Chapter XII

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[24] I spent about a month in these islands, and found the natives surprisingly intractable and difficult to work with ethnographically. The Amphlett "boys" are renowned as good boat-hands, but in general they are not such capable and willing workers as the Dobuans.

[25] Already Dr. C. G. Seligman has noticed that there are people of an outstanding fine physical type among the Northern Massim, of whom the Trobrianders form the Western section, people who are "generally taller (often very notably so) than the individuals of the short-faced, broad-nosed type, in whom the bridge of the nose is very low." Op. cit., p. 8.

[26] I have dealt with the subject of garden work in the Trobriands and with its economic importance more fully in an article entitled "The Primitive Economics of the Trobriand Islanders" in The Economic Journal, March, 1921.

[27] This does not mean that the general economic conclusions are wrong. The economic nature of Man is as a rule illustrated on imaginary savages for didactic purposes only, and the conclusions of the authors are in reality based on their study of the facts of developed economics. But, nevertheless, quite apart from the fact that pedagogically it is a wrong principle to make matters look more simple by introducing a falsehood, it is the Ethnographer's duty and right to protest against the introduction from outside of false facts into his own field of study.

[28] Compare Professor C. G. Seligman, op. cit., pp. 663-668; also the Author, article on "War and Weapons among the Trobriand Islanders," in Man, January, 1918.

[29] Compare the Author's article on "Fishing and Fishing Magic in the Trobriands," Man, June, 1918.

[30] The discovery of the existence of "linked" totems, and the introduction of this term and conception are due to Professor C. G. Seligman. op. cit., pp. 9, 11; see also Index.

[31] See the Author's article, "Baloma, Spirits of the Dead," Part VII, J.R.A.I., 1917, where this statement has been substantiated with abundant evidence. Further information obtained during another expedition to the Trobriands, established by an additional wealth of detail the complete ignorance of physiological fatherhood.

[32] See the Author's article "Baloma, Spirits of the Dead," quoted above.

[33] I am using the words religion and magic according to Sir James Frazer's distinction (see "Golden Bough," vol. I). Frazer's definition suits the Kiriwinian facts much better than any other one. In fact, although I started my field work convinced that the theories of religion and magic expounded in the "Golden Bough" are inadequate, I was forced by all my observations in New Guinea to come over to Frazer's position.

[34] Compare Professor C. G. Seligman, op. cit., the parallel description of the social institutions in the Trobriands, Marshall Bennetts, Woodlark Island and the Loughlans, Chapters XLIX-LV.

[35] By "current view," I mean such as is to be found in text-books and in passing remarks, scattered through economic and ethnological literature. As a matter of fact, Economics is a subject very seldom touched upon either in theoretical works on Ethnology, or in accounts of field-work. I have enlarged on this deficiency in the article on "Primitive Economics," published in the Economic Journal, March, 1921.

The best analysis of the problem of savage economy is to be found, in spite of its many shortcomings, in K. Bücher's "Industrial Evolution," English Translation, 1901. on primitive trade, however, his views are inadequate. In accordance with his general view that savages have no national economy, he maintains that any spread of goods among natives is achieved by non-economic means, such as robbery, tributes and gifts. The information contained in the present volume is incompatible with Bücher's views, nor could he have maintained them had he been acquainted with Barton's description of the Hiri (contained in Seligman's "Melanesians.")

A summary of the research done on Primitive Economics, showing incidentally, how little real, sound work has been accomplished, will be found in Pater W. Kopper's "Die Ethnologische Wirtschaftsforschung" in Anthropos, X--XI, 1915-16, pp. 611-651, and 971-1079. The article is very useful, where the author summarises the views of others.

[36] Professor C. G. Seligman, op. cit., p. 93, states that arm-shells toea, as they are called by the Motu, are traded from the Port Moresby district westward to the Gulf of Papua. Among the Motu and Koita, near Port Moresby, they are highly valued, and nowadays attain very high prices, up to £30, much more than is paid for the same article among the Massim.

[37] This and the following quotations are from the Author's preliminary article on the Kula in Man, July, 1920. Article number 51, p. 100.

[38] In order not to be guilty of inconsistency in using loosely the word "ceremonial" I shall define it briefly. I shall call an action ceremonial, if it is (1) public; (2) carried on under observance of definite formalities; (3) if it has sociological, religious, or magical import, and carries with it obligations.

[39] This is not a fanciful construction of what an erroneous opinion might be, for I could give actual examples proving that such opinions have been set forth, but as I am not giving here a criticism of existing theories of Primitive Economics, I do not want to overload this chapter with quotations.

[40] It is hardly necessary perhaps to make it quite clear that all questions of origins, of development or history of the institutions have been rigorously ruled out of this work. The mixing up of speculative or hypothetical views with an account of facts is, in my opinion an unpardonable sin against ethnographic method.

[41] Comparing the frail yet clumsy native canoe with a fine European yacht, we feel inclined to regard the former almost in the light of a joke. This is the pervading note in many amateur ethnographic accounts of sailing, where cheap fun is made by speaking of roughly hewn dug-outs in terms of "dreadnoughts" or "Royal Yachts," just as simple, savage chiefs are referred to as "Kings" in a jocular vein. Such humour is doubtless natural and refreshing, but when we approach these matters scientifically, on the one hand we must refrain from any distortion of facts, and on the other, enter into the finer shades of the natives' thought and feeling with regard to his own, creations.

[42] The crab-claw sails, used on the South Coast, from Mailu where I used to see them, to westwards where they are used with the double-masted lakatoi of Port Moresby, are still more picturesque. In fact, I can hardly imagine anything more strangely impressive than a fleet of crab-claw sailed canoes. They have been depicted in the British New Guinea stamp, as issued by Captain Francis Barton, the late Governor of the Colony. See also Plate XII of Seligman's "Melanesians."

[43] A constructive expedient to achieve a symmetrical stability is exemplified by the Mailu system of canoe-building, where a platform bridges two parallel, hollowed-out logs. Cf. Author's article in the Transactions of the Royal Society of S. Australia, Vol. XXXIX, 1915, pp. 494-706.