V

Immediately after leaving Sarubwoyna and rounding the promontory of the two rocks, we come in sight of the island of Sanaroa, a big, sprawling, coral flat, with a range of volcanic hills on its western side. On the wide lagoon to the East of this island are the fishing grounds, where year after year the Trobrianders, returning from Dobu, look for the valuable spondylus shell, which, after their arrival home, is worked into the red discs, which form one of the main objects of native wealth. In the North of Sanaroa there is a stone in one of the tidal creeks called Sinatemubadiye’i, once a woman, the sister of Atu’a’ine and Aturamo’a, who, with her brothers came in here and was petrified before the last stage of the journey. She also receives offerings from canoes, coming either way on Kula expeditions.

Sailing further, some fine scenery unfolds itself on our left, where the high mountain range comes nearer to the sea shore, and where small bays, deep valleys and wooded slopes succeed one another. By carefully scanning the slopes, we can see small batches of some three to six miserable huts. These are the dwellings of the inhabitants, who are of a distinctly lower culture than the Dobuans, take no part in the Kula, and in olden days were the cowed and unhappy victims of their neighbours.

On our right there emerge behind Sanaroa the islands of Uwama and Tewara, the latter inhabited by Dobuan natives. Tewara is of interest to us, because one of the myths which we shall get to know later on makes it the cradle of the Kula. As we sail on, rounding one after the other the Eastern promontories of Fergusson Island, a group of strongly marked monumental profiles appears far on the horizon from behind the receding headlands. These are the Amphlett Islands, the link, both geographically and culturally, between the coastal tribes of the volcanic region of Dobu and the inhabitants of the flat coral archipelago of the Trobriands. This portion of the sea is very picturesque, and has a charm of its own even in this land of fine and varied scenery. On the main island of Fergusson, overlooking the Amphletts from the South, and ascending straight out of the sea in a slim and graceful pyramid, lies the tall mountain of Koyatabu, the highest peak on the island. Its big, green surface is cut in half by the white ribbon of a watercourse, starting almost half-way up and running down to the sea. Scattered under the lea of Koyatabu are the numerous smaller and bigger islands of the Amphlett Archipelago—steep, rocky hills, shaped into pyramids, sphinxes and cupolas, the whole a strange and picturesque assemblage of characteristic forms.

Plate VII  

In the Amphletts.

The sea-front of the main village on Gumasila (or Gumawana). (See Div. V.)

With a strong South-Easterly wind, which blows here for three quarters of the year, we approach the islands very fast, and the two most important ones, Gumawana and Ome’a, almost seem to leap out of the mist. As we anchor in front of Gumawana village at the S.E. end of the island, we cannot but feel impressed. Built on a narrow strip of foreshore, open to the breakers, and squeezed down to the water’s edge by an almost precipitously rising jungle at its back, the village has been made sea-proof by walls of stone surrounding the houses with several bulwarks, and by stone dykes forming small artificial harbours along the sea front. The shabby and unornamented huts, built on piles, look very picturesque in these surroundings (see Plates VII and XLIII).

The inhabitants of this village, and of the four remaining ones in the archipelago, are a queer people. They are a numerically weak tribe, easily assailable from the sea, getting hardly enough to eat from their rocky islands; and yet, through their unique skill in pottery, their great daring and efficiency as sailors, and their central position half way between Dobu and the Trobriands, they have succeeded in becoming in several respects the monopolists of this part of the world. They have also the main characteristics of monopolists: grasping and mean, inhospitable and greedy, keen on keeping the trade and exchange in their own hands, yet unprepared to make any sacrifice towards improving it; shy, yet arrogant to anyone who has any dealings with them; they contrast unfavourably with their southern and northern neighbours. And this is not only the white man’s impression.12 The Trobrianders, as well as the Dobuans, give the Amphlett natives a very bad name, as being stingy and unfair in all Kula transactions, and as having no real sense of generosity and hospitality.

When our boat anchors there, the natives approach it in their canoes, offering clay pots for sale. But if we want to go ashore and have a look at their village, there is a great commotion, and all the women disappear from the open places. The younger ones run and hide in the jungle behind the village, and even the old hags conceal themselves in the houses. So that if we want to see the making of pottery, which is almost exclusively women’s work, we must first lure some old woman out of her retreat with generous promises of tobacco and assurances of honourable intentions.

This has been mentioned here, because it is of ethnographic interest, as it is not only white men who inspire this shyness; if native strangers, coming from a distance for trade, put in for a short time in the Amphletts, the women also disappear in this fashion. This very ostentatious coyness is, however, not a sham, because in the Amphletts, even more than in Dobu, married and unmarried life is characterised by strict chastity and fidelity. Women here have also a good deal of influence, and take a great part in gardening and the performance of garden magic. In social institutions and customs, the natives present a mixture of Northern and Southern Massim elements. There are no chiefs, but influential elders wield authority, and in each village there is a head man who takes the lead in ceremonies and other big tribal affairs. Their totemic clans are identical with those of Murua (District II). Their somewhat precarious food supply comes partly from the poor gardens, partly from fishing with kite and fish trap, which, however, can only seldom be carried out, and does not yield very much. They are not self-supporting, and receive, in form of presents and by trade, a good deal of vegetable food as well as pigs from the mainland, from Dobu and the Trobriands. In personal appearance they are very much like the Trobrianders, that is, taller than the Dobuans, lighter skinned, and with finer features.

We must now leave the Amphletts and proceed to the Trobriand Islands, the scene of most of the occurrences described in this book, and the country concerning which I possess by far the largest amount of ethnographic information.

Plate VIII  

Group of Natives in the Village of Tukwa’ukwa.

This shows the type of coastal village, with the natives squatting round, to illustrate Div. I.

Plate IX  

Men of Rank From Kiriwina.

Tokulubakiki, a chief’s son; Towese’i and Yobukwa’u, of the highest and somewhat inferior rank respectively. All three show fine features and intelligent expressions; they were among my best informants. (See Divs. I and V.)

Plate X  

Fishermen From Teyava.

Types of commoners from a Lagoon village. (See Div. I.)

1 The best accounts we possess of the inland tribes are those of W. H. Williamson, “The Mafulu,” 1912, and of C. Keysser, “Aus dem Leben der Kaileute,” in R. Neuhauss, “Deutsch Neu Guinea,” Vol. III. Berlin, 1911. The preliminary publications of G. Landtmann on the Kiwai, “Papuan magic in the Building of Houses,” “Acta Arboenses, Humanora.” I. Abo, 1920, and “The Folk-Tales of the Kiwai Papuans,” Helsingfors, 1917, promise that the full account will dispel some of the mysteries surrounding the Gulf of Papua. Meanwhile a good semi-popular account of these natives is to be found in W. N. Beaver’s “Unexplored New Guinea,” 1920. Personally I doubt very much whether the hill tribes and the swamp tribes belong to the same stock or have the same culture. Compare also the most recent contribution to this problem: “Migrations of Cultures in British New Guinea,” by A. C. Haddon, Huxley Memorial Lecture for 1921, published by the R. Anthrop. Institute. ↑

2 See C. G. Seligman, “The Melanesians of British New Guinea,” Cambridge, 1910. ↑

3 Cf. C. G. Seligman, op. cit., p. 5. ↑

4 A number of good portraits of the S. Massim type are to be found in the valuable book of the Rev. H. Newton, “In Far New Guinea,” 1914, and in the amusingly written though superficial and often unreliable booklet of the Rev. C. W. Abel (London Missionary Society), “Savage Life in New Guinea” (No date). ↑

5 See Table in the Introduction (p. 16), and also Chapters XVI and XX. ↑

6 Cf. Professor C. G. Seligman, op. cit., Chapters XL and XLII. ↑

7 Professor C. G. Seligman, op. cit., Chapters XXXV, XXXVI, XXXVII. ↑

8 Cf. Professor C. G. Seligman, Chapters XXXVII and XXXVIII. ↑

9 My knowledge of the Dobuans is fragmentary, derived from three short visits in their district, from conversation with several Dobu natives whom I had in my service, and from frequent parallels and allusions about Dobuan customs, which are met when doing field-work among the Southern Trobrianders. There is a short, sketchy account of certain of their customs and beliefs by the Rev. W. E. Bromilow, first missionary in Dobu, which I have also consulted, in the records of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. ↑

10 Professor C. G. Seligman, op. cit., pp. 170 and 171; 187 and 188 about the Koita and Motu; and B. Malinowski, The Mailu, pp. 647–652. ↑

11 Comp. D. Jenness and A. Ballantyne, “The Northern d’Entrecasteaux,” Oxford, 1920, Chapter XII. ↑

12 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. ↑