212 president's address — section f. 



bird totem is prevalent, plant totems begin to sliow themselves, thus 

 already bringing us nearer to Australian influence. Going farther 

 along the New Britain seaboard, we observe that the coast tribes are 

 very similar to the tribes living on the opposite shores of New Guinea, 

 from whence they undoubtedly originate. These coast tribes of New 

 Guinea have no totem system, although it is found amongst tribes 

 living easterly, as well as westerly, from them ; and the coast tribes 

 of western New Britain also have no knowledge of the system. In 

 the last few years I have had occasion to establish intercourse with the 

 inland tribes, and although up to the present our knowledge of them 

 and of their customs is very limited, so much is certain, that these 

 inland tribes have a well-established totem system, closely resembling 

 the systems of other islands. 



That in the great island of New Guinea the totem system prevails 

 has been shown by the investigations of late years. It seems, however, 

 that in this country, through influences emanating from tribes in the 

 west, the system is gradually breaking up. In German New Guinea 

 I have found no trace of totem westerly of Humboldt Bay, and in 

 British New Guinea the system seems to disappear entirely west of the 

 Fly River. Totemism in New Guinea shows a greater similarity to 

 totemism in Australia, in that plant totems seem to be a prominent 

 feature of the system. 



I think that, from what I have described to you, a clear track is 

 shown along which totemism has travelled from Australia via New 

 Guinea to the Melanesian Islands, or vice versa. 



But I must still take you across to the Solomon Islands, and to the 

 chain of islands stretching away from thence to Fiji. In the northern- 

 most island of the Solomons, in Buka, we once more find the dual 

 totem system, with two distinct totem signs — the frigate bird and the 

 pigeon. The same system also prevails over the northern half of 

 Bougainville. In some parts of this division, especially in Buka, we 

 find the consequence of the system extended to its utmost. The father 

 does not consider himself to be related to his own daughters, but stands 

 towards them in the same position as to any other women having a 

 different totem. As the daughters inherit the totem of the mother, 

 he considers them as not related to him, and in consequence is per- 

 mitted to marry them. I may here add, that this excessive conse- 

 quence is viewed by other neighboring tribes with a certain disgust — 

 as something that ought not to be, although it is not condemned as a 

 crime or punishable as such. 



In southern Bougainville the totem system once more branches out 

 in a great many divisions, each having a bird as totem sign ; but all 

 these ramifications can be referred back to the dual system of the frigate 

 bird and pigeon, upon which they are based. 



The large south-eastern Solomon Islands, Choiseul, Isabel, Malaita, 

 and Guadalcanar, have a certain totem system ; but here the system 

 has been mixed up with the customs of various secret societies and 

 obscured by influences coming from the south and south-east. This 

 is still more the case in the Santa Cruz Islands and New Hebrides, as 



