Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea (1922)

Canoe building and maintenance is closely tied to the Kula and is in effect the first stage. Once the date of a major Kula expedition is decided, all the existing canoes in the village will be re-lashed, re-caulked, and repainted. The accompanying magic falls into three categories: rites that refer to a myth of a flying canoe (see Chapter 7) and aim to “impart a general excellence” (96), protections against bewitchment, and Kula magic aimed to make the toliwaga successful in the Kula.

Canoes are built in two stages. First, the components are prepared. At this stage, the toliwaga and a few others perform the associated magic. When a large tree is found, a rite is performed to rid the tree of its tokway. It is then felled, and several spells are performed to “remove heaviness” and “impart lightness” (99), after which several men roll it on logs to the center of the village. This is a huge task, and the men are paid with puwaya, gifts of food in exchange for their labor. The ligogu spell is performed, which refers to the flying canoe myth, then the canoe builder begins hollowing out the log. Next, various planks, poles, and the outrigger float (a long log) are cut, and the prow-board is carved. When all the parts are ready, “the cutting off of the canoe’s mind” (102) is performed. This expression “denotes a change of mind, a final determination” (102), and gives purpose to the canoe.

The second stage of canoe building involves a week or two of intense communal labor sometimes involving the entire community. They assemble boards, attach the outrigger float, and weave the sail from dried pandanus leaves. Accompanying each stage is Kula magic performed by the toliwaga. One such rite is the mwasila, where the prow-boards are affixed. Mint, associated with seduction and persuasion, is inserted under the board, and the toliwaga hammers the boards in with a special stone from Dobu.

Next, the canoe is pushed into the water for a rite to enhance speed and “remove traces of evil” (104). The lashing creeper (wayugo), a vine, is used to attach the parts of the boat together, after spells for the strength of the wayugo are performed. Wayugo is also a general term for canoe magic. Once assembled, three more magical rituals are performed to cleanse the canoe of curses. The exterior is painted red, black, and white with accompanying spells.

The launch of a canoe is a festive and ceremonial occasion. More than simply a vehicle, a canoe is a “new entity sprung into being” (113) and is highly respected. Using the highly decorated canoes as an example, Malinowski notes that the Trobrianders have a tendency to display status through aesthetics.

The Tasasoria is the trial run during which new canoes are launched together. Before this can take place, the mwasila rite (Kula magic), “staining red of the mouth of the canoe” with ochre, is performed. The launch is followed by a ritual feast usually funded by the toliwaga. Next comes the trial run of new canoes. The canoes are launched and sail about a half mile offshore, then begin to “race.” This is a ceremonial race, however, and the chief’s boat always wins.

Three generations ago the scene would have been different. Visible changes to native ways of life have occurred. There would have been more people present, because the chief’s influence would have been stronger. Now, some natives work on plantations and dive for pearls (119).

While it is popularly held that natives are incapable of working hard, or that they simply work to fulfill the needs of their households, Malinowski points out that they perform complex tasks like canoe building via organized labor. This, however, requires an incentive, which is often a “duty imposed by tribal standards” such as allegiance to tradition or to the chief’s authority. Magic and ceremony compile on this force of tradition.

Malinowski differentiates between organized labor and communal labor. Organized labor is the “co-operation of several socially and economically different elements” (123), while communal labor is performed “without any technical division of labour, or social differentiation of function” (123), usually on a shared task. Canoe building is the result of organized labor, with portions consisting of communal labor. Gardening also employs communal labor, which takes five forms that describe the stages of gardening that are done communally and who is involved.

Malinowski switches to describing Kabigidoya, the ceremonial display and launching of a new canoe as an early stage of the Kula. The crew visits neighboring villages in the new canoe, where the toliwaga goes to the headman with small gifts and sometimes conducts a preliminary trade of goods.

Malinowski dispels the myth that natives conduct only “rudimentary forms of trade and exchange” and only when “necessity dictates” (128). In fact, tribal life is entirely permeated by instances of nonutilitarian trade, as dictated by ceremony and tradition. The exchange of gifts is “one of the main instruments of social organization” (128). He also answers the common question, “If goods are plentiful in tropical areas, why bother with exchange? Why make a present of that which is readily available to all?” This question contains the false assumption that the natives view goods in a purely rational way, that there is no reason to exchange goods since everyone has access to enough. However, food has strong symbolic power and is often shown off in a display of wealth. It is even desirable to display excessive amounts of food to the point of it visibly rotting. During feasts, too, the emphasis is on the display of food and not its consumption. As for exchange, it is clear that the natives take active pleasure in the possession of wealth, especially through giving it away, and that gift-giving increases social status.

Malinowski then identifies seven types of exchange, stressing that these are categories he, not the natives, has observed. These range from “pure gifts” to customary payments between a husband and his wife’s brothers, to payment for specific services such as those of a magician. The other categories include equivalent gifts, where the two parties exchange the same gifts; the nonequivalent exchange of goods for services and rights, such as for the right to perform a dance owned by someone else; ceremonial barter like the Kula; and finally, simple trade or barter that takes place primarily between inland and coastal communities that specialize in different goods.

Malinowski ends the chapter by discussing social bonds in the Trobriands and their economic implications. These range from family relationships, such as annual harvest-time gifts from a women’s brothers to her husband; to village-to-village relationships requiring contribution to intercommunity gifts; to the relationship between chiefs and commoners, where commoners give the chief services in exchange for “small, frequent” gifts (148).