632 



:some specially hard tasks. Some such he might be able to 

 do, but it would take him so long a time that the work would 

 be rendered tedious or the results be impaired by the action 

 of the weather, etc. Again, in olden days, it was sometimes 

 necessary, for reasons of safety, for the natives to do their 

 work in rather large numbers. It is no wonder, therefore, 

 that communal .work was a prominent feature of native 

 economics, and that hardly any of the more difficult and bulky 

 tasks were performed without appeal to the community for 

 help, or', at least, to a part of it. Communal work is also well 

 in keeping with the general communistic character of the 

 native economics (comp. next paragraph). Exactly as in the 

 consumption of goods the benefit to the owners very often lies 

 in the honorific title rather than in the amount of his own 

 individual consumption, so in the labour the owner often seems 

 to organize the communal work and subsequent feast, and not 

 so much to bear the burden of the greatest amount of work 

 done. 



In olden days, when a big Ilimo tree had to be cut on 

 the mainland in Baireha, in order to make a dug-out canoe, a 

 strrong force of men used to help the owner of the canoe. Not 

 only his own relatives (Emegi goina : in Motu, Vdrnvdra)^ 

 but a number of the clansmen and villagers from other clans 

 as well joined in the work. They helped in the cutting dowm 

 of a tree, which in the old days, when stone axes were exclu- 

 sively used, must have been a rather heavy task. The 

 dragging down of the tree to the shore was done by a number 

 of men who, as they hauled on the log by means of strong 

 vines attached to the trunk, sang the refrain "Deuoo^ 

 (hnoo, ai." Other men acted as scouts and kept watch over 

 the safety of the working party. 



AftfOr the log was dragged into the village there was a 

 feast given by the future owner of the canoe to all those who 

 had helped in the work, for which a pig w^as killed. 



The scooping out of the canoe was done by the owner, 

 helped by a few of his friends only, ^^6) b^t at the final 

 trimming of the double canoe (Oro'u) a larger number of 

 people took part ; that event also was accompanied by a 

 feast. (67) 



Again, at some stages of garden making, collective labour 

 is used. On the mainland each man clears his own portion 



(66) Comp. canoe-making on pi. xxxvi., fig. 2, 



(67) When the sail is sewn together from single strips of 

 matting a number of men help in the work, who are entertained 

 at a feast by the owner of the Oro'u (or owners, see chap, iv., 

 sec. 4). The workers are not decorated at the work or at the 

 feast. 



