Chapter VI
, Division III). On these he scores a definite gain. A few samples of the prices paid in Boyowa and those received in Dobu will indicate the amount of this gain.
Kuboma to Sinaketa. Dobu to Sinaketa.
1 tanepopo basket = 12 coco-nuts = 12 coco-nuts + sago + 1 belt 1 comb = 4 coco-nuts = 4 coco-nuts + 1 bunch of betel 1 armlet = 8 coco-nuts = 8 coco-nuts + 2 bundles of betel 1 lime pot = 12 coco-nuts = 12 coco-nuts + 2 pieces of sago
This table shows in its second column the prices paid by the Sinaketans to the industrial villages of Kuboma, a district in the Northern Trobriands. In the third column what they receive in Dobu is recorded. The table has been obtained from a Sinaketan informant, and it probably is far from accurate, and the transactions are sure to vary greatly in the gain which they afford. There is no doubt, however, that for each article, the Sinaketan would ask the price which he paid for them as well as some extra article.
Thus we see that there is in this transaction a definite gain obtained by the middlemen. The natives of Sinaketa act as intermediaries between the industrial centres of the Trobriands and Dobu, whereas their hosts play the same rôle between the Sinaketans and the men from the outlying districts.
Besides trading and obtaining of Kula valuables, the natives of Sinaketa visit their friends and their distant relatives, who, as we saw before, are to be found in this district owing to migrations. The visitors walk across the flat, fertile plain from one hamlet to the other, enjoying some of the marvellous and unknown sights of this district. They are shown the hot springs of Numanuma and of Deyde'i, which are in constant eruption. Every few minutes, the water boils up in one spring after another of each group, throwing up jets of spray a few metres high. The plain around these springs is barren, with nothing but here and there a stunted kind of eucalyptus tree. This is the only place in the whole of Eastern New Guinea where as far as I know, eucalyptus trees are to be found. This was at least the information of some intelligent natives, in whose company I visited the springs, and who had travelled all over the Eastern islands and the East end of the mainland.
The land-locked bays and lagoons, the Northern end of Dawson Strait, enclosed like a lake by mountains and volcanic cones, all this must also appear strange and beautiful to the Trobrianders. In the villages, they are entertained by their male friends, the language spoken by both
## parties being that of Dobu, which differs completely from Kiriwinian,
but which the Sinaketans learn in early youth. It is remarkable that no one in Dobu speaks Kiriwinian.
As said above, no sexual relations of any description take place between the visitors and the women of Dobu. As one of the informants told me:
"We do not sleep with women of Dobu, for Dobu is the final mountain (Koyaviguna Dobu); it is a taboo of the mwasila magic."
But when I enquired, whether the results of breaking this taboo would be baneful to their success in Kula only, the reply was that they were afraid of breaking it, and that it was ordained of old (tokunabogwo ayguri) that no man should interfere with the women of Dobu. As a matter of fact, the Sinaketans are altogether afraid of the Dobuans, and they would take good care not to offend them in any way.
After some three or four days' sojourn in Dobu, the Sinaketan fleet starts on its return journey. There is no special ceremony of farewell. In the early morning, they receive their talo'i (farewell gifts) of food, betel-nut, objects of use and sometimes also a Kula valuable is enclosed amongst the the talo'i. Heavily laden as they are, they lighten their canoes by means of a magic called kaylupa, and sail away northwards once more.
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