640 



had to come to an understandincr with reference to the coconuts 

 and garden land, etc. When the children were minors at 

 their father's death, and all their gardens and coconuts were 

 under the care of their paternal uncle, it was of his free 

 accord that the latter gave them their due shares, so that they 

 were consequently entirely dependent upon his good faith. 

 When I asked Omdga what would have happened if his uncle 

 Bcniia would not give him and his brothers their due shares 

 he was not able to answer. He dismissed the hypothesis, and 

 said a man would always give his nephews the garden land and 

 coconuts which belong to them by right. As a matter of fact,, 

 it must be remembered that a man had always enough coconuts 

 and garden land for his own use. Again, Bania lives in the 

 same house with Omaga and Kdvanai, and their mutual 

 relations are, to my knowledge, very intimate and extremely 

 good. So that there was no reason, and no psychological like- 

 lihood, why any quarrels should arise among the natives in 

 matters of inheritance in land and coconuts. As to the divi- 

 sion of wealth among brothers, I received the impression that 

 the customary rules for division were very definite, in the 

 sense that all had to receive more or less equal shares, and 

 that the only deterrent was the fear of incurring the contempt 

 that would inevitably be shown for any manifestation of 

 cupidity or act of rapacity. 



7. Industries. 



Introduciory Remarks. — In this section I shall enumerate 

 and briefly describe what ma,y be called the industrial pro- 

 ducts of the natives, the most important objects in use, and 

 the articles of trade manufactured locally. The building of 

 native houses — a very important native craft — has already 

 been described (chap, ii., sec. 4). The native canoes, 

 especially the large double canoes with a platform (Oro'usJ 

 are, as has been pointed out before, both objects of extreme 

 importance in the tribal life of the Mailu islanders and articles 

 of trade exchanged for pigs in Aroma. Their construction 

 has been described in a previous section (chap, iv., sec. 4). 



We will complete the series by saying a few words about 

 the following articles:- — (1) Pottery — The Mailu pots, being 

 essential both for use in their own households and as articles 

 of trade. (2) Arm-shells and other shell ornaments. — These 

 were indispensable for the Mailu islander as means of acquir- 

 ing pigs ; in fact, they were the standard article given in 

 exchange for pigs, canoes being paid over only when arm- 

 shells were short. Though a considerable number of these 

 articles were imported into Mailu (comp. above, chap. iv.,. 

 sec. 4) the local manufacture was very important, and the 



