MANKIND
VOL. 7 No. 3
AmDhlett
1
Islands’ Potterv
Trade and the Kula
PETER K. LAUER*
In the years 1968 and 1969 I spent six
months in the Amphlett Group, which is
situated some 10 km north and northeast
of Fergusson Island in the D’Entrecas-
teaux Group of southeastern New Guinea.
Although the Amphlett lslands play a domi-
nant role in every description of the kula
(B. Malinowski, 1922; R. Fortune, 1932;
C. G. Seligman, 1910), and have been men-
tioned as important producers and traders of
pottery in the Massim ( B . Malinowski,
1922 : 46, 282; C. G. Seligman, 1910 : 15,
531; Rev. M. K. Gilmour, 1904 : 71-2),
no detailed field studies on economic aspects
of pottery had been undertaken.
In this paper 1 describe the conditions of
contemporary inter-island trade of Amphlett
potters with present and traditional kula-
trading centres in the D’Entrecasteaux
Group and the Trobriand Islands. On the
basis of this new evidence I hope to clarify
and demonstrate some shortcomings of the
earlier studies.
I participated in a number of canoe voy-
ages to several trading centres in the south,
and took part in an extensive five-week
canoe trip from the Amphletts to the Tro-
briand Islands and back. During the course
of these trading voyages I visited a number
of localities which Malinowski and Fortune
record as trading partners of the Amphlet-
tans.
* Department of Prehistory, Australian National
University. Ms. received February 1970. The
Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, has
kindly contributed to the cost of this paper.
JUNE 19710
J
I . Contemporary pottery trade from the
Amphlett lslands
The Amphlett Group is composed of 28
islands-all are irregular in outline, and
none has an area greater than 7 sq. km and
are entirely composed of lava and agglo-
merate. The highest peak measures some
380 m and is on Bituma Island (H. L.
Davies and D. J . Ives, 1965 : 8 ) . Four of
these islands are permanently inhabited:
Gumawana, Nabwageta, Kwatoita, and
Wamea. The total population is approxi-
mately 230 people.
Gardens are not only cultivated on all
inhabited islands, but also on a number of
uninhabited ones. Owing to the topography,
the gardens are all situated on steep slopes
of rocky ground, which is seldom covered
by more than 15 to 25 cm of soil and loose
rocks. Retaining walls of rocks and sticks
have to be erected to prevent the surface
material from being eroded (PLATEI ) .
The usual variety of food is grown; it
includes several kinds of bananas, yams,
sweet potatoes, taro, sugar cane, etc. How-
ever, tubers never grow to a large size and
the yield is not very satisfactory. There are
no sago palms growing on any of the islands.
Coconut trees are numerous so that some
copra for cash income can be produced.
Young girls from the age of 14 onwards
and all married women are potters. The clay
vessels which they produce are of seven
types, each of which is distinguished by
name, shape and decoration. These beautiful
VOL. 7 No. 3 MANKIND
FIG.1 Place names in the Massim
pots inspired the early ethnographers and
were said to be amongst the finest made in
the whole of New Guinea (C. G. Seligman,
1910 : 531). In 1968 the Administration
sent a pottery expert to the islands in order
to study the possibilities of mass producing
these vessels, in order to sell them in various
centres of New Guinea as tourist articles,
and to provide a source of income for the
Amphlett potters.
Except for occasionally firing the vessels
the men do not participate in the actual
manufacture of the pots. They are, however,
responsible for quarrying the clay and trans-
porting it to the islands. Their traditional
clay quarry is on Fergusson Island, about
half an hour’s walking distance from Cape
Labillardibre, at the northwesterly extremity.
A voyage to these clay pits, known as Yaya-
vana, is usually undertaken in conjunction
with a pottery trading trip to Goodenough
Island. On the return from Goodenough the
men quarry the clay and each canoe is
loaded with some 400 to 500 kg. This
amount is then distributed amongst the
JUNE 1970
families of the men who quarried the clay
and took part in the voyage.
A census which was carried out over a
period of two months showed that each
household produced six clay vessels of
various types per month. In all, between 300
and 350 vessels are made each month in the
whole group and are traded to various dis-
tricts.
A. T o Fergusson Island and other
non-kula districts
In 1969 there were eight canoes on Guma-
wana Island and of these at least two or
sometimes the eight would make a trading
voyage to Fergusson Island each month.
The voyages are arranged when two or three
men who d o not own canoes, and the owner
of a canoe, have pottery to trade and a day
for sailing is determined among the group
(Lauer, 1970).
When I accompanied four Gumawana
men on a trading voyage ( 11 March 1968),
after their pottery had been loaded there
was room enough for more, and people in
JUNE 1970 MANKIND VOL.7 No. 3

KEDEDIA

FERGUSSON I.

BWANAWEI
BWALELEWAI

7
PAL AGWA
LOLlA

G o G o B ~ , ~ E 'MATAUDOWAY!
FOAIGANP

IAPAS
UTUUTUWAI~ ,"I

i/
SEBULU~MWI
TRADE STORE
v wA'oPE

N O R M A N B Y 1.

-
0 1 2 3 4 5 KM
(3MLS)

FIG.2 Hamlets on the Bwaio Peninsula and Dobu Island: two kula districts of the Amphlettans
were included in the survey

the village who had vessels ready to trade was covered with mats and securely tied
were invited to bring their pots to the canoe down.
(PLATE11). With each pot an empty basket The voyage to Basima on Fergusson
was loaded. The pots were carefully packed Island (FIGS1, 3) took about seven hours
in dry leaves, sitting upside-down in the in moderate easterly winds which prevail
central part of the canoe, and after all per- during the months March to October. During
sonal belongings had been loaded, the cargo the trip each of the three or four men on
r 1671
VOL. 7 No. 3 MANKIND JUNE 1971)

..

TUBE I

wiali

-. - \
I
LEGEND
-
--
CEREMONIAL TRADE ROUTES
TRADE ROUTES
..... PROBABLE PREHISTORIC TRADE ROUTES

0 300 KM
(187 MLS)

FIQ. 3 Trade routes based on published material from 1955 to 1970 and the author's research
board performed certain duties in sailing the topped with betel nuts.
canoe. The rest of the time was passed in In this transaction nineteen clay vessels
trolling for tuna and mackerel, and if a were traded besides some other goods. In
turtle should break the surface of the water return twenty-five baskets of yams and a
near the canoe, the men would try to spear quantity of betel nuts were received.
it, since a turtle is a good article to trade
for garden produce in Fergusson Island. Exchange of goods: 1 1 March 1968
A hamlet at Basima was reached at night- Amphlett
fall. Everybody gathered around the visitors trader Goods traded* Goods received
Dibilai 1 clay vessel 2 baskets yams
and with the help of all present the canoe Type: Nosipoma and betel nuts
was beached above high-water mark. Katubai 8 clay vessels 8 baskets yams
In general the clay vessels were handed Type: Vaegatoina
1 clay vessel 2 baskets yams
out next morning to any person who wanted Type: Nofaewa
one (PLATE111). A number of the pots, 1 small turtle 2 baskets yams
however, might be reserved for persons who and betel nuts
had not obtained a vessel on the last visit, Laibobo 5 clay vessels 5 baskets yams
or who may have wanted a specific type Type: Vaegatoina and betel nuts
Lupweni 4 clay vessels 4 baskets yams
which could not be supplied before. Within Type: Vaegatoina
one hour all pots were handed out together 1 meat of Tridacna 2 baskets yams
with an empty basket. The visitors spent shell and betel nuts
the rest of the day either in the bush gather- Total 19 clay vessels 25 baskets yams
1 small turtle and betel nuts
ing various vines, canes, and sago leaves, 1 meat of Tridacna
or exchanging news and gossip with friends. * A detailed study of Amphlett pottery manu-
After two or three days, the baskets were facture and typology is currently underway and
returned filled with garden produce and will be published elsewhere.
JUNE 1970 MANKIND
It is difficult to generalize about the pay-
ments made for the various types of Amph-
lett clay vessels. In general ‘a basket full of
yams is [still] the only commercial unit
which functions as a measure of value’
(Malinowski, 1936 : 45) in the exchanges
of pottery for food products. I found that
the market cash price for an equivalent
basket of yams in this area lies between
$0.60 and $1.00. The island constable of
the Amphletts is also in possession of a
cash-price list for Amphlett pottery which
was approved by the sub-district head-
quarters of Esa’ala.
Oficial cash prices for Amphlett pottery
Type of clay pot .$
Vaegatoina 0.50 - 1.50
Nosipoma 1.50 - 2.50
Aidedeya 2.50 - 3.50
Alimanu
Types 1 and 2 3S0-44.50
Nofaewa 4.50 - 6.00
Nokuno 6.00 - 8.00
In general these prices are only paid in
‘baskets full of yams’ for the Vaegatoina and
Nosipoma pottery types. The other larger
pots are either sold for cash only or traded
together with smaller pots for pigs or large
canoes. In this way one large pig may be
obtained for a total of 1 Nokuno, 2 Nofae-
was, 3 Nosipomas, and 2 or 3 Vaegatoinas.
Once all baskets had been returned, the
canoe was loaded. With each basket weigh-
ing about 10 kg, some 250 kg of garden
produce were imported to the Amphletts in
this voyage. In an easterly wind, the return
trip was relatively easy as the canoe would
now be sailed before the wind. In the evening
when Gumawana was reached, the canoe
was unloaded, and beached, the food baskets
being distributed to the respective owners.
Trading voyages of this nature are carried
out monthly, weather permitting. From
Gumawana the canoes sail to the northern
coast of Fergusson Island from Basima in
the east to Gwabegwabe in the west. The
Nabwageta potters make similar trips to
Fergusson Island, while Kwatoita, lying
nearest to Goodenough Island, confines her
trading voyages to Goodenough and the
western coast of Fergusson Island. Since
there are no sea-going canoes on Wamea,
trading is done along with Gumawana
trading trips. From Gumawana between 100
169 1
VOL. 7 No. 3
and 150 clay vessels are exported monthly in
return for garden produce. Of the 300 to
350 pots made each month in the Amphlett
Group, at least 300 are traded for garden
produce. The import of food is therefore
quite considerable: 3,000 to 3,500 kg each
month. In this way each individual of the
Amphlett population may receive monthly
between 13 and 24 kg of vegetable foods,
through the trade of pottery, which may be
said to constitute approximately one-third
of an individual’s daily needs. These data
underline the importance of pottery produc-
tion in the economic life of the Amphlettans.
Furthermore, of all districts visited on
Fergusson Island, only some of the south-
eastern Basima hamlets are associated with
Gumawana and Nabwageta men in the kula.
Numerous other hamlets to the west along
the northern shores of Fergusson Island and
all of Goodenough Island were formerly
hostile regions which never were members
of the kula. The question of trading links
with non-kula, as distinct from kula, partners
will be discussed later.
B. T o traditional kula districts
While working in the Amphlett Islands 1
also observed two kula exchanges between
Kuyava on the Trobriands and Nabwageta
men. On one occasion, two canoes with a
crew of three men each had come from
Kuyava to Nabwageta. Since I lived on
Gumawana Island, I received this news only
days later. However, the day I arrived in
Nabwageta two Amphlett men were to give
bagi (necklaces) to their visitors. But, apart
from blowing the conch shell (Malinowski,
1922 : 340-2) signalling the transaction, I
did not observe any other associated cere-
monies. When the conch shell was blown,
the two Amphlett men appeared from their
houses carrying the necklaces to the canoes.
After they had placed them on the plat-
forms of the canoes they walked away and
went about their own business. In the mean-
time the Kuyava men had been preparing
their canoes for sailing, not paying the
slightest attention to the Nabwageta men.
When the necklaces had been given away,
other villagers arrived bringing clay pots to
the canoes. In all, the two canoes received
about twenty-five pots each, which the Nab-
wageta people helped to load. The names of
VOL. 7 No. 3 MANKIND
persons who were to receive the pots in
Kuyava were written with chalk or lime
inside the vessels. On the next reciprocal
visit by Nabwagetans in Kuyava they would
receive garden produce in return. Besides
the pottery, a quantity of vines used for
lashing canoe parts together and some 10 kg
of betel pepper root of which the skin is
chewed with lime and betel nut were loaded.
Thus pottery still enters the kula trade.
To analyse its penetration of the kula, 1
visited the following districts (PLATE IV) :
in the southeast, Dobu Island and the Bwaio
Peninsula of Fergusson Island; to the north,
Vakuta Island, Sinaketa village and a num-
ber of smaller hamlets close by, Nabai vil-
lage in the northwest of Kiriwina Island,
the hamlets Kaisiga and Bulakwa on Kai-
leuna Island, and Kuyava Island to the west
of Kaileuna (FIGS1 and 2). At Kaisiga and
Bulakwa, kula armshells (mwali) are still
being manufactured. In a survey of 524
households a total of 1,548 clay pots and
JUNE 1970
1,099 European made aluminium pots were
recorded. The results are shown in TABLES
1 and 2.
In the kula districts southeast of the
Amphletts it was noted that four
pottery-producing communities find a mar-
ket for their wares. The majority of the
pottery comes from the southern centres of
Tubetube and Wan Islands (although Tube-
tube and Wari Islands are two widely sepa-
rated islands, their pottery could neither be
distinguished by the local population nor by
myself) , and East Cape, Kehelala village,
who supply only slightly less pottery to these
districts than the Amphlett potters. A further
place of pottery manufacture which has
remained unrecorded until now, namely
Miadeba on Normanby Island, is repre-
sented by 40 clay pots. (In ten Miadeba
hamlets, pottery is made by four elderly
women only.)
The northern districts present a different
situation. Only in Vakuta and Sinaketa were

TABLE1

Number of Number of Number Of Number of Number Of %

Area of survey households clay ‘lay European European of European
surveyed vessels Per
household vessels vessels per vessels
household

Dobu Island 115 616 5.4 286 2.5 32

Bwaio Peninsula 223 589 2.6 34 1 1.5 37
Trobriand Islands
Vakuta Island 51 114 2.2 224 4.4 66
Sinaketa village 41 34 0.8 99 2.4 75
Kaola 6 9 1.5 10 1.7 53
Kaulas 7 11 1.6 14 2.0 56
Nabai 9 9 1.o 22 2.4 71
Kaulaka 13 23 1.3 32 2.5 58
Kumilabwaga 6 9 1.5 11 1.8 55
Kaileuna Island
Kaisiga 17 23 1.4 16 0.9 41
Bulakwa 9 30 3.3 10 1.1 25
Kuyava Island
Kuyau 27 81 3 .O 34 1.3 30

Totals 524 1,548 1,099

Averages 2.9 2.0

1701
JUNE 1970 MANKIND VOL. 7 No. 3

southern Massim’ made pots unrecorded.
In both instances all originated either from
Wari or Tubetube Islands. All other Tro-
briand Islands districts were completely
dependent upon Amphlett made pottery.
It was noted that those kula districts
which depended on Amphlett made pottery
used a larger percentage of European made
cooking wares, 59%, than those which were
primarily supplied from the southern Mas-
sim pottery centres, using 35’3, European
made wares. As this low scoring of Amph-
lett pottery in the northern kula districts
cannot be explained by low production rates,
a different reason must be sought.
1 The history of the term ‘Massim’ is traced by
E. T. Hamy (1889 : 6). C. G. Seligrnan (1910 :
6-7) eventually defined the Massim as a geo-
graphical area which ‘is bounded on the east by
the 154th parallel of east logitue, on the north
and south by the 8th and 12th degrees of south
latitude respectively, and on the west, where its
exact limit is unknown, by a line which roughly
follows the 149th parallel and which, as already
stated may provisionally be regarded as running
from the neighbourhood of Orangerie Bay on the
south coast of the Possession to, the neighbour-
hood of Cape Nelson on the north.
There are problems of transport. While
the Amphlettans still use their canoes, the
Tubetube people have acquired small diesel-
powered motor launches in which they trans-
port their pottery to Dobu Island, the Bwaio
Peninsula, and occasionally as far north as
Vakuta Island and Sinaketa village. Such a
launch may carry about five times the load
of a canoe, that is some 125 clay pots. The
launch is less dependent upon the weather
and may therefore be used more frequently.
Dobu Island and the Bwaio Peninsula are
three days distant from the Amphletts by
canoe in good sailing conditions. The same
can be said for most places in the Trobriand
Islands. Even though kula exchanges are
still carried out between small island groups
by canoe, the Amphlettans consider frequent
pottery trading voyages too strenuous. For
this and other reasons which will be men-
tioned below, closer markets have been
found by the Amphlettans for their pottery.
While I worked in the Trobriands, our hosts
approached the Amphlett men over and over
again with the same questions: ‘Why don’t
you bring pots any more? When will you

TABLE2
Showing origins of clay vessels
Amphlett Tubetube/ East Cape Normanby Number of clay
Area of survey Group Wari (Kehelala) (Miadeba) vessels
% % % % recorded
Dobu Island 15 72 10 3 616
Bwaio Peninsula 45 47 4 4 589
Trobriand Islands
Vakuta Island 97 3 114
Sinaketa 70 30 34
Kaola 100 9
Kaulas 100 11
Kumilabwaga I00 9
Kiriwina
Nabai 100 9
Kaulaka 100 23
Kaileuna Islund
Kaisiga 1 00 23
Bulakwa 100 30
Kuyava Island
Kuyau 100 81

Total number of 689 736 83 40 1,548

clay vessels from
VOL. 7 No. 3 MANKIND
bring pots again?’ In fact, I found that
Amphlett canoes last made the voyage to the
Trobriands to trade pottery in 1965. The
only chance for the Trobrianders to obtain
pottery from the Amphletts remains now
on the occasions of kula visits.
I I . A n evaluation of the kula
So far it is evident that some pottery still
finds its way along the traditional kula
routes from the Amphletts to the southeast
and to the north. The majority of the pottery,
however, is now traded to new non-kula
affiliated islands.
These facts stand in contrast to Malinow-
ski’s information. He saw the fundamental
aspect of the kula in the ceremonial ex-
change of two articles, armshells and neck-
laces (Malinowski, 1922 : 83). However,
we also learn that ‘another important pursuit
inextricably bound up with the kula, . . . [is]
that of the secondary trade’ (Malinowski,
1922 : 99-100). Once or twice a year, the
Amphlettans received a big expedition of
Dobuans and Trobrianders who made the
Amphletts a stop-over on their kula expe-
ditions. But every few months, the Amphlet-
tans themselves sailed southeast or north and
received as frequently, reciprocal visits from
one or other of their neighbours in the kula.
From my own inquiries and earlier state-
ments (Malinowski, 1922 : 94; Fortune,
1932 : 223), we know that kula exchanges
took place only once or twice a year. There-
fore one must assume that the more fre-
quent reciprocal visits were in fact voyages
of economic importance only. Malinowski’s
numerous references to the importance of
the ‘secondary trade’ in his published data
do not allow one to form a clear picture of
the volume of trade. After Fortune (1932)
published his field research from the Dobu
district in which he attaches greater impor-
tance to economic aspects of the kula,
Malinowski wrote (1935 : 456) ‘That in the
kula the most important economic fact is
that the non-utilitarian exchange of valu-
ables provides the driving force and the
ceremonial framework for an extremely im-
portant system of utilitarian trade.’
Uberoi (1962) made thorough investi-
gations into the published primary sources
[ 172 1
JUNE 1970
,on the kula. In his attempt ‘to separate the
ritual side of the kula from its more utili-
tarian aspect’ he said that ‘kula gift-giving,
therefore does not only establish peace; it
establishes [also] the peace of the market
place’ (1961 : 139-47). But the nature of
the kula also provides a continuity of such
markets, where the objects of trade are ‘often
unprocurable in the district to which they
are imported, and indispensible’ (Malinow-
ski, 1922 : 83). A number of kula com-
munities as ‘the Amphletts live by their
pottery’ (Fortune, 1932 : 208), and are
‘getting hardly enough to eat from their
rocky islands’ (Malinowski, 1922 : 4 6 ) . The
scarcity of food in such places as the Amph-
letts is also reflected in the Trobrianders
mythology (Malinowski, 1935 : 73). It be-
comes more evident that Malinowski’s
neglect of the ‘secondary trade’ in the kula
has led to an unjustifiable emphasis on
the ceremonial aspects of the ring. Other
scholars have raised similar objections. How-
ever, it does not suffice any more to criticize
Malinowski on account of this neglect
(Heider, 1969 : 465), instead one should
rather find ways which may explain such
shortcomings, as for example the clash of
the Trobriands society with the newly intro-
duced European culture and law. Both pass
almost unnoticed in Malinowski’s research.
Firth (1957 : 226) speaks of a ‘. . . serious
under-estimate . . . of the impact of the
Western economy upon the Trobriand tribal
economy’.
Pottery trading voyages such as I observed
are by no means a recent development. Gil-
mour ( 1904) has reported similar voyages
from Kaileuna and Kavataria to the southern
DEntrecasteaux Islands as early as 1904.
Malinowski was aware of these voyages but
attempted to explain them as ‘commercial
side tracks’ of the kula. However, he is
somewhat contradictory in dealing with
them, because within several pages he ap-
pears to accept them as pure trading voyages
(1922 : 476; 500-l), thereby failing to
explain them. Malinowski also records the
extent of other so-called ‘commercial side
tracks’ of the kula (Malinowski, 1922 : 505):
The Amphletts trade with the natives of Fer-
gusson Island . . . natives from Tewara,
Sanaroa, and the Dawson Straits make ex-
change . . . with the inland natives of Fer-
JUNE 1970 MANKIND VOL. 7 No. 3
gusson. The Dobuan speaking communities on were not conditioned by kula exchanges.
Normanby Island, and the natives of Du’a’u, When McGregor visited the Massim, he
on the Northern Coast of Normanby, all of observed that the pacification was felt as a
whom are in the kula, trade with the other relief by the industrious people from
natives of Normanby Island who are not in
the ring, and with the natives of the mainlandsouthern Normanby ‘who are very glad to
of New Guinea from East Cape Westwards. be now freed from the hostile and oppressive
raids of the Dobu Tribes’ (1891-92 : 28).
When we see what goods were offered for
The Kitavans who made extensive trading trading
voyages reportedly had given these up as in the DEntrecasteaux Group during
early as about 1900 and were ‘. . . com- ‘pure trading voyages’ (Gilmour, 1904) one
pletely absorbed by the pearling industry’ also understands the quick disappearance of
(Malinowski, 1922 : 500). The institution- these trips. Basically these goods were iden-
alized exchanges of fish for garden produce tical with those offered during kula visits:
between fishers and gardeners in Kiriwina combs, wooden dishes, lime gourds, armlets,
(Malinowski, 1935 : 42) subsided quickly three-tier baskets, stone-axes, earrings etc.,
under European law. Traditionally it was were exported south from Kaileuna and
impossible for gardeners to go fishing for Kavataria. In return such goods as coconuts,
themselves. The fishing communities of the fish spears, betel nut, nose ornaments,
shores guarded their rights to the lagoons feathers for dancing etc., were imported
jealously and when unauthorized persons (Gilmour, 1904 : 72). This trade, however,
were found fishing, hostilities were quick to as tempting as it may have been in the
break out (Malinowski, 1935 : 1610-4). beginning through the possibility of reaching
Under European law, however, everybody formerly hostile districts, lost its attraction
was permitted to fish anywhere at any time. in proportion to the growing number of
Even within the inland kula in Kiriwina, the European trade stores and the availability
European sponsored pearling industry pro- of labour employment. With the introduc-
duced serious breaches of custom: the Sina- tion of the monetary system, the same, or
ketans had obtained from the headman of similar, items could be bought in trade stores
Omarakana 150 pairs of armshells which as were formerly obtained only after much
they carried to Sinaketa. Some days later preparation and strenuous voyaging. In this
when the Omarakana headman came to be way the introduction of pearling coupled
presented with the reciprocal gifts, nothing with material rewards probably absorbed the
was given to him. The Sinaketans were Kitavans’ attention to such an extent that
active in the pearling industry from which around 1918 ‘They even owned no canoes
they received material rewards which appar- anymore’ (Malinowski, 1922 : 500). These
ently induced an attitude of negligence to- signs of a radical change in the indigenous
wards their fellow kula partners (Malinow- culture never influenced the ethnographer
ski, 1922 : 468). Malinowski in his interpretations. They are
mentioned but not discussed; either they
So far, nowhere have the implications and were not fully investigated or they were not
aspects of pacification over such a wide considered relevant to the topic of inquiry.
area as the Massim been investigated. Pro- After many years, Malinowski himself
found influences upon the native way of life looked back critically at his Trobriand
and their economy must have occurred. Island studies. In a note on ‘Decay of CUS-
Under this aspect the ‘commercial side tom under European influence’ he said
tracks’ of the kula may be more appropri- (1935 : 479-81, note 43) that he did not
ately termed break-aways of the kula. If the study the process of a changing culture due
ceremonialized exchange of valuables in the to his anthropological training, and he felt
kula established and maintained peaceful that ‘this perhaps is the most serious short-
markets, there was suddenly no need for coming of my whole anthropological research
this stipulation any more. People who were in Melanesia’ ( 1935 : 48 1 ) .
in the kula as well as people who were not
in the kula must have gradually realized Summarizing so far, it may be said that
that numerous new markets existed which those kula communities whose objects of
[ 173 1
VOL. 7 No. 3 MANKIND
trade were easily replaced by European
goods now only exchange kula valuables. The
kula ring itself no longer serves an obvious
commercial function. However, other mem-
bers, such as the Amphlettans, who de-
pended on such trade for their livelihood,
have broken away from the kula markets
and have established a brisk trade in new,
formerly hostile regions.
Ironically a description of the present
kula trade would conform more closely with
Malinowski’s description in terms of its
diminishing economic importance than it
did 60 years ago. Today, kula may on the
one hand be viewed as a ‘sentimental trade’
between rather isolated island communities,
and on the other hand as an important
socio-political factor serving particular mem-
bers in attaining and in improving a wide
variety of social positions.
Being regarded as a ‘big man’ in the kula
ring also finds reflection in an appropriate
position in the local governmental matters.
Village constables who are employed by the
Administration in the Amphletts and on the
Trobriands are often also well known as
important and influential kula members over
wide areas. A present member of the House
of Assembly, from Vakuta Island, is re-
garded as the most important kula man in
Vakuta since his father’s death two years
ago. A number of Papuans have become
captains on government or mission launches.
Their position and ability to travel freely
and often through the kula districts have
helped some to be regarded as important
men in the kula.
Even though kula visits from small
isolated islands as Kuyava and the Amph-
letts are still carried out by canoe, many
other trade partners take advantage of mis-
sion or government boats to travel to their
partners. Thereby one man may act as an
agent in kula transactions for the men at
home (Belshaw, 1955 : 26). This modern
way of travelling between kula districts
eliminates of course all ‘secondary trading’.
I also found that the numbers of sea-
going canoes in areas of close contact with
European settlements has sharply declined,
while the more isolated kula districts still
maintain and build a fair number of canoes.
In Sinaketa where Malinowski (1922 : 122)
JUNE 19780
records eight canoes 1 found only two. The
Amphlettans could recall the time when
some 50 large sea-going canoes were owned
in their own islands. At present there are
19 in use. These are distributed as follows:
eight in Gumawana, six in Nabwageta, five
in Kwatoita, and none in Wamea. On Dobu
Island where in 1907 (Julia, 1907 : 76)
some 32 large canoes were recorded, I
could only count two. However, two men
on Dobu own small motor launches.
I I I . The geographical extent of the kulu:
ethnographic and archaeological data
The majority of Malinowski’s information
on this subject was gathered in the Tro-
briands, and is restricted to the northern
Massim. In Samarai he received quite con-
tradictory information (1969 : 118, 124)
from European traders about the extent of
the kula in the southern Massim; and of the
conception of the kula cycle from the
natives’ point of view, he states ( I 922 : 83):
If you were to ask him what the kula is, he
would answer by giving a few details, most
likely by giving his personal experiences and
subjective views of the kula, but nothing
approaching the definition just given here. Not
even a partial coherent account could be
obtained. F o r the integral picture does not
exist in his mind; he is in it, and cannot see
the whole from the outside.
Fortune’s data on the geographical extent
of the kula which was only published ten
years later excluded such southern Massim
districts as the East End Islands, East Cape,
Wari Island, and Misima (1932 : 201-2).
There is, however, no mention of why the
southern and southeastern kula districts are
not included.
In 1955, Belshaw states (1955 : 26) : ‘At
Tubetube I was able to confirm the general
operation of the kula as described by Mali-
nowski (1922) and Fortune (1932).’ He
also excludes the southern Massim district
from the kula ring as operating at that time
and attributes (1955 : 26) this to ‘the de-
creased populations of the southern portions
of the ring [who] cannot support the large
trading expeditions of former days’. Instead
we learn from Belshaw about the existence
of two other independently operating cere-
monial trade rings and a number of non-
JUNE 1970 MANKIND
ceremonial regular trade routes ( 1955 :
26-7) (FIG. 3 ) .
Here the question arises whether Bel-
shaw’s ceremonial rings are remnants of
Malinowski’s kula ring or whether they are
in fact separate kula-like trade rings, which
at earlier times were interconnected with
the kula ring of the northern Massim. There
are indications in the literature which sup-
port the latter view.
Thus Malinowski (1922 : 505) notes that
‘the most important leakage out [of the kula]
and into the mainstream [of the kula] takes
place in the southern section, mainly at
Tubetube and Wari, and at some points of
lesser importance around these two main
centres’. The leakage refers to the two actual
kula valuables of which ‘. . . armshells, are
produced within the ring . . . in Woodlark
Island and in western Boyowa (Kaileuna).
. . . necklaces are poured into the ring at
its southernmost point. One of these sources
(Rossel Island) is still active, the other
(Port Moresby) most probably furnished a
good supply in olden days . . .’ (1922 : 507).
Fortune (1932 : 203) and Seligman (1910)
corroborate this evidence.
My Own information On the extent Of the
kula at present suggests that Tubetube does
not participate any more in the kula ex-
changes’ Here One must again consider
tors which may account for changes of
trading relationships since European contact
time. The Mailu islanders on the south coast
of Papua (FIG. 1 ) have extended their
trading voyages Over vast areas. Malinowski
(1915 : 624) and Saville (1926 : 162-7)
both agree that traditional Mailu trade VOY-
ages never penetrated further to the east
than Suau Island. However, by 1925 these
already extended to the ‘Engineer Group
(Tubetube), The Conflicts, DEntrecasteaux
Islands, and the Lousiade Archipelago, in-
cluding Misima, the Calvados Chain, Sudest
and Rossel Island’ (Saville, 1926 : 164).
This is partly confirmed by Armstrong
(1928 : 21) who found in one village on
Rossel Island ‘an old Mailu prow-board’;
but he also states (1928 : 1) that ‘the tradi-
tion of voyaging and exchange characteristic
of the Massim (Seligman 1909) are absent,
both from Rossel and from Sudest’. During
both my field seasons I met Mailu canoes in
[ 175 I
VOL. 7 No. 3
the Amphletts, the Trobriand Islands and
in Kuyava. There are other trading voyages
which I observed and here place on record.
The inhabitants of Simsim Island in the
Lusancay Group west of Kiriwina Island
(FIGS1 and 3 ) annually voyage south to
Goodenough Island to trade. Western Good-
enough hamlets also receive trade voyages
from Baniara potters on Cape Vogel, main-
land New Guinea (FIGS1 and 3 ).
It is unlikely that further detailed ethno-
graphic evidence will be produced on the
extent of the kula in the north of the Massim
and on the nature of the southern Massim
trade routes. The clarification of the prob-
lem may therefore one day be solved by
the archaeologist.
The scope of my research into the history
and prehistory of the potters in the northern
Massim has been presented in Lauer (n.d. ) .
It will therefore suffice to give a short sum-
mary only. After studying the present tech-
niques of pottery manufacture on Good-
enough Island, the Amphlett Group, and on
Normanby Island, I investigated old settle-
ment sites once occupied by the living pot-
ters’ ancestors.
In this way a picture of the chronology
and development of the respective potteries
emerged. In general, the present wares can
be traced back through some four to seven
sites of successive occupation as recalled by
the local populations. At Goodenough and
on the Amphletts, I also located sites which
do not appear in the chronologies of settle-
merit Of the present potters; and these pro-
duced a very different type of pottery*
On the Trobriand Islands I investigated
former settlements of kula Partners of the
AmPhletts. Here it was found that the
Present Goodenough and Normanby wares
Were completely absent. Only very few
sherds of recent Goodenough Pottery were
n~Overed-The majority of the Pottery was
found to be of recent AmPhlett but
also Of prehistoric types Similar Or identical
to the finds on Goodenough Island. These
surface collections on the Trobriand Islands
were Partly carried out with B. J. Egloff
(*.d.) who had Previously excavated Pre-
hlstorlc mounds at Wanigela village, col-
lingwood 3)-
C. A. Key (personal communication)
VOL. 7 No. 3 MANKIND
has shown that some of the prehistoric pot-
tery from Goodenough and the Trobriands is
identical petrographically with the materials
excavated by Egloff, and of mainland New
Guinea manufacture. Key shows in another
paper (1969 : 54) that obsidian flakes
‘found in the deserted village sites in the
Trobriands and along the shore of Colling-
wood Bay originated on Fergusson Island’,
thus adding another traceable material to
the pottery sherds which will be of impor-
tance in further archaeological investigations.
The prehistoric material suggests that trade
relationships over larger areas than the kula
already existed prior to the present Amph-
lett and Goodenough potters’ establishment
in the northern Massim.
In the context of this evidence the kula
appears to be but another trade system. Its
apparent static position in pre-European
times and during the period of contact with
Western civilization is challenged by the
archaeological and ethnographic data. Quite
on the contrary, in the past, the kula seems
to have been subjected to major changes in
its geographical dimension and ultimate pur-
pose, adapting to both with great flexibility.
Today’s remaining kula communities
would in the near future well serve as a
foundation for modern enterprise and it may
thereby gain once more an important econo-
mic position.
Acknowledgements. This research was
financed by the Australian National Univer-
sity. I thank Professor J. Golson, Dr J.
Allen, Dr A. Chowning (who also supplied
the photograph reproduced on PLATEI ) ,
and Mr R. Jones for their valuable sugges-
tions; and Mr B. J. Egloff for making avail-
able results of his excavations. In the field
I was greatly assisted by Fathers K. Young,
M. B. Atchison, G. Doody and their staff
from the Catholic missions on Goodenough,
Fergusson, and Trobriand Islands.
This research was made possible by the
excellent hospitality and co-operation of the
Amphlett people. Here I especially wish to
thank Katubai, the Amphlett constable,
JUNE 1970
Kula-man, and most daring sailor for his
tireless efforts on land and sea. Last but not
least I thank my two assistants Jocelyn
Kasinakava and Gertrude Kileledi for their
help and efforts as cooks and interpreters.
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