Memoirs of the Polynesian Society. Vol.

FIELD NOTES ON THE Culture of Vaitupu ELLICE ISLANDS.

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BY DONALD GILBERT KENNEDY.

NEW PLYMOUTH, N.Z.: Printed by Thomas Avery & Sons Limited.

1931 Frontispiece.

In the lagoon, Nukufetau: Canoes leaving the ship; village in the distance.

Vaitupu from the south. The main village may be seen beyond the schooner’s boat derricks.

Vaitupu Island women at a festival. DIVERSITY Or AUCKLAND LIBRARY N.Z. AND PAFMFIC FOREWORD

In New Zealand the native-born ethnographers of the older generation are represented by Percy Smith, Elsdon Best, and Herbert Williams. A perusal of the following memoir will show the author to be a worthy successor to these. His work needs no further commendation.

D. G. Kennedy was an undergraduate of Otago who went into camp at Trentham in the closing phase of the war. The armistice came before training was completed, but he did not return to the University. After some years of teaching, part of which was spent at the Maori Boys’ School at Otaki, he joined the Colonial Service in Fiji, where his interest in ethnography took more definite shape. Thence he was transferred to the Western Pacific High Commission, his duties leading him first to the Gilbert and later to the Ellice Islands. How much Polynesian ethnology has been the gainer by this experience is demonstrated by his Field Notes from Vaitupu.

— H. D. Skinner.

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CONTENTS

PAGE Foreword ...... v List of Illustrations ...... ix Preface ...... xiii F inal Introduction ...... xv Introductory ...... 1 Calendar and Time ...... 9 Fishing for the Palu ...... 12 Fishing for Bonito ...... 39 Fishing for Paid (K ing-F ish ) w ith the Running N oose ...... 56 Fishing for Flying-F ish (Fai-isave) ...... 61 T he Ellice Islands Canoe ...... 71 U nits of Measurement ...... 101 Colour-Sense and Colour N ames ...... 102 Diet and Cooking ...... 104 Games ...... 110 Vaitupu Songs ...... 125 Religion ....„ ...... 147 Traditions and Folk-Lore ...... 153 Surgery and Surgical Instruments ...... 236 Sickness and its Treatment ...... 247 Obstetrics ...... 258 Dwellings and other Houses ...... 265 Material Culture ...... 285 Final N otes ...... 295 Index ...... „...... 321

vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

F rontispiece ...... Facing Title Page

PAGE M ap xvi F ig. 1—Leg-forks and barb-forks for palu hooks 16 „ 2—Proposed position of scarf-joints 16 „ 3— Scarf-joints ready for lashing 16 „ 4—Palu hooks showing different kinds of cordage and barbs 17 „ 5—Ruvettus hooks in use on Vaitupu, 1928 17 „ 6—Ruvettus hooks in use on Vaitupu, 1928 17 „ 7—A rather poor night’s catch .. 32 „ 8—Typical palu fishers 32 „ 9—Hauling in a palu 32 „ 10—A typical Vaitupu fishing-canoe 32 „ 11— Hook no. 2 engaged in lower jaw of a ruvettus 32 „ 12— Hook no. 3 engaged in lower jaw of a ruvettus 32 „ 13—The morning after 32 „ 14—Three palu-fala 32 „ 15—Barb of native-made iron hook 33 „ 16—About to be clubbed 33 „ 17— ( a ) Palumakau; (b) Palu kuakua 33 „ 18—Typical pa 40 „ 19—Typical kofe .. 41 „ 20— Attachment of the tu kau .... 41 „ 21—Typical bonito lure 41 ., 22—Butt end of rod inserted in matapili .. 50 „ 23—Trolling on the bonito grounds 50 „ 24—Nearing a shoal 50 „ 25—A shoal before the canoe gets in 50 „ 26—In the thick of a shoal 50 „ 27—In a shoal of bonito ...... > i 50 „ 28— Tautai swinging in a bonito 50 „ 29—Mate! 50 „ 30—Waiting for a shoal .. 50 „ 31—Chasing a wandering flock of noddies 51 „ 32—The return of the canoes 51 „ 33—Bringing the fish to the malae 51 „ 34—Fishing for pala with the running noose 56 „ 35—Fishing for pala 56 „ 36— Schematic diagram of inverted canoe 100 ,, 37—Diagram showing the principle of the fakafiti 100 „ 38— Showing insertion of fono 100 „ 38a Cross-section showing te kautaka 100 ix X Culture of Vaitupu, Ellice Islands.

PAGE Fig. 39— Cross-section showing te takaoa 100 „ 40— Schematic cross-sectional sketch amidships 100 „ 41—Vaitupu type canoe immediately after fitting the oa- planks 100 „ 42—Typical Nanumea canoe after the fitting of the oa- planks 100 „ 43—Types of outrigger float 100 „ 44a Ordinary lashing of boom to side 100 „ 44b Manga-lua lashing ...... 100 „ 44c Boom-lashing from above 100 „ 45a Traditional Vaitupu-style lashing 100 „ 45b Lashing removed 100 „ 45c Three-peg arrangement 100 „ 46— Showing arrangement of pegs 100 „ 47a Direct lashing 100 „ 47b Schematic diagram of cross-section of float to show method of direct lashing 100 „ 48— Typical Vaitupu canoe showing various parts named in text .. .. 100 „ 49—One style of Ian go 100 „ 50—Vaitupu type bow-cover 100 „ 51—Bow of Nanumea type canoe 100 „ 52— Stern of Nanumea type canoe . 100 „ 53—Vaitupu type stern-cover 100 „ 54— Steering paddle (foe uli) 100 „ 55—Ordinary paddle (foe) 100 „ 56—The bailer ( te asu) 100 „ 57—Another style of bailer 100 „ 58—A Vaitupu canoe 100 „ 58a Plan, elevation and cross-section of Vaitupu canoe 100 „ 59—A Nanumea type canoe on Vaitupu Island 100 „ 60—The suki are made of the iron-hard ngie (Pemphis acidula) 100 „ 61—A style of outrigger-boom sometimes seen 100 „ 62—The log, roughly shaped and hollowed out 100 „ 63—View of the hull from the stern 100 „ 64—View of the hull from the bow 100 „ 65—Finishing the interior with the atu-pa 100 „ 66— The bow, from the port side 100 „ 67— The oa fitted and clamped down with fakafiti 100 „ 68—Vaitupu type bow and stern-covers 100 „ 69—Nanumea type bow and stern-covers 100 „ 70— Showing the differences in the sterns of the Vaitupu type and Nanumea type canoes 100 „ 71—New canoe with an old-style outrigger 100 „ 72—Vaitupu five-paddle canoe 100 „ 73—Nanumea canoe on Funafuti Island 100 „ 74—Launching a Nanumea type canoe - .. 100 „ 75—Typical lagoon paopao ,, ,, ,, ,, 100 Illustrations xi

PAGE Fig. 76—Paopao with fish-trap on the lagoon .. 100 „ 77—Vaitupu lancets 238 „ 78—Vaitupu lancets in Otago University Museum 238 „ 79-—Implements for removal of lipoma (see p. 242) 238 „ 80—Cautery (tutu) for stiff neck .. 238 „ 81—The tufunga massaging by the suki method 238 „ 82—Operation for subcutaneous lipoma 238 „ 83—Bandaging the wound 238 „ 84— (a) Authentic ponga kiva; (b) Authentic ponga faka- ala; (c) Aoao, sennit bag 239 „ 85— Showing scar resulting from excision of leprous tissue 239 „ 86—The tufunga dressed in his finery 258 „ 87—The midwife (tufunga faka-fanau) with the appliances of her craft .. .. 258 „ 88—Bandages, belts, etc. 259 „ 89—Plan of Punatau, an ancient village .. 272 „ 90—End elevation of old-style house 272 „ 91— End elevation of most recent type 272 ,, 92—Arrangement of roof-plates and tie-beams 272 „ 93—Eight-posted house with reversed arrangement 272 „ 94— Six- or eight-posted house with longitudinal beams (inner) resting on posts .. 272 „ 95—Longitudinal section of substructure of old-style house 272 „ 96—A variation of type 3 272 „ 97— Schematic diagram of frame of most recent style of dwelling 272 „ 98—Interior view showing slanting rafter-brace, etc. 272 „ 99—Three methods of attaching rafter to roof-plate 272 „ 100—Schematic section of attachment of verandah to main building 272 „ 101—Rack (palepale) attached to rafters and roof-plate .. 272 „ 102— Showing principles of the construction of roof-frame 272 „ 103—Raised platform floor, traditional style 272 „ 104—Raised platform floor, alleged Gilbert Islands style .. 272 „ 105—Coconut-leaf breakwind (d matangi) .. 273 „ 106—Outdoorsleeping-platform (pāpā) 273 „ 107— Schematic diagram of section of ridge 276 „ 108—Woman with apita 280 „ 109— Carrying apita in from the bush 280 ,, 110— Most recent type of house 280 „ 111— Smoothing the leaves (solo) .. 280 „ 112—Roll of smoothed leaves (pupu-lau) .. 280 „ 113— Heaps of prepared thatch-pieces (lau) 280 „ 114— Sewing smoothed leaves 280 „ 115—Inserting point of sisi pole into piece of thatch 280 „ 116—A street in the main village (Fale) Vaitupu .. 280 „ 117—Thatch-piece (lau) coming up 280 „ 118—Thatching the author’s house .. 280 „ 119—Another view of the thatching process 280 Cu ltu re of V a it u p u , E l lic e I sl a n d s .

120— Close-up views of thatching .. 121— Thatching from inside 280 122— Plaited coconut-leaf ridge-covers (fakatafiti) 280 123— Finishing off the ridge 280 124— The side completed 280 125— Different twill patterns in the weaving of screens (pola) 280 126— Woman weaving screens 280 127— Method of hanging screens (pola) 280 128— Dwelling of the round-end type 280 129— Pile dwelling on the lagoon 280 130— A grand project uncompleted 280 131— Pearl-shell pendants (pdkasoa) 292 132— Pearl-shell shank lures of bonito hooks used in neck­ laces 292 133— Whale’s tooth pendants 292 134— Polished whale-bone pendants and necklace of por­ poise teeth 292 135— A model of the pump-drill 292 136— Four tridacna adzes from Vaitupu—front view 292 137— Back view 292 138— Side view 292 139— Tridacna adzes, group 1 .. .., 292 140— Tridacna adzes, group 2 292 141— Enlarged view of two adzes .. 292 142— Adzes, group 3 292 143— Coconut graters (tuai) group 4 292 143a Method of using coconut grater ( tuai) 292 144— Hollow-ground and rounded-surface adzes; shell chisels 292 145— Toki uli and tupe fatu 292 146— Weight for fowling line (atau) 292 147— Boy setting a malei .. 292 148— Method of using tattooing instruments 292 149— Example of ear-lobe distension 292 150— Shrine, Te Afu o Punga 292 151— Oval enclosure on north side of Te Afu o Punga 292 152— Old-style grave 292 153— A back-rest (pale) 316

Text F igures.

1 (fishing) 25 2 (games) 114 3 (games) 123 1 (surgery)—Funafuti lancets 237 2 (surgery)—Roll of prepared bark 249 PREFACE.

W hile preparing the final papers for the conclusion of this Memoir I have felt that some explanation is due to its reader in book form of the unusual manner in which the subject matter has been presented. This results from the fact that the majority of the papers were prepared for individual publication. The first of these was written about four years before the concluding one. As was inevitable in such a case, the parallax of time has caused a change in the point of view, and fresh data have given a slightly different twist to some general opinions which were formu­ lated in the original introduction. The main portions of the work, however, present, in their functional setting, some important aspects of the material culture which suffered least from the dislocation which followed the permeation of European culture forms; and it is in such cohesion as may be found in these elements that the reason lies for collecting in book form so many detached papers. I have specially to thank Mr. H. D. Skinner, of Otago University, for much kindly encouragement and advice. Without his stimulating and continued interest, the work would not have reached its present proportions. To Dr. E. W. Gudger, of the American Museum of Natural History, is due my grateful acknowledgment of his courtesy in sending excerpts from Becke and Kraemer which were used in the paper on paht-fishing, and for having prints made from my films for some of the figures illustrating the same paper. Finally my thanks are due to my wife, who, by keeping in touch with me through the medium of amateur wireless telegraphy, was able to correct the proofs of the final papers and so obviate delay in publication.

Vaitupu, 15th February, 1931.

xiii

FINAL INTRODUCTION.

A visitor to the Ellice Group, having survived the cockroaches and unpleasant odours of the small trading schooner on his journey from Fiji, would probably first regain his appetite and human sympathies in the calm waters of Funa­ futi Lagoon. Here he would see many of those things which his reading had led him to expect, for, be it known, though the rest of the group and its people still lie in the oblivion of outer darkness, this island of Funafuti has long been in the limelight of scientific speculation. It has been sounded and surveyed, charted, photographed, and probed with diamond drills until nothing remains to be said about it. It is the writer’s discretion, therefore, to say just that, and so pass on to the next port of call on the usual trading itinerary. This is the island of Vaitupu. But before withdrawing our attention from the Ellice Group as a whole, it might be noticed that during the night (having departed from Funafuti in the late afternoon), we passed to the eastward of Nukufetau, the only island in the remainder of the group resembling Funafuti in that it has a deep entrance to its lagoon. The coral animalcule has, with perverse thoroughness, dammed up the lagoons of all the other islands, much to the chagrin of sea-captains and those occasional passengers who are not robust upon the wave. A nor’-nor’-westerly course takes us from Funafuti to Vaitupu, and provided the ocean current is not in one of its capricious moods, a steady six knots will give us our landfall by daybreak. Those who have not been so unfortunate as to gaze with futile expectancy on the first appearance of a low-lying tropical island, may form an adequate conception of that event by imagining a dull blue-green, somewhat straggling blur, clinging closely to the horizon and gradually thickening on approach until the individual palms of a coconut jungle are discernible from the deck. In the case of Vaitupu the

xv xvi Culture of Vaitupu, Ellice Islands

blur does not straggle as with other islands, but appears more compact, and of pitiable minuteness in the vast expanse of ocean. In the grey stillness of early dawn it is as though a turtle were creeping under the tent-flap of the sky. By breakfast-time, if the weather is calm, we shall have dropped anchor on the west side of the island, on a precarious ledge of coral, within two ships’ lengths of the surf. We can now discern the wide flat of tidal reef beyond the line of breakers, terminating in the narrow strip of white sand, which, all round the island, slopes up to the dense green coconut bush. Opposite the anchorage the brown thatched roofs of the village will be seen near to the beach, but half hidden by huge breadfruit trees, and in their midst the comparatively enormous church, with its red roof sur­ mounting high walls of gleaming white lime. A wide expanse of deep blue sea with the horizon visible on right and left; a short narrow line of white surf; a dull brown spread of flat reef; a second white line of glaring coral sand closely underlying a deep-green strip of vegetation which lifts the eyes to no more than a level glance, for the loftiest palm waves its fronds a bare eighty feet above the sea-level; all surmounted by a dome of pale blue sky— so lies Vaitupu in the morning sun. And there is little danger of the soul’s “ going down with those moorings whence no windlass may extract nor any diver fish it up,” for the scene is without grandeur— it has beauty, but it is the beauty of an oasis on the desert of ocean. Before the cable has fairly run out, a dozen or so dugout canoes will be bumping around the ship. They will have little of interest in them; a few fans and mats for sale, maybe, or a basket of tawdry shells. But if you prefer a canoe to a cumbersome cargo-boat, you may induce one of them to take you ashore, and that in itself will be an adventure. Your crew will be unimposing enough, Poly­ nesians of the poorer type, displaying nothing more savage than a few green leaves draped round the body, through which will be peeping, ever and anon, the hideous colours of their trade-print loin cloths. But that peaceful-looking line of surf that separates you from the reef takes on quite a sinister aspect when viewed at close quarters from the somewhat unstable security REFERENCES: L ight Shading—Modern villages. Green—Land under heavy vegetation. B rown— Tidal reef. L ight Blue—Lagoons and shelves of reef falling off gradually to deep water (utua). B lue— Deep-water fishing grounds (tō) each having an indi­ vidual name as shown. Cf. p. 130, footnote, tafato, lit. the steep edge (tafa) of the deep-blue fishing ground (to). Four large land-divisions and the sub-divisions of these are named. Each sub-division consists of many small pieces of land individually owned by inheritance, and each separately named. Village-sites, past and present, are enclosed by dotted lines. All names represent an area of land in the vicinity of the name, and contiguous, except in the case of a reef islet, with the land represented by proximate names. Names shown on the north-east reef to avoid crowding refer to land directly opposite and abutting on the coast. NAMES SHOWN ON MAP OF VAITUPU (beginning from north-west point). Te Lapa Name of Place Malaefou Name of Place Funafekai Island Te Alia-o-peti Passage Letika Place Tuamakalili Place

Te Afualakia yy Fakaneva yy

Te Loto Lagoon Lakia yy

Te Alia Passage Lua o Ngalu yy

Mulifenua Place Te Alalua yy

Te Akenga yy Te Matamotu yy

Sailine yy Te Fanga yy

Mulimatangi yy Vai a molo yy

Fataialava yy Tolise yy

Muliseunga yy Te Namo Lagoon

Tukulava yy Fale Village Punatau Village Te Milo Place

Famemelo Place Puavini yy

Fisiakalisi yy Mosana Island

Vaisikulangi yy Namolimu Place

Te Fakamulila yy Te Afuopunga yy

Te Atuka yy Te Papa yy

Saumaloto yy Te Piu yy

Muli Village Fakatupu yy

Langisalulu Place Sunuki yy

Olokalanga yy Te Pa yy

Alatafa yy Te Ngie yy

Tualealea yy Palengasulu yy

Fatia yy Matapati yy

Te Pelatua yy Tulatea yy

Sapepe yy Makinao yy

Fatu-o-tuli yy Luasamotu Island

Kanakana yy Patamo Place

Motu-o-Tanifa Island Te Utua yy

Niuangina Place Te Maua yy

Sosongafetau yy Tafengalu yy

Olosau yy Laupaleaki yy

Temanunu yy Fakatofoao yy

Soala yy Motuosina yy

Solongatuli yy Tuafenua „

Lomemafi yy Fatua yy

Felemiti „ Tafua yy

Alae yy Motufoua School Te Fota Passage Mulitokomea Place

Te Matomuli Place Vailongoua yy

Faioa yy Tualongo yy

Tofia yy Motulele yy

Te Asinga yy Final Introduction XVII

of a small outrigger canoe. And, indeed, its safe negotiation is an operation requiring the utmost skill in handling the canoe, and the finest judgment in choosing the wave on which the passage is to be made. At one moment you are edging up to a small indentation in the coral where the break seems to be less furious, the next you are perched dizzily on the summit of a tremendous comber, directly over a terrifying ledge of jagged coral left bare by the backwash of the preceding wave. Just as the certainty dawns on you that you are nose-diving to a crash, something seems to burst immediately beneath the canoe, there is a subsidence, a fast play of rippling muscles and flashing paddles and a sudden sweep forward, surrounded by a veritable Niagara of hissing, swirling foam. A moment later, and the canoe has grounded gently on the level reef; or, if the tide be high, you are shot by the following wave on a most exhilarating half-mile glide right up to the sand of the beach. Once ashore, and having dutifully submitted to the inevitable handshake from at least half the adult population, you may wander at will. No house will appear tidy enough to entice you within doors, or rather beneath the shelter of its roof, for it has no doors, having no walls. You will view the church, call at the company’s store, where the quarter-caste in charge will be busy weighing out his copra to the supercargo from the schooner, and take, perhaps, a bush track which meanders through groves of coconut to end, finally, in a sunken garden or banana-patch. Unless a surfeit of fresh coconut-milk and mosquito- bites drives you, in utter boredom, back aboard the schooner, you may also visit the interior lagoon, which, in this island of Vaitupu, is a gem of its kind. It is the blue lagoon of South Sea romance, a piece of scenery not nearly so common in fact as in fiction, an almost perfect oval of calm, clear water about one mile in length, entirely surrounded by a dense belt of coconut forest, which, except at the north end, where there is a beach of white sand, grows right down to the water’s edge. It is the essence of atoll beauty; but one is wise not to linger. Its very sameness from all points of view and its lack of depth and background soon detract from its initial charm. xviii Culture of Vaitupu, Ellice Islands

At times, however, a canoe will put out suddenly from the shore-line, its occupants shouting, singing, laughing in reckness abandon, paddling at random as though the mere arrival at a destination were of truly negligible importance compared with the ebullient joy of present living. Or, at night, there will be a fishing party, half in play, half in earnest, their hand-nets slapping on the water, their blazing torches and shiny brown bodies mirrored on the still surface; or again, in the clear moonlight, a large fish jumps, out in the distance, and some minutes later the eddies it set up come lap-lapping along the shore. At such times one is close indeed to the spirit of old Polynesia, and may feel the presence of long-forgotten Tangctloa-langi on a stealthy visit to a small corner of his former vast empire.