I watched the proceedings for a long time with great interest. There is something fascinating about the big, antideluvian-looking sago palm, so malignant and unapproachable in its unhealthy, prickly swamp, being turned by man into food by such simple and direct methods. The sago produced and eaten by the natives is a tough, starchy stuff, of dirty white colour, very unpalatable. It has the consistency of rubber, and the taste of very poor, unleavened bread. It is not clear, like the article which is sold under the name of sago in our groceries, but is mealy, tough, and almost elastic. The natives consider it a great delicacy, and bake it into little cakes, or boil it into dumplings.
The main fleet of the Dobuans started some time in the second half of March from their villages, and went first to the beach of Sarubwoyna, where they held a ceremonial distribution of food, eguya’i, as it is called in Dobu. Then, offering the pokala to Aturamo’a and Atu’a’ine, they sailed by way of Sanaroa and Tewara, passing the tabooed rock of Gurewaya to the Amphletts. The wind was light and changeable, weak S.W. breezes prevailing. The progress of this stage of the journey must have been very slow. The natives must have spent a few nights on the intermediate islands and sandbanks, a few canoes’ crews camping at one spot.
At that time I had already succeeded in reaching the Amphletts, and had been busy for two or three weeks doing ethnographic work, though not very successfully; for, as I have already once or twice remarked, the natives here are very bad informants. I knew of course that the Dobuan fleet was soon to come, but as my experience had taught me to mistrust native time-tables and fixtures of date, I did not expect them to be punctual. In this, however, I was mistaken. On a Kula expedition, when the dates are once fixed, the natives make real and strenuous efforts to keep to them. In the Amphletts the people were busy preparing for the expedition, because they had the intention of joining the Dobuans and proceeding with them to the Trobriands. A few canoes went to the mainland to fetch sago, pots were being mustered and made ready for stowing away, canoes were overhauled. When the small expedition returned from the mainland with sago, after a week or so, a sagali (in Amphlettan: madare), that is, a ceremonial distribution of food was held on the neighbouring island, Nabwageta.
My arrival was a very untoward event to the natives, and complicated matters, causing great annoyance to Tovasana, the main headman. I had landed in his own little village, Nu’agasi, on the island of Gumasila, for it was impossible to anchor near the big village, nor would there have been room for pitching a tent. Now, in the Amphletts, a white man is an exceedingly rare occurrence, and to my knowledge, only once before, a white trader remained there for a few weeks. To leave me alone with the women and one or two old men was impossible, according to their ideas and fears, and none of the younger men wanted to forgo the privilege and pleasure of taking part in the expedition. At last, I promised them to move to the neighbouring island of Nabwageta, as soon as the men were gone, and with this they were satisfied.
As the date fixed for the arrival of the Dobuans approached, the excitement grew. Little by little the news arrived, and was eagerly received and conveyed to me: “Some sixty canoes of the Dobuans are coming,” “the fleet is anchored off Tewara,” “each canoe is heavily laden with food and gifts,” “Kauyaporu sails in his canoe, he is toli’uvalaku, and has a big pandanus streamer attached to the prow.” A string of other names followed which had very little meaning for me, since I was not acquainted with the Dobuan natives. From another part of the world, from the Trobriands, the goal of the whole expedition, news reached us again: “To’uluwa, the chief of Kiriwina has gone to Kitava—he will soon come back, bringing plenty of mwali.” “The Sinaketans are going there to fetch some of the mwali.” “The Vakutans have been in Kitava and brought back great numbers of mwali.” It was astonishing to hear all this news, arriving at a small island, apparently completely isolated with its tiny population, within these savage and little navigated seas; news only a few days old, yet reporting events which had occurred at a travelling distance of some hundred miles.
It was interesting to follow up the way it had come. The earlier news about the Dobuans had been brought by the canoes, which had fetched the sago to Gumasila from the main island. A few days later, a canoe from one of the main island villages had arrived here, and on its way had passed the Dobuans in Tewara. The news from the Trobriands in the North had been brought by the Kuyawa canoe which had arrived a couple of days before in Nabwageta (and whose visit to Nu’agasi I have described in [Chapter XI]). All these movements were not accidental, but connected with the uvalaku expedition. To show the complexity, as well as the precise timing of the various movements and events, so perfectly synchronised over a vast area, in connection with the uvalaku, I have tabulated them in the Chart, facing this page, in which almost all the dates are quite exact, being based on my own observations. This Chart also gives a clear, synoptic picture of an uvalaku, and it will be useful to refer to it, in reading this Chapter.
In olden days, not less than now, there must have been an ebullition in the inter-tribal relations, and a great stirring from one place to another, whenever an uvalaku Kula was afoot. Thus, news would be carried rapidly over great distances, the movements of the vast numbers of natives would be co-ordinated, and dates fixed. As has been said already, a culminating event of an expedition, in this case the arrival of the Dobuan fleet in Sinaketa, would be always so timed as to happen on, or just before, a full moon, and this would serve as a general orientation for the preliminary movements, such as in this case, the visits of the single canoes.
Time-table of the Uvalaku Expedition, Dobu to Sinaketa, 1918
| The PreviousUvalaku | |
| Date | |
| September, 1917 | The expedition, led by Kouta’uya fromSinaketa to Dobu. |
| PreparatoryStage | |
| Oct., 1917–Feb., 1918 | Building of new canoes and repairing of old ones,in the district of N.W. Dobu. |
| Feb.–March, 1918 | Sago making, collecting of trade and food. |
| Middle of March | Launching, fitting and loading of the canoes;preliminary magic. |
| The Sailing | |
| About 25th March | The Dobuan canoes start on their overseastrip. |
| About same time | [In Boyowa: the Vakutans return from Kitava witha good haul of mwali]. |
| Same time | [In the Amphletts: preparations to sail;collecting food; repairing canoes.] |
| About 28th March | [In Boyowa: To’uluwa returns from Kitavabringing mwali.] |
| Same time | [In the Amphletts: news reach of the approachingfleet from Dobu; of the doings in Boyowa.] |
| 29th March | [In the Amphletts: part of the canoes sail aheadto Vakuta.] |
| 31st March | The Dobuan fleet arrives in the Amphletts. |
| 1st April | They proceed on their journey to Boyowa. |
| 2nd April | [In the Amphletts: rest of local canoes sail toBoyowa.] |
| Same day | [In Boyowa: the Sinaketans go to Kiriwina.] |
| 3rd April | [In Boyowa: they return with the armshells.] |
| The Arrival of theDobuans in Boyowa | |
| 3rd April | The Dobuan fleet appears in Vakuta. |
| 3rd–5th April | They receive Kula gifts, exchange presents andtrade in Vakuta. |
| 6th April | Arrival of the Dobuan fleet in Sinaketa, magic atthe beach of Kaykuyawa, ceremonial reception. |
| 6th–10th April | The Dobuans (as well as the Amphlettans) remainin Sinaketa, receiving Kula presents, giving parigifts and trading. |
| 10th April | They all leave Sinaketa, receiving talo’i (farewell) gifts. The Dobuans sail south (andthe Amphlettans to Kayleula and the smaller Western TrobriandIslands). |
| 10th–14th April | The Dobuans are engaged in fishing in the S.Lagoon. |
| Return Journey | |
| 14th April | They reappear in Vakuta, and receive theirtalo’i (farewell) gifts. |
| 15th April | They leave Vakuta. |
| About 20th or 21st | Tanarere(competitive display and comparison) on the beach of Sarubwoyna, andreturn to Dobu. |