Argonauts of the Western Pacific
To my friend and teacher professor C. G. Seligman, F. R. S.
My esteemed friend, Dr. B. Malinowski has asked me to write a preface to his book, and I willingly comply with his request, though I can hardly think that any words of mine will add to the value of the remarkable record of anthropological research which he has given us in this volume. My observations, such as they are, will deal partly with the writer’s method and partly with the matter of his book.
In regard to method, Dr. Malinowski has done his work, as it appears to me, under the best conditions and in the manner calculated to secure the best possible results. Both by theoretical training and by practical experience he was well equipped for the task which he undertook. Of his theoretical training he had given proof in his learned and thoughtful treatise on the family among the aborigines of Australia 1 ; of his practical experience he had produced no less satisfactory evidence in his account of the natives of Mailu in New Guinea 2 , based on a residence of six months among them. In the Trobriand Islands, to the east of New Guinea, to which he next turned his attention, Dr. Malinowski lived as a native among the natives for many months together, watching them daily at work and at play, conversing with them in their own tongue, and deriving all his information from the surest sources — personal observation and statements made to him directly by the natives in their own language without the intervention of an interpreter. In this way he has accumulated a large mass of materials, of high scientific value, bearing on the social, religious, and economic or industrial life of the Trobriand Islanders. These he hopes and intends to publish hereafter in full; meantime he has given us in the present volume a preliminary study of an interesting and peculiar feature in Trobriand society, the remarkable system of exchange, only in part economic or commercial, which the islanders maintain among themselves and with the inhabitants of neighbouring islands.
Bronisław Malinowski
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Preface by Sir James G. Frazer
Foreword by the author
Acknowledgements
Phonetic note
Table of contents
Introduction. The subject, method and scope of this inquiry
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
Chapter I. The country and inhabitants of the Kula district
I
II
III
IV
V
Chapter II. The natives of the Trobriand Islands
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
Chapter III. The essentials of the Kula
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
Chapter IV. Canoes and sailing
I
II
III
IV
V
I
II
Vabusi tokway spell
Kaymomwa’u spell
Kaygagabile spell
Kapitunena duku spell
Ligogu spell
III
Wayugo spell
IV
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
List of gifts, payments, and commercial transactions
VII
Chapter VII. The departure of an overseas expedition
Yawarapu spell
Kaymwaloyo spell
Lilava spell
Gebobo spell
Chapter VIII. The first halt of the fleet on Muwa
I
II
III
Kadumiyala spell
Bisila spell
Kayikuna veva spell
Chapter IX. Sailing on the sea-arm of Pilolu
I
II
III
IV
Chapter X. The story of shipwreck
I
II
III
IV
Narrative of shipwreck and salvage
V
Kaytaria spell
Myth of Tokulubwaydoga
Kayga’u of tokulubwaydoga
Chapter XI. In the Amphletts — sociology of the Kula
I
II
III
IV
Chapter XII. In Tewara and Sanaroa — mythology of the Kula
I
The story of Gumagabu
The Gumagabu song
II
III
IV
The myth of the flying canoe of Kudayuri
V
The story of Kasabwaybwayreta and Gumakarakedakeda
VI
VII
VIII
Myth of Atu’a’ine, Aturamo’a and Sinatemubadiye’i
Chapter XIII. On the beach of Sarubwoyna
I
Kaykakaya spell
Talo spell
The spell of the Ta’uya (Conch shell)
II
Kayikuna tabuyo
Kavalikuliku
Kaytavilena Mwoynawaga
III
Ka’ubana’i
Chapter XIV. The Kula in Dobu — technicalities of the exchange
I
II
III
Kwoygapani spell
Chapter XV. The journey home — the fishing and working of the kaloma shell
I
II
III
IV
Chapter XVI. The return visit of the Dobuans to Sinaketa
I
II
III
Chapter XVII. Magic and the Kula
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Table of Kula magic and of the corresponding activities
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
Chapter XVIII. The power of words in magic — some linguistic data
I
II
Wayugo spell
III
IV
V
Kayikuna sulumwoya (also called Sumgeyyata)
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
The tolabwaga sub-clan and their sea-faring privileges
XVI
XVII
Chapter XIX. The inland Kula
I
II
III
IV
Chapter XX. Expeditions between Kiriwina and Kitava.
I
II
III
Chapter XXI. The remaining branches and offshoots of the Kula
I
II
III
IV
V
Chapter XXII. The meaning of the Kula
