CH. IX JOUBNEY THBOUGH MINAHASSA 233 



property among the heirs, and it then remains the private 

 property of individuals, ■ or tanah pasini. But traces of 

 the old family system still remain in the custom of leaving 

 a small portion of the property communally to the heirs to 

 form a hond of union between the members of the family. 



It must not be supposed that even in olden times 

 a man could seize upon any piece of forest that he 

 fancied, and forthwith commence to clear and cultivate it. 

 The choosing of the ground was always left to the agri- 

 cultural priests, who were guided in their choice by the cries 

 of birds. In modern times it rests with the administra- 

 tive chief under the Controleur to allot new land to the 

 people. 



The pusaka, or land held as common property by all 

 the members of a family, was under the same kind of 

 control as the talun of the tribe. It could not be let or sold 

 '^^Qanyone without the consent of all the members of the 

 famliji, and, furthermore, the tribe always retained the 

 right to forbid the families to sell or let their property to 

 persons of another district (98). 



With this general conception of the unity of family and 

 tribal life running through all the laws of the people of 

 Minahassa, the system of the mapalus is perfectly con- 

 sistent. It must be a survival of the days when a man 

 regarded all the members of his village as his relations, 

 and was as willing to help them in their work and wars as 

 they were to help him. ' We must be careful,' said the 

 beautiful Mogogunoi to the King of Bolang, who wished 

 to abduct her, ' for the whole population of the district 

 belongs to the family of (my husband) Matindas ' (see p. 310). 

 When anyone finds it necessary, then, to sow or reap or 

 plough his field, he does not hire labourers for a wage, 

 but he goes all round the district carrying a large Dutch 

 flag, followed by his sons or brothers beating drums (tifa) 



