REVIEWS eyj 



and their interpretation," in contrast to some " books composed throughout 

 in the spirit of the neo-scholastic school of Durckheim." 



A highly specialised monograph runs one risk in particular, that, namely, 

 of isolating its subject too much, of treating it as a self-contained entity, 

 which exists for its own sake. Prof. Nilsson has, perhaps, not altogether 

 succeeded in steering clear of this danger in his otherwise excellent monograph. 

 In describing the primitive systems of time-reckoning, he has not paid sufficient 

 attention to what could be called the functional aspect of these systems. 

 By this I mean that he does not make it sufficiently clear to what uses the 

 natives put their systems of moon-naming and moon-fixing, for instance. 

 It is obvious that for ordinary placing of events, past or future, a general 

 indication of the season, or of a typical seasonal occupation, is sufficient. 

 The Melanesians of the Trobriand Islands, among whom I have spent some 

 time in doing field-work, place all past or future events in time by reference 

 to gardening activities. None the less, these natives have a definite and 

 clear system of naming moons, a system which runs side by side with the 

 usual, less definite seasonal divisions. This system of moon-reckoning is of 

 great importance, as it fulfils several vital functions. These natives have 

 elaborate intertribal arrangements, connected with trading, with ceremonial 

 oversea visits, and with big festivals. In order to synchronise the prepara- 

 tions, movements, and meetings of the various tribal sections, a precise 

 system of determining the sequence of moons is necessary. As a rule, the 

 full-moon time of a given month is fixed as the date of the coming event, 

 sometimes a year or two beforehand. Besides this, they have to calculate 

 the date of certain magical and religious ceremonies by means of moon- 

 rjckoning. How far and by what means the natives succeed in placing 

 their months always in the same sequence, and more or less within the same 

 place in the solar year, is too complex a question to be dealt with here. 



Only the functional study of such arrangements as the various systems 

 of primitive time-reckoning can give us a correct idea of its essential qualities. 

 If we find that a system of time-reckoning fulfils a vital function, and for 

 practical reasons has to be definite and consistent, we gain quite a different 

 and much deeper understanding of its nature. Again, it is clear that among 

 a group of tribes who for one reason or another need to synchronise big 

 intertribal movements, we have to expect there a consistent system of moon- 

 reckoning, as this is the only means they have of defining the dates of distant 

 future events. 



I have, therefore, to disagree with Prof. Nilsson when, in speaking of 

 the stage of the Melanesian culture, he says : " We see that at this stage the 

 number of months is indifierent : the question how many months the year 

 has simply does not exist, and consequently there is no need to make the 

 series of moon-months fit into the solar year." I have to disagree, in spite 

 of the high authority of Codrington, whose statements corroborate Prof. 

 Nilsson's views. So far as I can judge, Codrington also failed to account 

 for the functional value of moon-reckoning among his Melanesian tribes. 



In fact, it must be emphasised that, if Prof. Nilsson's work is incomplete 

 in the direction here stressed, it is owing to the incompleteness of ethnographic 

 field-work in this respect. And it is perhaps hardly fair to expect that a 

 theoretical ethnologist should go so far as to pick holes in his sources and to 

 try to go further than they go. Being a field- worker myself, however, I may 

 be allowed to emphasise the fact that such books as Prof. Nilsson's are of 

 the utmost value to any observer going to do research among native tribes. 

 An author who, in his study, has the leisure to compare and compile a great 

 number of sources, and who achieves a synthesis of the information available, 

 has a full right to point out the defects in the sources, and to suggest to 

 field- workers new points of view and new methods. 



B. Malinowski, 



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