595 



enclosure. But the soil is not divided between the two clans; 

 it is used jointly and indiscriminately by both. It must be, 

 however, understood that though one clan has for a time the 

 •exclusive use of a certain portion of the village lands, this 

 must not be regarded as establishing a proprietorship. After 

 two or three years the garden land reverts to the jungle, and 

 thus again becomes at the disposal of either of the two clans. 



Besides the general right to the soil vested in the village 

 community, and the right to make gardens vested in the clan, 

 there are some privileges vested in individuals. Such was, for 

 instance, the right to give permission for hunting in a certain 

 district, or to give the order for burning grass. There are 

 many such privileges among the Papuo-Melanesians which, 

 though absolutely devoid of any economic importance, yet 

 appeal strongly to personal vanity, enhancing the sense of 

 self-importance, and are, on that account, highly valued by 

 the natives. It may be said, broadly, that at a native feast 

 the ''master of ceremonies" does not derive any material 

 benefit from it ; but yet the privilege of giving a feast is highly 

 valued by the master, as it greatly contributes to the raising 

 of his social status. 



There is, of course, individual, real property in land in the 

 case of — first, a man's own house and the corresponding village 

 site, and, secondly, his coconut and betelnut plantations. 



Thus to summarise this paragraph it may be said that the 

 village community possesses all the most elementary rights 

 over its territory— thoroughfare, use of water, timber, clay, 

 and minerals. The right of making gardens is vested in the 

 clan, whose members make communal gardens on their own 

 portion of land. Again, there are individual privileges, such 

 as taking the initiative in hunting, burning grass, etc. 



On Mailu Island the land is entirely subdivided amongst 

 individuals, each man owning his own tract where he and his 

 wife make the garden. When a man's children grow up he 

 apportions to each male his respective plot of ground, which 

 comes under separate cultivation as soon as the boy marries. 

 In Mailu, practically all the rights to land are individual and 

 hereditary. As long as the garden is not planted the natives 

 walk freely on each other's ground. Firewood is collected by 

 each woman on her husband's ground ; clay and waterholes 

 are used by the whole community jointly. 



Garden Making. — It is difficult to give a description of 

 gardening on Mailu Island as at the present day the gardens 

 are very much neglected. Mailu village, which was always a 

 trading community, has still further declined in this direction 

 since the white man's rule (comp. sec. 4), and nowadays much 



