Kula ; the Circulating Exchange of Valuables in the Archipelagoes of Eastern New Guinea

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[ July, 1920. had to obtain between them. The important point about it, however, is that with them, and notably according, to their own ideas, the exchange of utilities is a subsidiary trade, carried on as an incident in the Kula.
The Kula has been called above "a form of trade." The usual a priori notion of savage trade would be that of an exchange of indispensable, or, at least, useful ARMSHELLS  things, done under pressure of need by direct barter, or casual ~ive and take of presents, without much ceremony and regulation. Such a conception would almost reverse all the essential features of the Kula. Thus, first, the objects of exchange -thfl armshells and strings of shell-discs-are not "utilities" in any sense of the word ; as said above, they are hardly ever used as ornaments, for which purpose they co~ld serve.· Nevertheless, they ~re extremely highly valued ; nowadays a native will give up to £20 'for a good article, and in o!Uen days their value was an equivalent of this sum, if we take as a common measure such utilities as ba~ketfuls of yams, pigs aml other such commodities. Secondly, the exchange, far from being casual or surreptitious, is carried on according to very definite and V\31'Y complex rulee. Thus it cannot be performed between members of these tribes taken at random. A firm and lifelong relationship is always estabiished between any participant in the Kula, and a number of other men, so111e of whom beloug to his own community, and others to oversea communities. Such men call one another karayta'u ("partner," as we shall designate them), and they are uncler mutual obligations to trade with each other, to offer protection, hospitality and assistance whenever needed."" Let us imagine that we look at the whole system from one definite point, choosing the large village· of· Sinaketa in the Trobri:>nd Islands. An old chief in that village would have, say, some hundred partners southwards, and about as many again to the north and east, while a young tJOmmo1~er would have only a few on both sides. It must be remembered that not all men in a village take part in the Kula, and some villages are out of it altogether. Now another· definite rule is that the armshells must always be traded to the * Karayta'u is tlie word for "partner" in the language of 'Kiriwina, in the 'rrobriand Islands.
All the terminology in this paper, will be given in the language of the Trobriands, from which district the Kula has been studied.
south, and the necklets of shell-beads to· the north. The word "traded " is, of course, only a rough approximation. Let us suppose that I, a Sinaketa man, am in possession of a pair of big armshells. An oversea expedition from Dobu in the d'Entrecasteaux Archipelago, arrives at my village. Blowing a conch shell; I take my armshell pair and I offer it to my overseas partner, with: some such words, " This " is· a vaga (initial gift)-in due time, thou returnest to me a big soulava (necklace) " for it I" -Next year, when I visit my partner's village, he either is. in possession of an equivalent necklace, and this he gives to me as uotile (restoration· gift), or he has not a necklace ·good enough to repay my last gift. In this case he will give me a smaller necklace-avowedly not equivalent to my gift-and will give it to me !!-S basi (intermediary gift). This means that the main· gift has to be repaid on a future occasion and the basi is given in token of good faith-but it, in turn, must be repaid by me in the meantime' by a gift of. small armshells. The final gift, which will be given to me to clinch the whole transaction, would be then called kud1t (equivalent •gift) in contrast t,o basi. This does not exhaust the subtleties and distinctions of Kula gifts. If I, an inhabitant of Sinaketa, happen to be in possession of a pair of armshells more than usually good, the fame of it spreads. It must be noted that each one of the first-class armshells and necklaces has a personal name and a history of its own, and as they all circulate around the big ring of the Kula, they are all well known, and their appearance in a given district alway<~ creates a sensation. Now all my partners-whether from overseas or from within the district-compete for the favour of receiving this particular article of mine, and those who are specially keen try to obtain it by giving me pokala (offerings) and kaributu (solicitory gifts). The forll?-er (pokala) consists, as !I' rule, of pigs-especially fine bananas and yams or taro ; the latter (kaributu) are of greater value : the valuable "ceremonial" axe blad~s· (called beku) or lime-spoons of whale's bone are given. [July, 1920.
of gifts and countergifts, in which the social side (partnership), as well as the rules of give and take, are definitely established and regulated by P-ustom. It must also be emphasized that all these natives, and more especially the Trobrianders, have both a word for, and a clear idea of, barter (girmoali), and that they are fully aware of the difference between. the transactions at the Kula and common barter. The Kula involves the elements of trust and of a sort of commercial honour, as the equivalence between gift' and countergift cannot be strictly enforced. A.s in many other native transactions, the main corrective force is supplied by the deeply engrained idea that liberality is the most important and the most honou~able virtue, whereas meanness brings shame and opprobrium upon the miser. This, of course, does not completely exclude many squabbles, deep resentments and e>en feuds over real or imaginary griev.ances in the Kula exchange.
A.s said already, the armshells and shell-strings always travel in their own respective directions on the ring, and they are never, under any circumstances, traded back in the wrong direction. A.l11o they never stop. It seems almos.t incredible at first, but it is the fact, nevertheless, that no one ever keeps any. of the Kula valuables for any length of time. Indeed, .in the whole of the Trobriands there are perhaps only one or two specially fine armshells and shell necklaces permanently owned as heirlooms, and these a.re set apart as a special class, and are once and for all out of the Kula. ''Ownership," therefore, in K·ula is quite a special economic relation. A. man who is in the Kula never keeps any article for longer than, say, a year or two. Even this exposes him to the reproach of being niggardly, and certain districts have the bad reputation of being "slow" and "hard " in the Kula. On the other hand, each man has' an enormous number of articles passing through his hands during his lifetime, of which he enjoys a temporary possession, and which he keeps _in trust for a time. This possession hardly ever rnakes hiq1 use the 1!-rticles, and he remains under the obligation soon again to hand them on to one of his partners. But the temporary ownership allows him to draw a great deal of renown, to exhibit his article, to tell how he obtained it and to plan ltfil whom he is going to give it. A.nd. all this forms one of the favourite subjects of tribal conversation and gossip, in which the feats and the glory in Kula of chiefs or commoners are constantly discussed and rediscussed.
But the tradition of the Kula is not limited to the recounting of recent or historical exploits. There is a rich mythology of the Kula, in which stories are told about far-off times when mythical ancestors sailed on distant and daring expeditions. Owing to their magical knowledge-how they came to it no one knows distinctly-they were able to escape dangers, to conquer their enemies, to surmount obstacles, and by their feats they established many a precedent which is n,ow closely followed by tribal custom. But their importance for their descendants lies mainly in the fact that they handed on their magic, and this made the Kula possible for the following generation.
The belief in the efficiency of magic dominates the Kula, as it does ever so many other tribal activities of the natives. Magical rites must be performed over the sea-going canoe, when it is built, in order to make it swift, steady and' safe ; also magic is done over a canoe to make it lucky in t)le Kula. Another system of magical rites is done in order to avert the dangers of sailing. The third system of magic connected with overseas expeditions is the mwasila or the Kula magic proper. This system consists in numerous rites and spells, all of which act directly on the mind (nanola) of one's partner and make him soft, somewhat unsteady in mind, and eager to give Kula gifts.
In order to form a better idea of how the magic is woven into the many practical activities incidental to the Kula, it will be necessary to give a qoncrete [ 100 J July, 1920.] MAN. [No. 51.
outline of a trading expedition, and thus to supplement the set of rules and features enumerated above somewhat in abstracto. It will be best agaiu to adopt a definite starting-point in our geographical orientation and to imagine ourselves again in Sinaketa, one of the main industrial and trading centres of the Trobriands .
..<:: Glancing at the map we see a number of circles, each of which representl>~ a certain soeiological unit which we shall ca!l a Kul(t community. A Kula community consists of a village or a number of villages, who go out together on big overseas expeditions and who act as a body in the Kula transactions-perform their magic in common, [ 101 ] No. 51.] M.AN.
have common leaders, and have the same outer and inner social !!phere, within which they exchange their valuables. The Kula consists, therefore, first of the small 1 inner trade within a Kula community or contiguous communities, and secondly of the big overseas expeditions in which the annual exchange of articles takes place between two communities, divided by sea. In the first, there is a chronic, permanent trickling of articles from one village to another, and even within the village. In the second a whole lot of valuables, amounting to over a thousand. articles at a time, are exchanged in one enormous transaction, or, more correctly in ever so many transactions taking place simultaneously.· I will describe the normal and typical course of, such a big overseas expedition as it takes place between the Kula community of Sinaketa with its surrounding villages aud the Amphlett Group and Dobu districts to the south. Such an expedition would take place about once a year, but only every second or third year would it be carried out on a really big ~cale. On such occasions . big preparations take. place. First of all the large seagoing canoes must be made ready. As a rule a few new ones have to be buil·t to· replace those worn out and unseaworthy, and then those in good order have to be overhauled and redecorated. Th~ building of a canoe, which cannot be described in this• place in detail, is a big tribal affair. A series of magical rites have to be performed by a spenialist or, specialists, who are versed hi the art of constructing and carving-the magic being considered indispensable to both arts. The_ magical rites aim successively at the expulsion of a wood spirit (tokway) from the tree to be felled; at the imparting of stability, swiftness and good luck to the canoe, and at the counteracting of evil influences c~st on the canoe by direct sorcery or by the unwitting breaking of taboos. The rites-some performed in a simple manner by a magician alone, some ceremonially with the attendance of the whole community-are carried out in-a serifs, associated with the various activities, in~;~ugurating' some, accompanying others. The magic is always interwoven with the technical operations and is to the native mind apsolutely indispensable to the succel'sful accomplishmen.t of the task. Another important feature of canoe-building is the communal labour, which is always used at certain stages and for eertain tasks, as for sail-making, the piecing together and lashing; caulking and painting of the canoe. The owner of the canoe has to pay for the work by gifts of vaygu'a ('aluables) and distribution of food, and the expert magician-constructor directs the work.
The building and overhauling of canoes lasts for about six months, for it is done slowly, in the intervals of other work. As the expeditions take place usually in February-April, the canoe work begins some time in August or September. When all the canoes are ready, there is a big gathering from the whole district, and the canoes are launched ceremonially, a.nd races a-nd genernl festivities take place. Some days later all the canoes start on a preliminary trip to the neighbouring districts, that is, in the case of Sinaketa, to the northern half of the island, to Kiriwina proper. There is a custom, ca-lled kabigidoya, of ceremonially presenting a canoe, and the owner receives gifts, which form part of the subsidiary trade, to be used on the big expedition. More subsidiary trade" is obtained by barter (gimwali), especially from the manufacturing districts on the -north shore of the lagoon. Wooden combs, fibre armlets, baskets, mussel shells and other articles, abundant here and rare in the Amphletts and in' Dobu, are thus acquired in great quantities. On this prelimim_uy trip the Sinaketans also obtain a number of armshells from Kiriwina by inland Kula, and with their wealth thus replenished return to Sinaketa.
A period of taboos and initial magic now obtains as the immediate preliminary to main departure, The owner of each canoe is subject to the most stringent [No. 51.
restrictions-mainly referring to sexual relations-and he. also performs all the magic. On an evening he goes into a garden and uttering a spell he plucks a spray of aromatic mi-nt, which he brings home. Then he prepares some cocoanut oil, anoints the mint with it, and, putting some oil and the mint into a vessel, he medicates it all with another spell. The vessel-in olden days a contrivance of roasted and thus toughened banana leaves, now a small glass bottle-is then attached to the prow of the canoe. This magic aims at the ~:~oftening of the Dobuan's mind, so that he may be unable to ·resist any appeal made to his generosity. This aim is explicitly stated by all natives, and an analysis of the magical spells reveals it also as their leading idea. But the magic is full pf mythological allusions, of side ideas and of references to animals and birds, and it contains interesting metaphorical circumlocutions of the aims to be attained.
Other spells, all expressing more or lt'lss the same ideas, are used in the magical rite performed over a special bundle of valuables and goods, called lilava, I which is placed in the centre of the canoe and must not be opened before the arrival in Dobu ; also in the rite over the cocoanut l~aves lining the canoe. Again, in the rite over the provisions of food taken on the journey, the main aim is to make it last long. · After the rites are finished and the expedition is ready, many people from the neighbouring villages assemble, the departing chiefs enjoin chastity to their wives and warn all the neighbouring male villagers to keep off Sinaketa, and prognosticate a speedy arrival with much vaygu'a (valuables). They are assured that they can depart in safety as no one will visit their village surreptitiously. Indeed, during their absence,· the village should be kept tabooed, and if a man is found loitering ahout the place, especially at night, he is likely to be punished (by ,sorcery, as a rule) on the chief's return.
The fleet ,now sails south ; but the first stage of the journey is short, as the natives halt on a sandbank ·some ten miles off Sinaketa, where they have a cert-monial distribution of food, which imposes an obligation on the itsagelu (members of the crews) towards the toliwaga (owners of canoes) to carry out the expedition even in the face of contrary winds and bad. weather. Next morning several rites are performed over the canoes to undo all evil magic . and to make them swift and steady.
The open sea now lies before. the fleet with the high, distant peaks of the d'Entrecasteaux mountains floating above the haze. In very ~lear weather the nea.rer Amphletts can be seen-small steep rocks, scattered over the horizon, misty, but more material against the faint blue of the distant land. These far-off views must have inspired generation after generation of Kiriwinian sailors with zest for a<J.venture, wonder and desire to see the much-praised marvels of foreign lands, with awe and with superstitious fear. Mixed with it all-associated in the native mind with the allurement of the distant koya (mountains)-there was the ambition to ·return with plenty of vaygu'a. In myths, in traditional legends, in real stories and in songs, Kula, expeditions were and are described and praised and there is a definite complex of Kula tradition and mythology, governed perhaps by two dominating emotions : the desire to obtain the vay.q,u'a and the dread of the daugers to be encountered.
These latter are real enough, as the wind in the N.W. season, when the expeditious take place, is changeable, and violent squalls obtain, and the sea is full of reefs and sandbanks. But the natives have added to that from their store of myth-making imagination, and have surrounded the real dang·ers with a fabric of imaginary perils and modes of escape. There exist for them big, live liltones, lying in wait for a canoe-they jump up when they see one, and smash it to pieces and destroy the [July, 1920.
sailors. There is a giant octopus, which will take hold of a canoe and never let it go, unless a sacrifice is made of a ~mall boy, adorned and anointed, who is thrown overboard to the kwita (octopus). There may come a big rain, which smashes and submerges the canoe. But the greatest danger comes from flying witches, who, whenever they hear that a canoe is drowning-and they possess the capacity of hearing it at enormous distances-assemble and wait till the men are in the water, and then fall on them. There is a deep belief that shipwreck in itself would not be fatal-the men would float ashore, carried by the debris of the canoe-unless the flying witches were to attack them. A whole cycle of beliefs centres round this main idea, and there is a system of rites which are always practised in shipwr'€ck, and which, if carried out properly, would ensure safety to those shipwrecked.
One part of this magic is directed towards the flying witches ; it blinds and bewilders them and they cannot attack the men in the waves. Another part is chanted by the toliwaga (master of the canoe) whilst he and his companions are drifting, suspended on the float of the outrigger, and it. attracts' a giant fish (iraveaka). This beneficent animal arrives and pulls the float and the men ashore. This is not the end; the shipwrecked party have to go through a series of ceremonies intended to make them immune from the flying witches. and only after that may they return to their village. This interesting account of a potential shipwreck and the magieal rites referring to it I have obtained from several sets of independent informants. There are also a few definite traditions about actual salvage from death by drowning, through the carrying out of the magic.
The normal expedition, however, sails in one day with good following wind, or in several days if the wind is weak or shifting, and arrives at its first stage, in the Amphlett~. Some exchange is done here, as well as on the further two intermediate halts· in Tewara and Sanaroa and the concomitant magic has to be performed here. There are also several mythologically famed spots in these islands : some rocks from which magic originated-how, the myths do not relate distinctly-and other rocks, formerly human beings, who travelled to their present sites from very far, and to whom the natives offer pokala (offerings in order to have a propitious Kula). The island of Gumasila in the Amphletts, that of Tewara, and places on Fergusson Island, are important mythological centres.
But the main aim of the expedition is the district of Dohu, more especially the north-ea~t corner of Fergusson Island, where on the flat and fertile foreshore, among groves of cocoanut, betel-palms, mangoes and bread-fruit trees, there stretch for miles the populous settlements of Tautauna, Bwayowa, Deidei and Begasi.
Before approaching them, the whole fleet stops on a beach called Sat·ubwoyna, not far away from the two rocks, Atu'a'ine and Aturamo'a, which are the most important, perhaps, of the rocks to whom pokala offering is given. Here the final magic is performed. All the usagelu (members of the crew) go ashore and collect leaves for magic. Spells are pronounced over them by the members of each canoe aud everyone washes whh sea-water. and dries his skin with the medicated leaves. Then spells are uttered over cocoanut , oil, red paint and aro~atic herbs-and the natives anoint and adorn themselves, the magic making them beautiful and irresistible. A spell is uttered into the mouth of a conchshell and the canoes get under way. The last distance, a few miles only, is traversed by paddling ; and powerful spells are uttered by several men in each. canoe, who recite them simultaneously, and the medicated conchshell is blown. These spells have to "shake the mountain "-that is, to produce a deep agitation in the minds of the Dobuans, and impress them with the arrival of the newcomers. One more important rite is uttered to prevent the Dobuans from becoming fierce and angry and to 8nppress any altempt at attacking the visitors.
Finally the party arrive, and it is the custom for the Dobuans to meet them with sorLlava (shell-disc necklaces) in their hands. The conchshells are blown and the Ii.ecklaces are ceremonially offered by the Dobuans to the newcomers. Then the party go ashore, every man going to the house of his main partner. There the visitors receive gifts of food, and they again 'give some of their minor trade as pari (visitor,;' gifts) to the Dobuans. Then, Quring a several days' stay, many more soulava are given to the visitors. Often it is necessary for a Kiriwinian to woo his partner by gifts, solicitations and magical rites, tmnsparently performed, if the latter possesses a specially good and desirable article. All the transactions are carried out according to the rules set forth above.
Side by ~ide with the Kula, the subsidiary trade goes on, the visitors acquiring a great number of articles of minor value, but of great utility, some of them unprocurable in Kiriwina, as, for instance, rattan. fibre belte, cassowary feathers, certain kinds of spear wood, obsidian, red ochre and many other articles. This subsidiary trade is carried on by means of gifts and countergifts with one's own partners ; by means of barter (gimwali) with other people ; whereas certain articles are procured directly. Among the latte.r, the most important is the Spondylus shell, fished by Sinaketans in the lagoon of Sanaroa, again under the observance of many taboos, and with the aid of magic, private and collective, simple and ceremonial. The shell called kaloma is, on their return home, worked out into the red shell-discs, which serve for making the Soulava necklaces.
All the transactions . in Dobu ~oncluded, the party receive their parting gifts (talo'i) and sail back, doing the spondylus fishing just mentioned in Sanaroa, trading for pots with the Amphletts, and receiving additional Kula gifts and talo'i (parting gifts) in all the places, where they go ashore on their return journey.
In due ti~e, after a year or so, the Dobuans will make their return expedition to Sinaketa, with exactly the same ceremonial, magic and sociology. On this expedition they will receive some armshells in exchange for the necklets previously given, and others, as advance gifts towards the next Kula transaction.
The Kula trade consists of a series of such periodical overseas expeditions, which link together the various island groups, and annually bring over big quantities of vaygu'a and of subsidiary trade from one district to another. The trade is used and used' up, but the vaygu'a-the armshells and necklets-go round and round the ring.
We have here a very interesting form of tribal enterprises. In a sense they are economic, for "the natives carry Ollt their organised purposE"ful work under the stimulus of a desire for wealth, for ownership. The conception of value and the form of ownership revealed through the Kula, are different from those current among us, and this shows how necessary it is to apply a more detailed analysis to theii: economic ideas.
Again, the Kula presents a type of intertribal relationship of unprecedented magnitude, the standing partnership linking together thousands of people scattered over an immense area.
Tn this short preliminary account I have been able barely to touch upon the essentials of the Kula, a,nd to give a summary account of one of its typical concrete manifestations-the expeditions from Sinaketa to Dobu. A more detailed and thorough description, which I trust will soon be forthcoming, will allow me to show many more of its important features.