637 



heirs, and on other occasions when property is divided or 

 exchanged. Arm-shells, shell discs, boars' tusks, dogs' teeth, 

 bird of paradise feathers — these form the class of goods which 

 loom as the most desirable form of property in the mind of 

 the native. Pigs come into the same category, though it must 

 be remembered that the natives of Mailu Island did not rear 

 pigs extensively, and that these animals were usually disposed 

 of at a feast, immediately after they had been acquired on, 

 the trading expedition to the west. On the mainland, where 

 they Avere reared by the villagers, they were highly valued. 

 Dogs were also a highly esteemed form of property. After 

 the native jewellery and the domestic anim.als, the ownership in 

 coconut palms was most highly valued. The garden land had, 

 in a sense, no value on the mainland, where each individual 

 possessed, by the fact of membership of a clan, the right to 

 acquire as much garden land as he desired, or, rather, as 

 much as he and his wife were able to cultivate. The lack of 

 value in this sense was due to the fact that there was no limit 

 to the land which might be taken by any individual, and that 

 no rights in land were ever acquired or exchanged ; in fact, 

 such a proceeding would have no object, and it would only 

 have been a breach of custom. The land had, however, value 

 in the sense that the members of a clan, as one social unit, 

 would essentially resent and oppose any encroachment upon 

 their territory on the part of outsiders. In spite of this, on 

 Mailu Island, where land was parcelled out among the indi- 

 viduals, it does not stand as a very important item in the 

 native ideas of value. As a matter of fact, there is plenty of 

 ground on the island, and the main difficulty lies in working 

 it rather than in obtaining the rights to it. 



The ornaments or native trinkets are displayed at feasts, 

 both on the person and on the house. They are sometimes 

 produced and shown to friends, and visitors, and people in the 

 village usually know who has specially fine arm-shells or shell 

 discs, necklaces, etc. The natives are by no means churlish 

 and close about lending their ornaments, and at dance or 

 feast time one often sees ornaments borrowed from relatives 

 and friends. 



Inlieritance. — The most desirable part of a man's property, 

 the personal ornaments, his wealth (Bahadd'u; in Motu, 

 Kohu), are inherited by his "own," as opposed to his classi- 

 ficatory, brothers only. They share, roughly, in equal parts, 

 though the eldest brother seems sometimes to get the first pick. 

 The parents, the sisters, the widow and children of a man do 

 not get any share in his jewellery. The coconuts are divided 

 among a man's brothers and sons. If the latter are young 

 they do not get very much at the time of death, but they 



