pound per day. If fishing and reef- 
foraging figures are included, then the 
total would be 1.2 pounds per person. 
However, rough weather, bad tides, 
dugong and green turtle movements, 
and scarce and costly gasoline limit 
hunting, and social relationships de- 
termine distribution. So the Islanders 
do not eat meat every day, but when 
they do, they eat large quantities. In 
one extreme instance, some 1,300 
pounds of butchered dugong meat 
were distributed in Mabuiag to vil- 
lagers and to visitors from Badu Is- 
land, giving an average of 10 pounds 
to each person. The meat was gone 
at the end of the second day of heavy 
eating. 
It costs money to hunt. Outboard 
motors cost from $800 to $1,600, alu- 
minum dinghies are $1,200 and more, 
and gasoline (as of September 1980) 
is $3.00 per gallon. The hunter and 
his household incur all these costs. 
Yet, in what is, in part, a monetary 
economy, they give away meat freely, 
as hunters always have. Exchange of 
fresh meat is essentially a social trans- 
action, dependent on kinship ties and 
independent of cash value or produc- 
tion costs. Purchase of food is reserved 
for store products, with purchasing 
ability dependent on household com- 
position and income. Traditional foods 
are exchanged between households; in- 
troduced foods are purchased and nor- 
mally consumed within separate 
households. The most desired foods 
cannot be purchased — fresh meat and 
garden crops must be given. The cap- 
ture of each dugong and green turtle, 
and the butchering and distribution 
of their meat, validate and maintain 
social relationships and roles, thereby 
insuring continuation of “proper Is- 
land custom” and solidarity. 
Nutritionally, a hunting household 
is somewhat better off than a non- 
hunting household. Economically, it 
is often worse off because so much 
money is tied up in the dinghy, the 
motor, mechanical repairs, and gas- 
oline. Socially, it is much better off. 
A successful hunter gains prestige be- 
cause he provides the most esteemed 
items in Islander diet, gift exchange, 
and feasting. A single kill yields a 
meal for many households. But hunt- 
ers don’t go out to sea just for prestige. 
There may be pressure from relatives 
and members of their own household, 
especially the women, when people 
“feel to eat fat meat.” A feast may 
be planned, and a dugong and a turtle 
should be served to make it a “number 
one” feast. And there are deeper and 
less immediate reasons for hunting. 
Staying around the village can be irk- 
some, and hunting in small dinghies 
in rough seas for large animals is ex- 
citing and challenging. Hunters hunt 
despite the high costs because they 
receive personal and social satisfaction 
from their highly developed skills. 
To be a hunter of dugong and green 
turtle is to participate in a social and 
perceptual affirmation of being an Is- 
lander. To hunt for meat maintains 
many of the old traditions and beliefs 
and gives meaning to existence for a 
people who have chosen not to interact 
directly in a large, developed, commer- 
cialized society and economy. □ 
An earth oven is used to cook green 
sea turtle meat, above. Islanders 
are extremely fond of meat, and the 
preparations for a feast, right, 
help to build anticipation for what 
is to come. The amount of meat 
consumed during a feast can be 
prodigious. At one celebrated bash 
on Mabuiag Island, l ,300 pounds of 
dugong meat was distributed to 
the villagers and to visitors from 
Badu Island. The largess, which 
averaged 10 pounds per person, 
was gone in two days. 
62 
