SOCIAL SYSTEM OF THE PAPUANS 129 



The exceptional case was a man of unusual intelligence 

 who became our intimate friend and gave us much 

 information for which he was always well rewarded, 

 so that before we left the country his house was filled 

 with tins and bottles, and he was the possessor of axes 

 and knives, 3^ards of cloth and countless beads. In all 

 the ordinary affairs of hfe the " chiefs " and their 

 families have to work like everybody else, but it is 

 possible that in their wars, of which we saw nothing 

 at all, they may be persons of more consequence. 



Generally speaking, one would say that the society 

 of the Mimika Papuans is a group of small families. It 

 cannot by any means be described as a socialistic com- 

 munity ; with one exception there is no sign of com- 

 munity of property, but it is rather a case of every man 

 for himself, or (more accurately) of every family for 

 itself, A canoe belongs to the family of the man who 

 made it ; the coconut trees, which grow here and there 

 along the lower Mimika, do not belong to the com- 

 munity but to individuals, presumably the men or 

 some of the men who planted them. Sometimes the 

 trees are protected by a fence, a very flimsy structure 

 of three or four sticks, placed across the track which 

 leads to the trees ; in other cases a few palm leaves or 

 some pierced shells threaded on a string are tied round 

 the tree itself ; both of these devices appear to be 

 enough to ensure the security of the trees. The ex- 

 ception mentioned is seen when game is brought in by 

 the hunters ; the meat, as I observed on several 

 occasions, is distributed to every house in the village. 

 As I have described above (p. 97) the houses in a 



