THE NDUINDUI
A S tu d y i n th e S o c ia l S tr u c tu r e o f a
New
H ebridean Community
A t h e s i s su b m itte d f o r th e d e g re e
o f D o cto r o f P h ilo so p h y
i n th e A u s tr a lia n N a tio n a l U n iv e r s ity
By
M.R* A lle n
1964
U - k ~ l cj
y
This thesis is my original work
Michael R Allen
CONTENTS
Chapter
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................
, 1X
PREFACE............................................... X111
I.
ECOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND..............
1
II.
WEST AOBA AND ND U I N D U I..........................
30
PARISH STRUCTURE AND MEMBERSHIP COMPOSITION.........
65
IDEOLOGY OF KINSHIP AND KIN GROUPMEMBERSHIP
99
III.
IV.
V.
.....
LAND AND S O C I E T Y ..........................
120
VI.
BETROTHAL AND M A R R I A G E ...........................
151
VII.
SEX SEPARATION AND TIE SACRED K I N ................
189
VTII. TRADITIONAL RANK AND LEADERSHIP ....................
240
IX.
CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP...........................
280
X.
COMPETITIVE LEADERSHIP AND PARISHP O L I T I C S ..........
297
XI.
CONCLUSION......................................
324
111
LIST OF TABLES
Table
I*
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
Page
Population by Missions ..........................• • •
6
Linguistic Similarities and Differences; East and
West Aoba ......................................
34
Descent, Residence and Inheritance in the Northern
New Hebrides • • • • . . ......................
• • • • • • •
56
• • • • • • • • •
60
Birth Place of Nduindui Married Couples
Mission Representation in West Aoba
38
The Natal Mission Affiliations of Nduindui Married
Couples • ....................... . . . . . . . . .
Place of Residence of W i d o w s ......................
VIII. Type nAM Parishes
63
•
69
....................................
78
IX.
Type MB n Parishes
........
• • • • • • • • • • • • •
80
X.
Type nCM Parishes
........
• « • • • • • • • • • . .
87
XI. Type "D" P a r i s h e s .............................
XII.
Summary of Tables VIII to X I ......................
1V
88
.
89
7
T a b le
X III.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XV II.
Page
A g n ates and C a rp e ls ...............
R e sid e n c e A f f i l i a t i o n . .
• • • » • • • • • • • •
............................ . . . . . 9 1 - 9 3
A n a ly s is o f M u l t i c a r p e l l a r y Ngwatu i Vanua
• • • •
9&A
C o a st and I n la n d : A g n a tes and Non-^Agnates • • • • .
96B
Mota T erm in o lo g y • • • • • « • • • • • • • • • • •
115
X V III. R e sid e n c e o f Male A g n ates i n Lombanga P a r i s h
XIX.
90
N a v u ti Non-^Agnates
. . .
............................................................
130
137
XX.
I n te r - M a r r ia g e B etw een C o ast and I n la n d • • • • • •
143
XXI.
K in sh ip betw een M a rrie d C ouples • • • • • • • • • •
15#
C o n tr ib u tio n s t o M ag ie1s Wedding E x p en ses • • • • •
1.66
XX II.
XX III. D i s t r i b u t i o n o f Goods P re s e n te d t o T im othy
. . . .
169
. . • • • • • • •
172
XXV.
B e t r o t h a l D a t a ....................................................................
175
XXVI.
S a c re d , J o k in g and O rd in a ry K in • • • • • • • • • •
224
XXVII, The Ranks o f th e Graded S o c ie ty • • • • • • . • • •
255
XXIV.
D i s t r i b u t i o n b etw een Groom’s K in
V
35
T a b le
P age
XXVIII*
The M oli R i t e s ...............................................................................
261
XXIX .
A c re a g e o f P l a n t e d la n d Owned b y N a v u ti R e s id e n ts ••
282
LIST OF FIGURES
F ig u r e
P ag e
1•
N d u in d u i A f f i n a l T e n n s :
Man S p e a k in g
• • • • • • • • •
1 06
2*
N d u in d u i A f f i n a l T erm s:
Woman S p e a k i n g ..........................
3*
N d u in d u i C o g n ate Term s o f R e f e r e n c e
4»
Lombaha ( e a s t Aoba) C o g n ate Terms o f R e f e r e n c e • • • • •
110
5*
Lombaha: Own M a t r i l i n e a g e
110
.
• • • • • • • • • •
.........................................................
1 06
1 09
6*
Lombaha: F a th e r * s M a t r i l i n e a g e ........................ • • • • • • •
110
7.
Lombaha: M o th e r 's
110
8.
Lombaha: M o th er* s M o t h e r 's M a t r i l i n e a g e
• • • •
110
9.
M o th e r* s b r o t h e r - S i s t e r ' s c h i l d • • • • • • • • • • • •
111
F a t h e r 's M a t r i l i n e a g e • • • • • • • •
V anua Lava T e rm in o lo g y
10*
M ota an d
11*
E a s t A oba: I n c o r p o r a t i o n o f Remote K in (MIBDDD=f))
. . .
119
12*
E a s t A oba: I n c o r p o r a t i o n o f Rem ote K in (ZDDDD=Z) . • . •
119
13*
Lombaha P a r i s h S t r u c t u r e ..................................................................
129
14*
G roup A f f i l i a t i o n s i n Nanako - N a v ito r a C o n f l i c t • . • •
177
V1
• • •
• • • •
• • • • • • • • • 118
LIST OF MAPS
(end o f t h e s i s )
1•
Aoba
2.
N o rth e rn New H ebrides
3•
N duindui D i s t r i c t
4»
Nangweangwea P a r is h
5.
Saralokam bu P a r is h
6.
Lombanga P a ris h
7•
N a v u ti P a r is h
LIST OF APPENDICES
(end o f t h e s i s )
I*
II.
III.
IV .
V.
V I.
S k e le to n Genealogy o f Nangweangwea P a r is h
S k e le to n G enealogy o f L ov atu ru sa P a r is h
S k e le to n Genealogy o f Lokambu C a rp e l
S k e le to n G enealogy o f Lotano C arp el
S k e le to n Genealogy o f L o lo titira b a C arp el
S k e le to n Genealogy o f L o v u tik e re k e re C arp el
V II.
S k e le to n G enealogy o f S a ra n a v ia C a rp e l
V III.
S k e le to n Genealogy o f Lombanga C arp el
IX .
S k e le to n G enealogy o f Lomwandu C arp el
V11
X.
XI.
Xll.
Skeleton Genealogy of Namberumwele Carpel
Skeleton Genealogy: Land Dispute Saranambuga
Skeleton Genealogy: Land Dispute Natalu
Xlll.
SkeletonGenealogy of Navuti (Tambunatari)
Carpel 1
XIV.
SkeletonGenealogy of Navuti (Tambunatari)
Carpel 2
XV.
SkeletonGenealogy of Navuti (Tambunatari)
Carpel 3
XVI.
SkeletonGenealogy of Navuti Carpel 1
XVII.
SkeletonGenealogy of Navuti Carpel 2
XV111.
SkeletonGenealogy of Navuti Carpel 3
XIX.
SkeletonGenealogy of Navuti Carpel 4
V111
ACKNCWIfiDGMSNTS
I collected the material on which this thesis is based as a
Research Scholar of the Australian National University,
The research
was in part financed by a grant from the Colonial Development and
Welfare Funds recommended by the Colonial Social Science Research
Council,
I am indebted to Sir J.S. Rennie, formerly British Resident
Commissioner in the New Hebrides, who first proposed the study in
1957, and subsequently maintained a close and personal interest in its
progress.
I am also grateful to various officers of both the French
and the British Administrations for their co-operation and practical
assistance;
to the Suropean residents on Aoba, in particular Paul
Leroux and Paul Grant, for their unfailing help and
generosity;
and
above all to Solomon Gamali, Manuel Vira Lalau and many other Aoban3
for their friendship, hospitality and patient instruction.
Professor John Barnes first taught me anthropology at Sydney
University, and subsequently guided me through the present work.
Dr.
Paula Brown supervised the study patiently and sympathetically and
constantly sent me back to informants armed with new questions and
problems.
I completed the thesis as a member of the Anthropology Department
at Sydney University,
I am especially grateful to Dr, Ian Hogbin for
1X
his critical reading of each chapter in draft at least twice, and
for having saved me from innumerable blunders of grammar, style and
argument•
X
Plate I
Ambore) in foreground* Mountain shoulder sep
arates east from west Aoba.
Plate II
West Aoba. Traditional dwelling house in inland
hamlet.
Plate III
West Aoba. Young married couples h o u ® e finland
parish«
Plats IV
West Aoba* Young married couple's houise,ecastai
parish«
PREFACE.
The Nduindui are a community of about 1,500 persons who live
in the north-west c o m e r of Aoba island in the northern New Hebrides*
In this thesis I give a descriptive analysis of the social structure,
with special reference to environmental adaptation, deviant behaviour,
individual autonomy and other associated aspects of what can be best
termed structural l ooseness 1 or ’flexibility*.
The theoretically most rigidly structured society can be
initially defined as one in which a wide range of social behaviour
conforms to structural criteria, that is, persistent, repetitive,
pervasive etc.
(1 )
In such a society all or most of the individual’s
statuses, affiliations and activities would be determined by his or
her stipulated and unalterable membership of the component groups
and categories.
The individual could neither act autonomously on
his or her own behalf nor exercise any choice as to what groups
could be joined for specified purposes.
1.
The polar opposite of this
Firth, R. 'Some Principles of Social Organization', JRA I ,
Vol. 85, 1955, p. 2.
Xlll
abstract model (which might well be termed the 'absolute society')
would be the negation of the concept of social life itself, that
is, a collection of fully autonomous individuals.
Within the range of these two extremes Barnes
(1) has
recently contrasted such poly-segmentary African societies as the
Tallensi, Nuer and Tiv with the superficially similar agnatic
societies of the Hew Guinea Highlands.
He phrased the contrast as
that between bounded and unbounded affiliation, or African group
solidarity versus network cohesion.
In the African type of society
each individual knows his rightful place, even if he is not there,
within a structure of relationships based on a definitive dogma
of descent.
In the New Guinea type of society (and it applies
equally to most Melanesian societies) the position of an
individual in some crisis or large-scale enterprise is by no means
predetermined, affiliations are not ordered solely, or even primarily,
on the basis of descent, locality, rank, age or any other single
criterion of identification and differentiation.
The structure of
relationships in social situations is to a large extent determined
by the unique networks built up by self-made leaders and not by the
opposition of like solidary
groups within a fixed hierarchy of
segments.
1.
Barnes, J. A., 'African Models in the New Guinea Highlands',
Man, Vol. 62, 1962.
XIV
O th er r e l a t e d a s p e c ts o f New Guinea ’lo o s e ’ s tr u c tu r e a re a
re a d in e s s to ad ap t to changing c irc u m stan c es and to in c o rp o ra te
fo r e ig n c u l t u r a l e lem en ts; lo c a l v a r i a b i l i t y ; s tro n g in d iv id u a lis m ;
r e s i d e n t i a l m o b ility ; b i l a t e r a l o r q u a s i- u n ilin e a l d e sc e n t and
in h e r ita n c e ; m u ltip le c r i t e r i a o f lo c a l group membership; and
l i t t l e o r no em phasis on s e n i o r i t y , s p e c ia liz a tio n o f la b o u r o r
h ie r a r c h y o f any s o r t .
In t h i s t h e s i s I a tte m p t to d eterm in e how f a r th e v a rio u s
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f New Guinea lo o se s tr u c tu r e ap p ly to Nduindui
s o c ie ty .
In th e f i r s t c h a p te r I d e s c rib e and a n a ly se th e p r in c ip a l
s t r u c t u r a l changes t h a t have r e s u lte d from th e p a s t c e n tu ry o f
c o n ta c t w ith E uropeans.
I a ls o b r i e f l y c o n s id e r th e e x te n t to
which th e p a tte r n o f a d a p ta tio n has been in flu e n c e d by such
e c o lo g ic a l and to p o g ra p h ic a l f a c to r s a s la n d , c lim a te , n a tu r a l
re s o u rc e s and p o p u la tio n d i s t r i b u t i o n and d e n s ity .
In subsequent
c h a p te rs I a n a ly se in g r e a t e r d e t a i l th e i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h i p betw een
s p e c if ic
a s p e c ts o f th e s o c ia l s tr u c tu r e and h i s t o r i c a l ,
id e o lo g ic a l and economic v a r ia b le s .
In th e f i r s t p a r t o f c h a p te r two I d is c u s s some o f th e p r in c ip a l
s o c io - c u lt u r a l s i m i l a r i t i e s and d if f e r e n c e s between e a s t and west
Aoba and a ls o such im m ediate o v e rse a s n eig h b o u rs as th e Banks and
T o rre s I s la n d s , Mwaevo, Raga, th e Small I s la n d s and M alekula.
My concern i s to e s t a b l i s h th e e x te n t to which th e maximum c u l t u r a l
and l i n g u i s t i c u n i t s form d i s c r e t e and re c o g n is a b le s o c ia l c a te g o r ie s .
XV
In the second part I make a similar analysis of the relationship
between Nduindui and other west Aoba districts.
I also discuss the
three principal groupings within the district over and above the
maximum political unit (following Hogbin and Wedgwood I use the term
'parish* to refer to the largest local group which can be regarded as
having any permanent political unity - in the Northern New Hebrides
such groups vary in size from about 20 to 200 persons).
I refer to
the imprecise distinction between coast and inland dwellers; the
temporary alliances formed between a number of neighbouring
parishes (discussed in greater detail in chapter ten); and the
loose association between parishes of the same religious denomination.
In chapters three to six the investigation focuses upon the
parish.
The main questions dealt with are as follows:
the range of
variation in structural type; the extent to which membership
recruitment is definitive or optative; the degree of unilinearity as
expressed in the ideology of kin group recruitment; the relative
emphasis placed on individual as against group rights in respect to
property, especially land; and the extent to which the parish acts
as a corporate and solidary unit in various contexts.
In chapter three I first give a brief outline of the homestead
and the elementary family.
I then attempt to abstract from
genealogical and census date, oral traditions and sketch maps, the
effective structural principles governing the social composition of
both parishes and parish-sections.
XVI
In chapter four I relate this statistical information to the
ideal pattern as expressed in informants’ statements.
I demonstrate
that though special emphasis is given to genealogical relationships
traced through males, there is no definitive and explicit dogma of
patrilineal descent.
The bonds between agnatically related kinsmen
have no special significance outside the context of co-residence and
shared property rights.
Like the Few Guinea Highlands, the Hduindui
local group ’’may be similar in demographic appearance and de facto
kinship ties to a patrilineal descent group in which accessory
segments are continually being assimilated to the authentic core,
but its structure and ideology are quite different
(1)
In chapter five I discuss the relative emphasis placed on group
solidarity as against individual autonomy in respect to land rights.
I demonstrate that though patrifiliation is the dominant principle
affecting the transmission of rights from one generation to the
next, other principles may, in special circumstances, be legitimately
invoked.
Cash-cropping has replaced the traditional agricultural
economy to a greater extent in coastal than in inland parishes.
In
order to discuss some of the consequences of this change I compare
representative parishes from these two areas.
I consider this
chapter to be central to the thesis as I argue that the degree of
structural looseness of Melanesian societies, whether it is
1.
Barnes, J. A., 1962, P. 6.
XVII
manifest in processes of adaptation, group structure or inter-personal
relations, is in large part dependent on land types, methods of
utilization, scarcity and rules of inheritance.
In the first part of chapter six I consider the extent to which
the autonorny of the individual is limited by formal rules governing
the selection of spouses.
In the second part I examine the extent
to which the various exchanges of wealth associated with marriage
can be best regarded as private negotiations between individuals,
as transactions between ego-oriented kin categories drawn from
throughout the district, or as exchanges between two parishes
acting as corporate and solidary units.
In the third section I
consider the strength and endurance of the marital bond.
Chapter seven is concerned with two inter-related aspects of
role differentiation; male versus female, and sacred versus
ordinary relatives.'
The argument is based on the results of an as
yet unpublished comparative analysis of the relationship between
the sexes throughout Melanesia.
In this study I argue that there
is a close correlation between the degree of social and ritual
differentiation between men and women, and the degree of
unilinearity in descent, residence and inheritance.
The most
highly developed sex separation is found in those societies in
which all or most of the male members of the parish form a single
exogamous unilineal descent group.
The Nduindui parish deviates
from this ideal type in four respects - the statistical incidence
XV111
of non-agnatic affiliation, the presence of more than one descent
group, the possibility of marriage between semi-autonomous sections,
and the degree of bilaterality recognised both in the dogma of
descent and in the kinship terminology*
I would therefore expect a
modified version of the highly developed pattern of avoidance and
separation found in the more orthodox unilineal communities.
The
evidence presented in chapter seven confirms this interpretation.
In the second part of the chapter I argue that the ideology of
male-female polarity underlies the distinction between ’sacred* and
’ordinary' relatives.
The next two chapters deal with leadership and rank.
In common
with most Melanesian communities leadership is competitive and open
to all men with the necessary ambition and ability.
There are no
hereditary offices, no positions of authority allocated solely on
the basis of such fixed criteria as age or kin group seniority, no
hereditary transmission of rank, and no age grades.
The formal
component in the authority structure is provided in a series of
ranked titles.
In chapter eight I describe the traditional system
associated with the sacrifice of pigs; in chapter nine the
contemporary hierarchy of church titles.
My primary concern is to
assess the degree of rigidity imposed on an otherwise informal and
loosely structured system of leadership by the formal requirements
of achieving high*rank.
In chapter nine I also discuss the informal
requirements of leadership, especially that of accumulating and
distributing wealth.
XIX
In chapter ten I attempt to arrive at a more dynamic
understanding of Muindui society.
In British post-war social
anthropology, beginning perhaps with Fortes
in terms of a
"balance
' analysis of Tale society
of social forces" and further developed
in the Manchester groups' interest in such themes as conflict,
tension, struggle and ambivalence, we find an emphasis on movement
within a social system - not necessarily movement as leading Id
structural change, but rather the cyclical or repetitive alterations
that are inherent in even the most stable socio-cultural systems.
In Evans-Pritchard*s
(2)terms
this temporal approach to an
understanding of how societies work is essentially that of the
sociologically minded historian.
It is no accident that the subject
matter of such historians is frequently confined to that aspect of
social relationships concerned with competition for power,
It is
in such competition that the dynamic aspect of social relationships
can be most clearly discerned.
To ask how a society ’works' means
above all to ask how, by whom and under what circumstances, decisions
of policy are made - to ask what individuals and institutions are
concerned with the maintenance of the mores of the society, how they
come into conflict with one another, and how such conflicts are
resolved.
The answers to these questions are in large part supplied
1.
Fortes, M . , The Dynamics of Clanship Among the Tallensi, Oxford,
1945» P* 244.
2.
Evans-Pritchard, E. E.
1961, p. 3.
Anthropology and History,
XX
Manchester
in chapters eight and nine.
In chapter ten I take the analysis a
stage further by examining the inter-relationship between competitive
leadership and local organization.
By analysing a series of connected
(!)
social situations, or in Turner's terms "social dramas1',
that
occurred in a cluster of neighbouring parishes over a period of 25
years, I demonstrate how the size and political status of such
groups constantly alters with the rise and fell of outstanding
leaders.
Prom the point of view of the broader theme of structural
rigidity the purpose of the chapter is to determine the extent to
which local groups endure as autonomous units over a period of time.
I shall conclude this introductory note by briefly discussing
two of the primary characteristics of my method of analysis - the
historical and the comparative.
One of the main methodological difficulties faced by the
anthropologist is to define the spatial and temporal limits of the
phenomena that are to be described and analysed.
When the enquiry
is concerned with a narrow and precisely defined range of social
behaviour the problem, though at times considerable, is confined to
the selection of satisfactory criteria of differentiation.
But
when, as is frequently the case, the investigation is concerned
equally with such diverse phenomena as language, politics, kinship,
ritual etc. the complexities are greatly increased in that the
1.
Turner, V. W., Schism and Continuity in an African Society.
Manchester, 1957» P* 91»
XXI
limits of similarity may fail to coincide with one another.
For
example, the same language may he spoken a hundred miles from the
initial point of observation, whereas the political or the kinship
system may differ.
The same applies in the temporal dimension-
kinship and political organization may persist relatively
unaltered over a long period of time, whereas religion and
economics may undergo major alterations.
In an attempt to overcome these difficulties many anthropologists
have limited their field of enquiry spatially to a small community,
such as a village, and temporally to v/hat has been termed the
’ethnographic present’.
I have in part perpetuated this tradition
by intensively studying one parish and by concentrating on that
which occurred during my period of field work and in the immediately
preceeding years.
But at each stage of the analysis I have made every
attempt to avoid these arbitrary limits.
At the widest extension
my unit of study is west Aoban society as it existed over a period
of about a hundred years.
In considering such topics as local
organization, kinship, marriage, rank etc. I have described that
which I actually observed, and also as much as I can reconstruct of
earlier periods.
I have done so not in order to compare two
'ethnographic presents', but rather to increase my understanding
of the basic principles of social structure as they operate over an
extended period of time and in a changing cultural, political and
economic environment.
XXII
In a similar manner I have attempted to avoid arbitrary space
limitations.
In chapter two I have defined the limits of same
language and ®.me culture and indicated some of the more pronounced
similarities and differences with other like units in the northern
New Hebrides.
I have done so not simply to define the boundaries
of Nduindui society but to provide the
comparative material that is
essential in any enquiry concerned with establishing the extent to
a
which/specific structural attribute is characteristic of a given
social system.
In theory, it would be possible to gain a reasonably
accurate assessment of the degree of structural rigidity of Nduindui
society either by using abstract models or by selecting
representative examples from other ethnographic areas, such as Africa
or New Guinea.
In practice, the greatest insight is likely to be
gained when cultural, historical, ecological and other variables are
reduced to a minimum.
It is for this reason that I am particularly
fortunate in having worked in an area which, despite having much
that is common in both culture and social structure, nevertheless
provides examples of a wide range of variables in kinship, local
organization, the relationship between the sexes etc.
A prior understanding of the major variables found in the
northern New Hebrides must greatly enhance a detailed analysis of
the social structure of any one community.
This is particularly
relevant in the case of Nduindui as it occupies an intermediary
position not only between the eastern matrilineal and the western
XX111
patrilineal extremes, but also between east Aoba, where the emphasis
is placed on loose structure and individual autonomy, and Malekula,
north Raga, and to a lesser extent the Small Islands, where the
emphasis is placed on rigidity and group solidarity.
In other words,
though the occupants of the polar positions vary according to the
continuum chosen, in each case Nduindui remains in the intermediary
position.
This greatly facilitates the task of isolating those
factors most likely to lead to variations in the degree of structural
rigidity.
In a number of chapters, especially those dealing with sex
separation, land tenure and leadership, I indicate significant
variables not found in the northern New Hebrides but characteristic
of other Melanesian societies in New Guinea and in the Solomon
islands.
In each case I make the comparisons in order to gain
greater insight into the form and functioning of Nduindui society.
Many anthropologists object to this procedure in the same way that
earlier objections were made to historically oriented interpretations.
I am, however, convinced that so long as our analyses are confined
to individual societies the most that can be established is the
consistency with v/hich one set of social relationships inter-relates
with all or most other sets.
In the present thesis I have, wherever
possible, used the comparative method in an attempt to take the
argument a stage further by demonstrating necessary connections
between social phenomena.
In the final chapter I briefly consider
the logic underlying the inter-relationship between social structure,
culture and natural environment.
XXIV
CHAPTER
I
ECOLOGY AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Aobans, especially those who live in the north-west comer,
are renowned throughout the northern New Hebrides for the success
with which they have absorbed the upheavals and changes of the past
century of contact with Europeans.
Nduindui district is well populat
ed; the coconut pains are planted with the precision of a European
plantation;
an extensive network of roads has been built, and many
of the houses are fine looking concrete and wooden structures.
Stores,
restaurants, jeeps, launches, concrete wells and radios are all
commonplace possessions.
The whole population is nominally Christian,
and the most influential men are church leaders.
The community is
peaceful, and almost all disputes and quarrels are effectively dealt
with by either parish or district councils consisting of all senior
adult males.
The following brief comments made by Harrison in
1934 demonstrate
that even at this early date the Nduindui had achieved an exceptionally
high level of successful adaptation.
I found the Ctabans to be superior in look, intelligence
and energy to the western islanders. The population,
particularly around Nduindui, is strong, comparatively
2.
healthy arri apparently increasing despite constant stealing of
women by French planters. Their pride in themselves, coupled
with a desire to evolve along white lines, even surpass the
whites, transcends as nowhere else in the group, sectarian
barriers. I was told by the natives to let everybody in
England know that Omba was civilized, not peopled by ugly
black savages like the rest of the New Hebrides. These are
the only people who have proved themselves capable of running
a church of their own, the Church of Christ at Nduindui. They
study market values and experiment with cocoa and coffee. (1/
The capacity of a society to adapt its existing institutions to
radical changes in the external environment must be interpreted as
strong prima facie evidence for the existence of at least some degree
of structural flexibility.
In the present chapter I therefore give
a historical reconstruction of the way in which Nduindui society has
evolved under uncontrolled pressures from missions, traders, war and
ineffective administration from the Government.
In the first section
I examine the further possibility that topographical, climatic and
demographic factors have facilitated the many changes that have taken
place.
Natural Environment
Aoba island is 25 miles in length from east to west and at its
broadest point in the centre is about eight miles north to south.
From all sides the land rises first at a moderate gradient and then
*
more steeply until it levels off to a gently rounded summit at an
altitude of 4,500 feet.
The central plateau (Lolo Manaro) has been
formed from a series of volcanic eruptions and contains two large
1 * Harrison, T. 1Living in Espiritu Santo*, Scientific Results of
the Oxford University Expedition to the New Hebrides. 1933-4> London,
1951, P. 14tu
3*
lakes and surrounding swamps and sulphur springs*
inhabited;
This part i s un
indeed no dwellings come within two thousand feet of the
top* The place is said to be the home of the dead, and throughout
the northern New Hebrides the great mythological hero Takaro i s thought
to be closely associated with i t .
Physical evidence establishes beyond doubt th at major eruptions
have taken place, not only at the summit but also at innumerable
lesser craters extending from Lolowai in the east to Devil1s Rock in
the west.
One particular eruption is enshrined in a long myth as
having destroyed most of the north-west corner of the island.
The
most recent was a minor a ffa ir th at took place in Lombaha d is tr ic t in
the early part of th is century.
The Aobans, especially the westerners, liv e in a rich natural
environment v e il suited to the cultivation of root crops (both yams
and ta ro ), green vegetables, f r u it and nut trees* Wild birds, pigs,
c a ttle and fowl are in p le n tifu l supply in uninhabited inland areas*
The greater part of the coastline is rocky and rugged, and fishing is
consequently d iffic u lt and seldom practised.
The only good harbour is
in Lolowai bay at the easternmost tip , though two passable anchorages
are to be found at Redcliff on the south coast and at None bay in the
west.
All the remaining ports are open roadsteads.
The climate is divided into two seasons, the wet-and-hot period
of variable northerly and westerly winds (from November to March) and
the dryer-and-cooler period of steady trade winds (from April to
October), The midday temperature is usually between 80°F* and 90°F.,
with a humidity of between 80 and 90 per cent.
Rain f a lls throughout
4
the year, though it is normal for higher figures to be recorded in
the wet season.
January to March is frequently marked by torrential
downpours, gales sind at times hurricanes.
Annual rainfall can vary
from as low as 50 inches to as high as 200 inches.
The central plateau acts as a watershed, with part of the water
flowing inwards to the lakes and part outwards down a great number of
ravines.
In heavy rains these become cascading torrents emptying into
the sea, though a few hours later most of them are dry again.
There are no permanent rivers in west Aoba, and in the east there
are only three minor streams in Longana, Lorabaha and Lolokaro districts.
This topographical feature is especially relevant in considering the
adaptation to European contact.
In most of the neighbouring islands in
the northern New Hebrides the pre-contact population lived in inland
hilly areas away from the malarial coast.
When missionaries arrived
those converted were persuaded to come down and establish new settle
ments.
An additional motive was to find reasonably flat land suitable
for planting coconut trees.
In such areas the immediate consequences
of European contact were extreme.
The traditional pattern of settle
ment was disrupted; the separation of the pagan and Christian sections
of the community was physical as well as ideological;
and the coastal
dwellers were the first to suffer the effects of blackbirding, traders,
introduced European diseases, and perhaps most importantly of all, the
consequences of increased malaria.
In west Aoba the absence of rivers is correlated with a low
incidence of malaria.
The pre-contact population consequently lived
on or near the coast and up to about three miles inland.
Beyond this
5
point excessive dampness, steep gradients, deep ravines and dense
vegetation prevented settlement.
The introduction of Christianity
and cash-cropping did not therefore result in any significant change
in the traditional pattern of local organization.
Though the populat
ion has certainly declined over the past century, the mortality rate
has been considerably less than that reported in islands where contact
was followed by a move from the hills.
Yet a further consequence of the absence of rivers was the necess
ity to grow exceptionally large quantities of coconut trees.
It was
only by this means that the Nduindui could survive the occasional
long droughts which occur in the April to October period.
The people
were thus in an advantageous position when copra became a source of
wealth.
The subsequent development of large plantations was further
assisted by the level terrain and rich soil.
The Aobans are divided into two major communities differentiated
by a wide range of linguistic, cultural and social criteria.
In this
thesis I am primarily concerned with the inhabitants of the north
west corner, an area cut off from the rest of the island by the two
main shoulders of the central mountain, one falling abruptly to the
north coast just east of Lolotinge parish, and the other extending
eastwards as far as Devil*s Rock.
Mwerambeo (man below).
The people are known as the
They speak the same language and have the same
culture and same type of social organization.
The inhabitants of the
rest of the island are known as the Mweraulu (man above).
In future
I shall refer to these two peoples as the west Aobans and the east
Aobans
6.
Hb accurate census has ever been made*
Ranni© ^
estimated the
figure in 1i88$ at 10,000, but a rough census (2) taken in 1919 showed
only 4,000.
Possibly these figures are to be trusted, for between
these two dates the population fell throughout the New Hsbrides as a
whole.
The most reliable contemporary figure, 4,476, is given by a
British District Agent in 1954*
I» the following table the figures
for west Aoba are taken from my own census data and those of east Aoba
from the 1954 report.
If there is any error it is under estimation
for east Aoba, possibly by as much as two or three hundred.
Map
t
gives the population for each district.
TABLE I
POPULATION BX MISSIONS
;
.
West Aoba:
Mission:
East Aoba:
Toted:
373
1,415
1,788
Church of Christ
1,094
497
1,591
Apostolic Church
643
Melanesian Mission
—
643
Seventh Day Adventist
to
324
334
Roman Catholic
15
200
215
2,135
2,436
4,571
The Melanesian Mission has approximately 80 per cent of its
members in east Aoba.
1 # Rannie, D.
Lolowai, the headquarters for the northern part
My Adventures Among South Sea CannibalstLondQntI9I2,p#IOO.
2. Webb, A.S. •The People of Aoba1, Mankind. Vol. 2, No. 4, 1937,
P. 73.
7
of the archipelago, includes schools, hospital and leprosarium.
The
Cburch-of-Ghrist adherents are more evenly scattered, though the
greatest concentration (6£ per cent) is located in the western district
of Nduindui.
This also is the headquarters for the northern New
Hebrides and contains a junior and a senior school and a small
hospital.
The Roman -Catholic Mission (French Marist Brothers) has
two small congregations in the eastern p a r i s h e s o f Lolopoepoe and
Nangiri, and only fifteen adherents in the western parish of Lone,
The
missionary is resident at Lolopoepoe, where he maintains a small
school and clinic.
The Apostolic Church is confined to the west Aoban
district of Walaha where there is a resident missionary.
Finally,
the Seventh-Day-Adventists are scattered in small communities around
the island, though the majority live in Lolokaro district on the south
coast,
A missionary maintains a small school and clinic at Redcliff,
M y permanent residence was at Navuti in the centre of Nduindui
district.
During the course of two years(2) j visited every parish
in west Aoba and lived for three months in Lombanga in the interior.
On my second field trip I spent six weeks touring the whole of the
island, staying for short periods in the principal parishes in each
district,
I also made periodic visits to east Aoban districts to
1, Hogbin, H.I. and Wedgwood, C.H. “Local Grouping in Melanesia“,
Oceania. Vol. XXIII, No, 4, p.253, define a parish as *the largest
local group which can be regarded as having any permanent political
unity* • The authors prefer this term to *village*, an expression
that suggests a degree of centralization unusual in Melanesia, In
Aoba the word is particularly apt in that each parish possesses its
own church,
2. Nov. 1958 - Dec. 1959;
Jan. 1962.
Sept. 1960 - Dec, 1960;
June 1961 -
8.
to attend sacrificial rites, no longer practised in Nduindui*
investigations were made in the neighbouring
Brief
islands of Raga, Vanua
Lava, Malo and Wala (in the Small Islands)«
First contacts
The first European to land on Aoba was the French navigator
Bougainville«
In 1768 he went ashore somewhere on the north-east coast
to get water«
He was fired on by the Aobans to which he replied with
a round of gunfire«
His only observation was that the people are
Mshort, ugly, ill-proportioned and most of them infected by leprosy”* ^ )
No one has since agreed, but unfortunately Aoba is still marked on some
maps as Leper's Island*
As Bishop Patteson of the Melanesian Mission
wrote in 1868, ”.*. this magnificent island is inhabited by a singular
ly fine race of people, never was a place more completely misnamed«” ^
The expansion of European interests in the Pacific did not begin
to affect the New Hebrides seriously until whalers and sandalwooders
appeared from about 1820 onwards«
I could find no documentary evidence
of direct contact with Aoba, but as the whalers operated throughout
the group, and the sandalwooders regularly visited Santo from about 1855
to 1870, it must be assumed that the islanders at least knew of their
existence*
Missionaries first came on the scene in 1839, when John Williams
of the London Missionary Society landed in Erromanga.
by Presbyterians beginning work on Tanna in
1848
He was followed
and Anglicans (the
Melanesian Mission) recruiting young men from the southern islands to
1« de Bougainville, A voyage round the world* (tr« Forster, J«S«),
London, 1936, p* 29*
2« Armstrong, E«S« The Melanesian Mission* London, 1900, p. 167.
9
to attend school in Auckland*
Bishop Selwyn of New Zealand, accompanied
by Patteson, the future Bishop of Melanesia, visited the northern
islands in 1857*
Patteson went ashore at three places on the north
east coast of Aoba* ^
On a number of occasions during the subsequent fourteen years
Patteson called in at Aoba, and after 1868 he took away some of the
boys for brief courses at the Auckland school*
In 1871 he also
sent the island its first resident missionary, Bice, who spent most of
the next seventeen years living first at tfaluriki and later at
Tavolavola* ^
He established a small station with church, clinic
and school and, together with the help of a couple of Aobans who had
returned from Auckland, succeeded in attracting pupils from parishes
in the immediate neighbourhood.
them to
As more boys came back he encouraged
set up their own schools*
He made a couple of brief visits
to west Aoba, but, a 3 far as I can establish, no one from that side
of the island went to Auckland*
Not until 1898 were schools establish
ed by labourers returned from Queensland in Amata, Saragaraoha and Londua.
The following comments made by Milne, a Presbyterian missionary
who visited Nduindui in 1901, indicate that even at that late date the
work of the Melanesian Mission had not advanced far, particularly in
west Aoba*
In reading the passage it is necessary to bear in mind that
he was addressing Synod and that his primary objective was to persuade
this body that there had been ample justification for his own attempt
1* Ibid, p. 36
2* Ibid, p. 98
3. Ibid, p. 117
to.
to extend work in to what was form ally reeognisedvfhe Melanesian
Mission
sphere of in flu en ce.
Oba i s s t i l l a heathen isla n d , and a t th is side (west Aoba)
a t l e a s t, wholly unoccupied and th e people wholly given to
id o la tr y and dem onolatry. We hear th e ir drums every day. There
i s a Mr. E dgehill (the successor o f Bice) who has charge of
P entecost, Mwaevo and Oba fo r about fiv e y ea rs. He has h is head
q u arte rs a t the n orth end o f P e n te c o s t... He has been in the way
o f making a sh o rt y ea rly v i s i t to Mwaevo and Oba • . . now a Mr.
Godden has arriv ed on the Southern Cross to re lie v e him o f O ba...
Mr. E dgehill to ld me th a t he has eighteen schools on Oba, I fin d
however, on in v e s tig a tio n th a t some of them have no e x is te n c e ...
so f a r as I have been able to le a rn th e re i s only one te a c h e r on
Oba who has been to Norfolk islan d and th a t he drinks kava «nd
takes p a rt in th e i r naleoanas (^ ) and singings, the r e s t being
only Queensland retu rn ed lab o u rers, some of them not y e t bap tised
and unable to read . Wherever Mr. E dgehill fin d s a n a tiv e re c e n t
ly retu rn ed from Queensland and who had gone to school a l i t t l e
b i t th e re he asks him to s t a r t a school whether he has been
b aptised or not, and w rite s him down as one of h is te a c h e rs .
The Queensland Labour Trade
In 184 B a New South Wales g ra z ie r imported th e f i r s t so u th -seaislan d labour in to A u s tra lia .
This tra d e was a t f i r s t confined to th e
southern p a rt of the New Hebrides.
Not u n t i l ti863, when th e co tto n
and sugar p la n ta tio n s o f Queensland demanded labour on an ever in c re as
ing s c a le , was a move made in to the northern is la n d s .
Montgomery
a
1 . Naledna i s a word from th e language o f Nguna islan d where Milne
liv e d fo r many y ea rs. He c le a rly used i t in t h is context to r e f e r to
the s a c r i f i c i a l r i t e s asso ciated with the public graded s o c ie ty (see
Chapter V III). Kava d rin k in g , dancing and public graded so c ie ty
r i t u a l were a l l perm itted by the Melanesian Mission but not by th e
P re sb y teria n s.
2* E x tract from P. Milne fs *lReport of S ta tio n fo r Year 1900-11. The
re p o rt i s addressed to th e New Hebrides M ission Synod and i s dated 30
May, 1901. I t i s in th e archives of th e Overseas M issions Committee
of the P resb y terian Church o f New Zealand, Auckland. I am indebted
to Mr. G.S. Parsonson, Department of H istory, U niversity o f Otago, New
Zealand, fo r sending me a copy and also e x tra c ts from M ilne1e d ia ry .
11
reports that at least one labour trader had reached Aoba by I865 and
thirty years later the exodus had reached such proportions that whole
communities had d i s a p p e a r e d . ^
Keen competition, combined with a minimum
of official interference, resulted in ruthless methods of recruitment*
Resident missionaries regularly protested to the British, French and
Australian Governments, and as a result of increased publicity the
British despatched a number of patrolling expeditions and missions of
enquiry#
Without making ajqy exhaustive investigation I discovered
documentary evidence in press reports of eleven violent clashes between
(2)
Aobans and recruiters between the years I87O and 1890#' 1
A Royal
Commission sat in I885, and though the suppression of the trade was
recommended, another eighteen years were to pass before all the labourers
who v/ished to leave Queensland were finally returned*
The Nduindui state that four vessels visited their district**
The
first is said to have captured three men who were out fishing in a
canoe*
Their relatives, assuming that they must have drowned, performed
funeral rites*
Then some years later the men returned with trunks
full of steel axes, pipes, tobacco and clothes*
Apparently they had
been well treated on the plantations, and the following morning the
same ship set sail with a full complement of eager recruits.
Today
eveiy parish (average population 65 persons) in the district can name
from four to six men who went to Q^ensland, and I therefore assume
that between a quarter and a third of all adult males made at least
one trip*
The great majority met missionaries and a few even attended
theological colleges in Brisbane and Sydney.
How mahy were baptised
1* Montgomery, H.H. Light of Melanesia* London, 1896, p.239*
2. Harrison, T. Savage Civilization, London, 1937> pp.210-219*
in Brisbane Courier from 1875 to 1900*
Also reports
12
I could not determine, but undoubtedly there were maty.
I could find no evidence of murder or aty other form of violence
associated with recruitment at Nduindui anchorage (excluding the first
incident).
The songs and tales of the Queensland era tell of maty
hardships and cruelties, but they also convey a sense of excitement,
curiosity and an eagerness to acquire both the knowledge and the
material possessions of Europeans.
At this point I must give a brief indication of the traditional
system of leadership (for a fuller account see chapter VIII).
Muindui,
in common with the rest of the northern New Hebrides, is a rank
conscious society.
Prior to the conversion to Christianity the graded
association (Na Hungwe) provided a series of ranked positions for which
men with ambition and ability could compete, and through the occupation
of which they were publicly recognised and acknowledged as leaders.
The titles associated with each rank were acquired by successfully
manipulating a complex debt system, by making payments for insignia
and services, and by performing ritual based on the sacrifice of pigs.
They were hereditary only to the extent that a man of high rank could
push his favoured son through the lower stages more rapidly and easily
than could a low ranking man.
Nobody, however, could go to the top
without first demonstrating that he had the necessary ability, knowledge
and supernatural powers.
All informants insist that most of the Queensland labourers were
young and of low rank.
Not many sons of leaders went away, and the
few who did set off secretly at night against their fathers' wishes.
13
.
They were confronted on th e ir return by a society controlled by older
men whose authority was based on success w ithin the tra d itio n a l frame
work of values and a c tiv itie s .
Those who became convinced Christians
disapproved of the old means of acquiring high sta tu s, while those who
were prepared to revert to paganism had small chance of success.
The
pagan leaders likewise lacked the necessary knowledge and experience
of the new way of lif e to exert much authority and influence over the
returned Queenslanders.
The resu lt was an outright struggle for power
between Christians and pagans. The Christians can be considered
revolutionaries in th at they opposed the established leaders, gradually
undermined th e ir authority, and eventually replaced them as the new
leaders of a Christian society#
In the economic sphere an equally
important revolution was effected in the change from subsistence
agriculture to cash cropping and associated importing and re ta ilin g of
European manufactured goods.
In the following section I make some
suggestions as to how these radical changes came about.
Christians versus pagans ^ ^
The f i r s t white man to liv e in Nduindui d is tr ic t was a Canadian
called Wilbur who arrived soon a fte r 1870#
He wan adopted by a high
ranking man, married a g ir l of Nanako parish, and remained there u n til
his death in 1906.
His principal trade, the exchange of hermaphrodite
pigs of Aoba for tusked boars from Santo and Malo, was tra d itio n a l and
1. This account is largely based on the o ral trad itio n s of the people
themselves. I was fortunate to meet Purdy, who lived as missionarycum-trader in Nduindui from 1907 to 1956. He originally came in contact
with the Aobans on the Queensland canefields.
(cont'd. next page)
geared to the sacrifice of pigs and the assumption of titles*
H b also
ran a small retail trade store, but the amount of goods on sale did
not provide a stimulus for increased coconut planting*
It was not until the first batch of labourers returned, probably
about 1880, that important changes began*
A number of them built
small churches and for a short time attracted fair sized congregations,
though few converts.
They demanded that the pagans should abandon
pig killing, dancing and kava drinking, and as all three activities
formed an essential part of the rank-taking ritual, it was inevitable
that the Christians should at first be treated with considerable
reserve, if not suspicion.
The first missionary to live in Nduindui was Milne*
He arrived
in 1901 and established a small station at Nsanako with the help of an
east Aoban from Waluriki called Toa Nakwaga (who attended his school
on Nguna for a number of years) and two Nguna teachers*
He mentions
in his diary that seven returned labourers had built churches in Amata,
Saragamoha, Saranamwai and Lombanga*
The Christians in the first three
parishes had been converted on the canefields by Church-of-England
missionaries and had already been in contact with Bice and his successor
Bdgehill.
Milne won Amata but the other two settlements kept faith
and today still belong to the Melanesian Mission*
The Lombanga men
had been converted by the Queensland Kanaka Mission and readily
agreed to become Presbyterians*
Milne regularly visited all parishes throughout west Aoba and
(cont*d from footnote 1 on previous page) Though very old when I met
him, his memory was good. My main documentary sources are the diary
and reports of Milne, Government correspondence (see p.20) and land
claims lodged in the Joint Court, Vila.
15
.
during his f i r s t v is it of five months baptised ten labourers who had
reverted to paganism*
He also opened a small school in Lolobinanungwa•
I t is worth noting th at of the six centres of C hristianity established
a t th is time four were in inland parishes and only two on the coast*
Meanwhile trouble was brewing* In 188*1 the Presbyterian Mission
and the Melanesian Mission agreed to divide the New Hebrides into
separate
spheres of influence* ^ ^ Unfortunately for Milne, Aoba was
in the Melanesian Mission area* Although warned by his Synod, not to
do so, he returned for short v is its in 1903 and 1904*
Another important event occurred in September 1903. At th is time
a west Aoban of Lovutiloso (a now abandoned settlement close to
Vilakalaka) called Peter Pentecost came back a fte r eight years* residence
in Australia*
A Wesleyan missionary had taken him from the canefields
and sent him to school in Brisbane for four years*
Immediately on his
return he established a school at Lovutiloso which continued to funct
ion under his direction u n til he died in 1923.
from a l l over west Aoba and a few from the east*
He attracted pupils
After they had learn
ed the rudiments of reading, writing, hymn singing and scripture, he
sent them back to th e ir own parishes to hold services and to teach*
When Milne arrived in 1903 and again in 1904 he was impressed
with Peter Pentecost*s work ani baptised many of his pupils*
He also
v isited the six Christian centres in Nduindui, and though his teachers
had attracted a few new pupils, the gains were counterbalanced by at
le a st as many cases of reversion to paganism* The most notable advance
1* Parsonson, G.S* "La Mission Presbyterienne des NouvellesHebrides". Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes, Vol* XII, 1956,
p. 12$.
16
.
was the conversion of three young men (Willie Vuti, Andrew Tari and
Sale Ban!) who had not been to Queensland and whose fathers were a l l
prominent pagans.
In subsequent years these three established them
selves as the leaders of the Nduiniui Christian community, and by the
1930*3 they were the most powerful men in the d is tr ic t.
For another four years west Aoba remained without a resident
missionary, and a considerable number of people reverted to pig k illin g
and secret-society r itu a l.
C hristianity was as yet without any firm
economic foundation, and such men as Peter Pentecost and Sale Bani
could offer th e ir followers few tangible rewards. Success in the
graded hierarchy, on the other hand, meant not only recognition as an
established or potential leader, but also the right to such privileges
as extra wives, insignia, kava, and a large decorated club-house.
It
is also to be noted th a t, for marriage, pigs and mats were necessary.
The principal method whereby youths could acquire such wealth was to
win favour with a high ranking man; by remaining Christians they
seriously reduced th e ir chances of securing a bride.
In 1907 the small band of Christians at Nduindui and Lovutiloso
received much needed support and encouragement when an Australian
called Purdy arrived as a missionary-cum-trader.
He had previously
been a lay worker in Queensland under the guidance of Miss loung,
formerly of the China Mission, who had organised a small in te r
denominational team on the cane fie ld s.
Purdy met many Aobans, and
some of the Nduindui men asked him to s e ttle in th e ir d is t r ic t.
He
acquired a small block of land in Nanako close to the sta tio n managed
by Toa Nakwaga and Sale Bani.
Soon he established a store where
17.
tobacco, knives, axes, calico, etc. were exchanged for coconuts.
Business expanded so rapidly that in 1910 he arranged with the Churchof-Christ in Australia to take over the mission work while he himself
concentrated on the trading.
In 1911 Waters arrived and settled beside
Purdy.
In earlier years W i l b u r ^ store had been so small that there was
little or no incentive for the Nduindui to increase their already
plentiful supply of coconut trees.
was
Now, however, a wide rai^e of goods
available, and Purdy missed no opportunity to encourage increased
planting.
Pis worked in close co-operation with Waters, and together
they provided the necessary stimulation that ultimately led to the
firm establishment of Christianity and a cash economy*
The slogan of
this period could well have been "Christ and Coconuts"•
Host of the early planting was confined to the coast where it was
led by such Christians as Sale Bani, Willie Vuti and Andrew Tari.
In
1912 eight members of inland parishes purchased a strip of coastal
land between Amata and Lovaturusa.
They founded a new and wholly
Christian settlement (Mataindanu), built a stone wall around it to
keep out pigs, and planted many coconuts.
The parishes in which they
had previously lived were still under the influence of high ranking
pagans, and these men were unwilling to permit intensive coconut plant
ing on land that they and their followers needed for gardens and pig
grazing paddocks.
This leads to an important point.
Informants were unanimous that
in the last decades of the graded hierarchy (between 1880 and 1930),
pig sacrifices were being performed on a scale never before achieved.
In earlier generations the top titles were acquired by the sacrifice
1S
of ton circle-tuskers ^ ^ either boars or hermaphrodites*
For some
reason or reasons which I could not determine, but possibly connected
with the introduction of European pigs, the breeding of good tuskers,
especially hermaphrodites, became increasingly difficult*
ly the number of sows and minor tuskers rose rapidly.
Simultaneous
This could again
be the result of introduced strains, but other relevant factors were
the weakening of the traditional system of checking inflation by the
periodic destruction of sow3, and the intervention of Europeans in the
pig trade with other islands.
The shortage of high grade tuskers combined with the abundance of
lesser pigs resulted in the massive sacrificial rites performed in the
early decades of this century*
Even as late as 1932 a mam of
Nataluhangele killed one thousand pigs in a single ceremony.
large areas of land were required to maintain such quantities*
Clearly
Older
informants state that thirty to forty years ago the settled part of
the district was divided into small plots, from a quarter to a half
acre, separated from one another by low walls*
Over about a ten year
period each plot was used as either a garden or a pig grazing paddock
for two or three seasons, and then left fallow.
But despite the walls,
pigs became so numerous that gardens were constantly damaged*
At about
the turn of the century the threat became so acute that the interior
parishes combined to build
a
stone wall three to four feet high over
t* I use the same terms as those first introduced by Layard to
refer to different grades of tusked pigs. Hs describes the circletusker as follows. ”The tusk has now passed through the jaw, curved
up forwards inside the spot where it first appeared, and the tip is
again visible outside the animal*s lip.” See Layard, J. Stone J^en
of Malekula, London, 1942, P* 243«
19*
the three miles separating the settled part of the d is tr ic t from the
principal gardening area.
The above evidence shows th at the people were conscious of the
d iffic u ltie s of combining cultivation and intensive pig raisin g .
They
considered i t legitim ate to shoot any pig, even a good tusker with a
high s a c rific ia l value, found eith er in a garden or damaging valuable
tre e s.
The owner was not en titled to compensation.
When Christians began to plant coconuts they were consequently
faced with the d iffic u lty of protecting them. The men who founded
Mataindanu solved the problem by moving into an area of poor and h ith er
to unused land. Nduindui d is tr ic t is , however, the most densely
populated part of the New Hebrides (today about 200 persons per square
mile), and therefore most Christians had to plant th e ir coconuts in
areas f u ll of scavenging pigs.
They shot as many as they could, and
as muskets had replaced bows and arrows, the slaughter was so great
that the pagans found i t d iffic u lt to raise the numbers necessary to
take the highest t i t l e s .
There was therefore a d irect correlation be
tween the increasing wealth and influence of the leading planters and
the decreasing prestige of the pig-impoverished pagans.
The power struggle th at took place between pagans and Christians
is well illu stra te d by a series of events th at took place between T911
and 1916.
In 1911 the B ritish Resident Commissioner, King, made a tour of the
northern islands. When he v isited Nduindui Purdy and Waters suggested
th at i t would be a good idea for him to set up a Government system of
Christian chiefs.
He approved, and within six months Purdy had publicly
in stalled three d is tr ic t chiefs, two in west Aoba (Ngwero a t Lovutiloso
.
20
and Sale Bani at Nduindui) and one in the east Aoban district of
Waluriki.
A number of lesser chiefs and about 25 ’'policemen” were
appointed under each.
The latter were in effect the parish represent
atives of the chiefs.
Gash fines or road making were the punishments.
The money was kept by the district chiefs, and when the system collapsed
they sent it to the British Administration.
In 1912 Sale Bani and Peter Pentecost both wrote letters to King
complaining that they were experiencing great difficulties through the
pagan leaders refusing to recognise their authority and ignoring both
their rules and their courts.
They asked him to come to Nduindui to
make quite clear that the pagans lacked Government support.
But the
French Resident Commissioner had simultaneously received complaints
from a number of French traders on Aoba, including one operating in
Nduindui in competition with Purdy, that the latter had ordered the
Christian chiefs and policemen
French stores.
to prevent any natives going to the
They also objected to the way in which these chiefs
were attempting to force the pagans to observe a Christian code of
behaviour.
The French Resident Commissioner protested that as he had
never given his consent the arrangement was illegal.
After a long
correspondence it was eventually decided that the system must be brought
to an end.
In June 1914 a French warship was despatched to Nduindui
to arrest Sale Bani and bring him to Port /ila.
Hs was held in jaix
for two years without being charged, and was only released after
protests were made by Church-of-Ghrist and Church—of -England mission—
aries.^ ^
1• Personal communication Purdy, and British Administration File
No. IO4 / 1 9 H
entitled "Nomination of Chiefs on AobaM . Central Archives
of Fiji and Western Pacific, Suva,Fiji •
21
West Aobans are bitter about this affair and always refer to it if
accused of unwillingness to co-operate with the Government.
"The Government",
they say, "gave us chiefs and then put them in jail and told us that chiefs
are no good.
says".
It is good that we do not listen to what the Government
Sale Bani died in 1933, and during ny stay in i 960 the Church-of-
Christ district council (a wholly native body) decided that he had not
been buried in a sufficiently imposing grave.
A ceremony was held, and
he was reburied beneath an enormous concrete monument in front of his son*s
new restaurant, which was officially opened at the same time.
Church
leaders made speeches in which they emphasized what a great man Sale had
been - he was the person primarily responsible for the end of fighting,
for the breakdown of barriers between parishes, for the system of roads,
and for the formulation of all the laws and regulations that the council
todgy attempts to uphold.
Despite the setback suffered by the Christians in 1914 they con
tinued to gain ground.
Year by year thqy planted more coconuts and
acquired a wide range of European manufactured goods.
It is significant
that whereas the price of copra in 1904 was £12 per ton, by 1920 it had
reached the boom level of £35*
By the depression, when it dropped as low
as £10, at least three-quarters of the population were converted and most
of the land planted.
Up to about 1920 the spread of the new religion had been effected
by the conversion of individuals.
Each parish in the district had its
small nucleous of converts who were mostly young men and women of small
consequence in community affairs.
During the late 1920*8 and early
.
22
Ti930ls
the pattern changed to group conversion.
The remaining top rank
ing pagans, undermined by the depletion of their pig herds, and envious
of the increasing wealth and power of the Christian planters, decided
to hold a final sacrificial ceremony.
They announced that they would
accept baptism, build churches, and plant their land with coconuts.
The great majority of the remaining pagans within their area of influence
followed suit.
By 1940 only two pagan parishes were left,
(one of them
became a Christian community in 1950 and the other in T961).
In east Aoba, despite the earlier arrival of missionaries and an
exodus to Queensland at least as great as that which took place in
western districts, the change to Christianity and cash cropping has
been neither so radical nor extensive.
Here pig-killing, dancing and
kava drinking continue to take place side by side with church attendance
and the various activities associated with the new economy.
Most of
the important men hold high rank both in the graded association and in
the church hierarchy, and simultaneously maintain large pig herds and
copra plantations.
This is contrary to Hduindui experience and requires
some explanation.
The first point to consider is the possible effect of differing
mission attitudes to the graded society ritual.
The majority of east
Aobans (66 per cent) belong either to the Melanesian Mission or the
Roman Catholic Mission.
These bodies, while not approving of ritual
pig-killing, have never explicitly opposed the practice.
Aobans (82 per cent) are members of the Church
Most west
-of-Christ, Apostolic
and Seventh-Oay-Adventist missions, all three of which have consistent
ly attacked pig-killing, dancing and kava. drinking as the very essence
of paganism.
\
23.
The following observations indicate, however, that mission doctrine
is not as important as it might at first glance seem to be.
In east
Aoba the majority of the Church-of-Christ adherents, though no longer
competing for the traditional titles, continue to raise tusked boars
and
to participate indirectly in the ceremonies as donors, spectators and
dancers.
During my second field trip a Church-of-Christ elder in Abanga
district assumed the highest of the traditional titles by sacrificing
one hundred pigs.
Another difficulty in accepting an explanation expressed solely
in terms of mission doctrine is that west Aoba has a substantial
Melanesian Mission minority
(ti7 per
cent) who have experienced exactly
the same conflict between pagans and Christians as have their Churchof-Christ and Apostolic-Church neighbours.
The answer to the problem
is to be found in differences in population distribution and amount of
available land.
I have already said that the high population density in Nduindui
made it virtually impossible for a man to maintain large pig herds
and simultaneously plant sufficient coconut trees to make trade worth
while.
Each individual or community had to decide in favour of one
of the two alternative sources of wealth.
As pig-keeping was the
foundation of the traditional way of life, the new economy inevitably
became closely associated with Christianity.
The close co-operation
of the trader Purdy and the missionary Waters provided a constant
example of the inter-relationship of the economic and religious dimens
ions of the new pattern of living*
In east Aoba population density both was and is much lower.
I
24
cannot give an accurate figure as so much land is useless and conditions
vary widely from district to district, but I doubt if even in the
largest settlements it is as much as half the Nduindui figure.
Prior
to the introduction of Christianity most of the people lived some
distance inland, probably as a protection against malaria.
When the
early converts moved down they suffered from the effects of depopulation
to a greater extent than that which occurred in Nduindui.
This increased
the amount of surplus land available for planting.
Today it is possible for a man to maintain pig herds
in the hills
and to plant large quantities of coconuts on the thinly populated
coast.
The main centre of pig-killing is Loloivenue, a parish high
up in the hills.
The land in the immediate vicinity of the settlement
is used for gardens and for pig-grazing.
The men of this parish own
large quantities of flat coastal land and over the past twenty or
thirty years they have planted extensive coconut groves.
Some of them
have built a second residence which they use for short periods when
working their copra.
The headman is a big plantation owner, the highest
ranking man in the graded society, and one of the most influential men
in the affairs of the Melanesian Mission.
The separation of pigs and coconuts made it possible to manipulate
both economies.
Unlike Nduindui, there was no need for Christian
planters to abandon pigs and the assumption of traditional titles.
As
two thirds of the east Aobans belong to missions that do not explicitly
oppose graded society ritual, it is no wonder that leaders have chosen
to combine Christianity, wealth from coconuts and traditional titles
to uphold
and reinforce their authority.
Even the most
ardent
25
Christians are tempted to breed tuskers to sell to title takers.
The
latter in turn have plenty of money from their plantations enabling
them to buy the pigs.
Influence of New Hebrides Government
From about 1830 to 1887 European interest in the New Hebrides was
confined to commerce and evangelization.
No power formally annexed the
group and the maintenance of law and order was limited to an occasional
patrolling or punitive expedition
despatched by the French from New
Caledonia or the British from Fiji.
The group became so notorious,
primarily as a result of the unscrupulous methods employed by labour
recruiters, that in 1885 the British appointed a Royal Commission and
the French sent troops.
In I887 a Joint Naval Commission, consisting
of a President and two British and two French Naval Officers, was form
ed.
This arrangement meant little more than the official recognition
of the right of each power to continue as in the past to protect the
interests of its own nationals.
The Commission made no pretence of
s e t t i n g up an Administration or of proclaiming a Protectorate.
In 1902 two Resident Commissioners were appointed and on 20th
October, 1906 the two powers signed a convention W
declaring that the
New Hebrides islands were to be a region of joint influence and admin
istration.
This was superseded by the Anglo-French Protocol of 1i914,
ratified in 1922, (2 ) and has, with some modifications, regulated the
t. Convention between the United Kingdom and France concerning the
New Hebrides, signed October, 1906M. T.S. No. 3 of 1907* H.M.
Stationery Office.
26
.
government of the group ever since*
In 1915 a system of four d is tr ic t agencies was introduced*
Each
power appointed i t s own d is tr ic t agent, with separate ju risd ic tio n
over his own nationals*
They were also supposed to make jo in t
periodic tours of the native areas.
men have seldom gone out together.
In west Aoba, however, the two
Further,each has confined his
attentions to the missionaries and traders of his own n atio n ality .
During my two years* fieldwork the French agent v isited Nduindui
on three occasions for less than a day and the B ritish twice*
Other than these routine ca lls, the agents appear only when
asked to do so by the missionaries, traders or native church leaders.
The most usual causes of such requests are mission complaints th at
the traders are selling alcohol and land disputes between traders
and natives. - The Nduindui mostly prefer to manage th e ir own a ffa irs,
though occasionally they w ill c a ll in a d is tr ic t agent to help sort
out some particu larly d iffic u lt in tern al problem.
The D istric t Agents appoint local representatives, known as
Native Assessors, who are supposed to act as a liaiso n between the
Administration and the people and a ssist as tran slato rs and advisors
in court cases.
In most d is tr ic ts , including Nduindui, they are men
of minor influence.
There are in effect three d ifferen t administrations, the B ritish
National, the French National and the Joint Condominium. The Aobans
are aware of the lack of unity and frequently state that i t is because
2 .(from previous page) l,Protocol respecting the New Hebrides signed
at London on 6th August, 1914» by Representatives of the B ritish and
French Grovernments", T.S. No.7 of 1912. H.M. Stationery Office.
27
.
of th e well-known divergent ambitions and methods of the B r itis h and
the French th a t they are so re lu c ta n t to have any dealings w ith e ith er*
W ithin a few years of th e b ir th of the Condominium government th e Sale
Bani a f f a i r provided th e people w ith a most unfortunate example of how
d iffe re n c e s can r e s u lt in chaos and confusion.
The Resident Commissioners seldom v i s i t Nduindui and when they do
are in v a rib ly welcomed by no more than a handful of spectators*
They
d e liv e r a s e t speech promising the continuing in te r e s t and support of
th e i r resp ec tiv e governments, a promise which th e audience rec e iv e s in
cy n ical silence*
The Condominium A dm inistration i s known only in th e
person of th e c o lle c to r o f fees due fo r lic e n c e s to operate s to re s ,
launches, and taxis*
The p rin c ip a l impact of government i s th a t l i t t l e or no fig h tin g
has taken place during the past f i f t y y e a rs.
Murder i s a lso known to
incur th e wrath o f government, and a l l offenders are promptly handed
over to th e D is tr ic t Agents.
In I960 th e French A dm inistration
e stab lish ed a small Government school in Nabout a r i k i , west Aoba, and
in 1962 ( a f te r I had l e f t th e fie ld ) a Local Council was e sta b lish e d
fo r th e whole is la n d .
The Church-of-G hrist p arish es have, however,
refused to co-operate, and as they are th e la r g e s t and w e a lth ie st group
in Nduindui, I doubt i f t h is new development has as yet re s u lte d in
any s ig n ific a n t change.
The second world war
During the 1939-45 world war, the New Hebrides became one of th e
im portant a llie d bases in th e P a c ific , and E fate and Santo were occupied
by larg e American g a rriso n s .
Except fo r a few small bombs dropped a t
3
.
Santo, the group was not subjected to enemy attack,
For the Aobans the consequences of this period were almost as great
as the earlier exodus to Queensland.
The Americans needed labour and,
though they agreed with the Administration to pay wages at the local
rate, the islanders soon discovered their generosity in handing out
cigarettes, food, clothing and minor household articles.
The Nduindui,
with their reputation for industry and intelligence, were in strong
demand.
At the beginning of the war they had already achieved a consider
able level of prosperity and owned a number of small motor launches
used in transporting copra to Santo and trade goods to Nduindui.
When
the war began copra production almost came to a standstill, and the
launches were instead used in ferrying a constant stream of labourers
between Santo and Nduindui.
The Church-of-Christ missionary resident
in Nduindui during this period informed me that at times half or more
of the total population was absent in Santo.
In addition to the labour
ers, old men, women and children went over to see the amazing wealth
of the Americans and to attend the many cinemas.
Gardening was practic
ally abandoned and those who remained at home were in part dependent
on the food and clothes sent back by relatives in Santo.
When the Americans withdrew from the New Hebrides they dumped
massive quantities of equipment including jeeps, timber, corrugated iron,
nisaen huts, refrigerators, household utensils, clothing and tools.
As each company received orders to depart, word quickly spread as to
where they would leave their possessions, and invariably a Nduindui
launch was anchored nearby ready to load up.
benefited from this windfall.
Every parish in wsst Aoba
Many modern style houses were erected,
29
dozens of jeeps were brought back, many of them still in action today,
and there is scarcely a household that cannot boast of a fine collect
ion of U.S. army cutlery and crockery.
In the post-war years the copra industry soon recovered and the
Nduindui continued to develop their district.
New and bigger stores
were built, companies were formed to buy large launches and to purchase
copra for sale on the Santo market, roads were improved, and more
American jeeps were purchased from traders and planters.
The people still retain a vivid impression of the wealth and power
of the Americans, and though no organized cargo cult has developed,
minor prophets periodically attract a few followers.
There is a wide
spread belief that when the Americans withdrew an aeroplane was landed
on Lolo Manaro, and Takaro the creator diety was taken to America where
he still lives.
A number of men expressed the tentative opinion that
the Americans are teaching him all that they know, and that one day
he may return and share his knowledge with the Aobans.
CHAPTER II
WEST AOBA AND NDUINDUI
Throughout the northern New Hebrides the widest social unit possess
ing a coherent system for the maintenance of internal law and order
consists of the twenty to two hundred persons resident in a named local
ity, which is seldom more than a few square miles in extent.
These
maximal political groups (parishes) are basic and enduring, and the
greater part of this thesis will be concerned with an analysis of their
internal structure and organization.
In the present chapter I consider the
more loosely structured territorial groupings over and above the level
of the parish.
I first describe some of the principal similarities
and differences between east and west Aoba, in what sense each can be
said to constitute a recognisable social unit, and the kind of inter
action that takes place between the two communities.
In the second
part of the chapter I consider Nduindui in relationship to other west
Aoban districts.
I also describe the principal forms of multi-parish
grouping within the district.
Definitions
Evans-Pritchard defines a npeoplew as Mall persons who speak the
same language and have, in other respects, the same culture, and
31
consider themselves to be distinct from all like aggregates."'
7
In
an area such as Melanesia it is difficult to define the limits of the
three criteria with any degree of precision.
the linguists Wurm and Laycock
To take just one example,
(2)
7 found that in classifying the
various speech forms of the New Guinea Highlands, it was necessary to
refer to such a wide range of segments as stocks, families, sub
families, languages, sub-languages and dialects.
They also found that
many of the individual forms could be classed at different levels
according to whether the sub-criterion used was the degree of mutual
intelligibility, lexical, phonological or morphological similarity.
Yet another and closely related difficulty is that even if the
limits of the more significant segments of all three criteria could
be satisfactorily determined, it may still be found that the maximal
segments fail to coincide with one another, in particular similarity
of language and similarity of culture vis-a-vis the peoples* aware
ness of themselves as a discrete social unit.
I therefore suggest
that the following four categories of social grouping, all of which
are without ary form of permanent political unity, can, and should be,
differentiated from one another.
All four are similar to Evans-
Pritchard*s definition of a "people", in that all of his criteria are,
though in vaaying degrees, present.
They differ in that the limits
of each group are determined by the maximum extent of only one criterion.
1. Evans-Pritchard, E.E., The Nuert Oxford, 1940, p.5*
2. 'Wurm, S.A. and Laycock, D.C., "The Question of Language and
Dialect in New Guinea", Oceania, Vol. 32, No.2.
32
People
The maximum group whose members consider themselves to be a
distinct social aggregate but is without any form of political unity.
The linguistic forms within the group should be at the minimum of the
same stock, though usually they are of the same family, sub-family
or language.
Cultural variants should be of about the same order as
the linguistic.
The Aobans are a people as so defined. (The cultural
and linguistic forms could be classed as variants within a single
family or possibly sub-family.).
Culture Group
The maximum group within which cultural differences are
no greater than the dialect differences of a single language.
The
minimum linguistic requirement is that the speech forms should be of
the same stock, though in most cases they are of the same language.
The members, though they consider themselves to be distinct from all
like aggregates, also consider themselves to be a segment within a
larger aggregate.
When there is no such awareness of identity the
concept defined is a culture area and not a culture group.
Language Group
Defined as above but with the culture and language
criteria reversed.
The east and the west Aobans could be equally
termed ”culture groups” or ”language groups”.
District (1) A segment of either a culture or a language group that
1 . 1 use the term district* only with considerable misgivings and
for want of a better alternative. The disadvantage is, of course,
that the term is U3ed in Government documents to refer to administrat
ive areas. It could also be objected that,strictly speaking,the term
refers to a territorial division and not to a group of people. Hbgbin
and Wedgewood avoid the difficulty by using ^hyle* for culture group
and^ub-phyle^or what I have called a district. As the Greek word
originally denoted a politically united group (as noted by Hogbin and
Wedgewood) I can see no justification for its usage in the present
context.
33
is without any form of permanent p o litic a l unity, but whose members
consider themselves to be d istin c t from a ll lik e segments.
The compon
ent d is tr ic ts of a culture group are usually, though not always, d iffe r
entiated from one another on the basis of minor cultural and lin g
u is tic variants.
Nduindui, Lombaha, Longana etc*, are d is tr ic ts .
1!, EAST AND WEST AOBA
Physical type
As in most parts of Melanesia a variety of physical types are
found throughout the island.
Certain t r a i t s are, however, more
dominant in one side than in the other.
In the north-west there are
an unusually large number of people with lig h t skin tending to yellow
ish pigmentation associated with a f la t face, high cheekbones, and a
slig h t obliqueness of the eye.
Dark skin is more common in the eastern
d is tr ic ts , and the same could be said of high-bridged aquiline noses
and th in lip s ,
I would not, however, lik e to make too much of the
physical differences between the two communities.
In any one d is tr ic t
there is a wide variation in height, skin colour and facial appearance.
I t is worth noting that the inhabitants of one d is tr ic t (Vuingelato)
are d istin c tly pigmoid, perhaps half of the population are no higher
than 4 , 9,‘ t a l l .
They liv e high on the mountain shoulder th at devide3
north-west from north-east Aoba. Variations in language and culture
between th is parish and i t s neighbours are no greater than those
between other neighbouring parishes.
34.
Language
TABLE
II
LINGUISTIC SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
D is t r ic t s
Percentage
0f same base
vocabulary' '
cognates
Degree of
mutual
/ p\
in te llig ib ility ' '
92
Complete
N angiri and Longana
86
Almost com plete
Lovatulonga and V uingelato
72
Limited
65
P a r tia l to
Rudimentary
Nduindui and V ilakalaka
(w estern d i s t r i c t s )
(neighbouring w estern and ea stern
d is tr ic ts )
V ilakalaka and Longana
(extreme ea stern and w estern d i s t r i c t s )
In Table I I I have taken th ree ea stern and th ree w estern d i s t r i c t s
and expressed th e li n g u i s t i c s i m ila r it ie s and d iffe r e n c e s in two form s,
1. The lin g u is t M. Swadesh (Ed, Amerindian Non-Cultural V ocab u laries«
r e v is e d e d itio n , 1955) su g g e sts th a t speech forms sharing 81 per cen t or
more of base vocabulary cognates can be c l a s s i f i e d as d ia le c t s o f the
same language; from 28 to 8 l per cent languages of th e same fa m ily , and
from 12 to 28 per cen t fa m ilie s o f the same sto c k . The s e le c t io n of
base cognates and th e determ ination of s im ila r ity are both bound to be
open q u estio n s, and th er e fo re th ese fig u r e s can be tr e a ted as no more
than a rough in d ic a tio n o f s im ila r it ie s and d iffe r e n c e s between speech
form s, % c a lc u la tio n s are based on one hundred base cognates s e le c te d
from each area*
2,
(See next p age).
35
the percentage of same base vocabulary and the degree of mutual intell
igibility.
On the basis of this information the variant speech forms
used in each side of the island can be classed a3 dialects of the same
language, and the two languages together as members of the same family,
or possibly sub-family.
A Nduindui man visiting Longana for the first
time would fail to understand the greater part of what was said to him.
The difficulties are, however quickly mastered, and many men are bi
lingual.
Unfortunately I have insufficient data to make a similar
analysis of the similarities
and differences between Aoba and other
communities in the northern New Hebrides.
The people themselves state
that they find it easier to learn each others languages than they do
that of their most immediate overseas neighbours.
Culture and Social Organization
The socio-cultural differences between Aoba and its overseas
neighbours are, as in language, slightly greater than the corresponding
differences between the two sides of the island.
This is especially
true of west Aoba vis-a-vis such islands as Malekula, Malo, Tutuba and
Santo.
The similiarities between the eastern districts and north Raga
and south Mwaevo are possibly as great as they are between the two
sides of the island.
The Aobans themselves, though they are very much aware of the
2. (from previous page) See Wurm sind Laycock, op.cit. p.133* ^It
may be suggested that complete or almost *complete intelligibility *
implies 90-100$ transfer of information; 1fair1 75-90$; 1limited1
60-75$J 1partial1 40-60$> and ,rudimentsu:yl less than 40$. The
boundary of language may, from the point of view of mutual intelligibil«
ity, be drawn around 50$ with the sphere of 40 -6 ($ of information
transfer, i.e. that of partial intelligibility, constituting the sub
language range, which is intermediary between language and dialect.n
36
cultural and linguistic division of the island into two communities,
nevertheless state that they are all one ^people".
4 long series of
myths, known to both easterners and westerners, accounts to their own
satisfaction for the similarities
cultures.
and differences between the two
It also provides an explanation for the degree of identity
between each culture and that found in neighbouring islands.
Aoba is said to have been initially populated by the arrival of
Takaro and his. followers from north Rag a.
He landed at Longana, and
the culture he brought with him is said to be the true Aoban 11custom",
which was still followed in the eastern districts prior to European
contact.
Pie divided the population into a large number of matri-clans
grouped into exogamous moieties, introduced the system of kin term
inology, and provided the island with its natural resources and place
names.
The deviance of the western districts consists primarily in
the absence of the matrilineal descent groups, both clans and moieties.
This is said to have been the result of a volcanic eruption which
destroyed the north-west c o m e r extending from Lolotinge to Devil*s
Rock.
The few who survived had lost their memories and consequently
contracted marriages which broke the moiety regulations.
let further
deviation is said to be the result of new customs introduced by immigrants
from the eastern and western islands.
Secret-society ritual, which has
not been practised anywhere on Aoba for at least fifty years, is thought
to have been introduced from Mwaevo.
The ritual associated with the
graded hierarchy is believed to have diffused from Malo to west Aoba at
a much later date.
I shall now give a brief outline of some of the principal structural
characteristics of north Raga, east and west Aoba and Malekula.
My aim
.
37
is to demonstrate that though each side of Aoba differs from the matrilineal and patrilineal extremes of the eastern and western islands
respectively, all four social systems are nevertheless variants against
a common background.
Table III provides a summary of the basic vari
ables relating to descent, residence and inheritance.
I have chosen
to discuss these aspects of social structure because the way in which
they are inter-related with one another directly determines the relative
emphasis on group solidarity as against individual autonomy.
(The
various communities mentioned in the text are shown in Map 2 ) •
North Raga (or North Pentecost)
The matri-clans 0 )
and moieties still exist today throughout east
Aoba, north Raga, Mwaevo, the Banks (Mwere Lava no moieties) and Torres
islands (clans grouped into three phratries), and possibly most of Santo*
The people of Malo, like the west Aobans, state that they too once had
matrilineal descent groups.
The moieties are usually, though not always,
named, and whereever they exist they are recognised as being the same.
A person is expected to offer hospitality to men of the same moiety
visiting from other districts, culture groups, and even islands.
In
south Mwaevo the moieties are called Takaro and Harovai, in north Raga
Takaro and Malau, and in east Aoba Takaro and Mwerembuto.
1. The evidence is by no means clear for Mwaevo, the Banks, Torres
and Santo. It is probable that there were matri-clans, but they were
almost certainly widely dispersed with a large number of clans represent
ed in each parish. The parish was thus probably similar to that found
in East Aoba in that it was multicarpellary and non-exogamous but the
carpels were almost certainly of the matrilineage type, as like North
Raga residence was mostly avunculo-virilocal. (see Chapter VII for
further details).
TABL E
III
DESCENT, RESIDENCE AND INHERITANCE IN THE NORTHERN NEW HEBRIDES
Parish structure
Residence
Inheritance
Exogamous matri-moiet-
Multicarpellary.Male
Avunculo-virilocal
Matrilineal
possibly most of
ies or phratries,poss
members of carpel mo
preference
Santo
ibly smaller matri-
stly uterine kin.
clans
Marriage permissable
Area
Dogma of Descent
Descent groups
or categories
Torres,Banks and
Matrilineal
within parish
South Mwaevo and
Matrilineal
north Raga
Matri-clans grouped in
Monocarpellary. Male
Strong avunculo-
to exogamous moieties
members mostly uterine
virilocal preference
Matrilineal
kin. Local exogamy
East Aoba
Matrilineal
Matri-clans grouped ini
Multicarpellary.Slight
Patri-virilocal pref
Land mostly patri
to exogamous moieties
agnatic bias.Marriage
erence. Multiple res
lineal; moveable
permissable within
idence common
property matrilineal
Multicarpellary.Strong
Strong patri-virilocal
Patrilineal
agnatic emphasis. Par
preference
parish
West Aoba and
Cognatic with
possibly Malo
patrilineal bias
.Cognatic stocks
ishes mostly exogamous
Small Islands, north
Double-uniineal
Ambrym and south Raga
Patri-clans and matri-
Monocarpellary.Each
Strong patri-virilocal
moieties
carpel equals exogam
preference
Patrilineal
ous patri-clan
t
Maiekula,south Ambrym and probably Epi
Patrilineal
Patri-clans
Monocarpellary.Each
Strong patri-virilocal
carpel equals exog
preference
amous patri-clan
Patrilineal
.
39
In north Raga, but not in east Aoba, most of the male members of
each matri-clan live in either a single parish or a small group of
neighbouring settlements.
As women usually join their husbands
at
marriage, the majority of men are therefore born in a community in
which the adult males are their fathers and not their own matrilineal
kinsmen.
Some of them remain there all their lives and are granted
full rights of land usage.
But they cannot pass on such rights to
their own inheritors without first gaining the consent of the senior
members of the matri-clan on whose territory they are residing.
If a
quarrel should occur, or if there should be a large number of members
combined with a shortage of easily available land, they may be asked
to leave.
Because of their insecure land rights the majority of men
sooner or later leave their father1s parish and join their matrilineal
kinsmen.
Even when a considerable number of generations of residence
outside the clan territory have passed, the returning members1 rights
of residence and land usage are recognised as valid.
Lanewritess
The relationship of the land to the clan is indisputable, the
land and the clan being inseparable parts of a whole with re
ciprocal responsibilities. The clan members are products of and
are nurtured by the land and they in turn must care for it. All
land comes within this framework regardless of use or occupation
and all land is theoretically inalienable.11
O')
In addition to land the corporate estate of the locally anchored
clan includes its name, gong rhythms, songs, dances, ancestors1 graves, .
I.Lane, Robert, B. "Land Tenure and Residence Rules of north Pentecost,
New Hebrides”, (unpublished paper,Carnegie Institute of Technology,
1962), p.1.
40
men*s club-house and ceremonial ground.
parish solidarity are as follows;
Yet other indices of clan-
senior clan members should, and
normally do, sponsor their juniors in graded society ritual;
the
dwellings of parish members are located close to the menfs club-house
and are separated by a considerable distance from the dwellings of
(1)
neighbouring parishes; and finally, Lane reports x,/that there is a
tendency for the highest titles in the graded hierarchy to be trans
mitted on hereditary principles, and that the holders of such titles
exercise greater authority than is common elsewhere in the north
eastern islands (Banks, Mwaevo, Raga and east Aoba)#
Malekula (2)
Despite the matrilineal-patrilineal polarity of north Raga and
Malekula,
(especially in the western districts), in terms of the
solidarity and continuity of the parish the
than the differences#
similarities are greater
In both societies parish cohesion is the direct
result of norms of descent, inheritance and residence coinciding with,
and hence reinforcing, one another#
The estates of the two monocarpell-
ary (3) type parishes are similar, sind there is the same concentration
of dwellings in the neighbourhood of the communal club-house#
In north
west Malekula, especially amongst the strongly patrilineal Big Nambas,
1# Lane, Robert B# Aboriginal and Contemoory Leadership Patterns
and Problems in Raga, (unpublished paper, Carnegie Institute of
Technology, 1962, p#3*
2# Layard, J# Stone Men of Malekula« London, 1942#
Deacon, A#B. Malekula: A vanishing people in the New Hebrides, ed.
Wedgwood, C# London, 11934*
Guiart, J. L !Organisation Sociale et Politique du nord Malekula,
L 1Institute Francais d 1Oceania, 1952#
Harrison, T# Savage Civilization, London, 1937, pp#395-424*
3# (see next page)
41
.
hereditary principles modify the competitive character of the graded
society to an even greater extent than in north Raga.
The extreme
conservatism and resistance to change of the Big Nambas is what might
well be expected in such a rigidly structured unilineal society.
Aoba
Aoban society, both in the east' and in west, is less rigidly
structured than either of its neighbours.
The parishes are multicarpell'
ary, the group of effective male raarfoers is neither closed nor constant,
the dogma of descent is either unilineal and conflicts with residence
and inheritance (east Aoba), or is weakly defined (west Aoba);
the
cohesion and political stability of the parish is adversely affected
by the strength and importance of extra group ties;
the individual
v
exercises a considerable degree of autonomy, especially as regards
residence and land rights;
the graded hierarchy is highly competitive;
and finally, parish homesteads are dispersed rather than concentrated.
All of the above characteristics of *loose structure*1 apply more fully
to the eastern parishes than they do to the western.
East Aoba
East Aoba differs from north Raga in that the matri-clans are
3. (from previous page) Hbgbin, H.I. and Wedgwood,C.H. “Local
Grouping in Melanesia.” Oceania. Vol. XXIII, No. 4» p*243. The authors
define a carpel as "An exogamous unilinear group which has its social
centre within a parish territory.” Monocarpellary "denotes a parish
composed of a single carpel”, and raulticarpellary "denotes a parish in
which there are a number of carpels”. In this thesis I have set myself
up as Humpty Dumpty by broadening the definition of carpel so that it
also applies to locally anchored exogamous non-unilinear descent groups.
To avoid unnecessary duplication I also use the term to refer to the
langer group that includes affines and dependants.
42
widely dispersed throughout all districts;
dozen are represented in a single parish*
frequently as many as a
Though each clan is said to
have originated in a particular locality, non-resident members have no
special claims to rights of residence or land-usage.
In many cases no
clan members live, or are said to have lived for many generations, any
where near the place of origin.
The male members of each parish are divided into six or more agnatically oriented descent groups.
The common ancestor is seldom more than
two or three generations removed from the senior living members; there
is no clearly defined dogma of patrilineal descent; marriage is permiss
ible between co-resident agnates provided they are of opposite moieties
and not closely related;
non-agnates;
as many as 40 per cent male parish members are
and approximately 20 per cent adult males maintain houses
and exercise land rights in two or more parishes (usually in their
father1s, mother*s brother*s, and wife*s father*s).
Neither the parish nor its component sections has any clearly de
fined corporate estate in land or in any other property.
The individual
seldom exercises such absolute rights to a given plot of land that he
can dispose of it to outsiders without first consulting the opinion of
others who claim either secondary rights of usage, or potential rights
of inheritance.
These latter persons are, however, related to the current
user not as members of a corporate and enduring group, but by a multi
plicity of inter-personal ties*
When a man dies the land that he used
for his gardens, and also the trees that he either planted or inherited,
frequently become the focus of conflicting claims by various individuals,
some appealing on the grounds of close agnatic connections, others
43
the bonds and obligations between matrilineal kinsmen, others of common
residence in a named locality regardless of genealogical connection,
and yet others the scale of their investment in the deceasedfs funeral.
The most commonly accepted preference is that, all things being equal,
land and its produce should pass from brother to brother or from father
to son.
The rights of the sisterls sons are given full recognition
solely in respect to moveable property (mats, pigs and cash).
As many
men die with more liabilities than assets, the sisterls sons may in
fact receive nothing.
The liabilities are the responsibility of the
principal investor in the funeral, generally a close agnate.
*n almost all other respects the bonds between matrilineal kins
men are expressed in terms of sentiment rather than in those of jural
rights and responsibilities.
Unlike north Raga, a man is in no way
dependent on his senior matrilineal kinsmen for sponsorship in the
graded hierarchy.
In the earlier stages a boy is usually sponsored by
his father or other close agnate, and in the later stages by some man
of high rank whose favour he has won.
The lack of parish solidarity is apparent in many contexts.
Un-
like both north Raga and Malekula, homesteads are scattered over the
parish territory and show no more than a slight tendency for small
clusters to centre on a club-house and associated ceremonial ground.
A large parish may have six or more club-houses.
Each man who rises
to high or moderately high rank is likely to build a new one, and he
considers it to be as much his own private property as is his residence.
When still of moderate rank he and his sons may be the sole users of
the new club but as his influence increases it gradually becomes the
44
social centre for the men of the parish.
The political unity of the parish is in large part dependent on
the presence of an exceptionally high ranking member.
Parishes break
up and reconstitute themselves as leaders fall or rise.
The segment
ary process is, in E a r n e s t )terms, catastrophic and largely unpredict
able, as against the chronic and relatively predictable segmentation
of many African lineage systems.
West Aoba
West Aoban society is of a type intermediary between those of east
Aoba and Malekula.
As compared with east Aoba, the absence of the
dispersed matrilineal descent groups is correlated with a higher
incidence of patrifiliation, and a correspondingly greater emphasis
placed on parish solidarity and continuity.
As compared with Malekula,
the absence of named exogamous patrilineal clans is correlated
with
multicarpellary parishes, dispersed rather than concentrated settle
ments, and correspondingly less parish cohesion and unity.
As in many New Guinea Highland societies, the lineage like local
groups can be said to be the result of “cumulative patrifiliation“ ^ ),
and not of an explicit dogma of patrilineal descent.
The most general
1. Barnes, J.A. “African models in the New Guinea Highlands“, Man.
Vol. 62, Art.2, 1962, p. 8.
2. Barnes, J.A. ibid., p.6. “Thus although some Highland societies
are appropriately classified as agnatic, the area as a whole appears
to be characterized by cumulative patrifiliation rather than by agnatic
descent. Here I am making a distinction between filiation as a
mechanism of recruitment to social groups and to ascribed relationships
and descent as a morally evaluated principle of belief... the principle
of recruitment to a m a n ’s father’s group operates, but only concurrent
ly with other principles, and is sanctioned not by an appeal to the
(cont’d. next page)
45
kin term refers to all the known descendants traced through males or
females from an apical male ancestor removed by about four to six
generations from senior living members.
The resultant cognatic stock
acts as a category from which corporate and perpetuating kin
groups
are recruited through filiation operating in conjunction with a prefer
ence for patrilineal inheritance, patri-virilocal residence and local
group exogamy.
Each cognatic stock is thus automatically divided into
two categories
-
on the one hand, the co-resident property-holding
core of agnatically related males, and, on the other, the widely
dispersed non-agnatic kin descended from all the out-marrying female
members.
All or most of the male agnates descended from any one of
these female members themselves constitute a segment of yet another
agnatic core resident in yet another parish.
All the parishes of the
district are therefore bound to one another by a complex web of over
lapping cognatic stocks.
Though these are categories and not groups and
are neither named nor exogamous, they nevertheless provide a formal
-J
though loosely structured framework for co-operation and interaction
between members of different
parishes.
The preference for patrifiliation can be seen in the following
figures.
Seventy-two per cent of all adult male householders live in
the same parish as did their father*s father1s father or more remote
(cont*d from previous page) 2. notion of descent as such but by
reference to the obligations of kinsfolk, differentiated according to
relationship and encompassed within a span of only two or three
generations. In each generation a substantial majority of men affiliate
themselves with their father*s group and in this way it acquires some
agnatic continuity over the generations. It may be similar in appear
ance and de facto kinship ties to a patrilineal group in which accessory
segments are continually being assimilated to the authentic core, but
its structure and ideology are quite different.” All the above observ
ations are true of west Aoban society.
46.
agnatic ancestor, and as many as ninety-three per cent in the same
parish as th e ir fath er.
In east Aoba the equivalent figures are forty-
one per cent and sixty-nine per cent respectively.
Unfortunately I
have no comparable figures for Malekula, but I doubt i f even amongst
the Big Nambas the incidence of p a trifilla tio n is higher than th at in
west Aoba.
The absence of an ex p licit dogma of p a trilin e a l descent is apparent
in many contexts.
I f a member of a Malekula patri-clan should leave
his parish and either jo in some other kinsfolk or establish a new s e ttle
ment, both he and a ll of his agnatic descendants over an indefinite
number of generations continue to be known by the clan name, are bound
by the rule of clan exogamy, retain the rig h t to attend ceremonies in
the parent parish on the same basis as resident members, and may even
at times take up residence with f u ll rights of land usage.
th is is not so;
In west Aoba
the local groups, both parishes and parish sections,
are the only named and enduring units in the society.
Unless non
resident agnates regularly return to work th e ir land, and to in teract
and co-operate with resident parishioners, they soon cease to be known
as members. Their land rig h ts are said to go "cold11• After two or
three generations the two groups usually consider inter-marriage to be
permissable, and when the genealogical connection is forgotten there is
nothing else by which the bond can be remembered. In chapter X I discuss
land rights at some length, in the present context i t is su fficien t to
note that the principles of tenure sind inheritance are more clearly
defined in favour of agnates than in east Aoba.
In addition to the above sim ilarities and differences between the
47
two sides of the island, a similar pattern of significant variations
against a common background can be seen on examining the graded hier
archy, rites de passage, kinship behaviour, marriage regulations, magic
and sorcery, and so on*
2« CONTACT BETWEEN EAST AND HEST AOBA
Prior to the Christian era contact consisted primarily of visiting
(
between families connected by marriage, warfare, trading and attendance
at large scale pig-killing ceremonies,
I shall discuss each in turn.
Marriage
Inter-marriage between east and west was, and still is, infrequent.
The principal objection from the
Nduindui side is that by marrying an
eastern woman the man loses the dowry that his neighbours would pay.
The people from the other side have two objections.
First, in the east
girls are tattooed as a necessary prerequisite to marriage, and the
more intricate and extensive the design the higher the bride-price paid.
In the west tattooing is not practised, and consequently an easterner
who marries such a western girl is despised and has little chance of
achieving even medium rank in the graded hierarchy.
Secondly, the
easterners dislike the idea of a woman who is without a matri-clan. The
children of such a marriage can be automatically assigned to the
opposite moiety to their father, but this still leaves unresolved the
question of the clan.
Though the lack of such knowledge is no great
handicap to the easterners, they prefer to possess it.
Despite the cessation of warfare
and tattooing, the increased
incidence of intra-moiety (and in some cases intra-clan) marriage, and
the estabilsiim ent of many strong lin k s between the two communities
follow ing the lin e s of common church denomination, in ter-m arriag e is
s t i l l rare*
From a t o t a l of 301 married couples liv in g in Nduindui,
only nine wives and six husbands came from the other side (see Table
IV, p. 56 )•
By c o n tra st, th e re are nineteen members of other islan d s
(mostly Malekula, Malo, and Santo) married and liv in g in the d i s t r i c t .
I know of only th ree Nduindui men and th re e women who have l e f t the
d i s t r i c t to s e t tl e w ith e a st Aoban spouses*
The few cases of in ter-m arriag e ensure th a t a considerable number
of w esterners can fin d k in and a ffin e s in some p a rt of e a st Aoba.
For
example, i f one man in a Nduindui p arish should have an e a ste rn w ife,
th a t i s s u ffic ie n t to enable a l l members of both parishes to expect
accommodation, h o s p ita lity and p ro tec tio n .
G raded-society r i t u a l , w arfare and trad e
Contact w ithin th e th re e frames of reference are in tim a te ly re la te d
and can be considered to g e th e r.
Graded-society r i t u a l was p racticed
throughout the northern New Hebrides and provided one of the p rin c ip a l
bonds between communities.
This i s e sp e c ia lly tru e of those isla n d s
where th e m a trilin e a l m oieties s t i l l e x is t or are said to have done so
in the p a s t.
Here the in s t it u t io n as a whole was known by the same
name, ^ m a n y of the t i t l e s were sim ila r, and much of the r i t u a l and
symbolism was id e n tic a l.
One o f the b est known legends of the west
1 . Torres isla n d s (Hukwa) , Banks isla n d s (Sukwe or Supe) , Mwaevo
(Sukwe), Aoba (Hungwe in west and Hiikwe in e a s t) , Malo (Sumbe), and
probably most of Santo
49
Aobans tellyof a man who, having achieved the highest rank in his
community, proceeded to increase his prestige further by sacrificing
tusked boars on Mwaevo, Raga, Santo, Malo, and north Malekula.
He is
said to have set out on his expedition supported by a large fleet of
canoes and one hundred armed men.
On every island he built a club
house and ceremonial ground, and invited local men of high rank to eat
the sacrificial food and to drink kava with h i m . ^
The most regular form of contact between neighbouring islands was
in the exchange of pigs and locally-manufactured insignia of rank.
The
west Aobans conducted most of their pig-trade with Malo, Tutuba and
south Santo, but they also exchanged pigs, mats, skirts and bustles
with their eastern neigbours.
Many of these articles, though highly
valued throughout the island, were only manufactured in certain districts.
One of the principal garments worn by men of high rank in both eastern
and western districts was a large bustle of finely woven mats that hung
from the small of the back to the ankles.
Such adornments were designed
and coloured in different ways, each representing a specific rank*
The
three best known were called malo mahanga. kwahi mevute and toa manga
manga.
All three were in use throughout the island, but malo mahanga
were manufactured only in Nduindui, and the other two in the eastern
districts of Hakova and Malavungu.
The exchange of pigs, mate and other locally manufactured products
was conducted between formal trading partners.
A man inherits his
1. The Aobans consider these events to be recent history. The man
who performed the feats appears in many pedigrees as only three or four
generations removed from senior informants.
50 .
fath er* s p artn ers ( buluana ), and i f am bitious, he uses them as a
means of extending h is network of trad in g re la tio n s h ip s .
A buluana
i s expected to p ro tect h is p artn er and provide accommodation and food.
Men of one side of the islan d occasionally attended rank-taking
ceremonies held on the other sid e .
In some cases they were f u l f i l l i n g
th e o b lig atio n s of close kinship or a f f in ity , but more o ften they went
as e ith e r sp e c ia lly honoured guests of high rank, or as in v esto rs (see
Chapter V III).
Informants stre sse d the danger of such an undertaking.
There was always the r is k th a t the man asstuning the new rank would be
tempted to add human v ictim s to h is lin e of s a c r i f i c i a l p ig s.
I s h a ll
give ju s t two of many examples in which t h is i s said to have occurred.
In th e f i r s t case a canoe-load of east Aobans from Lolosori and Loloivenue d i s t r i c t s are said to have come down to Lovanualigoutu p arish
in c o a sta l Nduindui to perform a dance fo r the chief*s s a c r i f i c i a l
ceremony.
The Lovanualigoutu men f e l l on t h e ir v i s i to r s , tie d them up,
and the c h ie f k ille d them as though they were p ig s.
Only one man
escaped, and i t was he who brought the ta le back to L olosori.
Some years
l a t e r a L olosori man of high rank sent an in v ita tio n to another Nduindui
c h ie f to come and atten d h is ceremony. *. Two f u l l canoe-loads o f men
a rriv e d a t the anchorage and proceeded inland to L olosori.
They were
given coconuts and kava, and when drunk the L olosori men f e l l on them.
The follow ing day they were duly s a c rific e d .
In th e second instance a Nduindui man (inland parish) in v ite d an
e a st Aoba c h ie f of Abanga d i s t r i c t to come and a ct as one of h is sponsors.
The Nduindui man had planned to murder him, but the guest managed to
avoid the blow and fle d w ith h is supporters. Some time l a t e r a large
51.
force of east Aobans from Abanga, Loloivenue, Lombaha, Longana and
Kwaluneo districts attacked the offending Nduindui parish, destroying
it and three neighbouring settlements.
In both the above incidents trouble began through the desire to
sacrifice a man in place of a tusked pig.
of conflict between east and west Aoba.
This was the principal cause
Leaders frequently sent out
parties of warriors to try and find unwary victims.
In order to reduce
the risk of retaliation it was considered preferable to conduct such
raids as far away from home as possible.
Generally the raiders went by
canoe to eastern districts, though occasionally they captured a victim
in other west Aoban communities.
Only twenty years ago a man of Navuti
parish is said to have been caught, sacrificed and eaten by the men of
Amata (less than two miles from Navuti).
Church denomination
The most recent development in the relationship between the two
sides of the island is the establishment of mission denominations with
congregations represented in both communities.
All Ghurch~of-Christ
members expect and usually receive hospitality from all fellow members,
not only throughout Aoba, but also in neighbouring islands.
Visits between east and west do not, however, take place frequently.
The principal occasion is the opening of a new church, an event which
in certain respects is similar to a rank-taking ceremony.
In 1959 a
new church (Churcli-of-Christ denomination) was opened in Nasalakoro
parish in Lombaha district and over 300 Nduindui men and women came up
to attend the service and associated feast.
The Nduindui church leaders
52
took a prominent part in lesson reading, speech-making, and in contribut
ing to the expenses*
Church elders also regularly visit remote
districts all over the island to take Sunday services, perform marriages,
burials, baptisms, and to arbitrate in disputes.
Abel Bani, the chief
elder of the Church of Christ, lives in Nduindui and periodically visits
Malo, Tutuba, Santo, Mwaevo and Raga islands.
Every year the Nduindui
send two of their men to teach children on Malo and Tutuba.
But for the average west Aoban the prospect of visiting an eastern
district is far from alluring.
At least 50 per cent of the adult
males have never been east of Saranamundu.
On one occasion when I went
to Lombaha district to attend a rank-taking ceremony I was accompanied
by two young Nduindui men.
Although both had been to Lombaha before,
and one of them could even speak the language fluently, the whole time
they were ill at ease fearing that they might be the victims of sorcery.
The tension and ever-present element of hostility was made especial
ly apparent in 1959*
A group of young Nduindui temporarily at work
in Santo as wharf labourers started fighting with some Vietnamese over
a card game.
A man called Abraham of Abanga district tried to break
up the fight but the youths knocked him down and cut his head badly.
The Abanga men began discussing the possibility of radsing a force
to raid Nduindui in revenge.
In the end their leader Tari One, persuad
ed them that the days of fighting were over and that they would be
gaoled.
a.
He announced that he would himself sponsor Abraham in ^rank-
taking ceremony based on the sacrifice of one hundred tusked boars.
Some years earlier Abraham had given up pig-killing and was now recogniz
ed throughout east Aoba as one of the leading elders of the Church of
53
Christ•
Tari One knew that if Abraham performed a major sacrificial
rite (the largest held on Aoba for many years) it would be a blow to
the ardent Nduindui Christians who constantly complained about their
eastern brothers' addiction to pig-killing.
The ceremony took place a year later.
Tari One,
when present
ing Abraham with the highest symbol of rank, a skull-cap decorated
with beads and feathers, made a long speech recounting the details of
the Santo fight, the talk of a raid, and his reasons for instead
sponsoring Abraham.
He stated that in addition to upsetting the Nduindui
leaders he hoped that the secular blood (dai mwenda) lost from
Abraham's head in the brawl would be washed clean by the sacred blood
(dai kokona) of the one hundred pigs to be sacrificed and also by
the sacred hat (ngwatu kokona)•
On my return for my third field-trip
a year afterwards I found that the affair was still remembered in
Nduindui.
There had been more rain than usual, and taro planting was
seriously delayed.
The explanation generally accepted was that some
east-Aoban magician was causing the wet weather to yet further avenge
the injury.
The youth who had kicked Abraham's head had also suffered.
His wife had died, he was seriously in debt, and was said to be living
a drunken, dissolute life in Santo.
Many people suggested that his
troubles were also the result of east Aoba sorcery.
A few months later
when I went to Loloivenue to attend a minor ceremony I could not
persuade anyone from Nduindui to accompany me.
said that they were afraid.
All those I approached
54
3* NDUINDUI DISTRICT
The word nduindui means ”red ant”, and in i t s most precise usage
as a place name i t refers to a small harbour notorious for the number
of red ants in the vicinity*
The term is also used in the wider sense
as a general designation for the twenty-two parishes located within
about three miles* These settlements are separated from other west
Aoban parishes by minor physical b arriers, to the east by about a mile
of rough uninhabited land broken up by a number of g u llies, and to the
west by about a half-mile s trip of thickly forested lava, (see Map 3)*
Between the eastern boundary and the f i r s t of the eastern parishes
(Saranamundu), there is a small cluster of hamlets that are known
collectively as Lovatulonga (Saranarawai, Saragamoha, Saraiuvi, Lone
and Lolotinge).
Culturally and lin g u istic a lly there is l i t t l e or no
difference between the Nduindui and the Lovatulonga, and a considerable
amount of inter-marriage takes place.
To the west the Nduindui refer to the three parishes of Apopo,
Tavala Hage, and Amata as Mwera Tavala Vatu (sometimes abbreviated to
Tavala), a term meaning ”man other side stones”• The Nduindui consider
th^t both the Lovatulonga and Tavala people have personality t r a i t s
d ifferen t from th e ir own*
The use of the name Nduindui for sill the parishes located between
Lovatulonga and Tavala is not s tr ic tly accurate.
Indeed, the further
one moves away from the harbour the less appropriate i t becomes. Primar
ily the expression refers to those parishes whose members sailed from
Nduindui in le t rather than some other place on overseas trading voyages,
55
but in the early years of the recruitment it came to be applied generally
to everyone who was signed on as a labourer there*
Nduindui district could be defined as a territorially-based
aggregate of people sharing certain common characteristics that they
and their neighbours regard as distinctive*
The factors mentioned are
culture, language and kinship.
Kinship
A complex network of cognatic and affinal ties provides the principal
basis for the Nduindui peoples1 awareness of themselves as an identifi
able social entity.
Almost everyone living in the district is
a kinsman of everyone else.
When a middle-aged man of Saralokambu
gave me his pedigree for the proceeding six generations in the direct
male line, he named 302 descendants of the original ancestor living in
twenty Nduindui parishes and another forty-five from four Tavala parish
es.
If he traced his relationships through other relatives (such as
his mother, mother1s mother, father*s mother and so on), he could give
links with almost everyone in the district.
Marriage between neighbouring settlements across the district
borders is almost as common as marriage within them, but people visit
one another more frequently when they live close together, and as a
result they remember the links over a greater number of generations*
The following table gives the natal membership of each partner of the
301 couples at present living in Nduindui.
56
TABLE IV
PLACE OF BIRTH OF NDUINDUI MARRIED COUPLES
I
Husband
K ife
Number
N duindui
N duindui
N duindui
'
West Aoba, o th e r d i s t r i c t
N duindui
E a st Aoba
9
N duindui
O ther is la n d
8
West Aoba, o th e r d i s t r i c t
N duindui
3
E a s t Aoba
N duindui
O th e r is la n d
N duindui
227
37
6
11
3011
The h ig h p e rc e n ta g e Ao f in tra -N d u in d u i m a rria g e i s a f u n c tio n o f a
p re fe re n c e f o r m arrying c lo s e to home, and n o t o f a v o id in g i n t e r - d i s t r i c t
u n io n s .
T his can be shown by th e fo llo w in g f i g u r e s .
I 4 I m a rria g e s (4 7 .2
p e r c e n t) w ere c o n tra c te d betw een members o f im m ediately n e ig h b o u rin g
p a r is h e s .
T h is f ig u r e can be broken down f u r t h e r in to 121 betw een
members o f n eig h b o u rin g p a r is h e s w ith in th e d i s t r i c t , and tw en ty betw een
n e ig h b o u rin g p a ris h e s a c ro s s d i s t r i c t b o rd e rs , a p ro p o rtio n o f s i x to
o ne.
Each p a r is h i n N duindui has from th r e e t o seven n e ig h b o u rin g
p a r is h e s .
From a t o t a l o f 89 neig h b o u r p a r is h li n k s f i f t e e n a r e a c r o s s
d i s t r i c t b o rd e rs , a lso , a p ro p o rtio n o f s i x to o n e.
T his p ro p o r tio n a te
e q u iv a le n c e confirm s info rm an ts* s ta te m e n ts t h a t th e y have no o b je c tio n
t o m arry in g o u ts id e th e d i s t r i c t p ro v id ed t h e i r a f f i n e s a re w ith in e asy
v i s i t i n g d is ta n c e .
.
57
Parish alliances
The Nduindui never unite as a single body, and there is no cross
cutting system of hierarchically-ordered relations such as would bind
the constituent units into a corporate and solidary group*
In the pre-
Christian era no leader ever succeeded in uniting under his authority
more than a maximum of half a dozen parishes.
kind were rare and never endured for long.
Even alliances of this
A particular settlement
that had at one time been part of a certain cluster would within a
generation belong to another cluster as leaders died or lost their
power,
(see chapter
X for a detailed analysis, of the changing political
status of local groups).
The parish wa3 normally the largest territorial group within which
fighting was disapproved and seldom took place.
Conflict between
neighbouring settlements was common enough, but was usually settled
within a few months.
Communities separated by a number of intervening
parishes sometimes remained on hostile terms for a number of years
but the multiplicity of inter-locking ties and divided loyalties ensured
that a settlement was eventually reached.
Coastal versus inland parishes
Three geographical zones can be distinguished - the settled coast
al area extending about one and a half miles inland rising to about 500
feet above sea level, the settled inland belt extending a further two
miles inland rising to about 1,500 feet, and the uninhabited ground
beyond that is intensively cultivated, (to about 3*000 feet).
The two settled zones comprise about seven square miles.
As the
58
total population is
ed part of Aoba.
1,400 persons, Nduindui is the most densely populat
(It is in fact one of the most densely populated rural
areas of Melanesia.)
Apart from some small patches of rock and a few/
narrow ravines and gullies, all land within the inhabited area is fully
utilized for copra and cocoa plantations, homesteads, road3 and a few
gardens and pig pens.
The coastal, and inland peoples refer to one another by the terms
mwera tahi (man-salt-water) and mwera uta (man-bush).
This distinction,
though real and important, is neither as pronounced nor clear-cut as
it is in many Melanesian islands.
There is no abrupt break or uninhabited
land between the two categories of settlement, and the designation of
a number of centrally-located parishes depends on their chief alliances
in kinship, politics, and economics.
of the parishes on Map
I give the present
alignments
13.
The passage from salt water to bush settlements coincides with a
number of other changes.
The land of all coastal parishes has been
intensively planted with coconut trees.
an occasional pig pen.
There are few gardens and only
In the inland area there is more bush, and
though coconut groves are numerous the trees are younger and planted
haphazardly.
The higher the altitude the less the coconuts and the
more plentiful the cocoa stands an$ gardens.
The third zone which extends some two miles beyond the last settle
ments, is the principal garden area.
Most of it is owned by members
of the inland parishes, though some coast dwellers have acquired plots
through the realization of secondary inheritance rights sind also by
purchase and adoption, (see chapter Y for further details).
.
59
On the coast, where the climate is dryer, the principal crops are
yams
and bananas,with only a little taro.
In the wetter inland the
proportion is reversed, and taro is the staple crop.
however, is
The difference,
not sufficient to result in regular markets.
Much inter
marriage takes place, and produce can be informally exchanged by kins
folk.
In the past the sea was mainly important for salt, for washing
during prolonged droughts, and for travelling. (I have mentioned
already that fishing is rarely practised).
Each parish ha3 a tradition
al right of access to Nduindui harbour or one of the minor inlets, but
it has to be admitted that coast dwellers can always obstruct the
inland people.
In the past the difficulties were more serious, but
even today there may be tension.
In recent years, with the introduction
of concrete construction, sand has become more valuable.
In theory
no salt-water parish disputes the right of the people of the inland to
take as much as they need; in practice conflicts often occur.
The location of the Church-of-Christ mission house, hospital,
district church and council house close to Nduindui anchorage on land
that belongs partly to Nanako and partly to Lovanualigoutu has given
these two places an advantage.
All important Church-of-Christ gather
ings are held on the large clearing located nearby, and, partly as a
result of missionaries being handy, most of the church leaders are
members of Nanako, Lovanualigoutu, Navitora, Navuti, Lovaturusa and
Vuinamwangwe.
These six parishes, all on or near the coast, have there
fore begun to emerge as a political centre.
Mission affiliation
Three denominations are represented in the district, the Church
60
of Christ, the Anglican and the Apostolic Church*
Each parish possess
es its own church, and with only a fewexceptions, all members belong
to the same sect*
Parish affiliations are shown on Map 3.
In Table J
I give the population figures for each of the five missions represented.
TAB IE V
MISSION REPRESENTATION IN WEST AOBA
Lovatulonga Nduindui Tavala Walaha and Total
Vilakalaka
Roman Catholic
15
-
-
-
15
10
10
Seventh Day Adventist
-
-
-
Apostolic Church
-
95
140
408
643
Melanesian Mission
71
302
-
-
373
Church of Christ
27
1,003
64
-
1,094
113
1,400
204
418
2,135
Apart from Nataluhangele (Apostolic Church), all the Nduindui
parishes belong to either the Melanesian Mission or the Church of
Christ.
These two denominations have divided the island into what are
termed districts, and as these do not coincide with the traditional
districts, some explanation is required.
In Melanesian Mission organization the term ’’Nduindui district”
refers to all communities that come directly under the authority of
the native-ordained priest who lives at Nambangahage, where the district
church and school are located.
They comprise not only the seven
parishes of Nduindui proper, but also three in Lovatulonga and two in
Vuingelato (the last is in east Aoba).
61 .
The C h u rc h -o f-C h ri3 t N duindui d i s t r i c t in c lu d e s tw elv e p a ris h e s
i n th e t r a d i t i o n a l d i s t r i c t , one i n T a v a la , one in L ovatulonga and two
i n Lolokaram buhi ( e a s t A oba).
A ll th e s e s e ttle m e n ts c o n tr ib u te funds
t o th e d i s t r i c t c o u n c il, a tte n d im p o rta n t s e r v ic e s in th e d i s t r i c t
c h u rc h , and send r e p r e s e n ta tiv e s t o c o u n c il m e etin g s.
The s tr e n g th o f t i e s based on den o m in atio n membership d iv id e th e
t r a d i t i o n a l d i s t r i c t s i n t e r n a l l y and l i n k p a r ts w ith n eig h b o u rin g
com m unities.
F o r exam ple, th e members o f a l l th r e e T avala p a ris h e s
a re c lo s e ly i n t e r - r e l a t e d by k in s h ip and a f f i n i t y , and i n d a y -to -d a y
c o n cern s th e v a rio u s r e l a t i v e s r e g u la r ly c o -o p e ra te .
Yet th e th r e e
com m unities, because o f t h e i r d i f f e r e n t m issio n a f f i l i a t i o n s , have
b u i l t up t h e i r own e x c lu s iv e e x t r a - d i s t r i c t c o n ta c ts .
The Amata le a d e rs
f r e q u e n tly go t o N duindui t o d is c u s s church m a tte r s , to h e a r d is p u te s
and to a tte n d im p o rtan t s e r v ic e s h e ld in th e d i s t r i c t ch u rc h .
The
young men and boys go t o N duindui to a tte n d th e m issio n sc h o o l and to
p la y f o o t b a l l .
The T a v a la Hage and Apopo men have a s im ila r range o f
c o n ta c ts w ith WaJLaha and o th e r A p o sto lic -C h u rch com m unities t o th e
w e s t.
W ith in N duindui p ro p e r th e r e i s a h ig h e r r a t e o f i n t e r - a c t i o n be
tw een n eig h b o u rin g s e ttle m e n ts o f th e same denom ination th a n th e r e i s
betw een th o s e o f d i f f e r e n t d en o m in a tio n s.
The d e g re e o f s u s p ic io n ,
c r i t i c i s m , and a t tim e s even open h o s t i l i t y betw een th e C h u rc h -o fC h r is t and A nglican m is s io n a r ie s i s in la r g e p a r t r e f l e c t e d i n th e
r e l a t i o n s betw een t h e i r r e s p e c tiv e c o n g re g a tio n s .
The
N duindui f r e q u e n tly s t a t e t h a t th e y would l i k e to s e e th e
t r a d i t i o n a l d i s t r i c t d e v elo p in to a s in g le p o l i t i c a l community, and
62
they fully realize that the existence of the different denominations
reduces the possibility of achieving this goal,
’’one people, we are kin ( bela ).
divided by the missions’1.
^ e are”, they say,
It is not good that we should be
The difficulty in attempting to reconcile
the opposed ideals of mission and district solidarity can be seen in
the ambivalent attitudes displayed towards inter-denomination marriage.
When the Nduindui think in terms of mission solidarity they state that
it is best for marriage to be intra-denominational; when they think in
terms of the district as a single kinship community they express strong
disapproval of any attempt to consider religion as a significant
variajble in marriage regulations.
The mission endogamy ideal tends
to be favoured by men whose status and influence depends on the degree
of political cohesion between parishes of their own denomination, that
is, church leaders.
The ambivalence is also apparent in the difficulty of reconciling
a willingness to take a wife from another denomination (she normally
changes to her husband^ church) with a reluctance to thus lose their
own women.
The figures presented in Table VI indicate that though 25
per cent of marriages are mixed, there is nevertheless a pronounced
preference for unions within the same sect.
The tendency to marry within the same mission is clear in that
though
64 per
cent of married couples were b o m in Church-of-Christ
parishes (383 men and women from a total of 602), yet 72.4 per cent
Church-of-Christ men married women of their own sect.
The trend is
even more pronounced among the Melanesian Mission converts.
25*6 per
cent of the total group were born into Melanesian Mission parishes,
63
yet 86,8 per cent of their men married women of the same sect,
TABLE VI
THE NATAL MISSION AFFILIATIONS OF NDUINDUI MARRIED COUPLES
VFife b o m in:
Husband b o m in:
Church of Christ Melanesian Mis
sion parish
parish
Church of Christ
parish
Apostolic Total
parish
Men
157
29
31
217
Melanesian Mis
sion parish
7
58
2
67
Apostolic Church
parish
7
-
10
17
171
87
43
301
Total women
It is of some interest to note that the intra-denominational prefer
ence amongst the Melanesian-Mission people is confined mostly to the
men (29 of their women married Church-of-Christ men, but only seven of
their men married women of other denominations).
The reason is that
though the Church-of-Christ men are happy enough to marry women of other
sects, they are reluctant to allow their women to marry out.
The
numerical superiority and greater per capita wealth of the Church-ofChrist adherents enable them both to hold their own women and also
attract wives from other denominations (14 women lost to 60 gained).
The Melanesian-Mission members are understandably irritated.
Many of
them complain that because of the difficulty of finding wives for their
young men from within the district, they are forced to arrange marriages
.
64
with girls of Melanesian parishes both in Lovatulonga and in east Aoba.
Despite the definite bias towards intra-denominational marriage
it has not as yet become a major determinant in Nduindui regulations*
As in the past, the most important considerations are the avoidance of
specified kin and a desire to marry close to home*
CHAPTER III
PARISH STRUCTURE AND MEMBERSHIP COMPOSITION
The central problem discussed in the following four chapters is
the extent to which the parish forms a discrete, solidary and enduring
social unit (the last characteristic is further discussed in chapter
X) •
Hogbin and Wedgwood have suggested that the cohesion and political
stability of the Melanesian parish is correlated with the number of
component carpels and the degree of variability and constancy in effect
ive members.
They stated:
Monocarpellary parishes, in which marriage is necessarily
exogamous, are exceptional. Their strength and stability
as social units seem to be considerable when patrilineal
descent is combined with patri-virilocal residence, for
then the group of effective male members is closed and
constant,Tl)
Monocarpellary parishes in which matrilineal descent is combined
with avunculo-virilocal residence may also possess considerable solidar
ity,
But the group of effective male members is neither closed nor
constant, and therefore ’’they have not the same traditions of comrade
ship and corporate life upon which to build as have the men of patri-
1, Hogbin, H,I. and Wedgwood, C.H. ‘‘Local Grouping in Melanesia“,
Oceania. Vol, 23, No, 4, 1953, p* 65.
66
lineal patri-virilocal monocarpellary perishes, who have been effective
birth members of the one parish since infancy.”
0 ) Monocarpellary
parishes in vrhich na trilineal descent is combined with matri-uxorilocal
residence are less likely to form cohesive and enduring units as it is
the women and not the men who provide structural continuity.
When parish membership is defined by descent, but without any
emphasis on the male or the female line, the individual is, at least
in theory, capable of exercising choice between a number of possibilities.
Even when secondary considerations so limit the range that group affil
iation is as invariant and constant as that found in conjunction with
an ideology of unilinear descent and unilocal residence, the recognition
of legitimate variation introduces an element of flexibility.
There are, however, comparatively few Melanesian societies in which
descent, whether unilinear or non-unilinear, is the sole criterion for
local-group membership.
Adoption, marriage, a parent^ or an ancestor^
former residence, utilization of land, participation in economic, ritual
and other activities, etc. may, though perhaps only in special circum
stances, be also considered valid.
In this type of society the solidar
ity and stability of the parish is in large part dependent on two
factors;
on the one hand, the ideological emphasis placed on descent,
especially agnetic descent; ard,on the other, the statistical incidence
of effective male membership acquired on secondary grounds. We can say
then that in the most rigidly structured parish both dogma and facts
conform to the agnatic monocarpellary ideal-type model.
1•
ibid, p.65
The principal
67
aim of the present chapter is to determine the extent to which the
Nduindui parish accords with or deviates from this extreme position*
I first give a brief outline of the homestead and the elementary family,
I then go on to abstract from genealogical and census data, oral
traditions and sketch maps, the effective structural principles govern
I
ing the social composition of parishes and parish-sections.
the full range of parish types on the basis of three criteria
establish
-
the
number of component carpels, the presence or absence of semi-autonomous
parish-sections (both monocarpellary and multicarpellary), and the
degree of variability and constancy in effective parish members*
Homestead distribution
Homesteads are scattered throughout the district, each standing
on its own clearing separated as a rule by more than thirty yards from
its nearest neighbours*
Parish dwellings are sometimes, though by no
means always, situated closer to one another than they are to those of
neighbouring parishes.
This is especially so in inland communities
where gullies and other natural obstacles used as territorial boundaries
are more formidable than on the coast*
Within the parish the pattern of homestead distribution is correlat
ed with the size of the group and the number of component carpels and
multi-carpel-sections*
There are thus considerable differences*
At
the present stage of the analysis it is sufficient to note that there
is a tendency for carpel members to form a residential cluster located
in the vicinity of a large clearing and menfs club-house*
Some of the
larger carpels are differentiated into a number of such groups, and
68
like the multicarpellary parishes, they tend to be located closer to
one another than to similar groups in neighbouring parishes.
Maps 4,
5,6, and 7 show that these clustering tendencies are not very marked.
On the coast the scattering of homesteads within the parish is
more pronounced than it is inland.
This is because of an increase in
the extent to which the members of tradjlonally corporate land-owning
groups partitioned their ground into separate holdings (see chapter V).
Bach individual prefers to build his homestead on the land that he
alone uses.
Even in inland parishes residential dispersal is greater
than it was in the past, partly on account of the cessation of warfare
and the traditional activities associated with the ceremonial grounds
and club-houses.
Household compositions
In Navuti parish (population 109) there are 31 occupied houses
giving an average of 3 »5 persons per household.
Membership is as
follows:A) Twenty each occupied by a married couple, three without children
and seventeen with one to seven children (mean = three).
B) Three each occupied by a young single man who intends to be married
shortly.
C) Four each occupied by a widower with children,and three without.
D) Four each occupied by a widow with children, and one without.
These figures reveal one of the more characteristic features of
the society, the limitation of the household to either a single
elementary family or an incomplete family (bachelors, widows and widowers).
69
In a family of three generations1 depth with the second generation
all married, the
surviving grandparents continue to live by them-
4 $,
selves, though their real and classifatory grandchildren regularly
visit them, sind often stay for long periods.
If the husband should
die first the surviving widow continues to live by herself, though more
usually she moves into a small hut in the same clearing as a married
son or a brother-in-law.
Table VII indicates the place of residence
of all widows in the district.
TABLE VII
PLACE OF RESIDENCE OF WIDOWS
In deceased husband*s parish
In hut near married son
24
In deceased husband*s house
to
With another widow
6
With widowed mother
2
In hut near married son
1
In hut near married sister
2
In parish of birth
In m r r i e d sister1s parish
Total:
45
In a household occupied by a married couple with children, the
daughters when they marry leave to join their husbands* who are mostly
members of other parishes.
Sons leave their parents* household when
they are about ten to twelve years old, and until they build their
own house, normally not far from that of their father, they live a
70
roving and unattached life in club-houses and homesteads of various
relatives in their own and neighbouring parishes.
Many youths spend
a part of each year attending mission boarding schools and when a
little older make frequent trips to Santo to earn money as wharf
labourers.
The principal reason for the early departure of sons from the
parents1 household is the absolute prohibition of any form of contact
between siblings of the opposite sex.
Even if a boy should have no
sisters he must still depart because of a similar, though not so
extreme, avoidance pattern between mothers and sons.
These two relat
ionships, which I discuss at greater length in chapter VII, result in
the earlybreak up of the elementary family.
Married brothers, and indeed all married men, maintain separate
households.
People told me this was to avoid the quarrels that would
follow on the inevitable adultery.
The disapproval of sexual inter
course between a man and his brother1s wife is rationalized in the
belief that a woman who knew the penes of two living brothers would
contract a serious disease.
M u l t males are forbidden entry to the
dwelling of the married brother and consultations always take place
outside.
The limitation of household membership to the elementary family
can also be interpreted as a manifestation of the emphasis placed on
the individual.
The balance that obtains between the apparently
contradictory ideals of individual autonomy and group solidarity,
especially that of closely related male agnates, will appear again
and again in the course of the thesis.
71
Homestead types
(see plates 2
te
7)
The main building stood in a small clearing and was surrounded by
a wall*
The homestead is known as tata. though there is no term for
the elementary family itself*
Homesteads can be divided into two types.
Formerly that of an
unimportant man consisted of a house (ingwa) and a small hut nearby
used by his wife during her mei&rual periods and at childbirth*
dwelling itself was divided by a partition into two sections.
The
That at
the back served as a bedroom for the wife and female children, the
front as a kitchen and dining room and a bedroom for the husband and
the young sons*
Today the homesteads of young and unimportant married men are
much as described except that they lack a fence.
The traditional style
building ha3 also been largely replaced by a construction in timber,
fibre, concrete and corrugated iron.
Often the kitchen is a separate
structure where cooking can still be done in a stone oven.
In the past the homestead of a man of standing was more elaborate.
In addition to the main residence there were a number of additional
buildings for the secondary wives (see chapter VI for further details
on polygamous households)*
Leaders also possessed a club-house (vale)
situated at the edge of a large clearing (sara) •
Sacrificial and dancing grounds
The clearing known as sara (as distinct from the smaller tata)
required the performance of at least one pig-killing ceremony, together
72
with associated feasts and dances*
Today they are mostly used for the
feasts and displays of wealth at rites de passage, and in some parishes
for football matches*
Each sara has a name, frequently that of the man who originally
made it, sometimes that of a more famous descendant, and occasionally
that of some natural object in the vicinity.
Many of these grounds are
no longer in use, though members can always point out their exact locat
ion.
Abandoned clearings can be identified by the presence of straight
rows of cycas palms where pigs were sacrificed, by the stone mounds of
graves, and in some cases by the stone tables erected by men of high
rank.
Within the parish a new segment was created each time a member
cleared a new ground.
Such a ground was initially called after the
man who first sacrificed on it, for example, Sara i Vira.
If Vira
proceeded to achieve high rank his clearing became the social centre
for members of a number of neighbouring homesteads.
Other men of
lesser rank would perform their ceremonies on Vira*£ ground, thus the
name would become well known throughout the district.
If the fame of
this ground should continue for many years, and if there were no others
of equal repute in the parish, then Sara i Vira might eventually super
cede the old parish name.
Only men of the two highest ranks had the right to clear a new
sacrificial ground, decorate their dwellings with certain insignia,
build a club-house beyond a specified length, or marry more than one
wife.
When low-ranking men acted above their station leaders invariably
took action against them, either by public criticism, sorcery or even
73
m urder.
T his r u li n g a ls o p re v e n ted an u n s u c c e s s fu l son from b u ild in g
h is hom estead on h is d eceased f a t h e r fs sax a , he and h is b r o th e r s ( i f
a ls o o f low ran k ) co n tin u e d to l i v e i n th e v i c i n i t y and to j o i n t l y
u se i t s f a c i l i t i e s .
I f , l a t e r on, two o f them should r i s e to h ig h
ra n k , th e n u s u a lly th e f i r s t would move to h is fa th e r* s s a r a , and
th e second would c le a r a new one n earb y .
The c e s s a tio n o f p i g - k i l l i n g r i t u a l has meant t h a t th e c le a r in g s
a re no lo n g e r so n e c e s s a ry .
But an im p o rta n t man s t i l l needs a
s u b s t a n t i a l ground on w hich t o ho ld f e a s t s and p u b lic exchanges o f
w e a lth .
From a t o t a l o f 317 male h o u se h o ld e rs, $3 l i v e on c le a r in g s
d ig n if ie d by th e t i t l e o f s a r a .
has a p p e a re d .
W ith C h r i s t i a n i t y a new ty p e o f s a r a
As each p a r is h was co n v erted th e members c o n trib u te d
a sum o f money tow ards th e pu rch ase o f about h a l f an a c re o f la n d ,
which th e y c a lle d nGod>8 g a rd e n “ .
T his th e y c le a re d , o r i g i n a l l y f o r
th e ch u rch , though now i n many p a ris h e s th e communally-owned b u ild in g s
and u t i l i t i e s ( e .g . f e a s t house, c o u n c il ho u se, c o -o p e ra tiv e s t o r e ,
r e s t a u r a n t , w e ll, sind f o o t b a l l f i e l d ) axe a ls o lo c a te d on i t .
T his
church s a r a a c ts a s a more e n d u rin g symbol o f p a r is h s o l i d a r i t y th a n
d id th e t r a d i t i o n a l s a r a o f a
s u c c e s s fu l p i g - k i l l e r .
The m e n ^ clu b
T h i s ,l i k e th e s a r a . v a rie d i n s iz e and s t y l e , and a ls o i n th e
e x te n t to which i t was used by th e members o f one o r more h o u se h o ld s.
The s m a lle s t w ere about 36 f e e t long and th e l a r g e s t 90.
I n each
p a r is h one, and in some c a se s two o r th r e e , c lu b s , c o n ta in e d th e
s lit- g o n g s played d u rin g th e p i g - k i l l i n g r i t e s , to accompany dances
74.
and to announce the different stages of burial ceremonies.
of highest rank owned a full set of five*
Only men
Lesser men had to pay a few
pigs for the temporary removal of the instruments to their own club.
During the course of the rank-taking ceremony and for a few days
afterwards, the candidate, together with other men of similar or higher
rank who attended as sponsors, pig-donors or simply as spectators, re
tired to the club to eat, drink kava and sleep.
At the end of
this
period they returned to their families and could take meals with any
body regardless of rank, age, etc.
This is in marked contrast with the
islands to the west of Aoba, especially Malekula, where a man who had
sacrificed pigs ate food cooked in an oven reserved for men of the same
rank located in a special section of the club.
his time sleeping in the club rather than
He also spent much of
with his wife and children.
It is clear that this difference had an effect on the relative importance
and solidarity of the elementary family.
In Nduindui it is only on
special occasions and for short periods that a man is ritually separated
from his wife and children.
They themselves say that the men of the
western islands are too proud, and that it is bad for a man to be
permanently sacred, standing aloof from his family and lesser men. (For
further implications of this difference between the two islands see
chapter VII).
The club also functioned as a guest-house, a meeting place for
the men of neighbouring homesteads to drink kava and chat, and a
dormitory for the youths and unmarried men.
sara have lost much of their importance.
These buildings, like the
A few men still build them,
but primarily as a means of seeking recognition as persons of substance.
75
They re c e iv e and e n t e r t a i n g u e s ts th e r e and sometimes garage t h e i r
je e p s .
The y o uth s d i s l i k e spending th e n ig h t in such a p u b lic p la c e ,
and p r e f e r t o g a th e r i n sm all groups i n modern s ty le houses r e c e n tly
p re p a re d f o r a forth com ing m arriag e (where th e y can gamble and d r in k
i n p r iv a c y ) .
Each p a r is h a ls o p o s se ss e s a c e n t r a l c lu b where everyone,(women
and c h ild r e n in c lu d e d ) assem ble and g o s s ip .
The le a d e rs meet h e re ,
to o , t o d is c u s s m a tte rs t h a t a r e o f g e n e r a l concern and h e a r d is p u te s .
P a r is h s tr u c tu r e
The d e f i ni t i o n o f th e p a r is h a s th e l a r g e s t l o c a l body t h a t main
t a i n s some d e g re e o f perm anent p o l i t i c a l u n i t y i s so im p re c ise a s t o
make i t d i f f i c u l t to d e c id e w hether c e r t a i n groups q u a lif y .
An
a g g re g a tio n o f p eople who to d a y m a in ta in a hig h d eg ree o f independence
and autonomy may, p erhaps i n tw en ty o r t h i r t y y e a r s , become a dependent
s e c tio n o f a l a r g e r p o l i t i c a l community.
L ik ew ise, a p a r is h - s e c tio n
may, th ro u g h in c r e a s in g p o p u la tio n o r th e emergence o f an o u ts ta n d in g
le a d e r , succeed i n i t s e l f becoming autonom ous.
S e c tio n s w ith a
t r a d i t i o n o f p a s t p a r is h s t a t u s u s u a lly c o n tin u e to o p e ra te s e p a r a te ly
i n c e r t a i n c o n te x ts , e s p e c i a l l y i n re s p e c t t o la n d and m a rria g e .
The b a s ic en d u rin g u n i t o f l o c a l o r g a n iz a tio n i s r e f e r r e d t o by
th e term to k a k i vanua = '’l i v i n g on th e la n d ” , a p h ra se in d ic a tin g th e
c lo s e a s s o c ia ti o n o f p e o p le and s o i l .
I t c o n s is ts o f a c o re o f a g n a tic -
a l l y r e l a t e d m ales, t h e i r w iv es, widowed m others and unm arried d a u g h te rs .
The m a jo r ity a ls o in c lu d e a few noru-agnatic im m igrants and th e descend
a n t s , m o stly a g n a tic , o f n o n -a g n a tes who jo in e d i n p re v io u s g e n e r a tio n s .
76
The senior male members can demonstrate their common descent from an
apical male ancestor, who lived three to six generations ago.
Marriage
is prohibited within the group, and members are united primarily through
a common interest in their land.
k few tokaki vanua are patrilineages
(plus wives and an occasion
al male householder who has acquired rights on non-descent criteria),
but the majority are more appropriately referred to as either quasipatrilineages (ramages with a strong agnatic bias) or as ramages with
no marked unilineal emphasis.
In order to avoid confusion I shall in
future refer to all such groups by the neutral term carpel 0 ) #
Though
a carpel is the co-resident core of a larger dispersed cognatic stock,
both have the same apical ancestor; in other words, carpels are not
segments within a wider overarching genealogical structure of corporate
descent groups.
The parish, as distinct from the carpel, is known by the term
ngwatu jL vanua = ’’head of the landH.
Most parishes are multicarpellary.
They can be divided into two categories} those in which one or more
of the component carpels (or a number of them together) maintain a
tradition of past autonomy, and still act as separate units in certain
contexts; and those in which there is no such tradition.
Semi-autonom-
ous parish sections are also known by the term ngwatu i vanua.
a speaker wishes to distinguish them from the parish
If
as a whole he
1. See footnote on page 41* Strictly speaking the carpel consists
solely of the descent core of the tokaki vanua. However, as there
are so few non-descent members (excluding spouses) it would create
unnecessary terminological confusion to distinguish the two categories.
In the following discussion carpel = tokaki vanua. In chapter IV
I further discuss the relationship between descent and locality.
77
refers to this as ngwatu i vanua lakua = ’’head of the land big”«
Parishes with semi-autonomous sections can be further sub-divided into
two categories;
those in which the component sections are monocarpell-
ary, and those in which they are multicarpellary.
Combining the carpel and section criteria, parishes can be divided
into four categories*
A)
Monocarpellary (five)
B)
Multicarpellary (six)
parish status*
C)
Each carpel maintains a tradition of past
Marriage is permissable between the carpels*
Multicarpellary (four).
Each carpel maintains that it has always
a*.
been''dependent section within the same parish*
The parish is
exogamcus *
D)
Multicarpellary (seven).
A number of semi-autonomous sections one
or more of which is similar in structure to the type C parish.
Marriage is permissable between parish sections.
The four types can be represented diagramatically as follows:
A
B
Each cross represents a carpel*
C
D
The outer circle represents the
group’s status as a maximal political unit.
In types B and D the inner
circle represents the section’s status as having once been a parish
together with a still limited autonomy in certain contexts.
In the following detailed analysis I have provided in the second
last column the number of adult male householders who are full agnatic
78
members, and i n th e f i n a l
h o ld e rs*
.
column th e number o f n o n -a g n a tic male house
(By a_ f u l l a g n a tic member I mean a p e rso n whose most rem ote
a g n a tic male a n c e s to r was e i t h e r a c a r p e l fo u n d e r, o r was known to have
been b o m t h e r e .
By n o n -a g n a tic male h o u seh o ld e rs I mean th e men who
a r e im m igrants o r descended from im m ig ran ts.) The two columns
th e r e
f o r e p ro v id e an i n i t i a l , i n d ic a tio n o f th e e x te n t to w hich a g n a tic
d e s c e n t d e term in e s membership o f th e c o rp o ra te l o c a l g ro u p s.
I n th e
f i n a l s e c tio n o f t h i s c h a p te r I s h a l l b re a k down th e c a te g o ry o f nona g n a tic h o u s e h o ld e rs .
Type A P a ris h e s
The f iv e m o n o c arp ellary p a r is h e s .
Two (N a ta lu and Longwaru)
conform f u l l y to th e l o c a l exogamous p a t r i l i n e a g e i d e a l ty p e , and th r e e
(Nangweangwea, Lomwandu and L ovatu ru sa) d e v ia te t o th e e x te n t t h a t a
number o f th e male h o u seh o ld e rs a re e i t h e r im m igrants o r th e d escen d
a n ts o f im m ig ran ts.
TABLE V III
TYPE *Al PARISH
Made h o u seh o ld e rs
A gnates
Non-Agnates
P o p u la tio n
C arp els
N a ta lu
10
1
2
-
Longwaru
21
1
4
-
Nangweangwea
49
1
7
1
Lomwandu
37
1
6
2
L o v a tu ru sa
92
1
5
14
209
5
24
17
P a r is h
79
Nangweangwea (see Map 4) is the largest parish conforming to the
exogamous-patrilineage type.
Appendix 1i gives a skeleton genealogy.
The only non-agnatic member is Ambrose (F 8), whose father1s father
was born a member of Lovutikerekere (section of Saralokambu parish).
Ngarai Bue ( D 4) married a Nangweangwea woman who had no brothers;
her sons inherited Tololofs (C 4) land.
as other men of the parish.
Ambrose has the same rights
He has no rights in Lovutikerekere.
The agnatic monocarpellery structure of this parish is related
to two factors.
First, the group has sufficient members to be able
to maintain its autonomy and prevent outsiders from acquiring land
rights;
secondly, a surplus of land meant that nobody has had to leave
and join other groups.
Lovaturusa, by contrast, is one of the least agnatically oriented
parishes.
The genealogical structure is given in Appendix 2.
settlement is on the coast near Nduindui anchorage.
The
It is said to have
once been a part of the neighbouring parish of Vuinamwangwe but to have
become separate shortly after the introduction of Christianity.
Jack
Tau (C 1) and his brother Hangele (C 2) were the first Christians.
They were joined by two ex-Queensland converts (C 3 and C 5) and to
gether the four men built a church near Jack*s homestead.
The other
men of Vuinamwangwe refused to have anything to do with them and cont
inued to participate in pig-killing ceremonies.
Soon afterwards the
brothers Peter Takaro (D 1) and John Vuti (D 3) married two of Jack*s
daughters.
They also were early converts, and because their parish
of Lombanga was at the time pagan, they joined their father-in-law.
The parish continued to grow by natural increase and immigration.
80
Ben Ngara (D 9) of Tavalavuti quarrelled with hi 3 elder brother and
joined his sister*s husband, Wilson Boi (D 7).
Shem Ngarai (E 10)
of ea3t Aoba attended the mission school in Nduindui,
and on his
marriage his father-in-law (D 14)gave him land so that he could live
nearby.
Seth Vira (E 12) is a member of an almost landless family of
Navuti (see Tab3.e XIX), and, recently, after living for a few years
with hi3 father he accepted a small piece of land from his father-inlaw and moved.
But he still visits Navuti and joins some of the
ventures there.
Edwin Ngarai (E 14) was adopted by his mother*s brother
Job Ngeo (D 17),and, though mo3t of his land is in his father*s parish
of Saralokambu (Saranavia section, see p.85) he runs a large retail
store alongside the district football ground, church sind council house
at Lovaturusa and has chosen to live there.
Type B parishes
Two or more type A parishes that are known to have merged into a
larger unit.
The common element in all of these six parishes is that
each of thQ eighteen sections is monocarpellary.
TABLE IX
TYPE B PARISH
Parish
Pop. Parish section Pop.
Carpels
Made householders
Agnates
Saralokambu
84
Lokambu
25
1
4
Saranavia
35
1
3
Lotano
15
1
4
Mon-agnates
7
(cont*d next page)
31
TABLE IX (Continued)
TYPE B PARISH
Parish
]?op. P a r i s h section Pop.
Carpels
Male householders
Agnates
Lolongwalakesa
Saranambuga
67
52
L ovutikereker e
1
1
1
Lolotitiraba
8
1
1;
-
Lolon g w a l a k e sa 29
1i
5
1
Sarakarangwa
311
1
6
1
Saramahanga
7
t
t
1
Saranambuga
18
t
3
-
7
1
1!
-
Tambunangwaia
27
1i
2
t
Natakaro
52
1
10
1i
8
1
4
%
60
1
10
4
N g w a r a i Nahaha 19
1
4
1
Lolobinananungwa
54
1
10
1
Lol o n g e l a t o
19
1i
4
4M
Saranakwelu
7
t
2
-
422
1:8
75
19
Naroke
N a takaro
60
Saraimboivutu
Navi t o r a
79
LolobinanungweD 8 0
Non-agnates
Navitora
82
Saralokambu (see Map 5) serves as a typical example# It consists
today of five neighbouring communities, each of which is said to have
once been a separate parish.
The first person to settle is said to
have been Turuki (Appendix 3, A 1 ).
lower down near the coast#
He was born in Natalu, a mile
There is no known genealogical connection
between the Natalu men and the descendents of Turuki, and the relations
between the two parishes do not vary in any significant way from those
between any other two parishes#
At the time of Turuki, Saralokambu
was used by men from a number of different parishes for taro gardens,
and Turuki moved up in order to protect his cultivation.
He became
a man of high rank and made a large sacrificial ground which he named
Saralokambu (= Sara in the fire) because part of the land is covered
with a lava flow#
Today, the known descendants in the direct male line
number seven householders.
Of these, Thomas (G 11) the parish leader,
and his married son Aukis (H 1), live on the original sara of Turuki#
Two more, Jo3hua (G 2) and Seth (G 3) are nearby.
Two generations ago a great-grandson of Turuki called Vuti Roi
(D 3) quarrelled with his agnates and made a new homestead a short
distance away on the land of his mother*s agnates in Lomwandu.
Today,
Mathias (F 5) and Simeon (F 6), hi3 grandsons, live in Lomwandu but
still retain rights at Lokambu where they own the land of their grand
father.
They frequently visit the place and are considered to be full
members of the parish-section.
is still prohibited#
Inter-marriage between the two branches
On the introduction of Christianity the Lomwandu
men joined the Melanesian Mission and built their own church.
later Lokambu was converted to the Church of Christ#
A little
S3
The remaining adult male agnatic descendant of Turuki is Peter
(G 4)•
He was born in Lokambu but left at marriage to live with his
wife near the coast.
As the last surviving member of Londua, she
had inherited all her father*s land, which was well planted with coco
nuts,
Theoretically Peter still has full rights in Lokambu land, but
he uses only a small area for taro.
The seven men mentioned stress their common agnatic descent from
Turuki;
they form a strictly exogamous unit and each contributes
towards the bride-price, dowry and funeral expenses of his fellows*
The four who still live in Lokambu state that the land is ’‘one**, mean
ing that they have preferential rights of inheritance over n on- agjiatic
descendants of Turuki and that they would have to agree beforehand if
any of it could be sold.
cultivated before him.
Each one uses the section that his father
As their common ancestor is their FFFF they
do not know when exactly sub-division occurred. (For a fuller discussion
of land usage and inheritance see Chapter V),
Informants said that not long after Turuki founded Lokambu Kwagi
Lakua (Appendix 4> A. 1) moved from Tavalavuti and cleared a new sara
close by.
He called it Lotano, and today there are six agnatic male
descendants.
Of these, one (F 7) lives at Saralotano, three (G 1,2 and
3) nearby, and two (F 8 and G 4) in Nambangahage.
joined his wife's kin.
Kwarimaieto (E 4)
This agnatic kin group, though like that of
Turuki in that it is no longer confined to one parish, is exogamous,
and the four men who still live in Lotano have a similar sort of arrange
ment and share the same sort of sentiments about their land as do the
Lokambu men.
Noel, the senior non-resident member neither cultivates
84,
the land nor makes any claims as he has inherited sufficient in
Nambangahage.
He and his son Zachaeas occasionally visit Saralokambu
to attend feasts*
In subsequent generations, immigrants from other parishes; founded
three more communities called Lolotitimba, Lovutikerekere and Saranavia.
(Appendices 5>6 and 7).
There are three surviving married male agnates
of Lolotitimba, one of whom lives there (5, E 3) and two (E t and 2)
in Saranavia*
This pair are brothers.
The elder married a Saranavia
woman and built his house on her land, and the younger bought a small
piece of ground from his brother1s wife1s brother and lives near him.
All three Lolotitimba men retain rights in their agnatic land.
There is only one surviving male descendant, Reuben Vira (6, D 1)
the founder of Lovutikerekere, and he also lives in Saranavia with
his wife*s agnates.
kere.
He has land rights both there and in Lovutikere
Four generations ago a man of Saranavia, Dura (A 2), joined his
wife*s agitates in Lovutikerekere and today there are three surviving
male agnatic descendants.
One (E 1) lives in Lovutikerekere, its only
resident, and the others (E 2 and 3) in Saranavia, where they were
adopted by John Ngarai (5, E 2 and 7, E 1).
Both retain land rights
in Lovutikerekere.
There are four surviving full agnates of Saranavia.
Three still live
there, but the fourth, Edwin Ngarai (7, E 6) has moved to his motherls
parish of Lovaturusa.
Edwin still retains land rights in Saranavia
where he collects most of his copra and makes his gardens.
In addition,
to the five men from Lovutikerekere and Lolotitimba who have built
their houses on Saranavia land, two other married men
have joined
85
the group, one from Malekula island (S 11) after he married a Saranavia
woman, and the other ( E 5) from Navuti after adoption.
acquired extensive land rights in Saranavia.
Both have
The following diagram
summarizes the above data
Lovutikerekere
_ - a)
Lolotitimba
Lokambu
Lotano
^
Saranavia
3/(3)
2
Malekula island
and Navuti parish
The diagram represents the parish and the relative position of
the sections.
The figures in brackets beneath each name are the
numbers of male agnatic householders still resident.
The arrows point
ing out of the circle show the full agnatic male members who are known
to live in other parishes, and the arrow pointing in to Saranavia
the two outsiders who joined that community.
The arrows heading
broken lines point to the number of men who have left the section they
were born in but still live in the parish.
All five sections are reputed at some stage to have been autonom
ous parishes, but the story is largely unknown.
From the information
86
available it appears that at about the turn of the century the position
was roughly as follows*
There were five clusters of homesteads, each
known by the name of the original sara. and with the majority of the
male members constituting a substantially autonomous
t>riented carpel*
As I mentioned, a man normally marries a girl from
a community close to his own*
these five
agnatically-
Over the past four or five generations
communities contracted many marriages amongst themselves;
the result was a highly complex network of cognatic and affinal ties
binding them together*
With each additional marriage it became increas
ingly difficult to find a girl within the cluster who was related so
distantly as to be eligible as a bride.
About fifty year3 ago Tungu Nalevuhi (3, E 1), the father*s father
of Thomas of Lokambu, rose to high rank and became known throughout
the whole of Aoba and the neighbouring islands.
Through his personal
prestige and power he drew these five communities closer together, thus
completing the process of merging.
One informant said that the name
of Lokambu "grew big", meaning that of the sara names, Lokambu was the
one best known to outsiders.
Here gatherings of thousands of people
from all over west Aoba took place.
Further integration occurred about
fifteen years ago when Thomas persuaded the members to join together
to build a church.
This and the community associated with it were
named Saralokambu.
Today, the parish is united in recognising the
leadership of Thomas, in supporting the church financially, in attend
ing services, possessing a parish school for the young children prepar
ing for the district school, in constructing a co-operative cocoa
fermentary, and in running a store-cuin-restaurant and taxi.
The two
37
marriages that have taken place in recent years between component car
pels, met with mild opposition on the grounds that intra-parish marriage
divides the community*
Type C parishes
A parish that is like type A in that it is exogamous, has no
tradition of any part having been a separate autonomous unit, and in
certain contexts the members behave towards one another as though they
were members of a single carpel.
The group differs from type A in that
there is no known genealogical connection between the apical ancestors
of the component carpels.
In some cases members believe that there
may have been a common ancestor, but they do not stress the fact.
Each carpel is substantially autonomous in respect to land matters
-
for example, a non-resident si3ter*s son would almost certainly in
herit in preference to male members of other carpels in the same parish.
In type A parish the sister*s son would have small chance of inheriting
so long as there were any surviving resident male agnates, no matter
how wide the collateral span.
TABLE
X
TYPE C PARISH
Parish
Nanako
Population
Carpels
M a l e hou s e h o l d e r s
A g nates
16
Non-Asmates
6"
103
4
Saratangaulu
21
3
5
Tavalavuti
27
3
6
Mataindanu
53
3
8
4
204
13
35
10
as
Type D parishes
Jl parish similar to type B in that it is composed of a number of
previously autonomous sections.
Theoretically, marriage is permissable
between parish sections, though the greater the degree of integration
the stronger the disapproval.
The parish differs from type B in that
one or more of the component sections is divided into a number of
carpels.
TABLE XI
TYPE D PARISH
Parish
Pop. Parish section Pop.
Carpels
Male householders
Agnates
Nataluhangele
Nambangahage
Vuinamwangwe
95
80
4t
Nataluhangele
43
2
8
Saranarivua
26
1
6
Lolotitimba
10
1
5
Nahala Lakua
9
Navingundungundu
5
Saranavimbanga
2
Nambangahage
4
23
Lololasi
3
1
2
1
1
1
9
54
Natiuleo
Non-agnates
1
2
j
3
7
1
1
Vuinamwangwe
32
4
7
Mwalo Karivi
9
T
2
3
(cont1d next page)
89
TABLE XI (Continued)
TYPE D PARISH
Parish
Pop*
Parish section
Pop.
Carpel
Male householders
Agnates Non-agnates
Navuti
109
93
Lovanualigoutu
42
Lokaritange
Navuti
41
4
9
3
Tambunatari
68
3
4
9
Lovanualigoutu
72
1
2
14
Navitakua
26
2
7
1
Lokaritange
14
2
2
1
Lolobeveo
16
1
3
-
Ahuku
12
1
1
3
Lombanga
84
3
14
1
Lerabuto
16
2
2
$
565
33
94
43
■
to o
Lombanga
565
TABLE XII
SUMMARY OF TABLES VIII-XI
N u m b e r of Pop. Numb e r of N u m b e r of A v e r a g e
Male householders
Parishn u m b e r of Agnates INon- A g n a t e s
Carpels
Parishes
carpels
sections
i
p.parish
Ty p e A 1
5
1
17
209
5
24
|
Type B
6
422
18
1,8
3
75
I
19
Type C
4
204
-
13
3.2
35
1
10
,Typ e D
7
565
20
38
5.4
94
22
1400
38
74
3 «4
228
43
|
89
90
The above analysis establishes that while patrifiliation is one
of the dominant organising principles of the social system, there is
also some degree of variability both in local group composition and
in the status of such groups#
If, for the moment, we ignore the
distinction between parish and semi-autonomous parish-section, and
instead concentrate on the 47 ngwatu i vanua (the nine parishes of
types A and C, and the 38 parish-sections of types B and D), a number
of significant points can be deduced from the data presented in Table
XIII
TABIE XIII
AGNATES AND CARPELS
Male householders
One or more non-agnates
Total
16
16
32
11
'4
15
27
20
47
All agnates
Ngwatu i Vanua
Monocarpellary
Multicarpellary
A.
34 per cent (16) of the ngwatu i vanua groups consist of a single
maximal patrilineage, plus wives.
B.
A further 34 per cent (16) conform to this basic pattern to the
extent that the group is monocarpellary, but deviate in that
there are a number of non-agnatic members.
C.
23#4 per cent (11) conform to the extent that all members are
full agnates, but deviate in that there are two or more descent
91
groups.
D.
Only nine per cent (4) deviate both in structure and in membership
composition.
In the remainder of this chapter I shall further analyse the two
principal deviations (i.e* non-agnatic affiliation and multiplicity
of carpels) from the basic equation of one ngwati
i
vanua to one
patrilineage.
In the foregoing analysis I made a simple distinction between
full-agnatic and non-agnatic male householders.
The total proportion
of 228/89 indicates that while patrifiliation (71«9 per cent) is
significantly high there is also scope for a certain amount of second
ary affiliation.
The category of non-agnates is, however, a gross
simplification in that it can include all of the male agnatic descend
ants of a man who joined the group as many as three or four generations
earlier.
I have therefore provided in the following table a more detailed
analysis of the general category non-agnates (B to D inclusive).
TABLE XIV
RESIDENCE AFFILIATION
A.
FULL AGNATIC MEMBERS
Percentage
of total
Male householders who are living in the
same parish as did the apical male ancestor
of their carpel
228
71.956
(cont*d next page)
92
TABLE XIV (Continued)
RESIDENCE
B.
AFFILIATION
AGNATES OF AT LEAST TWO GENERATIONS
Percentage
of total
Male householders living in the same parish
as did both their F and FF but in which the
latter or his F or FF lived
1) with his wife*s agnates
10
2) with his mother*s agnates
4
3) In his adoptive father*a
parish
2
16
C.
5.4 %
AGNATES OF ONE GENERATION
Male householders living in their father*s
parish but in which the latter lived
1) with his wife*s agnates
19
2) with his mother^ agnates
7
3) in his stepfather*s
parish
1
4) in a friend*s parish
1
28
8.7 %
Total living in father*s parish, ignoring
latters own residence affiliation (A,B and C)
272
86.0 %
>
(cont*d next page)
93.
TABLE XIV (Continued)
RESIDENCE AFFILIATION
D.
RESIDENT IS AN IMMIGRANT
Percentage
of total
Male householders living in
1) Mother*s father*s parish
8
2) Mother*s mother*s parish
1
3) Wife*s father*s parish
22
4) Wife*s mother*s parish
1
5) Adoptive father*s parish
7
6) Friend*s parish
4
7) Stepfather*s parish
1
8) Sister*s husband*s parish
1
•
45
Total male householders
14 %
317
100 %
It is to be noted that in type C (1) residence ego is living in
the parish of his mother*s agnates and in this sense it is the same
as type D (1) residence.
I have separated the two because in the
former ego is living with his mother*s agnates as a result of his
father having moved before him, while in the latter he himself joined
his motherfs agnates.
Likewise, in type C (2) residence ego is liv
ing with his father*s mother*s agnates because he was born there.
There are no examples of a man having left his father*s agnates to
join his father*s mother*s kin.
94
General comments
The evidence supports the assumption th a t rig h ts of residence and
land usage pass prim arily through the d ir e c t male lin e of descent*
Secondary a f f i l ia t io n s are appealed to only in sp ecial cases, as when
the group in to which a man was born i s short of land and th a t of his
w ife or mother has p len ty , or when he q u arrels with his agnates.
E ig h ty -six per cent of the male householders liv e in the same
p a rish as t h e ir f a th e r .
Moreover, of the 45 (14 P©r cent) men who do not
liv e so, 22 of them are immigrants from outside the d i s t r i c t . ^
Excluding these immigrants we are l e f t w ith only 23 (7.2 per cent)
Nduindui men who are liv in g in a p arish oth er than th a t of t h e i r fa th e r.
That i s to say 92*8 per cent of the male householders born in th e d i s t r i c t
liv e in th e fath er* s p a rish (as ag ain st 71*9 per cent f u l l ag natic
members)•
A fu rth e r examination of these 23 cases rev eals th a t seven of them
are liv in g w ith th e i r mother*s k in . (Six have re a lis e d contingent
rig h ts of in h eritan ce as s is te rs * or daughters* sons.
The seventh liv e s
in h is mother*s mother*s p a rish but has n e ith e r garden nor copra making
r ig h ts ) .
Of the remaining six tee n non-agnates six liv e in the w ife fs
p a rish as a r e s u lt of her having acquired land rig h ts through an absence
1 . Three are from ftalaha and V ilakalaka in west Aoba, eig h t from
e a st Aoba, seven from Malekula, two from Raga and one each from Mwaevo
and Mwere Lava (Banks group). F ifte e n of these immigrants m arried
Nduindui women and a l l of them have acquired land rig h ts in t h e i r wives*
p a rish es, some by purchase, some as g i f ts from t h e i r wives* agnates
and some because t h e ir wives in h e rite d through a shortage of male
agnates. Three more made frien d s w ith Nduindui men when working on
Santo p la n ta tio n s and returned and s e ttle d down in the d i s t r i c t . Their
frien d s l e t them share t h e ir land and as th re e are c h ild le ss the
(co n t’d next page)
95.
(fo llo w ed by p .
o f c lo s e male a g n a te s , a s u rp lu s o f la n d , o r th e two com bined. Seven
96a)
l i v e w ith t h e i r f o s t e r f a t h e r s from whom th e y in h e r ite d f u l l la n d
r i g h t s , and can th e r e f o r e be counted as f u r t h e r in s ta n c e s o f a g n a tic
a ffilia tio n .
One l i v e s i n th e p a r is h o f h is s te p f a th e r , where he
p urchased la n d , and th e l a s t i n h is s i s t e r * s husband*s p a r is h , t o which
he b eto o k h im s e lf a f t e r a q u a r r e l w ith h is a g n a te s .
His r i g h t s i n h is
s i s t e r * s h u sb an d !s p a r is h a re r e s i d e n t i a l o n ly and th u s s im ila r to th o se
o f th e man who jo in e d h is m other*s m other*s a g n a te s .
The number o f f a t h e r s who liv e d in th e p a r is h o f t h e i r w ife ,
m other o r o th e r n o n -a g n a tic k in (19, 7 and 2 r e s p e c tiv e ly ) i s s im ila r
t o th o s e o f th e p re s e n t g e n e ra tio n s who l i v e i n th e same way (2 3 , 19
and 6 r e s p e c t i v e l y ) .
T h is su g g e sts t h a t th e r e has been no s i g n i f i c a n t
r e c e n t change i n p a tte r n s o f re s id e n c e a f f i l i a t i o n .
I have ex clu d ed
th e seven men l i v i n g in th e f o s t e r f a th e r * s p a r is h .
I t i s h ig h ly
p ro b a b le t h a t a t l e a s t a s many d id lik e w is e i n th e p re v io u s g e n e r a tio n ,
and now a p p ea r i n th e g e n e a lo g ie s as tr u e so n s.
The em phasis on p a t r i f i l i a t i o n i s f u r t h e r a p p a re n t in t h a t e ig h t
men a re l i v i n g w ith t h e i r m other*s a g n a te s a s a g a in s t o n ly one w ith
h i s m other*s m other*s a g n a te s , and 22 w ith th e w ife* s a g n a te s as a g a in s t
o n ly one w ith h is w ife * s m other*s a g n a te s .
The a l t e r n a t i v e s t o re s id e n c e
w ith th e f a t h e r *s a g n a te s do n o t ex ten d th ro u g h many lin k s - the most
(c o n t* d . from p re v io u s page) 1 . q u e s tio n o f tra n s m is s io n o f r i g h t s
has n o t a r i s e n . Two more im m igrants were adopted as c h ild r e n by
N duindui men and have i n h e r ite d f u l l la n d r i g h t s . The rem ain in g two
a r e sons o f N duindui women who m arried o u ts id e r s and su b se q u e n tly
i n h e r ite d lan d r i g h t s th ro u g h a la c k o f male a g n a te s .
96
(fo llo w ed by
rem ote b e in g th e m other*s m o th er1s , and even h e re o n ly lim ite d r i g h t s
9(
have been g ra n te d .
As a f i n a l p o in t i t i s w orth n o tin g t h a t d e s p ite th e sm all number
(7 ,2 p e r c e n t) o f men l i v i n g i n a p a r is h d i f f e r e n t from t h a t o f t h e i r
f a t h e r , t h i s f ig u r e , when combined w ith th e 14 p e r c e n t ex-N duindui
im m ig ran ts, and re p e a te d i n ro u g h ly s im ila r p ro p o rtio n s i n each
g e n e r a tio n , i s s u f f i c i e n t t o give th e r e l a t i v e l y h ig h f ig u r e o f 2 7,7
p e r c e n t male h o u seh o ld e rs who a r e n o t f u l l - a g n a t i c members o f th e
p a r is h i n which th e y l i v e . ( ^ )
The f i f t e e n m u ltic a r p e lla r y ngwat u i vanua
(Nanako, S a ra ta n g a u lu , T a v a la v u ti and M ataindanu p a ris h e s j N ahala
Lakua, Nambangahage, N a ta lu h a n g e le , N a tiu le o , Vuinamwangwe, N av u ti,
T am b u n atari, N av itak u a, L o k a rita n g e , Lombanga and Lembuto p a r is h s e c tio n s ).
The problem i s to a cc o u n t f o r th e p re sen c e o f more th a n one c a r p e l
i n each o f th e s e ngwatu i van u a.
T able XV (s e e n e x t page) p ro v id e s a
number o f c lu e s .
1 • I f th e r e were no ex-N duindui male im m igrants and we assumed t h a t
th r e e g e n e ra tio n s ago re s id e n c e a f f i l i a t i o n was f u l l y a g n a tic and t h a t
i n each subsequent g e n e r a tio n 7 ,2 p e r c e n t re s id e n c e was n o n -a g n a tic ,
we would th e n fin d t h a t i n th e t h i r d g e n e r a tio n th e r e would be 8 .5 p e r
c e n t im m igrants and 15*1 d e sc e n d a n ts o f th e im m igrants o f th e two
p re v io u s g e n e r a tio n s . I n o th e r w ords, 23*6 p e r c e n t men would be nonm
a g n e tic members o f t h e i r p a r is h o f r e s id e n c e . The c lo s e p a r a l l e l o f
t h i s h y p o th e tic a l f ig u r e w ith th e a c t u a l f ig u r e o f 27.7 p e r c e n t i s
a d d i t i o n a l evidence t h a t th e number o f n o n -a g n a tic re s id e n c e a f f i l i a t
io n s has been f a i r l y c o n s ta n t ov er th e p a s t few g e n e r a tio n s .
TABLE XV
ANALISIS OF MULTICARPELURY NGWATU I VANUA
Coast
Tradition
of origin
Inland
No known
origins
Tradition
of origin
No known
origins
Total
Multicarpellary
1
8
3
3
15
Mono carpellary
1
.6
19
6
32
2
14
22
9
47
The figures indicate a definite correlation between the monocarpellary ngwatu i vanua, inland location and tradition of origin,
and to a lesser extent between the multicarpellary ngwatu
coastal location and lack of any such tradition.
i
vanua.
The following two
factors are relevant in accounting for the greater structural simpli
city of the inland groups.
A.
Copra plantations are of longer standing and more numerous on the
coast than inland»
In chapter V
I shall argue that the change from
subsistence gardening to cash-cropping has weakened the solidarity of
the maximal groups.
Greater autonomy exercised by minor segments and
by individuals would render memorizing of a common genealogy unnecessary.
B.
Table XVI demonstrates that there are more non-agnates present
in the coastal groups than in the inland.
(Table XVI: see next page).
97
TABLE XVI
COAST AND INLAND: AGNATES AND NON-AGNATES
---------------------—
Male householders
Inland parishes
Percentage of agnates
Agnates
Non-agnates
130
24
84.4
98
65
60,1
Coastal parishes
—
There are a number of reasons why coastal communities should more
readily accept immigrants.
In the first place, they have always main
tained a wide range of external relations through overseas trading.
These contacts have resulted in a small though regular intake of out
siders as husbands of female members, and also as friends brought back
from other islands.
In the second place, high population density has
led to such intensive land utilization (even prior to cash cropping)
that numerous mechanisms of re-allocating resources between small and
large carpels has led to a high incidence of non-agnatic affiliation.
This in turn laid the foundation for the emphasis placed on individual
autonomy, and hence multiplicity of carpels, subsequently developed by
the planting of coconuts.
Inland carpels, on the other hand, have
maintained their agnatic purity by periodically establishing new settle
ments in virgin territory.
This argument will be more fully developed
in chapter V, I simply note it here as the principal factor accounting
for the structural differences between coast and inland.
To conclude the chapter I suggest that during a period of populat
ion stability the changing political status of local groups would be
98
equally the result of, on the one hand, either internal segmentation
of groups or the hiving off of individuals to. found new communities,
as for example in the establishment of the five sections of Saralokambu
parish, and, on the other hand, the fusion of two or more neighbouring
communities into a larger political unit*
population decline, such as the
During a period of marked
Nduindui experienced from about i860
to 1930, fusion would necessarily occur more frequently than either
fission or hiving*
Previously autonomous settlements so declined in
numbers that the survivors found it necessary to re-group themselves
into multi-section parishes*
This would in part account for the fact
that I could find only one example of two neighbouring parishes whose
members could demonstrate genealogically that they were originally a
single unit.
The division is said to have taken place three generations
ago*
In recent years fusion on a wider scale has begun to operate in
response to the challenge of new wants and new values*
Examples are
the multi-parish Church Councils associated with the mission sects,
the multi-parish enterprises created in order to purchase large
launches or to finance and run copra co-operatives, and in very recent
years the first discussions concerning the introduction of a multidenominational west A.oba Government Council.
These new processes of
fusion above the parish level are as yet weak sind impermanent and have
not resulted in the emergence of truly corporate sind enduring political
units*
In chapter X I shall discuss some of these organizations further.
CHAPTER IV
THE IDEOLOGY OF KIN GROUP MEMBERSHIP
In recent years there has been much debate about whether certain
societies, especially those of Melanesia 0 ) and Polynesia,(2) can be
more appropriately classed as unilinear or non-unilinear.
Contradictory verdicts, though sometimes due to ambiguities and
gaps in the
ethnographic data, are probably more often the result of
the many contexts in which a given society can be said to be either
unilinear or non-unilinear.
Classification is relatively simple when
descent group membership is the principal determinant of an individuals
statuses, property rights and place of residence.
In such a society
the extent to which the unilinear principle is emphasized in descent
group membership is parallelled by a similar emphasis in succession,
inheritance and local group affiliation.
Difficulties occur either
when different types of descent groups (or categories) are present in
1. For Melanesia see Pouwer, J. "Loosely Structured Societies in
Netherlands New Guinea", Bi.id.t Taal-« Volke, Vol. 116, 1i960. Pouwer,
J. "Social Structure in the Western Interior of Sarmi", Biid., Taal-,
Land- Volke, Vol. 116, I960, Pouwer, J. "New Guinea as a Field for
Ethnological Study", Bi.id., Taal-. Land- Volke. Vol. 117, 1961. Van
der Leeden, A.C. " Social Structure in New Guinea", Bi.id., Taal-, LandVolke, Vol. 116, I960. Barnes, J.A. "African Models in the New Guinea
Highlands", Man, Vol. 62, 1962. Brown, P. "Non-Agnates Among the Patri
lineal Chimbu», JPS, Vol. 71, 1962. Glasse, R. "The -Hali Descent
System: A Preliminary Account", Oceania, Vol. 29, 1959*
2. (see next page)
100
the same society or when factors other than descent are relevant in
succession, etc.
For example, in east Aoba matrilineal descent (or
adoption) is the sole criterion for membership of the clans and moieties.
But these kin categories are of little importance in the recruitment of
members to local, groups, in the transmission of land rights, and in the
acquirement of leadership status.
In both east and west Aoba the local group (tokaki vanua), despite
its demographic and structural similarity
to a locally-anchored
exogamous patrilineage, is not, strictly speaking, a descent group at
all; it is a territorial group in which most of the male members happen
to be recruited on the basis of agnatic filiation.
If, as appears
likely, many of the so-called descent groups of Polynesian societies
are similar to the tokaki vanua, it is then pointless to debate about
them as patrilineages, ramages, non-uhilinear descent groups etc.
Barnes has made a similar point in reference to the New Guinea Highlands.
He wrote, nIf, as Fortes advocates, we continue to restrict the category
*descent group* to groups in which descent is the only criterion for
membership, then in many Highland societies it is hard to discover
2.(from previous page) For Polynesia see Goodenough,W.H. “A Problem
in Malavo-Polvnesian Social Organization.0 A.A..V0I. 57, 1955» Firth,
R. "A Note bn Descent Groups in Polynesia*', Man, Vol. 57, 1957.
Davenport, W. "Non-unilinear Descent and Descent Groups", A.A.. Vol.
61, 1959. Fortes, M. "Descent, Filiation and Affinity", Man, Vol. 59,
1959. Leach, E. "Descent, Filiation and Affinity", Man. Vol. 60, 1960.
Leach, E. "A Note on the Mangaian Kopu with Special Reference to the
Concept of Non-unilinear Descent", A.A.. Vol. 64> 1962. Murdock, G.P.
(ed.), intro, to "Social Structure in South-East Asia". Chicago, I960.
Freeman, J.D. Review of Sahlins* "Social Stratification in Polynesia",
Man. Vol. 61!, 1961!. Sahlins, M.D. "Review of Murdock" (1960), JPS..
Vol.72, 1963. Freeman, J.D. "On the concept of the kindred", JRAI..
Vol. 91, 1961.
101
descent groups”
Even if it is granted that such Polynesian groups as the Mangaian
kopu, Tongan haa, Tahitian ’’district” and Easter Island mat a , can he
legitimately referred to as descent groups, further difficulties can
result from discrepancies between the de facto composition of the.groups
and the ideology of descent*
D a v e n p o r t ^ and M u r d o c k ^ have recently
classed all such groups as cognatic primarily because membership can be
legitimately acquired on the basis of non-agnatic descent criteria.
S a h l i n s , ^ F r e e m a n , ^ and L e a c h ^
As
point out, the ideology is agnatic
in emphasis, and there is little evidence to show that non-agnatic
affiliation is significantly greater than that reported in such classic
cases of patriliqy as the Tiv or the Nuer.
Sahlins
(7)'
underlined the critical relevance of the descent dogma
by contrasting the Tiv, where it is agnatic, and the T o ’ambaita of north
/ox
Malaita, v/here it is cognatic. In the Tiv' ' minimal tar 17 per cent
of the adult men live with non-agnates, whereas in the T o ’ambaita
(9)
1. Barnes, J.A. p.6*
2* Davenport, W. pp. 559“6l.
3* Murdock, G.P* pp. 11-12.
4. Sahlins, M. pp. 45~6.
5.
Freeman, J.D. JRAI» 1961,
P*200.
6. Leach, E. A note, p. 603.
7.
Sahlins, M. pp.42-43.
8. Bohannan, P. Tiv Farm and Settlement, CRS No.15, London, HMSO, 1954>
pp.10-11 and 73*
9. Hogbin, H.I. Experiments in Civilization, London, 1939» pp.26-7.
102
district group (parish) non-agnatic affiliation is only about 10 per cent.
In the previous chapter I established that though most of the male
members of the tokaki vanua recognise common agnatic descent, 18 per
cent have acquired membership rights on the basis of other criteria.
In a
statistical sense agnatic descent can therefore be said to be one of the
primaiy organising principles of the society.
In the present chapter I
examine the extent to which this principle is reflected in the ideological
framework of descent, inheritance and residence.
I do so by analysing
three inter-connected sets of kin concepts - those relating to categories
or groups defined solely in terns of descent - those relating to general
ego-oriented kin categories - and those relating to specific kin categories
defined by genealogical relationship to ego.
Stated in slightly different
terms the purpose of the chapter is to provide answers to the following
two questions: (a ) D o the Nduindui recognise the existence of kin groups
(or categories) in which descent is the sole criterion of membership, and
if so, are these social units unilinear or non-unilinear?
(B) T o what
extent, if ary, does the system of kinship terminology reflect the high
statistical incidence of agnatic affiliation?
The cognatic stock (ngwatu i damu)
Literally translated ngwatu i_ damu means "head of the yam”.
At the
widest it covers all the descendants, living and dead, of a single named
ancestor.
In this sense it is thus a cognatic stock as defined by
Rade1iffe-Br own!^
1. Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. and Forde, D. (eds.), African Systems of
Kinship and Marriage, London, 1950 > p. 22.
103
A number of informants explained what they meant by the ngwatu i.
damn in the following wqy.
When a man plants a yam head the tuber
grows in his garden, and the seed is carried into the bush and other
gardens by the wind*
The original head is called ngwatu
equated with the founding ancestor of a cognatic stock;.
descendants are said to be “head of yam one”.
jl
damu and is
He and his
When a man replants his
garden the next season he uses yam heads saved from the previous harvest.
All his domestic yams are thus descended in a direct line from the
original head.
This is equated with the agnatic male descendants of an
apical ancestor who remain in the same locality (tokaki or ngwatu _i vanua);
the female descendants are like the seed blown into the bush.
As each
seed moves on and produces more seed, so each female who marries out
bears sons who remain in their father*s group and daughters who go elsewhere.
The explanation indicates that while full recognition is given to
the cognatic stock, in practice the emphasis is on the co-resident
core of male agnates.
A gardener*s interest lies in the line of tuber
heads that remain in the garden; a man*s interest lies primarily in
the agnates who stay in the locality.
Each cognatic stock is said to '‘belong" to the parish where the
agnatic core resides.
Whenever I visited a parish the older men informed
me that here there v/ere so maqy ngwatu i_ damu, and in giving the
genealogies they started with the most remote ancestor and worked down
through each generation, listing all his known descendants.
They
104
usually recalled from three to six ascending generations but seldom
mentioned a female till the time of the grand-parents (occasionally
great-grandparents).
Sometimes they pointed out certain persons living
in other parishes as the descendants of some female agnate; but they
neither knew who she was nor were able to establish her precise
genealogical connection,
Baloa
A m a n fs children are sometimes referred to as his “thighs” (baloa),
If his wife produced children of both sexes the sons are the “thigh
of the head" (baloa ngwatuhiki), and the daughters the "thigh of the
side" (baloa tavaluki).
All of a woman’s descendants are also refer
red to as baloa tavaluki to the continuous line of male baloa
ngwatuhiki.
On a number of occasions when I asked a man why he addressed a
member of another parish by a kin term, he replied "he is head of yam
with me, thigh beside" (u ngwatu i damu m a i ’au . baloa tavaluki), or
more freely translated, "we are descended from a common ancestor, one
of us through a son and the other through a daughter".
This is a common
way of expressing supposed kinship when no actual tie can be established.
The baloa ngwatuhiki - baloa tavaluki distinction is sometimes
used to emphasise the division of the cognatiuc stock into the agnatic
core and the dispersed non-agnatic cognates.
One man informed me that
once when he was short of firewood he had hung up some leaves as a sign
that no one was to take any from his land without first seeking permiss
ion,
When he discovered his father’s sister’s son taking some he was
105
angry and said: "You thigh beside, you stick thrown away" (Iningo baloa
tavaluki. iningo kai kungu).
Kai kungu expresses the action of knock
ing fruit off a tree with a long pole; in a similar way my informants
father*s sister and her son were knocked off the co-resident agnatic
core, the baloa ngwatuhiki.
This somewhat enigmatic phrase could thus
be freely translated: "You belong to my oo gnatic stock, but you do not
belong to my local group.
Your mother is like the fruit knocked off a
tree, both she and you should collect firewood in your father*s parish."
In a similar way, if a man wants to insult a fellow parishioner,
though with no more serious claim to accuracy than in our use of the
term "bastard", he may say - "I am of the head, you are the feathers
of my fowl" flnau ngwatuhiki. iningo vulu toa)•
The feathers fall off
a fowl in the same way that fruit is knocked off a tree.
The implicat
ion is that the speaker is a full agnatic member of the parish, whereas
the man addressed is a descendant of a non-agnatic immigrant.
Both of the above phrases clearly express the ideological emphasis
placed on agnatic affiliation.
There are, however, other phrases which
emphasise the strength of bonds between non-agnatic cognates.
For
example "You are the flower grown from the seed of my kin" or more
literally "my flower of the seed of my kin" (nongu vira vira i bela) •
One should help and be kind to one*s flowers.
Sometimes a man experiences some difficulty in reconciling the
"thigh beside" and "flower" sentiments - that is, of treating closely
related non-agnates simultaneously as outsiders and as kinsmen.
In an
account of a fight between two parishes a man of the defending group,
who was about to be killed by his father*s sister*s son, appealed for
106
mercy by addressing his opponent as ,rthe flower of my seed".
The
attacker, shamed by these words, compromised by addressing his cousin
as follows* “Good, my kinsman (belangu)» we will stay here until the
end of the fight.
If I hear that one of my kinsmen true (belangu
pohoki - a phrase used in this context to indicate any member of the
speaker1s parish, whether cognate or affine) has been killed I will
take you to my seniors to decide what to do with you.
hand, no one is harmed I will let you go home”.
and the man released his mother*s brother*s
son.
If, on the other
There were no casualties
Informants considered
the case most unfortunate, as usually such close kin wohld take good
care to avoid one another in a fight.
Bela
L m a n fs cognates and affines are together said to be his bela:
they are “many relatives of his” (rabelana).
There is no special
term to differentiate affines from cognates, though four terms of
address apply only between certain affines (ngwelikana. takuna, vavine
hina and tuana mwarasea)•
by cognate terms.
Other affines (FZH, MBW etc) are addressed
Figure 1- gives the terras of address for a man*s
affines, Figure 2 for a woman*s affines.
Vagambela
ks was mentioned, male agnates can be differentiated from all other
cognates by the phrases baloa ngwatuhiki and baloa tavaluki.
These
terms are, however, normally used between individuals and not as general
descriptive kin categories.
When a man wishes to refer collectively
Figure I
NDUINDUI AFFINAL TERMS(Man speaking)
Tamana
EGO
Ngwelikana
\ (ZDH)
Vavine Hina
akuna Takuna
(WB) \ (WBW)
Ngwelikana Ngwelikana Naxuna
(SW)
^ > '(DH)
(WBC)
Vagambuina
(Spouses of grandchildren
and sister’s grandchildren)
Figur« 2
NDUINDUI AFFINAL TERMS(Woman speaking)
8
A
~ ~
Tamana
(FZH)
o
T okana
(MBWJ
=
a
Hangwena
(BW)
a =6
Tuana Mwaraaea
(ZH)
O= K
Tumbuna
(HF)
Tui^buya
& ==■ £
Tokana
(HMB)
A=»o
ä=A
ECK) Tuana Mwarasea Kwaruena Hangwena
(H,HB)
(HBW)
(HZ)
A =-6
Vagambuina
(Spouses of grandchildren)
The term ngwelikana is normally reciprocal, but although
a man applies it to his parents-in-law and children-in-law,
a woman uses it for her children's spouses only: her parentsin-law she calls by the grandparent term(bumbu). The ngwelikana
relationship is one of respect and formality, whereas joking
and informality is expected between grandparents and grandchildren
(see chapter VII). The reason the girl refers to her parents-inlaw by the informal term is the custom whereby she left her
parents and lived with her future husband's parents from the age
of about 10. The relationship was expected to be intimate and
friendly.
107
to all his non-agnatic cognates he prefaces the term bela by the adject
ive “far away1’ (vaga).
They are his remote kin, his vagambela. MIt is,"
say the Nduindui, ”our sisters and our daughters who make our vagambela.
They are far* away from us in the same way that the wild yams propagated
by our domestic tubers are remote from our gardens.”
Agnates, by contrast,
regardless of either spatial or genealogical remoteness, are always bela.
never vagambela.
Karo na bela
Matrilineal descent is recognised in the phrase ”rope of relatives”
(karo na bela)• In the yam analogy the ”rope” is equated with the move
ment of seed throughout the bush, and therefore with the continuous line
of female descent moving on to new locally-anchored agnatic kin groups
at each generation.
The karo na bela is a special sub-category of the
vagambela: whereas the latter includes all non-agnatic cognates, the
former refers only to the matrilineal kin (male and female).
The line
of outgoing females ties together an endless number of locally-anchored
agnatic kin groups, and hence helps to consolidate the people of the
district as a single kinship community.
In east Aoba the named exogamous (though dispersed) matri-clan is
known as the karo. the ”rope” that ties together the members scattered
throughout that side of the island.
But there is a major difference
between the karo of east Aoba sind the karo na bela of Nduindui.
In east
Aoba all members are known by the clan name (rat, pig, stone etc.), claim
descent from^named mythological founder, are alleged to have distinctive
personality traits and physical features, may not marry one another, and
108
raust p ro v id e m utual h o s p i t a l i t y and p r o te c tio n .
I n a s in g le p a r is h ,
o r a sm all c l u s t e r o f n e ig h b o u rin g p a r is h e s , c la n members u n ite a s a
c o -o p e ra tiv e group i n th e f e a s t s sind exchanges o f w ealth a s s o c ia te d
w ith b i r t h , d e a th and m a rria g e .
Moveable p ro p e rty i s a ls o in h e r ite d
w ith in th e s e lo c a l is e d c la n segm ents.
The N duindui k a ro na b e la i s , by c o n tr a s t, a vague c a te g o ry o f
m a t'r ilin e a l ly r e l a t e d k in .
I t i s n o t named, m arriag e i s p e rm issa b le
pro v id ed th e c o n n e c tio n i s n o t to o c lo s e , and th e r e a re no lo c a l is e d
c o rp o ra te segm ents.
The c o n c e p t, though e x p re ssed i n d e sc e n t te rm s,
does n o t r e f e r to en d u rin g d e s c e n t g ro u p s,
& u n i l i n e a l d is p e rs e d
c a te g o ry o f k in o f o n ly two to th r e e g e n e ra tio n s * d e p th , and w ith o u t
means o f i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o th e r th a n d em o n strab le g e n e a lo g ic a l c o n n e c tio n ,
i s o b v io u s ly o f l e s s s t r u c t u r a l im portance th a n th e e a s t Aoba m a tr i- c la n .
By no means a l l th e N duindui, e s p e c ia ll y th e younger g e n e ra tio n ,
a r e c e r t a i n j u s t p r e c is e ly what i s meant by th e term k aro na b e la .
Some o f them were o f th e o p in io n i t sim ply meant " d e s c e n t” ( m a tr i lin e a l,
p a t r i l i n e a l o r n o r w u n ilin e a l) •
I n th e fo llo w in g s e c tio n I s h a l l show
t h a t th e r e i s a p a r a l l e l u n c e r ta in ty i n c o r r e c t u se o f term s f o r c ro s s
c o u s in s .
K in sh ip te rm in o lo g y
I s h a l l now b r i e f l y examine th e k in s h ip term s f o r co g n ates i n o rd e r
t o see to what e x te n t th e s e r e f l e c t th e id e o lo g y o f d e sc e n t as e x p re ssed
i n th e yam a n alo g y and i n th e meanings a tta c h e d t o such term s as b a lo a
n s w a tu h ik i. b a lo a ta v a l u k i, b e la , k aro na b e la and vagam bela.
F ig u re 3 p re s e n ts a number o f i n t e r e s t i n g f e a t u r e s ,
(1) Crow ty p e c r o s s - c o u s in te rm in o lo g y (FZS = f a t h e r ;
and MBC = c h i l d ) .
FZD = m other;
Figure 3
NDUINDUI COGNATE TERMS OF REFERENCE
(The suffix -na=third person singular possesive)
Terms of address given in lower case
(FFZ)
bumbu
1
(FM,MM)
bumbu
(FF,MF)
bumbu
a
=
6
A= = 5
A=
(MMB)
bumbu
V
o
TUMBUNA TAMANA RETAHINA TAMANA RETAHINA TOKANA TOKANA TUANA
(M,MZ)
(MB)
(MBW) (MMBS)
(FFZD) (FZH)
(FZ)
(F,FB)
indai
tete
tete
bumbu
mama
indai
mama
1
n
3
RETAHINA TAMANA RETAHINA TUANA EGO HANGWENA TAKUNA
(FFZDD)
(FZ3)
(FZD)
(B.FBS,
(Z,FBD,MZD)(ZH)
MZS)
tete /
tete
indai
mama
indai
iI
j
A4
RETAHINA TUANA HANGWENA
(FFZDDD)(FZS3, (FZ3D,
indai FZDS) FZDD)
i
NATUNA
(C,BC)
J
DUvINA
(zc)
tete
HANGWENA NATUNA
m
DT INA VAGAMBUINA V A G Ä B U I N A
(FFZDDDD)
(CC)
(ZCC)
Address
■
A
vagS
NATUNA
(MBC)
/l
IBUINA
(MBCC)
©
VAGAi®UINA
Parents to young sori=mwerahi. Father to adult son=
personal name or mama. Mother to adult son, no address. Parents
to daughter(child) =bapi. Father to adult daughter=hati hati. All
children address their mother as indai. Siblings of same sex
address one another by personal name or as tulu= personal
pronoun, third plural.
For a woman the terms of reference are the same as those given
above except Z= TUANA
,B=HANGWENA ,ZC= NATUNA.
109.
(2) Special terms for MB and ZG,
(3) Generation aunt terms (M = MZ = FZ).
(4) The same term for all grandparents plus their siblings and for all
ascending generations,
(5) The same term for all grandchildren and siblings12 grandchildren
and all descending generations.
With the exception of points (1) and (2), the terms are based on
the principle of generations distinction.
If the lineal cross-cousin
terms were eliminated the system would then be bilaterally symetrical,
and as such a clear reflection of the cognatic descent category.
The
main problem is therefore to account for the slanting of the cross
cousin terms.
Murdock^^listed 30 societies with Crow type cross-cousin term
inology.
Of these, 23 are classed as matrilineal, 3 as patrilineal, 2
as bilateral and 2 as double-unilineal.
Even when due allowance is made
for the difficulties inherent in an attempt to either classify societies
in such a manner or to treat them as quantifiable units, there can still
be little doubt that therqi is some sort of correlation between this type
of terminology and matrilineal descent.
Radcliffe-Brown^)has explain
ed that when the terminology is so extended that all the women of
father1s matrilineage from father*s sister downwards are referred to
by the term for father*s sister, and all the men are referred to as
1. Murdock, G.P. Social Structure. New York, 1949, pp. 223-259.
2. Radcliffe-Brown, Social Structure in Primitive Societies. London
1952, pp. 75-8.
Figure 4
LQMBAHA DISTRICT(BAST AOBA)
COGNATE TERMS OF REFERENCE
A Same
Tokana
(MMMMB)
moiety
A O t h e r moiety
A
—
•
Tamana \Tumbune
(FFF) \(FFM)
4
~k
Tumbune
(FF2)
A
\
(FZS)
-----
--
b
A
'
O
Tumbune
(FMM)
Tumbune-tokana
(FMF)
Tumbune-tokana
(FF)
Hurine or
tumbune-tokana
(FZH)
f
r
Tamana
Tumbune-tokana
(FFMB)
" Tamana
71
Tumbune
(FM)
(FMB)
O
_
A—
Tamana
Retahine bulana toa
(FZ)
—
Tumbune-tokana
(MFF)
(f ,f b )
- o
A
•
Tamana Tumbune
(MMF) (MMM)
Tumbune
(MFM)
5“
Tumbune
(MFZ)
=
Tumbune
Ratahine
(M,MZ)
Tateruana
(MB)
Tumbune
(MM)
{m'y
\
Tumbune-tokana Netune
Or Takaruana
(MMMBC)
(MMB)
Vagambuine or
Gahorana
\
k
Tumbune-tokana
or Takaruana
(MMMB)
NeTune
(MMBD)
Retahine bulana toa
(F^)
Tuana Hangwena Tamana Ratahine-bulana-toa
(FZS3) (FZSD) (FZD3)
(FZDD)
(s)
Jt
agambuine-t
t
ehine
(SC)
6
Netune
(D)
Netune
Vagambuil^
(DC)
Netune Vagambuuie-tehine V:
(S3C)
(SDS)
Aloana
(zs)
Aloana
(ZD)
Vagambuine-kokona Vagambuine
(MBSD)
(MBDD)
1
Aloana-nimboki
or vagambuinetehine(ZDS)
Jl
ne-tehine etune
(DDS)
(DSC)
(ZDSC)
Aloana-nimboki Netune
(ZDD)
(MBDDD)
Aloana-nimboki
(ZDDD)
Jl
Tehine Hangwena
(ZDDDS) (ZDDDD)
Figure 5
LOMBAHAs OWN MATRILINEAGE
Same moiety
O Other moiety
A
Tamana
=±
#
Tumbune
Tumbune-tokana or
Takaruana
A
Tumbune
=
:umbune
Tumbune-tokana or
Gahorana
Netune
Takaruana
A
Tamana
=
A
Halana
A
=
Halana or
#
Ratahine
Wfeana
^amrwena
angwena EGO
E^O
Tuana
.oana
Gahorana
Netune
Gahorana
Netune
Aloana
Netune
“S
"
Aloana-nimboki
i
Aloana-nimboki
LOMBAHA: F A T H E R 1S MATRILINEAGE
Figure 6
A S a m e moiety
O O t h e r moiety
A =
Tumbune-tokana
<5
Tumbune
~h
—
•
Tamana Ratahine
A =
Tumbune-1 okana
Hurine or
Tumbune-t o kana
A =
Hurine or
Tumbune-tokana
Ratahine-bulana-toa Tamana Ratahine EGO Hangwena
Ratahine-bulana-toa Tamana Ratahine
Hangwena
Ratahine-bulana-toa Tamana Ratahine
Hangwena
Hurine or
Tumbune-tokana
Hurine or
Tumbune-tokana
Figure 7
LOMBAHA: MOTHER'S FATHER'S MATRILINEAGB
4 Same moiety
Tumbune
Tumbune
Tumbune
Tumbune
Tumbune
Figure 8
Tumbune
£
Tumbune
A O t h e r moiety
Takaruana
Ratahine
Takaruana
Ratahine
EGO
LOMBAHA: FATHER'S FATHER'S MATRILINEAGE
Tumbune-tokana
1
Tumbune
Tumbune-tokana
Tumbune
Tumbune-tokana
Tumbune
Tumbune-tokana
Ratahine-bulana-toa Tamana
Ratahine-bulana
-toa
EGO
110 .
f a t h e r , we a r e u n d o u b ted ly c o n fro n te d w ith a sym bolic e x p re s s io n o f th e
i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f m a t r i l i n e a l k in .
I n N duindui we do n o t f in d t h i s
e x te n s io n o f th e term s beyond f a t h e r s s i s t e r * s c h ild r e n , f o r h e r
g ra n d c h ild re n re a p p e a r u n d e r th e p r in c ip le o f g e n e ra tio n d i f f e r e n t i a t
io n a s b r o th e r and s i s t e r .
A b r i e f ex am in atio n o f th e e a s t Aoba te rm in o lo g y w i l l throw l i g h t
on th e problem o f th e N duindui c ro s s -c o u s in te rm s, as w e ll as on o th e r
f e a tu r e s o f th e system .
I n f ig u r e 4 I g iv e th e cognate term 3 o f r e f e r
ence f o r a male sp ea k e r i n Lombaha d i s t r i c t .
These p e o p le, s t a r t i n g
w ith th e same prim ary e q u a tio n s as th e N duindui (tamana = F, FB and
FZS; r a ta h in e = M, MZ, FZ and FZD ( l a s t two q u a l i f i e d ) ; n etu n e = C
and MBC; vagambnine = GC and MBGC; tumbune = g ra n d p a re n ts; and tu a n a =
B and FZSS), l o g i c a l l y ex ten d th e term s b o th g e n e r a tio n a lly and l a t e r a l l y
in c o n fo rm ity w ith th e two p r in c ip le s o f m a t r i l i n e a l d e sc e n t and
m oiety d i s t i n c t i o n .
The in flu e n c e o f th e m o ie tie s i s e s p e c ia ll y ap p ar
e n t in th e u se o f th e term s f o r e ld e r and younger s ib lin g o f th e same
sex (to k a n a and t e h i n e ) to q u a lif y tumbune and vagambuine o f th e same
m oiety (p ro v id ed th e sp e a k e r i s o f th e same s e x ) .
W ith th e s in g le
e x c e p tio n o f tumbune, a l l term s a re r e s t r i c t e d to members o f o n ly one
m o ie ty .
I have in d ic a te d t h i s by shad in g in a l l r e l a t i v e s o f th e same
m o iety .
I n f ig u r e s 5, 6, 7 and 8 I have fo llo w ed R a d c lif f e-Brow nrs method
o f a n a ly s is i n o rd e r t o d e m o n strate th e f u l l r e c o g n itio n acco rd ed to
m a t r i l i n e a l d e s c e n t.
T h is i s achieved by th e sim p le e x p e d ie n t o f ex ten d
in g th e Grow p r in c ip le i n d e f i n i t e l y (FZ =: FZD = FZDD; F = FZS = FZDS;
MB = MMB = MMMB; C = MBC — MMBC = MMMBC; DC = MBDG = MMBDC = MMMBDC).
t11
The Nduindui terms do not reflect any such principle of lineage
unity, neither matrilineal nor patrilineal*
With the exception of the
cross-cousin terms and the special terms for Z, MB and ZC, the system
is of a type more in accord with a cognatic society.
In the previous
analysis of kin concepts we saw that though matrilineal descent is
recognised in the karo na bela concept, there are no corporate and
enduring uterine kin group*.
The use of Grow type terminology combined
with a return to the principle of generation distinction in the terms
for FZDG and MMBG could be interpreted as functionally consistent with
the un-named, non-exogamous and non-corporate characteristics of the
karo na bela.
An inconsistency in the generational placing of ZG (duvlna),
reflects both the weakness of the matrilineal ideology and the confusion
of the young men in attempting to define the karo na bela concept.
FIGURE
9
MOTHER13 BROTHER AND SISTER*3 CHILD
A
4
A
TUANA
T
@
NATUNA
(BC)
Q
TOKANA
(MB)
RETAHENA
(M)
A
T
Ö
EGO
HANGWENA
(Z)
@
NATUNA
(C)
@
DUVINA
(ZC)
©
VAGAMBUINA
(CC)
VAGAMBUINA
(ZCC)
©
NATUNA
(MBG)
©
VAGAMBUINA
(MBCC)
112
Arguing from the fact that the child of duvina»i.e. ZCC is referred to
as vagambuina or CC, then duvina must be placed on a generational
equivalence with natuna
or child and MB with tamana or father.
On the
other hand, arguing from the cross-cousin terminology, (MBC * natuna or C),
MB must be said to be generationally equivalent to brother (tuana). The
latter interpretation is reinforced in that the term for MB (tokana)
is the same as that used for elB in matrilineal east Aoba.
A number of
Nduindui informants were themselves aware of this inconsistency, and were
quick to point out that it has its parallel in behaviour in that MB is
sometimes said to be like father (a man to be obeyed and respected),
while at other times he is said to be like a brother (a person treated
with intimacy and equality).
The respect attitude is commonly found in
a matrilineal society where the MB is a figure of authority, whereas
informality is more likely to occur in a patrilineally-oriented society.
This same inconsistency is also apparent in that a number of the younger
men did in fact give me sibling terms for cross-cousins when I first
questioned them, though when I queried their reply they admitted a
mistake.
If this change in kinship terminology should become a general
practice the cognate terms would be mostly organised on the basis of
bilateral symmetry and generation distinction.
In matrilineal east Aoba
there is no such inconsistency in that ZSC is called child (netune) and
not grandchild (vagambuine); and ZDC, as a member of ego*s own matri-clan,
is called by a special qualified ZC term (aloana nimboki).
The Nduindui cognate terms of address approximate most closely to
what M u r d o c k ^ calls the patri-Fox type, of which he could find only
1. Murdock, G.P. p.235
113
three examples in his cross-cultural survey, the Bachama of northern
Nigeria, the Koranko of Sierra Leone and the Seniang of south-west
Malekula.
The distinguishing features of these societies are patrilineal
descent, patri-virilocal residence and Crow-cross-cousin terminology.
Murdock deduces that this type must have evolved from double-unilineal
societies when they lost their matrilineal descent groups.
Matrilineal east Aoba is a double-descent society in that the male
members of the local groups are mostly recruited by patrifiliation.
Parts of R a g a , ^ ^ north M a l e k u l a , a n d A m b i y m ^ have even more
pronounced double-descent systems.
It would therefore seem reasonable
to assume that Nduindui falls within the same general pattern, but is
1. Tattevin, E. “Organization sociale du Sud de l*ile Pentecoste",
Anthropos, Vol. 23, 1928.
Seligman, P. “Asymmetry in Descent, with special reference to
Pentecost", JRAI, Vol. LVIII, 192Ö.
Rivers, W.H.R. The History of Melanesian Society, Cambridge, 1914,
Voi. I, pp. 198-213. Vol. II, pp. 66, 75*
Codrington, R.H. The Melanesians; Their anthropology and folklore,
Oxford, 1891, pp. 26, 45*
2. Layard, J. Stone Men of Malekula, London, 1942, pp. 96-173.
3. Rivers, W.H.R. "Descent and Ceremonial in Ambrymi' JRAI, Vol. XLV,
1915.
Deacon, A.B. "The Regulation of Marriage in Ambrym," JRAI, Vol. LVII,
1927.
Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. "The Regulation of Marriage in Ambrym", J.R.A.I.
Vol. LVII, 1927.
Seligman, B. "Bilateral Descent and the Formation of Marriage Classes",
JRAI, Vol. LVII, 1927.
Guiart, J. "Societe, rituels et nythes du Nord-Ambrym", J.S.O.,
Vol. VII, No. 7, 1951.
Lane, R. and B. "A Reinterpretation of the ‘Anomalous12
3 Six-Section
Marriage System of Ambrym, New Hebrides", S.W.J.A. Vol. XII, No. 4 , 1956*
Goody, J. "The Classification of Double Unilineal Descent Systems",
Current Anthropology, Vol. II, 1961, PP* 3-12.
Lane, R. "Comments on Goody (1961)" Current Anthropology, Vol. II,
pp. 15-17.
Lane, R. and B. "The Evolution of Ambiym Kinship", S.W.J.A., Vol. XIV,
1950.
Lane, R. and B. "Implicit Double Descent in South Australia and the
Northeastern New Hebrides", Ethnology, Vol. I, No. 1, 1962.
114
distinguished, by an almost complete absence of the principle of matrilineal descent and a correspondingly greater emphasis placed on agnatic
affiliation.
In other parts of the New Hebrides the double-descent
system has resulted in sections and sub— sections.
In Nduindui the
absence of the matrilineal descent groups, above all the moieties, has
prevented aiy such development, and instead we find an ideology of kin
ship based on the concept of cognatic stocks, but in which an important
distinction is made between the co-resident property-owning core of
male agnates and the widely dispersed non-agnatic cognates.
The
ideology of kinship, the terminology used between cognates, and the
membership composition of the local group are v/hat might be expected
if a society similar to that of east Aoba lost its matrilineal descent
groups.
This is precisely what the Nduindui themselves say has happened
in west Aoba.
A note on Needham's analysis of Mota (Banks Islands) terminology^ ^
(2)
In i960, Needham analysed Mota terminology compiled from Rivers' '
and C o d r i n g t o n . ^
He stated that “the terminology may be consistently
ordered as in a two-section system, i.e. in the three middle generations
no term is shared by natal members of both s e c t i o n s . H i s
diagram
is reproduced in Table XVII.
1. I am indebted to Roger Keesing (at present working in Malaita,
Solomon Islands) for the main points of the argument.
2. Rivers, W.H.R. The History of Melanesian Society, 2 vols.
Cambridge, 1914, Vol. I, pp. 2Ö-30.
3. Codrington, R.H. The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology
and Folklore, Oxford, 1Ö91, p. 35» 3Ö*
4. Needham, R. "Lineal Equations in a Two-section System", Journal of
Polynesian Society, Vol. 69, i960, p. 26.
115
TABLE XVII
HUTA TERMINOLOGY
A
B
(m ) s
v1 )
tupui (MM)
tupui (MF)
B
A
..
tupui (FF)
U
)
tupui (FM)
maraui (MMB)
veve (M, MZ,
FBI)
gasala (SWM,
DHM)
tamai (F, FB,
MZH)
gasala (SWF,
BHF)
maraui (MB)
mateima (MBW)
usur (FZH)
veve rus rawe
(FZ)
kwalika (WF)
kwalika (WM)
tugui (eB,
FBSe, MZSe)
mateima (WB,
BW)
rasoai (W)
tutuai (Z,^ FBB,
mzb]
vuius (ZH, WB )
ego
natui (MBB)
natui (MBS)
tasiu (yB,
FBSy, MZSy)
veve (vus
rawe) (FZB)
kwaliga (BH)
mateima (ZSW)
vanangoi (ZS)
ftatui (B, BB)
tupui (SS)
tupui (BD)
tamai (FZS)
kwaliga (SW)
natui (S, BS)
vanangoi (ZB)
tupui (SB)
vanangoi (ZDD)
tupui (DS)
vanangoi (ZDS)
116 .
He n o te d t h a t such an a s s o c ia tio n of Crow term in o lo g y w ith
exogamous m o ie tie s e n t a i l s c e r t a i n lo g ic a l and p r a c t i c a l d i f f i c u l t i e s .
...W e . . . have a tw o -s e c tio n system w ith l i n e a l e q u a tio n s
d iv id in g th e c l a s s o f c ro s s -c o u s in s in to c a te g o r ie s . I t i s
very u n lik e ly th a t m a rria g e w ith one (th e p a t r i l a t e r a l c r o s s
c o u sin ) should he g e n e r a lly p r a c tis e d , and i t seems th a t i n
f a c t i t happens only r a r e l y ; w h ile i t i s a ls o d i f f i c u l t to
see how m a rria g e w ith th e o th e r (th e m a t r i l a t e r a l c r o s s
c o u sin ) should be p e rm itte d , s in c e she i s te rm in o lo g ic a lly
eq u ated w ith d a u g h te r. From what c a te g o ry , th e n , i s th e
spouse ta k e n in th e Mota system ?C l)
Needham p re fa c e s h i s p a p er w ith ’’th e hope t h a t a s p e c i a l i s t in th e
ethnography o f M elanesia may know o f a so u rc e o f which I am ig n o ra n t
or may o th e rw is e be a b le to propose a s o lu tio n ” .
(2)
7
On th e b a s is of
ny e a s t Aoba m a te r ia l and a ls o a b r i e f v i s i t to Vanua Lava I s h a l l
propose a p o s s ib le s o lu tio n to t h i s problem .
I n N duindui, e a s t Aoba and Vanua Lava a man may only marry a woman
whom he r e f e r s to as e i t h e r grandm other o r g ra n d d a u g h te r.
Assuming
t h a t th e same a p p lie s in Mota, w ith th e a d d itio n a l s t i p u l a t i o n t h a t she
must be of th e o p p o s ite m o iety , Needham i s c o r r e c t in h is assum ption
t h a t b o th c ro s s - c o u s in s a re exclud ed as p o s s ib le sp o u se s.
The supposed d i f f i c u l t y r e s t s s o le ly on Needham’ s tw o -s e c tio n
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n which n e c e s s a r ily im p lie s t h a t th e r e can be no women in
ego’ s own g e n e r a tio n and th e o p p o s ite m oiety who f a l l i n t o th e tu p u i
and hence m a rria g e a b le c l a s s .
1. Needham, R. p. 29
2.
I b i d . , p .2 3 .
H is d ia g ra m a tic r e p r e s e n ta tio n would
117
r e s u lt in the c la s s if ic a tio n of FZDC, (members of the f i r s t descending
generation, own m oiety), as ch ild ren ( n a tu i) and MMBC, (members of the
f i r s t ascending generation, opposite m oiety), as F and FZ Ctamai and
veve rus rawe) •
I f th is should be tru e then the Mota, lik e the Nduindui,
lim it the Crow (ra a trilin e a l) p rin c ip le to only one generation.
But in
Nduindui MMBC and FZDC are both classed as s ib lin g s , an arrangement
which leads to the appearance of a man^ MMMBSSD as tumbuna and h is
FFFZDDD as vagambuina,
In other words, fo u rth cousins of the same
generation can marry one another provided they are descended from th e ir
common an cesto r in complementary and u n ilin e a r lin e s (see chapter V I),
In e a st Aoba we have seen th a t the Crow term inology i s extended
in d e f in ite ly .
Consequently a m an^ MMBDD i s re fe rre d to as grand
daughter o f opposite moiety (vagambuine w ithout q u a lific a tio n ), and
hence m arriageable.
In the f i r s t descending generation the MBDD is
likew ise vagambuine and can a lso be m arried.
The qualifying terms
kokona = “sacred” and simbona = ”h is own”, elim inate as possible spouses
a man*s tru e vagambuine (GC) and a l l others of the same m oiety.
A ll
vagambuine without any q u alify in g terms are p ossible spouses.
U nfortunately I did not v i s i t Mota and spent only a day in Vanua
Lava,
I have, however, l i t t l e doubt th a t the so c ia l s tru c tu re and
c u ltu re of the two isla n d s d if f e r s only in minor p o in ts.
In th e time
a v a ila b le I could not obtain a f u l l and thoroughly checked l i s t of
Vanua Lava kinship term s, but I did e s ta b lis h th a t MB (maruk) ^
=
mmmb
= FZH; th a t C (nutuk) = MBC = MMBC = MMMBC;
= MMB
th a t GP (tupuok)
= CC = MBCC = MMBCC; th a t M (ridnok) = MZ = FZD = FZDD; and th a t F
(tamok) = FB = (co n t'd next page)
1 . 1 recorded the terms in the 1 st person sin g u lar possessive.
F ig u re
10
COMPARISON OF MOTA AND VANUA LAVA TERMINOLOGY
(M o ta i n
c a p ita ls :
V anua L av a i n
lo w e r c a s e )
A Sam e m o i e t y
A O th e r m o ie ty
A TU PU I O
Tupuok I
A
UoUR
M a ru k
A
TAMAI
T am ok
O
VKVE VUS RAWS
R id n o k
^ TUPUI #
j Tupuok 1
A
TAHAI
Tam ok
i
1VEVE
\
*
VEVE
R id n o k
TUGUI TASIU EGO
R id n o k T o k o k T i s i k
i
M aru k
I
MARAUI
M a ru k
k
TUTUAI
T u tu o k
4
NATUI
N u tu k
4
NATUI VANANGOI VANANGOI
NATUI
N u tu k
N
T a s i u T u t u o k Tam ok R id n o k N u tu k V a n a n g o k V a n a n g o k T u p u o k
1
TUPUI
Tupuok
1
VANANGOI
V anangok
(correct m arriage)
Tupuok
118
FZS = FZDS.
The marriage rule is simple and like that of east Aoba
-
a man can marry any tupuok of the opposite moiety and same generation,
which
would include MMBDD.
Unlike east Aoba, MBDD marriage is said to
be "not straight", though quite a few men do marry this kinswoman.
In
figure 10 I give the Vanua Lava terms together with Rivers* and
Codrington*s terms for Mota.
The similarity
between the two sets must
remove all reasonable doubt that the Mota also extended the Grow princip
le to FZDC and MMBDC.
I could find no evidence that any distinction
is made between same and opposite moiety-kin of the tupuok category*
One further point is worth noting in reference to the east Aoba
terminology*
An indefinite extension of Crow terminology, when combined
with carefully maintained moiety distinctions, poses a problem in the
increasing divergence of generationality at each degree of cousinship.
When, as in east Aoba, kin terms theoretically extend to all members of
the society, some device for simplification or incorporation into other
kin categories seems necessary*
The Lombaha method is for a man to
refer to the child of his male aloana. aloana nlmbokl. vagambuine tehine
and female vagambuine as child (netune), and his ZDDDD as sister (hangwena).
The designation of such generationally remote kin may seem gin idle
intellectual exercise*
In fact, the Lombaha consider these two points
of cardinal importance as it enables them to extend the terminology,
while at the same time maintaining moiety and generation distinctions.
"Our cognates", they say, " are like a circle, they go out and they come
back again"; a statement which they illustrate by pointing out that
great-grand-children of opposite moiety are classed as children, and that
after three generations of sisters* children (aloana etc.), the sister
Figure II
EAST AOBAs INCORPORATION
OF REMOTE KIN(MMBDDD=D)
A Same Moiety
A Other moiety
s
-------------
Tumbune
(MM)
1
1 l
Ratahine
(M)
EGO I
2
,
Tumbune-tokana
(MMB)
Netune
(MMBS)
Vagambuinekokona
(MMBSD)
A
Netune
(C.MBDDD)
2>
Netune
(MMBD)
1
Vagambuine
(MMBDD)
Figure 12
EAST AOBAs INCORPORATION
OF REMOTE KIN (ZDDDD=Z)
A Same Moiety
A Other moiety
EGO
Hangwena
\
Aloana
\
\
Aloana-nimboki
Aloana-nimboki
or vagambuinetehine
-J
\
I
Netune Aloana-nimboki
\
\
\
\
Aloana-nimboki
or vagambuinetehine
■
i
Netune
I
Tehine
*
Hangwena
Netune
Aloana
1
CHAPTER V
LAND AND SOCIETY
The degree of rigidity of a social system is largely dependent
on the extent to which rules and regulations control the inheritance,
utilization and disposal of property, especially durable productive
resources*
The Nduindui, like most agriculturalists, consider that
land is their most valuable possession.
In the present chapter I
attempt to establish the relative emphasis placed on group as against
individual rights in land and produce.
The argument
Worsely, in his re-analysis of Fortes* material, made the follow
ing observations concerning the relationship between lineage organiz
ation and productive property:
We have already pointed to the absence of strongly-marked
corporate lineages in these African societies where shifting
cultivation is the rule, and in which other important product
ive property than land is not found. There seems to be ample
evidence that, as in Tale land, the existence of valuable
material property in productive resources is a pre-condition
for the formation of corporate lineages... It is especially in
agricultural communities stabilized into groups around fixed
plots of land, and with a predominantly sexual division of
labour, that unilineal affiliation becomes af great importance,
as it is in Taleland.
)
0
12t
He further notes that though unilineal kin groups may be found
in communities with an economy based on hunting and gathering such as
the Australian aborigines, “the absence of durable material property
which might be transmitted from one generation to the n e x t " , ^ )
inhibits the formation of corporate and solidary lineages.
The majority of Melanesian societies occupy an intermediary posit
ion between the Tallensi and the Australian extremes.
Though the local
ly-anchored kin groups may at times look and function like corporate
lineages, the dogma of descent is either weak or absent, and group
a.
solidarity is frequently counterbalanced by high value placed on individ
ual autonomy.
On the other side of the equation, though horticulture
and animal husbandry sire more important than hunting and gathering,
the system of land utilization requires greater mobility and larger
plots than is common in such African societies as the Tallensi.
An
other relevant factor is the comparatively small scale of the Melanesian
productive work group.
Yet despite the general validity of this contrast between the two
types of society, we must remember that in many Melanesian communities
the locally-anchored kin groups do in fact approximate to the ideal
model of the corporate and solidary lineage.
Despite the relative
absence of durable productive property, and despite the mobility assoc
iated with a system of shifting cultivation, a number of additional
factors can lead to what Forde has termed a “permanent attachment of a
(from previous page) 1i. Worsely, P.M. “The Kinship System of the
Tallensi: A Revaluation“, J.R.A.I. Vol. 86, Part I, 1i956, p.69«
1. ibid
122
regulated body of persons to an aggregate of fixed resources.” ^ )
When valuable assets, especially fertile land, are concentrated
in specific localities, the resultant territorial separation of groups
can lead to an identification of interests between members.
In the
Trobriand islands, where there are marked differences in the resources
available to each local community, the largest and highest ranking
matri-clans possess the most fertile garden land and the most strategic
positions for manipulating
exchange r e l a t i o n s h i p s . T o an extent
unusual in Melanesian societies the lineage segments act as corporate
units in garden making and in recognising the authority of hereditary
leaders*
Then, even in those areas where resources are evenly distributed,
a shortage of gardening and hunting land that is easily available can
lead to a restriction of rights to exclusive kin groups, usually
lineages*
This would appear to be the case in the more densely populat
ed parts of the New Guinea Highlands.
produced evidence that at first glance
correlation.
Yet Brown and Brookfield have
contradicts any such simple
They have observed that though the population density of
Mae Enga is lower than that of southern Ghimbu (til0-250 persons per
square mile as against 300-500), the principle of agnatic solidarity
is more marked among the Enga than among the Chimbu.
They write:
The effect of relative land shortage on social structure
is thus by no means uniform* In Chimbu the resulting enhanced
1. Forde, G*D* ”The Anthropological Approach to Social Science”,
Advancement of Science. 1946, p*21§.
2* Singh Uberoi, J.P. Politics of the Kula Ring. Manchester, 1962,
pp. 2,3,43^46*
123
v a lu e o f la n d and p ro p in q u ity o f men seems to have le d t o a f l u i d
s o c ie ty , w ith numerous and e x te n s iv e mechanisms f o r re d u c in g
d i f f e r e n t i a l s by a d o p tio n , m ig ra tio n , tem p o rary m o b ility and
tem p o rary and perm anent la n d t r a n s f e r , War b o th o b s tru c te d and
supplem ented t h i s p ro c e s s . Among th e Enga, on th e o th e r hand,
th e re sp o n se t o r e l a t i v e lan d s h o rta g e seems to be a g r e a te r
r i g i d i t y o f la n d r e l a t i o n s h i p s a t th e c la n l e v e l , ( U
The p ro b a b le answ er to t h i s d i f f i c u l t y , f o r which I s h a l l s h o r tly
produce f u r t h e r ev id en ce from N duindui, i s t h a t th e c o r r e l a t i o n betw een
la n d s h o rta g e and c o rp o ra te lin e a g e s c e a se s to be v a lid when a c e r t a i n
th re s h o ld o f d e n s ity has been re a c h e d ,
I s t a r t w ith th e a ssu m p tio n , as o u tlin e d above, t h a t i n s o c i e t i e s
whose economy i s based on s h i f t i n g c u l t i v a t i o n , th e e s s e n t i a l p re
c o n d itio n f o r th e fo rm a tio n o f c o rp o ra te lin e a g e s i s s u f f i c i e n t s c a r c i t y
o f good la n d to r e s u l t in a u n i l i n e a l r e s t r i c t i o n o f r i g h t s , ^
But a
lin e a g e i s , by d e f i n i t i o n , a c o n s ta n tly expanding g r o u p , ^ t h e optimum
s iz e o f w hich i s d eterm in ed by v a ry in g te c h n o lo g ic a l, e c o lo g ic a l and o th e r
fa c to rs .
I t fo llo w s t h a t when th e group re a c h e s i t s u p p e r l i m i t th e r e
must be s u f f i c i e n t la n d a v a ila b le f o r in d iv id u a ls o r m inor segm ents to
move away and e s t a b l i s h new s e ttle m e n ts and g a rd e n s.
I f , on th e o th e r
hand, th e p o p u la tio n o f th e t o t a l community has reached th e p o in t w here,
a lth o u g h a l l th e v i r g i n t e r r i t o r y has been c laim ed , a few sm all lin e a g e s ,
1 , Brown, P a u la and B ro o k fie ld , H.C, "Chimbu Land and S o c ie ty “,
O ceania, V o l, 3 0 . N o.1, p ,7 5 .
2 , I do n o t, o f c o u rs e , exclude th e p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t r i g h t s may be
r e s t r i c t e d by some o th e r mechanism.
3« See S a h lin s , M. “The Segm entary L ineage: An O rg a n iz a tio n o f
P re d a to ry E xpansion“, American A n th ro p o lo g is t. V ol, 63, No. 2 , 1961,
124
have a surplus, then it is likely that the sort of re-allocation
mechanisms mentioned by Brown and Brookfield will develop*
In such
circumstances individuals acquire rights over scattered plots which they
do not share with their lineage mates*
If the population should
continue to expand the point may eventually be reached where the interdigitation of land and residence is so widespread that the lineage no
longer exists as a territorial unit*
In support of this interpretation
it should be noted that among the Chimbu there is no unclaimed ground*^'
The task of providing evidence in support of correlations between
social structure, ecology and demography is never easy.
When compar
isons are made between two or more societies there is always the possibil
ity that differences in group organization may have little or nothing
to do with either land or population*
The difficulties are minimized
when comparison is confined to variations found within a single
community*
In earlier chapters I have explained that the Nduindui
tokaki vanua varies in the extent to which it conforms to the ideal
model of a corporate patrilineal descent group*
In the following analysis
I shall show that these structural variations are closely parallelled
by further variations in land utilization and population density*
Lardutilization, population density and social structure
In Chapter two I stated that all territory within the settled part
of the district is fully utilized for house sites, tracks, ceremonial
1* Brown and Brookfield, p.73*
1:25
grounds, gardens and plantations.
All adults, females as well as males,
know precisely to which plots they have rights of usage, of inheritance
or of disposal.
The principal taro planting area is also subject to
clearly defined rights.
Large tracts are claimed as part of the corporate
estate of the most inland parishes, though a number of plots have been
acquired through secondary inheritance rights, purchase, adoption etc.
by some of the men who live near the coast.
At a high altitude there
is an extensive area of land, much of it suitable for cultivation and
even settlement, which is only occasionally used for hunting and gather
ing.
This territory is also sub-divided into blocks, each claimed by
an inland parish.
In the pre-cash crop era th8 population was well in excess of the
present figure of 1 ,400, and therefore the density was at least as great
as that of the Mae Enga.
Further, the consumption nowadays of imported
foodstuffs has reduced the amount of land needed for gardening and pig
grazing.
These two factors, when combined with the unusually large
number of coconut groves, have created conditions I assume to be favour
able to the formation of corporate lineages.
This was, and still is,
especially true of the inland parishes where large carpels can preserve
their agnatic purity and corporateness by periodically establishing
new settlements in areas hitherto devoted to gardening, and extending
taro cultivation into hunting and gathering territory.
^n coastal parishes, on the other hand, high population density
(today 290 persons per square mile against 165 ia inland parishes)^)
intensive planting of cash crops, and an absence of surplus territory
available for expansion have together prevented the formation of the
126
large-scale agnatically-oriented carpels.
The statistical information
presented in chapter IV confirms this interpretation.
For the reader* s
convenience I repeat the relevant data in summary form.
Proportion of multi to single section parishes
Coast
8/2
Proportion of multi to monocarpellary sections
9/7
6/25
98/65
130/24
Proportion of agnates to non-agnates
Inland
5/7
In the pre-cash crop era the response to high population density
was in all probability similar to that described for the Chimbu.
Large
carpels, unlike those in the inland areas, had no means of preserving
their agnatic and corporate characteristics by establishing new settle
ments in virgin territory.
Instead, like the Chimbu, the people develop
ed "numerous and extensive mechanisms for reducing differentials"
between large and small carpels.
If, as is almost certain, population
density a hundred years ago was in the order of 350-500 persons per
square mile, the
similarity between coastal Nduindui and Chimbu society
is all the more striking.
In recent years a new development has taken place.
The spread
of coconut growing has so increased land values that even those carpels
with large plantations and few members are reluctant to grant land
rights to their less fortunate non-agnatic kinsmen.
land-hungry agnates
Consequently
have begun to insist on a more precise definition
of their individual rights to a particular section of the agnatic land.
(from previous page) 1. These are mean figures and based solely on
the settled part of the district. If the garden and hunting territory
were included the density of the inland parishes would fall well below
100 persons per square mile. In some coastal areas the figure is as
high as 400.
12?
I n o th e r w ords, c o m p e titio n f o r lan d has s im u lta n e o u s ly r e s u lte d i n a
h ig h e r in c id e n c e o f a g n a tic a f f i l i a t i o n and a re d u c tio n o f c a r p e l
s o lid a rity .
The in d iv id u a l e x e r c is e s g r e a t e r autonomy w ith in th e p a ris h
b u t has l e s s chance o f e s ta b lis h in g a l t e r n a t i v e group a f f i l i a t i o n s .
The e x is te n c e o f th e p re -c o p ra system o f la n d r e - a l l o c a t i o n i s , a t
l e a s t so f a r a3 i t a p p lie s t o c o a s ta l com m unities, n e c e s s a r ily based
on i n d i r e c t evidence and d e d u c tio n from f i r s t p r i n c i p l e s .
I can , how
e v e r, d em o n strate t h a t a s im ila r re sp o n se to lan d sh o rta g e s t i l l ta k e s
p la c e in some o f th e la r g e in la n d c a r p e ls where co p ra and cocoa groves
a re b eg in n in g to sp read i n t o gard en a r e a s .
(See Namberumwele c a r p e l
p p . 1 3 5 -1 3 6 ).
The e sta b lis h m e n t o f c a s h -c ro p s i n a s o c ie ty p re v io u s ly b ased on
s h i f t i n g c u l t i v a t i o n does n o t always underm ine th e c o rp o ra te p r o p e r tie s
o f l o c a l l y anchored k in g ro u p s.
I f , in t r a d i t i o n a l
N duindui s o c ie ty ,
c a r p e l members had r e g u la r ly c o -o p e ra te d i n g a rd en in g and o th e r p ro d u c t
iv e t a s k s , i t seems l i k e l y t h a t th e y would have p la n te d th e t r e e s j o i n t
l y , c o lle c te d th e h a rv e s t and shared th e c a s h - y ie ld .
In p o in t o f f a c t ,
n o t o n ly was a g r i c u l t u r e m o stly c a r r ie d o u t by th e in d iv id u a l (o r
th e e le m e n ta ry fa m ily )
b u t he o r she had a b s o lu te r i g h t s i n p ro d u ce.
As each garden la s t e d f o r o n ly one o r two seaso n s and had to be l e f t
fa llo w f o r about te n y e a r s , i t was p e r f e c t l y f e a s i b l e to m a in ta in
a c l e a r d i s t i n c t i o n betw een in d iv id u a l r i g h t s o v er produce and sh ared
r i g h t s o f a c c e ss to th e la n d .
In th e in la n d p a ris h e s r i g h t s i n fa llo w
la n d were re c o g n ise d o n ly to th e e x te n t t h a t a man w ish in g t o u se
a p lo t t h a t somebody e l s e had r e c e n tly c u ltiv a te d was fo rc e d to seek
p e rm issio n f i r s t .
On th e c o a s t,
however, r i g h t s i n fa llo w
la n d
128
were usually transmitted from generation to generation* With the
introduction of copra growing the tra d itio n a l d istin ctio n
between
individual rig h ts to produce and jo in t rig h ts to the land could no
longer be so easily maintained* This was especially so where rights
in fallow plots were already well defined*
The coconuts planted by the
individual remain on the land throughout his lifetim e and for a generat
ion or two a fte r him* The inevitable re su lt is th at individual rights
to the trees tend to be applied to the land also*
In the following two sections I provide evidence in support of th is
interp retatio n by f i r s t examining the inland parish of Lombanga, where
cash-cropping is s t i l l of minor importance, there is s t i l l some surplus
land, and the carpels are large, solidary, and strongly agnatic*
I
then analyse the coastal parish of Navuti where the opposite conditions
prevail*
Lombanga parish
The formal structure is represented diagramatically in Figure 113
(see next page)* The numbers in brackets represent the adult male
householders* Map 6 shows a plan of the settlement*
Informants assert th at in the past the two parish-sections (Lombanga
and Lembuto) were normally separate and autonomous (ngwatu i vanua lakua),
though a t times they temporarily united i f a leader of outstanding
a b ility appeared. About the turn of the century Lembuto declined as the
re su lt of an epidemic, and when the missionaries arrived a l i t t l e la te r
the survivors joined the Lombanga people to build a common church* Only
two f u ll agnatic male members of Lembuto remain, the other five house-
129.
holders are natal members of Namberumwele carpel who inherited land
through ties of complementary affiliation#
FIGURE 13
STRUCTURE OF LCMBANGA. PARISH
Lombanga parish
(22)
Parish-sections
Lombanga
(2)
Lombanga
(15)
Lembuto
(7)
Carpels
Carpels
Namberumwele
(8)
Lomwandu
(5)
Nanungwa-Lakua
(3)
Narukuruku
(4)
In certain contexts parish members think of their territory as a
single indivisible unit in which all share similar rights; indeed, the
designation of the parish as ngwatu i vanua so defines it#
The leading
men take an interest in all land within the parish boundaries, and if
money is needed for a communal project, such as building a new church,
well, store, etc., normally everyone is expected to contribute cash
proceeds from one or more harvests of copra or cocoa.
Individuals who
refuse to contribute, risk censure and loss of status.
best
The concept of a corporate estate in land can be/seen when a man
attempts to alienate rights to an outsider for pigs, mats or cash.
The
130
invariable reaction is for parish leaders to protest, and if the deed
has not yet been finalised, one or more of them may offer to purchase
the plot and thus keep it within the community.
The offer is only
turned down when the potential salesman has the support of his carpel
or parish-section mates.
At present all Lombanga land is in the control of either resident
members or a few men who were b o m in the parish but have left to join
their wives or mothers agnates.
Table XVIIEgives the place of residence
of all of the known adult male agnatic descendants of the apical
ancestors of the five carpels.
TAB IE XVIII
RESIDENCE OF THE ADULT MALE AGNATIC DESCENDANTS
OF THE FOUNDERS OF LOMBANGA PARISH
Own carpel
Namberumwele
Non-agnatic
Immigrants
Adult male agnates
resident on land of:
Carpels
8
Other carpel
same parish
Other parish
5 v.
6
-
3
1
N
N
^
Lombanga
1
Lomwandu
5
-
>
Nanungwa Lakua
1
-
-
Narukuruku
1
-
-
s
mm
\
\
p
*
*3
Lombanga parish-section
The three carpels of Lombanga parish-section form an exogamous
unit, and though there is no known common ancestor, the people consider
131
themselves to be agnatic kinsmen (there is but one exception, Timothy
,8, Elj of Lombanga carpel) on the grounds that the founding ancestors
were all bora in Saranarivua, a community a mile to the west*
These
men gardened at Lombanga and eventually set up permanent homesteads
to protect their cultivations.
Today the Lombanga people are on the
same terms with the Saranarivua as with the inhabitants of other
parishes.
They frequently marry the girls, and traditions tell of
several fights.
Most of the land of the three carpels is situated on the lower
slopes of the parish territory.
The growth of population and coconut
and cocoa planting have led to a slight shortage, to which the people
have responded in several ways - by opening up new territory further
inland, by acquiring rights in areas previously used by men of other
parishes, and by the loss of members to carpels with a shortage of
manpower and a surplus of land.
They have not as yet reached the stage
of permanently dividing the agnatically inherited land.
I shall now
examine each carpel in detail.
Lombanga carpel
The only full agnatic male householder still living on Lombanga
land is Joseph Livo (8, E 4).
About 45 years ago three of his carpel
mates, Harry Vai (D 1), Solomon Toka (E 3) and David Takaro (E 5) left
the then predominantly pagan parish in order to establish, in conjunct
ion with others, the new Christian settlement of Mataindanu on the coast.
They purchased land from men of Amata, and this they now use as a
housing site and for their plantations.
Today only Solomon appears at
Lombanga to make an occasional taro garden*
The rights of all three
have gone so "cold1
1 that the residents would resist them if they
attempted to plant cash crops*
The remaining Lombanga carpel land is held jointly by Joseph and
the immigrant Timothy Malakai (E 1)*
Timothy was b o m on Malekula,
but when working on a plantation in Santo met and married Rebecca
Kweundu (E 2).
Joseph welcomed him and gave him permission to build
his house and make his gardens in Lombanga*
Over the past twenty years
these two have jointly planted a good deal of the land*
As yet there
has been no talk of partition, and each simply collects copra or cocoa
whenever he feels the need of money*
Lomwandu carpel
Aru Ngeo (
9,
A 1) is said to have lived near Sara Lombanga*
For
some reason now forgotten he decided to move about half a mile inland
to the garden area#
Here he made a new sara which he called Lomwandu
(which means **garden land”), and today his five agnatic descendants
have houses in the vicinity.
His three sons pioneered a large area of
mountain extending about a mile inland.
This area, which is mostly
used for gardening and pig hunting, is known by the names of one or
other of these three men (B 1, 2, and 3)*
Titas Liu (E 1), who is about 45 years old, assured me that in
his father*s and grandfather*s time all members of the carpel jointly
cultivated the land named after Aru Ngeo and his three sons*
There was
no internal partition, and each man took whatever portion was most
convenient.
But Longa Kokona ( C 3 ) in addition acquired rights in
133
a small extra plot from the neighbouring community of Lokambu (this
was in settlement of a pig debt).
His son Bob Tangwali (D 2 ) inherited
these rights but did not share t h e m with Vira Lingi (D 1 ) or the sons
of Ruru Kgundu (C 1 )♦
A further sectional interest arose from the
fact that Vira Lingi*s mother was the last surviving member of a carpel
which at that time was part of Saralokambu parish.
He
bore the greater
part of her funeral expenses and thus acquired full rights in a substant
ial portion of the carpel*s land* (I discuss the importance of funeral
expenses in the inheritance section)*
his father •
Titas inherited these rights from
He asserts that although he can alienate this ground should
he wish to do so, he might feel ashamed to act in a manner so contrary
to the best interests of his cousins.
Recently he purchased a further
small plot nearby from a Saranarivua man.
He told me that this origin
ally belonged to Mue Ngwaravu ( B 2 ) who lost it in settlement of a
debt.
Zachaeas and his brothers did not contribute to the payment and
thus have no rights.
Summing up, we can state there are three categories of land now
owned by these five patri-parallel cousins - the joint agnatic estate
inherited from Aru Ngeo and his three sons, two portions controlled by
Titas alone (one inherited from his father*s mother and the other
purchased), and the plot jointly held by Zachaeas and his brothers which
their father acquired in settlement of a personal debt.
As some of
these plots are located in territory normally used by members of other
parishes, a small amount of the Chimbu type of interdigitation of land
and residence has occurred even in this comparatively land-wealthy
inland area.
134
The autonomy exercised by individuals and carpel-sections over
non-agnatic land varies in accordance with group integration*
For
example, at a particular period one of the men may achieve high rank,
and through his authority and competitive relations with leaders of
other groups, succeed in creating a greater so lid arity than obtains a t
other times.
Such a leader would use pressure to prevent
alienation.
He would invest in the funeral expenses of his carpel mates and thus
gain control over land th at would otherwise have become subject to
sectional in te re sts.
Titas assured me th at three generations ago Lomwandu carpel was
much larger, and th at th is is why Hue Ngwaravu (B 2) and Mue Lombanga
(B 1) made gardens high up the mountain in what is now hunting t e r r i t
ory.
But over the past ten years the group has again begun to grow.
(Titas and his cousins have between them twelve sons aged from 5 to 20
years).
Titas is a man of ideas, and a few years ago he decided that
the parish members ought to co-operate in clearing a large paddock on
the mountain as a pasturage for a bullock herd.
To do th is i t was
f i r s t necessary to build a road th at could be negotiated by jeeps.
He is now encouraging the people to plant gardens high up the slopes
anH even to establish new settlements there.
He thus sees the project
as providing a means of absorbing the increase in population without
having to divide carpel land or lose members to other communiti e s »
When the project began in 1960, most of the parish members helped
in the road making and fencing, but by 1962 the only regular workers
were Titas sind his cousin Captain. Both are contemplating settin g up
permanent homesteads near the paddock so th at they can protect th e ir
.
135
bullocks.
If they should do this there will be repetition of the carpel
segmentation that is said to have occurred five generations earlier
when Aru Ngeo left Lombanga and established Lomwandu.
The account provides an example of what happens when a carpel
increases in size and there is still a possibility of expansion into
virgin or long unused territory.
A brief examination of Namberumwele
carpel will illustrate the loss of members from expanding groups to
others having a land surplus.
Namberumwele carpel
Namberumwele (see appendix 10) is one of the largest carpels in
the district.
Of the nineteen known adult male agnatic descendants of
the founder Vutangwa ( A 1 i
), eight live in Namberumwele, five in
Lembuto parish-section, and six in other parishes.
There are no
immigrant members of Namberumwele.
The first point to note is that the men of any one of the three
major segments descended from Vutangwa*s sons (Toundu, Taumbai and
Takaro) have preferential rights of usage and inheritance over the men
of the other two.
Each segment also claims the right to alienate land
to outsiders but agrees that to do so would be undesirable.
At present
all land is held by carpel members.
Within the Toundu major segment, three men
HSampson
(F 1 ), Mathew
(F 2) and Adam (G 1)j, use one part of the land jointly, and the brothers
Ephraim (F 5) and Silas (F 6) another part.
This separation occurred
so long ago that nobody can now give the reason.
A probable explanation
is that the population density resulted in an early development of
heritable rights in fallow land: certainly today such rights are
13 6,
inherited, whereas in Lomwandu anyone can cultivate ground that is
currently unoccupied.
The first agnatic descendant of Vutangwa to leave the group was
Vira Ngeletu (E 8),
Sometime during the first world war he married a
Narukuruku woman whose father had no sons and only two agnatic cousins,
both childless,
As Narukuruku territory extended a long way up the
mountain Vira Ngeletu was offered full rights,
his three adult sons
still live in Narukuruku and no longer make any claims in Namberumwele.
They are considered to belong fully to Narukuruku carpel and Lembuto
parish-section*
Robert (F 3) and Mathias (S 12) married girls of neighbouring
parishes and have both left Lombanga to live with their wife’s agnates.
Neither makes any use of Lombanga land, and it seems certain that their
sons will remain in the parish of their mother
• Andrew Rarai (F 4)
joined the three Lombanga men who founded Mataindanu.
He still makes
his gardens in Namberumwele but his plantation is in Mataindanu.
The brothers Charlie (F 15) and Luke (F 14), who recently died,
joined their wifers agnates in the neighbouring parish of Lolopgwalakesa.
The sons Knock (G 4), Johnson (G 2), and John (G 3) are young adults
and still live in Lolongwalakesa.
This parish is poor, and as there
are only two resident members of the Taumbai segment of Namberumwele
carpel, it is generally expected that one or more will return to the
agnatic land, perhaps on marriage.
Finally, Simon (F 12) was adopted
by a Nanungwa Lakua man who had no sons} he thus inherited as an agnate.
He has never lived at Namberumwele nor worked the land.
137
Navati coastal parish (see Map 7)
Navuti has a total population of 109 and a density in the order
of 350 persons per square mile*
The parish lacks any tradition of its
origin, and none of the senior informants could name ancestors farther
back than great-grandfathers.
Thirteen of the twenty-five adult male
householders are either first or second generation immigrants.
summary of the details of each is presented in Table X1X
A
. Skeleton
genealogies of the six parish-based descent groups are given in appendices
12-19.
A plan of the parish is supplied in Map 7.
In terms of the general theory that I am expounding, it is signific
ant that with only one exception (Robert) all immigrants joined the
parish between 1915 and 1935»
the population
In the decades immediately proceeding
was declining and the people practised shifting cultivat
ion and pig-grazing.
In such circumstances, most men could live on the
land of their agnatic ancestors with no more than an occasional adjust
ment necessary between large and small carpels.
But the introduction
first of Christianity, and later of copra growing led to conflicts over
land rights.
Many Christians decided to leave pagan parishes and join
affines and non-agnatic kin who had already been converted.
Navuti
was one of the earliest centres of Christianity in the district, and
hence has a great many non-agnates.
Three of the early immigrants
(Timothy, Alec Kwani and Martin Boi) were converts who married Navuti
girl 3 , whose fathers had no close male agnates.
The sons therefore
inherited full rights through their mothers*
By about 1930 ths position had radically altered.
Almost the whole
TABLEKIX
NAVUTI NON- AGNATES
Immigrant
Age Date of
( Gen.Ref)
Reason
arrival
TIMOTHY MOLI
70
1915
(13,DI)
Land rights
Adult sons
(more details chapter Z)
Christian from pagan
His wife,a8 last sur
HARRY VATU
parish in east Aoba.
viving member of car
PETER MEMEA 35
Made friends with Na-
pel, Inherited full
ABRAHAM
50
vuti Christian in Sa
land rights in Navuti
TIMOTHY
23
43
nto and married his
daughter.
MOSES TANGA
42
1915
(13,D3)
His father was an imm-
Inherited land from
grant from Mwaevo who
adoptive father and
lived in Lovanualigoutu
subsequently purchased
Moses was adopted by
a few more £lots
TIMOTHY'S WFB.
ALFRED COULOÜ
50
1935
(13,El)
Married daughter of
House site in Navuti.
TIMOTHY. Dispute over
Gardens and plantations
land rights with agnates.
in father's parish
Won dispute but left par
ish
ALBERT BALA
50
1920
(14,B2)
Adopted by mother's brother,
Full rights in Navuti
a full agnate of Navuti
Seldom visits his fat
Nil
her's district and no rights
(d.1925 )I92I Quarelled with parish leader
ARU KVAGA
(17,B2)
MARTIN BOI
(I7,B3)
<d.I935:
JOSEPH VIRA
and plantations in
brother in Navuti
father's parish
1925 Christian from east Aoba.
His wife inherited a
Relative of TIMOTHY who look
few Navuti acres. Plan
ed after him and arranged his
ted a small area in
marriage
east Aoba
(d.I95C )I925 Quarreled with agnates in
Navitora . TIMOTHY gave him
(13,E7)
House site Navuti. Gardens
and Joined wife's mother's
House site Navuti. Plant
(d.I9 W) I 9 2 7Christian from Natakaro.
Married Navuti girl
(15,F3)
WILLIB VUTI35
. SETH
PETER
Planted large area
ALEC KVANI
of wife's land in
Navuti . Made an
DAVID KOLOTI
(18,El)
43
ROBERT TARI
28
( 18,El)
1920
Adopted by Navuti man
occasional garden in F's par.
House site Navuti. Three
Nil
acres in wife's parish
1959
After death of wife and three
Land of mother's carpel
children and his own long
long since taken over by
illness(all TB) he left the
other Navuti men. Plantations
parish of his father(sara-
in father's parish.
nabuga) fearing sorcery anc
came to his mother's birth
place
30
ations in father's parish
protection
ALEC KVANI
„ JOSEPH
.44
(/tvt Ma-lo Mond )
SOLOMON
40
Nil
28
20
138
district was nominally Christian and for soma years all the available
land had been planted.
After this date only two men have been admitted
into the parish (Alfred and Robert), and both garden
on land inherited from their father.
and collect copra
In the same period four Navuti
men joined relatives in less densely populated communities (three have
left the district).
Between 1927 and 1960 the population increased from 81 to 107»
This factor, coupled with the universal desire for exclusive rights
over as many coconuts as possible, has resulted in a break-down of the
traditional ideal of the carpel as a corporate group sharing rights in
a common estate.
In order to demonstrate how individualism has develop
ed I shall briefly examinine Navuti*s largest and as yet most solidary
and agnatic carpel, (appendix 16).
In about 1920, when Isaac (D 4) was a young man, Singo (C 1) lived
at Sara Navimbanga (cleared by his grandfather Bakeo Lakua^ Tuku Boi (C 2)
about 200
yards south at Sara Karangwa (which he himself had made),
and Bakeo (C 4) about 100 yards north at Sara Lakua (cleared by his
father).
Each of these three men gardened and grazed pigs in the
immediate vicinity of his homestead.
From 1927 onwards Joseph ( D 1),
Isaac (D 4) and Jonas (D 9) began to plant coconuts.
Each chose ground
previously occupied by his father (all the seniors were dead by about
1925).
Each man has continued to gather the harvest from his trees alone
and has come to look on the land
itself as private property.
Isaac,
who has six sons and would like to see them inherit rights to Joseph*s
and Jonas* estate is, as might be expected, the one who most likes to
keep alive the notion that ancestral land should remain within the carpel.
139
But he has not trusted solely in his sons* claims as close agnates*
Fearing that Joseph*s sister's son Reuben Moli (E 1), a man of the
neighbouring parish of Saranambuga, might stake a claim by presenting
large quantities of pigs and mats at his uncle's funeral, Isaac persuad
ed Joseph to adopt his son Esias (E 3)«
By doing so he has ensured
that Esias will have an indisputable right to refund any contributions
that Reuben might make and thus cancel his land claims.
But Isaac is more worried about Jonas,
Over the years the two
have had many quarrels and Jonas seems determined to disinherit his
cousins.
He has already taken the first step by publicly announcing
that his land is to be divided into numerous small plots, one each for
every member of the parish.
On the strength of thi3 arrangement he
has collected £f> from every adult male bar Isaac and his sons (who
refuse to pay as they say the whole estate should become theirs).
Isaac maintains that he will frustrate Jonas by refunding the money.
The issue will undoubtedly be resolved by the scale of investments in
the funeral expenses.
Partition of carpel ground has progressed even further in that
Isaac, who is now an old man, has already indicated which area he wants
each of his sons to have.
Salathiel and Simon already work their own
portions•
A similar development has taken place in all coastal and in some
inland parishes.
The planter alone uses the produce of his trees, though
not all have reached the point of making a division.
Most like to feel
that their families will use the inheritance in happy co-operation.
Some brothers attempt to maintain this ideal.
But when they in turn
140
have children they usually decide on formal partition in order to
protect the boys1 future interests«
Frequently the actual allocation
follows an accusation that one of the brothers is collecting more than
a fair share of copra*
community«
The arrangement is formally recognised by the
The senior men walk around the area, decide on the boundary
marks, and constitute witnesses«
Navuti, despite the multiplicity of carpels and the absence of
genealogical unity, acts as a corporate and solidary group with greater
effectiveness and in a wider range of contexts than is the case with
Lombanga.
The parish runs its own co-operative store, restaurant,
launch, jeep, church, well and football team.^^ Isaac Vira, the current
leader, takes an interest in all matters of general concern, and his
authority and influence is considerable»
If money is needed for a
communal project he suggests collecting a round of copra from all Navuti
land«
During my two years1 stay everyone save Jonas fell in with the
plan.
For the past five years the parish has financed a young man as
missionary and teacher on Tutuba island«
Community funds also support
a boy attending a three-year course at a Government boat-building
school in the Solomon Islands Protectorate.
The unity of the parish seems to be directly related to the break
down of the carpel«
The men think of themselves as autonomous house
holders and plantation owners owing allegiance to the larger rather than
the smaller group.
In Lombanga the reverse holds true, and carpel
solidarity inhibits the development of parish unity.
Titals bullock
project is typical of all the recent co-operative efforts there«
1 « Economic co-operation will be more fully analysed in Chapters IX
and X.
141
Inheritance and funeral expenses
The inheritance of land rights is controlled by a number of
principles*
The first, already discussed in connection with Lombanga
parish, is that the range of potential inheritors is primarily
determined by the source from which the land was originally acquired«
I showed that the restriction of rights to carpel segments results
from the opening up of new territory by the segments apical ancestor,
from the inheritance from non-agnates, from adoption and from the
cancellation of personal debts«
The second principle is that non-agnates
only inherit rights that they in turn transmit to their inheritors,
when there are no surviving carpel members descended from the original
cultivator«
The third principle, which at times negates both of the
above, is that heavy investment, especially of long burial mats, in the
d e c e a s e d ^ funeral expenses, gives the donor a stake in the estate
until such time as the rightful inheritor or inheritors (in terms of
the first two principles) refund the goods) (practices of this kind
are found in many Melanesian societies,^))
In Nduindui the custom
helps to ensure periodic adjustments between carpel size and amount of
available land«
A declining carpel is especially open to the threat
of outside investors; it also is in a poor position to buy them up«
Indeed, the desire to increase in numbers and thus maintain or achieve
full parish status, may make such outsiders welcome as full resident
ial members«
On the other hand, large and wealthy carpels have both
1« See especially Oliver, D«L« A Solomon Island Society, Cambridge
1955, pp. 215-18.
142
the means and the d e sire to r e ta in land r ig h ts w ithin the group.
Kinship i s the primary co nsideration in determ ining who can in v est
and who can buy up oth er p e o p le d c o n trib u tio n s.
The basic ru lin g is
th a t any surviving member o f the carp el (or carp el segment) has the
r ig h t to refund p re s ta tio n s of non-members.
In order to i l l u s t r a t e how
th is p rin c ip le operates I s h a ll again tu rn to Namberumwele carp el of
Lombanga p a rish .
The male agnatic descendants o f Taumbai (Appendix 10, B 2) a s s e rt
th a t i f , when Abraham (F 13) d ie s , a member o f e ith e r the Toundu (B 1)
or the Taicaro (B 3) segments should present mats a t the fu n era l they
have the r ig h t to cancel any possible land claims by retu rn in g the goods.
The donors may s ta te th a t they have no p roperty am bitions.
In such
circumstances a sim ila r amount of goods w ill be returned by a Taumbai
man when the m at-giver or one o f h is close agnates d ie s ,
A c lo se ly re la te d non-agnate of Abraham, even a s is te r* s son, would
a lso have to renounce r ig h ts in the Taumbai land i f h is fu n eral c o n trib u t
ions should be refunded.
But i f Abraham and Paul ( F 16) have rig h ts
in h e rite d from t h e i r mother or fath er* s mother, or i f t h e ir fa th e r or
fath er* s fa th e r acquired r ig h ts by purchase o r in settlem ent of debt,
then only the agnatic descendants of Tambui (D 8) would have the rig h t
to buy up Abraham*s s is te r * s sons.
Women and land
Women, sp in ste rs as w ell as wives, have an indisputable r ig h t to
c u ltiv a te a p o rtio n of t h e i r father*s lan d .
Almost a l l women bom in
inland communities who marry c o a sta l men e x ercise the rig h t
- indeed,
143
the shortage of coastal garden land has made an inland wife a most
desirable asset.
The figures in Table X X
are based on a random sample
of 100 married couples taken from each of the two areas.
The bias in
favour of inland women marrying coast men as against coast women marry
(35
ing inland men is apparent.
per cent as against
12
per cent).
TABIE X X
INTER-MARRIAGE
BETWEEN COAST AND INLAND
Natal Parishes of Wives:
Coast Husbands
Inland Husbands
Coast
59
Inland
35
84
12
Outsider
Total
6
to o
4
100
Most of the 35 inland women married to coastal men regularly make
gardens on their agnates* land.
Of the remaining $9 coastal husbands
a further 27 are the sons of inland women and they also have an
indisputable right to make gardens on their mother*s agnatic land. But
the sons of such men, that is, the second generation descendants of
female agnates, have no such rights.
If they wish to continue to use
the land they must first get permission from the resident male members
of the carpel.
Today, in coastal parishes the outmarrying
female members can no
longer exercise their traditional garden making rights.
Instead,
their fathers usually allocate them a small grove of coconut trees
which they can use during their lifetime.
But when they die their
144
surviving husbands and sons have no further rights*
This development
has therefore led to an increase in the agnatic emphasis in the trans
mission of property rights#
I t also largely accounts for the low
percentage of inland men who marry coastal women -
they mostly prefer
to find th e ir wives in other inland parishes in west Aoba#
A woman may establish herself in a dominant position in parish
a ffa irs when her father is the sole surviving agnate with rig h ts in a
p articu lar piece of land.
In the following case Leah succeeded in
controlling a large plantation in Saranambuga parish.
Michael Ala (appendix 11, H 1), Wilson Vatu (H 2) and Leah (I 6)
each have th e ir own separate plantations on land inherited in the
d irec t male lin e from Doro Kambu (C 2).
The p artitio n was the resu lt
of th e ir fathers having planted independently of one another.
Leah, who has been widowed for about 20 years, lives on her father*s
land with two more elderly widows, one her daughter Elizabeth ( J 3),
and the other, her brother*s widow Nellie ( 1 2 ) .
She is recognised
as having exclusive rights to that portion of the lard planted by her
father, and she and the other two regularly pay wages to anyone w illing
to collect copra and prepare gardens for them.
In recent years she
gave permission to her sister* s son Reuben Moli (J 1) and her daughter*s
husband Bob Tamwata (J 4) to collect copra.
This infuriated Wilson
Vatu, (Michael Ala takes l i t t l e in te re st in the dispute
- he was
adopted by Aru Kwagei (G 1 )and has sole rights in another large plant
ation inherited from his true father) as he did not lik e seeing out
siders gaining p ro fit from Saranambuga land.
He repeatedly abused Leah,
who responded by le ttin g more and more copra go to her re la tiv e s.
In
145
1961 she announced that she wished Reuben to inherit all her land rights*
Informants were divided about the respective claims by Wilson and
Reuben.
Some stressed the earlier division of the land, and hence the
exclusion of Wilson from Leah’s share; others felt that it would be
bad if a non-agnate and non-resident should take precedence over such
a close relative as the father’s brother’s son of the man who planted
the coconuts.
It is probable that Wilson, supported by all other
members of Saranambuga, will invest heavily in Leah’s funeral and refuse
to accept any contributions sent by Reuben.
Leah has achieved dominance primarily because the development of
individual rights in coconut trees has prevented her male agnates from
exercising authority over the land planted by her father.
She also
had the unusual advantage of marrying a man (Moli Ngutu, I 5) of the
parish in which she herself was b o m .
This meant that when her father
(Sile,H 3) died her husband was able to control the funeral and thus
secure the rights.
At that time Michael Ala and Wilson Vatu, whose
fathers had died many years earlier, were young.
I shall now analyse a conflict over land rights illustrating
the
importance of both political and economic factors. (As in this case
also a woman was exercising dominant rights in a large and valuable
plantation, I hasten to point out that the Leahs of Nduindui are rare).
Natalu land conflict
Natalu is a monocarpellary parish.
When Dali (appendix 12, D 2)
died about thirty years ago the only remaining members were Bani Mahava
( D 8), Lumu Ala ( D 9 ) and their two young sons Job Muleti (E 11) and
146
Simon Takaro (E 12),
Dali*s three sisters and one sister1s son, Tau
Ala (E 3) were already dead; another sister*s son, Joseph Ala (E 4)
was a high ranking man of about 40 living in the neighbouring parish
of Navitakua; and his daughter Elizabeth (E 2) and another sister*s
son, Andrew Toka. ( E 7) of Natakaro, were both young children.
There
were thus but three adults (Bani Mahava, Lumu Ala and Joseph Ala) to
inherit Dali*s estate#
The two agnates were both old men of low rank
with few possessions and when Joseph stepped in and conducted his
mother*s brother*s funeral they were in no position to object#
Both
died a couple of years later and Joseph again organized and financed
the burial ceremonies.
For many years Joseph used most of the Natalu land by himself,
and though he continued to live in Navitakua,only a few minutes* walk
away, he gradually planted most of Dali*s share with coconuts.
ground covers at least four acres and today yields from two
The
to three
tons of copra per annum* (Price in 1.959 £A60 per ton),
Natalu and Navitakua axe today so reduced in numbers (Natalu 10,
Navitakua 25) that they have become partly incorporated in their larger
and more powerful neighbours of Navuti and Lovanualigoutu.
Joseph,
as the leader of Navitakua, first decided that his parish should join
with Navuti#
In practical terms this meant that the Navitakua sent
their children to the school, attended the services, contributed towards
the upkeep of the church, and provided labour for the undertakings
initiated in Navuti#
When Dali died he owed two tusked pigs and a
1 # These political reallignements are more fully discussed in Chapter X,
147
bullock to one of the Vuinamwange leaders.
As Joseph had recently
been converted he had no boars of his own with which to repay the debt.
Accordingly the creditor demanded a share in Dali*s land.
Joseph
approached a Navuti man who agreed to supply the animals.
Later, when
he began planting, most of his labour came from the Navuti parishioners.
These two factors gave the Navuti leaders a strong interest in the Dali
land.
Joseph died about fifteen years ago*
His sole surviving agnates
were his sons Simeon and Wilfred (F 1 and 2), who were then in their
early teens and living in Navuti under the protection of the leader
Isaac Vira.
Job Muleti (E 11), the senior Natalu man, organized the
funeral and made the biggest contribution •
But Elizabeth and Andrew
(E 2 and E 7), who were by now adult and married, sent a large number
of burial mats and pigs.
By doing so they asserted their long-dormant
rights in the Dali land.
Over the next ten years the only persons who actually collected
copra were Elizabeth and her husband John Taka; Job occasionally made
a garden.
At that time Andrew (E 7) was not interested, and both
Simeon and Wilfred had plenty of land in Navitakua.
The trouble began about five years ago when Andrew started grazing
bullocks.
Elizabeth immediately objected.
She sent numerous messages
to Andrew telling him to keep off, and every time she visited Natalu
she untied the beasts.
After some time Andrew decided to have the
dispute sorted out in a public discussion.
He summoned leading men
from a number of parishes, but Elizabeth and John refused to attend.
(October, 1959).
US
As far as I am avare there were no further incidents during the
next two years ( I was resident in Nduindui for about nine months of
this period),
kept quiet.
to hospital.
Andrew continued to graze his bullocks, and Elizabeth
Then in June 1961 she became seriously ill and had to go
She returned so convinced of her approaching death that
she summoned all those interested in the disputed land.
Andrew, Job,
Solomon (F 5), Wilfred, Simeon and Anderson (F 4) >accompanied by Isaac
and Abel Bani (the senior elder of the Church of Christ), attended.:v.
I was not present at the discussion, but Abel gave me the following
account, which Solomon and Isaac confirmed.
Elizabeth began by saying, ”1 am nearly dead now and think it good
that Anderson should have the land and give me some present for willing
it to him.” The statement stunned the audience, for Anderson is far
removed from Dali.
Abel explained Elizabeth*s preference on the ground
that Anderson is a classificatory brother and fellow parishioner of her
husband John Taka, who would thus be able to go on using the area after
her death.
Isaac interrupted, n0h no, you cannot do this.
those trees in Natalu.
You did not plant
Joseph planted them, and when he joined Navuti
he wanted us to help him win the land by cancelling Dali*s debts.
ground does not belong to you alone.
was to go to his sons.
The
Joseph told me that some of it
Now if you take a present from Anderson I will
prevent any Navitora man from entering Natalu.
We in Navuti have
strong claims to that land because we planted it and helped Joseph.
Your word is worthless.
We must divide the ground.”
Andrew began by swearing at Elizabeth, ”If you take any money fl*om
149
Anderson. I will summon a district council meeting*
mother have a right to the ground
You have never listened to me*
-
I myself or Anderson*s
Anderson has no right at all*
You are always causing trouble#”
The meeting broke up with nothing settled.
went back to hospital, for a month*
A week later Elizabeth
On her return (October 1961) she
sent for Solomon and told him that he, Job and Simon
could have the land if they paid her £1,000.
Solomon kept his opinion
to himself and told her that they would talk about it*
the three Natalu men,
(all Natalu men)
That night
together with Isaac, had a discussion*
They first of all decided that the part of the area that the
Navuti men had acquired for Joseph by cancelling Dali*3 debts was
Simeon*s and Wilfred*s*
of it*
Elizabeth therefore had no right to dispose
They then agreed to offer her £200 for the remainder.
Solomon
'A
was appointed messenger, but as he felt certain that she would be dead
within a matter of days he decided to wait.
Elizabeth obliged by expiring on November 15th.
A few days later
Job, Solomon, Simeon and Wilfred agreed to work the land in co-operation*
Job is now old, and as Simeon and Wilfred have more land than they can
work in Navitakua, it seems certain that this arrangement will leave
Solomon in effective control.
If in future Andrew wishes to graze
his bullocks or collect copra he must first seek Solomon*s permission.
A number of conclusions can be drawn from this case.
First, when
there are no surviving male agnates the determination of who shall
control
the land is as much a matter of economics and politics as it
is of kinship.
This was seen in the importance of Joseph*s status as
leader of Navitakua, his alliance with Navuti, control of Dali*s
funeral, planting of the land with coconuts, and the help given him by
150
Navuti•
Secondly, though daughters and their sons have strong rights when
the deceased!s father has no closely-related male agnates, they can
not be transmitted to the following generation.
After more than thirty
years of non-agnatic outsiders claiming and exercising an
interest
in Natalu land, the rights of agnates have now been firmly re-establish
ed thanks to Sol o m o n ^ successful manoevering.
CHAPTER VI
BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE
In thi3 chapter I discuss three inter-related topics
-
the
extent to which marriages are arranged in accordance with social
interests: whether the associated exchanges of wealth are test consider
ed as transactions between specified Individuals, between ego-oriented
and dispersed categories of kin, or between corporate and enduring
groups: sind marriage stability.
Polygynoua Marriages
Today all marriages (with but two exceptions, both widow inherit
ance) are monogamous, and the great majority of young people are wed
between the ages of 17 and 25.
In the past polygyny was common and at
least a quarter of the male population remained bachelors all their
lives or only succeeded in
inheriting a widow in middle age.
Men of
the highest rank, who seldom exceeded half a dozen for the whole district
usually had from four to ten wives;
those of the second main rank about
two to three; and the remainder either one or none at all.
A. polygynous household wa3 a basic necessity for those men who
wished to achieve the highest ranks.
1.52
Titles were acquired by sacrificing pigs, making payments and
holding large feasts.
As women looked sifter the animals, plaited the
mats, and maintained the gardens, success was directly dependant on the
number of females the household had.
Polygyny was also a help because
the man could prostitute his secondary wives.
One wife, usually the first betrothed in childhood, was known as
11the woman sacredu (vavine kokona) •
Adultery with her was prohibited,
and if discovered the lover had to pay ten full-circle tusked boars.
Husbands, however, invariably encouraged their secondary wives to
distribute their favours as widely as possible
mats or a small pig.
-
in return for a few
The great number of bachelors ensured a steady
income.
Arranged marriages
The majority of marriages, other than those of widows and widowers
and the secondary unions of high ranking men, were arranged in childhood
by the parents.
Today, despite mission pressure, the custom is still
kept up, though the parties are now much older; moreover, they often
fail to keep the contract,
Bach of the following factors is relevant in the frequency of
arranged matches,
t) The long series of prestations that begin with the engagement and
culminate in the marriage exchanges proper constitute a substantial
part of the total pattern of contractual relationships, the success
ful manipulation of which provide the principal means by which
individuals and corporate groups can advance their interests and
153
ambitions*
Pressure is thus brought to bear on the fathers of young
children to open up new fields of investment by announcing early
betrothals*
2) In such a small scale community, where nearly everyone is kin to
everyone else, a wide knowledge of the complex network of relation
ships is necessary so that the incest prohibitions may be preserved*
The increasing tendency for the young to choose their partners is a
cause of anxiety amongst the older and more responsible men.
The
most common complaint is that incorrect marriages result in confusion
in the use of kin terms between the offspring of such unions and
their parents cognates*
There is also a widespread belief that the
population decline of the past century is directly correlated with
a supposed increase in incestuous marriages*
3) In Nduindui, as elsewhere in the New Hebrides, there are more men
than women (the ratio is 115:100)*
Wife-seeking is hence highly
competitive, and there is a strong incentive to eliminate rivals by
making a contract as early as possible*
The recent advance in the
age of betrothal is possibly more directly correlated with the
reduction in competition through monogamy than with mission teaching.
Choice of spouse
The principal marriage regulations can be summarized as follows:
1) Union
is
prohibited between members of the minimal ngwatu i vanua
(types A and C parishes and the semi-autonomous sections of types
1. It is worth noting that in the age group 0-13 the imbalance is less
marked - 105 males to every 100 females.
154
B and D).
The only exceptions to th is rule are when eith er the husband,
his father or his wife*s father joined the group as an immigrant.
I f,
in either of the la s t two instances, the father married a local g ir l,
then his children can only marry a natal member of the same community
provided there is no known genealogical connection.
From a to ta l of
301 married couples only six lived in the same minimal ngwatu i vanua
prior to th e ir marriage.
In each case eith er the husband or his father
was an outsider.
2) Though marriage is permissible between members of the component
sections of a multi-ngwatu i vanua parish, the preference is for in tra parishional matches. This is especially so i f a number of generations
have passed since the component sections lo st th e ir f u ll autonomy. There
are only fourteen examples of th is type of marriage.
3) Marriage is considered to be incestuous between a man and a l l women
whom he refers to as s is te r (hanewena) , ^ ) mother (retahina) . sister*s
daughter (duvina) and daughter (natuna) .
In theory, th is rule holds
regardless of genealogical distance: in practice, objections are lik ely
only i f the common ancestor is four or less generations removed.
4) The only form of marriage between kin th at is approved (in theory)
is when the couple are related as grandchild to grandparent (vagambulna
- tumbuna)
j f the relationship can be genealogically demonstrated
there is an additional stipulation th at the common ancestor must be
1. In the following pages I give the English equivalent for the mo3t
closely related kin for each of the Nduindui terms. This is merely to
a s s is t the reader. The further extensions of a l l terms are given in
Figure 10.
155
removed by at least four generations*
Informants explained the double
bv
requirement of kin relationship and genealogical distancej^saying that
though a man could marry vagambuina he must wait for vagambuina ta lemba
lemba bakarua.
The latter term can be translated as Mgreat-great grand
child” (ta lemba lemba ® again; bakarua = twice). At first I mistakenly
took the statement to mean that a man can only marry a kinswoman whom
he himself refers to by this term.
As all such women are removed from
their prospective husbands by at least three generations (the nearest
would be a man*s MBCCCC), such^ regulation would make a correct marriage
virtually impossible.
Further investigation established that the term referred not to
the category of relationship between living kin but to the number of
generations*descent from the prospective couple1s common ancestor.
A
man can therefore only marry a vagambuina kinswoman who is herself the
great-great granddaughter of their common ancestor.
In the accompanying
diagram H and I are both vagambuina ta lemba lemba bakarua of A.
I
refers to H as vagambuina and marriage is considered both legitimate and
desirable.
A proposal that F should marry G would, however, be critic
ised as an incestuous union, (see diagram next page).
(from previous page) 2. As the great majority of marriages are between
kin, and as all cognates other than those related as vagambuina tumbuna
fall under the incest prohibition, the Nduindui could be said to have
a prescriptive marriage system. But I dislike the term because it is
inapplicable in that a man can marry a non-relative, and because there
is a considerable gap between theory and practice (see Table XX1 ,p..158),.
Though I cannot prove the point I feel reasonably certain that the
vagambuina-tumbuiia stipulation is a survival of an earlier period when
matrilineal moieties coincided with the present system of localized
agnatic kin groups. It is probable that deuble-unilineal
descent was correlated with a section system similar to that reported
in the Small Islands, north Ambrym and south Raga. (cont*d. next page)
156
A
A
___ L
B
A
D
A
F
A
OC
hangwena relationship
incest
OE
natuna
-
retahina relationship
incest
O G
natuna
-
retahina relationship
A
vagambuina - tumbuna relationship
H O
I
legitimate
The slanting of the cross-cousin terminology (MBD=D and FZD=FZ=M)
means that a pair of fourth cousins who address one another as vagambuina
aid tumbuna must be descended from their common ancestor in complement
ary and unilinear lines#
Any other form of descent would postpone the
required relationship for an indefinite number of generations#
Therefore,
when the Nduindui state that a man must wait for vagambuina ta lemba
lemba bakarua. the reference is to the number of generations that must
pass before the female line of descent (karo na bela) can return to the
agnatic core from which it originated#
The necessary result of this
arrangement is that not only are all agnates eliminated as possible
spouses, but also all non-agnates other than this one narrowly defined
category.
A further consequence of the slanting of the terminology is that
a man cannot marry a woman who is a direct agnatic descendant of one of
(cont*d from previous page) 2# The evidence against such a possibil
ity is that the Nduindui strictly prohibit sister-exchange marriage, and
the kin terminology could not possibly co-exist with matrilineal moieties#
157
his own female agnatic ancestors.
All such women automatically fall into
one or other of the prohibited categories.^) In other words, every
marriage between two groups is sin impediment to further marriages between
them.
This in turn results in a wide dispersal of the matrimonial
alliances of each localised exogamous kin group
parish-section.
-
whether parish or
Barnes, when noting the same phenomenon in the New
Guinea Highlands commented that it ’’accords well with the emphasis on a
multiplicity of freshly established inter-personal connexions rather
than on group and inter-group solidarity’’.
(2)
1
By this he meant that
individualism is emphasised by the tendency for each male member of the
local group of agnates to have a personal sind unique network of nonagnatic and affinal relationships.
The observation applies equally to
the Nduindui.
Table XXI (see next page) indicates the extent to which marriages
conform to kinship requirements.
The 99 couples not shown are those
who had no idea what, if any, kin term was applicable to their relation^ship prior to marriage.
In 54 of these non-kirwmarriages either the
husband or the wife was bora outside the district.
In the kirwcategory
there were only 45 technically incorrect marriages, 3 between fourth
cousins, 2 between fifth cousins, and 40 between kin who could not
establish any genealogical link.
Informants expressed some mild
1 • This is not strictly true - a man refers to his FZSSD as vagambuina
and there would be no objection to hj». marrying her. The probability
of hie finding such a kinswoman of a suitable age is, however, remote.
If he went up a generation and looked for a vagambuina relate© amongst
his FFZ descendants he would have to wait an impossible number of
generations (FFZDDDDDQ).
2. Barnes, J. A.
p.8.
15Ö
criticism of the fourth- and fifth-cousin marriages but none at all of
the remainder (though they were still said to be ’’not straight”).
TABLE XXI
KINSHIP BETWEEN HARRIED COUPLES
Husband refers to
wife as:
Demonstrable Genealog
ical connection:
4£h
No known
5th
3rd
cousins cousins cousins connection
Total
Grand-daughter (Vagambuina)
-
$
3
81
B9
Grand-mother (Tumbuna)
-
3
2
63
68
Sister (Hangwena)
-
-
1
8
9
Mother (Retahina)
-
2
1
9
12
Daughter (Natuna)
-
1
-
14
15
Sister*s Daughter (Duvina)
-
-
-
9
9
-
11
7
184
202
6) Sister-exchange marriage is prohibited.
7) Two brothers can marry two sisters (only one example at present in
Nduindui), though the arrangement is not favoured as it reduces the
potential spread of extra-parishional ties.
8) In the past a man could inherit his brother*s and mother*s brother*s
widows.
There is only one such case today (one of the two men who
has two wives), and church leaders severely criticised it.
159
.
Marriage prestations
I shall now give a b rie f descriptive outline of the various
exchanges of goods made from the time of the childhood betrothal up to
the fin a l prestations when the couple set up a household.
The sequenee
described is for a tra d itio n a l marriage arranged during early childhood.
Many marriages did not go through a l l stages. Where necessary I shall
indicate differences between past sind present.
There are four main
stages, the infant or childhood betrothal ( la i homu) a f i r s t (raga roso)
and a second (ngwatu duvi duvi) re-affirm ation, and the marriage ceremony
proper (tuvage).
Lai homu
The boy*a father, usually afte r consultation with senior agnates,
who have a b etter knowledge of the genealogical background, makes the
f i r s t move.
Ife approaches the girl*s father, who in turn discusses the
matter with the older men of his community.
I f the proposal is accepted word is sent to the boy*3 parents who
then bring a small amount of food, a shell bracelet (homu), and the
t a i l of a sow to the g ir l.
She wears the bracelet as a sign th a t she
is now betrothed and keeps the sow*s t a i l to be worn many years la te r
at the marriage ceremony; her parents make no return g if t.
Today, the
procedure is the same other than the replacement of the bracelet and
the pig*s t a i l , which are said to be pagan, with a number of handker
chiefs •
160
Raga Roso
The next stage takes place about three to four years later.
It
is another prestation called raga roso (mat many) made by the boy*s
parents to those of the girl.
Usually this consists of a specific
amount of cooked food made up in a large basket, two small pigs and ten
mats. The gift further consolidates the contract and marks the beginning
of frequent visits by the young girl to her future parents-in-law.
day she goes every few months and stays about a week.
To
Informants
assured me that in the past she would have been there for a longer period.
From now on the boy is expected to help his father-in-law in garden
work and in collecting copra, a duty which he must keep up for the rest
of his life.
In the following generation his son continues the service
by assisting his mother*s brother.
A short time later the boy*s father makes a small feast for the
close kin and neighbours of both families.
Re spreads out two large
coconut leaves, places some pudding on each, and the betrothed pair sit
and eat together.
The act symbolises the bond between them and serves
as a warning that no other man can henceforth share a meal with the
girl. (In normal circumstances, however, even husband and wife do not
eat together in public.)
The eating ceremony is seldom performed today.
Ngwatu duvi duvi
Within a year or two the boy*s parents again prepare food, this
time on a larger scale, perhaps two or three baskets.
As in raga roso
a few close kin (especially the boy*s brothers, father*s brothers and
mother*s brothers) make small contributions and help with the preparations.
161 .
T h is fo o d , to g e th e r w ith tw e n ty mats and two medium s iz e d p ig s a ls o goes
t o th e g i r l ' s f a t h e r .
Ngwatu d u v i d u v i l i t e r a l l y means "head on each
s id e
s i d e ” , and r e f e r s to th e two p ig s p laced on e a c h /o f th e m ats and b a sk e ts
o f cooked fo o d .
A gain, th e g i r l ' s fa m ily make no r e tu r n g i f t .
Today ra g a ro so and ngwatu d u v i d u v i a r e u s u a lly combined i n a s in g le
la r g e p r e s t a t i o n known as taum bim bia (a common term meaning "b in d in g
c o n tr a c t" ) when th e boy i s ab o u t f i f t e e n o r s ix te e n .
I t c o n s is ts o f two
o r t h r e e b a s k e ts o f cooked fo o d , a dozen o r so m ats, a s im ila r number
o f b la n k e ts , about £10 c ash , and a sm all s u itc a s e c o n ta in in g p re s e n ts
f o r th e g i r l , in c lu d in g soap, s c e n t and u n d e rc lo th e s .
Tuvage
The tuvage exchanges and a s s o c ia te d r i t u a l mark th e f i n a l d e p a rtu re
o f th e g i r l from h e r p a r e n t s ' p a r is h .
The f i r s t p a r t o f th e two day
ceremony i s perform ed a t th e g i r l ' s f a t h e r 's hom estead, th e second a t
th e b o y 's .
On th e f i r s t day th e g i r l i s bedecked i n th e homu b r a c e l e t s , p i g 's
t a i l ( t i e d around h e r neck) and a woven mat known as m atai t a l a i .
She
a l s o has a few fo w ls ' f e a th e r s i n h e r h a ir and s p e c ia l p a in t marks on
th e f a c e .
O ther th a n th e b r a c e le ts and p i g 's t a i l , she th u s w ears th e
same in s i g n i a a s t h a t o f a man about t o s a c r i f i c e p ig s f o r one o f th e
lo w er r a n k s .
hungwe) •
She i s s a id in f a c t to "make h e r s a c r i f i c i a l r i t e " (v a i nona
A good tu sk e d b o a r su p p lie d by h e r f a t h e r i s te th e r e d to a
s a c re d cycas palm, and th e g i r l dances around i t to th e rhythm o f a
s in g le s l i t gong.
Then she e i t h e r k i l l s i t h e r s e l f o r a llo w s h e r f a t h e r
t o do so on h e r b e h a lf .
By t h i s a c t o f s a c r i f i c e she becomes a sacred
162
wife (vavine kokona) .
The groom confirms her s ta tu s by stepping forward
and layihg h is bow across the head of the dead animal*
The weapon
bears w itness th a t he, w ith the support of h is p a rish group and other
clo se kin, w ill sla y any man who attempts to have sexual in te rco u rse
w ith h e r.
He and h is frie n d s then take the carcass back to th e ir p arish
and prepare i t fo r the follow ing day*
A number of women and g i r ls from the groom's p arish who a re re la te d
to him as grandmother (tumbuna) or grand-daughter (vagambuina) now
appear in fro n t of the g i r l 's f a th e r 13 homestead*
Dressed as men, they
perform a dance in which the company enacts a r i t u a l fig h t w ith the
women of the b r id e 's p a rish .
Both sides use snakes as weapons, and
amidst h i l a r i t y they throw p ig 's ex creta, d i r t y water and a clinging
type of vine a t one anotxier.
That saune n ig h t the same women of the
groom's p arish make ra id s on the b r id e 's settlem ent to capture g i r ls
and take them home.
Anyone they find they hold p riso n er u n t i l women of
her place o ffe r a pig as ransom*
This custom i s spoken of as "taking
w ives".
The following morning the g i r l 's fa th e r, the whole of h is p a rish
and a larg e company of other kin and a ffin e s from throughout the d i s t r i c t ,
take the g i r l to the ceremonial ground n earest the groom*3 homestead.
They lead her to the cen tre and seat her on a mat.
She i s clad in her
f u l l re g a lia , and the women of her p arish now proceed to cover her w ith
dozens of mats supplied by numerous k in .
These mats form a s u b s ta n tia l
p a rt of th e g i f t made to the groom's people.
Meantime some of her male
k in lay out the baskets o f cooked food prepared the night before and on
a mat nearby others hold two or th re e tu sk le ss p ig s.
163
When a l l is prepared the men of the groom1s parish perform the same
dance that the women presented the night before, and again there is a
mock fig h t• When order is restored the groom*s father touches each of
the g ifts from the bride*s people*
His helpers then carry on the bride-
price, which consists of from two to ten tusked boars and many coconuts
and mats* The goods are said to ’’uncover”the g irl, and the mats conceal
ing her are now removed. This act completes the ceremony of handing
the g ir l over to her husband’s people* The two companies return to
th e ir respective parishes, each with a large gathering of supporting
relativ es, and s e ttle down to a feast*
Late at night everyone returns
to the groom’s homestead for a dance u n til dawn.
Tuvage means ’’put over there”, a reference to the tran sfer of the
g irl: the resu lt of tuvage is la g i, a word th at describes the condition
of being together as man and wife.
The g ifts sent with the g ir l are
known as soso a tanga (soso. untranslatable; tanga = ’’basket”)*
The
soso a tanga is specifically a small basket th at contains the girl*s
reg alia.
Thi3 is her own property, and la te r on she presents i t to one
of her daughters as a b rid al g ift* . The pigs and mats are also said to
be her property but are distributed to those of the husband’s close
kinsmen who helped with the bride-price.
The cooked food is divided up
amongst a l l those who attended the ceremony as supporters of the groom.
The value of the goods sent with the g ir l are usually slig h tly
greater than the bride-price.
The groom and his family have, however,
already sent three unreciprocated g ifts (la i homu, raga roso and ngwatu
duvi duvi) • No further exchanges are made a fte r tuvage.
Missionaries have attacked two aspects of the trad itio n al marriage
164
- the scale of goods exchanged and all elements considered to be pagan
or for some reason unseemly (the sacrifice of the tusked boar, the
dancing [still permitted by Melanesian Mission}, the mock fights, the
ritual stealing of •’wives” and the covering of the bride with mats.)
The tuvage exchanges are still carried out with the exception of the
’•pagan” regalia in the girl’s basket (the bracelet, pig’s tail, feathers,
dancing apron and face paint*)
Earlier in the Christian era only a few pigs and mats are said to
have changed hands at the tuvage ceremony.
But in recent years the
decline in mission influence and the growth of copra industry have
resulted in inflation.
In the struggle for prestige men contribute
larger and larger quantities of European manufactured goods, cash, pigs,
cattle, and mats.
In the following section I shall present an analysis
of a recent exchange in an endeavour to assess the relative emphasis
placed on inter-personal as against inter-group relationships.
The marriage of a Nanako boy and a Navuti girl.
The analysis is based on the transfer of goods that culminated in
the marriage of Magie (13, E 5), a Navuti girl, and Amon, a Nanako boy,
in July 1959*
The case is a little unusual in that Magie *s father
Timothy(13, D 1) was an immigrant from east Aoba (see Table XVTII) who
married the last surviving agnate of^avuti carpel.
He has maintained
no contact with hi 3 agnates, and they do not appear in the exchanges.
Accordingly no special emphasis should be laid on the fact that the
principal Navuti contributors, other than Timothy himself and his sons,
are Magie’s classificatory matrilineal kin.
Their prominence rests on
165
the fact that they are the leading men of her natal parish; men who in
normal circumstances would be her father*s agnates, not those of her
mother.
The parents had arranged the betrothal three years earlier when
Amon was 20 and Magie 16.
was taumblmbia
The first gift sent by the boy and his family
and consisted of one small pig, three fowls, £5 in cash
and ten mats.
All were supplied by Amon, his father Abel, and his
brother Seth.
Timothy kept the first three items and divided the mats
amongst the senior and most closely related kinsmen of Magie in Navuti.
No further exchanges took place until the first part of the tuvage, the soso a bokis, 0
) was
sent to Nanako.
One man when speaking
of the coming event mentioned that Navuti was making the soso a bokis
and sending it to Nanako, implying that it was a transaction between
parishes.
When pressed further he added that though Navuti made and
sent the gift, it belonged to Timothy.
I shall now attempt to assess
in terms of labour, contributions and financial liability how far eithar
of these statements accorded with the facts.
Preparation of the cooked food and the accumulation of the goods
took place on the church clearing.
During the previous couple of days
small groups of Navuti men and women went out to collect cooking leaves,
taro, yams and bananas needed for the prestation and also to feed the
visiting contributors from other parishes.
The bulk came from the
gardens of Timothy and his three adult sons, though a few Navuti men
1. The new term for the traditional soso a. tanga. The basket (tanga)
with the regalia has been replaced by trunks full of soap, scent,
calico etc. Bokis is the pidgin for a large box or trunk.
166*
made small gifts from their own gardens •
Timothy purchased an additional
400 taro from his daughter^ husband, a member of the inland parish of
Saralokambu.
Donors and helpers poured into Navuti.
The most literate man in
the parish sat in the club-house, and as each visitor arrived he
recorded the name, parish, and amount of the contribution*
He also
noted whether the item was a gift offered without expectation of a like
return, a settling of a past debt with Timothy or one of his sons, or
a new debt to be squared on a similar occasion in the future.
The
clerk, in consultation with Timothy or any other senior Navuti man near
by at the moment decided which was the appropriate category.
Table X X H provides a preliminary analysis of the goods presented.
Instead of listing the quantities of each separate item I have indicated
the approximate cash value.
TABLE XXII
CONTRIBUTIONS TO MAGIE13 SOSO A BOKIS
Donors
Airtimd a
European
Goods
Mats and
Blankets
Cash
Total
Timothy and
sons
£180
(2 bullocks
15 pigs)
£28
£1;3
-
£226
Navuti (17
men and 4
women)
£70
(4 pigs and
2 fowl)
£37
£22
£55
£184
£18
£10
£18
£ 47
£9
£8
£3
£ 21
Navitora
(10 men)
( 2 fowl)
Lovanuailigoutu
(10 men)
£1
( 2 foul)
t 2ont *d
ne:ct page)
167
.
TABLE XXII
(cont*d, )
CONTRIBUTIONS TO MAGIE *S SOSO A BOKIS
Donors
Lovaturusa
(2 men and
2 women)
Nanako
(7 men)
Vuinamwangwe
(3 men)
Animals
European
Goods
Mats and
Blankets
Cash
Total
£
6
£
4
£
2
£ 13
£
9
£
3
£
6
£ 18
£
2
£
2
£
2
£
7
£
2
£
2
£
1
£
5
£
4
£
4
£
2
£
4
(2 fowl)
-
(2 fowl)
Saralokambu
(2 men and
1 woman)
-
Lombanga
( 2 men)
-
Saranambuga
(2 men and
1 woman)
-
£254
-
£
1
£112
£ 75
-
£
1
£ SB
£529
Other than those contributions from Timothy*s own son§ the only
free gifts; were small items of garden produce and loaves of bread for
feeding the guests (not listed in the above table).
If Timothy had been
a natal member of Navuti it is probable that some of his close agnates,
similar
particularly his true brothers, would have made substantial^donations•
Of the total contributions made, other than those of Timothy and
168
his sons, ( i.e . £529 -£226 = £303), £132 (43.5 per cent) was in
settlement of g ifts made e a rlie r by Timothy and his sons. The remain
ing sum of £171 (56,6 per cent) consisted of debts that Timothy etc.
would have to se ttle in the future.
Thus the to ta l expenses, other
than a few minor items of food, ultim ately devolve on Timothy.
The statement that Navuti was making the payment could be in te r
preted as meaning two things.
The members acted as the principal labour
force for Timothy in carrying out the large-scale operations, and even
i f Timothy and his sons are not counted, the value of th e ir contribut
ions was greater than th at of a l l outsiders combined.
(£184 worth of
goods as against a to ta l of £119 from a ll other parishes.)
All adults
a t the time resident in Navuti made some contribution, both in labour
sind in goods.
I t is worth noting th at Nanako, though the home of Magie ’s future
husband, and hence the recipient of the goods, was a big contributor,
neighbours and
The two communities are/hence in ter-related by numerous tie s of kinship,
a ffin ity and indebtedness.
Seven Nanako men f e lt obliged therefore to
help Timothy. They also contributed to Amon’s bride-price.
This
observation highlights the fact that marriage prestations constitute
not only transactions between both specific individuals and corporate
groups but also a complex m ultiplicity of inter-personal exchanges
between the principal actors and a wide supra-parish network of th e ir
kin, affin es, debtors and creditors.
Other than Timothy’s creditors, most of the contributors
from the
remaining parishes were honouring a personal connection with Navuti
e ith e r as a birthplace of th e ir wives, mothers or other kin, or as the
1 6 9
p l a c e
o f
s o n s .
O n ly
h e r
i m
t h e
s o s o
N
m
a v u t i
i n g
r e s i d e n c e
a
w
a t
f o r
l e a s t
T i m
o f
w
o t h y * s ,
a n d
t h e
l
a m
o u n t
f o o d
a n d
b e
a n d
o f
g o o d s
D IS T R IB U T IO N
A
-
t h
n im
a ls
o f
4 0 0
s e n t
h o w
s i m
in e d
f i n
t o
N a n a k o
( s o s o
a
b o k i s )
G
t o
i f t s
,
.
i t h
t h e
t o
T i m
o r
g o o d s
a t
m u c h
f o r
a d v i c e .
e a c h
o f
T A B L E
X X I I I
G O O D S
P R E S E N T E D
t e n d s
M
t o
b y
t h e s e
t o
m
s o n s
T IM O T H Y
M
a ts
a n d
B
l a n k e t s
a s
a n d
a n d
c o m p e n s
s q u a r e
a t t e r s
X X I I I
t h r e e
T O
t o
d i s p o s a l
o th y
T a b l e
t h e
p i g s
h i s
e i r
l l
i d e n t i f y
f l a v o u r
r e t a i n e d
a
o f
e a n w h ile
d o n a t e d
t h
r s 1
m e m b e r
v a r i o u s
T i m
i n
s i s t e
a n y
a s s i s t e d
d e c i s i o n
a n u f a c t u r e d
s ,
e n t y
h o w
o r
o t h y .
y a m
t w
o t h y ,
a l
a g ie
1 0 0
t h e
o f f e r e d
G o o d s
S e n t
M
r e s e r v e d
a l l o c a t e d
M
,
N a n a k o ,
m u c h
p l y
o f
s i s t e r s ,
n e g o t i a t i o n s
w
t a r o
T i m
t o
T h e
O F
t h e
i r t e e n
e x a m
t o
t h a n
e v e n i n g
d e b t s .
o t h e r s
r e l a t e d
r a t h e r
p a r i s h ,
t h e
e r e
d a u g h t e r s ,
a s p e c t
t h e
o r k e r s ,
o f
t a
i n
a r r i e d
w
a v u t i
s h o u l d
f e w
t o
N
t h e
a
t h e
T h i s
i t h
L a t e
m
i n o r i t y
p r e p a r i n g
m u c h
t h e
m
e i r
c a b b a g e s ,
m e n
h o w
t h
i l y .
w
e r e
a n d
s e n i o r
a t i o n
f a m
o v e n s .
d e c i d e d
a l l
b o k i s
m e n
i n
t h e
s m
e d i a te
l e a v e s
c o o k
a
o f
o f f
w a s
i n d i c a t e s
c a t e g o r i e s .
C a s h
T
o t a l
£ 1 4 5
£
7 7
£
3 0
£ 7 5
£ 3 2 7
£ 1 0 9
£
31i
£
2 5
£ 1 3
£ 1 7 8
£
4
£
2 0
-
h e l p e r s ' ' '
H e ld
b y
T i m
o th y
-
£ 2 5 4
£ 1 1 2
£ 7 5
£ 8 8
£
2 4
£ 5 2 9
170
The follow ing morning th e Navuti people, helped by many o f the
outside donors, c arried the soso a bokis to the c e n tra l c le a rin g in
Nanako.
A fte r they had la id i t out Timothy and Isaac (13, D 2 ), the
p arish lea d er (also Magie*s MB by adoption), made short speeches*
Abel
Bani, the fa th e r of Amon and the lea d er of Nanako, touched each g i f t
in acknowledgement and made a b r ie f re p ly .
th e b rid e -p ric e forward*
The Nanako men then brought
This consisted of £100 cash, two b ullocks,
two bags of r ic e , one bag of sugar, one case of tinned meat, te n liv e
p ig s, a hundred loaves of bread, th re e hundred coconuts, and £35-worth
of mats and blankets*
The t o t a l cash value was about £350, ag ain st the
Navuti g i f t of £327.
The Navuti fo lk c a rrie d the b rid e -p ric e home and d is trib u te d the
bread and coconuts among those present*
Timothy opened h is second oven
and the company sa t down to spend the r e s t of the day fe a s tin g .
Timothy*s f in a l balance sheet can be summarized as follow s.
His
£529 investment was made up of £226 personal expenditure, £132 c re d it
and the c re a tio n of £171 worth of new d e b ts.
From the b rid e -p ric e he
received £350-worth of anim als, mats, goods and cash.
The goods and
money enabled him to pay o ff the £171 of debt and to o ffs e t h is own
expenditure of £226 by th e remaining £176-worth of goods.
The end
r e s u lt was th ere fo re a d ir e c t expenditure of £57 in goods and cash and
th e lo ss of £132 i n i t i a l credit*
(from previous page) t . The cooked food and the goods presented to
h elp ers were divided up by th e Navuti men in to separate p ile s , one fo r
every p a rish th a t had sent co n trib u tio n s or workers. They calcu lated
th e amount according to how many were present and the t o t a l a ssista n c e
in terms of work and siz e of g ift* The old er men of each re c ip ie n t
group then divided the share among the most deserving members.
171
A week later the Christian marriage ceremony took place in Nanako
in the presence of approximately 1,000 people.
After the church service
the parish held a modern-style feast at which the guests were served
with either chicken or beef, vegetables and rice, bread, butter, cakes
and other European delicacies.
The main items (bullock, fowl, rice,
sugar, tea sind flour) came from the soso a bokis.
All other expenses
were borne by Amon and his father and to a lesser extent by his father fs
father*s brother*s son Joshua.
which
£40
The total amounted to about £100, of
was raised by a collection, to which everyone contributed a
few shillings, after the church service.
The Nanako people supplied
the necessary labour.
A few days later, Abel, his sons Seth and Amon, his father *s
brother *s son Joshua, and their four wives met outside Amon*s house to
divide up what was left of the Navuti gifts.
A
A
Abel
O
A
Joshua 41
i_____ •
i ________
O
‘
No children
r
Seth A.
—
O
1
Amon/d
<_____i
These four men
are the sole surviving adult members of one of the
four carpels of Nanako parish.
of the goods
-
OMagi©
«------ 1
that
Two considerations influenced the division
Amon and Magie should retain a reasonable amount
for their own use (especially the household' goods) and that donors to
the bride-price should be in part compensated.
In theory all of the
172
goods wer© Magie*s
-
th e y were p re se n te d to h e r by h e r f a t h e r and
o th e r k in s f o lk and she should have had th e f i n a l say i n t h e i r d i s t r i b u t
io n .
I n p r a c tic e , a young g i r l i s to o ig n o ra n t to ta k e a l l f a c t o r s in to
p ro p e r c o n s id e ra tio n , and u s u a ll y she i s c o n te n t to l e t h e r p a r e n t s - i n law work th in g s out f o r h e r .
Should she s u s p e c t t h a t th e y a r e d e p riv
in g h e r and h e r husband o f t h e i r f a i r sh a re , however, she can a p p e a l
t o h e r own k in t o r a i s e o b je c tio n s .
a r e common enough.
Q u a rre ls o v er th e d i s t r i b u t i o n
I n t h i s p a r t i c u l a r in s ta n c e Abel*s w ife made most
o f th e d e c is io n s i n c o n s u lta tio n w ith th e o t h e r s .o f th e two b u llo c k s
one was consumed a t th e wedding f e a s t , and Abel to o k th e o th e r in
r e t u r n f o r th e b e a s t he had c o n trib u te d to th e b r i d e - p r i c e .
The p ig s
went t o Joshua sind t o Amon*s m other*s b r o th e r , a man o f th e n eig h b o u r
in g p a r is h o f N a v ito ra who had a ls o c o n trib u te d g e n ero u sly t o th e
b rid e -p ric e .
The rem ain in g goods were d iv id e d as shown i n T able XXIV.
The c a te g o ry o f " o th e r s ” r e f e r p r im a r ily t o S e th , A bel, and Jo sh u a ,
th ough i t in c lu d e s a number o f o th e r men who made m inor c o n tr ib u tio n s .
TABLE XXIV
DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN GROOM*S KIN
M anufactured
Goods
Mats
Cash
T o ta l
Amon and Magie
£35
£10
£30
£75
O th ers
£42
£20
£45
£107
R e c ip ie n ts :
173
Comments
In an important sense the tuvage exchanges can be described as
personal transactions between the father of the bride and the father
of the groom (or whoever may be considered jurally responsible for the
marriage), but a number of other individuals invest in the exchanges
from a variety of personal motives*
At another level the proceeding
can be regarded as transactions between two parishes effected through
the medium of the parents of the couple with a complex network of out
siders contributing to the group prestations.
Finally, the exchanges
can be viewed above the parish level as taking place between indetermin
ate non-corporate categories of kin, affines, creditors and debtors of
the interested parties*
I shall conclude this section by listing those contexts in which
parish unity is most apparent*
I) The ritual fights and the stealing of wives in the traditional tuvage
ceremonies*
II) The statement that such and such a parish is lending" its dowry
or bride-price payment.
III) The predominant contribution made by parish members as against that
made by outsiders.
IV) The enthusiasm with which parish members provide the necessary
labour in cooking the food, in receiving the non-parish donors, in
treating them as guests, and carrying the gifts to the groom*s parish.
V)
The modern-style feast after the «hurch service in which the members
of the groom*s parish act as hosts to all visitors and ensure that
these return home with some small gift.
174
Broken Engagements
I t is now necessary to consider ju st how binding the betrothal is
on the young couple and what sort of factors lead to a breakdown. The
figures below indicate th at during the past half century (a) the age
a t which the couples have been affianced has risen and (b) fewer
engaged youths and g irls marry one another.
In the inland parish of
Lombanga 15 of the 21 householders were betrothed by th e ir parents in
childhood and of these only one failed to marry the g ir l.
At the time
of the la i homu prestation the average age of the youths was eight and
that of the future wife four.
Of the remaining six men two married
east Aoban g irls when working as labourers in Santo; two became the
lovers of Nduindui g irls whose intended husbands agreed to relinquish
th e ir claims in return for large quantities of pigs and mats; one made
his own arrangements with the father of an uncommitted g irl, and the
sixth married the g ir l promised to his brother recently deceased.
All
were the younger sons of unimportant fathers.
The figures can be contrasted with the present arrangements for
the children and adolescents of Lombanga and Navuti.
(As noted ea rlier,
Navuti is less conservative than Lombanga .SeeTable XXV#n v next page).
The gradual rise in age at betrothal and the increasing number of
broken contracts is clear.
The same trend can be seen in th at whereas
a l l the Lombanga arrangements were made by the parents without reference
to th e ir ch ild re n s preferences, three Navuti g irls and two boys select
ed th e ir future spouses.
175
TABLE XXV
BETROTHAL DATA
N av u ti:
Bbys
T o ta l unm arried
Number b e tro th e d *
Average age when b e tro th e d
Not y e t b e tro th e d aged 12 o r more
Not y e t b e tro th e d aged 1 - 1 1
B e tr o th a l broken, no new c o n t r a c t 0 )
Lombanga:
G irls
Boys
G ir ls
28
13
30
22
5
4
6
10
17
12
14
8
$
1
4
-
16
10
19
11
2
3
1
1
U ndoubtedly th e p r i n c i p a l cause o f th e r i s e in age i s th e accep tan ce
o f monogamy and hence a r e d u c tio n in th e c o m p e titio n f o r w iv e s.
Loss
o f p a r e n ta l a u th o r ity and p ro b a b ly m issio n te a c h in g a re re s p o n s ib le f o r
th e in c re a s e i n th e number o f broken c o n t r a c t s .
I n th e p a s t a man
depended on h is f a th e r f o r e a r ly su cc e ss i n th e graded h ie ra rc h y and f o r
e s ta b lis h in g a household b e fo re he reach ed m iddle a g e .
Today, young men,
though s t i l l lo o k in g to t h e i r f a th e r s and o th e r a g n ate s f o r b r id e - p r ic e ,
1 . The N avuti b o y f s b e t r o t h a l was te rm in a te d
because h is f a th e r q u a r r e lle d w ith th e g i r l ’s f a t h e r - no r e t u r n o f g i f t s
was made. The second N avuti boy was d is c o v e re d having an a f f a i r w ith
a n o th e r g i r l - a g a in no r e t u r n o f g i f t s . The th r e e N avuti g ir l s * engage
ments came to an end when t h e i r f u tu r e husbands were d is c o v e re d as th e
lo v e rs o f o th e r g i r l s - i n two c a se s about h a l f o f th e g i f t s were
re tu rn e d i n o rd e r t o m a in ta in f r i e n d l y r e l a t i o n s betw een th e p a r is h e s
co n cern ed . The Lombanga b o y ’s f u tu r e w ife d ie d and h e r f a t h e r re tu rn e d
th e g i f t s i n f u l l . The Lombanga g i r l ’s f u tu r e husband became th e lo v e r
o f a n o th e r g i r l and by m utual co n sen t th e c o n tr a c t was te rm in a te d ab o u t h a l f o f th e g i f t s w ere r e tu r n e d .
176
are in other respects less subject to control*
They can earn good
wages preparing copra or working on the Santo wharves, and during boy
hood many of them are as much concerned with the authority of the mission
teachers as with that of the father.
Missionaries, though they do not
attack betrothal in itself, urge that it be entered into at a later age
and in accordance with the b o y ’s and the girl’s preferences*
Pre-marital sexual intercourse
In theory the betrothed youth and girl are forbidden even to speak
to one another, but in practice the majority of them become lovers.
body pays much attention provided they are discreet.
No
Even when a girl
has conceived little criticism is heard and there is not much concern
about who the father might be.
At the same time the parents try to speed
up the marriage arrangements.
The matter is more serious when a boy and girl who are not betrothed
to one another are discovered in compromising circumstances, especially
if he or she is promised elsewhere.
One of the fathers summons a meet
ing of the senior men of the parishes concerned (there may be four of
them
-
those of the boy and of his betrothed and of the girl and her
betrothed.) Proceedings open with an interrogation of the accused, if
necessary reinforced by hair pulling and punching, in the hope of extract
ing a confession.
Once they have
admitted the fault the difficult and
serious task of satisfying all injured parties has to be undertaken.
First the guilty youth must pay compensation, anything from £10 - £50,
to the father, or whoever is jurally responsible, of his paramour.
The
father of the boy and of the girl who were promised to the offending
Figure 14
GROUP AFFILIATIONS IN NANAKONAVITORA CONFLICT
1
LOVATURUSA
1
1
1
MANAKO
N A V IT O R A
1
A ABEL BANI A & E O R O B
1 1
(55>
\ (55)
AREUBEN
\\ (50)
1
1
1
A
O
|
6
ALBERT May Rebecca
(25)
(I9)| (16)
L_
AJOSEPH
(50)
\
...L _
1>
\
May
(15)
WILSON MATHEW
(25) | (20)
1
1
A
A
SIMON
(23)
________ 1
o
Renette
(22)
1
177
couple may then make a demand,
A straightforward ca 3e is usually settled
by the payment of a few mats or pound notes.
But if there are further
complications, as is usual, the parents may demand that the respective
contracts be terminated,
I shall now describe a case complicated by a variety of factors,
including prestige, inheritance of property, parish rivalry and personal
financial gain.
The principal actors, their immediate kin links, and
parish affiliation are set out in
Figure 14*
Late one night in January 195^, Abel Bani of Nanako (the leading
Church-of-Christ elder of the district) discovered two Navitora youths,
Simon and Mathew, sitting at the edge of his homestead clearing.
He
has two unmarried daughters and assumed that the youths were waiting to
meet them.
Next morning he summoned a meeting of the senior men of
Nanako, Navitora, Lovaturusa and Navuti.
Although closely examined,
the lads steadfastly denied that they had any intention of seeking the
girls.
No one believed them, and Abel announced that each must pay a
fine of £25 and spend a month doing road-repairs.
He took £30 for him
self and gave £5 each to the four parishes represented at the Court.
The £5 were added to the parish funds used to finance the end-of-year
feast.
As this was an isolated incident and no serious misdemeanour had
occurred the fathers of the girls promised to the boys and the fathers
of the boys promised to Abel*s daughters refrained from making further
demands.
Many people, especially the Navitora folk, were of the opinion
that the penalty was outrageous, and they blamed Abel for his autocratic
a.
behaviour.
One Navitora informant remarked, "This wair very bad court.
178
If those two had been found in the courtyard of a lesser man there would
have been no fine.
Who does Abel think he is?
Does he regard his
courtyard as tambu so that no man may go inside?
He melees his law in
the same way as a Hungwe Lakua ( a man of the highest traditional rank)
- That is no good. - Bye and bye we in Navitora will humble that man,”
Four months later, the opportunity presented itself,
Simon, one
of the young men Abel had accused, was promised to May, a Lovaturusa
girl.
The tuvage exchanges had already taken place and the girl was
now living in Navitora, where she was the responsibility of the men of
that place.
About a week before her wedding day two young men were
found with her in circumstances that left no doubt as to their guilt.
These men, Albert of Lovaturusa and Wilson of Nanako, were both single,
George,the father of Wilson is prominent in both parish and district
affairs and a close friend and supporter of Abel,
The Navitora men summoned a court and all three confessed that
sexual intercourse had taken place.
Abel gave the gathering a long
lecture on the loose morals of youth in general.
He especially attack
ed a group of older women sitting outside the building: ”Now you women
there, if anything should happen to your daughter you are the first to
hear of it.
But you never say anything.
and keep it secret.
daughters.”
You think of your good name
You are bad witnesses to the court and to your
By thus castigating the women Abel was attempting to put
Navitora in the wrong once more.
Joseph, a Navitora leader, leapt to his feet shaking with rage,
”Abel, your talk is no good.
of the boys.
You blame the women when it is the fault
At the last court you made us Navitora men pay £50 when
179
our boys did nothing - now your boys have made much tro u b le fo r Simon.
I t i s a bad business and they must pay £100.” No one objected, and the
youths1 fa th e rs each handed over £50 to Simon.
But Joseph was not y e t s a tis f ie d .
He again jumped up and declared
th a t the engagement of Wilson and Renette (Navitora) should be term inat
ed.
Simon, who had been adopted as a child by R enette1s fa th e r Reuben,
a lso objected.
Reuben i s one of the most powerful men in the d i s t r i c t .
He has a larg e p la n ta tio n and runs a d is tric t-w id e co-operative th a t
purchases and exports copra, operates a launch, and m aintains
and ta x i in Santo fo r the convenience of Aoban wharf lab o u rers.
a
h o te l
As he
has no tru e sons Simon hopes eventually to in h e r it the wealth and succeed
to the p o sitio n .
But fo r some years past Reuben has shown a preference
fo r h is daughter’s affia n ce Wilson, whose fa th e r i s in f lu e n tia l in
church a f f a i r s , the one sphere where Reuben so f a r has had l i t t l e success
(see chapter X).
He had re c e n tly b u ilt a fin e modem house close to h is own fo r
Wilson and Renette a f te r th e m arriage.
This was much more im pressive
than th e dwelling he b u ilt fo r h is adopted son.
In ev itab ly Simon d is
lik e d Wilson and was jealo u s of h is in flu e n ce .
Reuben was a t the time in Santo, and as h is presence was considered
necessary fo r a f in a l d e cisio n the meeting broke up with ten sio n between
th e two p a rish es.
On Reuben's re tu rn two weeks l a t e r , the court met again.
by saying th a t the £100 fin e was too much.
He began
He returned h a lf to the
boys* fa th e rs and of the remainder he gave £20 to Simon, £10 to the
g u ilty g i r l (who was by then married to Simon) and £5 each to the four
130
parishes represented in the court*
He then addressed the gathering,
"You made the last court as though you were two parishes fighting in the
old way*
You tried to make one trouble square with an earlier one.
we make law in this fashion it will be bad for us here on Aoba.
If
If
we hate one another in court there will be much trouble."
His words evidently had little effect.
George,
the father-of
Wilson, had earlier been incensed by J o s e p h ^ suggestion that his son*s
engagement to Renette should be broken. "Reuben, I will not touch the
money you now give back because I have heard too much rubbish talk in
Navitora."
He then added, turning to Joseph, "Why do you say that girl
is finished with my son, why do you speak such words?"
Joseph, also in high temper, replied "Who said that?
I*
You lie George."
It was not
Joseph was now denying his earlier statement as
Reuben had since told him that he did not want the engagement broken at
any cost.
He continued, "You are all against me.
Very well, from to
day I am finished with the council, finished with the church and finished
with Navitora."
He left the building and in the next half-hour the main issues were
satisfactorily resolved.
Reuben affirmed that he wanted the marriage
to go ahead and George accepted the £25 with a hand shake.
Simon,
deferring to R e u b e n ^ authority, said nothing. Abel remained quiet but
was obviously displeased with the turn of events.
For many years he and
Reuben have been engaged in a bitter struggle for power.
Joseph was acting in a manner typical of the Nduindui when dis
pleased with their fellow men - a threat, seldom fulfilled, of withdrawal
from the offending sectors of the community.
It is worth noting that
181
h© i s n o t a tr u e N a v ito ra man, b u t th e l a s t s u rv iv in g member o f a
n e ig h b o u rin g s e ttle m e n t t h a t has f o r many g e n e ra tio n s a l l i e d i t s e l f
w ith i t s more pow erful n e ig h b o u r.
A few weeks l a t e r he s e n t cooked
food t o George, who re c ip r o c a te d w ith a s im ila r g i f t . Ha d id n o t le a v e
N a v ito ra and was soon a tte n d in g ch u rch .
A y e a r l a t e r W ilson m arried
R e n e tte and jo in e d N a v ito ra .
A d u lte ry , s e p a ra tio n and d iv o rc e
I s h a l l c o n s id e r th r e e a s p e c ts o f th e s tr e n g th and s t a b i l i t y o f
th e m a r ita l bond - th e freq u e n cy o f a d u lte r y and r e a c tio n to i t , th e
e a se w ith which tem porary and perm anent s e p a r a tio n can be e f f e c t e d ,
and d iv o rc e and re -m a rria g e .
A d u lte ry
As p re v io u s ly s t a t e d , a d u lte r y w ith th e sac re d w ife n e c e s s ita te d
th e payment o f te n tu sk ed b o a rs .
I f th e g u i l t y man re fu s e d t o hand o v er
th e an im als i t u s u a lly meant t h a t he could depend on th e su p p o rt o f h is
fe llo w p a r is h io n e r s , who were p o s s ib ly an x io u s t o p r e c i p i t a t e a f i g h t .
I t was r a r e f o r a man to d iv o rc e h is w ife f o r a d u lte r y , even a sa c re d
w ife who p e r s i s t e n t l y o ffe n d e d .
The husband*s main c o n s id e r a tio n was
t o re c e iv e th e p ig s , and he was r e l u c t a n t t o lo o s e a p ro d u c tiv e member
o f h is household team .
Ife would o n ly g e t r i d o f h e r i f he had a d d itio n a l
p ro v o c a tio n , such a s l a z i n e s s o r i l l n e s s .
Even to d a y , d e s p ite h a l f a c e n tu ry o f m issio n a ry d is a p p r o v a l,
a d u lte r y i s n o t s e r io u s ly cen su red by th e p eo p le th e m se lv e s.
Most N avuti
182
men sa id th a t a l l wives other than t h e i r own had a t one time or another
committed ad u ltery , some with g reat reg u larity *
A few men even admitted
ru e fu lly th a t th e ir own wives had on occasions been g u ilty .
The
husband’s rea ctio n la rg e ly depends on how many people know of the a ffa ir*
In one case the wife was a notorious a d u lte re ss and the husband of
v io le n t temper.
w ith h is w ife.
One night he caught a youth attem pting to make contact
The th re e of them sa t down and the husband calmly to ld
the lad th a t he would say nothing i f given £5.
The boy paid up, and the
two shook hands.
A month or two l a t e r th e same young man succeeded in cohabiting with
the w ife.
Word got around, and the husband flew in to a rage and
announced th a t he would k i l l the a d u lte re r, who, however, fle d to Santo.
The man summoned a p a rish meeting and demanded £20.
The headman, who
was a ls o th e youth1s c lo s e s t agnate, took the money from the
s to re and handed i t over.
p arish
The boy was expected to re tu rn the sum when
he came home.
Once again the husband*s temper evaporated, and he declared th a t
he would be w illin g to shake hands with the offender.
But a year l a t e r ,
when i t became public knowledge th a t his wife had taken s t i l l another
lo v er, he became «So angry th a t he burnt down a new men’s club th a t he
had spent most of the year b u ilding a t considerable expense.
At the
subsequent court he demanded f u l l compensation, and though many considerbe
ed the lo s s t<MTis own f a u lt, the a d u lte re r was in stru c te d to hand over
£30.
S ep aratio n and divorce
The Nduindui d istin g u is h between sep aratio n and divo rce.
The
183
former, which is termed u mwahiaki vavine hina (= he separates from
woman h is), is a fa irly common occurrence, usually brought about by
complaints from the wife that her husband is lazy, d irty , impotent or
physically violent*
Her parents or other close relativ es, provided
they consider her complaints ju stifie d , are certain to give her accom
modation and protection.
The husband can do l i t t l e about i t short of
persuading his fellow parishioners to take up arms, an unlikely event
even in the past.
I f he should demand a return of the bride-price he
may find himself the
loser by having to refund an even larger soso a
bokis.
He continues to be ju ra lly responsible for his absent wife.
For
example, i f she is found cohabiting with other men i t is he, not her
father, who is en titled to compensation.
The payment is known as roroi
vavine. the term also used to describe the fine for seducing a single
g ir l.
Separation becomes divorce only i f some man takes the woman
permanently into his household and sends a larger payment known as banga
to the f i r s t husband.
The amount is calculated on the basis of the
original bride-price with an appropriate reduction on account of the
age of the woman. The new husband further legitim izes the bond by send
ing a small payment, perhaps some cooked food and a few mats, to her kin.
Today the Church-of-Christ missionaries prohibit divorce, and the
elders do th e ir utmost to prevent i t .
Even prolonged separation rarely
takes place, as husbands, knowing that i t is well nigh impossible for
them to re-marry, do everything they can to make th e ir wives content.
There is only one householder in the d is tr ic t who has attempted, and in
part
184
succeeded, in divorcing his first wife and in acquiring a second in
conformity with traditional procedure.
But he has failed to get his
banga payment and no one had been prepared to sanctify his new marriage
in church.
As the case provides a good indication of the extent to
which the individual can succeed in defying the mores of the society, I
shall conclude the chapter by describing it in some detail.
About fifteen years ago Adam Dura of Nataluhangele married Agnes,
daughter of Walter, headman of Lorawandu.
Within a year she had become
notorious for running away to visit various lovers.
As the years passed
her behaviour grew more and more scandalous, and somewtimes she remained
away for months at a time.
Her father and other men repeatedly took her
back to Adam, who consoled himself with the fines from the adulterers.
As long as Agnes constantly changed lovers Adam had no chance of
securing a divorce through a banga payment.
Further, he could not
take a new wife without risking censure by church leaders.
Indeed, he
would have found it hard to persuade any father to part with a daughter,
regardless of how many pigs, mats and cash might be offered.
About four or five years ago, however, Agnes began staying with
Jonas, an elderly widower of Natakaro.
The regularity of the liaison
soon caused concern, and Andrew, the leader of the parish, summoned a
court on four occasions (1956, 1958* 1959 and I960).
He said his sole
concern was to punish Agnes for committing one of two sins - either
that of divorce from Adam or adultery with Jonas.
But the intensity
of his disapproval and also that of his fellow parishioners was undoubtedly
caused by the unpopularity of the man she had chosen.
Jonas lived by
himself at the edge of the group territory close to his mother1s agnates
185
in the neighbouring community of Nangweangwea. The people of Natakaro
the
belong to^Church of C hrist and are thus opposed to kava d rinking, whereaB th e Nangweangwea fo lk belong to the Melanesian Mission, which permits
it«
Jonas was an addict and spent most of h is time g e ttin g drunk with
h is m a trilin e a l kinsmen.
To make m atters worse, kava needs p lenty of
w ater and Jonas was w ell known fo r h is s k i l l in rain-m aking.
Year
a f t e r year the Natakaro men accused him of causing downpours j u s t when
they needed a dry s p e ll to prepare th e i r gardens fo r burning.
A ll I could find out about the f i r s t two courts was th a t although
on both occasions Jonas agreed to send
Agnes home to Adam w ith a
p resen t,sh e always l e f t again a f t e r a few days.
In September 1959 Adam decided to secure a divorce in the tr a d itio n
a l manner.
Supported by s ix Nataluhangele men, he went to the a d u lt
e r e r ’s house and demanded banga payment.
Jonas refused on the grounds
th a t divorce was ag ain st the church ru le s , and again he offered to
re tu rn the woman.
As th is was the l a s t th in g th a t Adam wanted he led
h is men to Andrew’s house, and to g eth er they decided to summon a meeting.
The next day most of the leading men from the d i s t r i c t met in
Natakaro.
The case was considered to be of unusual importance in th a t
t h is was the f i r s t time fo r a t le a s t twenty years th a t anyone had
attem pted to divorce h is spouse.
The follow ing points were ra is e d .
Andrew, the Natakaro le a d e r. "Jonas, t h is is the th ird time we
have made a court fo r your tro u b le - you behave lik e a p ig ."
Wilson, another prominent Natakaro man. "Jonas, you are by your
s e l f now - no man w ill h elp.
Give Adam £100 banga. ”
Solomon, a r is in g young church man from Navuti. "Today in Nduindui
186
we follow the new way*
Jesus said that no man may divorce his wife or
break another man*s marriage.
That is our way for the new life*
When
someone asked Jesus was it good to have a divorce in the fashion of
Moses, he replied that God did not make man like that
-
that Moses
framed the rule for divorce in the hardness of his heart.
we will follow the law of Moses
But today
- if you have enough money in your
box go now and get £100 banga.”
Solomon had explained to me on a number of occasions that in
difficult situations it is advisable to seek a compromise between the
old and the new ways.
If the church leaders abide too rigidly by
Christian precepts, they may force individuals or whole communities
either to revert to paganism or to change to another denomination.
He
said he had frequently found the utterances of Moses and the prophets
a great help.
Zachaeas, the married son of Jonas, then spoke angrily against
his father. MI do not want my father to get this woman.
If he is strong
in his heart to get her then I shall leave him and join some other kins
man.”
Zachaeas, unlike Joseph in the Navitora case, used this threat
in the hope of changing his father*s attitude
-
not to express his
displeasure with the parish as a whole.
Andrew then made a collection of £50 from the Natakaro men and
placed it on the ground in the centre of the assembly.
He spoke to
Adam, ”This money is not for banga. it is to put on the shoulder of the
woman to bring her back to you again.”
Adam exploded with the most solemn curse of the Nduindui, ”1 marry
ray sister
-
I will not have the woman.”
187
Wilson, "Then we had better take her and the money to her home in
Lomwandu."
Adam, realizing that he might loose the £50 as well as his hope
for banga. decided to try some dramatic action«
He ran out of the
building to the edge of the bush where he had concealed a gun, loaded
it and announced, "You are all pushing me too hard
myself,"
-
I will kill
Three men disarmed him without any difficulty.
He immediate
ly picked up the £50, exclaiming, "This money is enough for banga. I
will make no more trouble for you Jonas,
woman is for you.
The banga is for me, the
If we meet again I will not show my angry face, we
are good friends now,"
Andrew, who had consistently opposed the divorce was determined
that Jonas should not get the woman, and protested, "Oh no, Jonas must
not have the woman, no man is to break this marriage,"
He then ordered
Agnes to stay with her father and told Jonas that he had better leave
Nduindui for a year to be a teacher in Malo.
^onas strode away without making any reply; also Adam remained
quiet,
Walter, the woman*s father, flatly refused to have anything to
do with his daughter, "This is not my fault, I am tired of sending her
back to Adam,
This business has nothing to do with me,"
The meeting then broke up with no one satisfied and nothing settled.
The next day Jonas sent word to Andrew that he had no intention of
going to Kalo,
Adam, who had taken the £50, also sent word to Natakaro
that regardless of anyone else*s opinion he considered himself finished
with
Agnes and that she was now Jonas* wife.
Two months later I heard that, Agnes, after a period of general
188
prom iscuity, was back again with Jonas*
f e l t th a t they could do l i t t l e about i t .
The Natakaro men grumbled but
Zachaeas, Jonas* son, had
meanwhile acted on h is th re a t and moved to the lower p art of the p arish .
About a year l a t e r Andrew again summoned a meeting in th e hope of
p a rtin g th e couple.
This time i t was agreed to re tu rn her to Adam, and
another £10 was c o lle c te d .
She went to Nataluhangele but immediately
s ta rte d h u rling stones a t Adam*s house.
He ran in to the bush, but a f te r
an hour he took courage and ordered her to go to her f a th e r.
so w ith a la c r ity .
She did
For the past year she has made Lomwandu a base for
her frequent v i s i t s to Jonas and o th ers.
E arly in 1961 a man died in Apopo ju s t west of N ataluhangele.
i s the most conservative p a rish in west Aoba.
This
Most of the men were
s t i l l pagan, though l a t e r th a t year they b u i lt a church.
Mam took the
widow in exchange fo r larg e q u a n titie s of p ig s, mats and cash.
Though
m utterings were heard from church lea d ers, no fu rth e r meetings had been
held up to the time I l e f t the f ie ld in December.
CHAPTER VII
SEX SEPARATION AND THE SACRED KIN
In the previous six chapters I examined the solidary, corporate
and enduring characteristics of the various social groups based on
locality and descent,
I now take the analysis of structural rigidity
a stage further by discussing two related aspects of role differentiat
ion
-
sex and kinship*
Sex Separation in Melanesia
My interpretation of the relationship between the sexes is based
on the results of an as yet unpublished comparative analysis of New
Guinea and Solomon islands societies.
In this study I argued that
there is a close correlation between, on the one hand, the degree of
social and ritual differentiation between adult males and females, and,
on the other, the emphasis placed on unilinearity in descent, residence
and inheritance.
The most highly-developed sex separation was found in
those societies in which all or most of the men of the locality (home
stead, hamlet, village-section or village) form a single exogamous patri
lineal descent group. The effective group of male members constitute an
ongoing corporate group united by common descent and co-residence,whereas
190
the women are eith er daughters surd siste rs who depart on marriage, or
spouses who come in from elsewhere. Such an arrangement must serve to
emphasize sex d ifferen tiatio n .
In those societies where the men of the lo c ality are united by
m atrilineal descent the stru ctu ral p o ten tiality for the existence of a
marked sex division is reduced in that male co-residence is only achieved
a fte r an i n i t i a l period of close association with the fa th e r’s matrilin e a l kinsmen. The combined sex, lo c ality and descent tie between
mother1s brother and s is te r ’s son only begins afte r puberty, when i t
must contend with the well-established pre-puberta l bond between father
and son.
I f a l l other conditions are favourable, especially i f the
locally anchored lineages form discrete, corporate exogamous units and
i f there are no cros3-cutting groups, the sexe3 might well form d istin ct
and opposed categories.
When the continuity of the local group is provided by the core of
effective female members, that is , when m atrilineal descent is combined
with uxorilocal residence and local exogamy, the p o ssib ility of a social
and r itu a l emphasis on sex d ifferen tiatio n is almost as great as in the
p a trilin e a l p a tri-v irilo c a l category.
In such a society the women are
united by common descent and co-residence whereas th e ir brothers and
sons depart on marriage and th e ir husbands come in as outsiders.
In a l l three types of society sex separation is greatest when the
local groups are monocarpellary and s tr ic tly exogamous and the descent
groups are discrete rather than o sc u la n t.^ '
All departures from these
1. Hbgbin, H.I. and Wedgwood,C.H« "Local Grouping in Melanesia",
Oceania. Vol. 23, 1953, p.243. A. discrete unilinear descent group has
i t s social centre in one parish; an osculant decent group has sections
in two or more parishes.
191
three requirements, especially the presence of additional groups that
cut across the locally anchored lineages, serve to reduce the emphasis
on a sexual dichotomy sind the degree to which i t finds expression in
the domestic, economic, p o litic a l and r itu a l lif e of the community.
At th is point I must emphasize that the hypothesis in no way implies
that there mu3t inevitably be a pronounced sex separation in strongly
un ilin eal so cieties.
Nor does i t exclude the p o ssib ility th at such a
division may occur in societies where neither descent nor kinship are
of much importance in the regulation of social relatio n s.
I merely
suggest that eg alitarian unilineal societies with exogamous monocarpellary
and discrete parishes have a high stru ctu ral p o ten tiality for the
development of social and ritu a l barriers between adult males and females.
Social d ifferen tiatio n of the sexes may take various forms - there
)
may be resid en tial separation, a marked division of labour, a relatio n
ship of superoriination and subordination, a r itu a l expression in the
form of exclusive r ite s , and an ideological polarity of a ll things male
and female.
In ray comparative analysis I found th at there was a near
perfect correlation in the degree to which the various social, ritu a l,
symbolic and ideological indices coincided with the terras of the hypo
th e sis.
I concentrated primarily on the sphere of r itu a l, both because
of the information available sind because Melanesians invariably conceive
of the sex relationship in mystical terms.
The problem th at I set myself to solve could be expressed in
reverse - what, i f any, correlation obtains between social structure
and the presence or absence of r ite s and ceremonies reserved exclusively
for eith er males or females? In Melanesia such r ite s f a ll into that
192
b r o a d c l a s s w h ic h h a v e b e e n v a r i o u s l y r e f e r r e d t o a s i n i t i a t i o n o r
p u b e rty r i t u a l .
T he s t r u c t u r a l h y p o t h e s i s I h a v e p u t f o r w a r d t o a c c o u n t
f o r t h e i r d i s t r i b u t i o n and l o c a l v a r i a t i o n s n e i t h e r c o n f l i c t s w ith n o r
c o n t r a d i c t s t h e m any t h e o r e t i c a l c o n t r i b u t i o n s t h a t h a v e b e e n made t o
o u r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f b o t h t h e r i t e s th e m s e l v e s an d o f s p e c i f i c c u l t u r e
tra its
a s s o c i a t e d w i t h th e m .
D e s p ite t h e i r ,
a t tim e s , c o n tr a d ic to r y
n a t u r e , t h e r e i s , n e v e r t h e l e s s , m uch t h a t i s t r u e a n d i m p o r t a n t i n t h e
t h e o r i e s t h a t h a v e b e e n a d v a n c e d b y s u c h e x p o n e n ts o f u n i l i n e a r e v o l u t i o n
a s S c h u r tz , ^ ) L ang, ^ a n d
L o w i e ^ a n d L oeb, ^ 'a n d
Von D en S t e i n e n , ^ b y
su ch d i f f u s i o n i s t s a s
b y su c h p s y c h o lo g is ts a s F re u d , ^
R e ik ^ R o h e im ^
and B e tte lh e im ^
B u t w hen i t com es t o a n s w e r in g t h a t b a s i c q u e s t i o n o f w hy i n i t i a t i o n
r i t u a l sh o u ld be p r a c t i s e d i n one s o c ie ty and n o t i n a n o th e r , n e i t h e r
th e e v o l u t i o n i s t s , d i f f u s i o n i s t s n o r p s y c h o lo g is ts can p ro v id e u s w ith
a t r u l y s a t i s f a c t o r y a n sw e r.
T he r i t e s a r e fo u n d i n s o c i e t i e s t h a t on
a l l o t h e r c o u n ts m ust b e p la c e d on d i f f e r e n t p o in ts o f a n y p o s t u l a t e d
e v o lu tio n a ry s c a le , and
t h e t h e o r i s t i s t h u s f o r c e d t o m ake u n s a t i s f a c t
o ry s ta te m e n ts a b o u t c u l t u r a l s u r v iv a ls .
1 , S c h u rtz ,
T h e d i f f u s i o n i s t , w hen f a c e d
H, A l t e r s k l a s s e n u n d M a n e rb u n d e . B e r l i n , 1 9 0 2 ,
2 , L a n g , A , C ustom
a n d M y th . L o n d o n ,
1885,
p p , 2 9 -4 4 *
3# V on D en S t e i n e n , U n t e r d e n N a t u r v ö l k e r n Z e n t r a l - B r a s i l i e n s , B e r l i n ,
1897, p . 268.
4* L o w ie , R .U , P r i m i t i v e S o c i e t y . L o n d o n , 1 9 2 1 , p p . 2 4 5 -3 2 3 *
L o w ie , R .H . ”A ge S o c i e t i e s , ” E n c y c lo p a e d ia o f t h e S o c i a l S c i e n c e s ,
V o l. I , 1 9 3 0 .
5* L o e b , B .M , “T r i b a l I n i t i a t i o n s an d S e c r e t S o c i e t i e s ” , U n iv , C a l i f .
P u b s , i n A m er. A r c h , a n d E t h n . V o l. 2 $ , 1925*
193
•
w ith gaps i n d i s t r i b u t i o n , i s fo rce d to make e q u a lly u n h e lp fu l s t a t e
ments about p ro c e sse s o f accep tan ce and r e j e c t i o n in e i t h e r p sy ch o lo ci c a l o r f u n c tio n a l te rm s.
The p sy c h o lo g is t i s seldom concerned w ith
answ ering th e q u e stio n as t o why one s o c ie ty r a th e r th a n a n o th e r should
p r a c t is e th e r i t e s .
In M elanesia i n i t i a t i o n r i t e s a re n o t on ly p r a c tis e d in some
communities and a b se n t i n o th e r s , b u t where th e y do e x is t wide v a r ia tio n s
a re found b o th in form and i n c o n te n t.
The r i t e s may be v o lu n ta ry o r
com pulsory; th o se i n i t i a t e d may form in c lu s iv e c u lt g ro u p s, age g rad e s,
a r i s t o c r a c i e s o r d i s c r e t e and v o lu n ta ry s e c r e t s o c i e t ie s ; membership
may be re se rv e d e x c lu s iv e ly f o r m ales o r fem ales o r th e two sex es may
be j o i n t l y a d m itte d ; p u b e rty may be emphasized
as th e c o rr e c t age f o r
i n i t i a t i o n o r i t may be w holly o r la rg e ly i r r e l e v a n t ; b u l lr o a r e r s or
f l u t e s may form an im p o rtan t p a r t in th e cerem onies o f one t r i b e , where
as in a n o th e r th e y may be absenb; th e youths may be su b je c te d t o such
o rd e a ls as c irc u m c isio n , in c i s i o n , s c a r i f i c a t i o n , long p e rio d s o f
s e c lu s io n and o r food ta b o o s , o r th e y may be exempt from any u n p le a sa n t
e x p e rie n c e s .
Such a f i e l d o f v a r ia b le s p re s e n ts an immediate c h a lle n g e .
Is i t
(co n t* d . from p rev io u s page) 5 . Loeb, B.M. ’’The Blood S a c r if ic e
Complex”, American A n th ro p o lo g is t, V ol. 30, 1933*
6« F reu d , S . Totem and Taboo, New York, 1913, pp. 231-265.
F reu d , S . Moses and Monotheism. London, 1928, pp. I 47 , 205-210.
F reu d , S . ’’Some P sy c h o lo g ic a l Consequences o f th e A natom ical
D is tin c tio n Between th e S ex es’’, in C o lle c te d P a p e rs» London, 1950.
7 . R eik, T . R itu a l:P sy c h o -A n a ly tic S tu d ie s . London, 1931> pp* 91-166.
8 . Roheim, G. ’’The Symbolism o f S u b -In c is io n ”, The American Image,
V ol. VI, 1949. A lso ’’P a sso v er and I n i t i a t i o n ” , Man, V ol. 23, 1923.
9 . B e tte lh e im , B. Symbolic Wounds« London, 1955.
}
194.
a mere accident of history and culture contact that the Trobrianders
are without any form of initiation ritual or is it perhaps possible to
provide an answer in the form of a deduction from general principles?
There can be no doubt that diffusion constitutes a major factor in
the distribution of the rite3.
Yet in itself the mere recognition,and
even detailed unravelling, of this historical process, is of little
more than descriptive value.
To arrive at general explanatory principles
it is necessary to go a stage further and ask why the lines of diffusion
are as they are
-
for instance, why circumcision or incision is found
throughout the Sepik region of New Guinea but not in much of Papua, or
why are bullroarers found in north Bougainville and parts of the north
ern New Hebrides but not in the intervening Solomon islands?
It is
theoretically possible that the distribution of these and other assoc
iated traits is solely the outcome of chance contact, that there is
neither rhyme nor reason in the pattern other than that found in the
caprices of wind and current, the hazards of mountain ranges or the
unfriendly and warlike behaviour of neighbouring communities.
M y own broad impression is that it would not be far from the truth
to assume that all or most Melanesians know of neighbouring communities
which practise some form of the rites.
The abstract conception I have
in mjnd is that of Melanesia as a series of overlapping social systems,
each connected with its neighbours by varying intensities of social
relations, each forming a distinctive structural arrangement of parts,
and each presented at one time or another with the opportunity to take
over and adapt to its existing institutions some form of initiation
ritual.
The basic reason why one society should accept the rites and
195
a n o th e r r e j e c t them, and why among th o s e t h a t do a c c e p t, th e cerem onies
su b se q u e n tly ta k e on a new form and meaning, i s t o be found in c e r ta in
v a r ia b le s i n th e s o c ia l s t r u c t u r e .
Such a manner o f c o n c e iv in g o f th e
problem i s sim ply a t r a n s l a t i o n o f th e p s y c h o lo g ic a l assu m p tio n s o f th e
d i f f u s i o n i s t - t h e o r y in to s o c io lo g ic a l term s#
C e r ta in i n i t i a t i o n cerem onies a r e more o b v io u sly c o r r e la te d w ith
and c o n s t i t u t e a sym bolic e x p re ss io n o f th e p o l a r i t y o f male and fem ale
th a n o th e r s .
T h is i s e s p e c ia ll y tr u e o f th o s e r i t e s t h a t in c o rp o ra te
a l l o r most o f th e fo llo w in g f e a tu r e s :
1) Compulsory f o r a l l y o u th s .
2) Performed a t o r ab o u t th e age o f p u b e rty .
3) Mark th e s e p a r a tio n o f th e la d s from t h e i r m others and o th e r
c lo s e kinswomen and r e s u l t in t h e i r in c o rp o ra tio n in to a male
w orld o f r i t u a l .
4) A s tro n g em phasis p la c e d on th e s e c re c y o f th e r i t e s , w ith
s u ita b le t a l e s o f d e c e p tio n f o r th e women and c h ild r e n .
5) A se v e re p e n a lty imposed on any woman who should w itn e s s th e
rite s .
O th er, and a t f i r s t s ig h t n o t so o b v io u s, m a n ife s ta tio n s in c lu d e
b lo o d - l e t t i n g o p e ra tio n s (c irc u m c is io n , in c i s i o n , s c a r i f i c a t i o n and
nose b le e d in g ) ; sym bolic r e p r e s e n ta tio n s o f d e a th and r e b i r t h ; th e use
o f b u l l r o a r e r s s a id t o be th e v o ic e s o f s u p e r n a tu r a l b e in g s come to
devour th e n o v ic e s;
and a b e l i e f t h a t th e p e n is o p e ra tio n i s th e male
e q u iv a le n t o f m e n s tru a tio n .
The more th o ro u g h ly male i n i t i a t i o n cerem onies a r e c h a r a c te r is e d
a s men!s b u s in e s s ( t a l e s o f d e c e p tio n f o r th e women, b lo o d - l e t t i n g r i t e s ,
196
etc.) the more women*s sexual and reproductive functions are surrounded
by taboos and made the basis for secret rites performed by females*
The
men*s ceremonies stand in balanced ritual opposition to women’s menstruat
ion and reproductive functions*
This opposition most frequently takes
the form of mystical forces that must be kept apart*
Furthermore, though
opposed to one another in terms of the dangers believed to be inherent
in any contact, they are sometimes explicitly equated.
Hogbin^)reports
that the Wogeo refer to incision as men*s menstruation and similar
beliefs have been recorded for the Busama, Arapesh, Gahuka-Gama, Kuraan,
Abelam and north Malekulans.
All these symbolic elements occur in societies in which there is a
marked social separation of the sexes, and they all fully conform to the
positive terms of my hypothesis (the Busama alone provide an apparent
exception - see page 202). The more a given society deviates from the
terms of the hypothesis the less do the rites incorporate such elements.
This discovery provides convincing evidence in support of a psycho
analytic theory put forward by Bettelheim to account for just such
symbolic elements*
On the basis of clinical work Bettelheim came to
the conclusion that such blood-letting rites as circumcision, incision,
etc. can be best interpreted as a symbolic expression of the “great
biological antithesis of the two sexes, which creates attraction and
envy betvfeen them“.
(2 )
' He assumes that sexual ambivalence, or the envy
of one sex of the bodily characteristics and functions of the other is
1*
Hogbin, H.I* "Native Culture of Wogeo", Oceania* Vol. V,
2. Bettelheim, B. p. t04*
1934>P*330.
197
an universal human characteristic.
.
He further postulates that sexual
ambivalence is primarily a function of the differences in the status
and prerogatives of men and women.
If his argument should be correct,
and I am convinced that it is, it would then be reasonable to expect
that such a universal psychological force would be most likely to
manifest itself in ritual form in societies where men and women are
sharply differentiated as social categories or groups,
I have argued
thai in Melanesia, and most probably in all societies where kinship is
of primary importance, sex separation is greatest when patrilineal
descent is combined with patrivirilocal residence or matrilineal descent
with uxorilocal residence.
The discovery that blood-letting rites and
other associated symbolic expressions of sexual envy are confined almost
exclusively to such societies confirms both my own sociological hypo
thesis and Bettelheim!s psycho-analytic theory.
The two combined enable
the anthropologist to provide an explanation for a wide range of social,
ritual and symbolic behaviour,
I shall now give a brief summary of the New Guinea and Solomon
Islands evidence.
Patrilineal societies
Eighteen societies were analysed under this heading.
Compulsory
male rites of initiation were practised in thirteen: The Gahuka-Gama^ ^
1, Read, K.E. ttN a m Cult of the Central Highlands, New Guinea”,
Oceania, Vol. 23. No. t, 1952. Other articles by the same author are
in Oceania, Vol. 25, 1955; South Pacific, Vols. 5 and 7; and SouthWestern J o u r n a l of Anthropology, Vol. 10, 1955*
I9ö
and the K u m a n ^
of the Central Highlands, New G u i n e a ; ^ the A r a p e s h , ^
Iatraul,^ Kwoma, ^
Abelam,
Wogeo,^ Manam,^
and T c h a m b u l i ^ of the
Sepifc region, New Guinea; the Elema^iU^ of the Gulf coast of Papua; the
Mailu
(ll)
(12)
' of southern Papua; the Ngwarawapum
New Guinea; and Goodenough island^1 1
^
3
2
0
9
7
6
5
*
'of the upper Marfcham valley,
in the Massim area, New Guinea*
1* Niiles, J* "The Kuman of Chimbu", Oceania, Vol. 21, 1951«
2. Unfortunately I have not yet had the opportunity to analyse the more
recent studies of such Highland societies as the Enga, Chimbu, Pore, Huli,
Kuma, KyaCa, Mbowamb, Mendi and Siane* The varying extent to which these
deviate from the agnatic segmentary model should provide an interesting
test case*
3* Mead, M. Sex and Temperament in three Primitive Societies, London,
1953» PP* 3-166; also "The Mountain Arapesh.I* An Importing Culture”,
Anthropological Papers, American Museum of Natural History* Vol. XXXVI,
Pt* III; and "The Marsalai Cult among the Arapesh", Oceaniat Vol. IV, 1933*
4* Bateson, G. Naven, Cambridge, 1936; and "Social Structure of the
Iatmul People", Oceania« Vol. 2, 1932.
5. Whiting, J.V/.M. and Reed, S.W. "Kwoma Culture", Oceania, Vol. IX,
i93ö, and Whiting, J.W.M. Becoming A Kwoma, New Haven, 1941.
6. Kaberry, P.M. "The Abelam Tribe, Sepik District", Oceania,Vol.XI,1941.
7. Hogbin, H.I. "Native Culture of Wogeo," Oceania, Vol. V, 1934;
see also Oceania, Vols. XIII, XV, and XVI for further articles on Wogeo.
0. Wedgwood, C.H. "Report on Research in Manam", Oceania, Vol. IV,
1934* Also further articles Oceania, Vols. Ill and. VII.
9. Mead, 1953, pp. 237-276.
10. Williams, F.E. The Drama of Qrofcolo, Oxford, 1940. See also Oceania,
Vol. IX and Anthropology Report, No. 17, 1936, (Port Moresbyj; Holmes, J.
"Initiation Ceremonies of Natives of Papua", J.A.I. Vol. 32, 1902.
11. Saville, W.J.V. In Unknown Nev/ Guinea, London, 1926. Malinowsfci, B.
"Native of Mailu", Royal Society of South Australia, Vol. X l IXI, 1915•
12.
Vol.
Vol.
13.
Read, K.E. "Social Organization in the Maridham Valley", Oceania,
XVII, and "The Political System of the Ngwarawapum", Oceania,
XX, 1949.
Jenness, D. and Ballantyne, A. The Northern D fEnrrecasteaux, London,192
199
I n each of th e s e s o c i e t i e s th e s o c ia l s t r u c t u r e i s based on lo c a lly
anchored exogamous p a t r i l i n e a l d e sc e n t g ro u p s.
M ale-fem ale p o l a r i t y i s
most h ig h ly developed where th e r e a re no marked s t r u c t u r a l d e v ia tio n s
(Gahuka Gama, Kuraan, A rapesh, Abelam, Kwoma, Ia tm u l, M ailu, Ngwarawapum,
and Goodenough).
The p resen ce o f c r o s s - c u ttin g r a a tr ilin e a l m o ie tie s
(Wogeo), h e r e d ita r y s o c ia l c la s s e s (Manam), cerem o n ial g ro u p in g s
(Tcham buli and Elema) and a r e d u c tio n in c la n s o l i d a r i t y a re a l l c o r r e la te d
w ith an in c re a s e d em phasis on th e p r e s tig e and e n te rta in m e n t fu n c tio n s
o f th e r i t e s and a c o rre sp o n d in g re d u c tio n in th e sym bolic r e p r e s e n ta tio n s
o f se x u a l am bivalence and envy.
Four p a t r i l i n e a l s o c i e t i e s (Mekeo, Roro, K o ita , ^
and M a f u l u ^ o f
e a s te r n Papua) a re w ith o u t any form o f i n i t i a t i o n r i t u a l and in each I
found t h a t one o r more o f th e above m odifying f a c t o r s a re more pronounced
and o f g r e a t e r s t r u c t u r a l s ig n if ic a n c e th a n in th o s e s o c i e t i e s where
th e r e a re such r i t e s .
T h is was e s p e c ia lly tr u e o f s o c ia l s t r a t i f i c a t i o n ,
m u ltic a r p e lla r y and o s c u la n t p a ris h e s and a low le v e l o f lin e a g e and c la n
s o lid a rity .
The Waima s u b - tr ib e of th e Roro p ro v id e an a p p aren t e x c e p tio n
in t h a t th e y p r a c t i s e com pulsory r i t e s o f i n i t i a t i o n .
Seligm an was of
th e o p in io n t h a t th e Waima had ta k e n over th e ceremory from th e n eig h b o u r
in g Elema people in th e G ulf a r e a .
Yet he makes no m ention o f th e fo llo w in g
Elema f e a tu r e s - th e e la b o r a te hoaxing o f th e y o u th s ; th e r e p r e s e n ta tio n
o f s u p e r n a tu r a l b e in g s who a re supposed to v i s i t th e raen*s c lu b ; th e u se o f
1. Seligm an, C.G. The M elanesians of B r i t i s h New G uinea, London, 1910
(Mekeo, pp. 41-194; Roro, pp. 311-373; K o ita , pp. 19 5 -3 1 0 ).
2. W illiam son, R.W. The M afulu: M ountain peo p le o f B r i t i s h New G uinea»
London, 1912.
200.
bullroarers; and the deception of the women.
The Waima rites instead
consist of periods of seclusion during which the older men instruct the
novices in the making of such decorative objects as masks, armlets,
anklets and bracelets, and alternating periods during which they wear
these ornaments and indulge in numerous flirtations with the girls of
the village.
No mention was made of any idea that the masks represent
supernatural beings - they are simply decorative objects worn at dances
in which the women also participate.
The Waima have thus stripped
the Elema rites of their sexual connotation, and instead utilised
them in the purely social context of a ritual transition to the status
of adult manhood.
The remaining society (Orokaiva)
designation patrilineal.
barely qualifies for the
Cognatic elements are prominent in maiy
aspects of the social structure - residence follows no fixed pattern
and the bilateral family is of exceptional solidarity and autonomy.
The Orokaiva rites, though compulsory, provide the one and only Melanesian
example of the joint initiation of boys and girls.
Matrilineal societies
I analysed eleven matrilineal societies.
Lesu
(2)
' in northern New
1. Williams, F.E. Orokaiva Society, London, 1930. Chinnery, E.W.P.
and Beaver, W.N. "Notes on the Initiation Ceremonies of the Koko Papuan",
JRAI» Vol. 45, 1915.
2. Powdermaker, H. Life in Lesu, London, 1933, pp. 25-60, 102-140.
Groves, W.C. "Tabar Today”, Oceania» Vol. 5, 1935, and "Secret Beliefs
and Practices in New Ireland", Oceania» Vol. 7, 1936.
201
I r e la n d and n o rth B o u g a i n v i l l e ^ )b o th p r a c t i s e u x o r ilo c a l re s id e n c e and
in o th e r r e s p e c ts conform c lo s e ly to th e term s o f my h y p o th e sis*
In
th e s e two com m unities sex d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n i s a s marked as i t i s i n th e
extrem e p a t r i l i n e a l p a t r i - v i r i l o c a l categ o ry *
The com pulsory male
r i t e s o f i n i t i a t i o n in c lu d e most o f th e ex p ected sym bolic elem ents
(c irc u m c is io n , s e c lu s io n , masked r e p r e s e n ta tio n s o f s p i r i t s e tc * )
Three p r a c tis e a v u n c u lo - v ir ilo c a l re s id e n c e
-
th e Trobriand(^)
i s la n d s , p a r t o f G u a d alc a n al(3 ) i n th e Solomon is la n d s and Busama(4 ) in
th e Huon Gulf*
As p r e v io u s ly n o te d , t h i s co m bination o f d e s c e n t and
as
re s id e n c e i s n o t / l i k e l y t o g iv e rd.se to a s o c ia l em phasis on sex d i f f e r
e n t i a t i o n as e i t h e r p a t r i l i n e a l p a t r i - v i r i l o c a l o r m a t r i l i n e a l u x o r i
lo c a l*
Busama p ro v id e s an a p p a re n t e x c e p tio n a s th e dicl^om y i s most
pronounced and i s f u l l y e x p re sse d in th e sym bolic c o n te n t o f com pulsory
male i n i t i a t i o n cerem onies*
But a c lo s e ex am in atio n o f th e s o c ia l
s t r u c t u r e re v e a ls t h a t i n c e r t a i n r e s p e c ts Busama approxim ates to th e
p a t r i l i n e a l p a t r i - v i r i l o c a l type*
The m a trilin e a g e s a re unnamed,* i n
1 . Blackwood, B. Both S id e s o f Buka P a s sa g e , O xford, 1935, p p .17-270.
Thomas, G. «Customs and B e lie f s o f th e N a tiv e s o f Buka«, O ceania, V o l.2 .
1931.
2 . M alinow ski, B. S e x u a l L ife o f S av ag es, London, 1 9 2 9 ,p .6 , p p . 53-54*
M alinow ski, B. A rgonauts o f th e W estern P a c i f i c , London, 1922*
3 . Hogbin, H .I. « C u ltu re Change in th e Solomon Is la n d s « , O ceania,
V ol. 4, No.3, p p . 235-252, and u n p u b lish e d m an u scrip t A G uadalcanal
S o c ie ty : The Kaoko s p e a k e rs *
4* Hogbin, H.I* T ra n sfo rm a tio n S cene. London, 1951, PP* 23-34, 54-61,
94-150, 204-232.
A lso «Sex and M arriage i n Busama«, O ceania, Vol* 17, 1946-47, and
K inship and M arriage i n a New Guinea V illa g e , London, 1962#
202
theory no distinction is made between the male and female lines of descent;
avunculo-virilocal residence is only a tendency;
and the village is
nrulticarpellary and most marriages take place within the community. There
are also clubs which in many respects are similar to patrilineal descent
groups, even to the point of maintaining a rule of exogamy.
Yet despite
these extenuating circumstances the Busama come closest to providing an
exception to the hypothesis.
Of the remaining matrilineal societies one was found to be patrivirilocal (Rossel Island)0 ) another mostly patri-virilocal (Siuai of
south Bougainville)
and four bilocal (Dobu,
the Wamira of Bartle B a y ^
Wagawaga, Tubetube and
- all four in the Massim area 3 outh of the
Trobriands)• With the exception of the Wamira, no initiation ritual is
practised in any of these societies.
The Wamira rite3, though compulsory
for all men, have little or nothing to do vitfMiex dichotomy.
They are
held at about three or four years1 intervals and the age of the novices
is of small concern.
There are no male secrets, bodily mutilations,
bullroarers, deceptions or hoaxes.
During the so-called period of
seclusion the youths x^ork in the gardens and can be seen by women and
children.
Throughout the ceremonies the emphasis is placed on a ritual
transition to a new status of increased prestige, rather than any gulf
1. Armstrong, W.E. Rossel Island, Cambridge, 1928, pp. 31-59, 93-103.
2. Oliver, D.L. A Solomon Island Society, Harvard, 1955* pp# 102-125»
177-208.
3* Fortune, R.F. Sorcerers of Dobu, London, 1932, pp.1-5, 57.
4. Seligman, 1910, pp. 435-659.
203
to be established and symbolised between the sexes*
Cognatic societies
The possibility of a marked social and ritual division of the sexes
occurring in a non-unilineal society must be considered of a low order*
In cognatic societies there are no descent groups at all and the
structure is based primarily on discrete and autonomous family units,
overlapping personal kindreds and local groups (as, for example, in
such south-east Asian societies as the IbanO) of Borneo).
The struct
ural importance of the conjugal tie and the equivalence of siblings
necessarily reduces the possibility of any pronounced separation of the
sexes.
I have not examined the literature fully but so far as I am
aware initiation rites seldom if ever occur under such conditions.
No truly cognatic societies have been reported in Melanesia. There
(2)
are, however, two communities, the Mowehafen in southern New Britain and
the T o ,ambaita^'^in north Malaita, where cognatic stocks are combined
with a bilateral dogma of descent.
The potentiality in this type of
society for sex separation depends primarily on the type of post-marital
residence.
In T o ,ambaita society residence is 90 per cent virilocal,
and though there are no initiation rites there is a most explicit concept
1. Freeman, J.D. “The Iban of Western Borneo” in Social Structure in
South-Sa3t Asia (ed. Murdock, G.P.), New York, 1960, pp. 65-88.
2. Todd, J.A. “Report on Research in South-west New Britain”, Oceania.
Vol. 5, 193$.
3. Hogbin,H. I.
Experiments in Civilization. London, pp. 25-125.(11939).
20/+
of male - female polarity and avoidance.
This intermediary position is
very much what I would expect in a de facto agnatic society with a
bilateral dogma.
Nduindui is the closest parallel that I have found in
Melanesia, and as I shall shortly demonstrate, the relationship between
the sexes is very similar to that found in north Malaita.
The Mowehafen differ from the T o rambaita in two respects - residence
follows no regular pattern and there is a hereditary division into
aristocrats and commoners.
Todd reported that the Hiion Gulf initiation
ceremonies, which are based on the polarity of the sexes, were recently
introduced into Mowehafen society.
But these people have transformed
the sexual significance of the rites by jointly initiating boys and girls
and by excluding commoners.
What was initially a symbolic expression
of sex differentiation has been thus altered to reinforce the Mowehafen
class structure.
This example of diffusion, together with the Elema -
Waima, provides convincing evidence of the close correlation between
symbolism, ritual and social structure.
The Torres, Banks and northern New Hebrides
The social separation and ritual polarity of the sexes is, though
in varying degrees, a characteristic feature of this ethnographic area.
The range of structural variants (see Table III) provides an interesting
means of further testing the validity of my hypothesis.
A brief
comparative analysis will also enable me to arrive at a fuller under
standing of this aspect of Nduindui society and culture than would
otherwise be possible.
205
Torres and Banks islands^)
Descent in this area is wholly matrilineal, and though the evidence
is far from clear, it seems probable that the only true descent groups
are moieties in the Banks and three phratries in the Torres*
On Mota
island there are lesser divisions within the moieties, and though partly
based on descent they are, in R i v e r s ^ opinion, more closely correlated
with named localities*
Codrington, in referring to these divisions,
noted that change of membership is possible and frequent and that there
is no prohibition against intra-marriage*
From these few hints, and
from personal enquiries made during a brief visit to Vanua Lava, I have
little doubt that the social units referred to by these authors are
local groups in which descent, especially in the female line, is the
normal but by no means the sol9 criterion of male membership.
They are
not dispersed exogamous matrilineal clans such as are found further
south*
When we consider the implications of two and only two matrilineal
exogamous descent groups it is evident that there is a strong structural
potentiality for a social division between ths sexes.
In a clan organiz
ation we found that there were sufficient grounds when either the men
or the women of the locality all belong to the one clan and their in
coming spouses to a number of different clans.
When there are only two
1. Codrington, R.H. The Melanesians, Oxford, 1.891, pp* 23-25, 35-45,
63-67, 7 4 ^ 5 , 101-111, 235.
Rivers, W.H.R. The History of Melanesian Society, Cambridge, 1914,
Vol. I, pp. 20-213.
206
descent groups it follows that all the wives of all the men of one
moiety must necessarily belong to the other.
Ignoring for the moment
the relationship between descent and locality, it can be said that
throughout the area in which the same moieties are recognised, approx
imately half of the men are bound to one another by putative descent,
while all of their wives are equally bound to one another by membership
of the opposite moiety.
If, in addition, residence should be avunculo-
virilocal and the local groups exogamous, it would be hard to conceive
of a society in which the structural cleavages coincided more fully
with the sex division.
But in the Banks islands local organization is loosely structured,
intra-parish marriage is common, and though residence tends to be
avunculo-virilocal, alternative choices are commonly made.
It is a
highly individualistic society and groups are short lived and variable
in membership.
These and other factors serve to reduce the structural
potentiality for sex opposition and separation.
k
similar balance sheet can be drawn up for the ritual side of the
equation.
Sex differentiation is evident in all the following points:
1) The Sukwe society is for men only, and though in theory voluntary,
in fact all men enter the lower grades.
2) The Tamate and other secret societies are for men only.
3) Women and children are told that the hat and cloak disguises
worn by Tamate members are ghosts.
4) The destructive activities of the Tamate members are partly
aimed at terrifying women and children,
5)
k
wide area surrounding each secret lodge is prohibited to all
non-members, especially women and children.
207
6) The long initiation ceremonies held by the Qat secret societies
include a number of elements associated elsewhere with sexual
envy and separation.
Though the rites are voluntary and the age of the
candidates is of no significance, most men are initiated early in life.
They are subjected to numerous hoaxes and such unpleasant ordeals as
passing through a tunnel lined with nettles, standing on hot ashes, and
remaining secluded in a special building for some months without washing.
Informants assert that the sole purpose of these secret societies is
the learning of a dance (Qat)culminating in its public performance.
On the negative side of the balance sheet the ritual life of the
Banks islanders can be shown to be as much concerned with status as with
sex differentiation:
1) The absence of a single inclusive male cult entered via compulsory
rites of initiation.
2) No blood-letting operations.
3) The multiplicity of secret societies, each thriving on its differ
ence from, and opposition to, the rest.
4) The destruction of property by Tamate members.
5) The stratification of the Sukwe into a large number of grades,
each with its own fireplace in the club and each with its own
rites of admittance.
6) The emphasis placed on the hoaxing and bullying of the novices.
7) On Motlav island, when the young boy was first admitted into the
Sukwe, the person who conducted him into the building was his
father’s sister accompanied by a number of other women.
208
Raga ^ )
North Raga social structure conforms more closely to the positive
y
terms of my hypothesis in that most of the adult male members of the
parish or parish-section form a single exogamous matrilineage*
The
individualism of the Banks islands is counterbalanced by a strong
emphasis on parish-clan solidarity, the principal indices of which I
have already listed in chapter II.
What little information is available on the ritual life of this
area indicates a more highly developed sex-polarity than that described
for the Banks*
1) The secret societies '.are less numerous and not so powerful.
2) The Qat (north Raga term is Qatu) appears to be correspondingly
more prominent - the rites are held at fairly regular intervals of
about five to six years and most of the novices are unmarried youmg men,
The hoaxes are severe, seclusion lasts about five months, the novices
are symbolically killed and brought to life again, and the nettle-lined
tunnel is said to represent a shark.
Codrington reports a case of a
girl who inadvertently witnessed the novices washing at the end of their
seclusion, and despite seeking protection at the mission she was
subsequently buried alive. ^
1* Codrington, 1891, pp. 67, 86-94; Rivers, 1914» Vol. I; Speiser,F.
Ethnographische Materialen aus den Neuen Hebriden und der Banks-Inselm,
Berlin, 1923, p* 204> Lane, B. 1962 (Two unpublished manuscripts on
north Raga Land Tenure and Leadership).
2. Codrington, p. 87*
209
3) A compulsory rite of d ouble-incision.^
Speiser mentions the
existence of the rite but gives no information.
Codrington likewise
states no more than that circumcision is practised in this area and has
lately been introduced to south M w a e v o . ^
4) An institutionalised homosexual relationship between the recently
incised boy and his adult sponsor.
Layard^'has convincingly argued
that in Big Nambas society male homosexuality is intimately associated
with the ritual polarity of men and women.
Pig-sacrificing men and
menstruating women present such a threat to one another that men prefer
to have sexual relations with their own sex.
Deacon (^has also shown
that Big Nambas homosexuality is bound up with circum-incision.
South
Raga is the only remaining area in the northern New Hebrides where
circum-incision is practised, and here too homosexuality is a prominent
institution.
North Raga alone practises double-incision, the next most
complicated operation, and though homosexuality is less developed than
in the other two communities, it is surely no coincidence that it has
1. Layard (p.476) distinguishes circum-incision from incision and
circumcision. Incision is the simplest operation - a longitudinal slit
in the foreskin. In north Raga two slits are made, one dorsal and one
ventral. Circum-incision begins with a longitudinal slit which is then
continued around each side and results in the removal of the foreskin.
True circumcision as practised in Europe is not found in the northern
New Hebrides*
2. Codrington, p. 234*
3. Layard, ,l.. The Big Nambas represent an extreme form of patrilineal
culture which they have carried to a pitch exceeding all other New
Hebrides tribes in the very low status which they accord to women. It
would appear, therefore, that both circum-incision and organised homo
sexuality are an expression of the extreme holiness of men over against
women... I suggest that among the Big Nambas the act of homosexuality
may well represent to the natives a •.• transmission of male power by
physical means.” (p.4^9).
4. Deacon, pp. 260-7
210
been reported nowhere else in the northern and central islands.
It is
even less of a coincidence that these three societies conform most fully
to the positive terms of my hypothesis (discrete, exogamous and monocarpe 11 ary pari she s ),
East Aoba
My hypothesis would lead me to expect few if any ritual manifestat
ions of sex separation in this loosely structured society where the
autonomy of the individual is more highly regarded than the solidarity
of the group.
The parishes are multicarpellary; the carpels are non
unilineal with a slight agnatic bias;
intra-parish marriage is common;
and the matrilineal descent groups, both clans and moieties are dispersed
throughout the territory.
The two main ritual institutions of the Banks islands, the graded
hierarchy and the secret societies, are also found in east Aoba, but
less emphasis is placed on exclusively male participation.
The Sukwe
(Hukwe in east Aoba) club is only used as a dormitory and dining room
for married men on ritual occasions.
At all other times husbands sleep
with their wives and children in the ordinary dwellings.
Women part
icipate in the rank-taking ceremonies and, if sufficiently industrious
and ambitious can themselves sacrifice pigs.
Secret societies are said to have existed in the past but what
little I could find out about them indicates that they were relatively
unimportant.
The rites were seldom held, women as well as men were
initiated, and there were no permanent clubs.
Finally, there were no
compulsory male puberty rites, no blood-letting operations and no
211
in s titu tio n a lis e d
B ig
N am bas
and
M a le k u la , ^
R aga
S m a ll
T h ro u g h o u t
a n ch o red
in
d o m in a n t
R aga
m en
th is
N ew
s h o u ld
a re a
o f
(a n d
p o s s ib ly
s o u th
B anks
and
n o rth e rn
N ew
b ased
on
s o u th
R aga
m o ie tie s ,
no
and
b u t
in flu e n c e
G u in e a ,
th e
p rin c ip a l
u n lik e
on
th e
m a tri-m o ie tie s
th e
s e v e rity
e s p e c ia lly
d is tr ic t
in
and
th e
H e b rid e s
w ith
in
D eacon,
A .B .
2 .
L a y a rd ,
pp.
3 .
T a tte v in ,
th e
and
a re
an d
th e
th e
in c is io n .
o r
e n d u rin g
g ro u p s,
do
m ost
no
m o re
b e tw e e n
fu lly
to
and
M a le k u la :
th e
th a n
a g n a te s
and
m o d ify
sex es.
th e
p o s itiv e
B ig
p a trilin e a l
N am bas
A V a n is h in g
s im ila r
o f
th e
sex es
o f
n o rth
S m a ll
in
in
r ite s
l i t t l e
in
c o n s titu te
and
lik e
N ew
W ogeo,
re d u c e
o f
my
h y p o th e s is ,
v illa g e s
o f
S e n ia n g
th e
in
N ew
th e
n o rth -
H e b rid e s ,
London,
des
M is s io n s ,
4#
R iv e rs ,
o r
th e
s lig h tly
te rm s
th e
m a tri-
W ogeo,
a g a in
is
is la n d s ,
have
c o m m u n itie s
P e o p le
in
in itia tio n
th e y
As
th e
m o n o c a rp e lla ry
in
d is p e rs e d
is la n d s
m a le
to
th e
re s id e n c e .
s o c ia l
th e
lo c a lly -
c o m m u n itie s
m a le
In
p ro p e rty -o w n in g
on
e x c e p tio n
a d d itio n
n o rth e rn
as
o n ly
c o m p u ls o ry
in
b ased
o p p o s itio n
W ith
a re
in h e rita n c e
s o u th -w e s t
1 .
o r
th e re
d iv is io n
d is c re te
th e
th e s e
ap p ear
c o n fo rm s
th e
M w aevo)
th o s e
e ith e r
c o rp o ra te
M a le k u la
lif e .
A m b ry m
c o -re s id e n t
o f
s o c ia l
th a t
A m b ry m ^ ;
is
g ro u p s,
s e p a ra tio n
am azem ent
c u s to m ).
s tru c tu re
d escen t
c irc u m -in c is io n
n o rth
a
p ro fe ss
R ag a^^an d
s o c ia l
th e
th e
su ch
s o u th
th e
G u in e a ,
A obans
have
p a trilin e a l
fe a tu re
e ith e r
(a ll
is la n d s ,
exogam ous
s o c ie tie s
a
h o m o s e x u a lity
1934*
4 7 3 -5 2 8 .
E .
"S ur
P a ris ,
JR A I,
le s
b o rd s
de
la
1 9 2 6 -7 •
1915,
PP*
2 3 0 -2 3 2 .
m e r S a u v a g e ,“ R ev u e
d ^ s t o i r e
212
west*
Deacon has f o r t u n a t e l y pro vid ed us w ith a g ra p h ic d e s c r ip ti o n o f
th e way in which th e S9niang people co n ceiv e o f th e r e l a t i o n s h i p betw een
th e sexes*
He w r ite s :
There a re two h o s t i l e q u a l i t i e s o r p r o p e r tie s - ig a h and i l e o th e form er e s p e c ia ll y b e lo n g in g to women, and by a n alo g y to th e
fem ale o f a l l s p e c ie s , a s , f o r in s ta n c e , a sow; th e l a t t e r b elo n g in g
to a l l th in g s male* I le o has been t r a n s l a t e d " s a c re d 1*, b u t i t would
be a g r e a t m isap p reh en sio n to t r a n s l a t e ig a h as " p ro fa n e 11. . . ig a h
i s n o t used w ith re f e r e n c e to th in g s t h a t a r e p ro fa n e , b u t r a t h e r
to th o s e t h a t a re p o sse sse d o f a k in d o f s a n c t i t y t h a t i s d i f f e r e n t
from , and indeed opposed to t h a t w hich i s i l e o * The r e l a t i o n
betw een ig a h and i l e o i s som ething l i k e th e r e l a t i o n o f p o s itiv e
and n e g a tiv e e l e c t r i c a l p o te n tia ls * T hings which a re s tr o n g ly ig ati
a re d e f i n i t e l y fe a re d by th e men because th e y c o u n te ra c t and d e s tr o y
th e i l e o p ro p e rty a p p e r ta in in g to m ales and to m en ^ r i t u a l o h je c ts*
On th e o th e r hand th e p o s s e s s io n o f th e q u a lity o f ig a h o r o f
o b je c ts imbued w ith t h i s q u a lity c o n fe rs power and p r e s tig e upon
women. The dichotom y o f said o p p o s itio n betw een th e sex es i s a
f e a tu r e o f th e s o c ia l l i f e o f th e M alekulans and i s th u s r e f l e c t e d
in t h e i r r i t u a l l i f e a l s o . O )
In th e s o c ia l l i f e th e sex dichotom y i s a p p a re n t in th e r e s id e n ti a l.
arrangem ents and in th e p h y sica l, la y - o u t o f th e v i l l a g e
i s d iv id e d in to two s e c tio n s s e p a ra te d by a fence*
( 2 )
.
The v i l l a g e
On one s id e a re a l l
th e d w e llin g s , occupied f o r th e most p a r t by women and c h ild r e n , and on
th e o th e r th e dancing ground, s l i t gongs and c lu b house (Amel) ♦
The
women1s s id e i s s a id to be ig a h , and th e men’s ile o * The most I le o
sp o t o f a l l i s a sm all p a tc h o f dense bush lo c a te d behind th e club*
In accordance w ith th e p r in c ip le t h a t th e f u r t h e r from th e n a a i
sev e (d iv id in g fe n c e ) th e more i l e o th e p la c e , we fin d t h a t in
th e amel i t s e l f , which i s d iv id e d up in to a number o f compartments
1 , Deacon, p*23
2* Deacon, p* 24*
213
one for each of the ranks in the graded society called the Niman^Jiki,
(which corresponds to the Sukwe of the Banks Islands), the "cömpartment belonging to the highest grade is situated at the back, while
that of the lowest lies nearest the door.O)
During daytime and early evening the two sexes keep to their
respective sides of the village.
At night, "most of the married men go
to the dwelling houses, while others, who for some reason wish or are
constrained to keep apart from their wives, together with all boys and
bachelors, settle down to rest in the amel»"(2) Inside the dwelling
the husband sleeps in one corner and his wife diagonally opposite.
Unmarried daughters sleep in their mother's corner and young sons up
to about the age of twelve on their own mat in either corner.
The woman
crosses over to her husbands mat for sexual intercourse.
Young boys who still live with their mothers are said to be igah,
and the first necessary step in becoming ileo is taken in the rite of
incision and the subsequent ten days* seclusion in the amel,
The youths
then become increasingly ileo by taking higher and higher rank in both
the Nimanghki and Nalawan graded hierarchies.
The Nimanghki is similar
to the open Sukwe organisation of the Banks, while the Nalawan rites
are in many ways similar to those associated with the Tamate secret
societies.
But sociologically the difference between the Nalawan and
the Tamate reflects the Banks islands concern with differentiation
between men and the Malekula concern with male - female differentiation.
The Tamate rites were associated with initiation into separate and
discrete secret societies and resulted in the novices becoming members
1, Deacon, ibid.
2. Deacon, p,40
1
214
of corporate on-going social groups*
The secrecy of a Tamate society
was mainly concerned with its autonomy vis a vis other like groups, and
only secondarily with male - female differentiation.
The superficially
similar Nalawan rites were associated with the internal grades of a
single inclusive hierarchical organisation that counted amongst its
members all or almost all adult males.
The impression I get from
Deacon*s material is that though the different grades of the Nalawan,
like those of the Nimanghki, were concerned with the status differ
entiation of males, the institution was more related to the increasing
sacredness of men and their separation from women and children.
loung girl3 begin to acquire igah potency when their two upper
incisor teeth are knocked out at puberty and then increasingly so as
they advance through the ranks of a women*s secret society known as the
Lapas*
Women are also said to be strongly igah during menstruation,
pregnancy and childbirth.
In Lambumbu district, a little to the north of Seniang where the
social structure appears to be similar, sex differentiation is further
highlighted in a mock battle that takes place between the men and the
women of the village every afternoon during the period of twenty days
when the youths are secluded after the rite of incision.
In the double-unilineal societies the separation between
is not as marked as in west Malekula.
the sexes
The Small-island village has no
separate male and female sections, and though the men’s clubs are
important institutions, married men only occasionally sleep in them.
But the principle of sex separation is firmly maintained within the
family compound*
Each homestead is divided into two courtyards, the
215
o u te r c o n ta in in g th e w i f e ’s house and th e in n e r th e hu sb an d ’s* Unmarried
d a u g h te rs l i v e w ith t h e i r m other, and young boys who have n o t y e t been
in c is e d l i v e w ith t h e i r fa th e r*
Each c o u rt p o s se ss e s i t s own yam s t o r e
house and oven, and th e cooking arran g em en ts a r e q u ite s e p a r a te . Layard
d e s c rib e s th e sex dichotom y as i t a f f e c t s th e fa m ily group in th e fo llo w
in g te rm s .
T here i s no fa m ily g a th e r in g f o r th e m eal, however, f o r one o f
th e fundam ental p r in c ip le s u n d e rly in g s o c ie ty in th e s e is la n d s i s
t h a t th o s e who have perform ed th e Maki r i t e s Cthe e q u iv a le n t o f
th e S eniang Nimanghki and Aoba Hungwe), t h a t i s to say p r a c t i c a l l y
th e whole male p o p u la tio n , have th e re b y become so h o ly t h a t th e y
may n ot e a t w ith women* T h is sex dichotom y which d e c re e s t h a t a l l
th e men, a p a r t from sm a ll boys who have n o t y e t ta k e n t h e i r f i r s t
s te p in th e Maki, must e a t s e p a r a te ly from women, i s one o f th e
most marked f e a tu r e s o f S m a ll- is la n d s o c ie ty and has f a r - r e a c h in g
r e s u l t s . (1)
The p o in t t h a t I want to em phasise i s t h a t th e r e s u l t s a re n o t so
f a r re a c h in g a s in th e S eniang v i l l a g e - p a r t i t i o n , th e Lambumbu mock
b a t t l e o r th e Big Nambas i n s t i t u t i o n a l i s e d hom osexuality*
The d if f e r e n c e betw een th e u n i l i n e a l and th e d o u b le - u n ilin e a l
s o c i e t i e s can be b e s t seen i n th e av erag e age o f th e i n i t i a t i o n c a n d id a te s
and in th e number o f y e a rs which s e p a ra te th e r i t e s .
I n M a le k u la ^ a n d
so u th Arabrymte) th e l a d s ’ a Se v a r ie s from ab o u t e ig h t to tw e lv e , and
th e i n t e r v a l betw een cerem onies i s no more th a n th r e e to fo u r y ears* As
i n a l l th o s e s o c i e t i e s in New Guinea where sex s e p a ra tio n i s h ig h ly
developed, th e f i r s t c o n s id e r a tio n i s t h a t th e boys should be a t o r about
1 . Layard, p. 4 5.
2* S p e is e r , p* 203.
3 . S p e is e r , 288.
216
puberty and the rites should mark their transition from the world of
women to the secret world of male ritual.
In the Small islands ^ a n d
(2)
north R agav "the rites take place every six to ten years, and the age
of the novices varies from four to over twenty, while in south R a g a ^
Tattevin reports that the boys are circumcised (circum-incised) when
they are about five or six years old,
Layard makes an interesting comment on the Small islanders1 lack
of concern as regards the age of the incision candidates.
This sacrifice of physiological considerations in favour of a
communal social organisation and pride of display contributes
towards a humorously cynical attitude on the part of the natives
towards initiation which tends to place considerably more emphasis
on the enjoyment of t’ '
t the expense of the novices
than might otherwise
Hbgbin has likewise noted that the double unilineal Wogeo tend to
regard their initiation ceremonies with some light-hearted cynicism
- in fact they consider their tales of deception and masked dances as
a great joke rather than as a necessary means of keeping the women in
their place.
Amongst the Tcharabuli and Elema the corporate patrilineages
are weakened by cross-cutting ceremonial groups
-
and yet again the
emphasis is placed on the entertainment aspect of the rites, and as in
the Small islands, little attention is paid to the age of the novices*
1 • Layard, p. 495.
2* Codrington, p, 92,
3* Tattevin, p, 401*
4* Layard, p. 495.
217
The Qat (Banks) and Na Ngwatu (Aoba) ceremonies are in many respects
similar, especially in symbolic content, to the compulsory rites of Raga,
the Small islands and Malekula*
Yet there is no operation on the penis,
initiation is voluntary, age is immaterial, and the emphasis is on
theatrical entertainment, and the enjoyment of the initiators is even
more marked than in the Small islands*
The close correlation that
obtains between all these symbolic and ritual variants and further
differences in social structure provides striking confirmation of the
validity of my hypothesis*
Nduindui
Nduindui social structure differs from that of Malekula and the
Small Islands primarily on two grounds
-
multicarpell ary instead of
raonocarpellary parishes and an absence of corporate kin groups whose
male members are recruited exclusively on the basis of patrilineal
descent.
I would therefore expect a less marked sex dichotomy than that
found in the western islands.
But as compared with east Aoba the
Nduindui emphasis on patri-virilocal residence, patrilineal inheritance,
parish exogamy and an absence of cross-cutting matrilineal clans and
moieties are together likely to accentuate sex differentiation. To*ambaita
society in north Malaita provides the closest Melanesian parallel to
Nduindui
-
both are strongly patri-virilocal, the parishes are multi-
carpellary, and there are no true agnatic descent groups.
I shall now
show that these two societies are also alike in that though sex separat
ion is
a pronounced feature of the social life it does not find clear
expression in ritual and symbolic behaviour.
213
Male and fem ale r i t u a l p o ten cy
I n N duindui th e c o n ce p ts
kokona and h a t i a r e i n many r e s p e c ts
s im ila r to th e Seniang i l e o and ig a h .
T here i s a ls o a b e l i e f t h a t th e
sex es p re s e n t a t h r e a t to one a n o th e r when th e men in d u lg e i n s p e c i f i c
a l l y male r i t u a l a c ts and when th e women a r e m e n stru a tin g o r g iv in g
b i r t h t o c h ild r e n .
But th e r e a r e a number o f n o ta b le d if f e r e n c e s which
I s h a l l now a tte m p t to o u t l i n e .
A ll women, d u rin g t h e i r m e n stru a l p e rio d s and when g iv in g b i r t h t o
c h ild r e n , must r e t i r e t o a sm all hut lo c a te d a s h o rt d is ta n c e from th e
h o u se.
T h is i s o l a t i o n i s b a se d , as i t i s i n Seniang and i n many
p r im itiv e s o c i e t i e s , on m en's f e a r o f m e n stru a l b lo o d .
The N duindui
view i s t h a t m e n stru a l blood f a l l i n g on a m an's s le e p in g m at, o r h is
e a tin g food cooked by a m e n stru a tin g woman r e s u l t s i n h is becoming i l l and
p erhaps d y in g .
I t i s a ls o s a id t h a t a m e n stru a tin g woman's v i s i t i n g
a garden c au se s th e p la n ts to w ith e r, and any f i s h n e t she makes would
f a l l to p ie c e s .
M e n stru a l blood and e v e ry th in g t h a t comes in to c o n ta c t w ith i t i s
r e f e r r e d to as h a t i .
The i s o l a t i o n h u t i s known a s .v a le h a t i , th e
p a th t h a t le a d s to i t as h a la h a t i and th e woman h e r s e l f i s v av in e h a t i .
A ll h a t i p erso n s and o b je c ts p o sse ss a s u p e r n a tu r a l power c o n sid e re d to
be e s p e c ia ll y dangerous t o men who have a c q u ire d th e o p p o s ite kokona
a t t r i b u t e s by perform ing r i t u a l .
A man who has had se x u a l in te r c o u r s e
w ith h is w ife d u rin g h e r m e n stru a l p e rio d o r w ith in a p e rio d o f about
fo u r months a f t e r c h i l d b i r t h has done som ething h a t i .
Be has endangered
h is h e a lt h and c o u n te ra c te d w hatever kokona s a n c ity he may have p o sse sse d .
219
In all the a.bove respects the Nduindui hati concept closely
parallels the Seniang igah, though igah is more than the dangerous
powers iniierent in female physiology.
Women become permanently igah
when their two front incisors are knocked out at puberty, and then
increasingly so by participation in the rites of the graded Lapas society.
In Nduindui hati has no ritual counterpart
-
there are no girls1
puberty rites, and the women have no equivalent of the Lapas society;
nor is hati solely a female attribute, for defecation and urination
are at times referred to by the same term*
Kokona. like ileo, is primarily a male form of sancity or ritual
potency.
Men become kokona by sacrificing pigs, by wearing insignia,
by having salt water (known literally as kokona) and coconut milk
poured over them, and by eating special food cooked on a fire lit under
ritual conditions.
When a man is kokona the implication is that he is,
on the one hand aulu. and, on the other the possessor of a spiritual
strength or supernatural power( huirana or tangaroa karea. 3ee pp, 253-4 ) •
Aulu means literally “high" or "above" in both the ordinary sense and
also in the metaphorical sense of authority.
Men of the highest rank
are sometimes given the title of Siroi Siroi, "sweeping high over"
like a hawk with his wings spread out.
A title taker, when he dances
around his tusked pigs before killing them extends his arms, a perform
ance called "Hawk's dance".
In the final analysis the killing of
tusked pigs is a sacrifice to the sky-dwelling creator diety Takaro,
and it is because the sacrifice!* is thus identifying himself with Takaro
that he is symbolised as a hawk.
The supernatural power he acquires
comes from the close association with Takaro,
220
The simplest way to describe the sacredness or kokona quality is
to say that by sacrificing pigs a man becomes aulu, he achieves
authority and superiority over other men.
The principal sanction for
this is the power supernaturally acquired.
Clearly there is a strong
concepts.
similarity in the kokona and ileo
Men become increasingly kokona. or ileo by taking higher and
higher rank in the Hungwe or Nimanghki. and when they are in such
condition of ritual potency they must be kept apart from women,menstruat
ing
women above all.
But the concepts also differ.
The Malekula man,
once he has been incised, is constantly ileo and as such must maintain
permanent residential separation from the igah women and children.
is not so in Nduindui,
This
A man who takes part in a Hungwe sacrifice is
kokona only at that time and for a few days afterwards, during which he
is required
to sleep and eat in the club.
At all other periods he is
profane (mwenda) like ordinary people and as such can visit his house
and eat food cooked by his wife.
By stating that such a man is mwenda
the Nduindui do not in any sense mean that he has lost his spiritual
strength.
What they do mean is that when he is kokona his strength is
beyond his control and is automatically dangerous for all mwenda persons
with-whom he associates.
At other times his power acts only when he so
wills it, as in sorcery and magic.
The traditional residence was divided by a flimsy partition into
inner and outer compartments, the former serving as a bedroom for the
husband and young sons aged from three to twelve, the latter as a
kitchen and dining room for the whole family as well as a bed room for
the wife and unmarried daughters.
When the husband was in a ritual
221
condition th a t n e ce ssitated sp e c ia l food he cooked fo r him self e ith e r
in h is compartment or in a club nearby; and when the wife was m enstruat
ing or giving b ir th she r e tir e d to her sp e c ia l hut*
O rd in arily the
women prepare the food and the men cook i t , an arrangement th a t co n tra sts
w ith the Small Isla n d s, where the homestead is divided in to separate
courtyards each with i t s own oven and storehouse.
A fu rth e r d ifferen c e between Nduindui and Seniang i s th a t whereas
ile o i s ex clu siv ely a male form of sa n city , the Nduindui women can a t
times become kokona» I have already noted th a t a man^ f i r s t wife wears
kokona in sig n ia and s a c r if ic e s a tusked pig a t the tu vage marriage
exchanges.
I f her husband should r is e to high rank he may p e rio d ic a lly
se t aside a boar fo r her to s a c rific e during the course of h is own
t it l e - t a k i n g ceremony.
On such occasions th e woman wears kokona in sig n ia ,
k i l l s a kokona pig, e a ts kokona food and lik e men, i s thereby assured
of an honoured place in the a f te r - lif e *
An even c le a re r dem onstration of the comparative weakness of the
Nduindui male - female p o la rity is th a t women as w ell as men p a rtic ip a te d
as novices in the s e c re t, though voluntary, Na Ngwatu and Na Mwai
r ite s .^
In th is resp ect sex d if f e r e n tia tio n is le s s pronounced in
both e a st and west Aoba than i t is even in the Banks and Torres isla n d s .
The n earest approach to a compulsory i n i t i a t i o n ceremony was the
p iercin g of a young man*s septum,an operation performed whenever th ree
or four youths in the p a rish had reached the age of puberty*
Their
fa th e rs prepared a sp e c ia l house surrounded by a fence and the boys
1 * N either of these r i t e s has
le a s t 30 years*
been performed in Nduindui fo r a t
222
retired with the operator for a few weeks until the wounds had healed*
Towards the end of this period they came out for a little exercise at
dusk but took care to avoid sunshine, and any path leading to a
menstrual hut, both said to prevent the healing of the wound*
The
fathers of the youths prepared their foodj meat, a particular species
of cabbage, and coconut milk were all prohibited.
Decorative sticks or
p i g s 1 tusks were subsequently worn in the septum.
From this brief account it is evident that there are a number of
elements similar to the compulsory rites of incision or circum-incision
held elsewhere in Melanesia.
The isolation of the youths, the prohibit
ion against eating food cooked by women, and the dangers said to be
inherent in walking on a w o m a n s path are all expressions of the ritual
polarity of male and female.
Septum piercing could also be interpreted
as a weak symbolic substitute for the more usual penis operation.
But
on the negative side I could discover no evidence of any mythology
associated with the ritej there were no hoaxes or severe ordeals, no
representation of death or rebirth or of monsters come to devour the
youths, no tales told to the women, no mystery or solemnity surrounding
the ceremony, no secret imparted to the lads, and no theory that the
operation
was the equivalent of menstruation. (The rite has not been
performed
anywhere in west Aoba for at least thirty years, though
circum-incision and incision still take pla.ce in Malekula, the Small
Islands and Raga.)
The sacred relatives
In Malekula sex separation is initiated at puberty, gradually
increases as men and women advance through the grades of their respective,
223
and in soma cases, secret ritual associations, and is both continuous
and general rather than periodic and specific.
In Hduindui the concepts
of kokona and hati, though primarily associated with men and women
respectively, are not exclusively so.
In the previous section I mention
ed that sex avoidance, at least in so far as it applies to the marital
relationship, is restricted to special occasions.
In the present
section I shall demonstrate that it is also confined, though in varying
degrees, to specific kin and affinal relationships, and that it more
over affects the behaviour pattern expected between male kin who are
related to one another through a female, or female kin related through
a male.
The twelve categories of relationship terminologically recognised
by the Nduindui can be divided into those that are ritually potent
(kokona or hati) and those that are without such potency (mwenda or
vale vale).
For a man, the hati kin are, in order of importance, the
sisters (hangwena), sisters1 daughters (duvina), mothers(retahina),
daughters (natuna).and wiveö* mothers (ngwellkana).
All of these
relationships coincide with the incest (kalika) prohibition and are
characterised by either total or partial avoidance.
His wife is said
to be hati when menstruating or giving birth.
A m a n ’s kokona relatives are male kin and affines related
Mm
directly through one of his hati relatives.
to
They are, in order
of importance, his sisters’ sons (duvina)* sisters’ husbands (takuna)>
mother’s brothers (tokana). wife’s brothers (takuna), and wives’
fathers (ngwelikana).
The emphasis is on formality and avoidance of
any reference to sexual matters*
224
The vale vale relationship, which is considered to be the polar
opposite of the hati, is between alternate generations (tumbuna and
vagambuina) and is characterised by lack of formality and a constant
ribald reference to sexual matters.
The teasing and joking element is
strongest when between people of opposite sex.
This is the only-
relationship that does not fall within the incest prohibition.
The remaining relationships, those between siblings of the same
sex, mother and daughter and father and son are mwenda or ordinary.
They are characterised by neither avoidance nor joking and vary between
the authoritative and egalitarian extremes depending on generation and
age.
Table XXVI gives a brief summary of these twelve kin categories.
I have described each relationship as it applies to the most closely
related kin
-
the more remote the genealogical connection the less
the distinguishing characteristics apply.
TABUS XXVI
SACRED, JOKING, AND ORDINARY KIN
Terminology
Type
Primary Characteristics
Sibling of
opposite 36x
Hangwena
Hati
Total avoidance from
puberty to senility
Mother*s brother
Tokana
Hati
Sister*s daughter
duvina
Same as hangwena though
violations not regarded
as seriously.
Father - daughter
Tamana natuna
Hati
Partial avoidance from
puberty to senility
Mother - son
Retahina natuna
Hati
Partial avoidance from
puberty to senility
Relationship
(cont*d. next page)
225
TABLE
XXVI
(c o n tin u e d )
SACKED, JOKING, AND ORDINARY KIN
R e l a ti o n s h i p
T erm in o lo g y
W ife 1s m o th er d a u g h t e r s husband n g w e lik a n a
Husband - w ife
Tuana m w arasea
- v a v in e h in a
M other*s b r o t h e r
Tokana
- s i s t e r * s so n
d u v in a
-
Type
P rim a ry C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s
R a ti
P a r t i a l a v o id a n c e
-
L im ite d a v o id a n c e a t
s p e c i f i e d p e r io d s
Kokona
An a m b iv a le n t r e l a t i o n s h i p
w hich a tte m p ts t o com bine
fo rm a l r e s e r v e w ith a n
in tim a c y s i m i l a r t o t h a t
b etw een b r o th e r s * The MB
te n d s t o re g a r d h i s ZS a s
more kokona th a n v ic e v e r s a .
Kokona
W ife 's f a t h e r
N gw elikana
Kokona
A l l o f th e s e a f f i n a l
r e l a t i o n s h i p s s t r e s s form
a l i t y and a v o id a n c e o f an y
r e f e r e n c e t o s e x u a l m a tte r s .
The ZH i s more kokona th a n
t h e WB, and t h e WB more so
th a n th e WF.
G ra n d p a re n ts G ra n d c h ild re n
Tumbuna vagam buina
V ale
v a le
J o k in g r e l a t i o n s h i p w ith
s tr o n g s e x u a l c o n n o ta tio n *
F a th e r - so n
Tamana n a tu n a
Mwenda
In tim a c y sind a f f e c t i o n
u n t i l so n le a v e s h o u se
a b o u t 10 t o 1 2 . From th e n
on em phasis on a u t h o r i t y
o f f a th e r *
M other - d a u g h te r
R e ta h in a n a tu n a
Mwenda
A c l o s e and f r i e n d l y
r e l a t i o n s h i p m a in ta in e d
th ro u g h o u t l i f e .
S i s t e r * s husband - Takuna
w i f e 's b r o t h e r
( c o a t 'd n e x t p ag e)
TABLE rar
(continued)
SACRED, JOKING, AND ORDINARY KIN
Relationship
Siblings of same
sex
Sibling
Terminology
Typ«
Tuana
Mwenda
Primary Characteristics
A reciprocal relationship
with strong emphasis on
equality of status. It
is significant that un-
like both east Aoba and
Malekula there are no
terms for elder and
younger sibling.
of opposite sex
The avoidance rule between siblings of opposite sex is one of the
most pronounced features of the social structure.
The separation
begins when the boy is weaned at the age of two or three and he moves
into the inner compartment of the house to sleep with his father.
For
the next four or five years he continues to talk and play with his
sisters, but during the subsequent stage, till puberty, his parents
and other adults spend more and more time explaining that too close an
association is both bad (hati) and shameful (malmai).
Eventually the
father, or any senior relative, who sees him in the company of his
sister beats them both.
The boy leaves his parents* house when he is close to puberty.
He can never again enter it so long as one of his sisters is still a
resident.
He is equally prohibited from entering a married sister*s
or sister*s daughter*s house.
227
M u lt siblings of opposite sex should never converse and so far as
possible avoid seeing one another.
I f they meet on a track the s is te r
runs into the bush and hides h erself.
I f a man should by chance see his
s is te r when she has climbed a tree to collect f r u it she is ashamed and
may commit suicide by jumping.
Hsr shame arises from the fact that her
brother might see her g enitals, a vision so dangerous that he might
possibly die*
In order to compensate she must ask her father or husband
to send the brother a small pig or a number of mats. A. woman cannot
eat a pig sacrificed by her brother or mother^ brother, nor can she
eat a pudding covered with coconut milk extracted by eith er of these
re la tiv e s.
A man cannot eat any food th at has been handled by his
s is te r or sister* s daughter.
In theory, these prohibitions apply equally to a l l those kin of
opposite sex who f a l l within the hangwena, duvina and tokana categories.
In practice the rules are maintained with considerable stric tn ess i f the
genealogical connection is known, and even more so, i f they liv e in the
same parish.
Missionaries have constantly attacked the rules of avoid
ance but with l i t t l e success.
Mother and son
The mother - son bond is notable for i t s formality and reserve
rather than physical avoidance.
They must not sleep in the same house,
but may speak to one another provided they face in opposite directions.
When an elderly woman is widowed one of her married sons usually makes
a
hut in his compound for her.
They may then ta lk together
frequently, but when doing so must observe the rule of looking in
opposite directions and avoid direct reference to sex*
Father and daughter
The father - daughter relationship is similar to that between
mother and son, though there is less formality.
The unmarried daughter
can sleep in her father*s house but must remain in the outer compartment
with her mother.
After her marrige the father is prohibited from
entering her husband*s dwelling, though she frequently returns for short
visits.
Interpretation
Radcliffe-Brown^1) considered avoidance to be an extreme form of
institutionalized joking in that both are means of reconciling the
hostile and friendly, or disjunctive and conjunctive components
characteristic of certain kin and affinal relationships.
Firth^
similarly emphasised the part played by avoidance and restraint in
reducing the possibility of conflict between close relatives.
This
type of functional interpretation, though obviously valid, fails to
add much to our understanding.
The question
of why such relationships
differ from one society to another remains unanswered.
I do not intend
to put forward a general explanation, but rather to demonstrate that
in Aoba the various degrees of avoidance and restraint are in part
related to the ideology of male - female polarity and in part to the
1* Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. Structure and Function in Primitive Society,
London, 1952, pp. 90-104.
2. Firth, R. We. The Tikopia, London, 1936, pp. 322^4,
229
ideology of matrilineal descent*
The Nduindui state that a man must avoid close contact with his
sacred female kin because they are hati.
Such women possess a super
natural power inherent in their physiology that automatically results
in weakness, illness or death for any man who is sufficiently foolish
to ignore the various prohibitions*
Wives and vagambui and tumbui women
are hati and dangerous only when menstruating and giving birth to
children.
But sisters, sisters* daughters, mothers and daughters are
constantly hati
-
they are like a woman who never stops menstruating.
The sexual basis of avoidance is also apparent in that copulation
between a man and any of his female sacred kin is regarded as incestuous*
The more sacred the relationship, the worse the fault; or, put slightly
differently, the stronger the pattern of avoidance the louder the
condemnation and severity of the penalty imposed.
Informants assured
me that if in the past brothers and sisters, or mothers* brothers and
sisters* daughters, were discovered in sexual union they would either
be killed by their close kin or commit suicide*
I was unable to discover any actual cases of incest between full
siblings, though it is common between classificatory brothers and sisters.
During the course of my fieldwork I heard of two cases of sexual inter
course between a man and his true daughter and one between a man and
his own mother.
All three provoked strong indignation and criticism,
though the penalties imposed were no more than heavy fines paid to the
district church council and some months* suspension from church member
ship.
230
F o x h a s recently produced evidence which, though by no means
fully establishing, nevertheless raises the probability that there is
a direct correlation between an avoidance or separation pattern initiat
ed at an early age between siblings of the opposite sex, and a
correspondingly strong desire for sexual intercourse during adulthood
and severe penalties*
The desire element is difficult to establish
without the aid of psycho-analysis, but at least the Nduindui give plenty
of overt evidence that it is present in considerable strength. Nduindui
society began with a series of incestuous relationships between brothers
and sisters and the theme regularly crops up in myths and dreams.
In
real life the sexual adventures that men take the greatest delight in
recounting are those with closely related classificatory sisters, and
to a slightly lesser extent sisters* daughters.
coincide with
Fqx *s hypothesis
The remaining factors
- avoidance is begun at an early age
and is extreme and the penalty is said to have been death.
In the
mother - son,and father - daughter relationships there is a correspond
ing reduction in both the degree of avoidance, the severity of the
punishment, and if the evidence of mythology and dreams is worth any
thing, most probably the desire.
The kokona category of sacred relatives consists of kin and affines
who are related to a man through a woman and vice versa.
The sexual
basis of this extension is evident in a number of contexts.
Firstly,
the Nduindui state that the mothers* brothers, sisters* sons, and
sisters * husbands are kokona because of their close association with
1* Fox, J.R. "Sibling Incest”, British Journal of Sociology. Vol.
XIII, No. 2, 1962.
231
the h ati mother and sisters*
.
I t is for th is reason that these relatives
are considered to be more sacred than the wife*s parents* Secondly,
the principal re stric tio n in the kokona type of relationship is that no
reference should be made to sex, menstruation or childbirth.
Thirdly,
the kokona and h ati sacred relativ es are identified in the context of
swearing*
I f a man is accused of some crime and wishes to demonstrate
his innocence he swears by the head of one of these rela tiv es, the most
convincing being th at of a s is te r, s i s t e r cs son, mother or mother^
brother.
I f he should have perjured himself the h ati or kokona power
of these relativ es w ill re su lt in a serious illness*
The east Aobans also d is tin g u is h between avoidance, respect,
intimate and joking relationships, and, though the basis of c la s s ific a t
ion is superficially sim ilar to th at of the Nduindui, at le a st as
regards the more extreme forms, there are a number of significant d iffe r
ences. As among the Nduindui, to ta l avoidance is practised between
siblings of opposite sex and mothers* brothers and sisters* daughters,
and in a modified form between a man and his mother* But the further
extensions of these terms group together a d ifferen t set of kin.
The
principal difference is th a t the east Aoban avoidance rule applies only
to opposite-sex kin and affines who are of the same moiety.
The range
is therefore narrower than in Nduindui as, from the male point of view
i t excludes such kin as fa th e rs' siste rs (and a ll retahina bulanatoa) ,
and daughters.
The evidence from the northern New Hebrides suggests th at there is
close inverse correlation between the degree of general separation
between the sexes and the severity of the avoidance rules between
232
,
specified kin*
In Malekula general separation is highly developed but
there are no specific prohibitions against interaction between siblings
of opposite sex, or between parents and children.
Indeed, Deacon
reports that brothers and sisters are expected to be close friends.
In Nduindui the general separation is less marked, and varying degrees
of avoidance are practised between all kin of opposite sex other than
those in the grandparent - grandchild category (tumbuna - vagambuina)*
In east Aoba there is a further reduction in the general sex division,
and avoidance relationships are confined to the same moiety.
Inform
ants from both sides of the island emphasized that the Easterners1
avoidance relationships, especially that between mother and son, are
stronger, and when violated more severely penalized than in Nduindui.
Nduindui joking relationships apply to all true and classificatory
grandchildren and grandparents.
In east Aoba the principle of matri-
lineal descent again makes its presence felt in restricting this kind
of relationship to members of the same moiety who refer to one another
as tumbune or vagambuine.
The extension of these terms result^in a
joking relationship between a woman and her husband*s brother, a man
and his mother*s brother*s wife and various other relatives between
whom such light-heartedness would in Nduindui be unthinkable.
All
inter-moiety relationships, including the tumbune - vagambuine, are
supposed to be respectful and verging on the formal.
Mother*s brother and sister*s son
I shall now conclude the chapter by examining in greater detail
two of the most important non-agnatic roles - that of the mother*a
233
b ro th er and th e fath er* s s i s t e r .
In a so ciety such as Nduirudui, where in h eritan ce i s p a tr ilin e a l
and residence p a tr i - v ir i l o c a l, a man*s mother*s b ro th er, m other's
brother*s son, m other's mother and m other's fa th e r liv e to g e th e r in
the same parish*
In such conditions th e re a re , broadly speaking, two
ways in which he can th in k of h is m other's b ro th er, e ith e r as a close
m a trilin e a l kinsman, and as such id e n tifie d w ith the m other's mother,
or as a member of a co -re sid en t property owning group of male agnates
and th e re fo re id e n tifie d w ith the m other's f a th e r and m other's b ro th e r’s
son.
In thoroughly u n ilin e a l s o c ie tie s th e re are no such a lte rn a tiv e s*
In the m a trilin e a l case, e ith e r w ith u x o rilo c a l o r av u n cu lo -v irilo ca l
resid en ce, the mother’s b ro th er liv e s ap art from his male agnates and
m aintains a close bond w ith h is s i s t e r 's son.
When descent-group
a f f i l i a t i o n i s exclu siv ely agnatic and residence p a tr i - v ir i l o c a l a man's
primary m a tr ila te r a l o b lig atio n s are towards h is m other's fa th e r as
the sen io r member of a lo c a liz e d lin e ag e , and only secondarily towards
h is m other's brother*
In Nduindui the ag natic p rin c ip le i s most evident during childhood
and adolescence. Boys and young men in te r a c t w ith and help t h e i r
m other's fa th e r more freq u en tly than t h e i r m other's b ro th e rs.
On
numerous occasions when I asked youths where they had spent th e day they
re p lied th a t they had been helping t h e i r m other's father*
This p a tte rn
i s e sp e c ia lly n o ticab le when a man's own fa th e r i s s t i l l alive*
The
youth goes to help h is m aternal grandfather not so much as th e expected
behaviour of a close cognate but ra th e r as a s o rt of secondary a f f i na l
re la tiv e *
By t h is I mean th a t he helps h is grandfather as a continuation
234
of the same assistance given by his own father to the latter!s wife’s
father.
This sort of thinking is evident in an informants statement
about his son, who was aged about six.
He was a conscientious son-in-
law who frequently helped his wife’s father, Gabriel, in collecting
copra and in gardening.
"It is good that I help Gabriel all my life,
and good too that I help his son John a little bit.
When my son Leri
is big enough he, too, will help Gabriel plenty and John a little.
When Gabriel dies, then Leri will help John much more.
Leri follows
me in this business; I help my wife’s kin, my son helps his mother’s
kin."
When we examine the affective side of these relationships the
matrilineal element is more prominent.
Anthropologists have frequently
noted that in patrilineal societies the mother’s brother - sister’s
son tie is characterised by familiarity, and at times even ritualized
joking.
In the most thoroughly agnatic societies, where the terminology
is of the Fox type (MB, MBS and MBSS etc., all referred to by the same
term), a similar type of relationship is extended to include all of
the mother’s male agnates.
But this is not so in Nduindui.
A man
jokes with his mother’s father but he does not take such liberties with
his mother’s brother.
He should show respect towards his "sacred”
uncle, though there is little of the authoritative element characteristic
of most matrilineal societies.
The relationship is thus a compromise
between the joking and the matrilineal avunculi potestas extremes.
Though a man tends to group his mother’s father and mother’s brother
together in terms of help and services, he differentiates between them
in affective and behavioural terms.
235
When discussing the kinship terminology I pointed out that there
was a parallel inconsistency in the generational placing of the m o t h e r ^
brother.
From one point of view he is a sort of elder brother and from
another a generation senior to his nephew.
A compromise is reached in
behavioural terms in that though the uncle should be respected he has
few if any actual demands over his s i s t e r ^ son.
In conversation the
two can joke together, but they must avoid the obscenity considered
proper between alternate generations.
In matrilineal east Aoba joking
is prohibited, and the relationship is more authoritarian than in
Nduindui.
In Nduindui there are few rights, duties and obligations associat
ed with the avuncular relationship.
The
nephew should help his uncle
in preparing feasts, gardening and copra production.
But his uncle
cannot demand such services, in fact he frequently finds it necessary
to pay wages.
of help.
ffe is not expected to return this rather dubious sort
The avoidance rule between a man and his sister makes it
difficult for him to visit while the s i s t e r ^ son is still a boy at
home.
Should he wish to do so he approaches the house with caution and
calls the nephew out.
This same difficulty accounts for the fact that
while a man frequently visits his wife *s brother, the latter seldom,
if ever, reciprocates.
The mother*s brother is supposed to take a close interest in the
welfare of his nephews
-
he should let them make gardens on his
land and help them achieve their rank-taking or commercial ambitions.
In fact, however, this sort of help can hardly be distinguished from
that offered by more remote cognates.
In one instance a young man
.
236
was in serious difficulties over the breakdown of his engagement as a
result of a quarrel between his parents and those of his fiancee.
When I asked his uncle for further information, I found that the man
had not even heard of what was going on
-
and this despite a formal
hearing of the case at which about fifty senior men, including a
number from the uncle1s parish, had been in attendance.
In many patrilineal societies the sister*s son has the right to
take his mother*s brother*s property without first seeking
permission.
This is also the case in Nduindui, with garden produce, cooked food
and minor personal possesions such as clothes.
The most extreme form
of this custom, "ritual stealing", has been interpreted by Goody ^
as
a symbolic expression of the submerged inheritance rights of the
sister*s son in a patrilineal society.
Because the nephew is excluded
from full rights in his uncle*s property he asserts his residual rights
by openly "stealing" within the context of ritual.
I could find no
evidence of any such custom in Nduindui, and though the point is a
minor one, it is consistent with my interpretation of the avuncular
relationship as partly, though by no means wholly, controlled by
agnatic sentiments.
Father*s sister and brother*s child
The role of the father*s sister cannot be so simply correlated
with descent, residence or inheritance.
In neither matrilineal nor
patrilineal societies is it usual for group membership and rights in
1. Goody, J. The Mother*s Brother and the Sister*s Son in West Africa,
JRAI. Vol. 39, Pt. I, 1959, pp. 61-87.
237
property to be transmitted from a woman to her brother1s children,
Radcliffe-Brown attempted to overcome this difficulty by introducing
his extension-of-sentiment argument.
He stated that in a patrilineal
society the father*s sister is a person of outstanding importance
because she is a sort of female father - like the true father she is
in a position of authority over her brother*s children.
But this
>argument fails to account for those matrilineal societies in which she
is also recognised as being of special significance.
In east Aoba she
is honoured because she is a female member of the father’s matri-elan,
not because she is a sort of female agnate.
This is clearly expressed
in the statement ”We respect our father’s sisters because they axe
matrilineal kin of our father
(havai tamanguV ’,
In the section on kinship terminology I noted that the east Aobans
differentiate the father’s sister from the mother by the use of the
qualifying term “ray fowl“ (bulangu toa),
essence of the relationship
-
services by the father’s sister
The phrase indicates the
the performance of numerous ritual
for each of which she must be given
a fowl.
When a child is bora the mother rubs a dead fowl on the infant’s
navel and then presents the bird to her husband’s sister.
The act is
said to unite two matrilineal descent groups in the form of a child.
The father’s sister responds by naming the infant.
When a girl reaches
puberty the father’s sister tattoos her, and in return receives another
fowl.
The father’s sister must also be present during the first night
after the girl’s irarriage to ensure that the husband succeeds in
breaking the hymen.
Should he fail the older woman makes the girl bleed
23Ö
with a roll of nettles*
Again, the father must give his sister a fowl*
Each time a man sacrifices pigs he must present a ritually-cooked
fowl to his father’s sister, and when he dies she must stand on his
grave and summon his spirit to come and eat the food that she has
prepared for him*
She then eats a portion herself and leaves the rest
on the grave*
In all these ritual prestations the father*3 sister is honoured
as a senior female member of her matri-clan.
If the true father *s
sister is dead or not available, then her daughter or any other woman
referred to as bulana toa takes her place.
This sort of case cannot
be explained by Radcliffe-Brown *3 theory.
In Nduindui the father*3 sister is less clearly differentiated.
Terminologically she is simply "mother" with no qualifying adjective.
Her brother*3 children do not have to present her with fowl, and she
has no specific duties to perform.
Whether or not she is present for
important ritual depends on personal and variable factors.
She is in
practice less likely to attend than the mother*3 sisters or father*s
brothers* wives.
When a girl marries and leaves her father*s parish her brother*3
sons must regularly help the men of her household.
Requests from the
father*s sister*3 husband cannot be lightly ignored, and as with a man
and his wife*3 and mother*s close kin, the traffic is one way.
When
discussing the mother*s brother I noted that the emphasis is on the
affinal link between two agnatic groups.
The sister’s son tends to
regard his mother’s brother as the son of his father *3 wife’3 parents
rather than as a primary matrilineal kinsman.
The affinal element is
239
is similarly emphasised in the bond between a man and his father *s
sister*
Unlike the east Aobans, who maintain a direct ritual relation
ship with the father*s sister and her daughter, the Nduindui are more
concerned with maintaining friendly inter-group relations with her
husband, and to a lesser extent her son.
CHAPTER VIII
TRADITIONAL RANK AND LEADERSHIP
Rank, environment and wealth in Melanesia
The looseness or flexibility of Melanesian societies consists in
large part of an absence of formal political structure and little or
no social stratification.
Leadership is typically competitive and open
to all men with the necessary ambition and ability; there are seldom
any important hereditary offices or, with only a few minor exceptions,
v
age grades, social classes or ranked descent groups.
Pouwer, when noting the Papuan's dislike of plantation labour,
described an egalitarian ideology typical of most Melanesian societies.
He wrote,
The lack of social classes, the slight differences in status, and
the ideal of equality, together with the strongly maintained
principle of reciprocity, have the consequence that he has difficulty
in considering himself in a relationship of inferior to superior.(1)
Pouwer argued that the absence of hierarchy, like all other
manifestations of loose structure, is correlated with
a very unfavourable natural environment which demands great power
of adaptation on the part of the population. There is frequently
1. Pouwer, J. nNew Guinea as a Field for Ethnological Study1*, Bi.idr.
Taal-. Land«-. Volkenk, Vol. 117, 1961, p. 13.
241
even a surplus of foods prized by the people, e.g. fish and sago.
However, the limited technical equipment possessed by the Papuan
- a cultural factor, therefore - sind the geographical distribution
of sources of food (sago areas, the necessity for extensive shifting
cultivation) keeps yields low in relation to the time expended on
them, and militate against an economic surplus. (1)
Barnes, when noting the low level of lineage solidarity in the
New Guinea Highlands (as compared with that found in such African
societies as the Tiv, Nuer and Tallensi), made a similar observation.
Before the coining of commercial crops there were in the Highlands,
apart from groves of nut pandanus, comparatively few tree crops
or sites of particularly high fertility such as in Africa often
forms a substantial part of the collective capital resources of a
lineage segment. In New Guinea a man's capital resources consist
largely in the obligations which he has imposed on his exchange
partners and, on his death these resources may be dissipated or
disappear entirely. Hence to a greater extent than in Africa
every man in the New Guinea Highlands starts from scratch and has
to build up his own social position. Once again, we must not carry
the contrast too far. Clearly even in New Guinea it is generally
an advantage to be the son of a big man, just as in Africa the
eldest son of an eldest son does not attain leadership without some
personal ability; but the contrast remains.(2)
The point that I want to emphasize is that the same economic factor,
an absence of heritable wealth, prevents the development of both
corporate lineages and hereditary leadership.
It is for this reason
that the principle of reciprocity, which implies equality of personal
status, is of such importance in Melanesian societies.
A man who
desires to become a leader, and hence capable of financing large-scale
feasts and ceremonies, can only do so by building up credit through
1. Pouwer, p. 3. His use of the phrase ’'economic surplus” is
questionable. What he is clearly referring to is an absence of valuable
heritable wealth - the same point that Barnes makes in the following
quotation.
2. Barnes, J.A. "African Models in the New Guinea Highlands”, Man
Vol.62,1962,p.8.
242,
the successful manipulation of a complex series of g ift and counter
g if t.
The personal q u alities required, intelligence, industry,
generosity, etc« are of such a kind that the great majority of adult
men possess them in varying degrees.
The re su lt is an open diffuse
system of leadership in which important policy decisions are arrived
at in public meetings in which a ll the adult men of the community
p articip ate.
There are, of course, a number of Melanesian s o c ie tie s^ ) where
hereditary leadership and social s tra tific a tio n do ex ist, even i f no
where so highly developed as in parts of Africa and Polynesia.
But
the general v alid ity of my in terp retatio n is supported by two observ
ations - the hierarchical structure is never more than a secondary
modification superimposed on an otherwise open and competitive system
of leadership, and hereditary rank invariably coincides with unusually
valuable and heritable possessions, eith er m aterial (land, fishing
grounds, hierlooms, mats, e tc .), immaterial (magic,sorcery, and other
forms of esoteric knowledge) or both.
The p o litic a l structure of the Trobriand islands has recently been
analysed by Singh Uberoi from th is point of view.
His two main points
are th at though rank is an important social principle Mit is not to be
understood as a reflectio n of authorityM, ^ a n d th at 11the rank of a
local lineage should be regarded as the outcome of a combination of
three things: 1. economic advantage, which means a village with f e r tile
1. Trobriands; the Koita, Mekeo, Roro and Manam of New Guinea;
Mowehafen in New B ritain; Saa and parts of San Gristoval in the Solomon
Islands; and most of the central and southern New Hebrides.
2. Singh Uberoi, J . P o litics of the Kula Ring. Manchester, 1962,p.43#
A3
gardens, or one particularly well situated for fishing; 2. the extent
to which it is a centre integrating the economic activities of its
neighbours; and 3« its position in the network of overseas alliances•“ ^ )
The marked local variations in soil fertility, availability of
fishing grounds, and strategic positions for trade, together provide
an ecological background well suited to the development of wealthy,
and hence socially superior, lineages.
The institutions of polygyny
and urigubu prestations (annual harvest contributions sent by a man
to his sister1s household) enable men of high rank to accumulate large
surplus produce.
The authority and influence of the hereditary
Trobriand “chief“ is therefore, like all Melanesian leaders, based
primarily on his wealth.
His membership of a superior lineage gives
him an initial advantage over his competitors, but unless he can
accumulate and distribute wealth, his rank gives him little or no
authority and influence.
In the Trobriands the principal political consequence of rank is
that it limits the size of the political unit that an aspiring leader
may compete for.
A man who succeeds in establishing himself as the
headman of a low-ranking lineage is limited to the extent that he can
never assume village leadership - a privilege reserved for a member of
the dominant lineage in that particular community.
At a yet higher
level, a village-leader of low-rank is excluded from the headmanship
of a village-cluster or district.
Malinowski describes these low-
ranking leaders as ‘‘nothing more than the primus inter pares in a
group of village elders, who deliberate on all important matters
1. ibid.
244.
together, and arrive at a decision by common consent.” 0 )
Elsewhere he
refers to a category of “notables”, who in a village of high rank
consist of close kinsmen of the chief.
But in low ranking villages
the notables are described as “old men, especially those who either
practise an important form of magic, or have acquired an outstanding
position by virtue of personal skill in some industry, or the knowledge
of some pursuit, such as sailing, fishing or gardening.” (2) -phe
political structure of these low ranking villages is thus similar to
the common Melanesian council system in which all responsible adult
males have the right to contribute to policy making deliberations.
Hereditary rank is operative primarily in limiting the arena within
which each man can legitimately compete for power and influence.
The political structure of the northern New Hebrides occupies an
intermediary position between the egalitarian model of the unrestricted
council, possibly best represented by the New Guinea Highlands, and the
hierarchical model in which positions of authority are confined to high
ranking lineages.
Througout this area the typical Melanesian compet
itive system of leadership operates within a formal structure of
ranked titles.
But unlike the Trobriands, personal ability rather
than birth determines a m a n *3 status.
The graded society can be
described as a hierarchy of ranked positions for which ambitious men
can compete.
The
assumption of the higher titles provides a means
whereby leaders are publicly recognised and acknowledged, and in so
far as the titles are associated with office, they enable their holders
1. Malinowski, B. Argonauts of the Western Pacific. London, 1922,p.62.
2. Malinowski, B. Coral Gardens and their Magic. Vol.I,London,t935,
p.39.
Ä45
to consolidate and yet farther increase their authority and influence.
As compared with the Trobriands, the absence of hereditary ranked
lineages is correlated with a natural environment (especially in Aoba)
in which resources are so evenly distributed that no one local group
has a marked economic advantage over its neighbours.
But as compared.
(1)
with the Highlands,
the New Hebrideans have valuable and durable
manufactured possessions, especially slit-gongs and mats,
A full
orchestra of gongs takes many years to manufacture, but once possessed
greatly increases the speed at which the owner can advance through the
ranks of the graded society.
The mats, which last for many generations,
provide a convenient form of storable and heritable wealth that can be
converted when needed into pigs, insignia of rank, wives, labour or
even slit-gongs.
Unfortunately there is insufficient information to establish what,
if any, ecological factors are correlated with local variations,
especially the development of hereditary principles in north Malekula
and north Raga.
I can only suggest that the high mountainous
terrain
of these two communities is associated with marked differences in the
availability, quantity, and fertility of land suitable for gardening.
A brief visit that I made to north Raga indicated that this could well
be the case.
I shall now discuss the two components of Nduindui leadership, the
open and informal council system, and the superimposed and more rigid
1. The Highlands are not, of course, without some forms of heritable
and valuable possessions - especially shells. But they are used in a
narrower range of contexts and are not so easily convertable into other
commodities as is the case with the New Hebrides mats.
246
hierarchy of titles*
The council system of Leadership
The c o u n c i l ^
is an informal body of men who meet to discuss
matters that are of concern to the community.
There are no hard and
fast rules of membership; the principal qualifications are permanent
residence, adulthood, and the respect of one’s neighbours*
Young men
have little to contribute and though no one objects to their active
participation it is considered more appropriate that they should remain
silent and learn from their elders*
Women cannot enter the clubs when
meetings are held, though they frequently participate by sitting outside
and making forceful comments •
The typical pattern is as follows*
A person who has a serious
problem first discusses it privately with a number of the senior men in
the parish*
If they consider the matter to be of general concern one
of them summons a meeting by blowing a conch-shell in the principal
club*
The instigator, or some senior person
responsible for him,
opens the discussion by presenting the facts in detail*
speaker then follows*
Speaker after
Some of them may be directly interested in the
outcome, but others simply use the occasion to display their wisdom,
the.
1 * In Nduindui, as in most Melanesian societies^same body of men act
as both council and court* I shall use the term council other
than in those contexts where the group is obviously operating in a
judical context* The Nduindui make no terminological
distinction
- any large meeting of men who come together to talk, either as council
or court, is referred to as ”senior men talk-talk” (mwarasea kwakwa
kwakwa).
247
powers of oratory or influence.
There are no formal conventions as to
priority, though the older men tend to bide their time until the main
issues are clear.
As the discussion progresses the arguments of certain
men begin to gain ground and gradually dissenters withdraw and say no
more.
Their silence does not necessarily imply that they agree with
the majority opinion, but simply that for the sake of overt unanimity
they have decided, at least for the moment, to keep their opinion to
themselves.
If they do not seriously dissent, they may co-operate in
whatever action is necessary.
The influence of leaders is most apparent when there is any
difficulty in reaching a decision.
In the discussion they wait until
lesser men have had their say, and then when they speak they do so
forcibly and leave no room for ambiguity or doubt as to their opinion.
Usually such a speech results in the rapid withdrawal of those who
expressed a contrary point of view.
But if debate 3till continues,
two or three of the senior men may go outside the building and confer.
Should they be able to agree they return and one of them takes the floor,
states the solution, and reminds the company of the desirability of
reaching a settlement.
If the leaders are not unanimous the meeting
is adjourned to a later date.
Council meetings are most commonly held by parishes, though some
times the members of smaller neighbourhood groups, especially semiautonomous parish sections (ngwatu 1 vanua), meet to discuss matters
of private concern.
The association
of clubs with all segments of
local grouping, from the single homestead up to the district, make
clear who is expected to attend a given meeting.
The instigator
248
simply blows the concha-shell in the relevant club*
When the issue to
be discussed is of interest to a number of neighbouring parishes a
joint meeting is held.
Young married men who might properly attend and
contribute to a parish meeting would be considered to be acting
with
presumption if they regulafly took a prominent part in these larger
inter-community discussions.
At a
higher level, meetings held by all
Nduindui Church-of-Christ parishes are supposed to be attended only by
those men who axe known as elders, teachers and deacons (see chapter IX).
There are about a hundred of these title holders (divided between
twelve parishes), though as a rule not more than about half of them
attend any particular meeting.
Parish meetings are mostly to discuss some current co-operative
project (such as a store, or a restaurant), or to make arrargements
for a feast or a wedding, or to consider some matter recently raised
at a district meeting,
(perhaps an inter-denominational football match,
the raising of funds for a new district church, or the financing of
teachers who are being sent to other islands), or to act as a court in
resolving some dispute between members.
If a parish court fails to
reach a settlement after three meetings, a district meeting is summoned.
If this also results in a deadlock either the French or British district
agent is called in.
In the two years that I spent in Nduindui the
only dispute to reach this last and much disliked stage was a difficult
land issue complicated by inter-mission hostility.
Methods of acquiring leadership status
In Nduindui, as in a n
Melanesian societies, the generous use of
249
wealth in financing feasts and ceremonies is the basic means of gaining
prestige and leadership.
Prior to the introduction of cash crops the
three main forms of wealth were pigs, garden produce and mats.
Of these
only mats could be accumulated and stored in the form of capital.
Pigs,
especially those of highest value with artificially deformed tusks,
were difficult to raise and keep.
To have them on hand, so that they
might be immediately available (for the highest ranks as many as a
hundred were necessary) entailed a heavy burden, and the investment
could be wiped out if the animals died.
Nor could a single family
maintain the large numbers required for major feasts, marriages, or
rank-taking ceremonies.
Rigidly structured societies,in which the solidarity of the group
is more highly regarded than the autonomy of the individual, can over
come the difficulty of perishable wealth by making large-scale occasions
the co-operative concern of corporate social units such as clans,
lineages or villages.
The garden produce, animals and other goods
required can be accumulated
or village members.
through the joint contributions of clan
But in Nduindui, as in the majority of loosely
structured Melanesian societies, the individual either alone or in
substantial part finances these major undertakings.
He finds the means
to do so by gradually putting a large number of other individuals into
a position of indebtedness.
In chapter VI I demonstrated how this
system operates in the exchange of wealth associated with marriage.
A man who wishes to raise the bride-price for his son announces the
date and then waits for all those to whom he made loans in the past,
or who themselves wish to create future credit, to present him with
250
the necessary goods.
Given such a system it is apparent that an ambitious man must
devote a greater part of his energies to building up credit.
He must
make bigger gardens than his competitors, maintain more pigs and fowls,
and encourage his wife or wives to manufacture surplus mats, so that
when he attends other people*s feasts and ceremonies he can make
large donations.
When the time comes for him to marry off his daughter
or to hold a sacrificial rite, his reputation is enhanced by the
quantity of goods that he has at his disposal.
A further political consequence of this investment system is the
pressure that a man can bring to bear on his debtors.
This was
apparent in the Natalu land conflict discussed in chapter V where I
showed how the Navuti leaders were able to influence the final decision
through the earlier debts contracted by Dali and Joseph Ala.
who owes
pigs and mats is always likely to lose
A man
his land rights, and
in order to prevent such an occurance he is eager to support his
creditor at all times.
An individual*s influence extends beyond the limits of his own
credit relationships.
When he decides to realize his claims it is
probable that many of his debtors do not at the time possess the
necessary goods.
other individuals.
This means that they, too, have to make demands on
The repercussions of a single transaction may
ramify indefinitely from parish to parish, district to district, and
sometimes even island to island.
Clearly the greater number of such
relationships that focus upon a particular individual the more powerful
and influential he will be.
At a later stage I shall demonstrate that
251
one o f th e p r in c ip a l ad v an tag es o f h ig h ran k i s t h a t i t g r e a t l y
in c r e a s e s th e range o f d e b t and c r e d i t r e l a tio n s h ip s t h a t th e h o ld e r
can e n te r i n t o .
But f i r s t I must e x p la in a number o f c o n ce p ts t h a t
a re b a s ic to a f u l l u n d e rs ta n d in g o f N duindui le a d e rs h ip and a u th o r ity .
Mana
C o d rin g to n ’s c l a s s i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h i s common P a c if ic concept
i s alm o st e n t i r e l y i n a cc o rd w ith th e r e s u l t s o f my own e n q u irie s in
N duindui.
He w ro te,
I t i s a power o r in f lu e n c e , n o t p h y s ic a l, and i n a way s u p e r n a tu r a l;
b u t i t shows i t s e l f in p h y s ic a l f o r c e , o r i n any kind o f power o r
e x c e lle n c e which a man p o s s e s s e s . T h is Mana i s n o t fix e d i n any
th in g , and can be conveyed i n alm o st a n y th in g ; b u t s p i r i t s , w hether
disem bodied s o u ls o r s u p e r n a tu r a l b e in g s , have i t , and can im p a rt
i t ; and i t e s s e n t i a l l y b elong s to p e rs o n a l b e in g s to o r ig i n a te i t ,
though i t may a c t th ro u g h th e medium o f w a te r, o r a s to n e , o r a
b o n e .^ )
I n th e e a r l y s ta g e s o f a m an's c a r e e r h is su ccess i n g a rd e n in g ,
p ig -b re e d in g , o ra to ry and i n h o ld in g m inor f e a s t s , i s s a id to be
because he has s tro n g mana. ^ 12 3) I n t h i s c o n te x t th e concept r e f e r s to
th e sum t o t a l o f h is a b i l i t i e s p lu s t h a t in ta n g ib le elem ent w hich i s
th o u g h t t o account f o r h is above av erag e s u c c e s s .
iL m an's mana i s
h is i n t e l l i g e n c e , w ill-p o w e r and p h y s ic a l s tr e n g th to g e th e r w ith some
th in g e x tr a which m ight w e ll be t r a n s l a t e d a s "lu ck " 0 ) 0T «the magic
to u c h ” •
1 . C o d rin g to n , f o o tn o te , p . 119.
2 . Mana i s th e a c t u a l term used in N duindui.
3 . Hogbin H .I. Mana, O ceania. V ol. VI, No. 3 , 1936, p . 265. The
a u th o r s i m i l a r l y compared Mana a s used i n G u ad alcan al and M a la ita w ith
lu c k .
252
Tangaroa
Later on, when the aspiring leader tackles bigger and more complicat
ed enterprises, his success is in part attributed to a more specific
power known as tangaroa»
A tiu tangaroa is the utterance that accompanies
all forms of magic, sorcery and prayer,
A man whose spells are reputed
to be powerful and effective and whose prayers are believed to be
answered, is said to have a tangaroa that is strong (karea).
T angaroa is similar to mana in that both refer to a man^s inherent
capacity to be successful in whatever he undertakes.
But whereas mana
accounts for ordinary skill and knowledge that is unusually effective,
tangaroa refers to a m a n 13 capacity to manipulate supernatural forces.
I nave perhaps over-emphasized the distinction.
One informant stated
that mana is that which makes tangaroa effective.
He argued that this
must be so as otherwise it would be impossible to account for those men,
who, either by inheritance or purchase, possess numerous spells which
are either ineffective or result in misfortune for themselves.
In practical terms, the distinction between a spell and the inherent
capacity to make it work (between tiu tangaroa
and tangaroa karea),
whether or not accounted for in terms of mana. provides a convenient
rationale for the weakness of hereditary principles.
The son of a
powerful leader may inherit many spells and prayers, but unless his
tangaroa is strong they are of little use to him.
Nor do the Nduindui
believe that mana and tangaroa are constant and unchanging attributes.
Lazy men who decide to work hard, acquire knowledge and sacrifice pigs
can increase their powers, while old and senile men who were once power
ful leaders lose much of their former authority and influence.
253
Kokona and hulrana
In the previous chapter I explained that men periodically became
sacred (kokona) by making payments, wearing insignia and killing pigs*
The kokona condition is not itself a power, but rather the most effect
ive and certain means whereby a man can acquire strong mana and tangaroa.
The pigs are killed to placate supernatural beings, which include
ancestral spirits (tamate). independent spirits of the bush and seashore
(tamate pohoki and vui) and Takaro the creator deity. Of these three
Takaro is the greatest.
He presides over the land of the dead and admits
only those who have sacrificed pigs.
Lesser men are sent back to their
parishes, where they wander as malicious and unhappy ghosts.
The recognition of Takaro as the ultimate source of supernatural
power is expressed in the triple utterance of his name as a preface to
all spells and prayers.
The identification of deity and personal power
is also apparent in that the word takaro is itself a linguistic
variant of tangaroa.
In this context it is worth noting that the Maori,
Samoan, Tongan, Marquesan, Tahitian and Hawaiian deity is known by the
same name.^
Men who have achieved the highest ranks in the graded society are
generally considered to have such strong tangaroa that they are aided
by supernatural beings.
Ghosts, though they may occasionally act in
such a manner, are mostly considered troublesome beings and are best
avoided.
The bush spirits sometimes befriend a man and give him
useful spells and magic objects, most commonly a means of increasing
1. Williamson, R.W. Essays in Polynesian Ethnology, edited by
Piddington, R., Cambridge, 1933, PP* 238-43*
254
his supply of pigs and mats.
But the greatest powers result from
Takaro*s special favour, which can be won only by sacrificing many pigs.
The two most effective forms of death sorcery (takwakwohi and
mala kangwaleva) may be inherited or purchased, but unless a man has
acquired a special power known as huirana. the spells and objects are
useless.
Huirana. like tangaroa. can be best understood as a specific
manifestation of mana; it is the mana that makes death sorcery effective.
Huirana can only be acquired by men who have achieved such high rank
that they are no longer like ordinary mortals.
They are men who are so
close to Takaro that they are said to be ’’high" (aulu) and constantly
sacred (kokona).
Indeed, the greatest men identify themselves with
Takaro by announcing at the conclusion of a sacrificial rite the
impressive words ”1 am in the sky high above
-
I am Takaro.” (Inau
taitai aulu - inau Takaro).
The graded society (Na Hungwe)
The term Na Hungwe^ )is used in a number of contexts.
A man is
said to make Na Hungwe. to make it in a particular way (Moli. Levuhi
and Vira), to take a Hungwe title, and to himself be a Hungwe.
A. man
who has made his Moli (val nona Moli) is known as a ”Moli man” (mwera
Moli) and is said to be a ”small Hungwe” (Hungwe kelekele).
Some
1 • As previously described, most west Aoba parishes had ceased to
perform the sacrificial rites,at which the titles were assumed, by 1930.
The last Hungwe ceremony was performed.in Apopo in 1953, a year prior
to my arrival. As the system is still operative in east Aoba, I use
the present tense throughout to avoid confusing alterations.
255
Levuhi men, especially those who are parish leaders, and all Vira men,
are dignified by the title "big fiungwe“ (Hungwe Lakua)•
standing ability who has completed the full cycle
A man of out
of ceremonies can
either repeat the Moli stage (Moli Bakarua = Moli twice), perform the
semi-secret Na Ngwatu or Na Mwai rites, or sacrifice sharks or men in
place of pigs.
He is referred to as a “big big Hungwe" (Hungwe Lakua
Lakua) or as Sirol Sirol.
The adjectives small and big indicate that the priveleges, rights
and powers associated with each of the main ranks differ in degree and
not in kind*
The cycle of ceremonies culminating in the highest grade
of the Moli rank (Hakwa Moli) are almost exactly the same as those that
lead to Hakwa Levuhi and Hakwa Vira,
The three differ only in the
amount and type of pigs that must be sacrificed, the insignia that must
be purchased and the scale of the payments that must be made*
In
political terms authority and influence gradually increase as a man
advances from stage to stage.
Rank is thus a formalised expression of
graded status and diffuse leadership.
In Table XXVII
I give the names of the eight sacrificial rites
culminating in Hakwa Vira.
TABLE XXVII
THE RANKS OF THE GRADED SOCIETY
Name of Rank
Toa
Moli
Name of Sacrificial Rite
Hehe Toa
Animale Sacrificed
Ten fowls
Kwalau Utu Karo Na Ngwevu
One tusked boar
Ifehe Moli
Ten tusked boars
of medium grade
Hakwa Moli
Ten sows
(cont'd. next page)
256.
TABLE XXVII
(c o n tin u e d )
THE RANKS OF THE GRADED SOCIETY
Name o f Rank
Name o f S a c r i f i c i a l R it e
A nim al S a c r i f i c e d
Höhe Marabu H angavulu
Ten tu s k e d b o a rs
o f mambu e ra d e
Hakwa L evuhi
Ten c a s t r a t e d p ig s
Hehe V ir a
Ten tu s k e d b o a r s o f
th e h ig h e s t g ra d e
(a la ).
Hakwa V ir a
A p p ro x im a te ly 100
p i g s , some c a s t r a t e d
and some sow s.
L evuhi
V ir a
“Meaning*1 o f ra n k names
The f i r s t , hehe t o a . i s a r e l a t i v e l y m in o r and u n im p o rta n t cerem ony
p erfo rm e d by a l l men f o r t h e i r so n s when b a b ie s o r young c h ild r e n *
The
seco n d , kw alau u t u k a ro n a ngwevu. i s a p r e li m i n a r y s a c r i f i c e t h a t i s a
p a r t o f t h e c a o li com plex.
The re m a in in g s i x c o n s i s t o f t h e hehe and
hakwa s ta g e s o f th e t h r e e m ain c e re m o n ia l c y c l e s .
Hehe i s a t e c h n i c a l
word t h a t r e f e r s t o th e a c t o f k i l l i n g a tu s k e d b o a r w ith a c e re m o n ia l
c lu b , and hakwa means "dance*1.
A man i s s a i d f i r s t o f a l l t o k i l l (h e h e )
h i s n a o li and th e n c e l e b r a t e i t w ith d a n c in g .
k i l l s and d a n c e s a t t h e hehe and hakwa s t a g e s .
I n p o in t o f f a c t he b o th
The p r i n c i p a l d i f f e r e n c e
i s i n th e ty p e o f p ig t h a t m ust be s a c r i f i c e d - tu s k e d b o a r s (k w a ri)
o r tu s k e d h e rm a p h ro d ite s ( rak w e) f o r t h e h eh e s t a g e , and sows ( d u r a ) o r
257
castrated pigs (boi vota) for the hakwa.
Toa means “fowl”•
Moli is a common noun, “orange” though informants
asserted that as a rank: name it had some other, but long forgotten,
connotation.
Layard stated that the word can be traced back to the
Indonesian paluh meaning “the one who sacrifices”.
He pointed out that
the Atchin verb pal and the south Raga mbal both mean “to sacrifice”.
As a title the same word reappears in various parts of the northern New
Hebrides as mal, moli, mol, mbalias and balias.
(1 1)23
Levuhi has no literal meaning though one informant expressed the
opinion that in remote times it was an alternative for rusa, “many”. ^
It is possible that its use as a rank name is connected with the increased
lavishness of the rite3.
Vira is a common noun, “flower”, and there can be no doubt that
the rites of this name are thought of as the full flowering of Na Hungwe.
Layard was informed by the linguist Capell that the word sukwe
is derived from the Indonesian semba, ”to worship, or honour”.^) I have
already indicated that though the Nduindui emphasise the political
aspect of the rites, they also consider them to be most solemn affairs
and a necessary means of gaining the support of Takaro and ensuring a
satisfactory after-life.
Rank and Leadership
The titles are acquired by those men who have the necessary means
1. Layard, p. 715.
2. Codrington translates this word as used in East Aoba as ”many”,p.113.
3. Layard, p. 693.
25#
and s k i l l to perform th e com p licated r i t u a l s a t which th e y a r e assum ed.
In th e low er ra n k s th e c o m p lic a tio n s a re m inim al and e n tra n c e no heavy
d r a in on th e re s o u rc e s o f th e p a r t i c i p a n t s .
The h ig h e r ra n k s become
s u c c e s s iv e ly more and more c o m p lic ate d and d i f f i c u l t .
Only men o f g r e a t
a m b itio n and u n u su al a b i l i t y can g a in th e to p .
From th e evidence o f g e n e a lo g ie s and in fo rm an ts* s ta te m e n ts
I
would deduce t h a t a t ab o u t th e tu r n o f th e c e n tu ry th e r e were approxim ate
l y h a l f a dozen men o f Ifekwa V ira o r h ig h e r ra n k in N duindui d i s t r i c t
(ab o u t one to e v ery fo u r p a r i s h e s ) .
They were acknowledged le a d e r s
o f t h e i r own p a ris h e s and u s u a lly e x e rc is e d a c o n sid e ra b le d e g re e o f
a u t h o r i t y in a l l n e ig h b o u rin g com m unities where th e le a d e r s w ere o f
low er ra n k .
Each p a r is h co u ld b o a s t o f from one to th r e e Levuhi and
ab o u t h a l f a dozen M oli men.
Most o f th e rem ain in g a d u lts would have
reach ed some p re lim in a ry s ta g e in th e long c y c le o f cerem onies c u lm in a t
in g i n th e hakwa m oli s a c r i f i c e .
In th e o ry any man can r i s e t o th e to p r e g a r d le s s o f th e ra n k o f
h is f a t h e r o r o th e r c lo s e kinsm en.
H e re d ita ry p r in c ip le s a re o p e ra tiv e
o n ly to th e e x te n t t h a t a le a d e r can, by v i r t u e o f h is su p erio r re s o u rc e s
and in f lu e n c e , en su re t h a t h is son s t a r t s w ith an i n i t i a l ad v an tag e by
ta k in g him th ro u g h th e low er s ta g e s when s t i l l a boy.
But f o r th e
h ig h e r ra n k s t h i s te c h n iq u e i s im p o ssib le as th e c a n d id a te h as to fin d
numerous spo n so rs and i n v e s t o r s .
G enealogies in d ic a te t h a t though th e r e i s a ten d en cy f o r c e r t a i n
k in groups t o c o n s i s t e n t l y produce le a d e r s o v er a number o f g e n e r a tio n s ,
o th e rs d e c lin e o r advance i n s t a t u s .
i n c e r t a i n com m unities.
Nor do h ig h ra n k e rs a p p e a r o n ly
Almost ev ery p a r is h i n th e d i s t r i c t can b o a st
259
of a Hungwe Lakua Lakua in recen t generations*
From the p o litic a l point of view the most im portant oonsequences
of high rank a re , on the one hand, the b e lie f th a t supernatural powers
are acquired by s a c rific in g p ig s, and, on the o th er, the r ig h ts and
p riv ile g e s which confer a u th o rity and the means of accumulating w ealth.
The higher anyone climbs in the hierarchy the g re a te r the number
of people who are d ir e c tly dependent on him fo r fu rth erin g t h e i r own
ambitions*
For example, a Moli man who wishes to proceed to the f i r s t
stage of the Levulii rank (hehe mambu hangavulu) ^ ^must k i l l te n boars
whose tusks have completed almost a f u l l c ir c le .
The length o f time
(seven to eight years) and the constant a tte n tio n necessary to ra is e
th ese animals ensure th a t only the o ld est and highest-ran k in g men w ith
many wives own more than two or th ree a t the most*
A man planning h is
hehe mambu hangavulu ceremony would consider him self fo rtu n ate i f he had
even one, and to make up the
required number he must th ere fo re persuade
a number of seniors to help him.
years building up c re d it and
Unless he has previously spent some
seeking favour with h is p o te n tia l donors,
he has l i t t l e chance of achieving h is goal*
Some months l a t e r the candidate holds a fu rth e r ceremony (vi hage
mwele hangavulu) a t
which he repays w ith one hundred per cent in te r e s t
those men who le n t him the mambu boars*
At the same tim e, he hands
over larg e q u a n titie s of pigs and mats in payment fo r various services
1 . Mambu means "boar w ith almost f u l l c ir c le tu sk " .
" te n " •
2« Vi hage means "ceremonial payment"*
black palm th a t is "sacred" (kokona) *
Hangavulu means
Mwele is the name of a small
260
and insignia supplied at the earlier sacrificial rite*
A rule whereby
only men of the rank aspired to or higher can provide this form of
assistance guarantees that the two essential, ingredients of leadership,
dependants and wealth, increase in direct proportion to rank,
A parish-leader usually has a club full of young men who are eager
to help him in his various projects in the hope that he will sponsor
them in the lower grades.
His older, and more senior, debtors, anxious
to secure his favour and thus move up a further step in the hierarchy,
give him support in disputes and in council discussions.
The payments
he receives from those men whom he chooses to sponsor enable him to
acquire secondary wives.
These women in turn multiply his possessions
so that he can contemplate more ambitious projects.
He may clear a new
dancing and sacrificial ground, manufacture a set of slit-gongs, build
an exceptionally long club-house, organize a na ngwatu
ceremony, or
perhaps even sacrifice pigs on neighbouring islands.
The lesser privileges of rank include the light to eat sacred
food on ritual occasions; to drink kava; to build an imposing grave;
and to look forward to an after-life spent in the company of men of
like rank.
I must emphasize, however, that a given rank does not automatically
result in the continuing support that enables a man to proceed still
higher.
Those seeking sponsors and investors can give their support to
whoever they think will best serve their interests.
Neither kinship
nor any other formal requirement limits this freedom of choice.
If a
youth offends his father he can always turn for help to some other man.
If a parish leader makes himself unpopular* he soon finds his club
261
d eserted and h is income reduced.
Moli
I s h a ll now give a b r ie f o u tlin e of the p rin c ip a l Moli r i t e s and
ceremonies.
TABUS m m
TIE MOLI RITES
P*
"'
U
U ....
'■ ............. .........■
M
Name of r i t e
-------------- - «
C entral a c tio n in r i t e
Kwalau u tu karo na ngwevu
T itle - ta k e r k i l l s one tusked
boar
Vi haee mwele hangavulu
T itle - ta k e r makes payments
Vor a
T itle - ta k e r fe a s ts p o te n tia l
donors and sponsors fo r hehe
moli ceremony.
V ik alala
T itle - ta k e r e n te rta in s p o te n tia l
donors and sponsors w ith food,
kava and dances.
Kihi
Loans promised to t i t l e - t a k e r
flehe moli
T itle - ta k e r s a c r if ic e s te n mambu
boars.
Vi hage mwele haneavulu
T itle - ta k e r makes payments fo r
hehe m oli.
Torea
Sows presented to candidate fo r
hakwa m oli.
(cont*d next page)
26a
TABLE XXVIII
(continued)
THE
MOLI
RITES
Name of rite
Central action in rite
Taundi mwanso
Candidate made "sacred" with
salt water and coconut milk.
Hakwa moli
Candidate kills ten sows.
Kwalau utu karo na ngwevu
Literally translated this phrase means "run break vine of the yam"*
Informants compared the breaking of a yam vine to the launching of a
young man into the full cycle of ceremonies by sacrificing a single
tusked boar.
The rite is performed during childhood or early adolescence and
is attended by the youth1s most immediate neighbours and kinsfolk only.
The lad*s father, provided he has himself performed the sacrifice, acts
as sponsor and introducer,
A small company of men from the candidate^ own parish open
proceedings with a short informal dance.
The sponsor then drags the
boar to the centre of the ground, tethers it to a stake and leads the
candidate in a stylized dance three times around the animal.
The youth
proceeds to kill it with a blow of a club, places a foot on the carcase
and
announces that he has a new name.
appropriate for each rank,
Certain names are considered
A suitable choice for this humble stage would
263
be «Moli Little« (Moli Kelekele) or »Moli Softly« (Moli Tambe).
Vira
men can select such impressive names as "Takaro Big« (Takaro Lakua),
«Vira Lightning» (Vira Na Langi) or «Thunder« (Ngwatu Hari).
The candidate wears a few simple insignia, such as a single leaf
(ngarlhi ala
-
a leaf that curves in a circle like an ala tusk) on
the small of his back and a single feather (siviru) in his hair.
Later
on, when he kills a further ten boars for the hehe moli stage, he adds
ten more leaves and feathers.
By this means rank can be ascertained at
a glance - a device particularly useful in determining at what oven an
overseas (or east Aoba) visitor should eat.
The youth wears a few spots
of red paint on his forehead, and a dancing apron hangs from his waist
to his knees•
Each of the eight ranks from hehe toa up to hakwa vira
has its distinctive apron.
Vi hage mwele hangavulu
The candidate has to make substantial payment for the boar and
insignia, an account which he publicly settles some months later.
The
Vi hage ceremonies are attended by as many spectators as are the sacrific
ial rites and are considered to be just as important.
Even when the
sponsor is the candidate^ own father, who usually supplies his son
with the necessary mats and pigs, the formalities must be observed.
Proceedings open in the evening with a series of dances that
continue to dawn.
The candidate, assisted by a couple of men, ties ten
tuskless pigs to the cycas palms.
Accompanied by a man of moli or higher
rank he dances three times around them, places his foot against each and
calls out to his sponsor, «here are your pigs«.
This man steps forward,
264
circles the animals, touches each with a croton leaf as a sign of accept
ance, and retires*
Assistants remove the pigs and ten more (or one
mambu) are brought forward as payment for the dancing apron, and one
hundred roso mats for the leaf, feather and paint.
The candidate and
his close kin then make a feast for the company.
Vora
The young man has now completed his introduction to the moli rank
and must begin his preparations for the major sacrificial rite, hehe
moli.
He needs ten boars, three with the tusk about to re-enter the
lower jaw (mambu) and seven with the tusk just showing through the upper
jaw (livo).
Further large quantities of pigs, mats and garden produce
are required to pay for his insignia and to feed the many hundreds of
people who attend as spectators, dancers, donors and sponsors.
Ha takes
considerable length of time to accumulate these resources and build up
sufficient credit.
His first formal act is to perform a minor ceremony known as voro.
When he has ten tuskless (but good-eating) pigs and sufficient vegetables
and kava to entertain a gathering of about 1-200 persons, he beats a
rhythm on his largest slit-gong (if he does not possess one he must pay
a few mats to a neighbour to lend him the instrument), announcing the
forthcoming celebration.
The men of his own and neighbouring parishes
who are contemplating helping him in his hehe moli ceremony attend.
The
event could therefore be interpreted as a deliberate canvassing of
support.
If his vora is poorly attended he may well have to decide to
postpone his sacrifice.
for the next stage.
But if all goes well he proceeds to make ready
a
265
Vikalala
Vlkalala ( lite ra lly "to dance in a circle") is a dance fe stiv a l.
Separate companies from about four to six neighbouring parishes perform
in turn a dance known as virombo. When they are finished the host
presents mats and pigs to each company and entertains them with a feast.
As in the vora ceremony, he is demonstrating his generosity, estimating
his popularity sind hoping to induce his guests to reciprocate his
hospitality by supporting him in his hehe moli sacrifice.
Kihi
The next stage, kihi ("contract making", or "the making of a
promise to f u l f i l l an obligation in the future") is the occasion on which
a l l those who are planning to contribute to the hehe moli expenses
indicate precisely what they have in mind. They arrive at the future
tit le - ta k e r ^ homestead grouped into companies, each led by the highest
ranker.
The host plants a stake in the centre of the clearing and tie s
dozens of leaves to i t .
He then places piles of coconuts of a l l sizes
and degrees of ripeness nearby. When the scene is set one of the v isitin g
companies dances forward in a body. The leader takes one or more coconuts
and throws i t to one side.
According to the number of nuts selected and
how ripe they are he has thus informed his host th at when the time comes
he w ill present him with so many pigs of such a such a grade.
Other men
from the same group then do likewise, some taking coconuts, others leaves.
Each le af is an indication for either a roso mat or a very small pig. The
leader then makes a short speech stating how happy he is to help his host.
266
When a l l those present have declared th e ir intentions the candidate again
feeds his guests*
I f the candidate needs eight s a c rific ia l animals he puts aside
an equivalent number of coconuts of the type th at represent mambu and
livo tuskers.
I f some of them are not accepted he has suffered a great
humiliation and must cancel his plans.
I t is therefore a matter of
v ita l importance that he should indulge in intensive lobbying beforehand.
But even i f a ll eight are accepted he cannot s t i l l be certain th at the
f u ll number w ill be presented when the time comes. In an attempt to
reduce the p o ssib ility of such a humiliation occuring he performs a
magical ceremony.
Kaingau
Kalngau is a generic term for a ll forms of magic designed to
induce others to do what the magician desires.
Most men eith er in h erit
or purchase Kaingau. though some have to pay an expert to perform th is
service.
The most powerful Kaingau is as follows.
The magician takes
four or five young green coconuts, opens them, in serts some sacred
leaves, sind breathes a sp ell over them. An assistan t places a nut at
the entrance of each of the main paths leading to the s a c rific ia l ground.
A slit-gong is then dragged into the open and the contents of the la s t
nut is poured over i t .
his sp e ll.
The magician so ftly taps the gong and repeats
The sound is believed to carry the magic in every direction
so that i t w ill affect a l l those who have to contribute pigs and mats.
They now feel an ir re s is tib le
compulsion to honour th e ir contract.
The performance of th is r ite emphasizes the extent to which the
267
candidate is dependent on the goodwill of men of higher rank.
Despite
all his earlier endeavours he still fears that his potential supporters
may let him down.
Hehe moli
Early in the morning the men of a neighbouring parish perform a
dance.
The candidate pays them a few small pigs, some yams and taro
and about forty roso mats.
The men who had previously promised to help
now present their pigs and mats.
As each donor runs forward he extends
his arras in imitation of a hawk*s flight, and the full orchestra of slitgongs beats out a special rhythm.
An assistant ties the animal to one
of the ten cycas palms planted in a straight row at the side of the
clearing.
The donor then points his bow and arrow at the boar and calls
out, MYour pig, I shoot it into your moli" (Mwasamu, nu vene i tilolo
moli). Mwasa is the name of the ornamental club used to kill the pigs.
In this context the speaker equates club and pig.
The
candidate accepts
the animal by touching it with a croton leaf and thanks his donor.
When all the pigs and mats have been thus presented the high
ranker who agreed to supply the candidate with his insignia (in addition
to those he already possesses from the first sacrifice, he must now
purchase a headdress, a dancing apron, a pearlshell armband, a belt,
nine feathers, nine leaves, a bustle skirt and paint marks) circles the
ground and makes a long speech.* An assistant gives the various items to
the candidate, who then drags forward the many pigs and mats in payraait.
When the business side of the proceedings have been concluded
26a
the candidate, his sponsor, the principal donors and any other man of
high rank attending, retire to array themselves in their insignia*
When
ready they form a line and proceed to dance three times around the
clearing and three times in and around each of the ten boars.
candidate now performs
hi3
sacrifice.
The
Hs first stamps his foot on the
ground beside the best boar, catches it by the neck, and just prior to
delivering the blow calls out, "I cut my mwasa (meaning the boar), I am
moliH (Horn tai na mwasangu. inau moli)•
He then goes down the line
killing each pig, returns to the first, places his foot on the carcase,
and announces whatever personal name he has chosen.
Assistants run forward and quickly cut out each jawbone to discover
the precise growth of the tusk.
The better the curvature the greater
the achievement and the stronger the tangaroa the sacrificer is believed
to have acquired.
The tusks are hung on the cycas palms where they are
left for some days.
Later on, the owner removes them and hangs them
beside the door of his house.
The cycas,which are sacred plants and must
not be touched by anyone who has sacrificed less than ten boars, remain
on the clearing as a memorial to the m a n ^ achievement.
Helpers carry the dead boars to the donors who take them home the
following morning and distribute the meat to their fellow parishioners.
Meanwhile one of the sponsors prepares a special oven ftnatakambu na hehe
moli) in the club, for which service he is paid a good tusker.
The boar
that the candidate first killed is cooked in it together with some taro
and cabbages.
The candidate
and all men of hehe moli or higher rank
who assisted him remain for some days in the club eating this food and
drinking
kava.
The oven and the food are both said to be sacred (kokona).
269
Immediately after the sacrifice the men of the candidate's parish
kill large numbers of ordinary pigs and divide them up among the guests.
These are cooked in numerous ovens dotted around the clearing and after
a night of continueus dancing are eaten,
Vi hage rawele hangavulu
A month or two later the candidate makes his payment for the
sacrificed boars and also any services or insignia that he failed to
honour at the previous ceremony,
Hakwa moli is the final stage that makes a man of true moli rank
and gives him the right to be known as a Hungwe.
The series of events
leading up to this ceremony may extend over a number of years and require
considerable organizational ability and resources.
The following are
the main stages,
Torea
Torea is the name of a circular bamboo fence about a yard in
diameter and two yards high.
The candidate erects four or five, the
number depending on how many men have agreed to sponsor him, fills them
with coconuts and tethers four young pigs beside each.
He then beats
a slit-gong to summon the men who have contracted to present him with
the sacrificial sows.
The torea is a part payment that is said to be
‘•profit” (seme sene tiuka). At a
later stage he hands over a further
four pigs to eacli donor, a payment said to be Meye eye” (mata mata),
indicating that the four pigs are of precisely the same value as the sow.
During the subsequent weeks the candidate must hold a series of
270
small feasts for those men and women who assist him in numerous preparatory
tasks.
The two most important are the manufacture of hundreds of baskets
and the construction of a wooden table (bata) about four feet high.
Taundi mwango
The candidate and his helpers erect a circular fence about the
same size as the torea.
Beside it they place 100 young green coconuts,
each with two leaves inserted in a hole, and 100 short bamboos filled
with salt water.
They then cover the lot with cycas leaves.
All these
objects are ritually potent (kokona) and are the basic ingredients in
most forms of magic.
The candidate retires behind the fence and a man of high rank,
preferably vira. comes forward and kneels beside the coconuts.
He removes
the leaves, gently waves them backwards and forwards, and blows a spell
over the objects.
He repeats the action four times and then hands the
nuts and bamboos, one by one, to the candidate, who proceeds to pour
the contents over his head.
The rite serves a double function.
Like the kalngau magic, it
makes the candidate^ tangaroa so powerful that his donors will honour
their obligations and hundreds of spectators will attend the ceremony.
But taundi mwango is also a religious rite in that it makes the candidate
so sacred that he must now retire to his club for three or four days
where he maintains a strict fast and talks to no one.
Hakwa moli
Hakwa moli is a three day ceremony.
The first stage (vai makia)
271
is the actual sacrifice, the second (toreki) is the settling of accounts
and the third (rangai toa) is the day on which the sacred fire (matakambu
kokona) is lit, and an offering made to the ancestors.
1) Vai makia
The procedure differs from that
two respects
-
described for hehe moli in only
there is no formal dance, and the sows are tied to
ordinary (mwenda) stakes.
2) Toreki
Toreki is similar to vi hage.
The candidate first gives the mata
mata (making square) payment to the sow donors.
He then settles his
account in the usual manner with those who performed services and supplied
insignia.
3) Rangai toa
Early in the morning some men cover the wooden table (bata) with
leaves and a layer of earth.
On top of this they spread out the small
stones used in making an oven and cover the lot with a great pile of dry
wood.
They then attempt to light a fire by rubbing pieces of hard wood
on green and sappy branches (ranga). a task which may take many hours.
Eventually one of them succeeds and carefully carries the smouldering
twig to the table and ignites the timber.
When the stones are hot an
oven is prepared and one fowl and one yam are cooked.
The green wood,
the fire made from it, the oven, the table and the cooked food are all
said to be sacred.
272
When the oven is ready one of the sponsors makes a speech in which
he recounts the achievements of the candidate and welcomes him to the
company of f u ll moli men.
He then eats a piece of the fowl and yam and
hands the remainder to the candidate who proceeds to throw a morsel of
each over the roof of the club, calling out as he does so, ‘'Here is your
food, grandfather (bumbu) : come and eat i t " .
He does not name any
p articu lar grandfather, or, to be more correct, ancestor, in case some of
them might be offended.
The candidate, together with his sponsors and other men of Hakwa
moli or higher rank, now re tire to the club, where they eat and drink
kava for a couple of days. Each evening a fowl and a yam are cooked in
the sacred oven and the offering to the ancestors is repeated.
The complete cycle of ceremonies beginning with the sacrifice of
a single tusked boar and culminating in Rangai toa is sometimes called
makia.
The subsequent levuhi and vira r ite s have nothing to do with malri-a.
a circumstance which suggests that the Hungwe is a comparatively recent
in stitu tio n superimposed on an older r itu a l complex sim ilar to the maki
of the Small Islands or the nimanghki of Malekula.
The Nduindui believe
that makia is "true Aoba custom", whereas Na Hungwe came from Malo and Santo*
The Hungwe and inter-parish relations
The rule whereby a candidate can find his sponsors anywhere, the
influence that a man can bring to bear on his creditors, and the sim ilarity
of the rite s and ceremonies throughout west Aoba, together ensure that the
graded society provides strong inter-parish bonds.
The following account
of the action taken by a number of high rankers in enforcing th e ir
273
authority demonstrates th is district-w ide aspect of the in stitu tio n ,
About 1920 a man called Vira Hehe held his hebe moli sacrifice in
Saranavia parish-section* When he danced around his ten boars his wife,
also clad in moli regalia, danced behind him and proceeded to k i l l her
own pig.
For a high title -h o ld e r th is was a legitim ate means of honour
ing his sacred wife, but for a moli man i t was an unheard of presumption
Vira Hehe did i t on the false assumption th a t, regardless of his rank, he
was of such reputation and influence, p articu larly in respect to sorcery,
that he could successfully break the ru les.
The introduction of some
new element in the ceremonies is a recognised means of asserting superior
ity
-
provided no one dares to take exception.
Vira Hehe overestimated his powers. Attending the ceremony were
over a dozen of the highest-ranking men in the d is tr ic t.
They said
nothing at the time but met a few days la te r in Navuti, where the most
senior man in the d is tr ic t lived, to discuss the matter.
Failure to
take action would have amounted to a ta c it admission of Vira Hehe’s
equality i f not superiority.
They therefore decided that he must die and
chose Paul Hungwe, a Navuti man of v ira rank, to administer the poison.
On the appointed day Paul went up to Saranavia, joined Vira Hehe in a
dice-playing group, and offered him some ra t poison on a slice of melon.
The following morning Vira Hehe was dead.
People I asked why the Saranavia did not avenge the death by
attacking Navuti replied th at Paul acted as the
representative of a
district-w ide body, not as a parish member. A meeting of high rankers is
it s e l f known by the term Hungwe, and the decision is said to be the ’’word
high on the banyan tre e ” (&_ leoki u hivp lo bgnga), a phrase implying
274
that the decree is backed by the combined supernatural powers of all men
who are "high in the sky" (aulu lo taitai) and close to Takaro.
phrase could almost be translated
The
as "God has spoken".
Hungwe and "peace"
Graded-society ritual is closely associated with the concept of
"peace" or "quietness" (tamwata)
as against "wax" (vuro).
Those men
who rise to parish leadership perform a separate peace-making ceremony
at the conclusion of the sacrificial rite.
Assistants hang bows and
arrows on a rope suspended from two cycas palms and the title-taker breaks
each and announces that from henceforth there must be no fighting within
his sphere of influence.
If any iniividuaiVfroup should break his
"sacred law" (korokoro kokona) he would order his men to kill them#
ife
himself would never fight unless attacked or to punish offenders.
There are three reasons for the emphasis placed on peace
religious, political and economic.
-
The religious reason is that men who
have sacrificed many pigs are thereby so sacred that they should abstain
from any form of violence or strenuous activity.
They should preferably
avoid sexual intercourse, gardening, fighting, talking in a loud voice
and at times even eating.
The emphasis is on immobility and quietness
and the more a m a n !s life approaches this ideal condition the stronger
his supernatural powers become.
The\ political reaeon is of possibly greater significance.
As
previously stated, the Nduindui are of the opinion that pig sacrifices
have only recently tleen introduced into west Aoba#
I was informed that
prior to this event men who wished to become leaders could do so only by
275
acquiring a reputation as fighters.
The graded society subsequently
♦
offered an alternative means of asserting superiority.
Regardless of the historical truth of this assertion, it expresses
the contemporary exclusiveness of the two systems of leadership.
When a
man of high rank imposes his law of peace he does so primarily because
successful fighters represent a potential
prohibiting
threat to his authority.
By
war he forces all ambitious men to demonstrate their abilities
in a field of activity in which he himself is already an acknowledged
expert.
The economic reason is obvious.
Success in the graded hierarchy
depends on the skill with which a man can manipulate a district-wide net
work of debt and credit relationships.
Visitors must come from far and
wide to donate pigs and mats, to perform dances and to witness the
sacrifices.
None of these things is possible when fighting is widespread
and men are afraid to leave home.
Rigidity versus flexibility
I shall now briefly consider the extent to which the graded society
provides an element of rigidity in the structure of Nduindui society.
The first point to note is that a man*s authority and influence is directly
proportionate to his rank.
From this it follows that the rigidity of
the system, at least in so far as rigidity implies a loss of individual
autonomy, is a function of the formal requirements of rank.
I have shown
that though these are numerous, precisely specified and onerous, any man,
provided he has sufficient ambition and ability, can rise to the top.
The aspirant to high rank is therefore limited only by his own personal
276
qualities and his willingness to conform to the mores of the society.
The rule whereby everyone must begin at the bottom and gradually
work his way up prevents the emergence of either ranked descent groups
or hereditary leaders.
The youth of humble birth can choose from a
wide range of potential sponsors, and
the son of a prominent father
must find additional backers when he reaches the Hehe moli stage.
The individual versus the group
Throughout the Banks and northern New Hebrides islands the graded
society has two distinct, though closely related, political functions.
As a hierarchy of privileged positions it provides a formal framework
within which individuals can compete for power.
As a series of large-
scale rites and ceremonies it provides the principal occasions on which
local groups of kinsmen can express their solidarity and identity vis a
vis other like groups.
Both functions are always present, though there is a wide range
of variations in the relative weighting.
in east Aoba, the
individuals.
In Nduindui, and even more so
emphasis is placed on status differentiation between
In the Small Islands and north Malekula, group rivalry is
of equal if not greater importance.
As I have previously contrasted
the relative rigidity of these three societies from the point of view
of parish structure and sex differentiation, it is worth digressing for
a moment to elaborate on this further difference.
In Big Narabas society (where descent is patrilineal, residence
patri-virilocal, the parishes monocarpellary and the sexes separated by
a wide range of social and ritual barriers), the two top of the four
277
ran k s may be e n te re d o n ly by h e r e d ita r y c h ie f s and t h e i r sons and n e a r
(1)
r e la tiv e s .'
In Lambumbu d i s t r i c t , where th e r e a re a ls o h e r e d ita r y c h ie f s ,
th e r e a r e »'groups o f people i n th e community who a re n ev er allow ed to
e n te r th e Nimangki
a t a l l * . . These d e p re sse d p e o p le e a t a p a r t from o th e r
men a t a f i r e o f t h e i r own" so t h a t we have h e re "a s t r a t i f i c a t i o n o f
s o c ie ty w hich i s re m in is c e n t o f fe u d a l c o n d i t i o n s " ^ )
In n o rth Raga, where th e one c la n
- one p a r is h e q u a tio n i s
alm ost as marked a s i t i s i n n o rth M alekula, Lane ^ r e p o r t e d t h a t th e
men o f th e h ig h e s t ran k e x e r c is e g r e a te r power and a u th o r ity th a n i n
n e ig h b o u rin g is la n d s , and t h a t
h e r e d ita r y p r in c ip le s appeared t o be
developing*
In th e Sm all I s la n d s th e r e a re o n ly two main ra n k s , and a l l a d u lt
m ales b elo n g to one o r th e o th e r*
T h is sim p le d u a l d iv is io n , w hich
c o in c id e s w ith th e m a tr i- m o ie tie s , g r e a tly re d u c es th e s ig n if ic a n c e o f
th e ra n k s as a s t a t u s h ie r a r c h y .
Layard p re fa c e d h is d is c u s s io n o f th e
Maki w ith th e fo llo w in g comment.
One o f th e c h ie f c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s * . , t h a t d is tin g u is h e s th e Maki
i n a l l th e Sm all I s la n d s from any re c o rd ed v a r ia n ts o f th e r i t e i s
t h a t , w hereas in a l l o th e r d i s t r i c t s o f w hich we have ad eq u ate
re c o rd advancement i n th e h ie ra rc h y o f ra n k s i s ach iev ed by
in d iv id u a ls s a c r i f i c i n g p u re ly on t h e i r own a cc o u n t, h ere th e whole
community in any g iv e n v i l l a g e ta k e s p a r t , each " lin e " o r m a rria g e
s e c tio n c o n s is tin g o f a l t e r n a t e g e n e ra tio n s i n th e male l i n e perform
in g th e r i t e in a l t e r n a t i n g s u c c e s s io n .(4)
1 . Deacon, M alekula. p*372.
2 . ib i d , p .3 4 7 .
3 . Lane, R*B. u n p u b lish e d p a p e r.
4* Layard, p . 271.
278
In Nduindui a Hungwe ritual resulted in only one man
new title, the sacrificer himself.
The decision to hold the ceremony,
the organization, and above all the
alone.
assuming a
final reckoning is his responsibility
It is only in a secondary sense that his fellow parishioners
identify themselves with his success.
The contrast between the Hungwe and the Maki is evident in a
number of contexts.
There are six Hungwe ranks and the ritual associated
with each is identical throughout west Aoba.
In east Aoba, where group
solidarity is even less noticeable than in Nduindui, there are fifteen
main ranks, and a number of lesser importance.
In both sides of the
island differentiation is therefore between individuals rather than
between parishes.
In the Small Islands the reverse holds true.
cycles, which are much longer than the
The Maki ceremonial
Hungwe equivalents in Aoba,
(fifteen to twenty years in Vao and up to thirty in Atchin)^^are only
two in number but differ considerably from village to village.
I have emphasized the absence of hereditary principles in Nduindui
qnH their presence in north Raga and north Malekula.
appear to fall between these two extremes.
The Small Islands
(2)
Layard reported' 'that in
each village there is a “dominant family“ whose senior members acquire
supernumerary titles by killing the finest tuskers at the mass sacrifices.
The influence of patrilineal succession is evident in that Layard refers
to such a family as the “senior branch“ &) an£ that “an attempt is made
1 • Layard, p. 271.
2. ibid, p.297.
.
279
to keep the succession pure in that ‘eldest sons’ may not be adopted.
1. ibid, p. 297.
»CD
CHAPTER IX
CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
The graded society appears at first glance to dominate almost
all aspects of life in pre-Christian Nduindui.
In so far as this is
true some explanation is required for the swiftness with which it
collapsed.
In chapter
1
I provided part of the answer by demonstrat
ing that land shortage made it virtually impossible simultaneously to
maintain large pig herds and copra plantations.
The Nduindui, under
the combined influence of mission attack on pig keeping and their own
desire to possess European manufactured goods, chose cash-cropping.
The point that I now wish to make is that the abandonment of
graded-society ritual was facilitated by the fact that it was not an
essential component in the traditional system of leadership.
The
sacrificial rites and associated hierarchy of titles were primarily a
means of publicly expressing and confirming power and influence
previously gained through industry, generosity and a skilful manipulat
ion of debt-and-credit relationships.
It was only in a secondary sense
that a position of high rank conferred political authority by virtue
of institutionally, defined rights and privileges.
In so far as this interpretation is valid, it follows that both
the titles and the rites of assumption could be abandoned and yet leave
281
untouched the main body of processes controlling leadership.
two qualifications are necessary.
Only
In the past the foundations for
leadership were laid in acquiring control over wealth and labour.
This was achieved partly by successful gardening, pig-breeding and matmanufacture, but mostly by building up credit through making numerous
loans.
If the new economy should either increase or decrease the
possibilities of similarly manipulating and controlling resources, the
system of leadership would inevitably undergo some alteration.
The
second qualification is that unless the emergent leaders could find
new means of symbolizing
and consolidating their authority, there would
almost certainly be a sharp increase in the competitive struggle for
power and a corresponding decline in the size, solidarity and continuity
of the maximum political units.
In the present chapter I shall there
fore examine the political implications of the new cash-crop economy
and the extent to which the formal hierarchy of church titles parallel
those of the graded society.
Commerce and Leadership
Today the Nduindui devote the greater part of their time and
energies to harvesting, processing and exporting cash-crops and import
ing and retailing consumer and capital goods (e.g. vehicles, launches,
tools and building materials).
The various stages of this economic
cycle provide numerous opportunities for ambitious men to accumulate
wealth and demonstrate their superior abilities.
But Barnes*s comment
that the New Guinea Highlander builds up his resources from scratch
is less true of modern Nduindui than it was of the traditional society.
282
The planting of all suitable land with long-lasting, and hence heritable,
cash-crops has introduced a relatively fixed scale of economic advantages
and disadvantages.
The absence of virgin land and the reluctance of
owners of large plantations to sell rights to others limit the extent
.ax
to which an ambitious man can overcomeVpoor inheritance.
Table XXIX gives the approximate acreage of planted land (95 per
cent coconuts) controlled by 20 adult male residents of Navuti parish.
I include only those who are married and whose fathers are deceased •
The acreage figures are calculated from reasonably accurate sketch maps
compiled by the author.
The tonage estimates, based on the year 1959*
are less reliable as only the larger producers kept written records.
The income column is purely hypothetical as I assumed a constant net
profit of £50 per ton.v^
TABLE XXIX
ACREAGE OF PLANTED LAND OWNED BY RESIDENTS
(Gen.)
Agnates(Age)
Depend
ents
Acres Acres Tons Copra
Navuti Else Copra Income
where
1959
15
1.8
5
9
£450
(18.E1) Joel Tari (36)
5
20
-
8
£400
( U . F 1 ) Sampson Vira (33)
3
19
-
8
£400
(16.D9) Jonas Moli (70)
-
15
-
6
£300
(16.D1) Joseph Vuturi (60)
-
7
-
3
£1:50
(16.D4) Isaac Vira (55)
Status
Elder and
Headman
(table cont*d. next page)
1. This figure would necessitate a Santo price of about £70 per ton,
whereas in 1959 it varied between a minimum of £60 and a maximum of
£82. The 1959 price of copra was the highest in post war years. Over
the past two decades the average January price in Santo was £46 (max
imum £80 - minimum £12)•
283
TABLE XXIX
(continued)
ACREAGE OF PLANTED LAND (MED BY RESIDENTS
(Gen,)
Agnates(Age)
Depend
ents
Acres Acres Tons Copra Status
Navuti Else Copra Income
where
1959
(15.E1) Simeon Taka (50)
1
6
_
2k
£125
(15.E2) Simon Toka (47)
2
6
-
2£
£125
(15.F1) David Toka (32)
7
x8
-
3
£150
(17.D2) Enock Hava (45)
8
8
-
3
(17.D1) Francis Ngwera(50)
2
4
5
3i
Non-wAgnates (further details
Table
'
£150
(Deacon)
£175
(Deacon)
•
XIX)
.
20
8
£400
-
5
£250
12
5
(ex-Deacon
and
£250 \influential)
2
2£
£125 < ^(Deacon)
3
5
3
£150
2
6
-
24-
£125
(13.E7) Peter Vira (28)
6
1
5
2
£100
(18.S1) Robert Tari (28)
-
-
3
t
£ 50
(16.D5) David Koloti (43)
1
-
3
1
£ 50
(U.E2) Albert Bala (50)
1
3
-
1
£ 50
60
79%
£3ft75
(13.E1) Alfred Goulon (50)
11
-
(13.D1) Timothy Moli (70)
14
13
(17.E2) Solomon Gamali(40)
5
■ »
(13.D3) Moses Tanga (42)
1
5
(17.E3) Willie Vuti (35)
5
(15.F3) Alec Xwani (20)
142
-
The range of variation in land holdings is a consequence of two
factors - the amount of land held by Navuti residents in the 1910-1930
285
the meat and drying.
Each plantation owner usually clears his land
once every two to three months.
Provided he owns no more than about
20 acres he collects the nuts with the help of his wife and children.
He then announces that on such and such a day he intends to split them,
extract the "meat” and start converting it to copra by smoke-drying.
One man can fill about 6 to 7 bag3 of green copra in a dayfs work (see
plate 2t).
A plantation of about 30 acres produces sufficient nuts to
fill 50 to 60 bags every two months.
(One ton dried copra equals
about 40 bags green meat and 8 bags after drying).
As most men prefer
to get the full harvest to the dryer in a single day*s work, a plant
ation of this size needs about ten labourers.
Regardless of kinship the owner pays full wages to all those who
turn up.
Some men even
pay their wives and children.
In 1959 the
standard rate was 5/- per bag of green copra to each sheller and 1/to the splitter (usually one is sufficient)• Men poor in land can
therefore earn from 30/- to 35/- per day, and in addition receive a
free meal of rice and tinned fish.
By this means they can gradually
save sufficient capital to increase their status by holding a feast or
investing in some such capital item as a small store, a concrete well
or a share in some co-operative venture.
If they are lucky they may
\
even find someone who is prepared to sell them an acre or two of land.
When the green copra has been bagged the owner and one or two
helpers carry it to the smoke drier (see plate-22)• This consists of
a platform on which a metal mesh has been placed, the whole being
covered with a leaf roof to hold in the heat and protect the drying
copra against the weather.
Below the platform a fire is lit and the
2ä6
co p ra i s "cooked“ f o r about 24 hours*
The owner th e n packs i t in to
bags and a rra n g e s f o r t r a n s p o r t t o th e c o a st*
Jee p owners ch arg e 4/ -
t o 5 / - f r e i g h t p e r bag, and a s about te n can be ta k e n on each jo u rn e y
th o s e f o r tu n a te enough to p o sse ss such a v e h ic le e a rn good money
pro v id ed th e y can a v o id ex p en siv e r e p a irs *
-
In 1959 th e r e were 22 je e p s
i n th e d i s t r i c t o f which ab o u t 12 were in more o r l e s s c o n s ta n t w orking
o rd e r.
Nine were owned e i t h e r by in d iv id u a ls o r by two o r th r e e
c lo s e ly r e l a t e d kinsmen*
The rem aining 15, though n o m in ally th e common
p ro p e rty o f a p a r is h , were m o stly o p e ra te d as a n e a r - p r iv a te p o s s e s s io n
by one man.
Some je e p owners a ls o u se t h e i r v e h ic le s as t a x i s and as
a means o f tr a n s p o r tin g tr a d e goods from th e c o a s t to r e t a i l s t o r e s .
In N a v u ti, Is a a c and J o e l b o th p o sse ss je e p s i n good w orking o r d e r .
Up to about 1930 a l l copra produced i n N duindui was s o ld to one
o f th e two o r th r e e r e s id e n t European t r a d e r s who th e n tr a n s p o r te d i t
to S an to and shipped back fo o d , c lo th in g and o th e r tr a d e goods t o s e l l
in th e ir s to re s .
S in c e t h a t d a te th e N duindui have g ra d u a lly extended
t h e i r economic a c t i v i t i e s from sim ple p ro d u c tio n and consum ption to
th e p o in t where th e one rem ainin g European t r a d e r i s g ra d u a lly b ein g
fo rc e d out o f b u s in e s s .
As e a r ly a s 1907 P e te r P e n te c o s t was o p e ra tin g
th r e e sm all tr a d e s to r e s in o p p o s itio n to Purdy and th e French t r a d e r .
Over th e n e x t few d ecades more and more e n te r p r is in g men
and sm all
companies s e t up f u r t h e r s t o r e s , and by th e e a r l y 1930*s had accum ulated
s u f f i c i e n t c a p i t a l and e x p e rie n c e t o b e g in p u rc h a sin g lau n ch es and th u s
e n t i r e l y b y -p a ss th e E uropean tr a d e r s by e x p o rtin g d i r e c t t o th e S anto
b u s in e s s houses and im p o rtin g goods a t w h o lesale p ric e s *
Up t o th e end o f th e second w orld war th e s e com m ercial v e n tu re s
2S7.
were small in scale, and through ignorance and internal conflicts
seldom lasted for more than a year or two.
When the Americans left Santo and copra prices began to recover
from the 1944-4-6 slump, the ^duindui, now armed with numerous jeeps,
increased mechanical and
commercial knowledge, and extensive and
mature plantations producing something in the order of 800 - 1,000 tons
of copra per annum, began forming multi-parish co-operatives to purchase
larger l a unches (one cost £5,000), to build stores almost as big and
as well stocked as the European traders*, to buy and sell copra on
consignement to Marseilles, to operate restaurants and taxis and to
establish a hotel for Aobans visiting Santo.
As the scale and complexity of these commercial ventures increased,
the advantages of a large plantation began to recede into the background.
In the early stages of a man*s career a good copra yield still enables
him to accumulate sufficient capital quickly to open a small store, to
invest in other m e n ’s projects, to build a good modem-style house and
to donate generously to parish co-operatives and to the district church.
But like the favoured son who could rapidly advance to the Hakwa Moli
grade through his father’s sponsorship, the fortunate inheritor of a
large plantation has little or no hope of establishing himself as a
leading man in his parish, and even less so in the district, unless he
has sufficient intelligence and leadership qualities to persuade other
men to co-operate in financing and running parish and multi-parish
ventures.
The Nduindui approach commerce in a competitive spirit that closely
approximates to that described in graded society ritual.
The success;
288
of a rising leader depends in large part
others to support his various schemes*
on his ability
to induce
At one end of the scale there
are those young or mediocre men who operate a store that has an annual
turnover of about £50 worth of cigarettes, rice, sugar and a few other
basic necessities; at the other, men like Reuben Mara (see pages 309-10 )
of Navitora parish who has at various stages persuaded almost all
members of the district to invest in a large launch, stores retailing
such luxuries as French perfume, wireless sets and guitars, a producers1
co-operative, and a taxi service and hotel in Santo*
The foundations
of Reuben’s career were laid in the wealth derived from a large plant
ation he had inherited, but his subsequent success has depended primar
ily on his outstanding personal qualities*
influence
Like the Hungwe Lakua his
reflects the extent to which he stands at the centre of a
complex network of debt and credit relationships.
In recent years Reuben1s influence has begun to decline*
Only
three parishes now support him, whereas ten years ago as much as threequarters of the total tonnage produced in west Aoba passed through his
hands*
The parallel with the Hungwe is again apparent.
When pig
owners donated their animals to a title-taker they did so on the under
standing that they would shortly receive their investment back with one
hundred per cent profit*
Reuben has so far failed to make adequate
return and his investors are therefore losing
seek out new leaders.
faith and beginning to
They say that Reuben’s tangaroa is not as power
ful as they had thought it to be
-
especially since the company
ship was wrecked on a reef.
The parallel breaks down in so far as the community tends to
289
identify itself with the success of its leaders to a greater extent
than in the traditional sacrificial ceremonies.
a result of the broadening
This is in large part
social horizon of the Nduindui.
Increased
contact with alien peoples and the cessation of fighting have together
created a greater sense of common purpose and shared ambitions than
existed in the past.
The enthusiasm with which thousands of Aobans,
both east and west, initially contributed to the cost of purchasing the
launch operated by Reuben was primarily through their determination to
force the European traders out of business.
A further flaw in the parallel is that the traditional system of
debt relationships is coming into ever-increasing disrepute.
The
aspiring leader who establishes a store by persuading others to contribute
towards the initial
expenditure extends the principle by offering
almost unlimited credit.
It is only by bitter experience of countless
failures that the Nduindui are beginning to realize that though such
a technique was to their ultimate benefit in a society without capital,
it has unfortunate repercussions when they are dependent on maintaining
outside relations with European business houses.
Store owners are
therefore giving less credit, and unless they are very careful they
thereby run the risk of an accusation of that cardinal Melanesian sin
of accumulating but not distributing wealth.
A few of the more success
ful retailers overcome this difficulty by adopting a technique common
in many western societies - by making lavish donations to the local
church.
The third and most important difference between the graded society
and modern commerce is that the successful retailer cannot symbolize
290
and consolidate his position of authority by publicly assuming
title believed to be backed by supernatural sanctions*
a
It is primarily
for this reason that the most ambitious men begin to withdraw from
commerce in the middle stages of their career and concentrate on
acquiring a high-ranking position in the formal church hierarchy, part
icularly in the Church-of-Ghrist parishes*
Church-of-Christ authority structure
The Church of Christ is a Protestant organization that is both
congregationalist and evangelical.
In theory, it tries to avoid the
hierarchical authority structure of the Roman Catholic and Anglican
churches, though in practice formal differences are recognized in the
rights, privileges and duties of such ranked office holders as Pastors,
Elders, Deacons and Teachers*
In Australia the Church*s aim is to
select suitable men and give them an intensive training at a theological
college*
These full-time specialists are then appointed as Pastors
and allotted a community in which to conduct services, spread the
Gospel and confer the three lesser titles on enthusiastic parishioners*
Both Pastors and Elders have the right to conduct church services,
including the sacraments;
Deacons can conduct minor services but are
mostly concerned with the material side of the church work;
Teachers
are usually junior officers who instruct children in weekly classes*
A number of the Pastor graduates of the theological college are
appointed as missionaries*
Their aim is to select leading local men,
a.
appoint them as Elders and train them to takev prominent part in the
administration of the church*
291
Up to about 1932 the European Pastor missionaries were the dominant
p o litic a l figures in Nduindui. They periodically appointed a number
of young men as teachers to conduct elementary classes but i t was not
u n til then, when the Government ordered the missionary out of the New
Hebrides sifter accusations of various crimes were made, that the Mission
Board appointed the f i r s t local Elders, Joh Ngwero of Lovaturusa and
Isaac Vira of Navuti* During the next four years the d is tr ic t had no
resident missionary and these two men with the help of about a dozen
teachers, appear to have run the Church with considerable competence*
In subsequent years the policy of the missionaries was to tran sfer
more and more responsibility and authority to the Elders so that
eventually a local Pastor could be appointed in charge of a fu lly
autonomous church*
Though th is stage has not as yet been reached the missionaries
are now of rela tiv ely minor significance in Nduindui politics*
Major
decisions affecting the Church*s economy, or who should be sent as
teachers to more backward islands, or when a wedding is to be held, or
how disputes are to be se ttle d , are made by a small group of church
leaders in the name of the d is tr ic t council.
The missionaries* opinion
is seldom sought for and when offered may have l i t t l e effect on the
outcome*
The one apparent power s t i l l held by the missionaries is th at
of recommending to the Board whom they consider f i t to be Elders*
But in practice, the senior Elder, Abel Bani, informs the missionary
of men whom he has himself selected and confidently expects his choice
to be approved* There are at present five of these senior office holders
292.
and they are without doubt the most influential men in the district.
Abel Bani, is, indeed, the most powerful leader in the northern New
Hebrides.
Teachers and Deacons are appointed by the Elders, and though the
people consider both titles to be important, the missionary has little
or no idea who the incumbents are and, indeed, does not even officially
recognise their existence.
two distinct varieties.
There are today about thirty teachers of
The highest ranking are the recognised leaders
of those parishes that cannot boast of an Elder.
Head Teachers.
These are called
The junior Teachers are young and ambitious men recently
graduated with good results from the mission school.
They usually
conduct elementary lessons for a year or two, then switch to commerce,
and finally establish themselves as prominent leaders with the title
of Deacon or Head Teacher.
The Deacons number approximately one hundred and are the next most
senior and influential persons in the district.
The principal
qualifications are above average organizational and entrepreneurial
abilities and at least a nominal interest in Ghurch matters.
There are a number of
similarities between these Church-of-Christ
titles, at least as used by the people, and the traditional set.
In
both hierarchies three principal ranks are recognised and approximately
the same number of persons
occupy each.
Elders and Vira men exercise
authority throughout the district, Head Teachers and Levuhi men are
leaders of parishes without any higher title-holder, and Deacons and
Moli men include most of the remaining senior and responsible persons
whose opinions are respected in council discussions.
293
Elder3 alone have the right to conduct baptisms, weddings and
funerals and to appoint Teachers and Deacons in a formal laying-on-of
hands ceremony.
In theory, anyone, regardless of rank, can conduct
the ordinary daily and weekly services.
In practice, only the mission
aries or Abel Bani conduct the main Sunday service held at the d is tr ic t
church in Lovanualigoutu, and only Elders, Head Teachers and a few of
the senior Deacons o ffic iate a t the parish Sunday meetings.
School
Teachers and Junior Deacons eagerly compete for the privilege of leading
prayers and hymns a t the major services and themselves conduct smaller
daily meetings in the parish-churches.
Seating arrangements neatly reflec t the hierarchy of rank.
Elders
and Head Teachers s i t on small benches placed on each side of the a lta r,
and in the main body of the building the remaining title-h o ld e rs tend to
occupy the front benches.
between the sexes,
The centre-aisle serves as a dividing lin e
A sim ilar pattern is apparent at a l l modern-style
feasts.
Elders and Head Teachers eat with missionaries and any other
use
Europeans present. They s it at tables covered with white clo th ,/cu tlery
and crockery and are served by young g ir ls .
Lesser Teachers and Deacons
also s i t a t tables and use European implements but have no table cloths
and miss out on a few delicacies such as cake and lemonade. The remain
ing men and youths are served simpler food (perhaps beef instead of
chicken or pork) and eith er eat at tables with no cutlery or s it around
on the grass, Women and children collect th e ir helpings and re tire to
the edge of the clearing
separated by a good distance from the men.
Informants compared these feasting privileges with the trad itio n al
correlation between rank and oven.
.
294
In the past, ambitious men of medium to high rank were the most
mobile members of the community*
They regularly visited fellow rankers
and sought out men to support them in their title assumptions*
They
were constantly in demand at other men*£ ceremonies in order to sponsor
them, invest pigs and mats, or to perform some service for payment*
Today, the Elders, Teachers and Deacons are the busiest men in the
district.
They visit other parishes as guest speakers at Sunday services,
to perform baptisms, dedications, weddings and funerals and to attend
any sort of gathering where there might be a chance to make a speech.
Whenever high-ranking Church officials perform some service, no
matter how trivial, they receive payment.
This applies not only to
religious ceremonies but also when they are asked to attend secular
feasts.
A young man who builds a small store celebratesthe opening
day by holding
a modest feast.
He sends invitations to all those
Elders and Teachers whom he has reason to hope may add to his prestige
by attending.
One or more of these dignitaries makes a speech in which
he congratulates his host and concludes with a prayer.
The youth
reciprocates by presenting his guest with a few pound notes or a couple
of mats and a live chicken.
Lesser guests depart with a loaf of bread
or a small tin of food.
The same procedure applies when a business co-operative or a parish
holds its annual feast in the December to January festive period.
The
relative success of these feasts is in large part measured by the
number of prominent leaders who attend.
Elders and Head Teachers,
especially those who make speeches and take a prominent part in the
inevitable church service, can expect a reward of at least £5, a large
295
bu n d le o f cooked food, and p erhap s a sm all p ig o r a few fo w ls .
The
payment f o r perform ing a wedding o r a f u n e r a l s e r v ic e v a r ie s from £10 to
£20 p lu s fo o d .
The p a r a l l e l w ith th e payments made a t s a c r i f i c i a l r i t e s i s o b v io u s.
I n b o th c o n te x ts th e in d iv id u a l o r group f o r whom th e s e r v ic e i s perform ed
i s th o u g h t t o a c q u ire s tro n g ta n g a ro a .
I f th e t r a d i t i o n a l t i t l e - t a k e r
f a i l e d to pay f o r h is i n s ig n ia o r oven th e y would be w o rth le s s o r power
l e s s (mwenda) .
They o n ly become sa c re d (kokona) and th u s g iv e th e
r e c i p i e n t power (ta n g a ro a ) i f su p p lie d by a man o f s u p e r io r s p i r i t u a l
s tr e n g th and th e n p aid f o r .
A ll magic s p e l l s and o b je c ts a re s i m i l a r l y
u s e le s s u n t i l th e a p p r o p r ia te payment has been made.
Today, a s i n th e p a s t, th e a s p ir in g le a d e r f i r s t accu m u lates w e a lth .
He th e n c o n v e rts p a r t o f i t in to p o t e n t i a l s p o n so rs, in v e s to r s and
fo llo w e rs by making
lo a n s , and p a r t o f i t i n t o s p i r i t u a l s tr e n g th by
making payments to e s ta b lis h e d le a d e rs (men who a re c lo s e to th e so u rc es
o f s u p e r n a tu r a l
power, i . e . a n c e s to r s , Takaro o r th e C h r is tia n d e i t y ) .
The two in v e stm en ts r e in f o r c e one a n o th e r and u ltim a te ly le a d to p o l i t i c a l
power.
The p r in c ip a l change t h a t has ta k e n p la c e i s t h a t w hereas th e
m a te r ia l and th e s p i r i t u a l a s p e c ts o f le a d e r s h ip were once w e ll in te g r a te d
i n a s in g le i n s t i t u t i o n a l complex, th e y now te n d to o p e ra te in d e p e n d e n tly .
I n te g r a t i o n th e r e c e r t a i n l y i s ; and i t i s in c r e a s in g .
Up t o ab o u t te n
y e a rs ago le a d e rs i n commerce and in r e l i g i o n were m o stly d i f f e r e n t
p erso n s and a t tim e s opposed t o one a n o th e r .
But i n r e c e n t y e a rs th e r e
has been a n o tic e a b le in c r e a s e in th e com m ercial a c t i v i t i e s o f church
men and i n th e d e s ir e o f c o -o p e ra tiv e le a d e r s t o e x e r c is e a u t h o r i t y in
re lig io u s a f f a ir s .
CHAPTER
X
COMPETITIVE LEADERSHIP AND PARISH POLITICS
So far my analysis of social structure has been synchronic rather
than diachronic*
Despite my constant endeavour to relate the present
to the past, especially the period immediately proceeding the conversion
to Christianity, I have as yet done little more than make comparisons
between ’’two ethnographic presents’*.
This approach, though useful as
a means of isolating some of the relevant factors associated with
radical and unique structural change, leaves untouched the less dramatic,
though equally important, cyclical or repetitive structural alterations
that are inherent in even the most stable socic-cultural systems#
In this chapter I shall attempt to penetrate more deeply into the
dynamics of social relationships by employing a modified version of
what Gluckman^ ^and his associates have termed ’’the extended case/method”.
I shall analyse a series of connected events that occurred in Navuti
,
and a number of neighbouring communities in the period 1927 to 1961.
(2)
1 • Gluckman, M. ’’The use of Ethnographic Data in Social Anthropolog
ical Analysis in Britain”, (unpublished paper).
2. My reconstruction of the earlier events is based on numerous life
histories, accounts of specific events given in other contexts or when
seeking other information, sketch maps drawn by Isaac and other senior
men showing house locations, dancing grounds, stores and churches as
they existed at different periods, general comments made by informants
concerning motives, and complete pedigrees of all members of Navuti and
neighbouring communities,
„
•
297
By combining the results of earlier chapters dealing with local organiz
ation, and the information that I have recently supplied concerning
rank and leadership, I shall demonstrate how the size, solidarity and
continuity of local groups constantly alters with the rise and fall of
outstanding leaders.
Navuti is centrally located in the district (see Map 3) about one
mile directly inland from Nduindui anchorage.
It is at present one of
the largest (109 persons), wealthiest and most powerful parishes in
west Aoba.
At some remote stage in the past the northern section is
said to have been a separate and fully autonomous parish called Tambunatari.
When or how Tambunatari lost its independent status and became
a section (tokaki vanua) of Navuti parish (ngwatu i. vanua) is unknown.
The male members are divided into seven carpels whose skeleton geneal
ogies are given in appendices 13-19.
The present location of homesteads,
stores, churches, roads and other relevant data are given in Map 7.
I take as my starting point the year 1927.
Prior to that date
Navuti was mainly pagan counting amongst its members two of the most
famous and high-ranking men in the district, Paul Hungwe (1$.D 4) and
Levuhi Lolohehe (1$.D 3).
Two Queensland labourers, Abraham Vatu
(13.C 1) and John Gamali (18. G 2) had, on a number of occasions, built
small churches, but failed to make converts. In 1927 they achieved
their first major success when the leading pagans agreed to co-operate
in clearing a new sara. building a substantial church and school,
opening up a road to the coast, and planting much of their land with
coconuts.
At the church dedication ceremony the missionary baptized
all pagans, with the one exception of Paul Hungwe (Levuhi Lolohehe had
298
died some years earlier)*
In addition to the general economic and
other factors (described in chapter I) that led to this and other
similar mass conversions, the process was accelerated in Navuti when
a man called Zachaeas 3 Ngwatu Hari (Ti5«D 2) of the neighbouring parish
of Natiuleo joined forces with Abraham and John.
Zachaeas, prior to
his conversion, had held even higher rank than Navuti*s leaders.
Paganism therefore suffered a serious blow when he became a Christian
in the same year that Navuti opened its church.
Abraham for two reasons.
He joined forces with
His mother's brother, Kini Kind (15• C 1) was
a Navuti resident and in the previous generation had been the leading
pagan in coastal Nduindui.
This man had no sons and decided to confer
the benefits of his powerful sponsorship on Zachaeas.
was negative rather than positive.
The second reason
In recent decades a number of
Natiuleo people had died and sorcery was suspected.
Zachaeas, fearing
for his safety, abandoned his house and built a new residence on Navuti
land.
In Navuti in 1927 two Christians (Zachaeas and Abraham) were
therefore so firmly established as mature and influential leaders that
the whole community accepted, at least overtly, the policies they put
forward.
Abraham had no sons of his own but had earlier adopted Isaac
Vira (13.D 2 and 16.D 4, see also plate-34) the son of a minor pagan,
Tuku Tuku Boi (16.C 2).
about 23 years old.
ing with the
At the time of the mass conversion Isaac was
He had recently returned from three years' school
European missionary, and with the help of Abraham and
Zachaeas he built a small classroom and began teaching reading, writing
and hymn singing.
299
A short while later Isaac was joined by another young man of the
inland parish of Natakaro who had married a Navuti girl.
This man,
Alec Kwani (15.E 4)> was another of the semi-literate products of the
mission school.
Abraham and Isaac persuaded him to oome and live in
Navuti to help run the school.
still controlled by the pagans.
He readily agreed as Natakaro was
In addition, his wife, as the last
surviving member of a Navuti carpel, had sole rights to about six acres
of good land.
The school, which was the only one in the district other than that
run by the missionary, soon acquired a growing reputation and attracted
pupils from a number of neighbouring parishes.
The students were
mostly adults, ambitious men who wanted to acquire a sufficient mastery
of figures to deal with money and also a degree of literacy to enable
them to lead church services.
Isaac and Alec, as the dispensers of
this valuable knowledge and backed by the authority of Abraham, Zachaeas
and the missionary, soon established themselves as the most influential
men of the younger generation.
Together they initiated a number of
schemes which further consolidated their position as rising leaders.
They got their “pupils” to clear a wide road down to the coast and
persuaded most of the parish to co-operate in removing fences, clearing
land and planting coconuts.
In 1931 Isaac donated about an acre to the church, cleared it and
organized a team of men to build a new and bigger structure,
He also
persuaded the parish to contribute towards the cost of building and
stocking a small retail store*
He himself acted as storekeeper,but
within a year the business went bankrupt.
The reasons given for this
300
failure are of some interest.
Isaac informed me that it was because
he gave too much credit and thus ran short of money.
Another man, who
was and still is a strong supporter of Isaac, stated that the older men
began to grow jealous of Isaac1s rising reputation and influence and
ordered others to keep away.
An opponent of Isaac expressed the
opinion that the store failed because Isaac was incompetent and perhaps
even dishonest.
This failure was no more than a minor and temporary setback in
Isaac*s career.
In 1932 his position was greatly improved when the
Mission Board appointed him as an Elder.
Thi3 position gave him author
ity and influence not only in Navuti but in all Church-of-Christ
parishes in Nduindui.
A short while later he suggested that the Navuti men, together
with anyone else who wished to join them, should form a company to
purchase a launch which they could then use to ship their copra direct
to Santo.
The plan was favourably received, and two men went to Santo
to negotiate the purchase.
One of them, Jona3 (16.D 9)> was a Navuti
resident and a close cousin of Isaac’s.
The other, Jonah, was a
member of the small neighbouring parish of Naroke,
(today a section of
Saranambuga) and a close kinsman of Isaac’s wife.
Both had worked for
many years on European plantations, and Jonah had also served on a
trader’s launch.
They selected a vessel of three tons’ capacity and arranged that
the purchase price of £2,000 be paid off by company members working
in spells on the owner’s plantation.
This news caused great enthusiasm,
and all the Navuti, Natalu, Naroke and Navitakua people joined in the
301
company.
Zachaeas had died a few years e a rlie r and the remaining
Natiuleo men^as a resu lt of a land quarrel with Isaac^withdrew both
from Navuti and the Church-of-Ohrist mission and joined forces with a
neighbouring Melanesian-Mission parish,(Nambangahage).
I t is necessary at th is point to take a closer look at the three
parishes of Naroke, Natalu and Navitakua.
All three were a t th at time
small, as they s t i l l are today* Natalu had only three married men,
Navitakua five and Naroke four.
They were therefore finding i t
d if fic u lt to maintain th e ir trad itio n al status as fu lly autonomous and
se lf-su ffic ie n t communities. They had neither the resources nor the
leaders to build churches or operate stores so th e ir members began to
attend service and to buy th e ir household goods in Navuti.
In chapter
V I described how some of the Natalu and Navitakua men found i t
necessary to appeal to Isaac and his followers to cancel th e ir debts,
educate th e ir children and supply the labour to plant th e ir land. Now
in 1934 these already part-dependent communities decided to join the
new Navuti scheme to export copra to Santo in th e ir own launch.
A
process of incorporation and id en tificatio n had begun, and provided the
centre of power should remain in Navuti, i t seemed highly probable
that a stage would eventually be reached when the three hamlets would
abandon a l l claims to autonomy and be known simply as such and such
vanua within Navuti ngwatu i vanua.
In 1935 there was a clear demonstration of the extent to which
th is process of incorporation had advanced.
In th at year the Navuti
people, helped by i t s s a te llite communities, b u ilt a large communal
club located beside the church. When the building was finished a feast
302
was held to celebrate the event and to reward all outsiders who had
helped in the construction,
^he principal contributors, each of whom
donated a bullock or a pig were Isaac, Paul and Jonas of Navuti proper
(Abraham had died some years earlier), Job Muleti (12.E 11, 13.D 6,
17,D $ a nd plate 33) of Natalu, Jacob of Navitakua and Thomas of Naroke.
In other words, the leading men of the three satellite hamlets were,
at least in this context, counted as Navuti men who had joint rights in
the club.
Meanwhile the company leaders had decided that Jonah (Naroke), who
had previous experience of launches, should be appointed captain.
But
when the launch finally arrived early in 1936 Jonah was seriously ill
and the following morning died,
Thomas, his classificatory brother,
and leader of Naroke, accused the Navuti men of causing Jonah*s death
by making him work too hard,
Isaac retorted that it was Jonah*s own
fault as he had spent all his time in Santo associating with plantation
prostitutes.
These accusations were made in Naroke during the course
of the burial ceremony and resulted in Thomas withdrawing from Navuti.
He and the other three Naroke families joined the Melanesian Mission
and began to co-operate with Saranambuga parish,
Isaac now proposed that instead of just making profit from freight
charges they should raise a further sum of money with which to purchase
copra at the local price (that charged by the local European trader)
and sell at the higher Santo figure.
The contributors to this new
scheme included almost all the Navuti, Natalu and Navitakua people.
The individual amounts ranged from a few shillings to as much as £10
and totalled about £400.
The company then appointed Job of Natalu as launch captain.
At
303
that time he was about 45 and already achieving some prominence as the
Deacon whose special function it was to whip young men who broke
council laws, in particular adultery and fornication.
Alec Kwani, as
the most literate man in the parish, was appointed book-keeper and
manager.
Isaac, as church Elder, preferred to remain as the power
behind the scenes.
For the next three or four years the business prospered.
The
launch plied back and forth regularly carrying copra, passengers and
cargo.
Throughout the district men began to transfer their business
from the European trader to the Navuti group.
In 1937 the large
neighbouring parish of Lovanualigoutu decided en masse to become full
partners and brought with them three of the leading men of Lovaturusa
parish (sons of I s a a c s father’s sister - see 16.D 6, 7 and 8).
These
new members expanded the business by building a retail store on
Lovanualigoutu land conveniently located beside Nduindui anchorage.
Once again capital was needed and Navuti (plus satellites) and
Lovanualigoutu (plus the Lovaturusa men) contributed about equal amounts.
The two major parishes co-operated in the labour, and when the store
opened Sampson of Navuti (13*F 1 and 14*? 1) assisted by two young
Lovanualigoutu men, acted as storekeeper.
The trade goods were
purchased direct from Santo and brought to Nduindui on the company
launch.
Trouble, however, was brewing.
Isaac, who prior to the formation
of the company, was undisputed leader of Navuti and its satellite
hamlets, now began to find that Alec, as official head of the company,
and Job as launch captain, were gaining in wealth, influence and
304
reputation to his own detriment.
Other senior Navuti men were also
beginning to feel uneasy at this rise to power of outsiders.
One
evening in 1939 Isaac summoned those whom he knew to be thinking as
he was to his house to discuss the problem.
In addition to Timothy
(13.D 1), Joseph (16.D 1), Sampson, Adam (t5*3 3)> Paul, Enock (17.D 2)
and a few other Navuti men, the three from Lovaturusa also attended.
Alec heard of the meeting and demanded an explanation.
They
accused him of failing to keep the books efficiently and appropriating
profits.
He flew into a rage and told Isaac and his supporters that
he would withdraw from the company and from the church and that they
could run the business themselves.
Though he threatened to return to
his birthplace Natakaro, he remained
in Navuti.
A few years later
he died.
For a while Isaac, assisted by a couple of other Navuti men,
attempted to keep the books and manage the by now complex business.
But it soon became apparent that they were not competent, and business
began to swing back to the European trader.
The Lovanualigoutu
members decided to withdraw and demanded a return of their original
investment plus any profit.
Remarkably enough, Isaac was able to
produce £173, over double the capital.
They also refused to permit
the store to be operated on their land, and the building was dismantled.
The business was thus reduced to a producers co-operative only.
When the Americans arrived in Santo (a short while later the price
of copra fell to about £10 per ton) copra production came to a near
standstill.
A major exodus of labourers seeking employment with the
Americans now took place and for the next couple of years Job was
.
305
kept busy operating the launch as a regular passenger ferry. By this
had
time Job/assumed such control over the launch that to all intents and
purposes it had become his private property.
His crew members were
mostly young Natalu men, and with the profits gained from the passengers*
fares he purchased trade goods and sold them in his own store in Natalu.
Towards the end of this period, when the Americans began to withdraw,
they abandoned large quantities of valuable material.
Job did a big
trade in transporting much of it across to Nduindui.
This brings me to the critical part of the account.
Vfhen Job was
appointed launch captain in 1936 he began to see himself as a future
leader of consequence and to act in an appropriate manner.
This
irritated the Navuti men in the same way that Alec*s success had done
earlier.
Job*s foster-son Solomon (17.S 2, 12.F 5) informed me that
during the war years a number of unpleasant incidents occurred.
These
he considers led to his father’s decision to act in the manner I shall
shortly describe.
One day Isaac commented to Paul Hungwe as Job was walking towards
them, HLook at our Hungwe Lakua coming to talk to us Mf
The remark was
made mockingly and referred to what they considered was Job*s exagerated
estimation of his own importance.
Job heard Isaac and, though he said
nothing, was greatly upset.
A short while later Paul confronted Job directly, MYou are too
big a man over us at Navuti, we are the true Navuti men, you not a
straight man of this place.
You make big talk over us, you whip our
young men too strong, you make profit with our launch.M
away with his head low but inwardly raging.
Job walked
I might add that by this
306
time Paul was a very old man and one of the few remaining pagans in
the district.
He no longer killed pigs and as he had not bothered to
plant many coconuts he also missed out in the copra boom.
His opinion
was still respected, but his influence had declined to a fraction of
what it had been twenty years earlier.
Isaac*s wife Rebecca was renowned for her sharp and malicious
tongue.
She seldom missed an opportunity to throw invective at Job,
or for that matter at any of the numerous outsiders who were at the
time collaborating in Navuti*s co-operative ventures.
Hsr favourite
technique was to approach one of these men, ask him who his father was,
where he was born and then proceed to accuse him of making Navuti a
dirty and untidy place by walking about all over its land and sleeping
in its clubs.
Apparently most of her victims paid little attention,
but Job, already smarting from Isaac*s and
P aul’s jibes, most definitely
did.
When the war ended Job decided to make a clean break by building
his own church and club in Natalu and by changing allegiance from the
Church of Christ to a newly formed native church recently founded in
Walaha district some miles west.
With this move in mind, he had
earlier amassed a stock of timber, iron and cement purchased with
profits from the launch operations.
The other two Natalu men gave him
their backing and by all accounts at least half of the Navitakua and
Navuti people contributed money and labour and were even considering
joining the new denomination.
Job won this support for two reasons.
His personal reputation
as a resourceful leader had been well established through his long and
307
successful captaincy of the launch*
Over the same period Isaac had
lost influence through the failure of the Navuti company, and in recent
years he had been superseded
church affairs#
by Abel Bani as the dominant figure in
A more general reason was that at that time everyone
in west Aoba was taking a keen interest in the Walaha decision to run
a mission of their own without any European assistance#
All the
present Apostolic-Church parishes joined the movement, and though the
Nduindui people had no love of their western neighbours, many were
contemplating leaving the Church-of-Christ fold.
Much of the interest
was due to an underlying cargo cult ideology, which,though never
explicitly formulated or openly expressed by the leaders, circulated
widely as a strong rumour#
The Navuti-Natalu crisis was brought to a head when the Churchof-Christ missionary visited Job to see how the new church was progressing#
Job met him threatingly saying the building would not be available and
that he intended joining the Walaha denomination.
The missionary summoned a meeting of the district council and the
leading Elders asked Job why he had made such a decision.
Hie replied
by recounting the manner in which the Navuti men had repeatedly insulted
him.
Isaac in turn stated that he had no idea what Job was talking
about and that he always considered him to be his brother in Christ.
Leader after leader joined Isaac in condemning Job*s action.
They
accused him of using the launch for his private gain, of acting as
though he were an Elder when in fact he was only a Deacon, and above
all of undermining the solidarity of the Nduindui Church of Christ by
threatening to join the Vfalaha sinners.
30S
When Job saw that his potential support had evaporated he
compromised by agreeing to remain in the Church of Christ, but he
insisted that he would continue to build his church.
He and Isaac
then agreed to hold Sunday services on alternate weeks in Navuti and
Natalu.
The building was opened in 1946, and Job held an
enormous
feast to which Isaac contributed a bullock and Navuti followers the
labour.
When I first set up residence in Navuti at the end of 1958 this
arrangement still held, and Isaac and Job shared the leadership of the
Navuti-Natalu-Navitakua complex.
In the intervening years numerous
small stores had been built by private individuals, though most of them
were soon closed.
No attempt was made to set up a new copra exporting
or co-operative store as during this period inter-parish rivalry was
in part forgotten in the enthusiasm created by Reuben*s district-wide
company*
I must therefore give a brief outline of this important
political and economic development before proceeding to the next stage
in the conflict between Isaac and Job.
In chapter I
I described how the first resident missionary, Purdy,
set himself up in business at Nduindui anchorage as a retailer and
copra exporter*
By 1951, when he decided to retire, the busicess was
one of the most valuable and profitable in the New Hebrides*
Abel
Bani and his associates in the coastal parishes, had for many years
cherished the hope that they would one day acquire the property*
They
asserted that when Purdy first came to Nduindui he promised that one
day he would return both the land and the store to the original owners,
now said to be the whole of Nanako, Navitora and Lovanualigoutu parishes.
309
They took th is to mean th a t Purdy would give i t to them fo r nothing as
he had paid only £1 and a few stic k s of tobacco.
Though Purdy had no such in te n tio n he was i n i t i a l l y hopeful th a t
a n ativ e co-operative would be formed to pay him a reasonable p ric e .
He asked fo r £20,000,a sum which though le s s than th a t which he could
get from a European tr a d e r , nevertheless dismayed Abel and Co.
But
when t h e i r annoyance subsided they summoned a council meeting and decided
th a t they would s t a r t ra is in g the money.
The leading men of almost
every p a rish in west Aoba, reg ard less of denomination, attended th is
meeting, and a l l agreed to co-operate.
As a beginning each married
man was to give £20, sin g le a d u lt men £10 and women and adolescents
sm aller sums.
Purdy, who had meanwhile departed to A u stra lia to prepare
fo r h is retirem en t, changed h is mind when he returned and offered the
business to h is a s s is ta n t
of many years, an A u stralian c alle d Spooner
who had m arried a Nanako woman and was the fa th e r of th re e ad u lt sons.
Purdy informed me th a t on retu rn in g to Nduindui he found th a t the co
operative movement was dominated by two men, Sese and Reuben of
N avitora,
whom he considered to be the " g re a te st money grabbing
p a rtie s on Aoba".
With these two in charge he was c e rta in th a t the
p r o f its from the business would never find th e i r way in to the c o ffe rs
of the church, which he claimed was h is hope in s e llin g to the n a tiv e s.
Whatever h is m otives, he c alle d o ff the d e al, sold the business to
Spooner and departed to Sydney where he remained u n t il h is death in
1961.
The half-form ed co-operative had already raise d over£5,000 and
w ith the help and encouragement of the lo c a l m issionary they decided
to go ahead and e s ta b lis h a new business.
Reuben, who
310.
was then a man about 45, a big plantation owner, a previous store
keeper and renowned for the fearless manner in which he dealt with
missionaries, traders and Government officials, was nominated as head.
For the first few years the co-operative purchased copra locally
and sold it to a French trader in Santo.
The trader then offered them
a ship of their own for £5,000 which they could pay off by working as
labourers on his plantation.
Reuben shifted his base to Santo and
acted as lie^on with the trader. Soon afterwards he expanded the
business by building a hotel, purchasing a taxi and organizing the
Aoban wharf labour.
By the time that I arrived in Nduindui Reuben had passed the
zenith of his powers.
The company had been operating for some six years
and other than in the form of these Santo assets (which were considered
to be of little benefit to anyone other than Reuben) and occasional
small sums of money donated to the
scribers had begun
church council, the original sub
to feel that they had thrown their money away.
Only three parishes (Navitora, Navuti and Saralokambu) still sold most
of their produce to Reuben and even in these frequent complaints were
made about Reuben*s luxurious style of living,
A further setback
occurred early in 1959 when the ship was wrecked on a reef, and, though
brought back to Santo, it was judged to be not worth the cost of
repairing.
The company continued to operate as a producers* co-operative
selling the copra on consignement to Marseilles through a Santo export
ing company which supplied the transport.
But enthusiasm reached rock
bottom, and the scene was clearly set for a resurgence of smaller co
operatives and inter-parish rivalry.
311
About a year earlier (mid 1958) the four Navuti-Natalu men
f Isaac,
Solomon, Moses (1.3*D 3) and Sampson], who were at that time operating
small private stores, met together in I s a a c s house.
They decided to
abandon their private businessss and call for subscriptions and labour
to build a big community st ore-cum-restaurant beside Navuti church.
The instigator of the scheme was Solomon (see plate 3$) a man of about
40 years of age who was rapidly establishing himself as a Deacon of
district-wide influence and a likely future Elder,
As he played such
an important role in subsequent events I must digress again to provide
some background information,
S o l o m o n ^ father, Aru Kwaga (17.D4 ) was a Natalu man who came to
live in Navuti (Londulendule) the birthplace of his wife*s mother,
after quarrelling with the Natalu headman Ngwero Rongo (12.D 1),
Solomon
was bora in Navuti, and a few years later his father died on a Malekula
plantation.
At about the same time Job also quarrelled with Ngwero
Rongo (a notorious sorcerer),
and he too came to Londulendule, where
he later married Solomon^ mother.
About ten years afterwards Ngwero
Rongo died and Job returned to Natalu with his wife and foster-son.
When Solomon was about 10 the Navuti school was at the height of
its popularity, and, together with many other young men, he spent most
of his time in that parish attending classes and helping his teachers
in their various schemes (road making etc,). He slept and ate in the
house of his mother*s motherls brother, Moli Tawala (.17.D 1), the man
who had earlier given sanctuary to his father and foster-father.
he married in 1946 he set up house in Londulendule.
When
He constantly
visited Job, who lived only about 300 yards away just across the Natalu
border, and collected his copra on his true father’s Natalu land.
as Solomon wished to establish himself as a leader
But
he preferred to
live in Navuti, one of the largest and most politically active parishes
in the district.
His kin in Navuti include his mother’s brother’s
children (Peter Vira etc. 13.2 7) sind his mother’s mother’s brother ’s
children (Francis and Enock, 17.D 1 and 2).
This arrangement suited him admirably so long as Job and Isaac
were co-operating with one another.
But later on, when Job assumed
control of the launch and then challenged Isaac as company and parish
leader, Solomon found himself placed in an awkward, though potentially
advantageous, position.
His own ambition to emerge as leader
of
Navuti and perhaps as a second Abel Bani in district affairs, depended
in large part on the extent to which he identified himself with Isaac
and the Navuti projects.
But he also felt indebted to Job for bringing
him up and was hopeful that he would one day inherit his foster father1s
valuable Natalu plantations and gardens.
For many years he had there
fore walked a delicate tightrope between his competing benefactors
and constantly sought for means of maintaining harmonious relations
between them.
During the 1950’s he acted as one of Reuben’s leading local
agents by buying copra for the company and arranging its storage and
transhipment to Santo,
He also spent much of his time in conducting
church services and winning favour in the eyes of Abel Bani.
Later on,
when Reuben and Abel fell out, Solomon again found himself in a
difficult position as a supporter of both.
This in large part accounts
for his decision to withdraw temporarily from district politics and
Plate V
Part of Sara Navuti showing modern style
feast house(left) and store-cum-restaurant in background.
Plate V1
Navuti store. Parish headman serves house
wife .
313
concentrate on co n so lid atin g h is p o sitio n as the future le a d e r of
N avuti-N atalu.
For many months he p riv a te ly encouraged Isaac and Job
to pool th e ir resources in some jo in t e n te rp ris e .
F in a lly in 1933 he
succeeded in g e ttin g support fo r the store-cump-restaairant scheme.
The p ro jec t began w ith great enthusiasm .
Everyone in Navuti,
Natalu and Navitakua contributed money and labour, and throughout 1959
th e p a rish sara was the scene of constant a c tiv ity ,
Solomon looked
a f t e r th e finances and kept c are fu l records of the exact sums contributed
and the p rice of a l l equipment purchased.
Moses
?6) another
e x -lie u te n a n t of Reuben, arranged the buying of supplies, and Isaac and
Job donated the la rg e s t sums of money, d ire c te d the labour and held
numerous sm all f e a s ts .
At the end of my f i r s t f i e l d - t r i p (Dec. 1959) the build in g was
about h a lf constructed, and though Job was no longer taking much
i n te r e s t in the work, events were outwardly proceeding smoothly and
e f f i c ie n tl y .
When I returned fo r a b r ie f v i s i t in the l a t t e r h a lf of
1960 the ta s k was almost complete, and in December a big fe a st was held
and business s ta r te d .
T o tal costs of co n stru ctio n had by then amounted
to about £1,000, and the build in g was a most im pressive stru c tu re of
concrete, fib re-b o ard and corrugated iro n (see p la te s V and VI ).
The
sto re was w ell stocked w ith goods displayed in g lass cases and the
in sid e room was se t out w ith ta b le s and c h a irs .
An annexe served as
k itch en .
Abraham (13*E 5), a young and unim portant Navuti man was appointed
as storekeeper; Francis (17.D 1) a s s is te d by a number of youths and
g i r ls , mostly from Isaac! s household, cooked and ran the
restau ran t
314
(which served meals of ric e and stew fo r 2 /- ) ; Moses acted as buyer;
Solomon kept the books; and Isaac was appointed as ’’foundation11 (beru =
cen tre pole in a club-house)*
Job had meanwhile withdrawn from the p ro je c t and b u ilt another
small sto re of h is own in N atalu.
Jo e l (18 *E 1 ), a Navuti man, made
the follow ing comment:
Navuti i s lik e a box when seen from the ou tsid e, but in sid e i t is
f u l l of b its* That i s the custom of Aoba - always men go t h e i r own
way w ith t h e i r jealous h e a rts and sp o il the work fo r others* Job
has opened h is sto re to sp o il Navuti, he wants to p u ll the young
men to h is sa ra and leave Isaac alone in h is house* But our h earts
are strong fo r Isaac, our sto re i s the b e st on Aoba and only th ree
men follow Job*
Seven months l a t e r when I returned fo r my f in a l v i s i t the Navuti
company was s t i l l operating successfully*
Up to a dozen people were
fed each day a t the re s ta u ra n t, and the sto re was making a p r o f it of
about £50 a month*
c e n tre .
The building had become a pleasant and liv e ly so c ia l
Every day those who had no urgent business sa t around gossiping
and playing cards a t the re s ta u ra n t tables*
A larg e paddock had been
cleared and each afternoon the young men played fo o tb a ll • About
once a week they in v ite d o th er p arishes to send teams to compete w ith
them.
Job, re a liz in g th a t h is small sto re had no hope ag ain st th is so rt
of com petition, closed i t and approached Adam, the Navitakua lea d er,
with the proposal th a t the two of them should combine and b u ild a s to re cum -restaurant sim ila r to th a t in Navuti*
Adam was in the same p o sitio n
v is a v is Lovanualigoutu as Job was w ith N avuti.
His p a rish had
declined d r a s tic a lly from a p o sitio n of former greatn ess, h a lf the young
315
men followed Isaac in N avuti, and. the remainder followed Lovanualigoutu.
For many years Lovanualigoutu had operated a big sto re a t Nduindui
anchorage, and Adam was jealo u s of the le a d er Edwin.
he was th ere fo re
d elig h ted when Job made -hi3 p roposition, and the two of them began
work on the b u ild in g .
About a dozen young N atalu and Navitakua men
supplied the labour.
This development accentuated Solomon’s d i f f i c u l t i e s .
He f e l t
obliged to help Job and in so doing took th e r is k of jeopardizing h is
r is in g rep u ta tio n in N avuti.
When I asked him how he f e l t he sta te d
\
th a t he was not unduly worried as no one expected the new business to
p ro sp er.
Isaac informed me th a t though Solomon must help h is fa th e r,
h is h e a rt was in Navuti.
During the la s t th re e months of 1961: l i t t l e or no work was done on
the new b u ilding as Job and Adam had in s u f f ic ie n t money to purchase
the iro n fo r the ro o f.
They appealed to t h e i r fellow p arish io n e rs to
donate one round of copra^each, but the response was almost n i l .
A
Navuti informant d e lig h te d ly compared Jo b ’s p o sitio n to th a t of a
t r a d itio n a l lead er who had planned a s a c r if ic e but then fa ile d to ra is e
the necessary pigs and mats.
The Navuti leaders were, by c o n tra st, making plans to increase
the scale of t h e ir o p e ra tio n s.
At th a t tim e, th re e p arish es, Navuti,
N avitora and Saralokambu, were s e llin g most of t h e ir produce on
consignement to M arseilles through a French company in Santo.
Reuben
Mara acted as middle-man, and the copra was a l l entered under h is name.
But, as previously mentioned, few people had confidence in Reuben, and
Isaac and Solomon decided to se t up th e i r own producers’ co-operative
316
by d ealin g d ir e c tly w ith the French company.
In November, Solomon and
S a la th ie l (Is a a c 1s e ld e s t son) went to Santo and arranged th a t in
fu tu re a l l Navuti copra should be consigned in S a la th ie 1 1s name.
They returned to Navuti with a s e t of scales and a supply of sacks,
and Isaac announced th a t the p a rish would from now on pay £28 cash fo r
each ton o f copra d eliv ered in the s to r e .
The Santo p rice was then
£33, and as the French company agreed to tra n s p o rt the copra on th e i r
own sh ip a t £3 per ton, t h i s would leave £2 p r o f it fo r Navuti (plus or
minus th e share of the d iffe re n c e between the Santo p rice and th a t
re a liz e d in M arseilles - on a ris in g market t h is could amount to as
much as £5 per to n .)
In the f i r s t two weeks the co-operative purchased 14 tons of copra
and a few bags of cocoa, most of i t from Navuti re sid e n ts but a lso sm all
amounts from neighbouring p a rish e s.
Isa ac , S a la th ie l, Solomon and
Moses supervised proceedings and tran sp o rted the produce to the p arish
storage shed a t Ahau anchorage in N avitora.
This stru c tu re was b u ilt
many years ago when Navuti formed i t s f i r s t producers* co -o p erativ e.
I t i s located on the land of George W ilbur.
Solomon fo rsees p o ssib le
d i f f i c u l t i e s as George might refuse to l e t them continue to use h is
ground.
When I f in a lly l e f t in December no one seemed c e rta in how George
w ill a c t.
^or many years he was a close a sso c ia te of Reuben and h is
e ld e s t son, Wilson, acted as captain of the
VI
company sh ip .
In chapter
I described how Reuben d e lib e ra te ly consolidated h is re la tio n s h ip
w ith George by arranging th a t h is daughter should marry Wilson.
But
George, though he owns some Navitora land, i s a Nanako re sid e n t and a
317
strong supporter of Reuben*s bitter opponent, the leading Elder Abel
Bani (Nanako).
with Navuti.
Solomon also pointed out that George has strong ties
His wife*s mother came from that parish, and recently
he betrothed his daughter to a Navuti youth, Alec Kwani, a member of
Isaac *s household.
If the Navuti men should succeed in winning the co-operation of
George, and if their company should continue to attract sellers, then
Reuben*s long domination of the copra market will come to an end.
Solomon and Isaac made no secret of their hope that everyone in Nduindui,
and ultimately throughout Aoba, will sell them their produce.
They
informed me that if all goes well in 1963 they will then ask other
parishes to join the co-operative by contributing £100 capital each.
They might then contemplate replacing the old and near useless launch
once operated by Job with a new and larger vessel capable of taking
15 to 20 tons cargo.
Whether or not these plans come to fruition is largely irrelevant.
The point that I wish to emphasize is the ambition of Solomon and
Isaac so to manipulate the cash-crop economy that Navuti emerges as the
centre of power in a district- or even island-wide network of commercial
and political relations.
The creation of such a laosely knit associat
ion depends primarily on the personal abilities of these two men
-
on the success with which they can manage the store, restaurant and
co-operative, and induce prominent men in other parishes to assist by
making purchases, selling copra, providing capital and granting such
facilities as a strategic landing place.
is clear
The parallel with the Hangwe
31Ö
Analysis
One of the most notable characteristics of Nduindui social structure
is the wide range of parish types.
In chapter III
I demonstrated
that though the basic unit of local organization consists
of a small
group of agnatically related men plus spouses, and in some cases a
few immigrants, the political status of such groups varies from full
autonomy (parishes = ngwatu i vanua lakua) through part or limited
independence in certain contexts combined with a tradition of full
autonomy in the past (parish-section = ngwatu i vanua) to a bare
minimum of separate identity and no such tradition (tokaki vanua, vanua
or na sara)•
Structural variations of this kind could he the resultant of a
number of factors.
One possibility would be a process of regular
segmentation such as that
described for certain African societies.
But in Nduindui there is little or no correlation between the different
levels or degrees of political autonomy and the hierarchy of segments
within the fftfnrtimim descent groups.
I argued that a necessary condition
for the formation of segmentary lineages in agricultural societies is
a sufficiency of surplus land to maintain the unilineal dogma by
constant territorial expansion.
With the exception of a few inland
parishes (where modified segmentary characteristics were noted) this
condition cannot be met in
Nduindui.
Elsewhere the lineage-like
carpels are genealogically shallow, differ greatly in size and in
political status, and adapt themselves to varying demographic and
ecological conditions by regular adoption, non-agnatic affiliation
and transfer of land rights.
319
I was therefore faced with the problem of accounting for the
v a ria b ility in the p o litic a l status of named local groups, both monocarpellary and m ulticarpellary,
In the present chapter I have, I hope,
demonstrated th at the size, so lid arity and status of local groups is in
large part dependent on the a b ilitie s and ambitionsof the leading
members.
Natalu was once a large and fu lly autonomous parish, ( 1 )'A decline
then set in , probably from 100 to 50 years ago, u n til the point was
eventually reached when only three families remained.
I t is significant
th at th is decline coincided with an absence of any high ranking members
in the two immediately proceeding generations.
The numerical weakness of the group made i t s members dependent on
th e ir larger and more powerful neighbour Navuti.
In the early years of
C hristianity they attended service in the parish, co-operated in house
building, copra working and other day-to-day tasks, and in 1933 they
joined the Navuti co-operative.
I f Job had not gained such influence within th is wider grouping
by virtue of his two roles as council-whipper and launch-captain there
can be l i t t l e doubt th at Natalu would have soon lo st i t s status as a
ngwatu i vanua and become simply a dependent tokaki vanua within Navuti
1, The evidence for th is assertion, though necessarily open to some
doubt,' is strong. The ground is covered in graves, some of them of a
kind permissable only for men of the highest rank; there are numerous
abandoned s a c rific ia l grounds; genealogies mention fa r more names in
the second to fourth ascending generations than is usually correlated
with so few living members; and informants frequently referred to the
past greatness of the parish.
320
parish.
But if Job had subsequently succeeded in either his 1946 or
1961 bids to break with Navuti and draw with him many of the members
of that parish, the full autonomy of Natalu would have been assured,
Isaac and his few remaining followers would then have found themselves
in Natalu1s former position
-
in all probability they would have
found it necessary to join Job or perhaps some other large and powerful
neighbour such as Nanako or Lovanualigoutu.
Though neither of these extremes did in fact take place, they might
well have done so.
Undoubtedly such things have happened at other
times and in other places.
The formation of the multi-section parish
of Saralokambu is almost certainly an example.
But this recognition
of the importance of an open and competitive system of leadership in
the political structure of Nduindui society must be balanced against
the
equally important fact that after 34 years of fluctuating fortune
the size and status of Natalu was the same at the end as it was at the
beginning.
Such an occurrence could in part be explained by the
accident of personalities.
Natalu might well have lost all independence
if Job had been a lesser man; equally his breakaway bids might not have
failed had he been stronger.
But this does not tell the whole story.
The extent to which the
members of named local groups are bound to one another by a shared
interest in their land, by ties of common descent, by a rule of exogamy,
and by a pride in their joint achievements and possessions limits the
extent to which the rise and fall of leaders defines parish boundaries.
If Job had been the last surviving member of Natalu his chances of
success would have been greatly reduced
-
if Navuti had not produced
321
a number of famous pig-killers in the immediately proceeding generations
Isaac would have started with less supporters and may well have failed
to extend his influence so rapidly into surrounding and smaller parishes.
Nduindui society can thus be represented as an inter-mediary type
between two hypothetical extremes:1) A society in which the local groups exhibit such a strong sense of
the continuity of their social identity and solidarity that the death
or loss of power of a leader who succeeded in temporarily uniting two
or more would be immediately followed by a reassertion of the full
autonomy of each.
The continuity of the larger political unit could
only be achieved if the uniting leader left behind him a permanent
administrative hierarchy.
This type of political system is most likely
to be found in unilineal societies with discrete monocarpellary parishes
and hereditary leadership.
The slender evidence suggests that the
political system of the Small Islands and north Malekula may approximate
to the model.
2)
A
society in which the autonomy of the individual is so strongly
stressed that group solidarity is primarily dependent on the uniting
influence of a dominant leader.
In practice, no such political system
exists in its pure form; individualism is always limited by the
recognition of ties of kinship, loyalty, occupation, rank, etc.
These
bonds, according to their strength, limit the extent to which group
solidarity depends on recognition of common leadership.
The Nduindui intermediary position is directly related to a leader
ship system which, though competitive and based primarily on personal
ability, is nevertheless subject to such clearly defined rules and
.
322
formal requirements that there is a tendency for a group that
has once
achieved political dominance to maintain its position for a number of
generations.
This undoubtedly occurred with greater frequency in the
past than it does today.
A brief comparison with the Trobriand Islands, where a similar
fluctuation in the political status of local groups is correlated with
a more highly developed system of hereditary rank and leadership, is
illuminating.
In the opening lines of a recent article Powell wrote,
»Trobriand political organization is in a real sense conterminous with
the processes by which individual leaders arise, create and for a time
maintain followings so that the areas they have dominated resolve once
more into their component local groups, which then remain autonomous
until the emergence of a new area leader
In so far as the rise and fall of leaders results in a changing
pattern of political relations between groups the
as that described in Nduindui.
process is the same
In neither society do these supra^-parish
political units crystallize into permanent administrative hierarchies.
The difference is as follows.
In the Trobriands the potential units
of local autonomy within a dominant leader*s area of influence are
determined on the one hand by the limitation of the field of leadership
competition within the bounds of a hereditarily privileged matrilineal
sub-clan, and, on the other, by the
strong sense of solidarity and
continuity at both the parish and parish-cluster level.
Consequently
when a cluster leader dies or declines in authority, the component
parishes, each with their own hereditary leaders, reassert
their
autonomy until such time as a new cluster leader emerges from the
1. Powell, H.A. »Competitive Leadership in Trobriand Political
Organization”, JRAI, Vol. 90, I960, p. 118.
.
323
struggle within the same sub-clan, and hence parish, as that which
produced his predecessor.
In Nduindui, by contrast, leadership is not tied tb any descent
group or locality, and neighbouring parishes do not regularly form
clusters in identical patterns.
Leaders may appear anywhere, and
competition is not limited by formal rules of descent.
Once a leader
succeeds in establishing a parish-cluster he must constantly guard
against potential challengers who may appear in any descent or local
group, no matter how weak in numbers and lacking in distinguished
ancestors it may be.
Nor can he automatically claim parish or parish-
cluster leadership once he has achieved dominance over his carpel
members.
Neither carpels nor parishes automatically owe allegiance to
other like groups by virtue of predetermined status.
is automatic in Nduindui.
In fact, nothing
Every step of the struggle for authority
and influence must be won by successful competition, and throughout a
leader*s career he has constantly to demonstrate his superiority over
competitors.
The absence of any form of institutionalised restriction of the
loci of leadership is correlated with the more open and variable social
composition of local groups than is the case in the Trobriands.
A
similar flexibility is characteristic of Trobriand society only at a
level higher than that of the parish-cluster.
Leaders seeking for a
wider area of influence can only do so by competing successfully against
other hereditary cluster-leaders.
In Nduindui the struggle constantly occurs at all levels of local
grouping so that the political structure of the district alters from
324
decade to decade and seldom if ever repeats the same pattern.
A
parish
that is today the centre of power of a parish-cluster is tomorrow a
dependent section in another cluster with a new locus of leadership.
This fundamental, difference, which is itself but one of the many
manifestations of the more pervasive contrast between group solidarity
and individual autonomy, or structural rigidity and flexibility, is,
as I have argued in earlier chapters, intimately related to underlying
variations in demography, ecology and productive resources.
Trobriand
hereditary leadership, ranked clans, and lineage solidarity are
correlated with marked local variations in soil fertility, availability
of good fishing grounds, strategic positions for overseas trade and
heritable wealth.
In Nduindui the open and competitive system of
leadership and rank, the weakly developed dogma of unilineal descent,
the variability in parish structure and the low level of group solidar
ity and continuity are correlated with a more even distribution of
resources and a comparatively limited wealth that can be transmitted
from one generation to the next.
325
CHAPTER XI
DISCUSSION
In t h i s f i n a l c h a p te r I s h a ll d is c u s s th r e e to p ic s - th e h i s t o r i c a l
background i n s o c ia l a n th ro p o lo g y t h a t has le d to a re c e n t emphasis on
th e “ lo o se* o r 11f l e x i b l e ** a s p e c ts o f s o c ia l s tr u c tu r e ? th e e x te n t to
which e c o lo g ic a l and demographic f a c t o r s d eterm in e o r in flu e n c e th e
prim ary s t r u c t u r a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f k in based s o c i e t i e s w ith an
a g r i c u l t u r a l economy; and th e e q u a tio n of u n i l i n e a r i t y w ith r i g i d i t y
and b i l a t e r a l i t y w ith lo o s e n e s s .
The h i s t o r i c a l background
The co n cep t of s o c ia l s t r u c t u r e i s based on th e assum ption t h a t
d e s p ite th e c o m p le x itie s o f s o c ia l phenomena i t i s n e v e r th e le s s p o s s ib le
to d e s c rib e and a n a ly se some kind o f o rd e rly and s y ste m a tic arrangem ent
of p a r t s .
In F i r t h ’ s term s ttin th e co n cep t of s o c ia l s t r u c t u r e , th e
q u a l i t i e s re c o g n ise d a re p rim a rily th o s e o f p e r s is te n c e , c o n tin u ity ,
form and p e rv a siv e n e ss th ro u g h th e s o c ia l f i e l d . . . . A s t r u c t u r a l p r in c ip le
i s one which p ro v id es a fix e d l i n e o f s o c ia l b e h av io u r and r e p r e s e n ts th e
o rd e r which i t m a n if e s ts ”.'1'
I n th e f i r s t few decades of th e “ s t r u c t u r a l i s t ” p o in t of view m ajor
advances were made in our u n d e rs ta n d in g of th e form and fu n c tio n in g o f
1 . F i r t h , R. “ Some P r in c i p le s o f S o c ia l O rg an izatio n * 5, JRAI, V ol. ö5,
19b5, P. 2.
326
a wide range of tribal societies.
Gluckman wrote,
our analyses
abstracted a set of regular interconnections between various social
relationships, modes of belief etc.
We have exhibited that there is a
systematic structure in one field of tribal life after another*'.
(l)
The success of this method of analysis was in large part due to
the high incidence of structurally defined behaviour in the societies
selected for study.
This was especially true of those communities in
which all or most of the main affiliations that govern an individuals
statuses and activities are determined by his membership of perpetuating
and corporate unilineal descent groups.
In post-war years a reaction set in, partly as a result of an
increased awareness of the degree of option, deviance and change that
is characteristic of even the most stable and rigidly structured
societies, and partly as a result of more fieldwork carried out in
communities that are either loosely structured or are undergoing radical
social change.
Anthropologists, faced by a wide range of phenomena that
failed to conform to structural criteria, were thus forced to reassess
their basic concepts and methods of analysis.
In Britain the reaction
took three, though closely inter-related, forms - an introduction of
additional and supplementary concepts (social organization, process,
social field, network cohesion etc.) a stress on the historical or
developmental aspect of social relationships (Barnes, Gluckman, Turner etc.);
1. Gluckman, M. 1'oreward to Turner's Schism and Continuity in an
African Society, Manchester, 1^57, p.ix.
327
and a shift in emphasis from the jural and qualitative dimensions of
social structure to the economic and quantitative (Leach, Worsely etc.}.
Gluckman, when advocating the extended/case method, expressed the
common concern to w penetrate more deeply into the actual processes by
which persons and groups live together within a social system, under
a culture... to cope with what Malinowski dismissed as accidental
quarrels and individual differences of temperament.0 ^
By confining
our analyses solely to that which is structural, i.e. persistent,
repetitive and predictable, we necessarily exclude the greater part of
social behaviour, especially in loosely structured and rapidly changing
societies.
Much of this
non-strue tural* data was recognized as highly
relevant in arriving at an adequate understanding of how societies
function.
Between the two extremes of the fully structural and the
entirely unique and accidental there is an intermediary field in which
there is some
degree of order, pattern and predictability.
When
individuals make choices between alternatives it is sometimes possible to
predict the outcome.
The prediction may be based on a statistical
knowledge of how others acted under similar circumstances, or it may be
based on an awareness of the various social, economic and other pressures
operative in the particular context.
Firth was the first to explicitly develop the concept of an order
that is intermediary between 11a fixed line of social behaviour’1 and
1. ’Gluckman, M. :,The Use of Ethnographic Data in Social Anthropological
Analyses in Britain" (unpublished paper), p. 7«
328
a b s o lu te in d iv id u a lis m o r c h a o s .
He d e f in e d s o c i a l o r g a n iz a ti o n as th e
com plem entary and o p e r a t iv e c o u n t e r p a r t to s o c i a l s t r u c t u r e , a s " t h e
w orking a rra n g e m e n ts o f s o c i e t y 11 w hereby a p a r t i c u l a r s t r u c t u r e b o th
m a in ta in s i t s e l f and u n d e rg o e s c h a n g e .
The c o n c e p t " r e c o g n is e s
a d a p t a ti o n o f b e h a v io u r i n r e s p e c t t o g iv e n e n d s , c o n t r o l o f means in
v a ry in g c irc u m s ta n c e s , w hich a r e s e t by ch an g e s i n th e e x t e r n a l e n v ir o n (2
ment o r by th e n e c e s s i t y t o r e s o lv e c o n f l i c t b etw een s t r u c t u r a l p r in c i p le s '* .
The c o n t r a s t i s f a r r e a c h in g a s i t r a i s e s the q u e s tio n a s t o how
f a r i n d i v i d u a l s a c t in c o n fo rm ity w ith s t r u c t u r a l p r i n c i p l e s ( i d e a l
r u l e s o r m oral axiom s w hich i n th e o ry do n o t r e c o g n is e l e g i t i m a t e
a l t e r n a t i v e s ) o r th e v a ry in g re q u ire m e n ts o f th e e n v iro n m e n t.
I f th e
en vironm ent sh o u ld i t s e l f be r e l a t i v e l y i n v a r i a n t th e n s t r u c t u r e and
o r g a n iz a ti o n may in l a r g e p a r t c o in c id e w ith one a n o th e r and th e q u e s tio n
th u s becomes i r r e l e v a n t .
H i s t o r i c a l ^ e c o l o g i c a l and dem ographic f a c t o r s
may be such t n a t 90 p e r c e n t o f men r e s i d e v i r i l o c a l i y , i n h e r i t p r o p e r ty
from t h e i r f a t h e r s and m a in ta in an e x p l i c i t dogma o f p a t r i l i n e a l d e s c e n t.
The q u a n t i t a t i v e r e p e t i t i o n o f s i m i l a r c h o ic e s made i n s i m i l a r c o n te x ts
i s r e i n f o r c e d and s a n c tio n e d by a s e t o f r u l e s and m o ral ax io m s.
In
such a s o c ie t y a sim p le s t r u c t u r a l a n a l y s i s n e c e s s a r i l y makes e x p l ic a b l e
a w ide ra n g e o f b e h a v io u r.
1 . F i r t h , R. " S o c i a l O r g a n iz a tio n and S o c ia l Change'*, JKAI, V o l. Ö4,
p. 10.
2.
F i r t h , R. "Some P r i n c i p l e s o f S o c ia l O r g a n iz a tio n " , JRAI, V o l. ö b ,
P. 2 .
329
B ut
m ost
th e
p rin c ip a l
s ta b le
sp ace
and
q u e ry
as
w o rk in g
fe w
and
w ay
to
c o n d itio n s
in
tim e .
to
th e
i t
fa r
a
g re a te r
re la tiv e
is
I f
g re a te r
m odem
th e
c o n d itio n s
d e te rm in in g
th a t
W hen
c o n c e rn
fix e d
th is
w ith
is
fie ld w o rk
v a ria tio n
v a r ia b ility
p ro b a b le
b e tw e e n .
o f
e n v iro n m e n ta l
The
p rin c ip le s .
d u ra tio n
le s s o n
o f
ru le s
so
a
a d a p tiv e
a
even
g re a tly
m o re
o f
h ig h
o f
th a t
v a ry
th e
in flu e n c e
is
is
re le v a n t
o rd e r
s tru c tu ra l
m e c h a n is m s
and
a re
in
th e
ru le s
o f
o r
lo n g
th e m s e lv e s
a n a ly s is
and
th e
b o th
s tru c tu ra l
b e h a v io u r
in
m ust
g iv e
o rg a n iz a tio n a l
p rin c ip le s .
L each,
s o c ia l
o f
an
id e a l
th e
an
o f
o f
an
do
id e a l
in
(
o f
)
L each,
S .
2o
L each,
E .R .
S o c ia l
C h ic a g o ,
R .
c o n s tra in ts
e x a g g e ra te d
im p o s e d
ru n s
d o w n h ill
d e s c e n t.
be
b e st
He
" ra th e r
th a n
"T he
p .
A V illa g e
in
124.
o f
th e
S o u th e a s t
m ade
as
S in h a le s e
o rg a n iz a tio n a l
S in h a le s e
S tru c tu re
te rm s ,
ju ra l
th a n
in
in
a
th e
"as
a
B ritis h
im p o rta n c e
c o n c lu d e d
o rd e r
s ta te d
re g a rd e d
th a t
b e h a v io u r
v /a te r
e n v iro n m e n t,
E liy a ,
th e
He
a
"
w ith
'
on
c h o ic e s
F i r t h 's
( 1)
p re c e p ts .
in d iv id u a l
P u l
i 960,
o fte n
arg u ed
th a n
b ecau se
can
s o c ie ty ,
ra th e r
p a tr ilin e a l
In
a c c o rd a n c e
1.
in
2
m o ra l
e c o lo g ic a l
s tru c tu re
ru le s " .
S in h a le s e
c o n s is te n tly
and
m o re
m u ltip le
o f
have
ru le s
th e
te c h n o lo g ic a l
ju ra l
a n a ly s is
o f
th e y
s o c ia l
o u tc o m e
m o re
a re
w ay
m a in ta in
and
se t
s o c ie ty
in d iv id u a l
th a t
h is
a n th ro p o lo g is ts
S in h a le s e
a c t
in
o f
-
th a t
in
th e
th a t
p e o p le
th a n
b ecau se
as
g e n e ra liz a tio n
a
th e
s ta tis tic a l
p a rtic u la r
d ire c t
s o c ie ty
th e y
e c o n o m ic
re fle c tio n
is
o f
re g u la te d
w ith
s tru c tu ra l
p rin c ip le s .
C e y lo n .
C a m b rid g e ,
1961,
D ry
Zone
o f
A s ia
(e d .
M u rd o c k ,
N o rth e rn
G.
p p .
C e y lo n " ,
P .)
5 -1 2 *
330
Leach accords such prominence to economic and environmental
determinants that he accused his predecessors (and contemporaries)
of having reified the social structure (the ideal set of rules).
Though there may well be some truth in his stricture I would like to
emphasise that in such relatively undifferentiated and stable societies
as the Tallensi the dichotomy between economic and jural constraints
is not altogether appropriate.
I agree with Worsely
(1) that
they way
in which the Tallensi actually behave is in large part determined by
the limitations and opportunities of the natural environment.
In
defence of Portes I would maintain that stable environmental
conditions resulted in such a high incidence of similar individual
choices that the statistical social structure did not deviate to any
marked extent from the formal rules of descent, residence, inheritance
etc.
When Fortes made his perhaps unfortunate statement that
"economic interests do not play the part of dynamic factors in the
social structure",
(2) he
was presumably referring to the high order
of correspondence between structural principle and economic self
interest.
A further difficulty in Leach's argument is that it is based on
the assumption that there is frequently a conflict between the rules
and the way in which people behave.
Like many similar statements its
1.
Worsely, P. M. , "The Kinship System of the Tallensi: A Revaluation",
JRAI, Vol. 86, pt. 1, pp. 37-74.
2.
Fortes, M., The Dynamics of Clanship Atnonp; the Tallensi, London,
1945» P* x.
331
acceptability must depend on the extent to which it is stressed.
Leach, in my opinion, over emphasises the gap that is inherent in
all societies.
I find it difficult to believe that a repetitive
and pervasive incidence of patrifiliation, patri-virilocal residence
and patrilineal inheritance would not at some stage result in the
development of a most explicit dogma of unilineal descent.
In
reverse, it seems equally improbable that a * statistically’* bilateral
society could for long maintain a unilineal ideology.
Where there
is a marked divergence between dogma and facts I suggest that
detailed investigation would establish either that the society had
recently undergone radical social change or that there were major
internal differences in wealth, rank, behaviour and mores.
In
relatively undifferentiated societies with a simple technology and
a long period of environmental stability, any attempt to assign
causal or even logical primacy to jural rules as against economic
necessity is bound to be inclusive.
So long as anthropological
analysis is confined to individual social systems the most that can
be expected is a series of demonstrations of the extent to which
structural, ideological and economic factors inter-relate with and
support one another.
In an attempt to advance beyond this circle of functional
consistency I have conducted my analysis within a comparative
framework.
By comparing various aspects of Ilduindui society with
neighbouring communities in the northern New Hebrides, and at times other
332
Melanesian communities,
I have endeavoured to abstract the logic
underlying the circle - to introduce a tentative causal element in
the argument.
Excluding for the moment the larger question of the
relationship between social structure, culture and environment,
I
have argued that in all or most Melanesian societies certain aspects
of social structure follow logically from certain other aspects.
The first and most basic is that the greater the emphasis that
is placed on unilinearity in descent, residence and inheritance, the
greater the probability that the society as a whole will be
characterised by group solidarity rather than individual autonomy
and network cohesion.
This is especially so when parishes are
monocarpellary and exogamous•
Further, and less obvious structural
consequences are that there will be a marked social and ritual
separation between the sexes, that marriage will be arranged in
accordance with group interests, that kinship roles will be sharply
differentiated, and that rank and leadership will be strongly
influenced by principles of seniority.
I have also indicated that an advance can he made beyond the
level of structural consistency by making further deductions
regarding the probable presence or absence of various cultural
features.
For example, given monocarpellary, patrilineal, and
patri-virilocal parishes, the associated sex dichotomy will most
probably manifest itself in a penisjoperation, female puberty rites,
representations of devouring monsters, use of bullroarers and male
333
f e a r o f m e n stru a l b lo o d .
I f i t sh o u ld be asked why I a s s ig n prim acy
to p a r is h s t r u c t u r e , my answ er i s t h a t in c e r ta in a re a s , f o r exam ple,
Llailu and Ngwarawapum o f New G uinea, th e re q u ir e d s t r u c t u r e i s
a s s o c ia te d w ith a r i g i d s e p a r a tio n o f th e sex es b u t few o f th e
ex p ec te d c u l t u r a l c o n c o m ita n ts.
\
The e x c u rsio n in to c u l t u r a l d eterm in acy can be ta k e n a s ta g e
f u r t h e r when th e r e i s a h ig h le v e l o f e th n o g ra p h ic u n if o r m ity .
The
p u b lic g rad ed s o c ie ty i s common th ro u g h o u t th e n o rth e rn New H e b rid e s.
At th e p u re ly s o c io lo g ic a l le v e l I dem o n strated t h a t i n th e most
th o ro u g h ly u n i l i n e a l and m o n o carp ellary com m unities (B ig Nambas,
Small I s la n d s and n o r th Raga) th e i n s t i t u t i o n e x p re ss e s group
s o l i d a r i t y by re d u c in g th e number o f ra n k s and by e i t h e r j o i n t l y
i n i t i a t i n g many y o u th s on a s in g le o c c a sio n o r by r e s t r i c t i n g th e
h ig h e s t ra n k s to members o f h e r e d i t a r i l y p r iv ile g e d lin e a g e s .
In
e a s t Aoba, where in d iv id u a l autonomy i s most h ig h ly d ev elo p ed , th e r e
a re sev e n te e n ran k s and a l l a re open to men who p o s se ss th e n e c e s sa ry
am b itio n and a b i l i t y .
In N duindui th e r e a re s ix main ra n k s and
though a l l a re open to c o m p e titio n , th e son o f a h ig h ra n k e r s t a r t s
w ith a g r e a t e r i n i t i a l advantage th a n he does i n e a s t Aoba.
In most p a r t s o f M alekula, in p a r t i c u l a r th e Sm all I s la n d s ,
th e r i t u a l k i l l i n g o f p ig s a s s o c ia te d w ith th e assum ption o f a new
ra n k i s a ls o a most e x p l i c i t honouring o f th e deceased a g n a tic
a n c e s to r s o f th e p a t r i - c l a n perfo rm in g th e ceremony.
I n N duindui,
where th e two elem ents o f s t a t u s d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n and group s o l i d a r i t y
334
a r e e v en ly b a la n c e d , th e s a c r i f i c i a l c h a r a c te r o f th e r i t e s , though
p r e s e n t , i s b o th l e s s e x p l i c i t and l e s s obvious in th e sym bolic c o n te n t
o f th e cerem o n ies.
In e a s t Aoba th e a n c e s to r s re c e iv e s c a n t a t t e n t i o n -
th e r e i s j u s t a vague n o tio n t h a t th e man who a c h ie v e s h ig h ra n k in
th e p r e s e n t l i f e w ill a ls o be o f h ig h ra n k in th e a f t e r l i f e .
F i n a l l y , in a l l th r e e com m unities hollow ed out t r e e tru n k s a re
u sed a s s l i t gongs d u rin g th e c o u rse o f th e cerem o n ies.
In M alekula
and th e Small I s la n d s ( u n f o r tu n a te ly I have no in fo rm a tio n f o r n o rth
Raga) th e gongs a re p la c e d u p r ig h t , th e head i s carv ed a s a f a c e ,
and th e sound i s said to be th e v o ic e o f th e a n c e s to r s .
In b o th e a s t
and w est Aoba th e gongs l i e h o r iz o n ta lly on th e ground and a re
n e i t h e r carv ed n o r d e c o ra te d .
In N duindui a number o f in fo rm a n ts
were o f th e o p in io n t h a t Takaro o r th e a n c e s to rs o r b o th co u ld h e a r
th e rythm s and were p le a s e d .
In E a st Aoba I co u ld f in d no ev id en ce
t h a t th e gongs were re g a rd e d a s a n y th in g o th e r th an s e c u la r
in s tru m e n ts o f e n te rta in m e n t.
S o c ia l S tr u c tu r e and Environm ent,
I s h a l l now b r i e f l y comment on th e i n t e r - r e l a t i o n s h i p between
s o c ia l s tr u c tu r e and th e n a tu r a l en v iro n m en t.
My argument i s based
on th e assum ption t h a t in a g r i c u l t u r a l com m unities th e mode o f
tr a n s m ittin g r i g h t s in la n d i s p rim ary to b o th th e norm o f re s id e n c e
and th e dogma o f d e s c e n t.
By p rim ary I mean t h a t i f la n d in h e r ita n c e
sh o u ld be c o n s is te n tly and e x c lu s iv e ly u n i l i n e a l i t n e c e s s a r ily
fo llo w s th a t re s id e n c e w i l l , excep t under u n u su al c irc u m sta n c e s , be
335
e q u a lly e x c lu s iv e ly u n i l o c a l .
I f , in a d d itio n , groups l a r g e r th a n
a s in g le elem en tary fa m ily a re needed f o r e i t h e r th e u t i l i z a t i o n o r
p r o te c tio n o f la n d , i t f u r t h e r fo llo w s t h a t lo c a l groups w ill ta k e
th e form o f c o rp o ra te lin e a g e s .
I t would "be most s u r p r is in g i f such
p e r s i s t e n t and r e p e t i t i v e b e h av io u r d id n o t e v e n tu a lly r e s u l t in th e
developm ent o f an e x p l i c i t dogma o f u n i l i n e a l d e s c e n t.
T h is does n o t, how ever, exclu d e th e p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t when
subsequent changes ta k e p la c e in th e system o f la n d in h e r ita n c e and
u t i l i z a t i o n , th e dogma o f d e sc e n t may s t i l l p e r s i s t a s a s a n c tio n
f o r d is p e r s e d exogamous c a te g o r ie s o f k in s f o lk , ( e a s t Aoba,) o r as
r i t u a l a s s o c ia ti o n s , ( th e Sm all I s l a n d s ) .
Nor i s i t n e c e s s a ry to
assume t h a t th e d is p e rs e d m a tr i- c la n s o f e a s t Aoba must have
o r i g i n a l l y c o -e x is te d w ith m a t r i l i n e a l in h e r ita n c e o f la n d r i g h t s
and a v u n c u lo - v ir ilo c a l r e s id e n c e .
I t i s p e r f e c t l y p o s s ib le t h a t
th e dogma o r i g i n a l l y developed in some o th e r community, p erh ap s
n o rth B aga, o r New Guinea o r even s o u th - e a s t A sia , and l a t e r
d if f u s e d to e a s t Aoba as a s a n c tio n f o r d is p e r s e d and exogamous c la n s .
I f t h i s argument i s a c c e p te d i t i s th e n p o s s ib le to e s t a b l i s h
th e f i n a l l i n k between s o c ia l s t r u c t u r e and environm ent by
d e m o n stra tin g , as in c h a p te r f i v e , t h a t th e system o f in h e r ita n c e i s
i t s e l f d i r e c t l y dependent on th e u se to which la n d i s p u t, th e
method o f c u l t i v a t i o n , and th e amount o f good ground e a s i l y a v a ila b le
in p ro p o rtio n to th e n eed s o f th e p o p u la tio n .
I t i s in t h i s lo g ic a l
sense t h a t I would d e f i n i t e l y s id e w ith Leach and a s s ig n prim acy to
336
economic r a t h e r th a n j u r a l and m oral d e term in an ts«
In a c tu a l
p r a c tic e th e two may c o in c id e , o r u n d e r s p e c ia l c irc u m sta n c e s th e
id e o lo g y may ta k e p reced en ce and r e s u l t in a new a d a p ta tio n to th e
en vironm ent.
The l a s t a l t e r n a t i v e in c r e a s e s in im p o rtan ce as
te ch n o lo g y d e v e lo p s.
Loose s t r u c t u r e and b i l a t e r a l i t y
I began t h i s t h e s i s by s t a t i n g t h a t my p rim ary o b je c tiv e was to
determ in e how f a r th e concept o f "lo o se * o r " f l e x i b l e 12' s t r u c t u r e
a p p lie s to N duindui s o c ie ty .
I s h a l l conclude by b r i e f l y d is c u s s in g
th e concept i t s e l f and i t s c lo s e a s s o c ia tio n w ith b i l a t e r a l i t y .
At th e most a b s tr a c t l e v e l , s t r u c t u r e in d ic a te s 11an o rd e re d
arrangem ent o f p a r t s , v/hich can be t r e a t e d as tr a n s p o s a b le , b e in g
r e l a t i v e l y i n v a r i a n t , w h ile th e p a r t s th em selv es a re v a r ia n t* .
(
1
)
At f i r s t g la n c e t h i s d e f i n i t i o n re n d e rs th e term " lo o s e s t r u c t u r e B
s e l f - c o n tr a d ic to r y , i . e . , lo o s e o rd e r o r v a r ia n t in v a r ia n c e .
Pouwer has made th e same p o i n t ,
M I have c o n s id e ra b le o b je c tio n to
th e term * lo o s e s tr u c tu r e * , s in c e i t may c o n ta in a te rm in o lo g ic a l
c o n tr a d ic tio n : in c o h e re n t c o h e re n c e ".
(
2)
The a p p a re n t d i f f i c u l t y
i s based on th e d e b a ta b le p r o p o s itio n t h a t th e s t r u c t u r e o f a
s o c ie ty i s a s in g le , i n d i v i s i b l e and c o h eren t e n t i t y .
As I see i t
* th e ‘ s o c ia l s tr u c tu r e i s no more th a n th e t o t a l i t y o f s o c ia l
1.
N ad el, S. F. The Theory o f S o c ia l S t r u c t u r e , M elbourne, 1957> P* 8 .
2.
Pouwer, J . "New G uinea a s a F ie ld f o r E th n o lo g ic a l S tu d y ” , B T L V,
V ol. 117, 1961, p . 3.
337
b e h a v io u r t h a t conforms to such c r i t e r i a as th o se l i s t e d by F i r t h ,
i . e . , p e r s i s t e n t , p e r v a s iv e , i n v a r ia n t e t c .
The a d je c tiv e s ‘’loose'*
and 11r i g i d ” a r e sim ply co n v en ien t la b e l s th a t ro u g h ly in d ic a te th e
r e l a t i v e p r o p o r tio n s o f s tr u c tu r e d to u n s tr u c tu r e d b e h a v io u r.
They a re q u a l i t a t i v e term s used to r e f e r to p o t e n t i a l l y q u a n tif ia b le
fa c ts .
I t i s begging th e q u e stio n to assume t h a t b ecau se a wide
ran g e o f b e h av io u r conforms to s t r u c t u r a l c r i t e r i a i t th e r e f o r e
n e c e s s a r ily fo llo w s t h a t th e s o c ie ty form s a c o h e re n t o r w ell
in te g r a te d e n t i t y .
On th e c o n tr a r y , u n le s s c o n s id e ra b le scope i s
l e f t f o r in d iv id u a l v a r i a t i o n , ch o ice betw een a l t e r n a t i v e s , and
a d a p ta tio n to v a ry in g c irc u m sta n c e s , i t i s p ro b a b le t h a t s t r u c t u r a l
p r i n c i p l e s w ill c o n f l i c t b o th w ith one a n o th e r and w ith env iro n m en tal
re q u ire m e n ts and th u s u ltim a te ly r e s u l t in a marked la c k o f co h eren ce.
P ouw er's m istaken lo g ic i s a le g a c y o f R a d c liffe -B ro w n ' s much
c r i t i c i z e d , and a t tim e s m isu n d e rsto o d , s ta te m e n t th a t 'u n i l i n e a l
i n s t i t u t i o n s in some form a re a lm o st, i f n o t e n t i r e l y , a n e c e s s ity
in any o rd e re d s o c ia l s y s te m '. N
I f t h i s should be tr u e th e n i t
fo llo w s t h a t some e x p la n a tio n i s r e q u ir e d f o r th e m aintenance o f
o rd e r in b i l a t e r a l o r c o g n a tic s o c i e t i e s .
Freeman d e n ied t h a t th e r e
was any such problem , and i t i s s i g n i f i c a n t th a t he d id so w ith
such em phasis.
1.
He w rote o f th e Ib a n , " th e ra m ify in g c o g n a tic
R ad c liffe-B ro w n , A. R ., S tr u c tu r e and F u n c tio n in P r im itiv e
S o c ie ty « London 1952, p . 48*
338
k in s h ip system o f th e Ih an does r e s u l t , beyond any q u e s tio n , in an
(
o rd e re d s o c ia l system 1'. v
1)
The d is p u te i s in my o p in io n g ro u n d le ss
and based on c o n fu sin g o rd e r w ith e f f i c i e n c y .
The s o r t o f o rd e r which
goes w ith u n i l i n e a r i t y , t h a t i s , r i g i d l y d e fin e d r u l e s w ith no
allow ance f o r in d iv id u a l v a r i a t i o n and a d a p ta tio n , must u n d oubtedly
im p a ir e f f i c i e n c y .
I f I m ight borrow H eg elian te rm s , th e a b s o lu te
s o c ie ty , which in c lu d e s th e p e r f e c t l y u n i l i n e a l , i s i t s own n e g a tio n .
We might th e r e f o r e ex p ect to f in d t h a t th e more e f f i c i e n t s o c i e t i e s
a re th o s e t h a t occupy an in te rm e d ia ry p o s itio n betw een com plete
r i g i d i t y and a n a rc h ic in d iv id u a lis m .
I have no doubt th a t
R ad cliffe-B ro w n would n o t f o r a moment d is p u te th e e f f ic ie n c y o f
th e Ib a n .
The N duindui have r e a c te d to th e tu rm o il o f th e p a s t w ith an
‘’e f f i c i e n c y 1' t h a t i s w ith o u t p a r a l l e l in th e n o rth e rn New H ebrides*
I a t t r i b u t e t h i s in la r g e p a r t to th e f a c t t h a t th e y a re l e s s r i g i d l y
s tr u c tu r e d th a n t h e i r p a t r i l i n e a l and m a tr ili n e a l n e ig h b o u rs and l e s s
a n a rc h ic and i n d i v i d u a l i s t i c th a n th e e a s t Aobans.
I have argued
th a t t h i s s t r u c t u r a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c i s i t s e l f in la r g e p a r t a
r e s u l t a n t o f an e x c e p tio n a lly fa v o u ra b le n a t u r a l environm ent.
1.
Freeman, J . D ., "The Ib a n H in S o c ia l S tr u c tu r e in South E ast A s ia ,
(e d . Murdock, G. P . , ) , New York,I 9 6 0 ,p . 85.
K ( V
•
A PO I t O l ( C ' C M U I C H
A
C M U IC H -O F -C H IIIT
■
FAIISM
FA«I»H
M t L A N f 11 A N - M l S » I O N
■
R O M A N ' C AT H O I 1 C
FAI I IN
PARISH
• -------- S I V ( N T H - D A V - A D V I N T I S T
------- I A S T - W I S T
I
)
IO R D IR
POPULATION
PARISH
2
NORTHERN
NEW
HEBRI DES
KEY
m o i • t i • ».
mo t r i
r • t i d i n c t .
Mi i • d
. iiio iil
mo t r i I l
i o t , l o c a l i z e d
Io-V i r i I
r i l i d t n c« .
Di
i p t
i i i d
Co g no I i c
TORRES^
Di t p a i • d
P a i r !
I S I A N D Sj
Lo c a I I z a d
an d
m o l r l — m o i i l i a i
v i r i l o c a l
r n i d i
Pol r i
( l o c k t .
mo t r I
•f
( i .
v I r i I o c o I
m o i a t l a i
p a I r i
f
a
and
c I a n i .
t
K i l l
BANKS
I S L A N DS
M WA E V O
E S PI R I T U
SANTO)
MALO
R A G A
SMALL
ISLANDS
A M BRYM
MAL E KUL A
lo c o
r ' d • n ca
I I i i d
Church
Mi
of
C h r l i t
I on#» ion
A p e i l a I i c
R em an
Mi is i o n
Church
C o l h o l I c
M i l l i o n
pari
• h
pa r ) t h
p a r i s h
pari I h
b u i l d i n g s
EAST
XOB A
Tr ad a r
It Qa^etnrnrnf ScAot l
CREEKS
AND
O A R D E N S
MUMP W A
Nd ui n du
Anchoroga
i
TM N C A M U X K AR O ,
VUIMM
N IM IW M N C W «A
tO M W A M O U
A O B A
mi I a s
nangweangwea
yards
KEY
Bush
P a r i s h
a n d
9 a r d e ns
Road
Foot
Cer
▲
t r a c k
emo n ia l-
Church
House
C l u b
l o l o ng el a t o
bo r d
9 f o u nd
S
0
A
220
R
L
A
O
K
A
M
440
hiibi»'*^
A
\
R
A
N
A
-
—■
»>. C
e r e m
▲
b o r d e r
o n i a l
^
y
m b u g a
b o r d e r
S e c t i o n
70
O
l
i
.
•
S
■ —
i
■
P a r i s h
Q
ya r d s
\
U
K E Y
L - - - - - - - - 1- - - - - - - - •
L
B
C L
5
g
r o u n d
C h u r c h
■
H o u s e
Mi
C
l u b
r «7.ES
N A T A K A R O
v
o
- 7
a
r a
n
a
v
i a
, E l l
N
H 7 ,E 9
. 3 (F6
• 4»,£2
• 7 ,£ g
L
7£i
o
k
a
m
b
u
^
« 3 ,0 2
L
^
< S |
O
M
W
A N
D
U
• 3>«l
» V
a
G
7 % 4 - 4 Ö .m
—
t o
N
" v
L O
^
■
W
A
L
4
I « 3 ,C 1
fix
■
L
I K E S
o
I
o
t
i t i m
b
a
A
■
L
o
t
a
n
4
,n
'
o
L
L
I.
5 ,£ 3
A
•
•
O
M
o v u t i k e r
•6,E 1
B
A
N
G
t
A
e k
e r e
- f
L O M B A NG A
200
yards
Ö,
KEY
Road
T r a c k
C e r e m o n i a l g r ou n d
C hu r c h
House
Club
j 8 A AJ g a
/>
A
(Generation B
_____ —
APPENDIX I
Clas8ifactory brothers
A Hen
SKELETON GENEALOGY OP
NANGWEANGWEA PARISH
O Women
A • Dead
(60) Age
rO
AI and A2 parish founders born near Lokainbu
rfc PI AUSTUSTIN TUMBU(40)
o
>
-O
DI XOTO-- *EI VIRA L0L0KAR0-^
D2 DOVO — A B 2 HAKWA LILIU
P2 SAMUEL T0VARA(30)
]
P3 MICHAEL T0VARA(45)
o
_A P4 CASPAR RONOO(42)
|^AI-I-AB3 HIMBI
— A P5 HIMBI(38)
r-A P6 SAMPSON TAHI (37)
-AD3LIV0 —
_ A B 4 WALTER ARU(60)|
_ £ F 7 GEORGE MOLI
P
AD4.0UULI 1 0B5 K" ,lra
(Lovutike-I
rekere)
_ ^ C4TOLOLO__*D5
kB6 TOGO MANGUIA
JOSEPH TAHI
(34)
]
(30)
■]
o
_O P
Rebecca ( married ADAM of
Nataluhangele)
L-O
,P8 AMBROSE TAL0NGI(45)
(Nangweangwea)
I-AD6 MARA
P9 WILFRED VIRA(37)
57 VIRA LBNOA
O
▲
-OP I O (23)
LkA2
-AFII (20)
_J^D7 SILB __ AE8 JOEL MWELE
-£F I 2 (17)
_AF I 3 (14)
]
Hi
A
Generation B
APPENDIX 2
A
O
A #
- —
SKELE T O N G E N E A L O G Y OP
L O V A T U R U S A PARISH
Men
Women
De ad
C lassificato r y Sibl i n g s
r-A
-A
-A
>
A SI D A N I E L T A U ( 4 5 )
O
K w e v i r a Boi
-o
-A
r-A
-AE2
C H ARLIE N G O L I ( 4 2 ) “ l _ K
Kura Lombanga
— AE3
---A D I
—i
PETER TAKAR0(70)
O
3H E M B A N G A
—
1
(32)
1 rA
Kura Tambu
-I"
D2 K i l A u i 0mbanga)
'6
E 4 JOH N N V A I ( 2 5 )
05 ftPUBBinga)
- O D 4 Kura Taka
"I
___1
r— O E 5
-AE6
°
Lydian(divorced)
-C
PET E R K W A N I ( 3 5 ) —
K u r a Tuki
1
_ J
L A E 7 (26)
[-4 Cl JAC K TAU-
- A D 5 SILAS SILE
(60)
O
K u r a Tambe
—A
-A
-A
f-AD7 WILSON B0I(58)
D6 Kur a Hangele
E O F R A N K 7IRA(30)
□ -
O D 6 Kwetasi
□
r
LaD9
BEN N G A R A CSS)
(b.Tavalavuti)
O D I O K u r a Vele
zHl
-O
-A
La
d i i
T ITAS B O I ( 5 5 )
O DI2 Kw e v i r a M a ieto
*-AC2 H A NGELE
□
- A D I 3 THOMAS T A U A L A (48)-j
-O
La
[ - AE9 S T E P H E N RURU ( 2 4 )
A E I O 3HEM N G A R A I ( 29)
(b.eaat Aoba)
h o E I I K u r a Bilaki
A E I 2 SET H VIRA(30)
(b.Navuti,I3,B6)
—O
K w e v i r a Kwa s i
4 0 3 S A M HA LE L B t ---A D I 4
(b.Santo)
-#C4 K u r a Rih i
J
O
SAM TARI( 6 0 )
Ngwaia
-A
-A
~o
rO
•O
|-A B I 4 EDWIN N O A R A I (45 )"]
O
A D I 6 M OSES T A K A R O
(Saranavia)
- # DI6 Kur a L o n g a
AC5
^ * ? T O v ia )
-I
(EDWIN'S bro t h e r s
i n S a r a n a v i a 7*E6 - I l )
—
JO H N HAMBU-l
(Longwaru)
L#C6 Kur a
Sese
L
J
f-A EI5 JOB A R U V I L E ( 2 8 n [ £
°
- A D I 7 JOB ARUNO E O
(b.Longwaru)
K u r a Koso
- A E I 6 JO H N H A M B U (25)
O
Kwelanmwai
O DI8 K w e v i r a Du r a
- A E I 7 ALBERT V I RA(22)
A
APPENDIX 3
SKELETON GENEALOGY
H
G
G e n e r a t io n B
AM en
OWomen
A *D ead
H&HI AUKIS (28
OP LOKAMBU CARPEL
O
Kwemoll
1-
-A
-A B I TUNOU NALEVUHI— A P I DANIEL VUI— & G I THOMAS TUMGU(60
O
K w elevu Toka
-A
■ O
-A
Lo
ro
-A P 2 M0SE3 TIRO —A 02 JOSHUA S IL B (5 0 )
O
U D 3-
K v o ti A la
LOKAMBU
-A P 3 ARU TOKA -------A 03 SETH TALAI(45)
K v e v lr a K v al
O
A AI TURUKI—
-A P4 MARANDA
a 04 PETER DINDI
O
K v en atu
(Leedue)
3 LO N D U A
rO
r A P 5 MATHIAS TOA(65)
O
K v e u ll
}
LAD5VUTI—AE5 t a r i ------HOI
(Lomwajtd*)
1-AP6 SIMEON TAKAR0(62)
O
K w e v lra Reve
L0MWANDÜ
A
Generation
B
C
a
D
APPENDIX 4
p
G
A Men
3KELKT0N GENEALOGY OP
O Women
A«Dead
Adoption
f&QI WILLIE NGUK50)
o
LOTANO CARPEL
]£
IP5 ADAM KETE& 0 2 LORIN TAKARO(27)
O
rO
-AP6 BO I HULA.
AAI KWAOI LAKUA —ABI
r4D3
^03 ALEC VUTI(30)
o
]
■ A
■A
A
kF7 CHARLIE T,AKAjiO]
O
LAC2
-LlD4
iE4
iP8
NOEL VIRA(50)T AQ4 ZACHAEAS(24)
]
LOLOLASI
APPENDIX 5
SKELETON OENEALOOY OP
LOLOTITIMBA CARPEL
—AAI TARI KWI3I — A B I
kDI
— pA EI BEN VIRA NUNUKI(47)j
o
—
rA
Gl ABRAHAM VOTI^A)^,
[a
02 JOHN TARI(22)
SAR A N A V I A
_;AB2 JOHN NOARAI(43)j
— (eee_6,B3)
L a AI LIU DIUALA •
E3 MATtffiW TUT I MAIETO(65
O
■ A
-o
-o
J
" --
G e n e ra tio n
A P P E N D IX
SKELETON
A M en
O W om en
A • D ead
6
GENEALOGY
L O V U T IK E H E K K R E
OF
____ A d o p t i o n
CARPEL
pA D I
0
I
A AI
T A N O IH I
kC I
A
DUMU
V a v in e
V IR A
(40
L a lik J
LA
1)2
JO H N
DUI-1U
D3
TOKO
KOHO
D4
RORO
NAMAHAVA
-j
-A E l
I
1
j
A P P E N D IX
SK ELETO N
nO E2
-----
R 0 R0 ( 4 0
W I L L IA M
j LOVUTIKEREKERE
A BRA H A M V U T I ( 2 4 ) " |
O
b y 5,E2)J s % 5 A R A N A V 1A
( a d o Pte d
La E3 JOHN TARI( 2 2 )
-1
\
Q (adopfed by 5,B2)J^
(
7
GENEALOGY
S A R A N A V IA
SA RA N A V IA
( 7 .E I 0 )
I
AA2
REUBEN
OF
CARPEL
E l
£
-A D I
o
E2
JO H N
NGARAI
( s * £ .e V )
BEN V IR A
rO E 3
K w e v ira
LA E 4
JA M E S
SARANAVIA
NUNUKI
H a n g e le
]
H A V A M W A LA N G i
B A N O A (5 0 )
O
A AI
DEHI
L A K U A —A B I
----
~A D 2
-A D 3
KW ARI
L A K U A ................ ^ E 5
ADAM D U R A ( 4 5 )
( b . N a v u t i ) _
pA E6
E D W IN
N G A R A I(se e
^A B 7
JO N A S
T A U (4 0 )
M O SES TAKARO
iE
0
-A
E8
lO V A TU R U SA
A p p e n d ix 2 ,B I4 )
“ r&
JO S IA S
B A N I(3 7 )
O
AB9 RRU^W ra(40)
-O E IO V a v in e
A E li
f-O E I 2
-A
-o
-A
T l*
L a lik i
C H A R L IE T A L IN A
(b . M a le k u la )
J a n e tte
K w ia i
]
SA(?ANAV/A
A
G e n e r a ti o n B
C
APPENDIX 0
SKELETON GENEALOGY OP
?
E
D
A Men
O Women
A •D e a d
LOMBANGA CARPEL
rA D I HARRY VAI VAI
I
(A t afaindartu')
kCI-------I a D2 NOARAI HALU —
^ffitTIMOTHY MALAKAI (4 8 )~|
( b . M a le k u la )
O ^ R e b e c c a Kweundu
-I
^
.&AI
T A P I ALBERT VATU(4 8 ) 1
O
kD4 RURU LAKUA
-A S S DAVID TAKARO(75)
• K w elevu B&nl
__,
O K o ra k e
1
"
-
Kwehungwe
-AF2 STEPHEN RURU
O
K w ev ira L l n g l
-1
]
MATAINDANU
A
Generation
C
B
APPENDIX 9
SKELETON GENEALOGY OF
D
B
A Men
O Women
A •Dead
LOMWANDU CARPEL
rkCl RURU NGUNDU
pA B I
MUE LOMBANGA
t-AC2 LIU MWELB —
-ADI VIRA LINGI
-AB! TITAS^LgJj^
-O
rAB2 zac :
A AI ARUNGEO —
o
“
»
%
~AB2 MUE NGWARAVU
}
-A
La
-AE3 JOEL (4«)
rlC3 LONGA KOKCNA
,D2 BOB TANGWALI
O
-AB4 CAPTA
UAC4 TARI HEHB
-A b ? BANGA HURI ALA
rA
L&B5 JOSBPg^ j -A
o
-Ö
h<>
-o
A Oameration B
A Man
OWoman
A • Dead
APPENDIX 10
SKELETON QBNKALOOY OF
NA1BKRUMVELB OAKPEL
3AMJ2SS3***>"'«*
"A EI VUTINDARI
rADI HAKWA MOLI —
B2 NAKUARUA
"""BO*•■«*'<
[“ACI VUTINDARI—
A D2 MAVUTB
A bi
A B 3 VUTINDARI
L?3 MAVUTB
-AB4 BURU ANOA ^
4
-A ° I
toundu
ANDREW RJRAI ]
„ „ „ „ „ „ „
--
L-AC2 TANOA HUHI -AD) HILE '
LABS ARU TANOAI —
U f6
pAC3 ARU 3ULI -- ADA
KWAOA
AD5
-Äse VIRA MATA
ANDREW L^VT^Ij 6th,Hr,»
^
-fan Joa^Ho j -s £ llTn- -
TOKENI
-404 TAHI
— AB2 TAUMBAI
La D6
4AI VUTANOWA-
m
ARU KALA3B— ABB VIRA NUELETU-AFIO ALBERT
.
CAfiruAuntA*)
0
^
CW>)J
LAFII
I-AD7
LIU NAUBANI— A B9 KARAHI
wil :
iFI2 31
«nV
,
NorukuruAu
(tOMSANG-A )
one son
> ‘^ £ o 2 JOKJ^Nj
fA FI3 ABR^HAMn /
HBft
LAC5 LILIU
-A FI4 LUKE
^04OH&HALftKtSA
LA 03 J01
"5 . ^
AD0
TAMBUI
IEIO MATANDURU-
«1-4-j«)
O^Ap/owgivo/io
j
LAFI6 M g , ~
i06
lAB3 tak aro
BANI
-AD9
BUE MOLI ---4BII TOKO BUTO---A FIT JAMES ~\ 00 iVMr,»
-h :
07 VUTI HONOI —ADIQ —LKVUHI T0KA-4EI2 MATHIAS
CMIA3-I
J
°(N a M o A a n S,l ,')
N A T A L U H A N C -C L S
Sfel
Gemer-ation
0
APPENDIX II
H
I
J
A Men
O Women
:s k e :l e t o n g e n e a l o g y il a n d
A«Dead
1DI3.PUTE 3ARANAXBUGA
---- Adoption
l-AOI ARU KWAGEt--ÄHI MICHAEL ALA'
O
(40^
Uch'iUrtn
rA Cl
(Pounder of
Longwaru)
-AG2 TAMWATA
& H2 WILSON VATU
ATUT
(45 V /OfhiUran
o
p A y ABEL VORA
1*3 Nellie
(50)
(T&vala) ^Nduindui)
-•1,4 Kwevira
Kw«vlrft
-A c 2 d o m - A
_A03 VORA KWANI — 4H3 3ILB
(Saranambuga )
,L5 MOLI NGUTU
(Saranarabuga)
i-OI/5 Leah(65)
REUBEN MOB*!
<47)3
A J 2 MOL I TAMBE-j
(Navutl)
-OJ3 Elizabeth — I
(45)
AJ4 BOB TAMWATA,
(43)1
(Navitora)
Hi
L-OJ5 Rachel
Generation
B
C
D
APPENDIX 12
A Men
0 Women
SKELETON GENEALOGY:
LAND DISPUTE NATALU
A • Dead
—
Adoption
rADI NQWERO KONGO
(d.aboutI929)
A E l JOHN TAKA(45)1
(Navltora)
-AD2 DALI
_
(d.about 1930)
-0E2 Elizabeth(40)-l
(d.1961)
_AE3 TAU ALA
(Lovaturuaa)
>D3 Kwevira
AD4 TOKA LOLO
(Navitakua)
-•D5 Kwehungwe
>FI SIMEON TAKARO (32)j
(Navitakua)
O
-AB4 JOSEPH ALA ~1
(d.aboutI943)
1
-
&E5 JOB MULETI-j
OE6 Kwellllu
May
U A ? 2 WILFRED TAKA (24)
(Navitakua)
O Rebecca
]
-I -
• E7 Kwenunu
AD6 HANGARA
(Natakaro)
-#D7 Kiklhl
O E 8 Kvendlu
>
A B 9 CAIN 3ESE
~l
(Navltora,d.I957D
a
— OBIO Kura Hangele J
-AD8 BANI MAHAVA ■
(d.about1935)
J^D9 LUMU ALA
(d.about1932)
"ft Eli JOB MULETI
O
Kwellllu
•
Kwenunu
Kwemoll
■ aC\
-AF5 SOLOMON GAMALl(4o)l -A
T
ft EI2 SIMON TAKARO(42)I
O
F4 ANDERSON TARI
Navltora)
°
(N avuH onJA J^Iu)
O Rachel
-A
I
A
Oaaaratioa B
A n 8AMP8CB VIRA(33)1
AFPBBZX 13
(laruti,14,FI)
sceutob ohbealoot or bavuti
A El ALFRED C0UL0B(50) ~|
b. Batiulao.llraa Barutl
(TAMBUBATABl) CASPEL 1
- A F3 TDtOTHT MOLI(23)"|r^
(Barutl)
[OB2 Äau
A Ban
O *o-an
AO D*»d
-A
A
ro
-o
-o
La
rA
-o
rA
---- Adoptie
(60) A«*
AD1 TIHOTHT MOLlfa)^
(b.B.Aoba)
iC1 ABBAHAM VATU
A E S HAHHT VATO(43)
\
(laruti)
Bagla
-A E4 PETES MEMEl(35)
0
''A D2 ISAAC VIKA(^5)
(laruti,16,04-)
O (Barutl)
A
AUCH(Kanako)
.A®3 MOSES TABQA^j) Lo E5 Bagla
(f*P>rri*
_A C2 PETES VISA
(Barutl)
AC3 OAMALI
(laritor«)
• 04 Vavlna
Laka
(-AD4 JOSEPH TOA
_J_
(laruti 17,04)
Q
Alloa
31
AJ>5 ABU KVAQA
-
(Batalu,I2
)
A D6
|-A *1 PETES VISA (28)
O
(Batalu,I2 )
(Barutl. I4»C1)
Kwaala
(Barutl)
« JOSIAS TABOA(23)
job muleti
• VJ Kwemmu
>1
°
-o
3 rbA
-6
3-3
3
p A *6 SETH VISA(30)
“1
Q (L ovaturuM l 2(E12)J
A
AB2 BUB BA MOU -|
(Barutl)
A E4 ABBAHAM VATU(30)
K PUrl#tt#
-O 19 Bagla Bgulu(X8)
K
JA
G e n eratio n
C
B
A P P E N D IX
14
F
E
2
A M en
O W om en
A
SK ELETO N
GENEALOGY
(T A M B U N A T A H I )
OF
CARPEL
NAVUTI
A D@ &d
(6 0 )A g e
2
|* D I
TOM
TOKA-
-4 S I
(N a v u ti)
REUBEN
V IR A -
-A F I
(N a v u ti)
3A M P30N
(N a v u ti«
OF2
V IR A -1
33)
P le rle tte
( N a v u t i « 1 3 , F 2 )~
-A S 2
ALBERT
V IR A '
(N a v u tii5 0 )
BI
(N a v u ti)
•
A2
---------------- 4 C I B U B
(L o v a n u a lIg o u tu )
(N a v u ti)
•C 2
L1
J
NA M O L I= ,
rA D 2
(L o v a n u a lig o u tu )
(N a v u ti
TOM
HAKWA ._ _ _ _ p £ k B 3
( L o v a n u a lIg o u tu )
K w e a la
JA M E S
TAHI
( L o v a n u a l i g o u t u 15 2 ) I
o
I3 .B 3 J L^B 4
•C 3
AARON T O A
-1
( L o v a n u a l i g o u t u 14 7 ) ]
(N a tlu le o )
O
J
l £ D 3 D A N IE L UN D E
- |
( L o v a n u a l I g o u t u 16 3 )|
O
-1
lo
m any
c h ild re n
A 0«na*ration
APFBDIX 15
«firiJWM OMBALOOT OP IAVUTI
(TIAMBUIATABI) CABPIL 3
A
<«
o Wonon
▲
• »Hd
......... A doption
--------- P raa ia a d oonoootion
(17)
*«•
rAct Kumn-
...A D 1 PAUL HUKWB
(laruti)
(laruti)
H im ZACHASA8 KWA1U
102 VISA LAIOI
(latiulao,noraA
(latiulao)
BAU
laruti)
^ *1 SDOOI TAXA(50)A AI CTIM LAXUA-
(laruti)
_A03 SUBA I0XU
(Irntt)
—i---- A 03 KUBA LOLOHÄB-j“!—
;
(tmwuU)
-£jn DAVID T0KA(32h
M M » T0XA(47) 1
(laruti)
^■ 3 ADAM DUBA
^ (laruti)
J- O
J
”j----- A
n JOB! ABU(22)
(laruti)
l_0
A 14 ALK CTADI
(>. latakarO'lirad
laruti)
-104 TAU CTI8I(laruti)
-104 Paul mnora
_ 0 » Baohal(47)
(17)
pA 13 ALK CTA H (20)
(laruti)
Generation
APPENDIX 16
SKELETON GENEALOGY OP
A Men
o Women
▲ •Dead
(<o) Age
r-ADI JOSEPH VUTURI “1
(Navuti)
J
NAVUTI CAKPEL I
\
BANI KAKEA
(Navuti)
A D2 TOKA HURI
(Saranambuga)
kCI SINGO
TOA NAVANUA
---& B I REUBEN( MOLI-|
J
(Saranambuga)
_# 03 Kweundu
(Navuti)
__
\
O
(Navuti)
(-AB2 3ALATHIEL
VUTI LAVA —
1
O Rachel
-*
Lo y
(Navuti)
-AB3 ES IAS (^3? n
r-^D4 ISAAC VIRA
(Navuti) (ss)
Ai AI BAKEO LAKUA1
(Navuti)
Rebecca
TAMWATA
O Madeline
(Navuti)
D5 DAVID KOLOTI
BALANGO
o
(Navuti)
“I -AB5 Ok)
( N a v u t i ) ^ " 1 U E 6 (/33
(Lovaturusa)
\ 1AE7 ('<>)
</0>
U
C3 Kwela
BANI VITI
J
^Igvaturuaa^
(Lovaturusa)
(Navuti)
_4B8 VUTI GOA
(Navuti)
1
pAD6 SILAS 3ILB (j,o) ~V
DOVO
(Navuti)
3 " ^ 1-AB4 SIMON (.2S)
kC2 TUKU BO I ■
(Navuti)
X
O Lena
-▲ C4 BAKEO
(Navuti)
-A D9 JONAS MOLI (lo) -j
(Navuti)
-J
Co of*r.hW)
Generation
A
B
D
C
B
APPENDIX 17
_ A DI FRANCIS NOWERA,
(Navuti)
(So)
!SKELETON GENEALOGY OP
0
NAVUTI CARPEL 2
A Man
O Woman
At • Dead
p A C I MOL I TAWALA
(Mo) *«•
(Navuti)
- A D2 KNOCK HAVA(05)
(Navuti)
O
rA BI
AHUNDAKI
(Navuti)
A C 2 PETER VIRA
*v— (see 13)
(Navuti 13.C2)
AC3
OAMALI
(Navltora)
■ AC4 Vavlna L&ka
A AI HERE NANARAI—
(Navuti)
pA^*e 13>
[ABI JACOB MOL I (//vo Mato / * W )
(Navuti)
A D 4 ARU KWAGA
(Natalu 12.
)
A D 5 JOB MULETI(fco)
(Natalu 1
j§ D6 Kwenunu
A B 2 SOLOMON OAMALI
>4
,-AB3 WILLIE VUTlClS)“]
A D7 MALATAI
(b.east Aoba,lived
Navuti)
L A B 2 BAN I NOAU — AC5 TIAKI
(Navuti)
(Navuti)
[?
(Navuti)
— — * 08 Kweraoli
_OE4 ( married and lives with
husband in Mataindanu)
Generrat ion
A
B
C
D
B
APPENDIX 18
SKELETON GENEALOGY OP
NAVUTI CARPEL
?
A Men
O Women
A * Dead
rA
<(6o) A«e
A A!
p A C I TAR I VUHA---^ D I ARU TOKA
(Navutl)
(Navuti
El JOEL TARI — i -O
(Navuti) (36) h- -A
L-O
ARU TOKA.
kBI TATAKI—
(Navuti)
(Navuti)
La C2 JOHN GAMALL-AD2 ADAM LINGI
(Navuti)
(adopted by MB in
Saralokambu)
APPENDIX 19
SKELETON GENEALOGY OP
NAVUTI CARPEL
A AI
4
BOI NA SIROI-ABI BANI NAVUTI(Navuti)
(Navuti)
LCI KILUKI NA MOL) A D I
(Navuti)
BI ROBERT TARI (28) — 1 |
(b.Saranambuga, moved I 1^
Navuti)
Jt
A
Generrat ion
B
C
D
E
APPENDIX 18
SEELSTON GENEALOGY OF
NAVUTI CARPEL
?
A Men
O Women
pA
A 0 Dead
<0bO) *«•
p A CI TAR I VTJHA--- £ DI ARU
(Navuti)
(Navuti
TOKA-
,El JOEL TARI — * -o
(Navuti) (36) p -A
I
— *
-o
A A.I ARU TOKA— A B I TATAKI—
(Navuti)
(Navuti)
L AC2 JOHN GAMALL-AD2 ADAM LINGI
(Navuti)
(adopted by MB
Saralokambu)
APPENDIX 19
SKELETON GENEALOGY OF
NAVUTI CARPEL
4
A AI BOI NA SIROI-ABI BANI NAVUTI— A C I KILUKI NA MOLJ^DI
(Navuti)
(Navuti)
(Navuti)
BI ROBERT TARI (ZB) — » \
(b.Saranambuga, moved I Ia
Navuti)
I p
339
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Read, S.W.
Whiting, J.W.M.
Williams, F.E.
"Kwoma Culture", Oceania, Vol. 9, 1938,
Becoming a Kwoma, New Haven, 19A1.
The Drama of Orokolo, Oxford, 19A0. See also
Oceania, Vol, 9 and Anthropology Report. No. 17,
1936 (Port Moresby)•
Orokaiva Society. London, 1930.
Williamson, R.W.
The Mafulu: Mountain People of British New Guinea,
London, 1912.
Wurm, S. and
Laycock, D.C.
"The Question of Language and Dialect in New
Guinea", Oceania, Vol. 32, 1961.
NORTHERN AND CENTRAL NEW HEBRIDES
Armstrong, E.S.
The Melanesian Mission, London, 1900.
Baker, J.
Man and Animals in the New Hebrides. London, 1929.
•'Notes on New Hebridean Customs, with Special
Reference to the Intersex Pig," Man, 1928, No*81
347
Bougainville,
A Vovaee Round the World
London, 1936.
(tr. Forster. J.S.1.
Codrington, R.II.
The Melanesians:
Oxford, 1885.
Beacon, A.B.
Malekula: A Vanishing People in the New Hebrides.
London, 1934*
Their Anthropology and Folklore.
“The Regulation of Marriage in Ambrym“, JRAI,
Vol. 62, 1927.
mm
“N o t e a on Some Islands of the New ^brides*, JRAI,
Vol. 59, t929.
Fox, C.E.
Lord of the Southern Isles, London, 1958.
Guiart, J.
"L'Organisation Sociale et Politique du Nord
Malekula'; 1F0. 1952.
“Societe, Rituels et Mythes du Nord-Ambrym", JSO
Vol. 7, No. 7, 1951.
Harrison, T.
Savage Civilization, London, 1937.
“Living in Esniritu Santo" in Scientific Results
of the Oxford University Expedition to the New
Hebrides, 1933-4, London, 1951.
Inglis, J.
In the N e w Hebrides, London, 1887.
Jacomb, E.
France and England in the New Hebrides. Melbourne,
1914.
Lane, R. and B.
“A Reinterpretation of the Anomalous Six-Section
Marriage System of Ambrym, New Hebrides", SWIA.
Vol. 12, No. 4, 1956.
“Implicit Double Descent in South Australia and
the Northeastern New Hebrides“, Ethnology, Vol.I,
1962.
348
Lane, R.
"Comments on Goody (1961)" in Current
Anthropology, 2.
"Land Tenure and Residence Rules of North Pentecost,
New Hebrides", (Unpublished paper, 1962).
"Aboriginal and Contemporary Leadership Patterns
and Problems in Raga", (Unpublished paper, 1962)
Montgomery,
H.H.
Light of Melanesia, London, 1896.
Nevermann,H.
Kulis und Kanaken. Braunschweig, \9A2 (pp, 265-300
describe some west Aoba customs).
Parsonson, G.S.
"La Mission Presbyberienne des Nouvelles-Hebrides",
JSO. Vol. 12, 1956.
Rannie, D.
Rivers, W.H.R.
Mv
Amon# South Sea Cannibals, London, 1912.
The History of Melanesian Society. 2 Vols.
Cambridge, 1914«
’D e s c e n t and Ceremonial in Ambrym", JRAI, Vol. 45,
1915.
Sebbelow, G.
"The social Position of Men and Women Among the
Natives of East Malekula, New Hebrides",
AA,
Vol. 15, No. 2., 1913.
Speiser,
Sddsee, Urwald Kannibalen. Leipzig. 1913.
F.
Two Years with the Natives of the Western Pacific,
London, 1913.
Ethnographische Materialen aus den Neuen Hebriden
und den Banks-Inseln, Berlin, 1923.
Steel, R.
The New Hebrides and Christian Missions, London,
1880
349
S u as,
,TM y t h e s
B.
e t
L egendes
H e b rid e s ” .
des
A n th ro p o s ,
In d ig e n e s
V o l.
7.
des
1912
N o u v e lle s -
(L o lo p o e p o e ,
A o b a )•
•’N o t e s
E th n o g ra p h iq u e s
N o u v e lle s -H s b rid e s ” .
(m o s tly
L o lo p o e p o e ,
••T a m a te
(E s p rits )
(O b a .
and
T a tte v in ,
b o rd s
trib e
• 'O r g a n i s a t i o n
e t
and
4,
B ritis h
C o u rie r
(1 8 7 $
A d m in is tra tio n
-
des
1914
L o lo p o e p o e
V o ls .
C e n tu ry
N o.
N o te s
P e n te c o te
1 ,
16
e th n o lo g ie s
(N o u v e lle s
1927.
Sud de
Sud
de
26,
-
l lile
o f A oba,
l file
1929
P e n te c o te ” ,
in
P e n te c o te ” ,
and
A re c o rd
M ovem ent
o f
th e
1931.
o f
th e
S o u th
C h u rc h
A u s tra lia ,
1948.
N ew
S o u th e rn
NEW SPAPERS,
190$)
R e p o rts ,
sauvage:
H e b rid e s ” .
M a n k in d ,
1937.
GOVERNMENT C O R R E S P O N D E N C E ,
B ris b a n e
a
M e lb o u rn e ,
P e o p le
T h e W ake
C.
des
A n th ro p o s ,
L 'l l e
du
du
24
o f
N o.
9.
1928.
L egendes
R e lig io u s
2,
W ils o n ,
23,
o f
•’T h e
A .S .
4 ,
s o c ia le
The S to r y
C h ris t
m er
V o ls .
1 8 4 6 -1 9 4 6 .
W ebb,
la
V o l.
V o l.
A n th ro p o s ,
H .R .
V o l.
o u T a m a to lo g ie
P o rn o w al
RHM ,
A n th ro p o s ,
" M y th e s
de
des
H e b r i d e s ) ’,
T a y lo r,
In d ig e n e s
1 9 2 1 -2 2 .
le s
su rL a
le s
A o b a ).
N o u v e lle s -H ie b rid e s )” ,
17,
”S u r
B .
su r
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-
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B ritish D istric t Agent, Santo - Report of tour in Aoba, 1956.
Milne, P.
Report of Station for Year 1900-1 > Archives of
Overseas Missions Committee of the Presbyterian
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diary.
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No. 7. of 1912. H.M.S.0.
SYNOPSIS
1
In a number of recent publications (Barnes 1962, Brown 1962,
Pouwer i960 and I96I and Van Der Leeden i960) Melanesian societies,
especially those of New Guinea, have been described as "loosely
structured", "flexible", "amorphous" and even "anarchic".
2
Some
of the more frequently noted characteristics include a readiness
to adapt to changing circumstances; imprecise territorial, linguistic
and cultural boundaries; a high level of individual autonomy;
residential mobility; quasi-unilineal, ambilineal or bilineal descent
and inheritance; multiple criteria of local group membership; and
little or no emphasis on seniority, formalized leadership or
hierarchy of any sort.
In this thesis njy primary concern is to
determine the extent to which these and other associated aspects
of "loose structure" apply to a New Hebridean community. (Nduindui
district, West Aoba).
I provide a fuller outline in the preface.
Barnes, though he did not use any of the above mentioned adjectives,
emphasized a range of structural criteria similar to those listed by
the other authors.
2
-
The c a p a c ity o f a s o c ie ty to a d ap t i t s e x i s t i n g i n s t i t u t i o n s
to r a d i c a l changes i n th e e x te r n a l environm ent must be c o n sid e re d
s tro n g prim a f a c ie ev id en ce f o r th e e x is te n c e o f a t l e a s t some d egree
o f s tru c tu ra l f le x ib ili ty .
I n th e f i r s t c h a p te r I th e r e f o r e p ro v id e
a h i s t o r i c a l r e c o n s tr u c tio n o f th e way i n which H duindui s o c ie ty
h as evolved d u rin g th e p a s t c e n tu ry o f c o n ta c t w ith E u ropeans.
In
subsequent c h a p te rs th e same them i s a n a ly se d in g r e a t e r d e t a i l i n
r e l a t i o n s h i p to lo c a l o r g a n iz a tio n , la n d te n u r e , econom ics and
p o litic s .
I n c h a p te rs two to s ix th e i n v e s t ig a ti o n fo c u s e s upon lo c a l
o rg a n iz a tio n and k in s h ip .
The main q u e s tio n s d e a lt w ith a re as
fo llo w s - th e e x te n t to which th e maximum c u l t u r a l and l i n g u i s t i c
u n i t s form d i s c r e t e and re c o g n is a b le s o c ia l c a te g o r ie s (c h a p te r
tw o ); th e ran g e o f v a r i a t i o n in p a r is h ( l a r g e s t p o l i t i c a l u n it)
s tr u c t u r e and t h e e x te n t to which membership i s d e f i n i t i v e o r
o p ta tiv e ( c h a p te r t h r e e ) ; th e d eg ree o f u n i l i n e a r i t y a s e x p re sse d
i n th e id e o lo g y o f d e sc e n t ( c h a p te r f o u r ) ; th e r e l a t i v e em phasis
p la c e d on in d iv id u a l a s a g a in s t group r i g h t s in r e s p e c t to p ro p e r ty ,
e s p e c ia ll y la n d (c h a p te r f i v e ) ; and th e e x te n t to which m a rria g e s
a re a rra n g e d in accordan ce w ith group i n t e r e s t s (c h a p te r s i x ) .
In c h a p te r seven I a n a ly s e two i n t e r - r e l a t e d a s p e c ts o f r o l e
d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n ; male v e rs u s fe m a le, and sa c re d v e rs u s o rd in a ry
re la tiv e s .
The argum ent i s b ased on th e r e s u l t s o f an a s y e t
u n p u b lish e d com parative a n a ly s is o f th e r e l a t i o n s h i p betw een th e
3
sexes throughout Melanesia.
In this study I argue that there is a
close correlation between the degree of social and ritual
differentiation between men and women and the degree of unilinearity
in descent, residence and inheritance.
The most highly developed
sex separation is found in those societies in which all or most of
the male members of the parish form a single exogamous unilineal
descent group.
The Nduindui parish deviates from this ideal type
in four respects - a certain amount of non-agnatic affiliation,
the presence of more than one descent group, the possibility of
marriage between semi-autonomous sections, and the degree of
bilaterality recognised both in the dogma of descent and in the
kinship terminology.
I would therefore expect a modified version
of the highly developed pattern of avoidance and separation found
in the more orthodox unilineal societies.
The evidence presented
in chapter seven confirms this interpretation.
In the second part
of the chapter I argue that the ideology of male-female polarity
underlies the distinction between sacred and ordinary relatives.
The next two chapters deal with leadership and rank.
In
common with most Melanesian societies leadership is competitive and
open to all men with the necessary ambition and ability.
There are
no hereditary offices, no positions of authority allocated solely
on the basis of such fixed criteria as age or kin group seniority,
and no age grades.
The formal component in the authority structure
is provided in a series of ranked titles.
In chapter eight I
4
describe the traditional system associated with the sacrifice of
pigs;
in chapter nine the contemporary hierarchy of church titles.
My primary aim is to assess the degree of rigidity imposed on an
otherwise informal and loosely structured system of leadership by
the formal requirements of achieving high rank.
In chapter ten I attempt to penetrate more deeply into the
dynamics of social relationships by employing a modified version
of what Gluckman and his associates have termed the "extended case/
method".
By analysing a series of connected events that occured in
a cluster of neighbouring communities over a period of twenty-five
years, I demonstrate how the size, internal structure and external
relations of parishes constantly alter with the rise and fall of
Outstanding leaders.
In the final chapter I discuss three inter-related topics the historical background in social anthropology that has led to
a recent emphasis on the loose or flexible aspects of social structure;
the extent to which ecological and demographic factors determine or
influence the primary structural characteristics of kin based
societies with an agricultural economy; and the equation of
unilinearity with rigidity and bilaterality with looseness.
In a number of chapters, especially those dealing with land
tenure, the relationship between the sexes and leadership, I
of
interpret the Uduindui data on the basis generalizations derived
from a comparative analysis of other Melanesian societies,
5
-**
*
%
- • -
especially those in the northern Hew Hebrides.
Though fully
aware that such a procedure can be criticized on numerous grounds,
especially the tentative nature of the correlations put forward,
and the general undesirability of combining in a single work a
descriptive and a comparative analysis, I chose to adopt it for two
reasons - the necessity of making either explicit or implicit
comparisons in a study concerned primarily with establishing the
extent to which a specific structural attribute is characteristic
of a given social system, and the almost complete absence of
comparative studies based specifically on Melanesian societies.
1
In theory, I could have used either ideal models or representative
examples drawn from other ethnographic areas.
In practise,
structural correlations can be best established when cultural,
ecological and historical variables are reduced to a minimum.
1
‘The one notable exception is Hogbin and Wedgwood's comparative
study of local organization. See Hogbin, H. I. and Wedgwood, C. H.
"Local Grouping in Melanesia", Oceania, Vol. XX111, Ho. 4
*