The subject of which this book treats and the material at our disposal are nearly exhausted. In describing the Southern branch of the Kula (between Sinaketa and Dobu) I entered into the details of its rules and associated aspects, and almost all that was said there refers to the Kula as a whole. In speaking of the N.E. branch of the Kula, which I am now about to describe, there will not therefore be very much new to tell. All the general rules of exchange and types of behaviour are the same as those previously defined. Here we have also big uvalaku expeditions and small, non-ceremonial sailings. The type of partnership between Kiriwinians and Kitavans is the same here, as the one obtaining within the Trobriands, and described in the last chapter. For the natives of the Eastern islands, from Kitava to Woodlark, have the same social organisation and the same culture as the Trobrianders, and speak the same language with dialectical differences only. Never any but friendly relations have obtained between them and many people are united by bonds of real kinship across the seas, for there have been migrations between the districts, and marriages are also not infrequent. Thus the general relations between overseas partners are different here from those between Sinaketa and Dobu. The visiting is not associated with any deep apprehensions, there is no ka’ubana’i (danger magic), and the relations between the visitors and hosts are much more free and easy and intimate. The rest of the Kula magic (except the ka’ubana’i) is identical With that in the South, and indeed much of it, as used all over Boyowa, has been received from the Kitavans. Many of the preliminary customs and arrangements of the Kula, the preparation of the canoes, ceremonial launching and kabigidoya are the same here. In fact, the launching described in 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.

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.1

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.2

With regard to magic, the most important initial rites over the lilava and sulumwoya are done in the village by the toliwaga (compare above, Chapter VII). The magic over the four coco-nuts in the canoe is not performed in Kiriwina. On arrival at the beach in Kitava, all the rites of beauty magic, as well as the magic over the conch shell are recited in a manner identical to that in Sarubwoyna (Chapter XIII). Here, however, the natives have to make the last stage of the journey on foot.

The party, headed by a small boy, probably a youngest son of the toliwaga, after whom the chief and the others follow, would march towards the village which is situated beyond the elevated ridge. When soulava (necklaces) are brought by the party—which, it must be remembered is never the case on an uvalaku—they would be carried ceremonially on sticks by some men following the chief. In that case, that is when the party are bringing Kula gifts—the youlawada ceremony is performed. On entering the village, the party march on briskly without looking to right or left, and, whilst the boy blows frantically the conch shell, and all the men in the party emit the intermittent ceremonial scream called tilaykiki, others throw stones and spears at the kavalapu, the ornamental carved and painted boards running in a Gothic arch round the eaves of a chief’s house or yam house. Almost all the kavalapu in the Eastern villages are slightly injured, that of To’uluwa having one of its ends knocked off. The damage is not repaired, as it is a mark of distinction.

This custom is not known in the Kula between Sinaketa and Dobu or Sinaketa and Kiriwina. It begins on the Eastern shore of the Trobriands, and is carried on as far as Tubetube where it stops again, for it is not practised in Wari (Teste Island) or on the portion of the Kula between Tubetube and Dobu. I myself never saw it practised in the Trobriands, but I saw a similar custom among the Massim of the South Coast of New Guinea. At a so’i feast which I witnessed in three different villages as it progressed from one to the other, the party who brought in gifts of pigs to a man attempted to do some damage to his trees or his house. A pig is always slung by its legs on a long, stout pole, dangling head downwards (see Plates V and LXIII): with this pole the natives would ram a young coco-nut or betel-nut palm or a fruit tree and if not stopped by the owners would break or uproot it, the pig squealing and the women of the damaged party screaming in unison. Again, a party entering a village with gifts to one of the inhabitants, would throw miniature spears at his house. A distinct show of fierceness and hostility is displayed on both sides by the natives on such occasions. Although the somewhat histrionic attack, and the slight but real damage to property were sanctioned by tribal usage, not infrequently among the Southern Massim serious quarrels and scrimmages were started by it. This custom has been observed by Professor Seligman among the natives of Bartle Bay. “As a man passed the house, they speared the wall with the branches they had been waving, and left them stuck in the walls.” And again: “… the people bringing them (the pigs) in, carried branches of trees or pieces of stick with a wisp of grass tied to the end, and with these speared the house of the man to whom the pigs were given.”3

When we remember what has been said about the style in which all gifts are given; that is, so to speak, thrown down fiercely and almost contemptuously by the giver; when we remember the taunts with which gifts are often accompanied, as well as the manner in which they are received, the youlawada custom appears only as an exaggerated form of this manner of giving, fixed into a definite ceremonial. It is interesting from this point of view to note that the youlawada is only done in association with vaga (initial gifts) and not with the yotile (return gifts).

The Kiriwinian party, after having paid their preliminary ceremonial visit in the village, given their gifts, both of the Kula and of the pari type, and had a long chat with their partners and friends, return in the evening to the beach, where they camp near their canoes. Sometimes temporary huts are erected, sometimes in fine weather the natives sleep under mats on the sand beach. Food is brought to them from the village by young, unmarried girls, who very often on that occasion arrange their intrigues with the visitors. The party will remain for a few days paying calls to the other villages of the island, talking, inspecting the gardens and hoping for more Kula presents. The food of Kitava is not tabooed to the chiefs, as the Kitavans abstain from the worst abominations. At parting the visitors receive their talo’i gifts which are brought down to their canoes.

The visits are returned by the Kitavans in very much the same manner. They camp on the sand beaches of the Eastern Coast. When weather-bound they erect temporary habitations, and I have seen whole families, men, women, and children living for days on some of the Eastern shores. For it is the custom of the men of Kitava to carry their women and small children on their trips. The Kiriwinians take sometimes unmarried girls, but they would never take their wives and small children, whilst in the South no Sinaketan women at all go on a Kula voyage however small and unimportant a one it may be. From big uvalaku expeditions, women are excluded in all the districts.

It has been mentioned in the last chapter that Kitava enjoys a privileged position in the Ring, for every single piece of valuables has to pass through it. The island of Kitava is a ‘Kula community’ in itself. All its neighbours to the West, the Kula communities of Kiriwina, Luba, Wawela, Southern Boyowa (that is, the villages of Okayyaulo, Bwaga and Kumilabwaga) cannot skip Kitava when they are exchanging, and the same refers to the Kitavan neighbours in the East. In other words, a man from the Eastern islands beyond Kitava, if he wants to pass an armshell westwards, has to give it to a Kitava man, and may not give it directly to some one beyond. The islands East of Kitava, Iwa, Gawa, and Kwayawata form one community. This is shown on Map V, where each ‘Kula community’ is represented by one circle. The Kula stream, after having concentrated in Kitava, spreads out again, but by no means as broadly as when it runs to the Westward, and overflows over the broad area of the Trobriands. Another point, in which the Kula of Kitava differs from that of Sinaketa or Kiriwina, a point on which I have touched already once before (in Chapter XIII, Division I) is that the small island has to make overseas exchanges on both sides. As we saw, the Sinaketans carry on big expeditions and make uvalaku only to their Southern partners, so that they receive only the one Kula article, the necklaces in this manner, while their armshells come to them by inland Kula, from their Northern and Eastern neighbours. The same mutatis mutandis refers to the Kiriwinians, who receive all their necklaces overland and make overseas Kula for their armshells only. The two islands of Kitava and Vakuta, as well as the other Marshall Bennetts are, so to speak, ambidextrous in the Kula and have to fetch and carry both articles overseas. This, of course, results primarily from the geographical position in a district and a glance at Map V will easily show which Kula communities have to carry all their transactions overseas and which of them have to do one half of them overland. These latter are only the Trobriand districts mentioned in the previous Chapter and the districts in Dobu.

This exhausts all the peculiarities of the Kula in Kitava except one, and that a very important one. It has been mentioned before, in fact it is obvious from the account of the uvalaku custom that the Kula does not run with an even flow, but in violent gushes. Thus the uvalaku expedition from Dobu described in Chapter XVI carried about 800 pairs of armshells from Boyowa. Such sudden rushes of the Kula articles are associated with an important institution, which is not known in the Trobriands or in Dobu, but which we find in Kitava and further along the Ring, as far as Tubetube (see Map V). When a man dies, custom imposes a taboo upon the inhabitants of that village. This means that no one on a visit is received in the village, and no Kula articles are given away from there. The community lying under the taboo, however, expect to receive as many Kula gifts as possible, and busy themselves in that matter. After a certain time, a big ceremony and distribution of goods, called so’i is held, and invitations are sent out to all the Kula partners, and, in the case of a big affair, even to people from districts beyond the boundary of partnership. A big distribution of food takes place in which all the guests receive their share, and then the Kula valuables are given in great quantities to the partners of that community.

The association of taboo on economic goods with mourning is a wide-spread feature of the Melanesian customs in New Guinea. I found it among the Mailu on the South Coast of New Guinea, where a taboo, called gora, is put on coco-nuts as one of the features of mourning.4 The same institution, as we saw, obtains in Dobu. Similar taboos are to be found among the Southern Massim.5

The importance of such economic taboos at times of mourning is due to another wide-spread association, that namely which obtains between mourning and feasts, or, more correctly, distributions of food, which are made at intervals during a more or less prolonged period after a person’s death. An especially big feast, or rather distribution, is made at the end of the period, and on this occasion the accumulated goods, usually coco-nut, betel-nut and pigs, are distributed. Death among all the coastal natives of Eastern New Guinea causes a great and permanent disturbance in the equilibrium of tribal life. On the one hand, there is the stemming of the normal flow of economic consumption. On the other hand, an innumerable series of rites, ceremonies and festive distributions, which one and all create all sorts of reciprocal obligations, take up the best part of the energy, attention and time of the natives for a period of a few months, or a couple of years according to the importance of the dead. The immense social and economic upheaval which occurs after each death is one of the most salient features of the culture of these natives, and one also which on its surface strikes us as enigmatic and which entices into all sorts of speculations and reflections. What makes the problem still more obscure and complex is the fact that all these taboos, feasts, and rites have nothing whatever to do, in the belief of the natives, with the spirit of the deceased. This latter has gone at once and settled definitely in another world, entirely oblivious of what happens in the villages and especially of what is done in memory of his former existence.

The so’i (distribution of food) as found in Kitava is the final act in a long series of minor distributions. What distinguishes it from its Boyowan counterparts and the similar ceremonies among the other Massim, is the accumulation of Kula goods. In this case, as we have said, the taboo extends also to the valuables. Immediately after death has occurred in a village, a large stick is placed on the reef in front of its landing beach, and a conch shell is tied to it. This is a sign that no visitors will be received who come to ask for Kula goods. Besides this, a taboo is also imposed on coco-nut, betel-nut and pigs.

These details, as well as the following ones, I received from an intelligent and reliable Kitavan informant, who has settled in Sinaketa. He told me that according to the importance of the death, and the speed with which the goods were accumulating after a year or so, word would be sent round to all the partners and muri-muri (partners once removed).

“When all are assembled,” my informant told me, “the sagali (distribution) begins. They sagali first kaulo (yam food), then bulukwa (pig). When pig is plentiful it would be given in halves; when not, it will be quartered. A big heap of yam food, of coco-nut, betel-nut, and banana would be placed for each canoe. Side by side with this row, a row of pig meat would be placed. One man calls out for the yam heaps, another for the pig-meat; the name of each canoe is called out. If it were a whole pig, they would say, ‘To’uluwa kam visibala!’ (To’uluwa, your whole pig)! Otherwise they would call out, ‘Mililuta, kami bulukwa!’ (Men of Liluta, your pig). And again, ‘Mililuta, kami gogula!’ (Men of Liluta, your heap). They take it, take their heap to their canoe. There, the toliwaga (master of the canoe) would make another small sagali. Those, who live near by, singe their meat, and carry it home in their canoes. Those who live far away, roast the pig, and eat it on the beach.”

It will be noted that the supreme chief’s name would be uttered when his and his companion’s share is allotted. With the shares of men of less importance, the name of the village is called out. As on all such occasions, the strangers do not eat their food in public, and even its re-distribution is done in the privacy of their camping place near the canoe.

After the distribution of the food, and of course before this is taken away by the parties, the master of the so’i goes into his house and takes out a specially good piece of valuable. With a blast of the conch shell, he gives it to the most distinguished of his partners present. Others follow his example, and soon the village is filled with conch shell blasts, and all the members of the community are busy presenting gifts to their partners. First, the initial gifts (vaga) are given, and only after this is over, such valuables as have been due of old to their partners, and which have to be given as clinching gifts (yotile) are handed over.

After the whole public distribution is finished and the guests have gone, the members of the sub-clan who organised it, at sunset make a small distribution of their own, called kaymelu. With that the so’i and the whole period of mourning and of consecutive distributions, is over. I have said before that this account of the so’i has been obtained only through the statements of several informants, one especially very clear and reliable. But it has not been checked by personal observation, and as is always the case with such material, there is no guarantee of its being complete.

From the point of view in which it interests us, however, that is, in connection with the Kula, the outstanding fact is well established; a mortuary taboo temporarily holds up the flow of Kula goods, and a big quantity of valuables thus dammed up, is suddenly let loose by the so’i and spreads in a big wave along the circuit. The big wave of armshells, for instance, which travelled along and was taken up by the uvalaku expedition of the Dobuans, was the ripple of a so’i feast, held one or two months previously at full moon in Yanabwa, a village of Woodlark Island. When I was leaving Boyowa, in September, 1918, a mortuary taboo was in force in the Island of Yeguma, or Egum, as it is pronounced in the Eastern district (the Alcester Islands of the map). Kwaywaya, the chief of Kitava whom I met on his visit in Sinaketa, told me that the people of Yeguma had sent him a sprouting coco-nut, with the message: “When its leaves develop, we shall sagali (make the distribution).” They had kept a coco-nut at the same stage of development in their village, and sent others to to all the neighbouring communities. This would give a first approach in fixing the date, which would be appointed more precisely when the feast was close at hand.

The custom of associating the so’i with Kula is practised as far as Tubetube. In Dobu, there is no distribution of valuables at the mortuary feast. They have there another custom, however; at the final mortuary distribution, they like to adorn themselves with armshells and necklaces of the Kula—a custom entirely foreign to the Trobrianders. In Dobu therefore, an approaching mortuary feast also tends to dam up the valuables, which, after its performance will ebb away in two waves of mwali and so’ulava along both branches of the Kula. But they have no custom of distributing these valuables during the final mortuary feast, and therefore the release of the vaygu’a would not be as sudden as in a so’i.

The same word—so’i—is used to denote the mortuary festivities over a wide area in the country of the Massim. Thus, the natives of Bonabona and Su’a’u, on the South Coast of New Guinea celebrate annually in November to January festivities, associated with dancing, gifts of pigs, the building of new houses, the erection of a platform and several other features. These feasts, which are held in an inter-connected series each year in several different localities, I had opportunities, as mentioned before, to see in three places, but not to study. Whether they are associated with some form of exchange of valuables I do not know. Mortuary feasts in other districts of the Massim are also called so’i.6 What is the relation between these feasts and those of the Northern Massim I am unable to say.7

These considerations bring us more and more to the point, where the two branches of the Kula which we have been following up from the Trobriands Southwards and Eastwards bend back again and meet. On this remaining part of the Kula, on which my information, however, is scanty, a few words will be said in the next Chapter.