Chapter XII

, this type of gift was mentioned. As a rule, a considerable amount of food is taken on an expedition, and when a good valuable is known to be in the possession of a man, some of this food will be presented to him, with the words: "I pokala your valuable; give it to me." If the owner is not inclined to part with his Valuable, he will not accept the pokala. If accepted, it is an intimation that the vaygu'a will sooner or later be given to the man who offers the pokala. The owner, however, may not be prepared to part with it at once, and may wish to receive more solicitary gifts.

Another type of such a gift is called kaributu, and consists of a valuable which, as a rule, is not one of those which are regularly kulaed. Thus, a small polished axe blade, or a valuable belt is given with the words: "I kaributu your necklace (or armshells); I shall take it and carry it off." This gift again may only be accepted if there is an intention to satisfy the giver with the desired vaygu'a. A very famous and great valuable will often be solicited by gift of pokala and of kaributu, one following the other. If, after one or two of such solicitory gifts, the big vaygu'a is finally given, the satisfied receiver will often give some more food to his partner, which gift is called kwaypolu.

The food gifts would be returned on a similar occasion if it arises. But there would be no strict equivalence in the matter of food. The kaributu gift of a valuable, however, would always have to be returned later on, in an equivalent form. It may be added that the pokala offerings of food would be most often given from a district, where food is more abundant than in the district to which it is carried. Thus, the Sinaketans would bring pokala to the Amphletts, but they would seldom or never pokala the Dobuans, who are very rich in food. Again, within the Trobriands, a pokala would be offered from the Northern agricultural district of Kiriwina to men of Sinaketa, but not inversely.

Another peculiar type of gift connected with the Kula is called korotomna. After a Sinaketan has given a necklace to a man of Kiriwina, and this latter receives a minor valuable from his partner further East, this minor valuable will be given to the Sinaketan as the korotomna of his necklace. This gift usually consists of a lime spatula of whalebone ornamented with spondylus discs, and it has to be repaid.

It must be noted that all these expressions are given in the language of the Trobriands, and they refer to the gifts exchanged between the Northern and Southern Trobriands on the one hand, and these latter and the Amphletts on the other. In an overseas expedition from Sinaketa to Dobu, the solicitary gifts would be rather given wholesale, as the visitors' gifts of pari, and the subtle distinctions in name and in technicality would not be observed. That this must be so becomes clear, if we realise that, whereas, between the Northern and Southern Trobriands the news about an exceptionally good valuable spreads easily and quickly, this is not the case between Dobu and Boyowa. Going over to Dobu, therefore, a man has to make up his mind, whether he will give any solicitory presents to his partner, what and how much he will give him, without knowing whether he has any specially fine valuables to expect from him or not. If, however, there was any exceptionally valuable gift in the visitors' pari, it will have to be returned later on by the Dobuans.

Another important type of gift essential to the Kula is that of the intermediary gifts, called basi. Let us imagine that a Sinaketan man has given a very fine pair of armshells to his Dobuan partner at their last meeting in Sinaketa. Now, arriving in Dobu, he finds that his partner has not got any necklace equivalent in value to the armshells given. He none the less will expect his partner to give him meanwhile a necklace, even though it be of inferior value. Such a gift is a basi, that is, not a return of the highly valuable vaga, but a gift given to fill in the gap. This basi will have to be repaid by a small equivalent pair of armshells at a later date. And the Dobuan on his side has still to repay the big armshells he received, and for which he has as yet got no equivalent in his possession. As soon as this is obtained, it will be given, and will close the transaction as a clinching gift, or kudu. Both these names imply figures of speech. Kudu means 'tooth,' and is a good name for a gift which clinches or bites. Basi means to pierce, or to stab, and this is the literal translation of a native comment on this name:

"We say basi, for it does not truly bite, like a kudu (tooth); it just basi (pierces) the surface; makes it lighter."

The equivalence of the two gifts, vaga and yotile, is expressed by the word kudu (tooth) and bigeda (it will bite). Another figure of speech describing the equivalence is contained in the word va'i, to marry. When two of the opposite valuables meet in the Kula and are exchanged, it is said that these two have married. The armshells are conceived as a female principle, and the necklaces as the male. An interesting comment on these ideas was given to me by one of the informants. As mentioned above, a gift of food is never given from Sinaketa to Kiriwina, obviously because it would be a case of bringing coals to Newcastle. When I asked why this is so, I received the answer:

"We do not now kwaypolu or pokala the mwali, for they are women, and there is no reason to kwaypolu or pokala them."

There is little logic in this comment, but it evidently includes some idea about the smaller value of the female principle. Or else perhaps it refers to the fundamental idea of the married status, namely that it is for the woman's family to provide the man with food.

The idea of equivalence in the Kula transaction is very strong and definite, and when the receiver is not satisfied with the yotile (return gift) he will violently complain that it is not a proper 'tooth' (kudu) for his opening gift, that it is not a real 'marriage,' that it is not properly 'bitten.'

These terms, given in the Kiriwinian language, cover about half of the Kula ring from Woodlark Island and even further East, from Nada (Loughlan Islands) as far as the Southern Trobriands. In the language of Dobu, the same word is used for vaga and basi, while yotile is pronounced yotura, and kudu is udu. The same terms are used in the Amphletts.

So much about the actual regulations of the Kula transactions. With regard to the further general rules, the definition of Kula partnership and sociology has been discussed in detail in Chapter XI . As to the rule that the valuables have always to travel and never to stop, nothing has to be added to what has been said about this in Chapter III , for there are no exceptions to this rule. A few more words must be said on the subject of the valuables used in the Kula. I said in