come to the island, for, as we shall see by the end of this Chapter, such big, concerted movements of valuables along the ring take place from time to time. To'ulawa then and there made arrangements with his chief partner, Kwaywaya, to make an uvalaku, which was to be the means of carrying on the big movement of the mwali. On his return to Omarakana, when the headmen of the other Kiriwinian villages assembled, the plans of the uvalaku were talked over and details arranged. Even in olden days, before the chief's power was undermined, though he used to take the initiative, and give decisions in important matters, he had to put the case before the other headmen, and listen to what they had to say. Their opinions on the occasion of which we are speaking, would hardly ever be in contradiction to his wishes, and it was decided without much discussion to make the uvalaku in about six months' time. Soon after, the rebuilding or refitting of the canoes began, in the manner previously described. The only slight difference in the preparations between Kiriwina and Sinaketa lies in the preliminary trade. The Kiriwinians have to go inland to the industrial districts of Kuboma, and they go there every man on his own account, to acquire the articles needed.

It will be best to say here at once all that is necessary about the trade between Kiriwina and Kitava. As these two districts are geologically and in other respects much more similar to one another than Sinaketa and Dobu are, the trade is not of such vital importance, with one notable exception, as we shall see. The articles of subsidiary trade, which a Kiriwinian expedition would carry with them to Kitava, are the following:--wooden combs; various classes of lime pots; armlets, plaited of fern fibre; turtle-shell earrings; mussel shell; coils of lashing creeper (wayugo); plaited fern belts, made originally in the d'Entrecasteaux. Of these articles, the most important are probably the mussel shells, used for scraping and as knives, the various kinds of lime pots, which are a speciality of Kuboma, and last, but not least, the wayugo. I am not quite certain as to whether this creeper is not to be found in Kitava, but as it grows only on marshy soil, it is hardly probable that it would thrive on a high, raised, coral island. In that case, the creeper is certainly the most indispensable of all the trade articles imported into Kitava from the Trobriands.

The Trobrianders import from the smaller islands a class of grass skirt made of coco-nut leaves; exceptionally well finished urn-shaped baskets; small hand-baskets; specially bleached pandanus mats; ornaments made of fragments of conus shell; certain classes of cowrie shell, used for ornamenting belts; ebony lime spatulæ; ebony walking staves; sword-clubs carved in ebony; and an aromatic black paint, made of charred sandal wood. None of these articles is of vital importance, as all of them, though perhaps in slightly different or even inferior quality, are manufactured or found in the Trobriands.

There was one article, however, which, in the olden days, was of surpassing utility to the Trobriand natives, and which they could obtain only from Kitava, though it came originally from further East, from Murua (Woodlark Island). These were the kukumali, or roughly shaped pieces of green-stone, which were then polished in the Trobriands, and in this state used as stone implements, while the biggest of them, very large and thin and well polished all over, became a specially important class of vaygu'a (articles of high value). Although the practical use of stone implements has naturally been done away with by the introduction of steel and iron, the beku (valuable axe blades) have still an undiminished, indeed, an increased value, as the white traders have to use them for purchasing pearls from the natives. It is important to note that although all the raw material for these stone implements and valuables had to be imported from Kitava, the finished valuables were and are re-exported again, as Kiriwina is still the main polishing district.

As to the manner in which the trade was done between the Kiriwinians and Kitavans, all that has been said previously on the subject of inter-tribal trade holds good; part of the goods carried were given as presents, part of them were exchanged with non-partners, some were gifts received from the partners on leaving.

II

Returning to To'ulawa and his companions, as time went on there was more and more stir in the villages. As usually, all sorts of ambitious plans were framed, and the youthful members of the party hoped that they would reach Muyuwa (or Murua, Woodlark Island) where Kula was not done, but where Kiriwinian parties sometimes went in order to witness certain festivities. On the subject of Muyuwa, Bagido'u, the elderly heir apparent of Omarakana, who however, as said in the previous chapter, will never succeed his uncle, had to tell his own experiences. As a small boy, he sailed there with one of the big chiefs of Omarakana, his maternal grandfather. They went to Suloga, the place where the green stone was quarried.

"There," spoke Bagido'u, "there was a big dubwadebula (grotto or rock shelf). The members of the Lukulabuta clan (this clan is called Kulutalu in Muyuwa) of Suloga, were the toli (masters, owners) of this dubwadebula, and could quarry the stone. They knew some megwa (magic); they charmed their axe-blades, and hit the walls of the dubwadebula. The kukumali (pieces of stone) fell down. When the men of Boyowa came to Suloga, they gave pari (presents) to the Lukulabuta men of Suloga. They gave them paya (turtle shell), kwasi (armlets), sinata (combs). Then, the Suloga men would show us the kukumali, and tell us: 'Take them with you, take plenty.' Good kukumali, which could be made into a beku (big wealth-blades) we would pay for; we would give our vaygu'a (valuables) in exchange. At parting, they would give us more kukumali as talo'i (farewell gift)."

It must be remembered, in comment on this narrative, that when Bagido'u went to Suloga, some thirty or forty years ago, the iron and steel had already long before rendered the small kukumali quite useless and worthless to the natives, while the big kukumali had still their full value, as material for the large blades which serve as tokens of wealth. Hence, the big ones had still to be paid for, and hence also the generous invitation to take as many of the small ones, as they liked, an invitation of which the visitors, with corresponding delicacy, refused to avail themselves. [84]

Another hero of the occasion was old Ibena, one of the Tabalu (members of the highest rank) of Kasana'i, the sister village of Omarakana. He has spent a long time on the island of Iwa, and knew the myths and magic of the Eastern archipelago very well. He would sit down and tell for hours various stories of famous Kula expeditions, of mythological incidents, and of the peculiar customs of the Eastern islands. It was from him that I first obtained my information about the mulukwausi and their customs, about shipwreck and the means of saving the party, about the love magic of Iwa, and many other facts, which only a man of cosmopolitan experience and culture, like Ibena, would know and understand thoroughly. He was a good informant, eager to instruct and to display his wisdom and knowledge, and not devoid of imagination; of the licentious and libidinous women of Kaytalugi (see Chapter X) and of what a man has to suffer there, he would speak as if he had been there himself. At this time, he was specially loquacious about the Kula, and associated customs, inspired as he was by the hope of re-visiting his old haunts, and by the admiration and reverence shown to him by his listeners, myself included.

The other members of the audience were most interested in his accounts of how they make gardens in Kitava, Iwa and Gawa; of the special dances performed there, of the technicalities of Kula, and of the great efficiency of the Iwan love magic.

At that time, I was able to obtain more information about the Kula, and that more easily and in a shorter while, than I had, with strenuous efforts, for months before. It is by taking advantage of such epochs, when the interest of the natives is centred round a certain subject, that ethnographic evidence can be collected in the easiest and most reliable manner. Natives will willingly state customs and rules, and they will also accurately and with interest follow up concrete cases. Here, for instance, they would trace the way in which a given pair of armshells had passed through the hands of several individuals, and was now supposed to have come round again to Kitava--and in such a way one receives from the natives definite ethnographic documents, realities of thought, and details of belief, instead of forced artificial verbiage.

I saw the proceedings as far as the ceremonial launching of the chiefs' canoes in Kasana'i and Omarakana (cf. Chapter VI), when the natives assembled in big numbers, and various festivities took place. Afterwards when everything was ready for sailing, a similar crowd gathered on the beach, though less numerous than the previous one, for only the neighbouring villages were there instead of the whole district. The chief addressed the crowd, enjoining strict taboos on strangers entering the village while the men were away. Such taboos, on the surface at least, are very carefully kept, as I had opportunities to observe during the two previous absences of To'uluwa. Early in the evening, everybody retired into his or her house, the outside fires were extinguished and when I walked through the village, it was quite deserted and except for a few old men specially keeping watch, no one was to be seen. Strangers would be careful not to pass even through the outskirts of the village after sunset, and would take another road to avoid the grove of Omarakana.

Even men from the sister-village of Kasana'i were excluded from entering the capital, and on one occasion when two or three of them wanted to visit their friends, they were stopped from doing it by some of the old men, with a considerable display of indignation and authority. As it happened, a day or two afterwards, but still while the Kula party were away, one of the favourite sons of To'uluwa, called Nabwasu'a, who had not gone on the expedition, was caught in flagrante delicto of adultery with the youngest wife of the very old chief of Kasana'i. The people of the latter village were highly incensed, not without an admixture of malicious amusement. One of these who had been expelled two nights before from Omarakana took a conch shell and with its blast announced to the wide world the shame and scandal of Omarakana. As a conch shell is blown only on very important and ceremonial occasion, this was a slap in the face of the supposedly virtuous community, and a reproach of its hypocrisy. A man of Kasana'i, speaking in a loud voice, addressed the people of Omarakana:--

"You don't allow us to enter your village; you call us adulterous (tokaylasi); but we wanted only to go and visit our friends. And look here, Nabwasu'a committed adultery in our village!"

The uvalaku party, to whom we now return, would cross the sea in a few hours and arrive in Kitava. Their manner of sailing, the arrangement of men in the canoe, the taboos of sailing are the same as in Sinaketa. My knowledge of their canoe magic is much smaller than of that in Southern Boyowa, but I think they have got far fewer rites. The sailing on these seas is on the whole easier, for there are fewer reefs, and the two prevailing winds would either bring them towards the Eastern islands, or push them back towards the long coast of Boyowa. The natives of Kiriwina are on the other hand far less expert sailors than the Sinaketans.

They have the same beliefs about the dangers at sea, especially about the participation of the flying witches in shipwreck. The history of such a calamity and the means of escape from it, given in one of the foregoing chapters (Chapter X), refers to these seas, as well as to the sea-arm of Pilolu.

These natives, as well as the Southern Boyowans, feel and appreciate the romance of sailing; they are visibly excited at the idea of an expedition, they enjoy even the sight of the open sea on the Eastern coast beyond the raybwag (coral ridge), and often walk there on mere pleasure parties. The Eastern coast is much finer than the beach of the Lagoon; steep, dark rocks alternate there with fine, sandy beaches, the tall jungle spreading over the higher and lower parts of the shore. The sailing to Kitava does not present, however, the same contrasts as an expedition to the d'Entrecasteaux Islands from Southern Boyowa. The natives remain still in the world of raised coral islands, which they know from their own home. Even the island of Muyuwa (or Murua, Woodlark Island) where I spent a short time, does not present such a definite contrast in landscape as that between the Trobriands and the Koya. I do not know from personal experience the Marshall Bennett Islands, but from an excellent description given by Professor Seligman, they seem to be good specimens of small raised atolls. [85]

With regard to magic, the most important initial rites over the lilava and sulumwoya are done in the village by the toliwaga (compare above,