Oiran Culture Part 1. Economy of Earoia Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago

ATOLL RXSEAIXH EULLEI'IN

No. 32

Iia?oiran Culture

Part 1. Economy of Earoia Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago

by Bengt Danielsson

Part 2. Native Topographical Terms in Raroia, Tuamotus

by Eengt Danielsson

Part 3. Native Terminology of the Coconut Palm in Raroia Atoll by Bengt Danielsson

Part 4. Eird Nanes in Raroia Atoll

by Bengt Danielsson and Aurora Natua

Part 5. Check List of the Native Names of Fishes of P.aroia Atoll by Bengt Daniel.sson

Issued by

TEE PACIFIC SCIENCE. BOARD

National Academy of Sciences--Eational Research Council

Washington, D. C.

November 30, 1954 . ? . . - . .

.. , Part 1 ECONOMY OF RAROIA ATOLL. TUAMOTU ARCHIPELAGO by Bengt Danielsson

Acl:no~:le:',gments ...... 1ntrocluci;ion ...... Habitat and history ...... Demography ...... The place of Raroia ...... Population trends ...... The nrltive come-back ...... Natural increase ...... Inter-atoll mobility ...... Migration zndinterm&rriage ...... Racemixture ...... Annual cycle of events ...... Schooners calling at R&roia ...... Land omership ...... Historical background ...... Present situation ...... :.... Concrete examples ...... Surplus production ...... Mother-of-pearl shell diving ...... Copra production ...... The rise of the copra trade ...... Change of settlement patterns ...... Sectors and seasons ...... Interdepenaence of activities ...... Rorking conditions and technique ...... Agricultural methods ...... Work participation an$ organization ...... Weekly variations ...... Actual and potential production ...... Working effi.ciency ...... Subsistence activities ...... , ...... Plant cultivation ...... Aninal husbandry ...... Fishing ...... Turtle catching ...... Egg collecting and bird catching ...... Labor division and specializa%icn ...... Division according to sex ...... Cooperation ...... Specialization ...... Income and expenditures ...... Total income ...... Expenditures of samnle families ...... Property holdings of each family ...... Food consumption ...... , ...... 84 Conclusions ...... 86 References...... 90 ,. . . . Tables .~ , .

Culture contacts . . 9 Population trends in French Oceania, 1863-1951 16 111. Differential evolution in some of the groups 17 IV. Popula-Lion changes in Raroia, 1897-1951. 18 8. Number of births and deaths in Earoia, -31-50. 19 VI. Composition of the permanent population in Haroia 21 VII. Composition of the permanefit and actual population 23 VIII. - Number of Raroians visiting Papeete in 1950 23 IX. Geographical origin of population . , 25 X. Raciai composition of the popuiation 27 XI. &tent to ~hichthe mixed persons are Poiynesian 27 XII. . Age of the mixed persons in Raroia 27 XIII. Number of tradicg schooners calling at Raroia 33 XIV. Land holdings in Raroia as judged from production figures 36 xv . Interdependence of activities in1450 47 XVI . Number of pers3ns per month working sutsj.de the villege 53-55 Number of~ersoflsand days spent in work 56 XVIII. Fimily composition and york participation 58,59 XIX. Number.of persohs in village On meek days and Sundays 60a XX. Average number of persons in village 61 XXI. Number of $lorking days of the productive males com- pared to amount of. copra' produced 64 XXII. Number of persons fishing, December.4-10, 1950. 71 xxI.11. Totai income per family during -1950 78 XXIV. Expenditures for sampie families:, . . : 82 xxv. Zncome, expenses .and surplus ...... ~..' 82 XXVI . Property holdings of each fami,ly ; 83 XXVII . Consumption of. imppr;tec food'.::.^ 8.4

...... A. . ~&d'divisions .north 'of the vil~+&, .. . H.. copra sectors . ' . . I .... , ECONOMY OF RAROIA ATOLL, . .

... 'IUAXOTU ARGEIPELAGO

. . %y first thanks are due to my numerous friends in Raroia, who kindlycon- sented to subject .themselves to the ordeal of being treated as sdientific're- search material and. yitn good humor answered all the trying questions an ' anthropologist can ask. They did, however, even more than this. They also adopted me as one of their own and made me feel completely at home in Raroia.

. .. Turning now to the States, I wish to express my appreciation for $he generous help and encouragement I received from Mr. Harold J. Coolidge, Dr. Kenneth P. E~ory,and Miss Ernestine Alters in connection with my part,ici.pation in the.Pacific Science Board's 1952 Coral Atoll Expedition. My thinks are. ax-. so due to the Office of Naval Research which made this project possible by funds granted to the National Academy of Sciences by Contract N7onr-Z91(dL+).:~~ 388401. My thanks are, of course, jlso due. to the other members of our fe- search team, from whom I learned much.

Grateful thanks are also given to the Director and the entire staff of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, vhere I ?+roteup much of my material and did ex- tensive library research.

In French Oceania, I am particularly indebted to Governor Reng Petitbon, who has always taken a personal interest in my vjork, to the president of the Societ6 des Etudes Oceaniennes, blr. Henri Jacquier, v:ho has helped me in vari- ous ways, to Miss Aurore Natua, who as my assistant during this expedition rendered me,invaluable.services., andto &. Frank J. Stimson, vho generously has given me advice in linguistic matters...... : Last but not least a special acknodedgment to my wife ~arie-ThGre'se, who not only was my cheerful companion and co-worker during my field-work 13&9-51.,but. r;ho al~o,has h,elped me with numerous suggestions and with the preparation of. the .present stu$y.. . . . , , . , To all these persons I say: Mauruuru! . . . ., . . . . INTRODUCTION

Tihen and how the study mas made . . .. In accordance with the general aims of the Pacific Science, Board's Coral Atoll Project, this study deals principally with ecological relatiodships considered from the point of vie^: of the native populution.,orj in other words, it is a study of the economiclife an Raroia atoll in the Tuamotu Group, French Oceania. As it examines t.he oresent-day economy seen 'in its wider context, it could also be called an accu1tura;tion and functional study, but the simpler and more commonly acceptable title e economy of Raroia" has been preferred. . .

Most of the data on which the study is based were collected by 1950, i. e. two years before the Pacific Science Board's expedition visited Raroia. Raroia was actually chosen primarily because of this previous knowledge of ours on conditions there.

Our om first visit to Raroia dates back to August, 1947, when we spent a fortnight there together cith the other members of the Kon-Tiki expedition. This short stay was enongh to make us interested in the acculturation pro- cesses in the Tuamotus and to convince us of the advantages of undertaking study of this aspect of the culture in Raroia, where (a) the population was small enough to be studied in its entirety and not just by meens of sampling and (b) we could be sure of whole-hearted cooperation with the islanders. Our project QiaS eventually realized r:hen we returned to Raroia in November, 1949. Tke total time spent on the atoll this time was 18 months (until April, 1951), and the period. covered -by our study incl.uded the whole year of 1950.*

From our rather comprehensive data on acculturation collected auring this period, we selected during our thira stey in Raroia, June 19 to September 7, 1952, as anthropologist of the Pacific Science Board's team, those data deal- ing 76th economic end related activities. The data vrere carefully checked whenever possible and a certain amount of additional information was obtained. Some rough outlines were .prepared oven while ne v:ere still in the field, but practical duties. and the collaboration v!i-th other .team members on various studies (whic3 will be presented. separately), made it impossible to write up our material onthe spot, although wehad planned to do so in order to achieve maxirnum accuracy. ,. : The final shape of the study is determined principally by bur: endeavour to conf~rmas much as possi6le to the general plan for the Coral Atoll Pro- ject, deci6ea upon ati5he.outse.t. In Spoehrl s words' (Atoll Research Bulletin No. 17, Handbook for Atoll Research, page 109) the guiding principles are, that observations during field expediti0.n~should: "(a) Focus on the present rather than the aboriginal past.. . (b) ...elucidate processes involved rather than static patterns ... (c) Operate with a set of problems suitable for comparative investi- gations.. ." These principles already guided our vork before our participation in the Coral Atoll ~roj'ect, and mere still more rigidly adhered to during the pre- paration of the present study.

The data which were judged essential to gather for a study of this type were grouped by Mason (Atoll Research Bulletin No. 17, Handbook for Atoll Re- search, page 111) under the following headings:

1. population inventory 2. economic activities 3. land~tenure 4. social and political organization . . . .. 5. mopement of peoples . ... Ee have foll.owed this general outline - as:Mason did himself at Arno and Goodenough did at Onotoa - in order to achieve the goal which vie believe is '.of utmost importance, via. to provide a common basis for comparisons of atoll cultures. It is also.our conviction, that only through this standardization of :nethods xi11 it be possible, ultimate!.y, to transcend the short-time m- -ttcal value of the studies and make contrib~~~tionsto the more importat-t a- retical task of discerning and formulating basic social laws.

It must be noted here in passing, that the present study, although planned with tliese objectives in mind, nevertheless covers two of tie three fields of special interest to the south Pacific Commission, viz. Economic and Social De- velopment, and part3.y follows the pro,g-am for coral research of immediate practical value, as outlined in Project No. E.6 of the Commission.

Thus, while our selection of data has been determined by the considera-, tions detailed above, the presentation has been guided by their place in the functional context. 3otn tine population inventory and the data on inter- and Intra-island rr.ovements are fcr instance grouped together in the same chapter, cflllkd Demography. Two specific chapters are devoted to surplus production and subsistence activities, whereas discussions of social implications of the economic organization are interspersed throughout the text. Land tenure is linked with inheritance practices and legal problems, and so on,. ~herwer rlecessary for the el.ucidation of 'the situation, historical material has been included.

The curious situation inRaroia, where the economy is neither primitive nor modern but somewhere in between, has made it impossible to use the con- ventional classification of the material under the heads of Production, Dis- 'tribution, Exchange and Consumption, and in tiis case also the functional conwxt has, therefore, determined the presentation of the material.

Finally it musi; be understood.that, the present study is not in any way definitive, but should rather be regarded simply as a collection of raw data together ~ithsome tentative 5flterpretations. Tie hope even.tually to be able to enlarge and improve on . the.. studjr in the fo1.loming ways during a future visit to Haroia:

(1) by gathering additional material on the economy (especially the nutrition) ;

(2) by including mat&& dealing with other aspects of the culture, such as health, religion, political organization, recreational activi.ties and others;

(3) by . further. . analyzing. the iateractions and interrelationships.

In addition it would certainly be worth-while comparing the situation in Hdroia with that in other parts of PoLynesia as recorded in the literature, in order to gain a wider perspective and better understanding of universal acculturation processes. Or in Keesing's words: "Polynesia thus forms an ideal laboratory of acculturation processes, with tine open spaces of the Pacific giving perhaps 'the neaxest equivalent available in human studies to test tube isolation and contr01.~~(Keesing, 1917 p. 39). Chapter I

HABITPT AND HISTORY

Physical Pe-+G ~ures

The Tuamotu Group, which is a part of French Oceania (Etabl.issements Prancais de lfOceanie), lies immediately East of Tahiti. It is made up of 78 atolls scattered over the huge area between 135 to 11+9 degrees West and 14 to 23 degrees South. The distance from Tahiti to the nearest atoll it; 113 nau- tical niiles and to thernost distant eas-t,ernmost about 830 nautical miles.

With the exception of the raised phosphate island of Makatea all the atolls are low with a maximum elevation rarely exceedhg 20 feet. Three of the atolls are more than 60 krn (kilometers) in length, about 30 are less than 10 km in diameter, and the rest are of all sizes in betvleen. Most of the ito1l.s in the Western part of the group have passes deep enough for trading :chooners; most of the atolls in the Eastern half of the group lack passes.

The following more detailed description of Raroia is taken from the pre- liminary report of the geologist of the ~ac2ficScience Board te&, Dr. Norman D. Ne-:[ell: ...... : .. . . : . ,,...... "The rim of Raroia is extraordinarily narfow.and-contaihs &ch law iur-. . face. There are many shallov~~h~nnelsthatfiave cut since the land was . . formed, but there is only one ship pass....The lagoon is moderately deep and occupied by a large number of patch 'reefi (between 1,600 and 2,000) arranged '' in quadrangular patterns." . .

The general characteristics of the atoll are, according to Dr. Nenell, as follows:

, ...... Length ...... '44 km

Breadth ...... 14.4 km , . Circumference at edge of outer reef : .....: 90 kni Area ...... ca 400 km2 .... . ~sgoonarea ...... ca 340 h* Lagoon mcximum depth ...;...... 55 m Atoll rim area ...... '.. .. 60 kin2 Land area ...... 21 km2 Average breadth of rim ...... ; ..... 0.6 km iip,aximum height of land ...... 6 m

Dr. Maxwell Doty has calculated the vegetated area viith the help of the aerial photographs and found it to be 921 hectares. Of these, 587 seem to be planted with coconut palms, while the romaining 33I hectares are covered with other vegetation, mostly !%et+,arda sveciosa, Iviesserschmidia argentea, Pemphis --acidul a and Pandanus. --Climate The cl-imate in -the Tm.mol;u Group is *ot and dry, but refreshing easterly trade winds blow all round the year. The temperat~~evaries very litC1e be- tween night and day, and the water is only s'lightly cooler than the air. There are two clearly distinguishable seasons, me relatively rainy period lasting from November to April and one relatively dry period from May to October. Dur- ing the rainy season devastating hurricanes occur at long intervals, the last ones sweeping through the group in 1903 and i906.

It must be recalled here, that these hurricanes accelerated the accultur- ation process j.n many atolls, as the taro pits viere filled with gravel.. Houses, tools and canoes were completely destroyed. When the islanders had to recover and rebuilt after the hurricanes they repiaced in nos-t cases the native foods and objects with imported fiuropean articles. The cyclones constitute there- fore a break in the econony and material cxlture (and in n:any atolls in spiri- tual culture too, tnrough the loss of the old family books containing the historical tralitions) .

We recorded meteorol3g.ical data i11 Raroia for the whole year of 1.950. These are published elsewhere (See Danielsson, 1951), therefore only the main charhcteristics of the climate are given here:

Maximum tomperature, annual average 30 .k°C (86,Y0F)

Minimum temperature, annual average 23. 3°~(73.90~)

Total annual rainfall 1181 mm (46.5 in.)

Total number of days mith rain 132

Number of windless days 37

Natural resources and acculturation

Few plants and land animals exist in the group (For cietailed information see the publications on botany and zoology by other team members in following numbers of the Atoll Res. BulL) and only r~bouttwenty species of sea birds are found, but t'ne sea teems rith fish (See Atoll Res. Bull. No. 18) and the lagoons contain an abundance of clams and crustacea in most atolls. The en- vironment and natural resources are therefore very similar to those found everywhere on atolls in the South Pacific.

Keesing has classified the Polynesian islands in the following way (Kee- sing, 1953):

Type I: Small islets without adequate resources. Type 11: Small islands, usually atolls, rith limited resources and poor sea approaches. Type 1x1: Small islands uith special cotnmercial. resoiwces.

Type IV: Larger islands, usually volcanic, which are isolated and have Foor sea epproaches.

Type V: Larger islands, usue.lly volcani.~,which are conveniently situated and have good Carbors.

There is a definite correlation between the type of island and the ac- cultufation process, a fact which has been brought out repeatedly by previous studies: in Polynesia. That the cultural situation in Raroia is typical for islandsof type will be shown by the present paper. . . . . I'I

---Pre-Europem culture . . . . :. Tge Tuamo-tu ,atol!:s u:ere settled from Tahiti, the SAarquesas arid perhaps ~so'from. . other surrotgXling islands at varying periods, The Raroian tradi- tions claimthat the atoll has been pernianentiy inhabited since 30 generations ago (about 1A50 AD). The Tuamotuan culture therefore n~turallyresembled that of the neighbour groups, but ha2 also several unique fentwes. Many local 'variations existed within the group Anaa could be disting-dished. (See Report, 1932).

The social system was fairly democratic, and there were no classes. Generally each atoll was divided up into a nimber of districts inhabited by extended faailies. A paramount chief was someti-nes recognized on an atoll, but his power was rather nominal, and tne greatest social unit was in reality the family.

Hostilities ?:ere common betveen the atolls and sometimes even between the distr'icts. The :nost feared warriors were those from Anaa, ivho at several instances ravaged even distant atolls in the group and killed or carried away their inhabitants.

The economy was a simple food-i-gat,hering and planting economy. The sta- ple food plants were the pandanus, the coconut palm and the coarse taro. The pandanus and coconut palms did not require much care, but huge ditches had to be dug for the taro and considerable time was spent on the cultivation of it. Of animal foocl, fish occupied a very important place on the menu, and clams and crustacea were also regularly collected. Sea birds, eggs and turtles were seasonal sources of food. Of the commonly domesticated Polynesian animals, the pig and fowl were absent, bu-t dogs were frequently kept and eaten.

The material culture was Foor, and' the only material for tools access- ible in the atolls was bone and mother-of-pearl shell. Basalt adzes were therefore often imported from.Tahiti. Th,e houses were made of palm or pan- danus leaves and rather crude, however, good craftmanship mas show in the con- struction of sea-going ships. These were twin-hulled canoes with platforms and pandanus sails, capable of transporting. several dozens of persons. There are known instances of travels exceeding 1,000 nautical miles in length.

*In accordance with the generally adopted convention "g" is used to indicate the Fhglish "ng" sound as in "sing." The vowels are pronounced as in Spanish...... Early discoverers ' .

~~irosdiscovered seven atolls in 'the group as early as 1606,. but ~qith the exception of Anaa it is extrenely difficult to identify them due tothe vague positions giver! in the account of'the voyage. The:Dutchmen L,e?;laire and Shouten in 163.6 and Roggeveen in 1722 v:e:e, the next Europeans xino passed through the group, and they discovered about a dozen moreatolls. Duri.ng the folloiiing hundred years Byron, Wallis, Carteret, Bougainville, Cook, Roenechea, ,Varel.a, Edwards, Bligh, YYilson, Turnbull, Kothebue, Eellingshausen and Beechey gradually found the remaining atolls (See Bock, 1945). The last atoll. &is discovered as late as 1835.

Haroia was sighted for the first time on Ju3.y 12, 1820 by the Russian explorer' Bel?,ingshausen., who proceeded along the Eastern shore. His observa- tJions are summarized in the following bri.ef passage in the ~arrativeof the voyage (Bellingshausen, 1945, Vol.. I: 236) :

"It (the Eastern shore) is covered with scattered undergrowth and low %rees. Surf %as breaking heavily on.this coral shore. %'he northern and west- ern sides fromwhich the lagoon ?!as visible were quite covered with trees, and at various points on the north-western shore we could see smoke rising up out of the trees, v:hich showed via%the island was inhabited, Mr. Lazarev inforlned me that he could see people and canoes on the shore."

Bellingshausen called the atoll, Barclay de Tollay, but this name, like all other European na:nes bestowd on the Tuamotuan atolls, is absolete today and not even known by the natives.

History of later culture contacts

All these earLy explorers passed through the group quickly, and their contact -:;ith the natives was limi-ted to the exchange of some small trinkets for coconuts and scurvy grass on the rare occa.sioris when a ship hove t,o for. a cou- ple of hours at an atoll. From 1830 on, however, a new type of ship began to appear in the group, the trading vessel insearch of pearls, mother-of-pearl shell and sea slugs. Native divers were ,erigaged and isJenders were taugetto Irepare the sea slugs. . . As a result of these contacts nevi diseases spread and severe epidemics soon ravaged the group. As the natives had no resistance through previous iminuni-ty and lacked all notions of modern hygiene, even such comperably harm- less diseases as measles and influenzamere fatal. Many died and thd popula- tion decrease %as further accelerated tnrou.gh syphilitic sterilityo The natives' node of life ms, however, very little affected by these infrequent visits of trading vessels, and &ring the period up to the 1860ts, for in- stance, an atoll like Raroia was visited maybe only once a year or every second year.

During the second half of the century two new groups of Europeans grad- ually brought about profound chnnges. These viere the missionaries and the copra traders. The first converts in the group were made already in 1817 in Rnaa by protestant native miseionaries instructed in Tahiti, but the new re- ligion did not at this time spread v:idely and the number of protestant con- verts remained small. . . An American miSsionaky from the Ch~irchof~esus ~h'rist'of the ~atterDay Saints arrived in:1645 in Anaa and ..iqiw.idiately'won a foothold.. Catholic mis- sionaries prospected the Tuamotus for the first..time in 1849, and installed theniselires a1so'ci.t ~naatwo years later.. ~ . . ~oiheof the inhnbi.,t.antsof llaroia we&? co&erte6 by other natives from Anaa at, least asearly aa.1846, but the majority of the islanders still ,clung to their oldfaith'when the first European missionary, a Cathoiicpriest, ar- rived in 1869. Between this date and 1975 he succeeded during his repeated. visits in converting practically the rrhole popiilation, and a solid stone church, which, is still standing today, was &nstructed. . . The Protestant Chiwch and the Latter Day Saints.also made progress in the group during the same period, andvith the increasing number of .trading vessels that appared, withthe rise of the copratrade (for more details, see Chapter V), all the natives became converted. The last islanders in the Tuamotus abandoned their old faith in 19&38,

PoliticaUy the status of. the group continued to be very vague even after the establishment of the French protectorate in Tahiti in 1843. Many of -the western atolls'in the group were,.-regarded as a part of the Tahitian kingdom, and the Queen, Pomare, appointed in several cases both regents and judges, but no r&l authority was exercised. Most of the eastern atolls, mong bhem Raroia, didnot recognize even the form1 sovereignty of Queen Pomare.

When Tahiti and other islands were annexed by France in 1860, the Tua- motu group was also incorporeted as a new administrative unit, and from then on the atolls have been governed by French administrators aided bylocal chiefs, first appointed but since the end of the last war elected locally by popular vote. All the natives'.have been. Rrench citizens since 1945. , . .

The situation today

The Tuamotus ari: today the part of French Oceania which is least af-. .. : fected by European culture, and practically no foreigners, Thite or Chlkiese, have settled in the group., This does, not, howkver, mean that much of the old .. culturo is left. On the contrary; the changes have been profdund,.and lovers of South Sea movies oiould not feel at home in Raroia. , The material cult,ure is almost wholly Viestern, and the natives use European tools exclusively,' dress .., in E~iropeanway andfrequently have even such luxuries as radios,bikes and refrigerators. Many houses' are, however, still made of plaited palm leaves, ' and the canoes are in general of Polynesian modelviith outriggers.

Of course npt.a trace of the old religion is left. The social structure . has also changed considerably with the concentration of the people in central' villages and the emergence of a new class of leaders, thenative traders and. catechists or ministers. Economical.ly a whole revolution .has occurred with the rise of the copra trade, and toclay almost everywhere in the Tuamotus the natives have abandoned the old subsistence economy in favor of a surplus pro- duc tion.

Even the language has untiergone profound changes, and the Tuamotuan iialect is spoken today only by the old men and women in Raroia. As a result of the frequent contacts with Tahiti, the local dialect v:ill probably in the end be completely replaced by Tchitian. The main difference between the Tuamotus and Tahiti, (like most other large islands of type V, according to Keesingts classification) is that the Tuamotuan natives have preserved their economic independence spiritual wholeness to a much greater degree than those in the islands of the latter type. In Raroia, as practically everg::her.e in tfls group, all the inhabi-Lants still. have enough land to secure a good .living and many have a considerable income by any standard. Xith the viords "spiritual wholenese" we sin.?ly mean that the atoll communities stillare fairly homogeneous nith fevv social, eco- nomic, religious or other stratifications. This difference between the ac- culturation situation in the two tses of islands is more important than the similarities, and it is the main justification for affirming that the Tuamotus are tie islands in French Oceania still Least affected by Kestern cul.tui-e.

The cultural situation, like the environrren-t, is in its main charac- teristicssimilsr throughout the group. Tin~reis a slight difference of degree, and as a general rule it can be said .the impact of .Yles$ern culture diminishes as ths distance from Papeete increases. Raroia, situated at iLZO Kest and 16O South, occupies there-%re not only geographically but also culturally an inter- , mediate position in tie group. . .

I; order toget a more quantitative measure of the acculturation pro- cess Re shall try, finally, to summarize the type and frequency of the culture contacts. This surmmry, vhich of course is only a very rough and tentative evaluation, is presentea in the fo1lov:ing table:

Table I: Culture contacts

Type of contact Duration I Frequency Period I -- 1----" Visits of trading schooners,I 1. days I Once a year / 1.830 - 60 Visits of trading schoonecs 1 - 2 days 5 - 6 times 1860 - 1921 a year Visits of.trading schooners 1. - 2 days, Once a month 1920 - Visits of missionaries About a month Once a year 1870 - Visits of administrators 1 - 2 days Twice a year 1 1900 - .. . -

Type of contac' Guration 1 Period Average visits by a Raroian 1 - 2 months to Tahiti or third year Average visits by a Raroian 1 - 4 months Every second 1900 - to other atolls during the or third year diving season -

-9- ...... Chapter 11, .. :...... :. . . . ---DEMOGRAPH? . . . :

A. .The Plece or" Rafoia in t:

. ' Before proceeding to the pSesentation and .analysis of the detailed popu- lation data collected by 11,s inRaro5.a, the place of the atoll in its larger demographic context has .to' be determined.

From the geographical, botanical and geological point of view Raroia is certainly typical for the Tuamotu group and does not in any marked respect de- ' viate from the general pattern found, with surprisingly few variations, every- where in the archipelago. Culturally Raroia occupies a central position be- tveen the more ltconservative" Eastern atolls and the more "progressive" '?!esi;ern atolls, and is thus'tru1.y an "averace" Tuaniotuan atoll. But is the composition of the population also representative for the Tuamotus in general, and how does the Tuamo-bu group in its turn compare to French Oceania as a whole?

In order to answer them questions,. me have compiled some comparative tables based on the latest. ceris& report (Teissier, 1953), to some extent, sup- plemented with our own data. All figures in this section refer therefore to the situation at the time of the census, September 17-18, 1951. Our study is otherwise limited to the period January 1st to December 31st, 1950, but as no significant changes took plabe..during the. time up to the census, all findings in this section are valid also for the study as a whole. . z . . The figures are broken dovm akcording to the following criteria: ad- ministrative unit, race, sex, age, marital status, professional situation, and church membership. Np further analysis $6 possible on. the basis of the avail- able census data, and.are, anyway, unnecessary for our limited purpose. . . I. Administrative units. . . On ~e~ttimbir17-18, 1951,. the totalpopuhtion in French Oceania mas 62,628, divided among the five administrative un,its or.groups in the follovr- ing way: . .., . .... ,:...... ,,::.. :.. .- .. , Tahiti and dependencies. ... . 35,123. . . . . Leeward Islands 12,920 Tuamotu group. . . 6,733 Austral lslands 3,983 Marquesas Islands. ' ' 3,257 . . Mangar+va '. .. . . 512 :. , Of the 78 atoils in the Tuamotu group, many are grouped together for administrative purpases, which for in'stance. is the case 75th Raroia and its neighbour ato2.1, Takume. The total. number of these snaller units, usually called "districts" is 35, and the frequency distribution of the population ...... is as follows: . ... Theuverape population per dtstrict is 192, which is very close to the figure for Raroia-Takume, 160, but still more significmt is of course the frequency distribution above, in which Raroia-Takume is in the 'modal ciass. As it is impossible with available dafa to compute the average population for ~achinhabited at,oll., {we have-to content oursel-ves with these rather crude figures, vthich, however, clearly show that Raroia-Takume -in this respect is typical for the Tuamotus as a whole. . . Comparisons betiveen the Tuamotus on the one hand and ,the whole of French Oceania on t'ne other, are of course meaningless, as the other groupsare com- pletc1.y different iib to topography and general conditions.

--French ceania Raroia. Race Total Per cent Total i Pert cent Pure &- Polynesian LO, 099 litixed Polynesian 13,769

Chinese 6,655

Caucasian 1,860 Other 445

To tax 62,82E!

The attribution of a person to the class of pure or mixed Polynesians is in the official censusmade simply on the basis.of his. om declaration, and therefore can not be regarded as reliable. As a rule, hovever, the inter- mixture is undoubtedly less in the Tuamotus than in any ot,her group in French Oceania, and the figures therefore certainly have some basis in fact. The percentages are anycay strikingly similar for Raroia and the Tuamotu group.

3. Sex rat&. French cemia -- ---Tu amo 1 - Raroig - / Sex ft- TO+ a1 Per cent Total Per cent Total Per cent I Male 1 32,920 Femala I 29,908 Total 62,828 . . The disproportion betileen the male, and female 'figures is very'mal-ked, especially if they are compared with' Europe and America,-where in almost all,

countries the difference is insignificant.. The ,most, surprising thing. is. that , :, there is a surplus .of males. in ';ill' the fi?egroups' in' Ftbn'ch 0ceda in,spite ' . r. of the varying local condition's. This' situation seems alsoto'be 'fairly&table, : : or at lemt has been for the.last 50 years for'khicii wdhave 'reliable data : . . . .. : (Valenziani, 1949, p. 666). , ...... Whatever the explanation may be for this curious preponderance of idles, the Tuamotus follow the general pattern. That the figures are slightly more disproportionate in this group than in French Oceania as a is certainly due to a greater female migration to T&iti. The figures for Raroia are strangely enough reversf$d, and seem to have been so for a long period. The percentages correspond t>a sex ratio of 120 males to 100 females for the w5ole group, and 88 males for 100 females for Raroia.

4.. Aae classes...... , . . . . French..Oceania . : , Tuamotu Raroia Age . . Tot,al Per cent Total Per cent- Total Per cent Below 20 33,239 52.9 3 249 49.4 49 ~6.6 Above 20 29,422 46.9 3,317 50.6 60 53.L ~otol 62,661 100 .OO 6,566 100.0 109 1.00.0 -

The official census separates the population only into two groups, those , above and those below20 years of age. For Raroia a more complete break-doism and also separation according to sex has been undert~kenin the section.on Population trends (Part B. 2 of this Chapter), but here we follovi simply the census.

The reversed figures for the Tuamotus when compared with French Oceania as a whole are certzinly - like the similar disproportion betwen the sexes in the previous table - due to. a migration to Tahiti. It seems to be a little more pronounced in Raroia than on the average, but on the whole it can certainly be said that,.. . generally spealcing Raroia. also in t$is case is typical for the group. .. . , . , ...... , ,: ,.. .. 5. Marital status. These figures should be compared with those in the preceeding table showing the age classes, where vie find that roughly half of the population is above 20 and consequently of marriage age. (The figure is actually somewhat higher as the natives often are physically mature long before t9o age -f TI?.) l'ne dlsc-rcpancy between the number of marriageable and married pi.sanu .s easily explained by the fact that the majority of the natives still have a con- siderable reluctance to adopt foreign patterns of a complicated legal character. Co-habitation without legal marriage is therefore the rule, and these de facto marriages are not show in the census. The situation is evidently the same in R.aroia as in the Tuainotus and French Oceania as a whole.

6. Professional status.

. -

. . he few employers, usually French or Chinese, and employees in the total population almost all live in Tahiti, the only island with an embryo of in- dustry. 'In Haroia as ':ell as everypihere else in .the Tuamotu group the natives are practically all independent land ovmers who prepare the co?ra themselves, or with the help of friends who work part-time. . ' '.'

7. ---Church member- 1 ' French 0ceania Tuamo tu Haroia ~enomination Total Per cen-t Total per cent Total per cent -a- , Protestant 34,LW. 54.8 494 7.6 3 2.8

Catholic 15,096 24.0 3,443 52.4 100 91.7 . .

Kanito* 2,073 3.1 I.,346 20.5 3.7 - ' . . 4

Mormoniw 1,218 . 1.9 510 ' 7.7 1 0.9

Other 1.1.8 1 9,832 15.5.- 773 0.9 Tow 62,661 100.0 6,566 100.0 109 100.0 -- -+ - * The Reorganized Church of LDS (1ndepend.ence Branch) * The Church of LDS (Salt Lake City Branch) The clearly distinguishable gecgmphical pa.tterns are easily explained if we consider the historical sequences. The first missionaries in French Oceania were protestants. They established thenselves principally in Tahiti, Moorea an8 ,the Austral and Leeward Islands'; v~herethey soon converted -the to+aiity of the'natives. Later arriving '1nj.ssionaries re,resenti.ng other . . rcs(Catholic, Mormon and ~anito)concentrated therefore naturally on virgin fields like the l'uamotus arid the iviakquesas. There they succeeded in establishing themselves firmly before ttie protestants took uu the competition in [email protected] is thus not surprising at all.'that the religious situation is different -in the Tuamotus from that in the rest of French Oceania.

%ether Rasoia i.s typical for the Tumotu group or not, is another ques- tion ~~hichit is unfair to answer on basis of the averages alone, as the churches are not evenly distributed. throu,ghout the group. A more important criterion than the simple average number 9f :2ersons beiogging to the various churcLes, is therefore the number of chur2hes represented on each atoll. In the following table the adl~inistrativeunits or districts into which the group is jdlividedhave been classified according to this criterion. "B;?ajortl is ar- bitrarily defined t3 mean a churchof which above 50% of the population is member. If trio churches exceed 35F9 both are rsgar6ed as major, churches with les,s than 10% members hr.ve not been included.

Number of atoils cith - no, of ..-a districts* . . no. of smaller

Out of the total number of 25 single major churches, 18 are Catholic, and out of the total number of 10 major churches sharing the dominance, 7 are Catholic. As Raroia-Takume not only belongs to the first class (atolls with . .. only onemajor church), but also is Catholic, the district can be said to . be. much more representative than the mere averages in the census indicate.

8. Summary.

The buestion of the relationship between the Tuamotu groq and French Oceania as a vihole is already sufficiently illuminated by the dcta presented above, and we shall therefore limit ourselves here to a brief summary of the place of Raroia in -the Tuamotu group. The size of the population of Earoia is close to the average. As to t,he racial composition, the age classes, the marital and. professional status, the population in fiaroia is identical or only insignificantly different from that cf the whole group. The sex ratio shows a slight surplus of females, whereas generally in the Tuamotus there is a small surplus of nen. In the religious field, finally there is a greater homogeneity than on most other atolls, as more than 90% of the population be- long to the same church. These two last mentioned facts nay have some influ- ence on the social structure and economic pattern, the possibility of which will be discussed in later chapters.

S+Atollsor group of atolls. This influence must, however, at any rate be exceedingly small, and with- out hesitation it can be said definitely that Raroia in practically all respects is typical for the demographic set-up in the Tuamotuan atolls. As other fac- tors like physical environment, general culture and economy are also shared 'rith the vrho3.e group, the finding:; of the present, study can certainly to a large ex- ten-t be applied to the group as a whole.

B. Population Trm.

In the previous section a comparison of the composition of the populations in French Cceania, the Tuamotus an2 Raroia.hfixed time (census of 17-18 Sep- teaher, 1951) was made. The compaTison was based on some basic characteristiss selected by the census officials. Here a?.ditional data collected by ourselves in Raroia will be presented, and where possible the etianires over longer or shorter periods rill be followed, thus showing also the dynamic aspect of the populution.

The material is arranged in three groups. The first deals simply with the general population trend in fiaroia compared with that in the Tuamotus and othw groups in Frencn Oceania since 1.863. The second contains data from Ra- roia on the natural incres.se during the period 1930-50. In the third group me find detailed infomation about the composition, migration and mobility of the population in Raroia, during the time of our repeated visits 1950-52. This gradual increase in the wealth of the documentation proportional to $he near- ness in time is only natural, as during our stays i.n the atoll we were able to gather much more and detaile8. information than usually can be included in the official records.

I. The native come-m.

At the end of the last century the Polynesian race seemed doomed. Since the first contact witn %astern culture the decline had everywhere been rapid, and it vas widely thought that the Polynesians ultimately were to become ex- tinct. A niarked change has, however, taken place since then - maybe principally due to intermarriage and to a greater immunity against epidemic diseases - and in French Oceania as everpihere elese in Polynesia, the survival of the native population seem now assured.

In order to show this evolutionary trend and the possible local. varia- tions in the principal grouFs of French Oceania, we have prepared Table 11, which excludes all other racial groups than the Polynesians, pure mixed. The reason for lumping Yne pure and mixed groups together is simply that the exact degree of intermixture is impossib1.e to determine in most groups (see Section A, 2). In Raroia where the islanders, as in many other of the Tuamotu a.tolls, still preserve their genealogies, an attempt has been made in Part 5 of this section to classify the inhabitants more accurately, but here the census figures, group4.ng mixed and pure natives together, vrill be used in order to permit comparisons. Table 11: Population h-ends in French Oceania, 1863-1951. ------.-.------A .- . .

. .

. . Tuanotu . .

. .

. . I i" 0\ f Table 111: Differential. evolution in soq~n of the grouns in French Ocm

Thou- sands 24

23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10

9

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Tu.amotu - - - - - Marquesas

-- -. -. -- Tahiti .+ + 4 + + Austral Table IV: Po~xiLationChan~es in Raroia. 1897-1951. As the figures show, the unexpected native come-back was for French Oceania as a whole very slow until1926, and thereafter increasingly rapid. (The statistics permit valid comparisons for French Oceania, only from 1902, as previously the Leeward islands were not pacified and no figures are avail- able).

The trend for French Oceania as a vihole, is, however, not followed in detail in each of the listed groups, taken separately, and %hAustral Islands in the 18801s, in the Tuamotu group around 1900, and in the Marquesas not until the 1920's. The main reason for this differential evolutiori seems to be the uneven impact of epidemics in the different groups. The Spanish influenza caused, for in- stance, a dovmward trend between the 1911 and 1926 census in all the groups, acept the Au~tralIslands!

If we now compare the trend in the Tuamotu group as a whole with that, in Raroia, as is done in Table IV, the most significant difference is that the upward trend seems to have started later in Raroia than on t,he average for the Tuamotus. T;:heLner this is due to prolonged epidemics or migratory moveinents is hard to say. As to the period prior to 1897 it must be noticed that no ac- curate census was taken. The estimate in the hnuaire des Etablissements Francais de llOceanie for 1863 gives 300 persons for Raroia, which is only slightly higher than the 1897 figure.

Table V: Number of Bir.ths and Deaths in Roroia, 1931-1950

I I Year Births Deaths I Tet,al Below 1 yr. 1-20 yrs. Above 20 yrs- 5 1 0 1 0 5 1 1 0 0 5 2 2 0 0 4 1 0 0 1 5 2 1 0 1 5 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 3 1 0 2 6 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 E 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 5 4 2 1 1 2 Li 2 0 2 6 3 1 0 2 2 2 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 1 4 3 0 1 5 3 2 0 - 1 Total 77 I 2. ----L--.Natural increase 1930-50 No detailed population statistics fo?:the individual &toll.; in the Tuamo- tu group have ever been published, but in the existing civil register in Raroia rre haye found. oomplete data as to the nuuibergf births and deat,hs for at least the 1~st20 pars, and they are presented in Table V.

Few comments are needed. %e high infant mortality v:hich, expressed per thousand is as high as 220, is of course to a large-extent due to an iworance on the part of the parents of even the most elementary principles of hygiene, but seems also to be a result of -the lack of' appropriate baby food. As the mothers usually participate in the copra work and take their young children with them to the copra sectors outside the village many of the babies easily catch colds or get pneumonia.

The detailed composition of the permanent population on January 1, 1953, is shovn in Table VI. Graphically the composition is pictured below. An in- terpretation of the facts will be attempted in the folloning parts of this chapter.

FEMALES --Tab1 e VI: Cornpos.i&.of the permanent population as to sex asage, January 1, 1950.

Age - Males Females Total - 4 2 6 8 5- 9 3 10 13 .. 10-14 5 9 14 15-19 8 7 15 20-24 3 2 5 25-29 3 4 7 30-34 8 2 10 35-39 2 4 6 40-44 5 5 10 L5-49 5 2 7 50-54 4 2 6

55-59 3. ' 2 5 60-64 0 1 1 65-69 2: 3 5 70-74 0 1 1 75-79 0 1 80-84 1 1 85-89 1 I"1 .' 1 Total 55 61 116 A

Wen living in the village on an atoll in the Tumotus, even for a very short time, one is immediately struck by the con'tinuous changes in the number of persons present. One meek the 'hole population may be there, the next only a handful, a third week oniy the women or the older people, ar;d so on. As these frequent variations - v;hich of course are not shom in any ordinary pop- ulst,ion statistics - may be of great significance for understaiding the econo- mic and social system, v!e have also recorded them.

These population movements are of three types:

1. lntra-atoll traveling, i.e. trips to others parts of the home atoll.

2. Inter-atoll traveling, i.e. visits to other atolls.

3. Real emigration or immigration.

The intra-atoll mobility (I) depends in Ftaroia entirely on the econoi~ic activ5.ties and will therefore be considered in a later chapter on copra pro- ductiun but the other trio types of mobility mill be dealt with here.

In order to distinguish between inter-atoll traveling (2) and rcigratorjr moveinents (3), we have recorded not only the actual number of persons in Ra- roia at the dates of our own censuses, but also all the persons who still could be regarded as permanent residents, i.e. having their home (houses) there. rn.he result is presented in Table VII: If we compare the permanent popdation for each year in Table VII with the natural increase during the sane period also according to our own records, (See Table V), we get the---- following series: Perm. Actual Natural -T-- Increase

Some interesting conclusions can immediately be d-rav,n:

1. There is a uninterrupted steady increase of the population, as shorn in the column for the permanent residents. This increase would even- tually be brought out even if only the number of actual residents were counted (as during the official censuses), but for shorter periods these figures my he deceptive, as seen in the second column.

2. There is very little 5.nmipration or erima'tion, as shoW by a con- parison bete~eenthe num.ber of perman-znt residents md the natural increase.

3. There is a considerab2.e mobility, as shomn by th? discrepancy be- tween the permanent and the actual population.

The natur:d increase has been discussed in k'art 2. of thi:. section, arid the figures here simply shoo that the general trenu noticed for the period 1931-50 continues. The true migrat,ory movenent will be de,dt with the next part, and sme exglanations of the figures in the table vill therefore suf- fice here.

During the period 1950-53 there was only one "immigrant", a young man who took up living v:ith a Raroian woman, buj.lt a house in the village and seemed intent on steying. TkLs explcins t'ne ir.cr+mse of t!ires persuns be- tween 1/1 1951 and 1/;1 1952, 71hihr:n the natural inwease was only tao ,rersons. Between 1952 and 1953 the natural increase %as four, but, two girls went to live with men, elsewhere in French Oceania, and the actual increase is thus only t7:o. If we are to judge froin our limited data, some migration to Tahiti is thus going on. The extent of it and the reasons for it v:ill be discussed in the next part. . .

The general mobility, which is our ma.in concern here, is cctually much greater than the figures indicate, as they simply siiow the ba3;a3~2 between the number of departed and returned. 2ersons at Vne given time. If instead we take into consideration not only these figures, but elk) & :?:as absent at the time of the various censuses, the natives' fondness for traveling is still more evident. The difference in act?~zilpopula.tion between the ill 1950 and l/l 1951 is 12 persons. The number of' persons aSsent for Longer or shorter periods during the year was, howwer, more than the double, or 29. Table VII: Com~ositionof the ...derinar~en% and actual p~u?.ation,1950-57. v-- 1 2 Age -.-i-m -F 28 15 - 29 12 11 45 - 59 6 -6 63 - Some of our other data are still more eloquent. Between January 1, 1950 and July 1, 1952, for instance, the following changes took place:

Cut of the 107 persons on the atoll on January 1, 1950, 22 were else- nhere in French Oceania in July 1952, and 6 were dead.

On the other hand, on July 1, 1952 there were on the atoll14 persons (Raroians and others) who lived in or visited other islands on January 1, 1950. The number of births was 10.

If we went only by the absolute figures in table, the difference betvreen the figures for 1950 and 1952 is 6 persons. As a matter of fact, the total number of persons, who have been awciy from Raroia during these two and one- half years is at least 36 (22 & 14)! . . Of the 29 Raroians visiting other islands in 1950, 25 had Tahiti as their destination,. . The main reasons for undertaking a voyage to Tahiti, which may take anywhere. from five days to two weeks (see Chapter III), are in, prob- able order of importance:

1. A desire for a change and diversion.

. : 2. Necessity of medical treatment.

3. Legal matters rrhich must be settled.

4. A wish to see relatives.

There seems to be a seasonal pattern for these visits if v:e are to judge from the data collected during a single year and presented in Table VIII. The increased number of visits towards the end of the year is certa-hly due to t'ne fact that the months of November and December is an off-season immediately preceeded by copra work in the most productive sector (see Chapter V). The Raroians then have considerable money and no imperative duties. The length of a visit to Tahiti is rarely less than one month, and often it is prolonged for several months or even half a year, but the limited data we have does not per- mit any far-ranging conclusions.

The visiting between Baroia and Tahiti is pronounced but natural orith the paramount importance of Papeete. The Raroians are practical.ly never visited in return by their relatives living in Tahiti, and other Tahitians than those employed on the schooners rarely have reason for visiting an atoll. The few Tahitians living in Raroia in 1950 were either married to Raroians or temporarily employed as workers by wealthy local landowners (see Chapter VII).

Only four of the 29 Raroians who visited other islands in 1950 had an atoll in the Tuamotus as their destination. It must be noted, however, that the frequent visits to Takume, the only atoll which can be reached by exist- ing canoes and boats in Raroia, aye not included in this figure. Neither have we recorded the great number of visits from Takume to Raroia.

It is surprising that so little visiting is going on between Raroia and the other atolls in the group (except Takume), in spite of the fact that there is a great detil of intermarriage (see ,next.part). The explanation might simply be that Tahiti is the cornrnon meeting-ground for natives from all the atolls, and that it always is difficult to secure a passage both ways within reason- able time between Raroia and otheratolls......

'The figures in the p-evious sections indicated tha-t some real migration occurred, althoughthe period forwhich vie had data was too short to permit any general conclusions as to its exteat. The only Nay to get any additional in- formation and the necessary time perspective seems to be to investigate the geographic origin of the population and to study family stories, both of which methods v;e have tried. The geographic origi.n, defined as the home-place or permanent residence of the parents, is shom .in the fo1lov;ing table:

Table IX: Geomaphic origin of wopu1atj.on. 1/1 1950.

I Female I Total

Raroia Tu amo tu Tahiti Moorea 0 1 1 Raiatea 2 0 2 I Total I 57 1 107 1

There are thus 16 "foreign" men and 14 "foreign" wornen in the a.tol1, all from the Tuamotus ant?. the Society Islafids, or from two out of the five groups in French Oceania. wlhnt there is no intermarrying with the krauesas is not too surprising, as the natives of this group speak their om local dialect and have somewhat different customs, but vihy the~ustralIslands and Mangareva are not reppesented is difficult to explain.

If we now consider the mari.tal status of these Itforeigners" vre find the following. Out of the total number of 16 "foreign1' males, 13 are married to Raroian woinen, 1 is the wido%~erof a Raroian woman, 1 is an adopted baby, and only 1 is mrried to a &oman who is also a "foreignerv. Out of the total num- ber of 11, "foreign" woinen, 8 are married to Raroian men, 2 are widows of Raroim husbands, 3 are adopted young girls, and only 1 is married to a "fore- ign" male.

1rnmigral;ion into Raroia is thus intimately linked with marriaee. This intermarrying has probably been constant over the years, which is shovm by the fact that of these 24 marriages betwen a Raroian and a "foreigner" (13 f 1 males and 8 & 2 females), 15 were contracted more than 10 years ago and 9 since then.

A corresponding emisratis is going on all the time, too, .as a perusal of t,he family stories and genea1.ogies indicates, but the extent of it is of course impossible to ascertain nith the same exactness, and we have not tried to compile any sthtistics. The main reason for these frequest inter-atoll alliances is the continued operation of the pre-Europeari incest rules, which forbid marriage beto~eenall persons mo're c1osel.y related than thi1r.d degree cousins. As the popul-ation is small., most families are c1osel.y related and tne coiniion prac-Lice cf adoption, . . t.. ... as Li!e same i'oxe as ac-tual Eood ties, s'till fvr-ther reduces the num- ber of "unrelated" people, the possibilities fpr an individual to find a sexual mate and marriage partner in the home isl.an6 are thus ci-nsiderably limited. The, same conditions are prevalent on all the othe? atolls in tine group, and thkre is therefore every reason to snppose that in the long run the emigration -from Raroia 3.8 compensated by an equally extensive immigration 3 the atoll. The residence rule is bilocal. and neol.oca1, and the actual choice of dwelling place seems to a large extent to be determined by economical consider- ations, i.e. the home atoll of the partner who possesses the more land is usuall~preferred. In all probability both sexes are therefore represented in approximately the same number among the emigrants. This is rendered still more likely by t,he fact that the number of male and female immigrants is roughly the same for the period covered by Table IX.

An inevitsble result of the frequent intermarriages between Raroians and other islanders is of course a progressi~rerace mixture. In section A. 2 of this Chapter the nunber of mixed Polynesians in Raroia was, according to the census of 17/18 September 1951, only 22, while the remaining 97 natives vere listed as pure-Fjlooded, and-.tine number of Chinese vas 2. . , These figures were based solely on the verbal declaration of each per- son, and thus of doubtful reliability. TS'e tried therefore to determine the number of mixed persons on a more exact basis, viz. the pedigree of each in- divi.dua1. Contrary tb the situation in other parts of French Oceania, the islanders in the TuamotuG (especially in the eastern hai.f) almost all possess genealogies goink:: bat$ atleast to t'ne time of t&eJirst contact xith other racial grouos. Vie have 'gorie. over. each individual's pedi.grse in Raroia and marked off all persons 'o? non-Polynesian extraction,-'and; depending on the nearness to these ancestors, the degree of intermixture has bsen fixed for every islander present on January 1, 1950.

. , Persons who did not kno~.their genealogies .(mostly Tahitians) md Ta- hitians foun6 in the pedigrees have. arbitrarily been countedas having 1/8 . . foreim admixture. Persons ~ithless than 1/8 foreign edmixture have Seen counted as pure Polynesians, There rniq still be some hidden intermixture, but as the islanders seem to keep track of all adulterous chiidren and usually without hesitation indicate the real father, this source of error is negli- gible. . .

The result of the classification of the 3.aroiaris according to this con- siderably more rigorous, although of 'co~.~rsenot completely sat.isl"zctory, definition of racial purity is shsm in the following table: _Table X: R&?l composition of the population on Jenuarv 1. 1950.

--Race Males Females , Total Pure Polynesian 31+ 39 73 Pure xhite 0 0 0 Pure Chinese $/iPxed Polynesian-Vihite ijiixed Polynesian-Chinese Mixed Vvhite-Chinese Total 50 1

The number of mixed 9ersons is thus altogether 33, or almost three t,imes higher than the figure based on the verbal declarations, vhich mas 12 (see Section A, part 2). That the mixed persons are justified to a large extent in identifying themselves xith the group of pure Polynesians is however proved by the fact that the admixture is very slight in most cases, as shom in the fol- loving table. --Teble XI: Extent to which the mixed persons are Polpesian, Jan. 1. 1950.

,.A--- 1~~iesian,.A--- ~~m~l~~l 1 --

The many varying degrees of intermixture show that the intermarrying be- tween the various racial groups has gone on for a considerable time. A still better vay to 10110~the trend backwards is simply to classify all the mixed persons according to age, which is done here:

Table XII: Ane of the mixed nersons in Raroia, January 1, 1950.

Total 16 6 1 33

Tine di.striku,ui;.ionof mixed bloods over all three age classes in a number roughly proportions-te to the total number of persons in each age group (see Section A, part L), shows definitely that racial mixture first appeared sev- eral generations ago, and that it still occurs to a large extent. It is very likely that this process evenutally will lead to the same thorough changes of the islanders' physical characters as those which have taken place in so many other Polynesian groups. *. _, ... a. .:: . i!<. : ...... /.... .' ...... :'... : ...... , . . . ..: ...I. ... I ...... : . . This 16gicall'~brings upthe question 'of.'hbvirepresentative are physical measurements taken :today on living Polynesians fbr dete~~iningtheracial type : of the pre-&ropean populatioq. We' have measi~r~dthe total adult pvpuhtion and shall present the resp1.t in a iepzrate study. Noattempt rvii.1 thmefore be mds to discuss this pro,bleni here. <'-Itmay, hov(e.ver, be worth while mentioning ... that the cephalix index is considerably lower tor the group of ir\dii~idual,s .. classified as pure Polyriesians according :to our criterio6 than ?or 'the. total : '.'...... number of adults in the ato1.1. ..,...... , ... , .., . . . . . , ...... , . ., ! . . Chapter I11

-M4XlAi- - --CPCLE - -OF - PVLXTS-- IN-- 1950

January 1st Sunday. ";hole population in village.

2 - 10 Repair v:orlc on the v:harf and preparations for an expected visit bg. the governor. Rains and calm.

13 The administrator of the Tuamotu group visits R~roia

middle Sorne of tine islanders hegi.n to prerare copra in the Raro sector oo ti-.e soutinwest side of the atoll.

16 Schooner loads copra.

21 Schooner loads copra.

end Half of the population works in Raro. ------Fobrum beginning Strong wind. Between half and three fourths of the population works in Raro.

middle Heavy rains.

Schooner loads copra.

Schooner loads copra.

.-ivlarch beginning The worls in Raro continues. 19-21 Schooner loads 18 Tons in Raro, the whole popula- tion back in viilage for several days. Many por- sons drunk. ... r;ork continued :in Raro.

-Anril ].st Vihole copulation back in villaga for Easter. 2-7 Gom2lete calm.

6 Two schooners load copra.

7 Gcdd Friday.

10-11 Three schooners load copra. end First shoals of crucienophtholmnus appear, arid many postpone their departure zo Raro. !& beginning About a fourth of the popu!.atton works in a new copra sector, Gake.

Schomer loads copra. Schooner loads copra. Jeanne d Arc celebration. The whole population in village. middle Numerous shoals of Selar crumenophtholmnus. Heaxy rains and winds. 18 Ascension Day. The whole population still in vi1.- lage. end Most people back in &ke.

-June whole month Shell diving by a small number of men. beginning A few families continue the work in Gake 3 - 6 Three schooners load copra. 7 The missionary arrives. The '::hole population in village. Schooner loads copra. Oe Gaulle Daycelebrated. Restaurants and wheel of fortune. The celebrations continue a week. second half The turtles begin to appear. 27 - 30 Schooner loads copra in Gake. 30 Communion for the children. The vhole population in village;

July wholemonth Shell diving by a small number of men. beginning Strong wind. The whole population stays in village waiting for,better &eather and provisions. Turtles frequently caught. middle No food and very little. yater left. Most people live on fish coconuts. 14 French Natiocal ~aycelebrated.. Restaurants and wheel of fortune continue a week. 23 - 24 schooner arrives with provisions.

August beginning Some families return to work in Ruro. Many men chase turtles. . . Assumption celebrated. The shole population in village. 18 Tne missionary leaves. end Calm. ih&ssible to return to Raro. The men on turtle' hunt. .-- - -. -- . -- -. . September 1st Schooner loads copra. Visit by the deputy. . . 12 The administrator of the Tuamotu group visits Haroia. The whole population in village.

middle The tur-tle season over.

rest of the month Three fourths of the population works in Raro.

October beghning Three fourths of the population still in Raro.

15 - 19 Two schooners load copra. Everykody plays card. i~lanydrunk.

end Most islanders work again in Raro.

November vrhole The lands around 'the village vjorked. Everybody month permanently returned to the village.

8 - 10 Schooner loads copra.

rnidd3.e Bird catching and egg collecting begin and last unkil .the end of the yeas.

11 Amis-Lice Day celebrated.' %heels of fortune and restaurants. The celebration continues two weeks.

end Strong wind.

December winole Everybody in village making copra on the adjacent month lands.

middle Rest period.

20 Christmas celebrations begin and last until the end of the year. ----

Schooners calling at Raroia inajg.

The schooner calls are such important events in the annual cycle and play so vitel a part in the islanders' lives, that vie have decided to present here separatela the comdlete deta on the frequency of the schooner communications with Papeete.

Tnere is no boat or schooner in haroia seaworthy enough to carry people or freight to Papeete, and the feu? canoes or boats in existence not even be used for visiting other atolls in the Tuamotu group with the exception of the neighbour atoll of Takurne. The fiaroians depend therefore for traveling and transport exclusivelv on the trading schooners belonging to private owners or (in one case) to the Tuiimotu Go-operative Society. The total nurnber of boats cal.ling at Raroia in 1950 was 38. 01 these three were administration schooners and one a naval hydrographic ship. The Raroians had thus 34 opportunities to sell copra and to buy merchandise. (Fnlch was more than enough from the commercial point of view as the islan2er.s had copra to sell only to 24 of the schooners.)

All the trading schooners have their base in Papeete and return there after each cruise to unload the copra and take aboard a new stock of merchan- dise. %is does not necessarily mean that the islanders had 31, opportunities t,o go to Papeete during the year. Practical arid economic considerations re- duce seriously this number. A trnding voyage to the Tuamotus usually lasts from four to six weeks, and in soae instance whein tne schomer visits also the Marquesas or-Mangareva, it takes at lea,st two mon-bhs. Since the passengers pay so much per day for their transportation, the itinerary of the schooner after it leaves Raroia is of considerable importance. Thus it can be seen that all the schooner cal-1s cannot be regarded as of the same value to the islanders, arid we have therefore cl.assified them according to the pmctical opportunities to travel which they offer. (See Table x111.j

Let us first consider the opportunities to take passage from 3aroj.a to Tahiti. The important factor here is of course the lengtn of the voyage, and we have therefore separated the 34 schooners calling at Raroia into two groups: Those which Cali at Raroia at the beginning, anti those which call at Raroia tovrards the end of their cri?j.se. (Called res2ec4;ively "Comiilg" and f%eturning".) If we disregard all. the schooners in the first category, as the Raroians do themsel.ves, the number of opportunit,ies to go to Papeete is im- mediately reduced t,o 14. (Whether the schooner's call is announced 'oeforeliancl over the radio is of no importance in thiscase, as the' islanders are ready to leave at any time;) ...... The number of occasions to travel inthe opposite direciion, from Papea to Raroia, must also be reduced. None of the schooners follows a regular schedule or a fixed itinerary, but the atolls !!here ,the schooaer is to call are announced for each voyage over "Radio Tahiti". Depending on the circum- stances and information gathered. during the cruise the itinerary, may, however, be changed, some atolls by-psssed &Id additional ones visited. For Raroians who want to take passa.ge from Papeete the only communications on which they can depend are of course the schooners v~hichhave announce$ thzt they have in- cluded Aaroia in their itinerary, and the fact that other schooners may call there eventually does not help them the slightest. Khen the' announced schooners coming from Papeete are separated from.the unannounced ones, t,he nunber of prac- tical opportunities for transportation.is reduced from 20 to 12. . . For Raroians who wanted to go to Tahiti in 1950 there was at least one schooner a month, except during the months of ;uly and December, and the aver- age number of opportunities per month was 1.2. For Racaians who wanted to return to their hom is1'and:from. Papeete, there mere no schooners during the months of March, May, July and August, ind the aonthly average was only 1.0. ... These relatively rare and irregular cominunicatj.ons tiith Papeete are cer- tainly to. a large extent the cause of the retardeddeve!.opment of certain as- pects of the economic &rd sociallife in Raroia. The results of these "lags" will, where possible, be. studied in their relation to the culture as a'whole . ' in subsequent chapters...... Tsbie XIII: 1Jurnbr of tra6i.n~schooners callin at Raroia in 1950. -- Coming frc Return iilg Month Total ---- Arinounccd January 4 February 3

Iflarch 2

April 6

Hilay 3 June 5

July 1

Augus 1

September L,

October 2 . ..: ., November 2

December 1

Total 34 Chapter IV

...... ,. 1. ,Historical ba6keround...... The' problems of land ownership are seriou's and extremely complex in Ra- roia as everywhere else in the Tuamotus, and a special study would be required in order to throw full light on them, We have lacked th.e time for this, and the following is therefore only 'a rapid survey of the situa-tion witin some gen- eral observations.

At the root of all difficulties is undoubtedly the rapid change of the economic system without corresponding necessaG adjustments in land usage and ownership. Before the rise'of the copra trede, each atoll.was divided into districts, which belonged to the extended family units, and even if there was some rivalry over the food resources, ccirtainly no disputes occurred rritkin each district concerning the land itself.

Khen, however, during $he second half of the last century (see Chapter I), the natives began to realize the value and advantege of making plantations of coconut palms, they also gradually became "land-conscious" and v:anted to secure the exclusive rights to the profit from the lands they had planted. Tiis cre- ated considerable friction, and the situat,ion soon became very confused.

Vghen France finally established undisputed sovereignty over the Tuamotus in 1880, an attemnt was im?iediately made to create order and to introduce legal procedures. Committees of prominent natives were created in all the atolls - in Raroia in 1883 - v!hich were to examine thoroughly the quesbion of land omership.

The basic principle governing the work of these committees vas that legal title to land should be given only to theindividual who could prove by rec't- ing his genealogy that he belonged to the extended family, which occupied that land in pre-European times. tihen there were conflicting claims, the ovrnership was to be attributed to the person with the closest genealogical affiliati-on viith the founder of the lineage occupying the disputed Lan6.. This principle was generally res2ected by the natives, 2nd the genealogies for each district were officially recorded in public books, which henceforth were to be the basis of all land settlements.

The committees were furthermore charged with the task of making ac- curate surveys and determining the boundaries of each parcel. (A work for which they were poorly equipped and prepared and therefore could not perform properly.) In each case the documen+,s were sent to the Lnnd Eureau ia Tahiti, and once confirmed by publication in the official journal and registered at the bureau they had legal validity.

This arrangement seem nt first glance adequate, but a basic injustice was inherent in it. Many epidemics and diseases had already ravaged the group, and a great number of people had died in Raroia as elsewhere in the Tuamotus. The population decrease was naturally not proportionate in all the different districts into which the atoll was d

Leaving the question of'equitabkdiStribution aside, the problem seemed nevertheless to be satisfactorily resolved. New difficulties arose soon, how- ever, and they viere princip6lly of .two kkincls: ...... :. . . 1. he to th.e ins%abi:lityof the marriages, the complexity of the re- lationshi.>s and the uncertain status of the variouschildren (legal, illegal and adopted), the inheritors preferred in many cases to cultivate the land in common in accordance with old native custom. In this way the clear titles es- tablished in 1883 were already confused after one or:.two generations.

2. In other.'cases the existing land was.careful1y divided up among all inheritors, which meant %hat the land parcels continuously increased in num- ber, grew smaller and became more widely scattered. A family hich in one generation ~ppliedthis principle, might in the next adhere to the first, which of course did not make the situation any better. .', The only possibleremedies would have been: in the first place to set- tle the inheritance questions after each death, and in the second place to redistribute and concentrate'the land holdings through buying and selling. These solutions,"i.hich areapplied regularly in countries with Western eco- nomic and leg21 systems, have been tried by the natives. The reasons for this are probabXy ' the following:

1. The natives have still not adopted a commercial attitude towards land, but regard it as inalienable, as did their ancestors.

2. Yany of the land surveys made by the committees in 1883 were faulty and cou1.d never be used as a basis for commercial transactions.

3. Many of the titles established in 1883 were never registered for one reason or another, and others werelost at,the Land aureau in Papeete dur- ing the cyclones of 190%' and 1906.- Therefore no one knows any longer who is the owner of these lands, and they can not be traded.

4. The natives are completely ignorant and even suspicious of Nestern legal procedures'. hrthermore they have to go to Papeete each time, even for legalizing a will, which makes them still less inclined to have recourse to the law.

The situation hasgradually deteriorated, and today the atoll is split up in innumerable parcels of iridculously small size; each omer's land hold- ings are extremely scattered and very fern Raroians have clear titLes or any titles at all to the land t'ney use. As a result there are many disputes, much time is lost in traveling between the scattered lands, and long stretches of land are not planted, as nobody knows who hhe oviners are. Khen me -subse- quently speak of ownership, & faa occupancy is thereby meant. 2. Present situation.

The total number of land ~arcelsoutside the village, where the condi- tions of course are different, is in Earoia approximately 1,000 for a total vege-tated area of 921 hectares. Theoretically the barren parts of the atoll rim have owners, too, but as nobody is interested in these portions and no re- liable information concerning ownership could be obt'ained, they are not in- . , cluded in the total number. of land parcels' above. . , Of the 921 hectares of vegetated area, 33k are covered with other vegnta- tion than coconut palms (see Chapter I), which probably indicates the approxi- mate proportion of disputed lands or lands without kno~mowners. The average size of each parcel is thus less than one hectare, and few seem to surpass or fall below this figure. There are maybe 20 or 30 land holdings bigger than 2 hectares, but on the other side, even,many of the 75 islets with a vegetated area smaller than one hectare are tiivided up between two or more amers.

The' greatest land holdings exist on the five big islets with. the notable exception of the is1et;vihere the village is situated. We have surveyed three of these islets: Tefou on the east side of the atoll, Teputaiti, south of the village,on the,west side, and the vrhole stretch of land north of the village. The figures for these islets are: ., ... Te tou 18 hect. 19 parcels Teputaiti 63 hect. 52 parcels North of the village 27 hect. 63 prrcels

How much land, measured in hectares, each individuel o~msunfortunately can not be computed with any exactness, as no detailed map of :the atoll exists and titles are lacking for a grea't number of lands as mentioned above. . In or- der to get at least a rough idea of the distribution of the lsnd, we have chosen to use as a'basis for our estimate the amount of copra prod~cedby each adult individual on his otcn lands during a year. As thesefigures are complete and reliable, vie think that they give a better picture of the situation, than simply a list,of the number of land parcels owned by each person.

Table XIV shows the annual production of copra for each adult individual (above 20 years of ape) in Raroia.

Table XIV: Land holdings in Raroia as judged from production fis-.

Annual produc- Number of Total number Total number ti~nin tons Males of tons 0 16 0

Total The difference between the total annual production of copra, 187 tons (see Chapter V, 8), and the figure above, 180 tons, is due to the fact that some few individuals who om land in Raroia live elsewhere in French Oceania. But as a person, who migrates to another island, as a rule can not depend on his remaining relatives to send him money from the produce of his lands, the actual number 'of absent land owners is probably somec:nat higher than the sta- tistics indicate.

The group of landless persons is principally made up of f'foreigners", i.e. natives from other islands in French Oceania, married to Raroians. The only exceptions are trm II foreigners" who were adopted young and given land. A yound Raroian man or woman customarily receives a parcel of land from his or her parents when marrying, and as the karoians marry young, all men and Domen above 20, with me exception, also have their own lands.

3. Concrete exam-.

In order to give a concrete example of hovi confused the land question is in all its espects, we include finally here more detailed data for one section of the atoll. The section is the northern part of the islet on rhich the vil- lage is situated, and it measures roughly 150 x 603 meters. Ke surveyed it simply by pacing in company of the members of the village council who indicated the boundaries of the land holdings. The result is shovrn on the accompanying map (Map A).

The total number of land parcels for this section, measuring 27 hectares, is 63. Many of the parcels have identical names, and altogether there are only 23 names for these 53 parcels. Thjs fact seems to indicate that larger land units have been divided fairly recently. This is also the opinion of the na- tives, who claim that the splitting into smaller units has occurred since the official survey in 1883.

In order to verify this and to study more in detail the changes which have taken place since 1883, we have searched through the entire register for Raroia at the Land B.~reau in Tahiti. That the register is incomplete was im- mediately shown by the fact .that titles for only 19 land parcels in the chosen section were fourid. These 19 parcels totalled roughly 10 hectares, whereas the section actually measures 27 hectares! For almost tv~othirds of the land there are thus no titles at all.

Of the 23 land names in use today 8 were found in the register, and the number of parckls with identical names'vrere in 1883 and 1950

Land on the - Number of parcels map no. 1883 1950

I XIX I 2 1

] Total 1 17

That a considerable fragmentation' reaily has ta.ken place during the last 70 years is thus amply demonstrated for our sample, and everything seems to in- dicate that this is a general trend in Raroia, .and probably elso in the Tua- motus as a xhole. Subdivision of lands had, however, in all likeness also oc- curred in post-t'hite time previous to 1.893, as the situation al-ready then was at variance with the old Polynesian principle: one land - one name.

Out of the 17 land parcels for v8hich titles viere found in the register,' 16 had single owners, and one had three brothers as owners in 1883. The situation was thus surprisingly clear at the outset, but during the intervening '10 years it has become so confused that it now is almost impossible to trace. the history of many of these parcels with certainty...... ,.

Ke have interrogated all the indiv?~dualsat present regarded asoi'iners of the 63 parcels into which the sectio'n (Nap A) is divided. ..They are at'%east 150 in-number - we gave upat Vnis point of sheer exhaustion - but many':of them are ofcourse identical, as the same person frequently claims more th6wone. 'i parcel:. It would be useless to repeat the exp1anation.s of each individual as.: to how he establishes his claims, as ttey are too conflicting and fragmentary; . . and me shall therefore only give a few examples.. . ,...... Get us for instance take 1and.no.. IV (Map A) and cite the case stories 0.f . . a couple of parcels: ...... ' . ~ Parcel 1 is owned by a person "A" and his sister who lives in Takume. Their right is, however, violently contested by three. second degree cousins. .:: "A" makes the copra, but does not send any money to his sister. He has no title to the land...... Parcel 2 is owned by a rioman nho received it in the.fol1owing wag: Three generations ago there lived in Raroia-acouple who p~ssessed~agreatnumberof lands.. The tvo daughters "B" and.."Cn inherited ail the lands; but d.id not di- vide them up between themselves. 'W died first and left four \children, .but her sister "CU took control of all the lands.. llCN had no children an8 before. she died she distributed the lands among her nieces, the four daughters of "B". The first. received 30 parcels(anong them. .the one. in question), the second 27, the third 6 adthe focrth. 5. The reason for this unequal distribution Is -.... ; said.to have been that the two .first nieces tere the favorites of "C". The.. husband of "C" receive&.nothing. tie is still .alive but does not seem to have : any objection to the arrangement. No title exists...... : :Parcel ir. is owned by a single person. There is a title to the land, or at-least R title, which with some benevolence could be interpreted as describ- ing tiis parcel, but the owner is not able to prove his. reLationship with the original ovner, in whose name the title is issued. , .. . ,. ,. Parcel-... - . .. 5.. is. disputed by half a dozen persons nith conflicting versions of the legal and genealogical facts. ..: . . . , ,hd so on and on. & absurdurn., .:... . .It is of course outside the $cope of the present study to try to ind:cate definite solutions to the but it must be mentioned that aprescr5p--' tion lav:, granting title to a person after 30 years of uninterupted and uncon- tested occupancy of land, has been applied elsewhere in French Oceania in 'troublesome cases. Such a soluticn requires, however, first a detailed land survey and careful exsmination of the situati.on. Chapter V

SURPLUS PRQCU CTIOX

The main feature of the economic system in Raroia is the extreme depend- ence of the population on one single source of income, the copra crop, and tine startling degree to which the islanders have abandoned the old direct subsis- tence activities in favour of a surplus economy. It is therefore only logical to begin the description of production in Raroia with the activities directed at the creating of a surplus, and leave the treatment of the other economic activities until a later chapter.

Due to tine infertile soil and the limited natural resources there are few products of an atoll like Raroia on which a surplus economy dependent on t'ne world market could be bssed, and the only ones which have been tried So far are the sea slugs, the mother of pearl shells and the copra. Of these the copra has gradually become of paramount importance. For almost a century beginning in the 1819's there was a regular export of sea slugs, and many na- tives in Raroia and other atolls regularly dived for and prepared sea sl~dgs for export. Since the last world war the Chinese market has, horever, been closed, and the consumption of the local Chinese population in French Oceania (about 7,000) is so limited thst nobody finds it worth-while to collect sea slugs any more.

A. Mother-of-pearl Shell-Divinc.

The diving for mother-of-pearl shell began almost simultaneously u:ith sea slug collecting, but vihereas the sea slug collectors worked individually and sold their product to the traders, the pearl shell collecting v+as organized largely by foreign merchants, vho hired natives to do the diving. In the be- ginning the numerous pearls mere a more. important source of income than the shells themselves, but today pearls are extremely rare, due to the frequent diving, and a negligible source of fncome.

There is some danger that the supply of shells may become exhausted. Strict measures have been necessary to preserve the beds. Diving is per- mitted now only at certain atolls during limited periods in well defined sec- tors. As the shells grovi only under specific conditions they are not found everywhere in the group. The actual number of highly productive lagoons (above 100 tons per season) is not more than five. The number of lagoons of secondary importance (among them Raroia) is seven. In 3aroia diving is, how- ever, difficult as the lagoon is rather deep, 75-150 feet, znd only the most skilled divers can share in this source of incoern.

Sometimes during the open diving seasons a limited number of natives from. other atolls come to Haroia in order to participate in the diving, and the last time this happened in 19L7 the total amount of shell gathered.was 11.7 tons. The Raroians contribute, hoviever, only a small proportion of this amount. The number of Haroians diving during the two months the season lasted in 1950, vrhen no natives from other atolls participated, w8.s only eleven. The to%al amount of shells collected was 2,7L2 kgs, or an Eiverage of 216 kgs per diver. Since the sums earned in this way- are insignificant (in spite of the high 1950 price of 30 francs a kilo) compared to their Copra earnings, the Pen do not 'take this diving in the home atoll seriously, but combine it kith fish- ing or do it mostly for fun.

, Like all other. natives in French Oceania, the Haroians may participate in the diving permitted seasonally every year. in certain of the other atolls in the Tuamotu group. As a rule few of them find it worth v:hil.e, in spite of the huge sums a. good diver can earn. $hen the neighbouring atoll of Takume is open for diving, however, almost the whole population migrates Ynere. The reasons for this preference for Takume are very simple. The atoll is so close to Raroia that it can he reached with outrigger canoes, and the lagoon is so shallox*: that even inexperienced divers and women can participate. Furthermore it is enclosed, which means that there are no dangerous 'sharks.

No diving occurred at Tzikume during 1950, when most of the data for the present study were collected, but in July-September 1952, rshen we revisited the atoll rith the other members of the Pacific Science aoard's team, diving was going on, and we gathered some additional inf~rmat~ion.

The tendency to migrate to Takume in whole family groups seemed very pro- nounced, as seen by the following ta.ble showing the number of haroians living in Takume du.ring the middle of the diving season, on September 8, 1952:

Age 1 f,lales I Females / Total

About tvo thirds of the total population of Raroia lived at this time thus on Takume, and all except the children below 14 were more or less actively engaged in the diving. Those left behind in Raroia were mainly small children and old people.

The income derived from diving is good by any standard. An adult male can collect between 50 and 100 kilos of shells per day, and a woman or younger man at least half that amount. Tve have no exact figures for the total income of the Raroians, as vie visited Takume only once. The diving was still going on xhen vre left, but v:e have tried to make a rough estimate based on informa- tion volunteered by the divers themselves.

As a rule the divers do not stay the full season of four months on Takuine, but relax from time to time and return to liaroia. Betneen 45 and 60 days of actual diving per individual per season is therefore a fair guess. As . . . . As the price paid for the shells varied between 30 and 45 francs a kilo, a good diver should have earned around 200,000 francs ($3,175) and a woman or young man half that sum during a season.

It must., however, once more be stressed tha.t the diving is a strictly ssacoric.1 activity; that the prices fluctuate greatly; and that most of the money earned is immediately spent. In spite of the big occasional income a Raroianmay derive from shell diving, it plays nevertheless a subordinate part to copra growing and preparation in the economic life of the islanders. . , .~ A special study of the diving is highly needed, not only from the eco- nomic point of view b~t'alsofor clarifying certain social processes, as a great deal of 8.cculturation takes place during visits to atoils during the diving season. The limited time and the concentration of our work on one ato1.1, has hitherto prevented us from studying thisinteresting. . complex. We hope it rrill be possible to do this sometime in the future.

B. Copra Production.

.As the base of the economy and the only regular source of income, copra production, has profoundly influenced all aspects of the natives' lives. Ke have therefore judged it more appropriate and convenient to treat here in its functional context not only the purely economic activities related to copra growing, but also the interrehtion and interdepender.ce among these and other activities or aspects of the culture. De have also found it useful to include a short outline of the his-torical background. . ,:

1. The rise of the copra trade.- . .

Contrary to the present situation, there existed in the Tuamotu group in pre-European times very few coconut palms, and on uninhabited atolls there were no coconut trees at all. This fact is proved no-t only 5y the numerous native traditions but also by the observations of the first European visitors to the group.+'

This relative rarity of palms, which has surprised many anthropologists, is easily explained. if we consider the smal.lness of the. atdl pdpulations and the productivity of the cocbriut palm. C'ith three or Four excepiions there were only some hundred inhabitants on each atoll in pre-European times, and as each palm produces: at least 50 nuts a year, 20 to 30 palms amply provided for an individual'sneeds. Spread out over the whole atoll in accordance with the scattered habitation pattern, the few thousand palm trees required by the in- habitants, wesethus easily lost among the other vegetation. This othervege- tation consisted principally of pandanus palms, v:hich gave the natives an equally if not still more im@or

The first traders who visited the +oils from Yne 1830's and onward were 'principally interested in sea slugs, pearls and she]-ls, as a1.res.d~mentiones, but gradually they began also to encourage the natives to plant more paln trees, and many of them even brought sprouting nuts from Tahiti and had barren ato1l.s %r% .. - +For a list of these see Introduction. planted with them. The missionaries proselytising in the group during the second half of the century accelerated further this trend and many times even directed the planting themselves. The result was that at the turn of the cen- tury on practically all atolls the pandanus and other vegetation had been re- placed extensively with palm trees.

At the beginning the oil vias cxtracted on the spot and exported in bar- rels, which was a somewhat wasteful and iuefficient prccedure. The introduc- tion in the 1870's of the simple method of drying the meat of the nut, wkich then was exported undoubtedly gave the planting and the trade further impetus.

2. Change of settlement patterns.

In pre-European times the population of each atoll was fai-rly evenly spread out over all the inhabitable land, ar.d each extended family had its om section of the land and lagoon. Ov~nershipwas invested in the'family as' a whole. The use of the products was decided by the head of the family group after more or less democratic deliberation viith the other members.

An important change in residence pattern was effected during t'ne second half of the century, when the natives were gradually converted by European missionaries, who for practical reasons persuaded the natives to group them- selves together in villages. The scattered habitations had not been an ob- stacle for the ancient religion, as each family had its ovm priest, and cult places were easily constructed wherever needed. %t nith only one missionary priest for each atoll, ~hocould visit it only for limited periods each year, and a single church building, the concentration of the population became a necessity.

The traders, too, preferred to have the natives gathered in one pl-ace, and that trading possibilities were deemed important by the natives is shom by the fact that many of t,he new villages were built near the pass or ship 1-anding place of the a-t,oll.

Another fact which certainly dso contributed to accelerate the change in settlement pattern was the population decrease due to the ravages of nevrly introduced diseases. It was only natural for the surviving members in each section to seek each others' company, especially as viith t'ne advent of the new order many old hostilities and suspicions between the local groups had disap- peared.

The main reason for the scattered distribution of population dl over the atoll, had. of course in pre-European times been economic: the food- resources were more easily and thoroughly exploited in this way. logical consequence of the abandonment of the ancient dwelling sites and concentration into a village, was therefore the development of a nevf type of economy. Here the contact groups, the missionaries and traders, ha6 handily something new .to offer. The surplus copra crop provided the natives with money to buy food on the, schooners an6. thus made them independent of the local supply of food. So interrelated was the type of habitation vith the type of economy, that cer- tainly no re-grouping of the population would have been possible, had it not been correlated ~itha change of the economic life. 3. Sectors and seasons.

For the purpose of making copra, the atoll is divided 'into several sec- tors (Map B), which are visited in turn simultaneously by all land ovmers, ac- cording to a previously agreed-upon rotation system. The main reason for this system is the scattered distributibn of land holdings vihich makes it vir-tually impossible for the owner to watch his parcels from the village where he lives, and to prevent the theft of nuts. The system has an ancient taboo practice at its basis, and the same word, a,which formerly was used for trees periodically set aside, is now used for the sect,ors.

A certain sector is declared open for copra work for a well defined period by the chief after close consultation with tne villnge council (and frequently the !:hole popu3a- ion). The ovmers who have land in this sector - and usually all have at ieast one parcel - sail o.ver from the vill.age and es- tablish themselves somewhere in the sector until the work is done, whereafter they return to the village and await the opening of the next. sector.

The number and boundaries of sectors vary somewhat, 5ut at the beginning of 1950 there were three, called Haro, Vi1ls.ge and Gake. . Raro (I) comprises all the land south of the islet on which the village is ~ituated. The village lands (11) stretch from there to the pass. The rest (111) rhich thus includes both Tokerau, Gake an2 Kereteki, forms the retnaining sector, which takes the name Gake (see Map B).

The sectors are open for v-ork 2, 3 or 4 months d&ending on the prospects for the harvest and the lard holdihgs of each person. The round of all sectors is usually made in eight months, and some adjustments have therefore to be made to the annual weather seasons. . . In November and Decernber 1949, the islanders worked in Gake. According to their previous agreement, they should therefore have continued to nfork the sectors in the folloning oyder in 1950:

I. Raro 4 months (January-April)

11. Village 2 months (ltay-Jwe)

111. Gake 2 months (~uly-~ugust)

And beginning the cycle anew:

I. Raro 4 months (September-December)

According to the schedule the islanders worked. the Haro sector during the first 4 months of the year, but already by April it was decided to change the sequence and work the Gake sector before the villsge lands. The next change in the schedule wps.made in June, when the Raroians discovered that there was an unusual abundmce of nuts in Raro. They decided irnmer?iately to return there in July instead of working the Gake sector. The period was even- tually extended to the end of October. After the termination of the work in the Raro sector, the population decided suddenly to change the schedule com- pletely. The atoll was now divided into on3.y two sectors, Raro and thd rest, and work was to be done 4 months at a time in each sector. MAP B

RAROlA ATOLL 0L2L.L KILOMETERS Not even these modified schedules were adhered to, and the time was ac- .tually divided between t'ne sectors in the following way in 1950:

January Raro February It March It April. It May Gake June /I July Haro August I1 September 11 October It November Village December !I

That rigid working programs are and cznnot be followed is not surprising, as they do not leave room for other activities, religious and civil celebra- tions, seasonal fishing, bzd weather and so on. How closely the copra :!orlc actually depends on o.Lher activities and events will be shown in the next chap- ter.

Some important interrelationships are immediately brought out by the plotting of the main activities in the accompanying chart (Tabie XV). In order to determine the possible influence of the viea-ther, ail periods longer than five days of heavy rai.ns, complete calm and strong viind have been indicated. The stress here is on the interdependence of the activi-ties, and for more de- tail.ed informtion on t,he various events during the year of 1950, Chapter 111, The Annual Cycle, must be consulted.

The Raro sector was opened on January 1, but the first workers did not leave the village until the middle of January mainly because of complete calm, As there was only one motor-boat in the atoll and the majority of the catives therefore had to depend on their sailing canoes, calm or stormy weather of course cslnpletely prevented all intra-island trmelling. From the middle of January to the end of March most of the islanders v

The first gap in tie work schedule occurred in April. It corresponded to the Easter week, rrhich is elaboratbely celebrated in huroia, arld was pro- longed & couple of da.ys by theunique event of three schooners simultaneously I.oac?ing copra. In Nay, only a short tixe after the opening of Gake, the ?:hale population returned again to the village for Jeanne dlArc D2.y (Fia:~ Wth) and Ascension Day (Xay 18). The stay in the village was prolonged about ten days this time, as the wind was too strong and large shoals of fish appeared along the vlllage shore.

This fish, crumenonhtholmnu~, is caught rith long ualm leaf sweeps, both the preparation and handling of ivhich require a great number of men and women. Tie result is, however, clxays splendid, and nany of the Raroians viere Table XV: Interdependence of activities in 1950

Note: The heavy lines indicate the activities of the main bod^ of the islanders and the approximate durat-on of these activities. The exact degree of participation in copra work is shorn in Chapter V, Table XVI and the relative importance of the other activities is indicated in Chapter VI. See also: Annual cycle of events, Chapter 111. so .tenpted by this easy way to procure delici.ous food, that they stayed on in the village from Easter, when the fishes first appeared, until their disap- pearance at .the end of gay. This can be seen clearly i.n the production records. (See part 8 of this Chapter.)

The long work interval. from the beginning of June to the middle of August was partly due to the weather. June and ;uly are the rrirlter months with rela- tive cold and strong sj.nds, which frequently prevent canoe voyages. Still more important is that it is also the turtle season. The turtle is an eagerly sought food and each time a turtle is caught the whole population gathers. TWO national holidzys also fall in these months, the anniversary of General de Gaulle's rallying speeach on June 18, and Bastille Day on July 1L. Both cele- brations, which include speeches, games, and markets with wheels of fortune, viere prolonged about a week.

The work stoppage - which never was complete (see Table XVI in part 6 of this Chapter) - vould certainly not have been of such a long durai;ion, if s0m.e additional reasons for staying in the village had not existed this year. The first one Tias the visit by the missionary, who came at the middle of June and remained on the atoll until the middle of August. Although it was certainly a coincidence that the gap in the nork schedule exactly corresponded to the time of the missionary's stay, the importance attached to this visit by the islanders must not be underrated.

Diving for mother-of-pearl shell was allowed during June and July, and though the number of men who actually dived was only about a dozen, this mecnt at ].east double that number of persons absent from copra work, as the divers' families stayed in the village.

In spite of all these events and activities, the Raroians would probably have begun work in Raro, which sector was opened July 1, much earlier if an un- expected ar.d rather unfortunate circumstance had not prevented them from doing so. Due to the capricious schedules of the schooners (see Chapter III), none appeared in time to replenish the stocks of the store-keepers, and during the first three weeks of July there was a severe food shortage. As the islanders to a great extent depend on flour, canned food, cigarettes, coffee and other imported goods when making copra, theg naturally hesitated to go to work before they had been able to buy new supplies.

It is thus evident that it is a combination of factors rather than any single event influences the working cycle. Probably still other factors than those listed above are influential in determining the decisions of the islanders and could be discovered through deeper probing, but me have to con- tent ourselves here viith these main indications and clues.

From the middle of August to the end of October there were no additional activities going on, except turtle catching until mid-September, and the unin- terrupted concentration on the copra v~orkis therefore easily explained. Dur- ing all this time the sector worked was Raro.

hring the final months of the year, the whole population resided in the village. A certa.in amount of copra was prepared on adjacent kinds, but much time was also devoted to bird catching and egg collecting in Tokerau. The weather which was very capricious, as always during this time of the year, usually determined whether the islanders prepared copra or sailed over to the northern islets on food gathering expeditions. The last week of December vas of course dominated by ,the Christmas celebration and no work whatsoever was clone.

5. Kxkina conditions end technique.

Raroia is an atoll of considerable size nith a length of &!+ km and a br6a.dth of 14.4 km. The totai area is about LOi) km2 and the circumference of the reef 93 km (Chapter I). Kith the scattered distribution of land holdings adthe concentration of the whole oopula.tion in one village the islanders have to make repeated long canoe voyages in order to work the copra.

All these trips are made in sailing canoes with outriggers or in small boats, and as the wind as a rule is fairly strong and the surface of -the lagoon rather rough for such small craft, the voyages .to and from copra sectors a.re fur from comfortable. The travelers are frequently drenched and suffer many times during bad meather from cold. The result is an almost cont,inuous preva- lence of coughs and bronchitis, as the Raroians have no rain clot21 or warm dresses.

Under most favarab1.e conditions, a canoe voyage from the vil-lage to the southern sector (Raro) or the northern (~ake)takes a little more than tvro hours. Heavy keas or contrarj ninds can, however, easily prolong the voyage to five or six hours. Only one person had an outboard motor and boat of European type in 1950, but it was little more seaworthy than the outrigger canoes, and could not be used at all when the sea ms rough.

I-t n?ust, be nbticid, incidentally., tha.t fdr easy canoe co~~munications,the vill.age is not ideally situated.; as it lies on %he western side of the atoll, along the lagoon shore, exposed to the eternal easterly trade winds. The near- ness to the pass Gd the,gooa anchorage, seem, however, in the opinion of the islandex, to co~lpmsate.for this disadvantage.

Only one sector, kyq, can be. reached by foot from tk village, and even then only ?ith considers.ble difficulty as there arc many in-tervening channels uith viais-L-&eep water. If the easterly trade ninds are exceptionally strong. for a prolonged period, the men may drag their cvoes across the land rim &d travel outside the reef along the west coast of the atoll, keeping close to the sho1.e. Only Raro and ToKerau can be visited in this ,tray from the village (see general map of Raroia, Section 3 of Atoll Research Bulletin No. 31). . . . . If possible, most of the Raroiens prefer to band together xhen rmrking in the copra sectors. There is a total of four small villages or hwlets: tvo in Raro (Teputaiti and Oneroa), one .in Keretek.i (Tetou) and one in Gake (Tik&heru). The houses are rather primitive and invariably made of plaited paim fronds. No furniture whatsoever: is used, and the family members sleep either on the earth floor. or on elevated. platforms. l'he fbod is cooked. over open fires. No good fresh water wells exist anphere, and Lbe most serious inconvenience with life i.r,%he,copra sector is; zccording to the islanders trlemselves, tie inability over. extended periods to wash in fresh water. Most ...... -49- , ., of trie sectors are infested- wi,th mosquitoeG, and in: some places fires zre ..necessary to keep t'hcm may. The prevalent attitude toxards u-orkin the sec- tors is that it is trying and uncomfort~ble,and always everybody expresses great satisfaction upon return to the permanent .village.. . . , : The pre2aration of copra follows the gerier.s.1 sattern found every~herein the fiuamotils. Tile rips nuts vhich fall are gathered into heaps in open clear- ings, 'They are c:eft into halves by a single, well-direc-ted blow of the axe. The ilalves are piled one upon' the other in wall-like rows v.ith the convex out- side upwards .nd the hollow iaside dowmnsards. slhis > protects the flesh against rain and provides good air circulation.

In Tahiti and ct'ner mountain islands wi.th hish humidity, drying boards which can be covered at n :cht are requfred, but in Raroia v:here the air is comparativePy dry, this i.s unnecessary'. The simple method just described is very vie11 suited to the local. conditions vrith scattered land holdi3gs and grea?. mobiiity of the population, but of course it takes xore time to pile the coconut halves than immediately to take 035 the flesh and lay it on a drying board.

Then the copra meat, has dried - in 4 to 8 days, depending on the weather - it is separated from the husk and put into sacks holding ebout 50 kgs each. The husk, together \;'itin uprooted plants and vreeds, is burned. The clearing of the lanci may continue, but as a general rule very little time is spent in the copra sectors above the mininium required for tile copra preparation.

The only implements used are a stick wit.h a hook for gathering nuts, an axe for cleaving them and an S-formed knife for separating the meat from the husk. i? long bush-knife, similar to the South American machete, is used for clearing the bush. These implements are the same a:s:those originally intro- duced when the islanders first viere taught coprapreparation about a hundred years ago. The only technological improvement during this time xhich v:e have been able to discover is the method of drying the nut haives. Until the early i9301s the islanders suspended thenut-halves on fiber cords from the trees, as still is done for instance in t,he Leexard Islands. After ilavin$ been per- suaded by a missionary of the time gain and sjork economy of the .method of pil- ing the nuts in rows, they all changed over to that method. : . . 6. Agricultural methods.

The islandersf attitude towards his plantation is ve&;'differknt fkom for instarce that of an American farmer. As a rule he regards the trees as able to take care of themselves and seems never to think that theyield cou1.d be increased v!ith better' 8.gricultural methods. This is not really surprising, as it certainly xas the prevailing attitude. towards the coconut tree as well as the pandanus palin in pre-European times.

The change-over to a modern surplus economy was in this case as in so many others only pa.rtia1. The islanders were taught to plant trees, and did so out of profit motives, but no pertinent knowledge about new or better plan- tation methods ever reached them. 'his can be seen in innumerable instances.

To begin with, the palms are rarely planted with enough space between the trees, and there is today hardly a single plantation in Raroia planned so as to give a maximum yield. A condition nhich undoubtedly has contributed greatly to over-planting is the small size of the land holdings. In order to make nlaximum use of his diminutive plots, each owner has planted his trees right up to the border line. The result is of course double lines of palms along nearly all borders!

The necessity of replacing old t~eesseems hardly to be understood eiyner. Most of the palms are too old and the returns greatly reduced, but due to the work it requires to cut down the palms with hand axes and to the temporary loss that ensues, few owners are inclined to replant their lands.

Instead of controlled. replanting, a spontaneous planting occurs all the time; as in many cases nuts which have fallen are ?.eft on the ground so long (esyecially when lost in the brush) that they finally grow into new pzlm trees. The islanders rarely want to cut dorm these trees under the false conviction that they mean additional nuts. 3O0 to f+OG trees per hectare is therefore not an unusual average.

Even if the nuts are not allowed to grow into trees, they lose t,heir value for copra making if allovred to remain on the ground too long. Ordinayily a nut begins to sprout after three or four months, after which time the flesh is unsuitable for copra. Therefore.tae time between the visits to a sector should not be longer than about three months. Actually the sectors are many times unworked for periods greatly exceeding this lirnit, as in 1950 in the case of the village lands which were revisited first after eight months, andthe lands in Gake which were not visited during six months.

Very few lands are cleared, which to some extent certainly can be ex- plained by the fact that the labor force (almost exclusively the land-ovmers themselves) in iiaroia is not sufficient, but also probably due in part to the system of joint ownership. If a land is owned by several persons, none of course is inclined to clear and improve it; as he does not lmow nhether he will inherit it eventually and reap the fruit of his work or not.

No fertilizers are used, and no trees are circled with rat-protecting bands of aluminum. Hon many nuts are eaten by the rats is of course impos- sible to compute ~6thexactness. Judging from the number of pierced nuts found on the ground, the natives estimate that the rats eat between one third and one half of the crop.

The annual output is still further reduced by insects of whichAsi~idiotus destructor'. is the worst. This insect first appeared in Raroia after the cy- clone of 1906 and has .since then gradually spread over the atoll.. The insect attaches itself to the leaves and sucks out the sap, v!hich seriously'impedes the growth of the nuts and in extreme cases eventually kil1.s the tree. On the seaward side, v!here the soil is poor, a great number of palm trees are actually unproductive. The natives are not fully aware of the menace, and the only action they have taken so far to exterminate the insects is to burn husk and. refuse at the root of the palm tree, which of course is a completely inefficient measure and furthermore is harmful to the tree.

Whis insect r;as identified during a visit to Raroia in 1953 by Dr. V:. V. D. Pieris from the South Pacific Commission. Ve are also indebted to him for other valuable information concerning agricultural methods. The general outlook in haroia is far from bright, in spite of the fact that the present annual prodl~ctionof coconuts is more than enough far the islanders' needs. The greatest impediliient to greater agricultural efficiency is simply the ignorance of the islanders. The fiaroians have taken over the. idea of planting and producing a surp!.us, but are stil.1 unaware of the necessary requirenents for such large scale enterprise. 4s in so many other cases, tbey have adopted only 2% eleinent of a cu1~;u;uru.lcoinplex, and th?y now scffer from the consequences of this partial lag.

7. Lork mrt,icipation and organization.

As we considered it of the gz-eti-test importance acd interest to have com- plete and detailed data on tine :.iork participation and organization, ?re took exceptional pains to record during the whale yesr of 1950 exactly partici- pated in the copra preparation, to what extent and for hon~low. As we lived most of the time in the village, which is the -permanent dwelling place of all the islonriers and the point of departure in each case, and thus could easily kee;, t,r&rLof the movements of every indivi$ual, the errors and omissions are at a. minimum.

The r:ork particiption broken dot.; according to sex and age is show in Table XVI, and the percentages and averages are given in Table XVII. These tables cover the first ten months of 1959, when the Raroims v;orlted exclusively in sectors outside of the village. For the remaining two months, November and December, the v.hole population lived in t!?e villageand aorked the lands adja- cent to it al.t,ernately r-ith performing all sorts of minor tasks.

T!ie continuous coming and going during these last months of the year made it of course imposeitiie to recors the number of persons ooriring the copra each day with the same exactnens as during the p-evious months. Therei'ore 've abstained completely from collecting data during November and December. A fairly accurate estimate of the number of viorking days during these months can, however, be made on the basis of the amount of copra produced.

If we study Tables XVI and XVII closely, some general patterns are im- aecliately discernable. The total number of Fersons going awy to the sectors :,utsj.de the village each monzh does no-t seem very impressive and rarely amounts 50 Inore than approximately half of the popuktion. The figures may give the impression that many islanders never v!ork, knd this is of course' the case with most of the children and old people, bnt'all those of the most productive ages spenci at leest some months a year ori icing in the various copra sectors. Due to the unequal distribution of the lands a Haroian may, however, vork for a prolonged period in one sector and very li,ttie in another one. Hence the ro- tation of the vorking personnel every month.

The number of persons who never left the village during the rhole year was 17, mostly aged people and children. The relation betwen family composi- tion =and work participation is shovm in Table XVIII. This ill be discussed further in its context.

The difference between male and female participation is not great; as seen from the figures of the percentages and tl?e average nuxber of working days, . . ' .. .. '. ..: Table XVI: Nufiber of. persons 3er month working outside the vill.age ...... : ...... Jmuary-October 1950. . .' ...... , . . . , : , JAiXliiEiY. .------. . i-17- --- [ IES ~KJv1ALlCS ' .. 11 '

Total 50 .28 i 335 5 5 23 283

Total !, 51 1 30 1 653 1 54 , 24 -- --I' --- MALES -- j i AGE ...... i'ioricing...... -.- .- .- -nays-_l

0-14 9 i 0 15 - 29 14 5 30 - 44 1 15 5 11. 45 - 59 12 4 24 14 3 0 0 0 Total 1 53 14 67 57 10 55 -. FEMALES I AGE;

-. -.

15 - 29 30 - 44 15 li9 11 6 45 - 59 1 11 7 72 6 5 54 60 -

Total. Table XVII: iiunber- ofjersons and days spent_ in work______outside the vilia~ein 1950.

-?,- -?,- - .. -. I1 7- :0 kve. no. 'ZOOer cen ve. no Konth Total pop& Work- Per cent Days of of xork popu- bJorh:- work- Days of of work --lation ing working work days /I lation ing ing worK dap January February March April iGiaay June July August Septenibei Octobe? which are 56.9%and 12.4 days, respectively W.9% and 12.6 days. Tie high fe- male participation is not surprising, 5s most viomen are land-owners. It:must, however, be noted that .their husbands usually do tine copra preparation v;hile the riomen take care of clearing and household duties.

As so many v;o!nen participate, a natural. corlsequence is Yoat many of the children also qend prolonged periods in the working sector:: out~i&!the vi.1- lage. The number of children in the ~i~rkingpopulation varies consi3wably from month to month as seen in Table XVI, but is on the average betxeen l/i, and 115. Older people usually stajr behind in the village, and as could be ex- pected, the bulk of the copra workers are the males and fernales in the most productive ages, 15-LL, viho account for 61.8% of tine total number of v~orking days for the period Jancary-October. (2,568 out of 3,809 days for the males and 1,715 out of 3,116 days for tlie females.)

The participation or non-participation cannot, however, be explained solely on the basis of such isolated crLteria as sex and age. The total famil.:? situation of each individual must be taken into considerution. In Table XVIII all persons in Raroia have been grouped occording to the composi- tion of Yne family. Whereas Table XVI show 1?.0,?< many persons participate in work, Table FJIII shovis they are as determined by family status. Those wino as a rule participate in the v;ork have been indicated by the letter (work), and those v

Only in two families out of the total number of 27 did both husb?.nd and wife regularly stay in the village all year. The exceptions are number 21 mcl 25. The husband in family 21 nas sickly and his vzife thercfore stayed home in order to take care of him. The copra was made by the grown-up children. Family 25 is made up by the storekeeper and his uife, who both attend to the business. The grom-up childrenhere zlso made the copra.

In the remaining 25 familes, both husband and vife went to work in 21 cases (.tv;o v:idows and one single man are included in this figure), only the husband in three cases and only +,he wife in one case. The husband staying behind in the vil!.age letting hi.s wife go to work alone is the chief, who consiciers it; necessary always to be accessible in the village.

As a rule it can therefore be said, that men who can possibly do so participate in viork, which undoubtedly shows the importance of the economic motive. The women accompany their husbands in almost all cases, which is some- what surprising as their participation in the work is negligible. A possi.ble explznation xhich the islanders themselves frequently give is that the women are jealous and 60 not mnt to let .their husbands .go aviay alone to a copra sec- tor where young girls are always present.

As tine women work too, the participation or non-perticipation of the children depends on the existence or^ old relatives living in the village. Ele- ven of the 27 parents have small children below school-age. Seven of these parents take the childrec with them and the remaining four leave them in the village orith an old relative. Four of the seven parents v:ho take their children with them have old relatives in the village. Table XVIII: Famlly composition and ror ---lkb'!.e XVIII: Family con~osition_and workzticipation. n by fzmilg member Family Hus- School Gronn-up composition . band 1ChjM 1 child Single: Family 1

Husband, wife: F-.~mlly . 2 11 3 I! 4 I! 5 11 h ..- Husband, wife, mall child: E'mily 7

Husband, wife, sindl child, old rehtive: Fan,ily 8

Husband, wife, small child, school age, old relative: Fanlily 9 I1 1.0 !I 11

Husband, wife, small child, school age, grovxi--up child: Family 12

Husband, mif e, small, child, school age, grown-up child, old relative: Famiiy 13 11 14 - Family Hu s- School. Gro~m-up Old composition band child child relative

Husband, wife, r-- I small child, grown-up child I'arnily 15 - It 16 - tl 17 -

Husband, wife, school age child' .. ifL Family 18 W !I 19 w

Husband, wife, school age child, old relative: Fam+,ly 20 V

Husband, wife, school age child, grow-up child: Family 21 11 22 11 23 11 24

Husband, nife, grow-up child: Family 25 I! 26

Huskend, wife, grom-up child, old relative: Fami.1~27 Out of the 15 parents v;itii children of school-age (6-1~years), nine leave their children in the village. Seven of these nine parent,^ have an old relative in the village ?tho takes care of the children; whereas in the re- maining tivo cases one or both parents stay in tine village. The remaining six parents usual1.y take their children of school age with them to the copra seo- tors. Significantly none of these parents has an old relative in the village.

Tie ~rmn-upck,j.ldren 7;iork regularly in nine cases out of tan.

The dependence ol olcier relatives for the care of the young children is thus amply proved by tke figures. In the case of the children below school- age there is no problem, as they can travel with the parents, if no old rela- tives exist. The children of school-age create, hoorever, a conflict when there is no old reiative living in %he village. All pawents affirm that they sjant their children to go to school and seem to have a firm belief in the ad- vantages of acquiring a European education. Yet, in spite of this, each time when this

A simple solution v:ould of course be to leave the u;ife behind in the vil- lage cith thc children. Another v;ould be to-Setter co-ordina.te the annual working cycle with the school terms. As the r~omen seem to have, a strong . . inclination - due to jealousp or >!!hatever it may be - to accoinpany their husbands to the work outside tie village, Cne second solution ~011l.d certainly he the rnost acceptable. No attempt has yet been made, however, to achieve such a co-ordination, which shows once more how erratic the islanders' efforts are to adjust themselves to nevi situations and how unsatisfactory the integra- tion of the various cultural elements is.

The predominance of economical. considerations in the case of the con- flict. between work and school. duty of the children ms evident (see previous section). It may therefore be of interest to examine also the relationship' be-tween economic and religious activities.

From the very beginning of our stay ne noticed a marked. tendency among he islanders to return every Sunday to the permane'nt village, %;here the only hurch on the atoll is situated. That this is a regular habit is confirmed by our data for the whole year, but in order to avoid unnecessary repetitions, we bxve lim.ited our analysis here to a sam?le month, September.

In Table XIX are shov.n the number of persons in the village on Sundays (September 3, 10, 17 and 2L) aud Tliursdays (September 7, 1&,21 md 23). In ad?:ition, two other tables have been prepared, one shov~ingtie variations according to sex and another according to age classes. This differential treatment of the data brings out some unsuspected facts.

The extent to rhich the islanders return to the village on Sundays - even if it requires a long canoe trip and the loss of at least one wox.king day - is surprisingly great, as shown by the differences between the vi.llage populzt.ion on weekdays an:) Sundays, which are respectively: f +, - 50, r/ 17, - 19, t/ 35, - 6 f 30, - 6 Tie high figures are, however, less surprising if we take into consi.deration that Sunday in any event is sacred, and that no islander vorks this dsy, even if he is alone on an isolated islet far from the village. Table XZXa: Number of pexsons in villa~eon weekdays and Sundays in Seatember 1950.

Age 0 - 14 15 - 29 30 - 44 45 - 59 60 - Total 0 - 14 15 - 29 30 - 44 45 - 59 60 - Total

Males & female:

men -&)a- On. the basts of the data presented hitherto, it seems natural to conclude that the isianhers. .. returh solely for the purpose of attending. the church ser-. vice. If we, however; tike the a factor into considerationj as done in the folla7

Table XX: 'veage number. of aersm? _.:I vvil.la~?e weekdays and Sundays

-a- ---Sex Ceekdays 1 Per cent 1 suncays M A L E S

F E M A L E S

Tk.is table gives the average nu:eber of males and females present in the vi1l.age on ~hursdaysaid ~undaysjarranged according to age. ~sepercentage show1 is the per cent of persons present on Thursdays and Sundays as compared to the total number of individuals in ecch age class. The significan% factor is thus the increase of the percentages on Sundzys.

One is immedistely struck by the fact that this increaseis considerably I.ess for the youngest md oldest age groups than for individ~alsof the most active ages. Inage group 0 - 14 the increase is only from 52.0% to 70.0% for the males an3 from 57.5% to 71.651 fok the females. For the age group above 45 it is still less, and in one case, males above 60, even replaced by a de- crease. On the other hand., for the age groups 15 - 29 and 30 - 44 there is a big jump from the percentage figures for weekdays to these for Sundays, doub- ling or tripling them.

If the motive to return to the village xere excl.usively religious, it should be expected to operate wiYn equal force for a ae;e groups, but this is clearly not the case. The only possible explanation is therefore, that the social and recreational motives are as.important as the religious one. These motives are of course more dominant in the:ages 15 - L4, and most men and women of these ages return evidently to the village seeking diversion, vhereas the older people stag behind riith.' the chiLdrenin the sector...... During the great church holidays, religious considerations are, honever, par- mount, as &the workers irrespective of age return to the village.

This tendency t.o return regularly on Sundays to the village, reduces of course greatly the time actually sijent on copra vxk, as the sectors are situ- ated a.t a great distance and bad weat'ner frepentlg prolongs the came trips. The influence of this habit on -the annual output of copra must not be over- looked.

9. P;ct~?aiand potertici nroduction.

According to the chief, the total 2opra producticn in 19i8 was 221 tons and in 1949 as much as 253 tons., HOW reliable these figures are is difficult to say, but for 1950 we kept record of all copra produced, and the total amount was 18'7 tons. If the figures for the preceeding years are correct, the avercige ou-bput per year should be around 200 tons.

For producing about 200 tons of copra a year on the soil found at Raroia, 530 hectares shauld suffice. The total area planted v!ith coconut palms is accarding to our estimate, based on a study of the aerial map, 587 kectares (see Chapter I). Almost three times as much copra could therefore be produced on the atoll, if our figures are correct. The great discrepancy between the actual and po.tenLial output must be due to such factors as dense planting, old trees, abundant underbrush, ravages by rats, insect pests, lack of fertilizers, picking of drinking nuts, and so on. Some of these aspects have been dis- cussed. in previous chapters, but the uroblem as a whole must of course be left to a specialist.

The tonx~la~esof coyra produced each month of 1950 mere as follows: January - 7.5, February - 30, &[arch - 24, April - li, May - 12.5, June -10, July - 2, Auguzt - 14, SeptemSer - 40, October - 1L, November - 8, December - 14. The variations are ok' course due to the amount of time the islanders devo-Led to other activities and will be clearly understood only by a comparison aith the facts presented in part L, of this chapter dealing with the interde- pendence of activities.

Divided bet-ee,? the various sectors (sce map accompanying part 3) the copra production for 1950 mas as follows:

I Raro (January-April, July-0ctober) 142. 5 tons I1 Village (Movember-Decemoer) 22.0 tons 111 Rest, of the atoll (May-June) 22.5 tons

Of the total output in 1950, 76.2% of the copra came from Raro, 11.8% from lands around the village and 12.0% from +;he rest of the atoll. The rela- tive size of .the planted, area in the three sectors is approximately, in the same order, as 7 to 2 to 3, or expressed in percentages:

Raro 58 1/3% ViUage 16 2/3% Rest 25 % This comparison between the relative percentages of the output and of planted area shows some marked differences. For the village lands the output is only slieht1.y below rihhat could be expected judging from the size of the plated area, and the figures are ,almost identical if we do not count the v.il- lage itself, whore few palm trees are planted. A disproportion between the production and the area in the two other sectors exists, however, undoubtedly, and the figures confirm only our subjective impressions during the year.

The discrepancy of the figures, seems to indicate that the third sector (comprising all the land on t,he eastern, northern and northnestern side of the r , atoll.) is noL worked to full capacity. Ihis neglect is easily explained by the fact that it is more l.onely and time-consuming to make copra on the numerous small. islets in this sector thanon the contiguous lands in the two remaining sectors.

A comparison between the size of %he planted area in each sector and the time during vihich the sectors were open is also illuminating. The sectors were open respectively 8, 2 and 2 months, which expressed in percentages md compared to tine proportional size of each sector give us the following table:

Raro 58 1/3% 66 2/3% Village' 16 2/3% '16 2/3$ Rest 25 % 16 2/3$ I I I The length of time during xhich each sector is open is thus not completely pro.portiona1 to the size of' it. These periods do, boxever, correspond to the total time actually spent in each sector, which is determined by various other activities and considerations (see part L).

10. Vorkina efficiency.

In this chapter we shall finslly try to ascertain tne working efficiency, or the average time needed. for producing one ton of copra, in order to see whether the relatively Lovi annual output can be explained in these terms. The figures presented here are based on the complete records of work participation in part 6 of this chapter(Tab1e XVI). . . Before we can proceed: to a c&nputation'of tfe average woi-king time and output, some adjustments have to be made. In the first place it should be noted that the time spent in sectors outside the village is counted from the departure to the return. As distances are great and some preparition neces- sary each time, usually no work is done on travel days. Another factor which frequently reduces t,he time spent in effective work is bad weather or calms. These often prevent the islanders from fulfilling their work schedules. Finally, as a rule each worker spends some days fishing or gathering other foods. All this reduces considerably the time actually devoted to copra production, and if we estimate the effective working time as 2/3 of the total time, our figure is certainly not too high. Tab1.e XXI: :\lumber of c-orkin" days of the ~roductivemales

--.".A.comoa'ed ------. to amount of 9x8 produced in 1950."

Iorlcing days 4 Tons of Xon th copra

Jmuary February March April

Juce July hgust September Ocfobc-r - Total 1 2,563 165.0

The contributions of the different age-classes varies. The children be- low 14 years of age may help a great deal at the cclrnp witn food-preparation and also often go fishing, but their contribution to copra-production must other- wise be disregarded. , The same is true for the few individuals above 60, who occasionally accompany the working parties. As to the age-group 45-59, its output is doubtless :nuch less hnthat of the younger men, and we htive there- fore estimated their efficiency as 50% of the la-tter group.

The f emales accompany their husbaids as a rule, but their contribution to the copra work is very slight, aid. even tie women who sre land owners themselves, usually let their husbands or a male helper do the collecting a:3d cutting. This does not rcean, however, that the women are without occupati.on. They tend -the chil'dten, take care of the household duties, clear lands and. assist their husbends in minor ways. This limited role of the women is of course ixnpossible to confirm statistically. . The population was always spread out and uve lived fn ,the main village most of the time, but repeaterl visit,s to the different sectors all round the year, led US t,o believe it to be the gen- eral pattern. In the follov:ing estimate of the working tempo, vie have there- fore preferred to disregard. coni~letelytine fema1.e participation.

The total number of vor;i:ing days for the males during Jmuary-3ctober (accord.'.ng.to Table XVI) was 2,568 for age ciass 15-44, and 588 for the age class above 44. If we first reduce these figures by 1/3 for lost time, and then discount 50% for the lattcr class for lost efficiency, we get the follow- - +?The figures are for tho first ten months of ths year during xhich the sectors outside of Kne villa.ge were worlced. For .the rcnaining two months, when the lands around the village mere vorked, only the amount of copra produced rias recorded. These figures vm-e 8 tons in November and 14 in December. ing figures:

15-41, years o1.d 2,568 working days Less 1/3 -856 ". It. 1,712 'I 11

45-59 years old 450 II Less 1/3 -1.50 I' II mn 11 II Less 1/2 -

1,712 plus '150 = 1,862 effective working days, during which 165 tons of copra mre produced, making an average of 11.3 days per ton, rfnich seems reasonable. In Tahiti a good wo?ker-prepares one ton a week, but working conditions are very.different there, as no time-consuming piling of the nuts is necessary, the undergrowth is kept at a mini.muin, the plantations. are much bigger and the existence of covered platfoflns makes the work more independent of the weather.

If only men between 15-44 are counted, the average output per individual for 1.950 is 7.'79 tons. There is thus a wide gap between each individual's actual and potential output, a,.gap which must be accounted for by the various factors discussed in previous sections...... Chapter VI

SUBSISTFBCE AC:TIV'TTIQ . . . . Wth the year-round work. on the plantations and tne good earnings from copra and mother-of-pe8rl shell sales, the islanders neither have time nor find it necessary to carry on any extensive plenting or food-gathering, as they did in pre-European times. The taro fields were abandoned after the cyclone in 1903 and nobody has planted any since then. Some liae and papa-ya trees have been introduced, but no effbrts are spent on their culti~at~ion,and the number of trees is insignificant. The pandanus pslm grows wild all over the island, but i.s not used for food any more.

Few domesticate6 .animals are kept, and these consist almost exclusively >f hens, pigs and dogs, as in ancient times are still eaten. Fishing is 'rac'ciced to a considerable extent, especially during the working periods away, rom the village, but shell fish,. of which there never has been any abundance in Raroia, are rarely gathered. Turtles are caught and sea birds and eggs collected butthese are strictly seasonal activi-ties and more practiced as a sport than as regular food-gathering activities.

Instead. of these traditiona.1 foods the islanders buy now imported provi- sions like canned beef, flour, rice and biscuits, v~hichmake up a diet much inferior to the ancient one. The main aim is, however, achieved from the is- landers' point of view: no working time is lost on prolonged food-@hering and tedious preparations and all efforts can be concentrated on the product,ion of a surplus, the income from which permits the acquisition of all. sorts of luxury articles.

The poor soil is a serious obstacle to the growing of varied and abun- dant crops, and the number of plants found on the atoll is actually very limited. The situation is hardy improved by the fact that practically no ?fforts are devoted to the care of the plants, and the word "cultivation" is therefore definitely an euphemism!

Of food plants which existed on the atoll in pre-European times the coconut palm is still the nos-b iuportant, but strmgely enough no distinction is made between palm trees intended for production of copra and food trees, in spite of tho fact that certain varieties are much sought after because of ihe special qualities of the nuts. Vhat has been said about the coconut palm i.n the previous chapter on copra productiori applies therefore equally well vlere.

One of the islanders tries to grow bcmanas in a ditch filled with refuse ilt this must be regarded chiefly as a luxury hobby, as the yield is not more ~hanfive or six bunches a year. There are 73 breadfruit trees altogether, but only 23 bear any fruit. The total number of fruits on these trees each season does not exceed 300, and therefore 'heir role in the diet is insignifi- cant. The. &ly.. introduced plant 'cdtikated to any extent is the papaya, of which thcre'are 87 trees of which one third are fruit-bearing. Most of these have been pian-ted by the Chinese storekeeper, who gives away the fruits as 'goodxi11 service. In spite of,the fact that the papayas, like the breadfruit, are highly appreckted by tl1.e isl.anders, very few of them have planted any, aid only half of the 27 families hayre trees of their. ovm. Vegetables are not grow as the soil is unsuitab?

The number of pigs, hens, ducks and dogs per family is as fol.loms: - Hens

Total

%For couiposition, see Table XVIII in part 6, Chapter V.

-67- The total r~umberof domesticated mimals is not impressive, and the is- lancters often say that they sho-old 1.ike to keep more,, if they only were able to feed tinem. But this is difficult for the Raroians for t.?o reasons: there is little food for animals besides nut kernels, ~~hichare too valuable, and the nomadic chapacter of the islanders' ,exj.stence does not go very well with animal hu sbandry.

This applies especially to pigs, which explains their co~xparatively small number. Significantly enough, pigs are also kept only by families who almays leave R member, usually an old relative who takes care of the school chiidren, behind in the village during the working periods in the sectors. 3ut even some of these families hesitate to have a pig <.ue to the fact that it has to be fedwith coconuts.

Contrary to the pigs, which because of the feeding, are always kept in encLosures of palm logs, the hens and ducks roam about in complete freedom, as they are supposed to be able to take care of themselves. A greater number of families can .therefore keep hens and ducks nithout interference witin the work. The number is nevertheless very limited, which certainly is due to the fact that the hens and ducks wider these conditions are of little value. The eggs are never f'o~nd, or they are eaten by rats, and the hens and ducks so rneager that they hardly are palatable.

The Cogs alone of all the domesticated animals can accompany the islanders on their trips to other parts of atoll, whlch certainky is tine main reason for their continued popularity. The dogs seem pirin:arily appreciated for their food valus and only in a very secondary way for their companionship. As no dogs are regu1.arl.y fed, only young dogs are tender enough to be eaten. Xany dogs are, however, saved for reproductixe reasons, and most of the 44 dogs found at the time of our survey were of a fairly advanced age, many of them ac.tiial1.y too old, .which is not so surprising as the Raroians never kill a dog except when they intend to oat him. There is a tax impcsed in order to keep dovm the ::umber of dogs, but as it is extremely small it does not have the desired ei'fect.

There is an abundance of fish of all kinds in kroia both in the laguon, the pass and the sxroundj.ng sea, as wellas on tke outer reef flats. Some species are seasonxl, eppearing in most cases from October to December, but throughout the year tinere is alcays more than enough fish for the islanders1 needs. Species

The ichthyologist of the 1952 coral a-toll research team caught a:jout 400 different species in only t.80 months tine (Hmry, 1953, page /A). Of these around 150 are food fishes of a size big enough to be worth v:hile catching for theislanders. The most carmorn food fishes are: parrot fishes, goat fishes, triggar fishes, wrasses, jacks and tunas.

+A more detailed. and technical paper vill be published elsewhere. Sme ocean species like dolphin, swordfish and flying fish, which were frequelltly taken in ancient times, are not fished for any more because the present-day inferior canoes do ,not permit exterided sea voyages. Most of the edible species in the lagoon, the pass and on the outer reef are, however, still cauglit; though dependeiice on fishing has greatly decreased since the rise of the cop-a trade and the introduction.. . of foreign foods.

Except for the iuevi.table re21a&ment of old material like mother-of- pearl shell and bone by iron, the Iishing methods have generally preserved their Polynesian character. As a matter cf fact no other e:!emants of the old culture,. either spiritual or material, have survived so well. As t,he present study deals primarily with present conditions no effort has been :na.de here to reconstruct the fishingmethods, which have been lost, but only those still in use ill be described.

!rhe general tern~for fishing is tautai, but as for so many ot,her highly spe<:ialized act3vitj.e~the natives have ~1s0in this case numerous specific names. Re have indicated the terms, where necessary, in the descriptions under four main categories: hook and line fishin:, spear fishing, net fishing and miscellaneous methods...... a. _Hook snd line fj-shing.

l%is is a very popu!.ar method used exclusively or principally for catch- ing the following kinds .of fish: tanas, snqpers, jacks, trigger fish, sea bass, and wrasses. Here, as in the rest of Polynesia, the islanders prac- ticiilly never use floats and rarely rods. ii specialsinker is usually deemed unnecessapy, and when fishing at great depths the hook is simply Loviered with the help of a coral stone tied to the line v~itha slip knot. As soon as the hook reaches the desired depth, the stone is 'released by giving the line fl sharp jerk. . . The hooks in pre-Ebropean time vere made of shell or bone and ?:ere of the circular, barbless, Pox-ynesian tme, which is ideally suited for the xmrine environment as it does not get entangled in branching corals. Unfor- tunately in the Tuanotus theyare now everyrlhere replaced by %ropean iron hooks of the ordinary J-shape, which are far inferior. The excellent com- mercially made iron hooks of Poiyriesian model used in Hawaii and previously unkaown in French Oceania yere introduced in Haroia by' us in 1952. . . The general word for hook an8 line fishing is kanehu, but specific names exist for every variety of it. very common rnethod in ancient times, called ..tzes, was to swim slowly about in the lagoon or open sea, supported by a log while holding the line in one hand. In most cases;:today the islanders fish from an anchored canoe. Trolling with mother-of-pearl shell hooks, tavere, is pracLiced for catching tuna. Bods are useato a limited extent for fishing from the edge of tne outer reef, a method called tiutiu. b. Spear fishinc.

This method is used almost as much as hook Aid line fishing but mostly for o-her species of fish, such as parrot fish, goat fish, porcupine fish, butterfly fish, surgeon and unicorn fish. The spears are usual.ly ma5e of --rni.k!imiki (I%mphis acidula) wood fitted with an iron point. T'nis point is ususllg made by t.he islanders themselves out of scrap-iron over a primitive forge. The spears have either a single barbless tip or four barbed prongs. T'ne single, barbless spears are of two sizes, one 4-5 feet and the o-ther around 10 feet long, whereas the four pronged spears are all 10-12 feet long.

Of the barbless spears, the short ones are wed for poking under stones in shallow water, the long ones for under water fishing ciurizg vhich the fish- ernan dives down and transfixes his quar~y. The barbed, four pronged spears are t'nrown from a standing position on the shore or the edge of the reef. The spear 3.s held by the right hand et the extrame end with the index finger on the butt and supported at the middle by tke lef-t hand. The spear is cast -with an overhand throw and the precision is amasingly good.

The word put& is used both for the spear and the method in gencral. The names for the varieties are: ~mkeke,poking out the fish from holes with the short, barbless s7ear and transfixing .them; m, underwater spearing with the help of tridacna shells which attmct the fish; and fautau, throwing the four pronged spear.

Net-:i'ishing is very little practiced, ever. less so thm in pre-European times, in spite of the fact that ready-made nets and lines cm now bc bought in Papeete or aboard. the scnooners. The reasons for this decline are probably the improvement of other types of fishing gear like hooks and spears by the introduction of iron, and the cumbersome character of a net. A man can al-. ways take a spear and a couple of hoo~sciith him duritlg his trips to the '.:opra plantatio:i, and invariably does so, v:hereils a net is heavy and us~allycannot be nendled by one mati alone. i\nothsr fact, ~?nichcertainly liinitec? the use of nets even i.n pre-European times, is of course simply the unfavorable environ- ment. Nets are easily entangled in sharg ana brauching corals and sharks destroy both fish in nets and net iilixe.

The only nets in common use today are sma?.l seines attached betveen poles and handled by tao men who encirc1.e the fish aith the net. Tie net is called &p~, and used principaily in shallow water along the. lagoon shore or in the channels betc:een the islets. Fishes caugh't in this ray are goat fish, parrot fish and mulle-t.

The only other methods worth miientinning are:

Fakako~~.The fisb, usu~ilyparrot fish, are chased r;hen t'ney appear in the shallow mater on the outer reef until beached or enclosed in an embay- ment. They are then speared or taken by hand. --Rena. This is the garland fishing with pdrn leaves called hukilau in Hawaiii. -The garland may be up to 200 yardslong and is made of palm leaves,, cut in halves length wise,'twisted and joined together. The garland is hmdled by a great number of people' and thiS is actuallythe only community fishing undertaken today. Seasonal fishes Like SelRr crurnenophtholmn& and small parrot fish are caught in this way.

--Ramn. Night fishing on the outer reef flat. The fish is blinded by light, usually from a Coleman kerosene lantern, and stunned by a blow over the hack nith a long bush knife. Fish caught are principallysquirrel fish and certain wrasses.

Relative i~aportanceof fishing activities.

Since pre-Europem days, vzhen probably every adult spent severil hours a day fishing or ,.athering shells and clams, the time devoted to these activities has gradually decrea.sed with the emergence of a money-economy.

In order to get same measure of the relative impor'iance of fishing to the present-day econorny we recordeu t'ne number of nersons going out on fishing trips during a sample week, aecernber 4-10, 1950, when the whole population was in the village. hother similar sample taken i.n a more summary way in June the same year under identical. condi.tions, gave approximat,ely the same results, and it seem reasonable tLerefore to regard t'ne following sample week as faj.rly typical for the Sishing activities of the islanders during their staris in the vj.2-lage. Tv:o and'three hours art. spent fishing each time on the average.

-----Table XXII: Number of oersons fishing, Dec. L-15, 1959.

The number of yersons fishing each day is strikingly low, especially if ne discount the bop below 14, who many times roam about or plzy instead of rnalsing serious efforts. The increase of the number of fishermen on Saturday is in accordance vit,h the Raroims' general working cycle. No ~;orkwhatever j.s done on Sundays, which is a real holiciay with absolute rest and copious meals. r,ihe preceedinz day istherefore devoted to food gathering and ?repara- tions of all kinds.

Another thing clearly show in the table is tne insignificant partici- pation of the females. The explanation for this is simple. In ancient times there was a sharp division of labor according to sex in this case as in so many others, and the males did tile actual fishing vith hook and line, spear or net, while the females only gathered shells, clams, crust~ceaand similar sea foods. The isl.anders still cling to this labor division, but the supply is not the same as in old tbnes due to the new habitation pattern.

There is still p1er:t.~ of fish around %he village, 'out the supply of other sea fools is exhausted and insigificant compared to the greet number of persons living on this li-ited ;>art of the atoll. 1':itin tine scattered drie?.li.ngs in pre-European days, each family had long stretches of reef at its disposal, but this is no longer the case. Therefore the women cannot continue -their traditional activities, and 's they consider it unthinkable to take over the dal.esl activities, there is not much use for them to go out collecting.

If this is true, the women should devote mo-e time to the collectifig of sea food, ?;hen they are away from the village rvorking in the various copra sect,ors. he have not been able to gatkier any quantitative data on this, but if .;;e are to jucige from our om subjective impressions daring repeateti visits and stays in the copra sectors, this seems actually to be the ca.se. Even the nen seem to fish more frequently when they ~:!orlc in the copra sectors, and we have gained t,he definite imgression tinat nlicost all of them spend an hour ox' so a day fishing. P.rhis is only logical as the supply is more abundant in the less-frequented waters far away from the village, and as the amount of other food which can be brought in the cmoes always is 1imite.d.

The season lasts from June to September during which inonths a small num- ber of turtles appear in the sea immediately ,:?es-t of Raroia fairly close to the shore. tit tie beginaing of the season both male and female turtle are caught !hen 'they breed in the wuter. iit -tee endof the season, homever, most of the turtles caught are fewales ove~takenvhen they crawl up on the sand beaches to lay their eggs.

The islanders show a great ap~ireciationfor turtles as food. This is underst~nciableas 'turtles constitute the only first class fresh meet obtainable in the atoll. In aricienk times the turtle was an animal, eaten on1.y after; ap- propriate religious ceremonies. The teat ms reserved for men. I11 Raroia the rioinen ale now a:Lio?~ed their share of the turtle maat,.. . but it $?as only about 20 years ago thzii this old taboo was broken.

!").i.;e t,ast,eful~lessmind rareness of such a delica.cy as tsrtle meat explains why the ixhole population i.s on the lookout during the seaEon and why every.body abandons all other occupations ,::hen a turtle is sighted. anly one method is general2y used todlji for catching turtles. The hunter, equipped with a long rope, .to the end of &ich a huge iron hook is at,tached, paddles together v;:ith assi.stants to the spot ?there a. turtle has been seen. He dives into tb.e sea xhen the turtle appears and tries to place a hook in its throat, the only vul- nerable spot of ",he animal. If he succeed.^, his companions in the canoe who have held fast to tie other end of the rope all the time, slowly haul up the turtle. It is overturned towed ashore.

The turtles usually ceigh about 230 pounds. One is enough for a. real meal for the .:hole population. The k~r-tleis cut up., cooked in an earth oven (the only occasj.on nhen it is still in use), and the meat divided up among all the persons present. In 1950 the total number of turtles caught was 17, and the average number per season seems to have been between 15 and 20 both the preceeding and following years.

The successful turtle hunts are matched by an approximatel.y equal number of unsuccessful ones, vhich means elat hotmeen 30 a:ld /+O days a year are de- voted to this activity. About a c?oeen men are engaged in the hunt a.nd food prepa.ration each time. The number of lookouts md assistants is of course much higher. The turtle catching therefore limits to. a certain extent the time which can be devoted to ot.her occupations during these months.

These are dso strictly seasonal activities taking pla,ce during the last nont!is of the year, October - December. TVJOspecies of' noddies, the brown, -goio (-- Anous stolidus) and the white-cqned, kikiriri, ( Anous minutus), nest during tnese months in amazing1.y great numbers on the northern part (Tokersu and Gake) of the atoll. As the noddies lay their eggs in nests on the ground or in ,the braaches and hollows of bushes axid low trees, they can be collected without any difficulty. The birds caught are young noddies which simply are talcen bg hand.

Emall groups of young people sail during this season once or twice a week over to the northern .part of the atoll and spend a day at a time there. Each person brings ba.ck at least four or five dozen eggs and half a dozen young birds from such a trip. The eggs are all'eaten irrespective of the stage of development of the enbryo. , Some of the birds may be kept in captivity and fed for some time before being kiiled, but most of tPLem are eaten immediately.

There are altogetner 20 species of birds, either resident or migratory?' in tile atoll and many are higsly prized as food, hut the islmders rarely cap- ture then. Most of these birds %ere comm~~r!lytrapped in vzrious ingenious ways in pre-firopean times.

*.See 1.ist by banielsson-Natua publi~hedin& kudsequent section.of this Atoll Research ~ullet~inNo. 32. . ., Chapter V1I . . .%. . .

1. D' -isSon--__------accorsii~~ to sex. The division of lahr according to sex, prevaleA?tin pre-European days, is still adhered to, and new activities are divided in a similar rranner 'jithin this general framework. In the folloviing tablewehave included not only the ac.ti.vit,ies ?:itiin' the framev:ork of the s~>rplusand sljbsistence economy dealt with in preceeding chapters, but also :nost of the other common occupations of the islanders.

Div'isiori of work

Joint work--- Copra cutting Piling the nuts Cl earing of lands Separating the copra from the husk

F3 shjng vith line and Gathering shells and Torch fishing': hook, spear and net crustacese Turtle catching Egg collecting an&'

bird catching ' . -- - Canoe building House building Plaiting of palm leaves

Cooking in earth oven Other cooking and house- Water carrying

- -. Training and care of chil.dren

filiLical off ices Religious offices I

Nork, v;hich in pre-Zurgean times viae characterize6 by a high degree of co-operation, has nor become almost riholly individual as a result of the introiiuction of a comoetitive money economy and the breakdown of the old so- cia1 system wj.th hierkrchid. authority. &en, for instance, todcy a man wants to build 8 house or needs help far other bi.g enterprises, he has to pay the workers, and the wages are almost as hi.gh as %n Tahiti, i.e. 100 francs a man per day. The only instances of extensive co-operation among the isl-anders during our various stays in Raroia were the garland fishing, the turtle catching, the launching of a boat and repair work on the qua:7.

The garland fishing requires the co-operation of at least half the popu- lation if it is to give good results, and usually all persons present in the village participate in the catch whefl a fish shoal appears. The fishes caught are divided evenly among all the participants irrespective of age, sex or role #during the fishing.

To catch a turtle requires a considerably smaller number of persons, but as a rule at least three or four y~orktogether. The whole popu!.ation helps, however, to prepare the meal and partakes of it. Those who have not partici- pated in the catch pay the captors for their share of meat. The price of a turtle vories beheen 1,000 and 2,000 fraqcs, according to size. This is the price demanded aboard the schooners %hen living turtles brought from Puka-puka or other atolls are sold.

The boat-launching we witnessed was undertaken by practically the whole population, who pushed and pulled a newly constructed cutter from the work shed dova to the beach 300 yards away. The old work-songs, vhich otherwise are never heard, were sung, probably to a large extent because the islanders knew that we were interested in ancient customs. The owner of the boat distributed after the launching two cases of corned beef (f+8 cans) and one sock of flour (5C kg) to the population, and the day ended with a community feast.

The repair ~orkon tine quay lastec! about a veek. It was not a voluntary co-operation like the previous one but actua1:Ly an imposed chore, organized by the chief on orders from his superiors.

3. Specialization.

The emergence and degree of specialization in Raroia depends evidently on t'ne transformation from the old to the new type of economy. Before we can discuss this aspect a clarification of the meaning of the word ttspecialization" is necessary.+~

In pre-European times there:existed in Raroia as elsewhere in Polynesia specialists in the sense that certain individuals were more skilled in the generally knovm crafts and therefore in addition to their everyday activities also performed work for other members of the community. But if we instead de- fine a specialist as a person r!ho, irrespective of skill, has only one bread- earning occupation znd works full time, there were no specialists in ancient times in Raroia.

During the last one 'hundred years specialists in this latter sense have, however, gradually emerged on tine atoll, and ne can without exaggeration say that today & the Raroians are specialists, but specialists of only two kinds: copra-growers and traders. The proportion is uneven, with 6L adult (above age of 20) copra growers as compared to t%o traders, but v~hatis significant is that the persons of both categories a11 can be regarded as full time pro-. .'. .: f essionals. -- *For other meanings than the one adopted here see Herskovits, 1953. An incipient but rapidly growing tend~ncyto, a moxe, varied spxializa-. . tion is, hoviever,.:noticeable an8 '~eenis''iritihat~i~ ,connected yith -the.more and more uneven land distribution;. 'As hasbeen shom in Chapter IV certain in- dividual.~ha.ve for various reasbr?s.~rr~'.lit%l.e!.and, and it is esijecially these !.an&less persons vho have tried to find other ways of ea~ningmoney...... The most cominon type of such ;additional pert-time work is the transpor- . , tetion of copra sacks from -the distant sectors to the central village, where , most of the schooners have to load tbe cbpra because of the lack of good anchorages in most of the other parts of the lagoon. There are frequent oc- casions far those who want to take on such work, as .mmy of the Raroians lack adequate canoes and,.the wealthy ].an6 omers usually find it an uni1ecessar.y . loss of time to do the transporting themselves. The payment is fixed at 25 francs per 50 kg sack, and most of the islanders %h,o engage in this business have cm&s which can kake 8 sacks each trip. Some of these canoe owners also transport the workgrs and their' families.

Six men regularly undertake transporting of this kind and they all be- long to the group of small l.ai~dholders. Their employers are all among the richest land owners (seefurther part i, Chapter VIE).. .

Another means of eking out the income, resorted to in three cases is to make a sort of coarse doughnuts vjhic'o are sold at 5 francs apiece. The de-- mmd for them is grea.t an6 the supyly never enough as the production limit is usually about 40 doughnuts a day. As a rule a married coug3.e ac-ts as bakers, and t3ey may carry on for as long a time as the whole population is gathered in the village. As this vas the case only during the monthsof July znd Noxiem- ber-December in 1950, baking could not form a very important .exha source of income. The three couples establishing them6e:Lves as bakers during these periods, all belong to the cl.ass of shall landholders, too.

Some xlen belor:gi.ng to this class set out at rare inter;& to special.ize in mm~facturingunder-water eye-glasses or repair-work of various kinds; but strangely enough nobody has yet seen-fit to try out the most ns.turs2 expedi- ent, often resovted to in Tahiti, of specializing in fishing. . It happens that some of tiie yomg men go fishing idhen they are in special need of money, and the fish they bring back we a1v:ays eagerly bovght at good prices by the otner islanders. The reason nobody tl'ies iri earnest to become a professional fisher!!a.n, at least durine the months t~lienthe vihoie populetion is in the vil- lage, seem to be the persistence of. an old pr&-~uropean attitude that fishes are to be distributed as gifts among relatives and iaportant people. Sig- nificantly it is never the landless or land-poor individuals r.ho occasionalky . . practice commercial fishing but young men or boys driven by occasional need.

The relation between land-holdings and part time work viill be analyzed more closely in the next chapter dealing with. . the annual income per family. A description of the economic life of the Raroian ?:auld not be complete without some information abut the differential income :and the use made of the money. In spl.te of the great difficulties in obtaining exact information of this kind for persons xho rarely or never keep Ilny books, we hoe neverthe- less trhd to gather enough data to b:> able to discern at least some basic pa-tterns.

The data xhich vie have been atle to collect are of tie folloxing kinds:

1. The approxima.te total income during 1950 for each faniiLy, with sources of income indicated.

2. Expendi.tures for a sample group comprising about one third of the total population.

3. The property holdings for each family.

For data on total income we hsve relied on existing records of sales of copra and mother-of-pearl shells and our own observations supplemented vdth interrogation of all the family heads. The expenditures for the sample group are taken from the books of one of the storekeepers, and also in tiiis case we have checked with the islanders themselves as much as possible. The list of property holdings, finally, is basod on our own systematic survey. The least reliable figuresare thus those for the expenditures, but the errors are probably kept at a minimum and the smpling is representative, as v~ilibe shovm subsequently.

The income for each fattlily is shown in Table XXZII. Fron the total sum of 1,923,060 francs, 104,860 show under the heading "Other activities" must be deducted, as it comes out of tie money earned on copra and mother-of-pearl shell diving. The actual income vas therefore 1,818,260 francs for :therhole population in 1950, or 16,589 francs per capita. With an exchange rate of 64 Pacific francs'tto 1 U.S. dollar, this corresponds to 28,410 U .S. doll,ars for the year and 260 U.S. dollars per capita.

The main source of income is of course the copra. The price varied dur- ing the year betveen 8.35 francs and 11.35 francs a kilo, but in order to simplify our calculations xe have used the average price of 10 francs a kilo as a base. The total amount earned on copra (from om and others land) cor- responds thus to.169.7 tons. The difference betseen this figure and the actual output of 187 tons is easily explained by the fact that some of the income fromlands in Raroia goes 'to absent ovmers.

The income from copra is divided into two categories: that coming from copra grown on ovm lands and that from preparation of copra for others. The -- ++A11 prices in the present study are in Pacific francs. Tie rate of exchange is 5.50 metropolitan francs to 1 Pacific franc. -Table- XXEII: Trtal inco~ce- .. per fan:ily duri.11.e Y950. ---.-.- taking coprn for o'bhers To tai -. -- - a+,X!0 - 28,600 - 35,100 20, 000 37,000 40,000 52,390 50 ,000 53,360 20,000 51., 3G0 Lo, OGO 5i,, 330 20,000 54,340 40, COO 56,120 60,000 60, 000 60, 000 60,noo 30,000 6'.,570 35,000 63,700 73,000 70,000 70,000 7C ,000 65,009 72,590 6C,OC3 71;. $60 75 ,om 77,49G 30,000 '.30,000 90 ,COO 90,0C0 90,1;a0 9;,-560 100, OW 100,900 110,r)m 118,000 60,000 120,300 120,000 12/,,050 lyJ,200 I30,OCO

Total .,923,060 ~- .+*Forcompoeit5.o~i of each fainily, see Table XVIII, Ccapter V, part 7.

persons employed 21 malc-ing copra are namely as a rule not full the wage lakorer:: but siliiply si-c!;aYiland holders vLhc occasional2.y r;o%c for $he rizhei- isla~.r.ders,usxCy .me of Xi'--:A\..lr ciistdnt relatives. Tie inco~efrom -the sale of ccprci thus pro2ticed i;; aka>s equally divicled be-h!een ti:^ ~orkeransd the land ovmer.

If ae are to judqe solely from tine ta5le, there are thee families com- p1etel.g without ltinri, bct act.ually No. 5, a couple of "foreigners1' working for the part-native storekeeper, is really landless. Eainilies Nc. 6 and 5 hKn form hoLiseholds wit,h other relsted fainilies and alv!ays make the copra on cer- t,ai.n larlds. As they technically are not regarded bj their older rela-~ives, from >?horn they ill eventually inherit, as %he ovmers of the' land, they are not here classified thus. As t!le families in Table XXlII ace arranged according to tb.e gradual in- crease of their inco.:e, the relaidion between the income from om lands and ,.: . that from other activities' is cl'early brought out. Evidently only the fami- :. lies with ari annual income of 35,000 francs or less fina it necessary to earn money in other ways. The apparent excepticns to this: the income of the heads of foniily ?lo. 17 (8,030 francs) a113 No. 25 (60,000 francs) are respectively the annual. salary of the chief and the supposed mnua!. income of the part- native -trader.

The estimate of the -trader's annual incomeis based on tiie fixed legal percentage of 10% on an annual turnover of 600,000 francs. As he.0.1~0acts as a money lender, his actual income is probably much higher. The other trader, a Chhese, was not willing to give any aetai?.s of his activities, and he is therefore not included in the table.

The means of finding additicnal scurces of income - beside the already di.scussed copra preparetion for wealthy land ovtners - are limited, and actu~lly only ho have bezn tried out to any extent. These are: transport of copra secks from ot%er par-lx of the a-toll, .inaccessibl.e to the schooners, to the cen- tral viLlage, and: settjng up a bakery (see also Chapter 7, part 3). The only exceptions are the head of the fmi.2.y l:?o. 20, who earned. host of his money cl.assified as coming from "Other activities", as a wage v:orker, and family No. 11, mho earned additional money on the sale of ice cubes from a refrigerator.

thereas all these activities are limited to the families with small land holdings, the diving for mother-of-pearl shell is undertcken by members of fsmilies in all incone classes.. The rea,::on for the even dist,ribujution 02 tinis income j.s simply that diving in Raroia, v!ie& the iegoon is very deep, requires special sicill, uhieh of course is r,c,-t limi'ted to -the lower classes. Consider- . . irig the smdl-returns (2,742 kgs, viorbh 76,268 francs), the diving in Haroia . . must be regarcied.m?re as a spor2i t1ia.n a professional ect<.vity. The situation is of course different during the diving seasons in other atolls, 8.s mentkoned in Chapter V, part A. . . .. 2- Fmenditures of sazle fami.l.ie2.

None of the islanders keep any record cf th.eir expenses, an83 the only way to get tnis information :$:as, ss v:e soon realized, t;o consult the storekeeperst books. At ].east ae could in this way finci out whkt the islanders' expenses vere for wch t'ninge as they regnrded as essentialthemselves - food (canned fwd, flour and rice), householii items (soa?, kerosene and gasoline), clothing, cigarettes and some other few miscellaneous.items -as the islmders alxays buy these in the? local stores.

Even. if tie had wnted to, it v:ould have been impcssibie tc gathfr data of this 'kind for the whole population as one of the two storekeepers, the Chi- nese, was not co-oberative and besides his books were kept in Chinese. The other, part-nat,ive, stirekeeper on the contrary gave us uithout any hesitation permission to copy the accounts, &nd we use? this opportunity to select repre- sentative sample families. .. .

Our sample thus obtained comprises 8 families, vdho regularly made their purchases at the part-na-tive trader's. store, and the accounts included cover two ivho1.e months, June, when aost of the islanders iived. in the village, and August, ;;hen they almost all. worked in a copra sect,or. A:: tbese families only on rare occasions bought, anything from t,he Chinese sto>ekeeper - who, by the my, carries exactly thc same goods as the part.-nat,ive tra$.er - we can be fai.rly sure the figures represent 'the total p~rchas~s.'f~rthese families dur- ing the selected months.

The 8 families in our sampling came from the following income classes:

Income I I1 I11 IV class Below 35,000 36-63,000 61-90,000 'Above 90,000 .. ---- Total number 3 9 9 6 .- Number in sample 1 I 2 ,2 I. 2 I

T'bey cm thus be said to reflect possible variations in spending habits between the economic clzsses, if any such variations exist. The composition of these 8 families in respect to relationship, sex and age is as fol:.o~c.s:

i 1,. Family no. '8: 1 Hu jl,,,V!i +l,HuMo 65; AdDa ---7, UdDa 5 -I I,,, Fiiy no. 4: / Hu 32, i 26, AdDa 5 A. Family no. 9: Hu 32, VQ'i 21, YiCrPaSi 58, So 7, Da 1 ----. ----. -.---

I- Family no. 13: -C Hu &,Wi 37, HuFa 81, So 19, So 18, So 15, Da ---10, Da .I8 Family no. I: Single male 45 -- - I

I Fzmily no. 23: 1 Hu 57, Wi 49, So 24, SoPi 16, GrCh 1 I compare?.' to the total population our sampling stidms the following charac-. teristics:

. ~.- ~. ... .~ . ~. ~

FI3'iB:ES--I Totd* . / Sampie . Per cent . .. 30.0 24.5 1. 71. 28.5 29.6 12.5 I. 32.0 30.0 I 11 4 36.3 45 - 59 11 27.2 5.5.. 2. 36.3 60 - 3 '1 33.3 1 4. . 1 25.0 1

*As totals tae averape number of persons present in Raroia during June and August is used. See Chanter 11, part 3, Table VII. The variations in percentages are thus very small monk the age groups. In its totality the percentage is for the aeg31.6 (16 out of 51.5), for the --fema1.e~ 31.1 (18 out of 57.5), and for the &ole sample group 31.1 (3L, out of 109 persons). The sampling can therefore be regarded as representative of the total population in Xaroia.

The figures for the sample graup are presented in Table XXLV, and in ad- di.tion a cornparison tetxeen incoise and essential expelises for the sane faqilies is made in Table XXV.

If we take these figure; as a basis for anestimate of the my the Raroians sjjend their money, we arrive at the follo?:ing fj.gures:

The sample group sper~ds5/+,%55 francs on essential i.tems &wing two mcnths, which..correspor:ds to an annual expenditure of 325,530 francs. If the exyerises viere the same proportA.ona;ly tkiroughout the year for' the %hole popu- lation (109 persons on an average), it siiouid have spent in 1950 1,043,610 francs on essential items, brokec tiom in tne following TTay:

Food L,l7,476 frs Cloth 235,898 l1 Cigarettes 225,074 If PiIiscellaneous 119.159 I' Household ---(161892 Total 1,044,499 "

AStfie total income for the vhole populati.on was 1,818,260 francs (see pat l), 773,761 francs are unaccounted for. This is, however, not so strange as it seems, as the islancier:; buy a great amount of articles like planks, ce- ment, corrugated iron and prestige articles of all sorts aboard tie schooners or &wing their visi-ts to Papeete. Our figures are therefore in all likelihood c~r~ect,and expressed in percentqges the ificome is.... s2ent thus:

Food 23% Clothing 13% Cigarettes 12% iki.sceUanecus 6% Household 3% Surplus --'3% Total 100%

The slight variation among the families as to the expenses for essenf;ial items is a little surprising (especially if vie reinember ths differen-t composi- tion of each fami.ly), but shows that practically ail the islanders have the. same idea about %ha.t constitutes the rnini~numnecessities for a good living. It is important to note at the same time that all farr.ilies, even *hose in the iowest incons category, evilently are able to attain this stan2ard. The dif- ferwce between the families mith a small money surplus and those s:ith a big surplus is clearly seen in the amount of money spent on prestige property as will be shovm in the next section. Table XXIV: &GL,mdltures for the sa~nplefamilies durin~the months of June and August 1950.

- ..-

Tab1.e XXV:: Income, expenses an6 surplus. ,.~- v.*.ns--" .-.-- Estimated Fanily surplxannual s

L., 70 5 370 IT 10,522 9 3.1,008 15 III 27,148 13 TI1 70, 030 7,656 1 111 72, 50 2,869 55,376 19 IV i0ii ,000 6,674 59,956 23 IV 124,350 li,,9~9 34,356

:.--- I .--.- I I

. . --.--.Table XXVI. : Prope~tyholdings of each family in 1950. ,-- ,-- Useful property Prestige property - I-Il

Family# no. - 1 - --I ---

3. Property holdings of each fammi Completely lacking any accurate figures on how the islanders' consider- able surplus of money is spent, we have chosen the best possible substitute, namely to make a survey of the property holdings of each family (Table XXVI ) which gives us a fairly good idea what the Earoians buy in addition to the articles regarded as essential. VJe have divided the property holdings into two categories: useful and prestige property. The classifications are evi- dent, except perhaps in the case of the inclusion of bed, chair, table, bureau and bike under the heading "Prestige property." As, however, the furniture is not used - all Raroians still prefer, according to ancient custon, to sleep on pandanus mats on the floor - and there are no roads outside the village for bikes, we think it is correct to designate also these items as primarily in- tended for the enhancement of the family prestige. A complete investigation of tns islanders' food hahi'ts and average con- sumption had necessitated - in order to give reliable results - prolonged and repeated observations of severd sample groupsadring both the work and tile rest periods. Gnfortuna1;ely we did not find time for such a study. The only way to give an indicatj.on of what the islan6ers eat is to gse once more the farnily accounts presented in the preceeding chsptsr on income and expenses, and try to ext,ract additional. igformacion on this as2ect. Even if we do not get )J complete data on the total food consumption in this way, xe at least get an idea of the consumption of bnorted foods.

Among the data on essential items which we found in the storekeeper's account books, those deal-iag ?jitin the pl~rchaseof: f~odwere complete. As the imported food comes in standard cans or the q3antitg sold is indLcated in each customer's, account, me have without difficulty been able to determine the mouilt, of imported food consuned by our sar!iple. populetion &x-ing two 'months.

The monthly and daily consumpti.on per perswi, based on these figures, together with the .corresponding avera.gea for the daily consu.rption in French Oceania as a whole for 1947 (~acquie'r,1949, 3. 601), are presented below. As our smpling is representatLve (see .Chapter VZJJ., part 2) and cornprjses one third of the total population, there is all reason -to trus% -the figures.

Table YXVII: Co~~sumpti~onof im;~ort,edf'o0d in,

Raroia 1950 Faod item Samp?;e popi~la- Per month , Daily per Daily per tion 2 months per person person person

Flour Sugar ,Corned beef Rick off ee Biscuit Peanut oil' Camed .'miLk Canned frzit : Canned fish Starch Canned butter Some other imported foods like canned vegetables, tomato sauce, pork and beans, onions and jam can also be bought inthe stores, but the islanders , consume such negligible quantities of-these fev: items that we have not found it v:orth while including them in the table. As the only additional food avail- able in the atoll andeaten regularly in such quantities that it can be regarded as constituting a part of the staple 'iet is fish and coconuts, the islanderst menu is evidently very poorly balanced. Tie limit, however, ourselves to the , .. data presented above and leave the analysis of them to the specialis?,s.*

In order to get a well-rounded and correct picture of the nutrition pro- blem in its entirety in Raroia, continued field research is necessary, and a complete study of the nutrition and health problems is actually placed very. . high on the list of additional research vie shouid like to undertake, if me find the opportunity to return once more to Raroia.

. . .. .,

*Our knowledge of the nutrition problems will be considera@lx increased when' ' ' the results of 'Miss S. Malcolmts studies in the Tuaiiohs are available. Miss Malcolm, who is the nutrition specialist of the South PacZfic Commission, visited the group in 1953. Chapter X

In spite of our fairly intinate knowledge of Raroia, we do not yet feel. qualifiec! to interpret correctly all the cawciata presented in the present paper. The conclusions in this chapter must therefore not be regarded as de- finitive in any way, and all vie have done hex is simply ti: suimflarize and com- ment bri.efly on the general trends which we think vie have discerned.

At the outset, in pro-European times, the islanders subsisted oil a simple food-gathering and planting economy, and as far as me knom, they had achieved a cultur6.l equili'rrium. About one hundred years ago the Raroians cme for t'ne first %ime in more intimate contact with Kestern culture, and since thei: the accul.turation process has continued v:ith increased intensity.

Due .to the Lsolation and povert,y of tne atoll, it did, however, not at- trnc-t foreigners to %he same extent as Tahiti, Hwaii, Samoa and other moun- tainous islands, and the agents of chti~igein Raroia wre not representative for our Lestern society as a %hole, bu-t consisted of selected groilns, princi- pally traders, missionsries and administrators.

Ciiaracteristic for the accul'curation process under study is that the changes kave been p?z.ce&I and that a i".i.nimum of pressure has been exercised on the islanders. Raroia. is thus a good example of a receiving group, vhich has been offered a. Limited number of cultural traits with the freeriom to select -ioluntarily those it ?;ished to take over.

Aerskovits has proposed four reasons for a receiving poup to adopt foreign traits, and they all seem to hs~vebeen operative in Raroia. 'These determinants of change are (Herskovi.ts, 1938, p. 13A):

1. Economic advantages 2. Socisl prestige 3. Ccngruit,y of culture-pat,terns 4.. Necessity to ido opt traits functionally rela-bed r-i'th othcr ones selected for one of the yevious reasons.

Of these determinants, nunber 1 seems to have been the most powerful, as inciicated b:r the radical. change from a direct subsistence economy -to a preponderantly surplus p~oduction. UIotive number 4. has certainly also been operative to a large extent and sood examples are here the changes in set- tlement patterns and land o-uxership correlated with the transformation of the economy.

The prestige factor, nurnber 2, is fm from negligible in Raroia, as is clearly shom for instance by the list of the property holdings of each fam- ily (Table XXVI) . Niottve number 3, chtmges caused by the congruity of cci~l- ture-patterns between the donor and the receiving group, has certainly played a very small role, and the only field we can think of chere it can have had some significance is t'n8.t of religion. Let us now turn to the results or the acculturation process. Due to the different ways in which the determinants discussed above have been combined and the rel.ati.ve resistance offered to changes in each case, the impact on the native culture has been very uneven. Some parts of the culture have been more thoroughly changed than others, and the probable order of them, from most --to least transformed, is according to our rough estimate the following: 1. Health The isolation of the atoll. in ancient times protected the population against most of the contagious diseases u;hich now occur. Instead of the frequently attested good healtih i2a pre-%ropean times, tooth decay and stomach troublas, dus to malnutrition are now common.

2. Material European materials and techniques are used almost ex- culture clusively, and the only exception is the still frequent use of plaited palm leaves for house construction.

3. Religion All islanders are practicing Christians, but the wide- spread belief in magic and the formal-ritual conception of religion are ancient survivals.

4. Economy firopean money economy and simple surplus production dominates now, but everybody still devotes some time to fishing, turtle catching, egg collecting and other sub- sistence activities. It must also be noted that the islanders' surplus economy differs considerably from that usually found in most Western societies as it is a --stationarx economy. 5. Political Old hereditary chiefs and priests have been replaced by a orgmiza- popularly elected chief and a village council. As the tion system was fairly democratic already in ancient times, the changes are not so great as they inay seem formally.

6. Language The older generations still speak an almost pure local dialect, but the younger generations use Tahitian to a very large extent.

7. Social or- As in pre-European times the basic unit is the extended ganization family, even if the size of the family has decreased and the authority of the head is not the same. The old incest rules are applied, adoption is still practiced to a considerable extent, and the kinship-terminology is unchanged. A trend away from collectivisin tosard individualism is, however, discernable.

8. General Most of the islanders are able to write and read Tahi- knowledge tian, but they do not know French. As there are prac- tically no books in the native vernacular and fen of the Karoians have any formal education, they do not knoa. much about the modern world in v!hich they are liv- ing. Their general outlook is therefore not very dif- ferent from that of their ancestors. It, is thus evident that the islanders still are in the micldle of an ac- culturation process, and as could be expected, the i?tegration of the various culture traits is very poor. ~kia~acteristicfor the present situation is that many lag$ sttll e%is't, that the adjustments. often are haphazard, and that a new equilibrium has not yet been ackiievea. The Raroians are lost and bevild- ered, nany times sirnply kcause they are between tv:o cu:Li;ures. They have abandoned too much of their own cultare too ra$.dly, before acquiring new techniques, habits and val-ues.

The islanders have escajjed many cf the probiems other native groups in the Pacific have had to cope v!ith, like over-populetion, wars, religious com- petition and material poverty, but there are still rebsons ?or serious appre- hension. Some of -the difficulties are due to factors outside tke islanders1 control, like the infiltration of ruthless Chiaese traders and the lack of useful books in the native vernacular, but most of t'ne problems have, of course, --t1iei.r root in the abbve mentioned poor integration of the various culture traits.

These latter problems, vinich can be traced back to unsatisfactory adjust- ments to the nev situation crea%ed by the introt?uction of foreign economic, religious hnd political systems, have been discussed in their contexkin this paper, and we shall only iist them briefly here. These principal imnediate -2roblems are: . . 1. &id questions. hluch land is uncultivated because of uncertain or disputed titles. Illuch time is lost in travelling because -the land parcels are so small and scattered. Conflicts arise due to poor co-.ordination of the activi.ties.

2. Heal.tli and nutrition. The islanders do not knor k~oui to treat even .the most common diseases, an6 have of course no idea about modern hygiene. The diet is poorly balsnced .::ith too liiuch imported and canned food.

3. S3sia1 disiateqation. The old leaders, who were religious2.y sanc- tioned and therefore obeyed, have disappeared, and their places have been ''.taken 'by traciers and office-seekers,' ~iholack authority. No cooperative enter- prises are therefore possible any n~ors. . . 4. One-sidedri$ss of th~econony. The islar~clersare .at :!resent fairly wealthy, hut all their illdome derives from mother-of-pearl shell diving or copra preparxtion, of 8:hich only the latter is a regular activity. As there are practically no other sources ofincome in the atoll, a sudden price fall 'or disappearance of the copra and shell trade vrili mean a comp1.e-be collapse of the present economic system.

In the first 'three cases, the ~JY, of soluti.on - more detailed sijggestions are of course outside the scope of the pres~ntpqer - which seems most logical 2s simply a continued arid better guided Zuropemization of. the islanders, aim- ing at .the disappearanc& of partial lags and the achievement of u nev equili- brium. Such a solution seems, however, not possible in the fourth case, the one-sidedness of the economy, and the only alternative points instead b;ckv:ards, tz a return to the old subsistence economy. . . This solution was actually tried during tine depression i.n the early 1930ts, when all trade v.irtually ceased. It v:orked out fairly well, and if we are to trust the islanders themselves their health was even improved. The question is, however, whether such a return to the old subsistence economy is still possible, especial1.y as a 2er~onnentsolution?

The main hindrmce is of course tiilt the persons who xere the carriers of the old culture and the leaders during the native revival in the early 1930's are no% almost all dead, and that. the present Raroians have no knowledge of tincient techni.ques. If such a solution nere to be t,ried once more in the case of the compl.ete collapse of the copm trade, it would therefore certainly be necessary, no niatter hov; ridiculous it may sound, to call in a team of ethno1.0- gists a?d teach the poor islanders survival technique on an &toll., i.e. courses of the same type as those given Arnericw airmen at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum during the l.ast xar in the Paciiic!

\%ether t~osuch conflicting principles, as a more co~npletebropeaniza- tioriin some cases and a return to the pro-European patterns in other cases, could co-exist is of course an ultimate question which cannot be solved except by practical experiments. 1863 Annuaire des F;tablisr;er.ants Francais de llOc&anie. Imprimerie du Gouvernement, Fapeete.

BUCX, Peter

1945 An Introriuction to Polynesian ksthropoloqy, Bernico P. Bishop Ivluse~imBulletin No. 137, I!onolu1u

DkNIELSSOJL', Bengt

1951. Quelques observations metec:rologiques faites a Rar0i.a. Bull.etin de 12. Socite des Etrdes 3ceaniennes, No. $4., p~.192-99; No. 95, pp. 236-43, Pc.peete. 1953 Raroia, Happy Island of the Sou.th. Seas. Rand XcNallg, Chicago.

1953 Handhook Lor Ato1.l Research, Atoll Research Bulletin i7, Pacific Science Board, Viashington, D. C.

KARTtY, Robert R.

1953 1chi;hyul.ogi.cal Field Data of Raroia Atoll., Tuamot~rArchipelago, Atoll. Research Bulletin ;Go. 18, Pacific Science Board, Wasbing- ton, D. C.

1938 Accu!.tura-tion. J. J. Augustin, Ney: York. 1052 Economic Ant'nropology. Alfred A. Knopf, Nei? York.

JCIHenri 19;9 Con-Lribution a 11etu2e de llalimentation et i'hygiane slim.e:ltai.re en Oceanie F'rancaise. Bu?.letin i,e la Socie-te des Etades Ocean- iennes, No. 86, pp. %!+-636, Papeete.

KEESING, Felix

19U tlccul.turat~.onin PoLynesia. In: Specialized Studies i.n Polynesian Ant'nropolo~y. Bernice P. Bishop bfuseum Bulletin No. 193, pp. 32- 45, Honolulu. 1953 Social h.thropolum in Polynesia. Oxford Uiliversity Press, London.

1932 Report of the Direc-l;or for 1931. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bul- letin No. $4, Hono1ul.u. TEISSLER, Raoul

1953 Etude denographicjue. Bul.letin Ce la Societc? des Etudes Oceaniennes, No. 102, pp. 6-31, Papeei;e.

19!&9 fiquete demographique en Oceanie Fi-ancaice, Bu3.le'ci.n de la Societe des Etudes Ocemiennes, No. 87-88, pp. 658-84, Papeete.

. . As the ancestors of -the present day natives in the Tuamotu group came from the surrounding mountaino~~sislands, Tahiti, Marquesas axd Mangareva, they evi- dently had to create new terms for most fewt~~resof the atolls in n+hich they . .settled, The fact that the Tuaniotuans today have averydetailed and exact terminology, khich covers almost every topographicsl feature, can therefore be taken as a proof that 1) they have lived in atolls for Xong periods, and 2) there was a very iatimate relationship between the land and the people. . .

: In Raroia, where all the terms in this paper were collected in 1952, the first conclusion is definitely confirmed by the traditions, mhich place the dis- covcry arid settlement of the atoll at thirty generatA,ons from 1950. As to the ecological relationship, it will be treated principally in mf forthcoming paper on the economic organization in Raroia, but a short description of thetopograph- ical terminology seems warranted here in order to contrast the natives' concepts vii.th.:th~sec,f the modenn geologist.

. . A quick glance.,at..t;he'&:bsequent lists will show that the native -termin- ology is extremely comprehensive and well suited. In some cases it seems even that t+e native has a term lacking in the modem scientist's vocabulary which

, profittlbly could".be borroved. Let usfor inslance take the Tuamotuan and pan- Polynesian word ,&, whlhich means a part of the reef rrith vegetation, sur- rounded by viater .or.dry arid beach rock. The English nvi-d i.sl.et is frequently used for transl.ating &, but iC, does not carry..a the.impaFtant connotations of thelatter, i.e., that it may be separated by dry ari.d beach rock as well as by water, and that it always has some vegetation'.. Other Ti~arnotuariterms, which do not have any Biglish Counterparts, are: Tahuna, hoa, kapuku ad tai, and these aredefined in$he.lists...... :This detagedand.exact 'terminology reflects a very Close adaptation and utilization,of the natural resources, as it was created during the never-ceas- . . ing food-.quest,'.y:M.ch rj'kturaliy demanded a thorough lffloi~ledgeof every part of the lm.d, the reef and the lagoon. Another example of horr the terminology ce?tainLy has grom out of an immediate need, is the classification of the dif- ferent types of coral patches in the lagoon. There are thousands of coral patches of all sizes and shapes, and the existence of. precise and accurate terms for them of course greatiy facilitates navigation.

equally utilitarian attitude is show in t&use of place nqes. None of the five major islets in Har~iahas, for instance, .a nabe, ~~hichapplies to t,he whole of i-t, but different parts and foe,tures 'of them, vjhich are of import- ance to the natives, areall na!iled. (For conventence, the nam of tine most kriovn or prominent place has beenexter~ded%o the whole islet 0x1 the map of Raroi:. in Atoll ResearchBulletiin No. 31.) Manynames for various parts of the lagoon and the reef exist too, which from a ih'estern point of vie?: at first glance seem illogical and unnecessary, but which on closer examination are found to correspond admirably to certain native needs. The followine; lists are by no means complete, arid are deliberately limited to the ternis riiost frequent1.y in use. It could easily be supplemented through inquiries of older men, who still remember archaic words no 1.onger known to the younger generations. This disappearance of many terms is in itself very illuin- inating am3 constitutes a sort of measure of the changes v:hich a?!ready have taken place. The former close dependence on the natural resources has to a 1a.rge e::ter,t ceased to exist wi-tb the rise of the copra trade and the introduc- tion of a money economy; and in the 'same v:ay as the names 6:T ancient cult- places no- have been completely forgotten due to the natives' -conversion to a. new faith, certainly most of the topographical terms will also eventually be Lost during the continued acculturation process. , .. . The nativeternis are listed below under the i'ollov~ingk!eadings: Parts of the atoll, .Dir.ec'i;ions, Land and reef features, Features of the sea and the 1%- goon, Coral patches, and Piiisr:ellarieous te~ms. . .

Four different parts of the atoll, Raroia, are di.stingcished and named. The northeastern par-t is calledgdcdc, the southeastern $ere-teki, the southviest-- em and Vne northern tokerau. (See maw in Atoll Research Bulletin No. 31.) 'These are no-t specific names, but general. terns, ghich curiously enough repre- sent t~focompletely clifferent principles of ori.entation. The word:: tokerau- and raro. arc conpass and mS.nd directions, the former neming "northeast" and the ].a-tter "below the mind." The words --gake and keretcki on the other hmd indi- cate the-relative gosition of these part:; of the atoll. in relaiion to the grin- cipal hur,innsettlement. . Yhen one stands at the main vi!.l.age faci.ng the lagoon, kereteki is the part of Lke atoll farthest away to the right, whereas'@ is the part farthest.av1ay to the left. . , This double hsme of reference is used all over the Tuamotus, and the underlying principle is still better recogiized on other dolls of different shapes and oattern:$ of settlement than Raroia, where due to the general. N!QE- SS16: ddj.rection of' the atoll, gake arid toicerau .to some extent overlap. The only expla~atioionfor this cwious terninology seem to be tkat it originally was created in an iislund where it perf"ect1y 'fitted the geography and human ecology, and ti~en.latercarrier! as a pet of the generai. culture to nen islands and 'there for one reason or~.other~resePved...... The comgass directions, of which a greit number 'are distinguished by the natives, are as a rule riot used for..indica%ingthe .parts-of the atoll, but or determinicg the wind direction. -~Cirections and ~elatiieposittions. 42 typically ?olynesian wy of indicating the relation between two islands Ir points is with rei'erence to the prevn.iliiig trade wind, mhich most ol the par is blos;:.ng in t'ne sme principal direction, from the east. The is!.md or place situated farthest towards t!~e eas-t and therefore 'Win&arcl, is saic? to be -, above, the other aro,, or belov. When the nati.ves for instance say that Talcume i.s situated l'aabovelt Haroia, this 2oes not memi, asa non-Polynesian ob- server may suppose, that Tnlcu!ne is the northerrmost atoll, but insteid that it . .. . is situated slightly closer to the trade %ind than Raroia. The name Raroia, or Raro-ia, itself means simply "(the land which) is belom tTakume) .I'

Common terms expressing directions are & e,toxards land, & &, 2 N, to~vardsthe sea, and i honaki, tov~ardsthe lagoon. A person travelling in a canoe is of course always moving A wtc, towards land, either he is coming from the ocean or the Tago'on side. il persori v~alkingfromthe lagoon beach to7:ards the outer reef is also qi0ving.L &, uriti.:. hereaches the center of the islet, and then -i .- tua or 2 && - the firs-t term being used if he actually continues out into the sea sninming or by canoe, the sedond term if he stops before he reaches the edge of the reef.. h person walking across the islet in the oppo- site direction is zoving A the first half of the distance, and then i hopaki, iowards tile lagoon. The swe terms &re also used for i.ndicating the relative pcsition of lands and natural objects.,. .,, .. ,' . . -.Land -- and reef features. (See P'izuras I and IT) Fenua atoll, islet or laid

Mo%u part ~f the reef with vegetation, surrounded by water or arid dry rock. Literal meaning: "broken off." . ~. . .. . Pahere smal?. part of a motu, uiiited riith the main part only through a narrow strip of land ...

Tahuna sand dune without vegetation. Lite~almeaning: "hidden." .. . Piriatau indurated sand formingthe foundation of a motu . . . ..,, , . Pakokota the uncovered beach-rock or island conglomerate .. . Papa extremely flat coral platform on t'ne lagoon side

Akau outer reef flat, covered by water a.t high tide

Eiti cikau edge of tne outer reef flat

Tahora reef on the lagoon side close to the shore

Papee edge of the reef on the lagoon side

Kou tu land promontory

Kikiha wide stretch of the reef between two motu, covered by. . water at high tide . .

ilira. pass, deep and wide channel in the reef circle

Ho a shallow chmnei beginning on the lagoon side, separating completely or partially tv~o~notu

Tairua closed hoa Poehoga inner part of a closed hoa.

Kaoa . reef spur on the lagoon side

Tau ta reef spur on the sea side

Xoehae surze clmnnel. on the outerr reef

Rapa open gap in the outer reef flat where the sea reaches the shore

!'I> ta opening in the lagoon reef

Mapuna bloi7 hoLes on the outer reef

Patuarea spr on the sea side s?.ightly higher than the surrounding reef

1'eepo.e uppsr part of the lagoon beach

Paraha the part of the sandy Lagoon beach intermittently wet by the swash

Features -.--of the sea md +,he lagoon.

Rota, lagoon Tairo to

Tai the sea from the beach to the edge of t>e reef

Tu a tie sea beyond the edge of the reef

".maria deep, blue water, either in ocean or lagoom

Au current

Reva depth

iiolcaroka o.byssmiz1 6.epth

Kare wave

Garu breaker

Miti salt water

Caml. L~atehes.--.- (See Figure 111)

l'urari isolated. patch

Vata group of patches Tohitikia patch rising up from the bottom in the form of a cylinder or slightly marked cone

Patahora mushroom-formcd patch

Magarua U-shaped when seen fro21 above

Karena patch which reaches the surface, big size

Puteu, patch which reaches the surface, but of smaller size teu

Tirare patch not reaching the surface, but stLll visible

Mwalii st3.11 visible, but lower Uian tirare

Kapuku patches on the bottom, not visible from the surface tLiscellaneous terms.

Ahu sand bank on the bottom

Puratea same, but of ~mallersize

Patetea same, but of still smaller size

Konao coral stone

Gaere smd FIG. I TERMS FOR LAND AND REEF FEATURES. FIG. !3 TERMS FOR LAND AND REEF FEATURES

VEGETATION ".... . s

BEACH ROCK

KAOA < AKAU I

KIKIHA PATUAREA ) 4 I KARENA PUTEU TIRARE MARAHI KAPUKU

KOUT

NOT VISIBLE LAGOON

AVA OCEAN Part 3 NATIVE TEPNINOLOGY OF THE COCOI\JUT PALM IN RAKOIA ATOI,~ ! \. . : by Beng.$ panielsson

The importance of the cccoEut palm to the natives is reflected by the de- tailed tern~inology. Every yrt of the tree is given a specific name, and the different stages of development of the nut are distinguished with an almost scientific accuracy. At least a dozen varieties are lmown to the islanders and used. according to their special. propw.2.e~. . . .. S~?LK~Sof p.rov!th.

The usual ?ord for the palm tree i.s hdcari, but &uI the older cord of pan-.Po:Lynesian distri5ut%on, j.s also know. Only a full-grown tree is called !~ak&ri~,hoviever, an<. before it roaches this s.ta.ge three diqtinct names are used, 5.s a very young piant with sprouts not yet split into leaflets. The roots are short an5 tke ciesccarp or husk is still attached to the sproi.it. At the next staze, =o,y&, tie leaves aye fully developed, 6-10 feet high, arid emerge like a fafrom t?.e gremd. Gradually..tfie trunk is formed, and from the moment it can proper:!.y be called a tree, it is temed hokg. At the age of six or sewn years iinal.ljr, the tree reaches riaturity ad is a hakari. --The parts -of -the -tree. - The terms for tiie different parts of the Sufull-gom tree are very numerous. To begin v?it!?the roots, these are called 6,whi.ch simply is the generic name for root. The lower, thicker part of tiie trunk is called s,and the resf of it tu,7lu.. The upper part of the stem, -the vegetative bud, r:hich is edible, . '. . . is naned a... . .

A yomg undeveloped leaf still folded agsinst thmidrib has a special. .. naine, mote, in contrast -to .the fully developed leaf for which two words are used, --.--rauniu or &o&. The first rrord. is the pan-Polynesien term and t'ne sec- on2 the local. tern. Eoth are curi.ously enougn also used for the smaller leaf- lets attached to the central inidrib, the --katakata. The term for the midrib of the leaflet is koitika.

The parts of the fully developed f~owerind their names are shown in Fig- ure 1. A f1.ovrer bud is called &, but there is no word for the fully de- veloped flower cluster a &ole.

The --nut.

All features of the nut, even the .sm&LLest .ad most i~?significantfrom a 7..viestern point of vie:^, are recognized and nsmed bjr the natives. They are show in Figure 2.

As everywhere in Pol.ynesia several v:ell. ciefined ste.ges in the growth of the nut are disti.nguished and in Iiaroia their number is five. No common term

l~'The terminolory varies co;isidesably in many cases from atoll to atoll. We have limited ourselves to that in use in Rarois. for "nut" exists. This is a typical. example of the shrictly utilitarian atti- h~deof the islanders. Each type of nut has its om properties, useFu1 in difi'erent ways and e.ccording1.y each has a spechl name. A '!n~~tin general!', on the other hand, comnbining in an abstrtxt the way the qualities of several types of nu-ts, i.s of no use vhatsoe~rei-, md no such tern1 has therefore been created.

The zainss and principal c11aracteristi.cs 31' the nu.t'a-t the di:fferent stages are as follow:

-Staae-- .- of arowth- Characteristics Pnri7.i Itecentiy formed nnt, no cnvit,y i.nsj.de.

Rehi Al.;nosL fiiLl s5.ze but still greeri nut. Cavity filled with bit+,er water. No or ver:r ltttle flesh lamed.

Full size but st511 green nut. lkin aliny flesh. IVateer slightly sweet.

Pull size nl;t witn spots of dcker color. Flesh t"iclc a~dfF?m. Water ei'fervescmt and bitter.

Gora !'laximum si.ze, bronq nut. Flesh of mar;imum t'nick- ness. Eater sour.

Var5 e ti ed.

The mtivec distinguish a% least a dozen varieties of coconut palms, but it is doubti'ul. whether '-he distinctions are all >ustifi.ed 1'mm the point of view of 3. scientific botmist. The dis'tinctions are baserl on t:

Varieties based on the color of the nuts:

m?ma~u dark green nu%

. . motea pale green. nuts

fa%eka light yel1w;i-green nuts

red6.ish-brox?rn nuts

kura!:ura reddish nuts

heru nuts of which the upper :>art is scarlet-colored RAROIAN NAMES OF COCONUT PARTS

FIGURE I.. FLOWER STEM AND SPATHE

AKA- {root) endosperm)

((1) CROSS SECTION OF (bl CROSS SECTION OF MATURE NUT SPRQUTING NUT

NOWI (the two small Pores) VAHA (the large pore)

(the "belly" of the nut) (c) HUSKED NUT

FIGURE 2. NUT Varieties based on the arrangement of nuts:

takaveatika the nuts lack stalks and are attached directly to the stern

makire abundant, small nuts in thick grape-like clusters

Varieties based on special propsrt!.es of nuts:

kaipoa nut with editlle, sxeet husk or mesocarp

pururoa nuts with thick husk and small nuts

kara.va oval nuts with long husk fibers ~s~~~~~.~~Is.

The fol1or:irig miscellaneous terms mere recorded:

nounou absorbing organ (haustorium) in a ~oraor full- grown nut

koka oily nounou

puha gora with dry detached meat kivako --gora vzithout water or nouns vavako

kovari prematurely fallen nut

kererau cluster of nuts

popoga flesh attacked by insects, or deteriorated in other mays Final -note. The term given in this short paper are those still commonly used in the atoll. Some of the olaer informants could give a certain number of ad.ditiona1 terms, wwich now have become obsolete due to the introduction of fac-tory-made products replactng articles formerly made of the various warts of the palin. As we are mainly interested in the present situation, however, and our lists at, any rate contain the native u:ords for all the main features of the palm tree, we have not include6 these additional. and more doubtful terms. . , ......

. . . . Part fk BIRD NAMESIN RAROIA ATOLL . , .. by Bengt Danielsson and Aurore Natua

. . 22.EL.- .Scientific --- Name English. Name Raroian Name Res. Anous minutus minutus white-capped noddy Kikiriri

Res. Anous stolidus brown noddy Goio pileatus

Res. Conopoderas atnha reed warbler Kokikokiko, atypha kotiotio, Makomako, Komakomako

Res. Demigretta sacra reef heron KO tuku sacra

Res. Fregata sp. mm-o-war bird Ko taha

ariel white breast. Puhoho

I1 two white spots bhkino on the sides

minor white head and Ru tu breast

red throat Varovaro

Res. Gygis alba candida fairy or white tern Kirarahu, Xitaketake

Res. Heteroscelus incanus wandering tattler Kuriri

Res. Proceloterna cerulea blue ternlet Gaga teretirostris

Res. Sterna fuscata sooty tern Kaveka oahuerisis

Res. Thalasseus bergii crested tern Tara cri.status

Res. Sterna lunata spectacled tern Oreore

Res. Sula leucogastra brow booby Kariga plotus

Res. Sula sula rubripes redfooted booby Kariga hopetea Migr. long-tailed cuckoo Kurevareva, karevareaa ldigr. Kivi, kevfaa

!!lei..7. Phaethm lepiurxs vhite-tailed tropic Tt?.vake dorotheae bird hopetea

Kii~r. re&tai'lcd tropic Tavake bird hope~u-a Migr . Pluvia!.is doieinica Pacific go:Lqen Torea fulva plo%er

K'-.v'l>:,l . kligr. b!.ack shear-water

Former Aeahmorhpchus Res. parvirostris now ext . Former Forzana tabuensis little rail Re:;. noml ext.

Former Ptilinopus fruiC dove Koko Hes. coralensis now ext. CHECK LW; OF THE .RIATTVE NANES OF PISHZS FOR RMQIA ATOLL . . ., . by Sengt Danielsson

The fol.lov!ing list in the ?irst, column apparentlyinc~udesall the naines for fishes that the Raroians know. The terms preceded by an asterisk were checked by the authors against speci:neris collected on the 1952 Coral Atoll Projec-t at Raroia Atoll., Tuamotu Awhipelago, and identified in tie field. The second cohxm includes these tentatj.~"field identifications which will have to be conflrned by additional. study. Tne third column includes tile general ~. common nme for the fish group invo2.ved. For further iiiformation on tie fishes collected at Raroia see Atoll Research Bulletin No. 18.

The Raroia names are almost .al.nays the same as those used throughout the T~iarnotus, but there is a strong tendelley for Tahitian terms to supplant the oripinal fish vocabul.ary in the western Tuamtuan islands, Of -the 176 native na~nes, 37 could not be confirmed by fi~hescollected on the Coral Atoll Pro- ject. . . Alphabetical list according toRaroia name:

Scien tific~ge General Fng1:ish nari

Kuhliq sandvrichensis ahole

Acan thu~gtriostefcus surgeon fish

Euthynnus pelamis bonito......

-Acanthurus &ricans . . surgeon fish

.. ,~.. Hay.. . . '?YY .. .

E?icephelus... . tauvina sea bass Hemirhamphus pacif icus half beak

Epine~helusmerra sea bass . . . . --Scarus pulchellus ',. parrot fish

Carangida.e - jack or crevalla .. . . . Xiphias gladius . ... swordfish . ----Ctenochaetus -strigosus surgeon fish Cephalopholis sea bass . .

Scarus ST). parrot fish -.ScientLfic -.- name --. -- General English nme Istiouhorus sa?3 fish . . Lutj axiidae snappr

Acantk~uridae surgeon fish

Lethrinidae snapper ---Variola 3-outi sea bass

Scar~~-.sa. sqv_ee parrot fish -Pkueil vai.ginsis mullet Nlelichth~~&cn~yg trigger fish -E

Geimo -rnac.:roj:terG-g .' tuna

-Echeneis -naucrates..-- remora Aul.ostomus chinensis tru-et fish

?fii~ilcrez$&nz& mullet

Nu! lidae goat fish

Synodus vdrie~atus, linard fish Paranereis Letracan>&g

Naso -.-- tu5erosus unicorn fish -Balistes undulatm, trigger fish --Cant'nerines .- -pardalis ,- ---Muril -enrexi. Pa~u,)eneustrifasciatus Raroian n'ame Scientific name - General Fnpl_L___._- is11 name * KEKE Chaetodon f acu1.a butterfly fish * KIICITO Acanthuz guttatus surgeon fish ~tIiIOA ---Holocentrus ooercularis squirrel fish

++ KIOKIO Albula vuw bonef ish

+;. KITO Enineph- gxulatus sea bass

* KOFARUFARU E~inephelusIJ~~CU~W,~U~ sea bass

++ KOKLPL Balistidae in general trigger fish

KOKOPU

++ KOKOROHUE Blenniidae (in toto) blenny

* IRIKOYIKA Ephineghelus pxialis sea bass IIOMEN E --Selar crurnen~htholrinus -- jack or crevalla KOMURI Carangidae jack or crevalla * KGNIHO --Scarus sp. one parrot fish KOPA Holocentridae squirrel fish * KOPAHOPAHO Pseudoscarug trouchel&, parrot fish --Scarus mi crorhjns Tctrodon me;eami.s puffer fish

Decapterus sanctae-helenae jack or crevalla

Scarus forsteri, Scams sp. 9.parrot fish

iNe~anrotopon, butterfly fish ---Chaelodon in general butterfly fish

'-" KOTIMU Abudefduf sexfascistus J demoiselle fish -A. sepCemfasciatus, -A. sordidus KOUKA Croyphaena dclphin . . goatfish -General - 8n&ish - -,name - butterfly fish pa~rotfish goat fish trigger fish unicorn fish trigger fish jack or crevslla parrot fish sea bass snap2er tr!.gger fish dolphin parrot fi.sh goat fish demoisel.ie fi.sh

? oil fish

'+ireSSe parrot fish

'iTSa.sse

surgeon fish

:lying fish

snapper

sea bass

goa-t fish . . Raroian name Scientific name General LL%plish name . . * MOI ' Polyda ctyi.us sexf~lis " threadf in . . 36 XOROEI Teirodon. ge_1:,s_~x$r" ' ' ' ' puffer fish --Monotaxis -. greldoculis mu Acanthuridae surgcon fish . . --Caranx nma'tus jack or crevalla ., ,. Mullidae . . .. goat fish

Acsnthurida~ surgeon fish

Albula vulpes. bonefish

--Scarus ;"orstesi, parrot fish Scarus sp. three

Sohyraena snodmassi barracuda

Acanthurus elongatus surgeon fish

Balisteg a. one trigger fish

---Zebrosorna veliferum sailf l.n surgeon fish %Caranxferc?u jack or cre~alla

Thalassoma, wrasse Stetho.iulis pheksdonu . . Acanthurus achilles. surgeon fish

-.-Zanclus --cornutus . ' ' moorish i.dol !. . ... Scams, Gorn~hosus. ' parrot fi.sh, masse

Idyri.~ristis murdi an squirrel fish ...... Lutj anus mrginatus, snapper L. monos- . . -. ~ - . . .

Cirrhii;us Snnulatus, ., , . hatk fish Cirrhitiaae

36 PSRUKU --Caranx melampygus jack or crevalla 3' PAT1 ---4Lbula --vulpes bone fish Raroian narae Scientific name - General En~liehname . . 3' PATIKI -.--Eo thus atherinus flat fish . . * PEPE --Ca?:anx -adscensionis -- jack or crevalla * PE'TI Myripristis rnurd.ian squirrel fish

3' PETIIflU Xyripristis ad11stus squirrel fish

PIHERJEE -Spratslloides SD. pne herring * PIRIREII ~~thuspantb:winus flat fish

3' PITIIZA Scaridae parrot fish +e FOPOGA -Halistes $&ui trigger fish

++ POTAKA Ray * P3AG:ilU Scarus a. parrot fish * PUAKI --Luti anus ~arainatus snapper +c PUC;P?UGA Ssmoncea ?zrrucosa stone fish

>: 11 veve Scorpaeno* gibbosus stone fish

. . * RBI -Scornberoides -- sanc-ti-pe&Z leatherback . . ++ RZREIOG.4 Caranx speciosus jack or crevalla

ROEROE 'F-Lanatis bipinnulatus rainbow runner ROI -Ce&halopholis argus- sea bass * ROROA Acanthocybiurn solandri wahoo a RIKI --Caranx adscensi.on5.g- jack or crevalla '-' RTIKBRUIZE --Holotrachys spinif er squirrel fish

?' RUPO ---Caranx - -nelanm.. -. jack or crevalla

+t TAn&, -I_Lutianus sp. one snapper

+e TAGAU kinephelus &hd sea bass

4' TMKZARI --Apharius furcatus, K~hosus snapper E. one -----Paru~eneus barberins goat fish ---Raroiah name ---Scieiitific name -- --General Eh~lish * TAiiRE Lethrins mahsena snapper

TAPATAI Alectis ciliaris thread fish

+e TPBiETA Ray ray * TAPIR0 Cheilin-uu yndulatus wrasse

T%REFA Aprion airescens snapper

+$ TMEI -Naso likuratus unicorn fish * TATAIWJTA Caranx ~nelampw jack or crevalla

++ TATARAIHAU scorpion or turkey fish

$5 TATAT'ATA Epinephelu s &q sea bass

'6 '6 TATIHI Naso eoumz unicorn fish

++ TATIKA Cheilinus undula'tus mrasse

TAUTE Scaridae parrot fish * TEGATEGA --Scarus microrhinos- parrot fish * TIMU Hol.ocentrus g~~dimaculatus squirrel fish

'WTRO Lutjanus marpinatus snapper

?$ TIGITIGIA Holocentrus sammara, g. laevis squirrel fish

+:- TIKNbW Chaetodon lunula butterfly fish * TIREKE Holocentrus binotatus squirrel fish * TIKEI Holocentru~microstomus squirrel fish

3: TIKEIKEI Holocentrus --diadetna squirrel fish TIPA

'i'IPUIWi'-'DKU Echeneididae rerno~a * TITEXETJKE Scs.ridae parrot fish * TITIRIRI -Eninephelus rnacul~itus, sea bass * TOHARE Lutjanus kasmira snapper Raroian name Scientific name Gereral?_-_-A En:r,~lishname

bonito

parrot fish

parrot fish

--..--.-----Paracanthistius macul.atus- sea bass vn-asse

Diodon hystrix porcupine fish -- A)- parrot fish

Belonidae needle gar

barracuda

sea bass

--.--Ostracion -9 sebae box fish -0. lentiginosum box --Nano --annulatus unicorn fish mullet

? oil fish

Carangidae jack or erevalla

porcupine fish --Germo tuna --Mull.oi dichthy s samoensis goat fish -&kei~helus hexagonatus sea bass