Argonauts of the Western Pacific

by Bronisław Malinowski

V

Let us follow the ring of the Kula, noticing its commercial side tracks, of which so far we only described the trading routes of Kavataria and Kayleula. To the Eastward, the section from Kitava to Woodlark Island is the one big portion of the Kula from which no lateral offshoots issue, and on which all the trade follows the same routes as the Kula. The other branch, of which I have got a good knowledge, that from the Trobriands to Dobu, has the commercial relations of which I have just spoken. The Amphletts, as described in Chapter XI trade with the natives of Fergusson Island. The Dobuanspeaking natives from Tewara, Sanaroa, and the Dawson Straits make exchange, though perhaps not on a very big scale, with the inland natives of Fergusson. The Dobuan-speaking communities on Normanby Island, and the natives of Du’a’u, on the Northern coast of Normanby, all of whom are in the Kula, trade with the other natives of Normanby Island who are not in the ring, and with the natives of the mainland of New Guinea from East Cape Westwards. But, all this trade aftects little the main current of the Kula. From its main stream, possibly some of the less valuable articles ebb away into the jungle, which, in its turn, gives its produce to the coast.

The most important leakage out and into the main stream takes place on the Southern section, mainly at Tubetube and Wari, and at some points of lesser importance around these two main centres. The North coast of New Guinea was connected with this district through the seafaring community at East Cape. But this side branch is of very small importance as regards the main articles of the Kula. It is the two connections to East and West, at the extreme southern point of the Kula ring, which matter most. One of them links up the South Coast of New Guinea with the Kula ring, the other joins the ring to the big islands of Sud-Est (Tagula) and Rossel with several adjacent small islands.

The South Coast, going from East to West, is at first inhabited by natives of the Massim stock, speaking the Su’a’u and Bonabona dialects. These are in constant intercourse with the Southern section of the Kula district, that is with the natives of Rogea, Sariba, Basilaki, Tubetube and Wari. The Massim of the Southern coast are again in commercial relations with the Mailu, and from this point, a chain of trading relations unites the Eastern districts with the Central ones, inhabited by the Motu. The Motu again as we know from Captain Barton’s contribution to Professor Seligman’s work, are in annual trading relations with the Gulf of Papua, so that an article could travel from the delta of any of the Papuan rivers to Woodlark in the Trobriands, and many things were in fact traded over all this distance.

There is, however, one movement which specially interests us from the Kula point of view, namely that of the two types of Kula valuables. One of these articles, the armshells, travels on the South Coast from East to West. There is no doubt that this article leaks out from the Kula current at its Southernmost point, and is carried away towards Port Moresby, where the value of armshells is, and was, in olden days much higher than in the Eastern district. I found in Mailu that the local native traders purchased, for pigs, armshells in the Su’a’u district, and carried them West towards Aroma, Hula, and Kerepunu. Professor Seligman, from his notes taken at Port Moresby, informs us that Hula, Aroma, and Kerepunu import armshells into Port Moresby. Some of these armshells, according to the same authority, travel further West as far as the Gulf of Papua¹¹⁴.

It was much more difficult to ascertain what was the direction in which the spondylus shell necklaces moved on the Southern Coast. Nowadays, the industry of making these articles, which was once very highly developed among the Port Moresby natives is partially, though not completely in decay. I have myself still had the opportunity of watching the natives of Bo’era at work on the ageva, the very small and fine shell discs, such as the very finest bagi would consist of. They were using in their manufacture a native pump-drill with a quartz point, in a place within a few miles of a large white settlement, in a district where white man’s influence on a big scale has been exercised for the last fifty years. Yet, this is only a vestige of the once extremely developed industry. My inquiries into this subject could not be exhaustive, for when I worked on the South Coast, I did not have the problem before me, and on my second and third expeditions to New Guinea I only passed through Port Moresby. But I think it may be considered certain that in olden days the shell strings moved from Port Moresby Eastwards and were introduced into the Kula ring, at the East end of New Guinea.

However this might be, unquestionable sources of this Kula article are the islands of Sud-Est, Rossel, and the surrounding small islands. The best spondylus shell, with the reddest colours is fished in these seas, and the natives are expert workers of the discs, and export the finished article to the island of Wari, and, I believe, to the islands of Misima and Panayati. The most important articles for which the necklaces are traded are the canoes, and the large polished axe blades.

Casting now a glance at the Kula ring we see that one class of Kula article, the mwali or armshells, are produced within the ring at two points, that is, in Woodlark Island and in Western Boyowa. The other article, that is the soulava or bagi (necklaces) are poured into the ring at its southernmost point. One of these sources (Rossel Island) is still active, the other (Port Moresby) most probably furnished a good supply in olden days, but is now disconnected with the Kula ring. The necklaces produced in Sinaketa are not the real Kula article, and though they are sometimes exchanged, they sooner or later disappear from the ring according to a sort of Gresham’s Law, which operates here on an article which is not money, and therefore acts in the opposite sense! The third type of valuable which sometimes flows in the Kula stream but is not really of it, the large green stone axe blades, finely polished all over, are, as we know, or more correctly were, quarried in Woodlark Island, and polished in the district of Kiriwina in the Trobriands. Another polishing centre is, or was, I believe, the island of Misima.

We see that the two sources of the mwali and soulava are at the Northern and Southern ends of the ring; the armshells being manufactured in the extreme North, the necklaces entering at the Southern end. It is noteworthy that on the Eastern portion of the ring, on the section Woodlark-Boyowa-Dobu-Tubetube, the two articles travel in the natural direction, that is, each is exported from the districts of its origin towards one, where it is not made or procured. On the other branch, Woodlark- Yeguina-Tubetube, the current of the Kula is inverse to a natural, commercial movement of the articles, for here, the Tubetube people import armshells into Murua, thus bringing coals to Newcastle, while the Muruans bring necklaces to Tubetube and Wari, that is, to the points at which the necklaces flow into the ring from the outside. These considerations are important for anyone who would like to reflect on the origins, or history of the Kula, since the natural movement of valuables was no doubt the original one, and the Western half of the Kula from this point of view appears to be the older.

But here we have come to an end of all the descriptive data referring to the Kula, and some general remarks which I have to make upon it, will be reserved for the next and last chapter.