To summarise this subject, it may be said that the proper Kula articles are on the one hand, the armshells (mwali), and the curved tusks (doga); and, on the other hand, the fine, long necklaces (soulava or bagi), of which there are many sub-classes. An index of the special position of these three articles is that they are the only ones, or at least, by far the most important ones, mentioned in the spells. Later on, I shall enumerate all the sub-classes and varieties of these articles.
Although, as we have seen, there is both a good deal of ceremony attached to the transaction and a good deal of decorum, one might even say commercial honour, implied in the technicalities of the exchange, there is much room left as well for quarrelling and friction. If a man obtains a very fine valuable, which he is not already under an obligation to offer as yotile (return payment), there will be a number of his partners, who will compete to receive it. As only one can be successful, all the others will be thwarted and more or less offended and full of malice. Still more room for bad blood is left in the matter of equivalence. As the valuables exchanged cannot be measured or even compared with one another by an exact standard; as there are no definite correspondences or indices of correlation between the various kinds of the valuables, it is not easy to satisfy a man who has given a vaygu’a of high value. On receiving a repayment (yotile), which he does not consider equivalent, he will not actually make a scene about it, or even show his displeasure openly in the act. But he will feel a deep resentment, which will express itself in frequent recriminations and abuse. These, though not made to his partner’s face, will reach his ears sooner or later. Eventually, the universal method of settling differences may be resorted to that of black magic, and a sorcerer will be paid to cast some evil spell over the offending party.
When speaking about some celebrated vaygu’a, a native will praise its value in the words: „Many men died because of it”, which does not mean that they died in battle or fight, but were killed by black magic. Again, there is a system of signs by which one can recognise, on inspecting the corpse the day after death, for what reasons it has been bewitched. Among these signs there are one or two which mean that the man has been done away with, because of his success in Kula, or because he has offended somebody in connection with it. The mixture of punctilio and decorum, on the one hand, with passionate resentment and greed on the other, must be realised as underlying all the transactions, and giving the leading psychological tone to the natives’ interest. The obligation of fairness and decency is based on the general rule, that it is highly improper and dishonourable to be mean. Thus, though a man will generally strive to belittle the thing received, it must not be forgotten that the man who gave it was genuinely eager to do his best. And after all, in some cases when a man receives a really fine valuable, he will boast of it and be frankly satisfied. Such a success is attributed of course not to his partner’s generosity, but to his own magic.
A feature which is universally recognised as reprehensible and discreditable, is a tendency to retain a number of valuables and be slow in passing them on. A man who did this would be called „hard in the Kula”. The following is a native description of this feature as exhibited by the natives of the Amphletts.
„The Gumasila, their Kula is very hard; they are mean, they are retentive. They would like to take hold of one soulava, of two, of three big ones, of four perhaps. A man would pokala them, he would pokapokala; if he is a kinsman, he will get a soulava. The Kayleula only, and the Gumasila are mean. The Dobu, the Du’a’u, the Kitava are good. Coming to Muyuwa — they are like Gumasila”.
This means that a man in Gumasila would let a number of necklaces accumulate in his possession; would require plenty of food as pokala — a characteristic reduplication describes the insistance and perseverance in pokala — and even then he would give a necklace to a kinsman only. When I inquired from the same informant whether such a mean man would also run a risk of being killed by sorcery, he answered:
„A man, who is very much ahead in the Kula — he will die — the mean man not; he will sit in peace”.
III
Returning now to the concrete proceedings of the Kula, let us follow the movements of a Sinaketan toliwaga. He has presumably received a necklace or two on his arrival; but he has more partners and he expects more valuables. Before he receives his fill, he has to keep a taboo. He may not partake of any local food, neither yams, nor coco-nuts, nor betel pepper or nut. According to their belief, if he transgressed this taboo, he would not receive any more valuables. He tries also to soften the heart of his partner by feigning disease. He will remain in his canoe and send word that he is ill. The Dobu man will know what such a conventional disease means. None the less, he may yield to this mode of persuasion. If this ruse does not succeed, the man may have recourse to magic. There is a formula called kwoygapani or „enmeshing magic”, which seduces the mind of a man on whom it is practised, makes him silly, and thus amenable to persuasion. The formula is recited over a betel-nut or two, and these are given to the partner and to his wife or sister.