•

THE RUSSELL ISLM,DERS of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate; by Robert H. BLACK. Syd., 1965. ( II!') ..fe I, 0/

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.·1 tlsh <'.,~ T,1.[,. ~6 ,"l'o\.(l~·

survive, survive,

these these

of of man;?' man;?' and and

ohildren ohildren of of

mun1Jere mun1Jere

large large

produoe produoe oouples oouples

H8,j'rled H8,j'rled

olan. olan.

the the within within

relatives relatives

distant distant

between between

tted tted

now now perm:!. perm:!. is is

but but

clans clans

differsnt differsnt of of bers bers .. ..

between between IlIRi IlIRi

i'brmoJrly i'brmoJrly

was was

Marl'1age Marl'1age

son. son.

his his

to to

left left

be be may may palms palms

cocomlt cocomlt

man's man's a a

but but

line, line,

female female the the

in in is is

land land of of

Inheritance Inheritance

ownership. ownership.

land land in in

oolinent oolinent

pre pre

now now is is

one one that that

so so

clans clans

the the

of of ty ty egali egali the the

disturbed disturbed

has has

this this

and and

alienated alienated

been been hae hae

land land

the the of of

flluoh flluoh land. land. of of ownership ownership

the the

concerns concerns

today today

these these of of

function function

main main the the and and olllml olllml

matrilineal matrilineal of of

m1mber m1mber

a a

into into

divided divided

are are

society society Island Island Russell Russell of of membere membere The The

shortage. shortage.

land land

of of feeling feeling a a 08.\1Bed 08.\1Bed

have have

ooconuts) ooconuts) of of

planting planting

the the from from

(resulting (resulting

land land garden garden diminishing diminishing and and

population population

Increasing Increasing

standards. standards.

village village

Jlelanesian Jlelanesian

by by

high high

81'e 81'e

copra copra

of of

sale sale tho tho

from from some some

by by

made made

incOlDes incOlDes The The

and and n.ake n.ake

garden garden

also also they they but but

speCialists speCialists

some some &ae &ae There There

produoe. produoe.

garden garden of of

eale eale

the the

and and

palms, palms,

ooconut ooconut

ow" ow"

their their f'rQID f'rQID made made oopra oopra

of of

aale aale and and faoture faoture

manu.­

"he "he

colleoting, colleoting,

and and

fishing fishing t t gardening gardening of of

consiet consiet

ties ties vi vi acti acti

eoonomic eoonomic

Their Their

Islands. Islands.

Ruseell Ruseell the the of of is1ete is1ete

slIIall slIIall

the the of of

five five on on

villages villages

in in livs livs

and and

Melanssiane Melanssiane are are Is1andere Is1andere Russell Russell The The

SUWIARJ SUWIARJ IN'l'RODUCTORY IN'l'RODUCTORY

1963. 1963. Juno Juno

Sydney. Sydney. of of University University

Medicine, Medicine, Tropical Tropical and and

Health Health Publio Publio of of School School

MRACP. MRACP. (Liv.) (Liv.) DTM&:H DTM&:H (Syd.) (Syd.) BS BS JID, JID,

Black Black H. H. Robert Robert

Islandws. Islandws.

Solomon Solomon

the the With With relationships relationships

fl'iendly fl'iendly

of of

ment ment

establish­ the the to to

way way elllall elllall

no no in in contributed contributed

activities activities

draWing draWing

and and

painting painting wife"s wife"s

my my that that stated stated be be should should it it Finally, Finally,

remains. remains.

debt debt the the

but but

it, it, demands demands work work of of

T11Y T11Y

disoipline disoipline

the the

pIsces pIsces

in in

oritical oritical be be

to to

appears appears report report the the If If

plantation. plantation.

Nono Nono

of of

manager manager

the the and and

Nukufero Nukufero of of Tikopiana Tikopiana the the

Ltd., Ltd.,

Pty. Pty.

ations ations

Plant-­

Paoific Paoific

Levere Levere

of of

employees employees Island Island Solomon Solomon

and and staff staff

the the

people, people,

IslB!1da IslB!1da

Ruasell Ruasell

the the to to 11= 11= due due are are thanks thanks

T11Y T11Y instance instance

present present the the

In In

gratitude. gratitude. one's one's expreesing expreesing

beyond beyond

gift gift

e. e. return return

of of

the the 1ray 1ray in in

do do

can can

one one

little little is is there there

Often Often

ty. ty.

tali tali

hospi hospi and and

time time their their

of of

muoh muoh

given given

have have who who people people worked, worked,

and and

lived lived

have have

they they whom whom th th

w:i. w:i.

people people

the the to to indebted indebted are are workers workers field field All All

Protectorate. Protectorate. Islands Islands Solomon Solomon

British British

the the

in in

driers driers type type Chula Chula in in copra copra of of dz:ylng dz:ylng

air air

Hot­

enterprises enterprises sgricultural sgricultural tropical tropical a a in in

Hazard Hazard

Heat Heat

R.X. R.X. t1acphEol'son, t1acphEol'son, and and R.H., R.H., Black, Black, 4. 4. 11. 11. 1.

FOIlliWORD

In 1961 I was asked by Dr. J.J. O'Dwysr of Unilsver. Lone.on. if I would be prepared to spend some time in the ~ritiBh Solomon Islands Proteotorate conducting research into tho Docial. baokgro'tlcud to the health of employees of Levers Pacific PlantationG Pty. Ltd. As this was the sort of application for whioh I had been preparing JQyseU by a formal study of AnthropologyF my reply VIas in the a:1'fimative. The Depar(,m.mt of Health, COlidllomrt'lalih of Australi' and Unilever came to an agreEllllent for my services to be mede available for this project on a consultative basis in the same way ss I had worked with the South Pacific 00111"1 saion as <1 malariologist.

Dr. O'Dwyer's conceptiof of the project had origin ':1 an article wr1 tten by Sp:l.lUus· gn ·the TikopiSl".fl wOI'king fo7' L"6Vel'S &.n anothor paper by Spl11ius£ on operations research in Tikopia,

In October, ll.961, my wife and I arrived at Yandina in ths Ruseell Islands, the headquartsrs of Levera in the ~it~Bh So1omo~l and our visit lasted until Februa:ry, 1962. During this period I 1ll'. observatiollB at tha headqUfU'tere of' the compan,y and on the VIir:!,oue estates. It soeD became apparent that importsnt relatiolmnipa existed between Leve:t's 0 omployees and the Russell Islanders, and betweon the T5kopia.ne employed by the compan,y and the Tikopiar.s at the new settlement of Tikopisneat N'ukufero in the Russsl Islal!de.

The material presentdd here derivea from observations made OD the Russell Islandere in the eomewhat l:I.mHed tiroe I waB able to devote to theee people. This restriction hed to be exerc:l.sed as "'hey formed only a minor thema to my main researoh. However, the material collected is sufficient to allow a statement to "be made about the Russell people, although it mlst be regarded as tentative and e~loratory rather than def1ni~ive, As far aa I am aware there is no previous account of these people,

With the reservations outlined, thie deBCr1~tion of the Russell Islande:rs is presented as a thesis for the Diplo;lIu I.n Anthrepology of tho University cf Sydnsy. It is GUppol'i:eli by two published papere and two papera in typescript whioh deal Vfi tll partioular aapeo·ts of the major theme of my research in tue Solomon Islands.

These supporting papers are:

l. Black, R.H. 1963. '!'he cuts of' copra cutters. Noumea. South Pacif'io Commission.

20 Blook, R.H. 1963. Christianity as a erose­ cultural bond in the British Solomon Iala"du Proteotorate as seen in the Russetl Islands. Oceania, ~, 171.

3. Black, R.H. The composition of house g!'oupc CIf Solomon Island employees on plantatl.ona ill the Russell Islands. Paper read at a 5,ylllpos1U11: :a. the Sociology of Disease at the A.N.Z.A.A.S. meeting in Sydney. 1962.

~--~~~--~~~~=-~~~--~------~--~--~~-~---~-1. SpilliuB, J. 1957. Polynesian e::r;periment; Tikopia Island!)..-- t- , as plantation labour. Progress (Unile"er), ,!€, 91. 2. Spi~liue, J. 1957. Natural disaster and po11~ oal or~eia e Po1,yneaian Qocioty Human relatione ~", J • i11.

There are still "big men" of the clans but some of their functions have been assumed by headmen appointed by the Gove'r1I'l""'l1llent e by members of the Russell Islands Distriot Council, and by the Missions. These "big men" are stUl important in land matters, but the entry of money into the sooiety has introduoed another facet of power. The eale of oopra hes rsised the prestige of men vis %-vis women. Former magioe=religious bsliefs and practioes have been suppre!lsed by the two missione which have been in the Russell Islands for over half a oentury - the Mela.nesian Mission (Anglioan) and the Roman Catholio Mission (!larist Brothers). The presencs of these two missions has resulted in the formation of two endogamous groups. Three Russell Islanders have been ordained as Anglioan priests and others are mission teachers either at home or on other islands of the Proteotorate.

Eduoation is a function of the missione in the Russell Islands. There are villase sohools and an Anglioan residential Distriot Sohool for boys. Further education is oarried out at schools elsewhere in the Protectorate so that both boys and girls spend most of their time awa,y from home.

FOrmer1y, sickness and death were associated with totemio bsliefs and soroery. Nowadays, the medical and health servioes, whioh are distributed throughout the Russell Islands, are popular with the Russsll people who attend Levere' hoepital at Yandina. They also have a midwife of their own.

• The Russell Islandere have important relationahjps with other peoples - those who also live in the Russell Islands and thoss who come f'rom outside the Group. They resent the new ssttlement of Tikopians on one of the main islands, on land made available by Levers, and this leads to disputss. They alBo feel b1 tter about the amount of land which was alienated in the past and is now held by Levere 0

The United States armed forces were in the Russsll Islands during the war in the Paoific and a proportion of the material wealth of the Russell people is derived from this source.

Changes in ~ aspects of ths life of the Russell Islandsre have resulted trom the influence of Levers' plantations, the missions, and the Government.

• 1. The RusBell IBla.nda and the villaeeB 2. EoOllomj 0 aoUvi ty 30 Kinahip aoll rn! <"1"1aee 4. Political aot1vit,r 5. Keg; c and religion 6. Eduoation 7. Health 8. Relat1QnBhipe with other peoples

• •

1.

The BURsells an a gwup of siliall islands in the BriUsh Solunon Islands h'Oteotorate. Situated 9° S. 159°101 E., they are 30 miles trom Gnada1cenal, the largest island of the lwteotorate. ,Moh lies to the eouth 188t. Yeabel is to the nort~ the neaxest point being about 40 m:l.lss a~p end !Jew Geo a lie9 to t~ weet and sl1ghtl,y north at a cuetanoe ot 60 milss. \)(ap 1.) Captain Ya m11ng of ths &st IncU. CouPf'tllt oalled the Group Naoaul~ie Archipelll8O, a nemo, whioh did not 00"'8 into "se. On the other band, the Group wae generall,y 88 Cape Vaish in the first half of this oentur,y although Cape Karsh is uwxeq the western poillt of the largest island. The Islands OC)opnse Paww I., the largest, "hich ten m11ee in length ana eight miles in width, ie mountainous - xeaohing a beiBht of over 2000 teet - and ie heav117 timberedf Banika I. whioh is gmaUer, bejng seV9l1 milee b,y three ndl.es and much lower, and these lUe SlU"ro'IJnded b'y a mlluber of 6IIIall islets. (lfap 2.) S\lnliBht Cba.nlisl separates Paww I. f'rOiD Banika I. snd in its northern put lies Ha1 I. (Iloke I.) l .,..,oh is one of the five island. inhabited b,y the Bwssell Islanders. Three ot the others lie in the north-west fl'inge ct the I.) am Varsl,aone I. (Byoee I.) in Pepesala Ba.y I.). The fifth is Laona (Lona I.) which is ot !ten' ks I. '!'he oentre of Paww la l'Ollgb going and tew people have been into the interior where there are wild pip. yal"'jr·, on Rantla' I., is a lIOrt for overee88 veseels. It hae en ail'strip used b,y a reeuler DC3 881'v10e boon lJea alii ....a, and 18 the head qusx"ters ot Levers paoifio Plentationa pt.Y' Ltd.

In 1905 Levers paoifio Pl.Iltationa I.1m1ted moved into the Soloilione am SOli"''' eel len". Planting of oooollUtl on the1r satates on tbe no1'ths1'l1 p",·t of Bamke I. in 1906 and at in the &!pINI 'year. The "'l~a Canp"'\Y alBo bM a plantation on I. 410h na sold to Fall')"-sa" Suear Cc-I'IJ'U\V in the 1930's. The npx",·ompwt;y WMJ then aold to Levere in 1957 80 that thia 01'111"""\1 no. oontrols the Whole of Ba,n1ka I., a ooastal 8'trip of Paww extencU,ng along the eaet, south, 1I8st and north-wsst ooaeta ot that ieland, aad 80me of the sm8]1 1s1ets. '!'he )b'ssell Islsmere tor the ear17 p1 anters but aooa retired bo.. olearing and planting so that at the time of the Second World War they were dssoribed as being mNsed to work for the

'!'he m'mlfaoture ,m ClXlIOrt ot oOJ4'a le the mMn 1~tr,y ot the B.S.I.P. - oopra ol)jjjprisea about 80.' of total exportll - about one fifth to OM' quarter 01' the total output of the Protec­ torate oOllles from the Rn sae11 Islama. Thill oonpr.!,aes oopra IllS .... on plantations snd oopra mada by the Islanders he"" their oan OOCOllUt l'8 '"'10 The latter oontribut1on hall been 1noxealllng in Sl"Ount in 'the Protectorate sillOe the Seoom World War """'ng ,hloh the Japanese 1nvaded the Solai!cJn& I'M appxec1able dsm'lge suttOl ed b,y the

1. '!'he """",S used axe lIlY interptetaUon of ,,;'at the Ruseell . their 1slan4a. '!'he _s in breokets are those "M oh appear on lisp Sheets 7630 I and IV. Ill, Series X7l3, Rn s'!lell IsbuAe, 1959-1960. 2. . Staoe. V. D. 1961. CoPXli p:roiIuotion in the South South Pac1fio Bulletin. .u., l!I'o. 3, 33. •

•

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•

;t... ,0 Co ..11 III F I I lit,. > z

•~ 2.

The Protectorate 1s divided into a number of adm:l.n1strative Dietriots and the Russell Islande aze in the Central Dietriot lI1th headquarters at Bonisra on Guada10anal .mioh 1s also the oapital of the B.S.I.P. Local Gwer!MneDt oallprises, on the one Village and district headmen appointed by the Distriot Cc.,nm, aaioner who ooMuot naUvs Courls de aline lI1 th specifio off'enoea and breaches et !i'aUve Custan and, on the other hand. BsUve Counoils - elected looal authoriUes conoerned with

Christian 1I1saions have been active iD the Solomons for over 100 years and there are nOM five main Jiiasions 1n this fields the Jlelaneaian (AngUcan), Rouan Catholio, Jlethodist, South Sea Evan~ gelioal and Seventh D~ Adventist )(18s1one. The first two of theae are represented in the Rusaell Islands. The Jlisaiona oontributs largely to education aml also to health services in the Frotectorate.

There is a Govel'n"~nt .edioal Department whioh has "eoently ou1'ied out an e¥ tentdve yaMS CA!iipaign and 1s at present on a malaria eradioation pilot projeot. Beaidee fully qualified Jledioal Ottioers 1t ewploya Asaistant Medioal Offioers (A ••• O.s) .mo are Solanon Islanders trained at the Fiji !ledioal SChool. is responsible for the health and medical oare of its employees and Levers e.nploy an A••• O• .mo 18 in oharge et the hospital at Yandina on llanika I. There 1s 11 GovaruoElnt Central Hospitsl at Kwara.

The oJim'!te of the Russell Islands is tropioal and there aze two seasonsl the south aast season fx"". JI~ to about November tlbioh is the dry eaaaon, and the monaoon season fl'

The total populstion of the B.S.I.P. is apP1'(lD mately 1<:.t,OOO and oonsists of a Dmlber of different rsol.l81 a Jlelaneaians 111,500* Pol;ynoeianu 4,625 Europeans 181 Chinese 366 Others 68~ 124,W· (* - rOlmded totals) It 1s not possible to derive the number ot Russell Islanders f~m lIcArthur' s report as Hid 1. appears ej,ther to have been OIl'! tMd or inoluded with Leversi pllll'ltations. The Russell people are l4elanea1an and short in stature, but a JIIlIIIber "re born in Tasbel and there :l.s hiatorioal eV1denoe at t'waix Lure with Guadaloanal, Jlalaits, and poasibly New Georgia and Nuela.

An sstimate of the D\IIIber of Ruaaell Islanders derived tl'Cllll info1'lllation BllPPl1sd by the heedmen and othera ia 8S follows. Laona 120 Rai lOO Karalaona 90 • Kar8!!!lIlUll 110 Jlane (oollllted) 31 Levers employee8 2 459'

1. JloArthU1', N. 1961 . Report 01:1 the population oensua of 1959. Bon1 Bra. British Sol anon IslaM a Proteot01'ateo 30

'l'bel'e are Ruesell people away from their islands at sohool, on Mission work end in GoverIMllent employment I UcArthur quotes 64 as being counted away from the Russell Islands - 32 males end 32 ffl!!!ales - in her census report. I have used a figure of 500 for oalculating rates in this paper. The Ruesell Islands were on the marauding path of Vella La Vella and Roviana people mald,ng their way towards Guadaloanal, in the past, and I was told that just before the white lIIan oame there were many people on Pavuvu who bad been defeated and killed by these Western Solomons people. The Russell Ielanders themselves wsnt on fighting eapedi tione to Ysabel and G\ledaloana~ and brought back women as oaptives, so they intol'W19d me. Ivens reported the Ruesell Islands as the home of vele soroBl'Y whioh was to the Isle.ndere "what poieon and the gun are to white people".

The - - of the Russell IslAnders is non-Kelanesian and is usually oalled is an Ysabel name for it" The COITect name ls although the Russell Islanders leOO8- nise the fOl'Wer name.

Although I visited all of the villages except Ba1, most of ~ obeervetions on the laona people were made at Yand1 na where they sold their copra and garden produoe. made purchaees from the store and attended the hospital. On tha other side of the Group I 11ved on lluteti I. for a few weeks while stud;ying Pepesala and Somata Estates and the T,kop1an new settlemsnt of Nukufero. From lluteti I called at nearby Maralaona and Karamnlun by la1lnch or oanoe. Also, a few of the people of thess islande called at lluteti to sell garden produoe or ask for water. I made one trip to Mane.

The into.mation presented here oan th1ls only be regarded as the reeults of a reooMaj,ssance and there are some tantalizing gaps in the IIIsterial.

All the Russell Island villages are situated in grovee of COOOlD.lt palms on the hatel'fl'ont as the method of travel between islands and even between village Rnd gardens on the same island is by oanoe end lannoh. There axe about 20 occupied houses in Laona, Vsralaona and Karamalun, the mlm'ber at Ha1 is unoertain, and there are six at vane. The kitohens are separate and often rivel the size of the house. Eaoh village bae a church whioh is mostly the largest building in the villeg'3, and a schoolhouae. The materials used for the houses are described in detail later 1Ib.ere they are presented as a soale of eoonomic developnent. Some of the houses with oorrugated iron roofs have water tanks end there aLS also rain catching devices - frameB supporting corrugated iron leading into tanks - and these are separate from the houses. The oatohing and storage of rain water bas replaoed the wells which were reported in earlier times, althougb t11&16 is ineuffioient storage capacit.y to oarI~ through prolonge~ dry spelleD

In KS'I'8l1!slun there is evidenoe of Yeabel material culture in the form of a village COOOlD.lt press and in the design of some of the dooden food bowls, both of which are used in the preparation of' "puddings". Half a dozen or so of the people of this villaee

• 1. Ivene, W. G. 1927. Kelanesiane of the South 88St Solomon Islands, Lonilon. Kege.n Paul, TI'enoh, Treubner &: Co., Ltd. p. 292-293. 2. Capell, A. 1%2. A linguistio survey of the Soutb= western Paoifio. Noumea. South Paoific COIIDl!1esion. p. 180. J

,

Figure 10 A Russell Island vill~ in a grove of cooonut pa1mu planted in rows. The large building in the canter of the p10ture is the church. The different sorts of material ussd for the construction of houses can be ssen and it will be noted that the floors of the houses are raised above the ground.

•7- F

Figure 2. A house in the village of Karamalun with a thatch roof and thatch walleD A rain catching dence made frcm oorl"Ul,@-ted iron and 44 gallon drums is sesn in the f"o;regt"OUl1d. 4.

were born and gnJ'II up in YsBbel and have come to live in the Ihlssells since the Second \'/orld Vlar. Evidence of occupation of the Group by the Un1 tsd States A1'IIIed Foroes ls obvious in the villagel some of the building materials, water tanlcs, orocks~ and outle~, the churoh bells and so on are derived from this source. A typlcal kitohen of KSl'!IIDalun ls slmost as large as the house 1t sehes and la about 20 feet aw03 from it. It is built from old cor.rugated lron with the roof projecting over the f':KInt to f[,11O a verandah on which ls a heavy pl"l'k bench for sitting. The ground ls the floor. The entrance to the kitohen can be closed off by a sheet of lron to exclude doge and fowls. The rooster ls ltck01'dc leiem and the hen k.ckorok hc:mela • • How known as /:\!llen (f11lUl galley) the kltchnn used to be called lalte altoe £. taivU (fire fOl malte for house). Inside there are. an axe, almDi nillm and enamelled baSins, alumin1um kettles, altmlin1U1l1 cooldng pots, a length of aro meshlng, a coconut sCllaper, eo sheet of flat galvenlaed 1ron wlth l1mgb perforations for grating tapioca, a frame covered 'Ill th wire mosquito meiohing for d~1ng nuts over the fire (previOUSly waile from bamboo) 0 As well, there area a stack of firewood, bunohea of bananas (the tree. toa, the fruit. sa'a), OOOG­ nuts (the palm. kwa, the nut • nel), a pile of sweet potatoes !W'lav.), and corn cobs hanging from the ~ above the where they are dried for seed.

The cooking pots allow boiling and stewing but this is a new method of cocking as there were no pots in fomer times. lIa1c1ng ls ca:rried out in the traditional circular etone oven (lelehoe). the stones being brousnt fX,\)i!I the bed of a river on Pavuvu I. A pall' of bamboo tonge (1mDa:) le ueed for liftlng the hot stones, which are heated on the floor and then trenafeued to part of a 44 sallon drum f'oming a cyllndsr about one foot hisno During oooking the food is separated by leaves from a lO3er of' hot stones all"" and another lO3Br below, and on top of the whole pile is another I03er of' leavee. Sane kltchoue do not have the metal drum.

There are lengths of blllllboo ueed to store lime lari) which ls ohewed nth betel nut (leo), and ''umbrella'' mats f'olo) made t';tan broad leaves and these are rolled up and stored in the omake .. sta1,ned rafters. 'l'o make fire a stick about one inch in <11l111leter is leant against the leg and the po~t of a omaller one 1e run up and down in a groove in the larger one. There ls such a pall' of etlcks in the k.itchen altho~ matchee are used. A wooden bowl (nMO) of Ruseell or Ysabel des1sn, "I'd a wooden pestle (kolukolu) cgnpletes the inventory of the k.itcheno

At Mene . a large area of the beach le cov81ed with the ehells of the .... nut (haw). A larger nut called ru le aleo eatan.

Iteme of orocke~, enwelwale and ou'tlsry have cans f11)1II many parts of the world, Toledo steel ~m Sweden, plates f'l'on England, eeveral brande of' china f'11)!1I the United States of America, almn1n­ lum and OU6P!elW81e ma:rited with Chinese chareotere. 'l'hese m03 be dieplO3ed OIl a hish table in the open or kept in a cupboard.

Alllrlgeida BOme of the houeee are 8'\:acked building materiale • . :Implements, fili'bing gear and copra sacke oovsrsd with a fsw Wsete of OOl'1"lga.ted iron. Th81S are tables, ohairs, cupboarda IIlId bads ln the houSes but I em unable to oOllUilent upon the 89lleral distribution of theee eorte of' items. ReligiOUS piotUles hang on tha walls of the Leona houes••

• 4a·

Besides ths houses ocoupied by families there may be 8 houee for B1ngle Y0Ul'l8 women or single YOUl'l8 men, a houee for visiting olergy, and at Karamalun tbere is a Counoil oopra drier. Tbere is a deal 01' building aoUvity - BomB bouses in disrepsir are beiIl8 replaced - and trames 01' thatch are set up to dry in the sun for new houses. There are shelters for launches when they ore drawn up on the beach, and a pig pen may be seen at the end of the village and, eome distance away, the oemetery.

•

• •

- .

Figure 30 RUBusll Islanders in a canoe at Maralaonao The coconut palms in the back:~und belong to Levol'so

Figure 4 • Clearing and bum1ng oft to make a gard.lilIo

• 5·

2.

Whatevar else they may be, the Ruseell Islanders are gardeners, prodUCing for their own oonsumption and for sale. Their gardens may be at a diatance of eome milea from the village in whloh they live, even on a different island, and the trip to the gardens is often made by canoe even when they are on the same island. ThuB , people of lCaramalun were maldng gardens on Maralaona in January, 1962, there were gardens being made on Leru I. whioh is uninhabited, and people from !.lane ."'1'8 gardening on coastal Pavuvu. Beoause of these long distances people often sleep in garden shelters and st SI'''''' stage of the garden cycle they may spend several days and nights in the gardens, returning to the village for the weak:-end. At these times the villages are slmost deserted, with many of the villagsrs away at their gardens or in their cooonut groves maldng oopra.

Friday is "village day" when the people should clesn up the villSCe and trim the grass. All the villages were, in fsct, free fl.'Qn refuse and the grassed aress well brushed. Sunday is a day of rest for both men and women who go to church.

The traditional sequence of land uee was by clearing and burning off, followed by gardening on the land for a year or two, and then moving to a new area so that the old garden became overgrow". Today this technique has been modified, the gardens, when they have yielded their crops, are planted with coconuts in ordered rows and secondary growth is discouraged. In one garden whioh was being oleared, trees with trunks up to six inches in diameter were being fellsd snd the land had last been used to make a garden 20 years before. Garden areas are cleared by men but women may help. Burning off, diCging, plant­ ing, weeding and harvesting are all aotivitiss whioh may be shared by men and 1IIomen. Thus a man may work in a garden by himeelf, or a woman, or a man and his wife with a small boy romping with a dog.

A wide vsriety of producs is grcwlI" sweet potatoes , "oabbage" , yams, bananas, pineapplee, tomatoes of vsrious sorts, beans, oassava (tapioca), oorn, pana, and taro where the soil is moist. There are often breadfruit trees, canes for house building, and olumps of bamboos. Zinnia borders add colour to some of the gardens. Betel nut (meca nut) palms are grown in grovea in out of the way places and so is ths betel leaf' which may be grown on the ground or as a vine running up a tree.

The steel 81.e or a sa" is used for felline trees but the "ooden digging stick (baeeg) 18 still used. Wooden poles laid on the ground mark the boundariee of garden plots but there are no fenoes around the Gardene on the BIllall islands ss thsre sre few pigs and thess are kept seourely penned •

•

• •

• •

Agrioulture Agrioulture of of

Department Department the the

by by

employed employed

18 18

who who

Islander Islander

Sololllon Sololllon

Md Md

trs1 trs1 by by a a na na at at Ya

done done 1e 1e ng ng M1 M1

gred1 gred1

The The

oopra. oopra.

grade grade top top

produce produce to to

incentive incentive an an

thlls thlls is is Thers Thers

• •

f-45 f-45

6:47.10 6:47.10

ton ton per per £49 £49 (Aust.) (Aust.)

1961, 1961,

November, November,

in in

at at

Yan/ljna. Yan/ljna.

wh9l'f wh9l'f

the the on on landed landed

oopra oopra for for

Board, Board,

Cop:t'l1 Cop:t'l1 the the

ot ot

behalf behalf on on

actil'-8 actil'-8

Levers, Levers,

by by paid paid price price The The

oOJlra. oOJlra. !I !I Grade Grade or or

I I Grade Grade

produce produce

~ ~ and and

driers driers air air hot hot

simple simple

have have few few a a

However, However,

In. In.

Grade Grade

Is Is

p:t'Oduct p:t'Oduct

their their

and and driers driers smoke smoke use use

copra copra produoe produoe

who who

Islanders Islanders

Russell Russell

ot ot those those

1I0st 1I0st

II,I. II,I. Grade Grade and and IX IX

Grade Grade I, I,

Grade Grade

aB aB

S%oellence S%oellence 01' 01'

order order

decreasing decreasing in in Proteotorste Proteotorste

the the in in

graded graded i8 i8

oopra oopra

aooepta.b1e aooepta.b1e

teria., teria., ori ori

of of m.moor m.moor a a upon upon ng ng

Dependi Dependi

product. product.

!!!8rk.etable !!!8rk.etable

but but

inferior inferior

an an produces produces

drying drying

smoke smoke while while

driers, driers,

air air

hot hot use use

plantations plantations

dried, dried,

mm mm is is

oopra oopra

grade grade Top Top

coconut. coconut.

the the

of of (meat) (meat)

endoo&rp endoo&rp

dried dried

the the ie ie Copra Copra

inoome. inoome. money money

ma'n ma'n

their their

with with

Islenders Islenders

Russell Russell

the the provides provides oopra oopra of of manufaoture manufaoture The The

used. used.

IU'& IU'& IInIDOb.es IInIDOb.es

now now but but oanoe, oanoe,

by by made made were were

Guadaloanal Guadaloanal and and

Islands Islands

Russell Russell

the the

between between

bOy8ges bOy8ges The The

"friends". "friends".

suoh suoh

have have now now

few few

very very

but but

Save Save

and and

Russells Russells

the the in in partners partners trade trade

were were there there

timee timee

former former In In

them. them.

make make to to

how how "forgotten" "forgotten"

have have

or or

"lazy" "lazy" either either

are are

they they

think think

1Caramalun 1Caramalun 01' 01'

people people the the and and

mats mats

make make not not do do

people people

Laona Laona The The

ourrency). ourrency).

Australian Australian is is

Proteotorate Proteotorate

the the

in in

ussd ussd monsy monsy

(The (The

basis. basis.

oash oash a a

on on

purchassd purchassd also also are are return return in in

back back

ooms ooms

whioh whioh

haakets haakets

The The

save save

to to on on

0 0 move move they they there there from from

and and oanal oanal

Guadal Guadal

on on

Vieale Vieale

to to

them them

take take

who who Laona Laona 01' 01'

people people

the the by by

bought bought are are

mats mats

these these

Today Today

Karamallln. Karamallln.

01' 01'

the the by by wClllen wClllen made made

whioh whioh 1U'El 1U'El

(1'010) (1'010)

mate mate

"umbrella" "umbrella"

Md Md

(ldrdta) (ldrdta)

mats mats for for exchanged exchanged

were were

whioh whioh

baskets baskets

with with

Karwualun Karwualun to to

came came

I. I. Save Save

from from people people

the the liar, liar, Before Before

• •

• •

sold sold

be be and and ~ ~

oaught oaught aleo aleo

are are

Lobeters Lobeters

8uployeEls. 8uployeEls.

plantation plantation

the the

to to

oooked oooked or or

fresh fresh

sold sold be be

and and ~ ~ oaught oaught are are

fish fish

I·arge I·arge

rod. rod.

bamboo bamboo

long long

a a to to

attachsd attachsd is is

beads beads

stors stors colouxsd colouxsd

small small and and

shell shell

turtle turtle

pearl, pearl, of of

mother mother

from from

made made

hook hook

speoial speoial a a

trolling trolling in in

and and

used used is is

line line

nylon nylon a a

fishing, fishing,

For For

vill!I6B. vill!I6B. the the

of of run run

the the have have and and

kept kept

are are

FbNls FbNls

8nployees. 8nployees.

Levers! Levers!

to to sold sold or or

feast feast a a

at at

eaten eaten be be

may may

and and

kept kept are are

pigs pigs

domestio domestio

few few A A hunters. hunters.

attract attract

not not

do do

Pavuvu Pavuvu

of of

pigs pigs

wild wild the the

but but

shellfish, shellfish,

other other o.nd o.nd

OlalllS OlalllS

nuts, nuts, other other and and

nut) nut)

(Canarium (Canarium

ngali ngali

colleoting' colleoting' and and gathering gathering some some is is There There

oulture. oulture.

Agri­ of of

Depal'tment Depal'tment

the the

from from obtained obtained are are

items items

introduced introduced

the the

for for

seeds seeds

The The

people. people. white white the the to to sold sold are are

beans beans and and

pineapples pineapples

man". man". Tomatoes, Tomatoes,

white white

for for fit fit "not "not be be to to

considered considered

are are

whioh whioh

"puddings" "puddings" of of

fom fom the the in in

food food

prooessed prooessed

and and

l>anaNlS l>anaNlS

pineapples, pineapples,

bu,y bu,y

also also they they

although although leaf leaf

and and rrut rrut betel betel in in

interested interested

espeoially espeoially

are are but but

potatoes potatoes

swo!et swo!et

bu,y bu,y Islanders Islanders Solomon Solomon

people. people.

te te

VIM VIM to to

and and

Chineso Chineso to to

Islo.nders, Islo.nders,

Solomon Solomon to to sold sold is is produoe produoe l1'len l1'len (la (la Figure 5. A Russell Islander in 8 sa:Moo on Maralaona. The buttressed stuu.p shows that the tl'ee has been :felled Wi!. th a saw, but the poles standing against it are the traditional digging sticks. The garden on the left :I.e planted with sweet potatoes and young coconut palms can be seen in the older gardene on the right.

Figure 6. A shelter on Maralaona Island.

Pacifio Pacifio

South South

lloumea. lloumea.

outterB. outterB.

oopra oopra of of cute cute

The The 1963. 1963. H. H.

R. R. Black, Black, 1. 1.

, ,

oopra. oopra.

and and ~ ~

villages villages these these

at at

oalls oalls

Nono Nono of of

mansgtlr mansgtlr

the the

sional,ly sional,ly

' ' 0009 0009

area. area. this this

in in

Islander Islander

Russell Russell

a a

by by

owned owned

launoh launoh

one one

only only ia ia

there there

and and

used used

is is

sail sail a a when when

even even oanoe oanoe by by one one

long long a a

ie ie

andR andR

is] is]

north-wastern north-wastern

the the

frOID frOID

trip trip

the the but but Yandina, Yandina,

at at

than than leae leae

is is

paid paid

prioe prioe

the the Nono Nono

ani! ani! at at

graded graded

not not is is oopra oopra

The The

Yand1ne. Yand1ne. at at

or or

Nono Nono

oalled oalled

plantation plantation

small small a a at at

either either sold sold be be

m~ m~

islands islands

four four other other

the the

from from

Copra Copra

Yandina. Yandina. at at sold sold is is leana leana from from oopra oopra the the All All

higher. higher.

oopza oopza of of

prioe prioe

the the and and

fewer fewer

were were launohes launohes

when when

57- IIaa IIaa amo1lnt amo1lnt

The The

Yendine. Yendine.

to to Teons Teons

3/-

f'r"HI f'r"HI bag bag

per per

8TJ!mple 8TJ!mple for for

traneported, traneported, it it

have have

to to

mall mall

a a BUID BUID

he he

one, one, pa,y'S pa,y'S

not not O'HII O'HII does does he he if if

or. or.

lallllcll lallllcll OWlI OWlI s s

' '

man a a

be be

It It m~ m~

launoh. launoh. or or

oanoe oanoe

by by be be ~ ~

Transport Transport

sold. sold.

and and

point point

selling selling

the the

to to

taken taken

be be to to

has has it it bagged bagged been been haa haa oopra oopra the the When When

. .

employment his his

of of

terms terms the the

of of

details details

no no

have have I I

but but

oopra oopra

his his

produce produce

to to man man (lnadaloanal (lnadaloanal a a

employs employs

- HE'adman HE'adman

Distriot Distriot

the the -

Iiaralaons Iiaralaons of of

men men the the

of' of' One One

oooonuts. oooonuts.

their their

011'11 011'11

plant plant

also also

they they

oopra, oopra,

mke mke to to fathers fathers

their their help help soma soma

Although Although

tronde. tronde. off off

burning burning

and and

brushing brushing together, together, work work

rna,y rna,y

wife wife and and

Husband Husband

overgrowth. overgrowth.

from from tree tree

grove grove

the the keeping keeping in in

espeoially espeoially

prooess, prooess,

the the

in in

help help

m~ m~ w:!.fe w:!.fe

ma,nis ma,nis

A A

oopra. oopra. the the

sells sells

who who

father father the the

is is It It

sona. sona.

their their

for for bear bear

will will

palms palms the the that that so so

oooonuts oooonuts plant plant

should should

fathers fathers

and and

oopra, oopra,

make make to to fathers fathers their their help help should should Sona Sona

village. village. the the

tram tram

away away

groves groves

oooom)t oooom)t

their their

in in

sited sited are are

IIMoh IIMoh driera driera

oopra oopra have have

palme palme of of

Ow"',rs Ow"',rs ' '

JCarama'llln.

at at

blocks blocks separate separate

men men

118 118 several several by by

Ilane, Ilane, at at

ons ons

ilpm ilpm

by by owtledl owtledl

axe axe stllDd stllDd

vill8gt!s vill8gt!s the the

whioh whioh in in groves groves

oooonut oooonut

The The

vi1l8gt!. vi1l8gt!.

hie hie

trom trom

island island d1ffezent d1ffezent a a

on on

even even aped, aped,

distance distance

at at

S(>l!ie S(>l!ie

palms palms of of

groves groves

severs" severs" own own

may may

w"n w"n A A

oretons. oretons.

of of

hedge hedge a a

or or

by by

tronds tronds burnt burnt

of of

line line a a

by by

either either

demuoated demuoated often often axe axe

grows grows

knowsl knowsl he he

whioh whioh

trees trees

his his f'rom f'rom

fallen fallen

heve heve

oh oh whi whi nuts nuts

the the from from

copra copra

m''k",e m''k",e

man man A A

females. females.

thrOlJ8b thrOlJ8b

down down

passse passse land land

Tihereas Tihereas son, son,

man's man's

ths ths

by by

:Inherited :Inherited

be be

rna,y rna,y and and

them them

plants plants

who who the the to to man man

belong belong

Mma Mma

grow. grow. they they

"hiCh "hiCh

on on

land land

the the

of of

owtlerehip owtlerehip from from distinot distinot

is is

palms palms the the

of of ship ship

OWllo31' OWllo31'

the the and and

palme palme

oooonut oooonut own own men men Ielands Ielands Russell Russell the the In In

oopra. oopra.

lbs. lbs. 49.5 49.5

beoome beoome will will

dried dried

when when

and and

-

varies varies

size size

the the - nuts nuts

100-150 100-150 about about of of oontent oontent the the

represents represents

OOpI'a OOpI'a

of of

p01lnds p01lnds

Ninety Ninety

slower. slower. muoh muoh is is

rate rate

usual usual

more more

the the

rate) rate)

(oontinuOUfl (oontinuOUfl

hour hour per per

90 90 lbe. lbe. about about to to up up produoe produoe oan oan

outters outters

skilled skilled

although although and and

prooess prooess

repetitive repetitive a a

ls ls

aop1'4 aop1'4 of of

cutting cutting

The The

_ _

lbs 150 150

about about

weighs weighs oopra oopra

dried dried of of sank sank A A

eaolm. eaolm.

into into

produot produot

dried dried

the the

rSlI,nlng rSlI,nlng and and

thie, thie, drying drying ), ),

oOp1'a oOp1'a

outting outting as as

knoWII knoWII is is

(this (this

oopra oopra

"green" "green"

the the

removing removing

the the

WUni!, WUni!, to to fallen fallen

have have

oh oh "hi "hi

!pits !pits

the the

intervale intervale

at at

up up ng ng

cid cid pj pj of of

briefly briefly oonsists oonsists

oopra oopra ng ng

maid maid

of of

procees procees

The The

bruBhing. bruBhing.

regular regular by by

grorlh grorlh

seoonda17 seoonda17 from from

tree tree

kept kept be be IIlU8t IIlU8t

palmB palmB the the

between between ground ground the the

Meantiilie Meantiilie

old. old. years years

12-15 12-15

1 t t 1 is is

until until

production production full full reach reach not not

does does

and and old old

years years

sewn sewn

about about

is is it it

until until

bear bear to to begin begin not not dOBB dOBB palm palm ooconut ooconut A A

low. low.

is is prioe prioe the the

when when falls falls

and and rises rises

prioe prioe the the

BS BS

inonas88 inonas88

BlD('lmt BlD('lmt

the the that that

palms palms ONn ONn their their

:f;'rau :f;'rau

Ielanders Ielanders

Solomon Solomon

the the

by by

produoed produoed

oOpIa oOpIa the the of of feature feature a a is is

It It

1957. 1957.

in in

agreulleJIt agreulleJIt

an an Food, Food,

of of

Ilinist17 Ilinist17 British British

the the

with with

Bkrs"ment Bkrs"ment an an

by by

utent utent

soms soms to to

stabilized stabilized here here and and

these these

than than

higher higher

muoh muoh

been been

have have

prioes prioes

the the war, war,

the the

Sinoe Sinoe ton. ton.

per per £11 £11

about about

was was

it it 1937-38 1937-38

in in war' war'

the the

before before

just just

somewhat somewhat

reoovered reoovered

but but

501omone 501omone

the the

in in

6:5 6:5 to to

fell fell

oapra oapra of of

value value

the the war war the the

befors befors years years

depzession depzession

the the

In In

1959. 1959.

in in ton ton

per per 6:66 6:66

about about was was 5010m0ne 5010m0ne the the

in in prioe prioe

sell1rlg sell1rlg

the the

fallenz fallenz

reoently reoently has has and and varies varies oopra oopra of of prioe prioe The The 7. 7.

Smitho Smitho

Ure Ure

oooonut. oooonut. the the

Wealth:f'.rom Wealth:f'.rom

1955. 1955.

W.V.D. W.V.D. Pieria, Pieria, 1. 1.

figures. figures.

production production

thelr thelr

for for

account account

to to

suffioient suffioient there there

were were

that that

shown shown

had had and and

pa1me pa1me

their their

81ll'veyed 81ll'veyed

had had

Wall Wall

Father Father

that that

1nfomed 1nfomed

was was I I

HOliever, HOliever,

plantation. plantation.

their their

from from

stolen stolen

nuts nuts

oome oome

from from

must must

it it

that that

assert assert

to to

managE.uwnt managE.uwnt

Levers

for for

enough enough

t t t t :I. :I.

large large but but

is is

people people

Iacna Iacna

the the

by by

copra copra

of of

production production

annuaJ annuaJ

the the

do do 1 1 know know

not not

tission. tission.

catholio catholio

the the

of of

Wall Wall

Father Father

by by

so so

do do

to to

urged urged and and

were were

Islanders Islanders

Russell Russell

the the of of

rest rest

the the than than

earlier earlier

muoh muoh

production production

oopra oopra for for

ps.lme ps.lme

coconut coconut

began-planting began-planting

hOM hOM of of people people The The

labour. labour.

for for

payment payment

of of

method method

nf'olij1a' nf'olij1a'

i i

an an

in in

t t

reaul reaul

ooy ooy t t effeot, effeot, :I. :I. in in

although~ although~

enterprise enterprise

eoonomio eoonomio

individual individual

of of

into into sphere sphere

the the

obligetions obligetions

kinship kinship

of of

0n 0n

lnt1'li8

the the

1

represents represents

'l'his 'l'his acti­

that that vity. vity. in in

engaged engaged

ls ls

he he

when when

ooprs ooprs

JMke JMke to to

him him

help help

to to

lUe lUe

they they expeoted expeoted

re-turn, re-turn,

In In

money. money.

the the

keep keep

they they

tlidoh tlidoh

for for

and and

sell sell whioh whioh

they they

oopra oopra

make make to to

them them

use use

and and

psloo psloo

his his

fI'Om fI'Om

fallen fallen

nute nute haw haw

the the

whioh whioh

hugest hugest

to to

kinemen kinemen

olose olose

his his

allow allow

IDIIY IDIIY

man man a a

is is that that

faot faot

stu~ stu~

the the

requires requires

oh oh

wM wM

palms palms

own own

his his

of of

nute nute

the the

f'rom f'rom

copra copra

man man

one one mald.ng mald.ng

of of

type type

ideal ideal

s s

thi thi from from

departure departure

of of point point first first The The

en en

production. production.

oopra oopra

activitiee activitiee

other other

of of

effeots effeots

tha tha

note note to to

partioularly partioularly

lnves-­

tieation, tieation,

fUrther fUrther

requires requires

ch ch

"hi "hi

matter matter

a a

obviously obviously

ie ie

this this but but

month, month, after after

month month

copra copra

of of

amounts amounts

large large

make make

men men

some some that that

me me

Co"noil Co"noil assured assured Distriot Distriot

the the of of

Vioe-PrE!sident Vioe-PrE!sident

The The

population. population.

total total head head of of

per per

£18 £18

or or

['9000 ['9000

over over

of of

income income

an an

repreeent repreeent

would would

this this

and and Islanders Islanders

Ruaeell Ruaeell

the the

by by

ammally ammally

produced produced

be be

would would

copra copra

of of 200 200

torlS torlS like like

somethiD8 somethiD8

then then

year year

the the

throughout throughout

sales sales

copra copra

of of

sFUllple sFUllple

repreeentative repreeentative

a a

IIas IIas

1961, 1961,

November, November,

for for

figuree figuree of of set set the the If If

•

palm

s

1 1

high-yielding high-yielding

600 600

f'rom f'rom

obtained obtained

be be month month

per per

might might

oopra oopra

dried dried

of of

Ibe. Ibe.

3000 3000 of of

rate rate

the the

at at

Production Production one one

for for mM. mM.

work work

B B

weeks weeks

three three

likely likely

more more

but but

two, two,

least least

at at

Thie Thie

day. day. represents represents

one one

about about

take take

w

mts mts

the the

of of

Up Up

Jl8 Jl8

piok

the the j prelimina', prelimina',

And And

morning morning a a

in in

rau1"ed rau1"ed

be be

oould oould

eacks eacks

20 20

The The

number number batohes. batohes.

of of the the

on on

depending depending

drying, drying,

for for

required required

be be

would would

d'\Ys d'\Ys outtiDg. outtiDg.

of of Several Several

rate rate

high high

fairly fairly a a

at at

world.ng world.ng

OOPZ'4, OOPZ'4,

gxeen gxeen

of of

Ibe. Ibe.

5454 5454

equivalent equivalent

the the

out out

to to

boure boure

12 12 Mm Mm

take take

would would

it it oows oows

Ibs. Ibs.

dried dried

of of 3000 3000

of of

produotion produotion

the the in in

involvpd involvpd were were only only man man one one If If

loo. loo.

3391 3391

and and Ibe. Ibe.

177 177

between between

varied varied

batohee batohee

S1118 1e 1e

batohes. batohes.

four four

brought brought

one one

snd snd

batohee, batohee,

three three

one one

brought brought

batohes, batohes,

two two

brought brought

nine nine

oopra, oopra, of of

batoh batoh

one one

men men only only

brought brought Twenty-two Twenty-two

£23. £23.

about about

being being

mean mean the the

£68.4, £68.4,

and and

ranged ranged

batween£.3.11 batween£.3.11 month month

the the

during during

viduals viduals

ind1 ind1

by by

maile maile

sales sales

of of

value value £763 £763

the the was was

and and

value value

total total

The The

Ill. Ill.

Grade Grade

lemai,nder lemai,nder

the the

and and

lI, lI,

was was

Grade Grade

Ibs. Ibs.

614 614

I, I,

Grade Grade

was was

Ibs. Ibs.

550 550 oopra.~ oopra.~

of of tons tons 11 11 thie thie Of Of

33 33 lbe. lbe.

37,996 37,996 emQuntl emQuntl Total Total

2 2 3500 3500 - 3001 3001

1 1 3000 3000 - 2501 2501

2 2 2500 2500 - 2001 2001

3 3 2000 2000 .., .., 1501 1501

4 4 1500 1500 - 1001 1001

1000 1000 18 18

- 501 501

3 3 500 500 - 150 150

1961. 1961.

November, November,

during during

salee salee

the the

making making

persons persons

of of

number number

the the

and and

sold sold

of of oopra oopra

the the

8"K)1!nt 8"K)1!nt

showe showe

oh oh

l'lhi l'lhi

tsble tsble

a a a.a a.a

presented presented

are are

month month

period period a a ons ons

of of over over

Yandina Yandina

at at

Ielanders Ielanders

Runsell Runsell

by by

oopra oopra

of of

eales eales

the the but but

Nono, Nono,

to to

sold sold

oopra oopra of of

amount amount

the the asoertain asoertain not not did did 1 1 8 8 -

[email protected] 70 A smoke -drier for cepral the fire is made in a depression :in -the gl'f>Ilndo Above this the copra is spread out on arc mel'Mng and is protected from the rain by a canopy of oorrugated i1'OX1.

Iu· •

-

Figure 8. A hot=air drier for copra: the fire is made in 44 gallon drums and two rows of these drums conduct the hot air \U!der the copra to the chimneys. When it is being l"RIlllued, the oepra is protected fl'ODl the rain :in the left psrt 01' the buildt.ng.

A2. A2. 259. 259.

Ent. Ent. Res., Res.,

Bull. Bull.

Ielands. Ielands. Solomon Solomon British British

the the in in

young young on on

HispiMS) HispiMS)

' ' ChryernneUMIIo

(Coleopt., (Coleopt., . .

of of

tioides tioides

inset)- by by

oontrol oontrol

The The

1958. 1958.

H. H. A. A.

Green, Green, and and S., S.,

E. E. BJ:Own, BJ:Own, 10 10

, ,

o o

fiJ:S6ood

o~ o~ men men

that that

teas'te teas'te

for for only only

usually usually

is is

it it but but

man, man, a a

of of

work work

the the

be be

should should

this this

-

it it

08.l'l'Y 08.l'l'Y to to woman woman a a

for for

proper proper not not is is

it it

hesV hesV

too too

is is

something something

If If

help. help. may may man man a a

but but

firewood, firewood, in in

bring bring

stUl stUl

Women Women

Buteti. Buteti.

at at

water water for for asks asks and and

goes goes

who who !IIau !IIau the the

is is

it it

!raj'amalun !raj'amalun on on

short short

is is water water

when when and and tanks tanks are are

there there

now now

but but

water water

fetoh fetoh

to to

work work s s "

women

be be to to

used used It It

pig. pig.

oook. oook.

women women

Ysabel Ysabel

on on

and and here here

~t ~t

oorreot)>> oorreot)>>

are are

they they (ana (ana say say

people people

the the

business, business, s s ' men

s s i

this this

ta ta

Yalai Yalai

on on oven; oven;

hot-stolle hot-stolle a a in in pig pig oook oook

Women Women

instead. instead.

oooks oooks

and and

it it

do do to to

how how

knows knows

man man a a siok siok or or

tired tired ie ie

a a

if if 1I'oma.n 1I'oma.n

but but

cook. cook.

Women Women

. . hooks

fish fish

Alen Alen make make work. work. s s '

women

striotly striotly is is

thie thie

and and mate mate make make

women women

Group Group the the of of part part north-western north-western the the In In

gardene. gardene.

sohool sohool the the

in in food food

OWll OWll

their their

'Jll'oduoe 'Jll'oduoe they they

-

eduoation eduoation their their of of as as pax"t pax"t

methods methods

gardening gardening

learn learn

ohildren ohildren the the

~t ~t lost, lost, is is tluls tluls

produotion produotion of of

unit unit

family family

the the

to to

children children older older

the the of of

tribution tribution ' oon The The

Christmae. Christmae. as as

such such

for for holl~s holl~s home home

returtling returtling

eometimes eometimes sohools, sohools,

residential residential to to

go go and and

village village

the the

leave leave

ohildIen ohildIen sohool sohool village village at at period period a a After After

. .

finished are are

they they \'/hen \'/hen mIte mIte

with with

planted planted

are are

gardens gardens

too, too,

Laona, Laona,

on on

but but

I.aona, I.aona,

of of people people the the

behind behind lag lag

they they

that that

fact fact

the the

appreCiate appreCiate

people people the the

where where Group Group

the the

of of

part part

north-western north-western

the the

n n i oocomts oocomts

of of

planting planting

new new of of amount amount oonsiderable oonsiderable a a is is There There

plantations. plantations.

by by

purchase purchase

~lk ~lk

for for

oharged oharged

price price

the the

tban tban

more more sook sook

a a

shpenoe shpenoe

is is

This This

Ume. Ume.

a a

at at

m.mbere m.mbere

swall swall

in in

Yandins Yandins

at at Levers Levers 5/- from from

eaoh eaoh

for for

bought bought

are are

sacks sacks

the the and and

bagged bagged

sold sold is is

Coprs Coprs

W. W. of of

amount amount

mean mean the the

above above

y y l.

oonsiderab

were were

oases oases

three three

in in and and above, above,

all all \Tere \Tere

oopra oopra

their their

for for

reoeived reoeived

amounts amounts

the the

and and 1961, 1961, November, November, in in

Yandina Yandina at at

oopra oopra

sold sold

laoua laoua

of of

ownsre ownsre

launoh launoh

the the

of of Four Four

money. money.

costs costs it it

launcb launcb

by by is is

oopra oopra the the of of

transport transport If If

development. development.

eoonom10 eoonom10 for for

prograiIDlle prograiIDlle

its its

of of

ae ae part part

Islanders Islanders

Solomon Solomon

the the to to

driers driers

dr dr hot hot

ng ng maid maid

for for kits kits

oheap oheap

sells sells

Government Government

The The

materials. materials.

wartims wartims

from from

part part

most most in in

made made be be may may

again again

but but

elaborate elaborate more more are are

Islanders Islanders

Russell Russell by by

owned owned

driere driere

hot-Irlr hot-Irlr

few few

The The

plantation. plantation. e. e. on on

shifts shifts

niaht niaht

and and

dny dny

by by

attended attended

drier drier air air

hot hot

a a in in

hours hours 24 24 th th

wi wi

oomparod oomparod

night, night,

at at going going

kept kept not not

are are fires fires

the the

as as

~e ~e tiro tiro takes takes

prooess prooess

thie thie by by

Dryine Dryine

. .

this

under under

d d the the

gI1) in in hole hole e. e. in in un made made is is

fire fire

The The

iron. iron.

oorrug>lted oorrug>lted of of

oanopy oanopy a a with with

origin, origin,

wartime wartime

of of

meshing meshing a.:rc a.:rc

spread spread

s s i whioh whioh on on

poles poles of of

~e ~e horizontal horizontal a a supportine supportine

uprights uprights

of of

ooneists ooneists

usually usually

drier drier

smoke smoke A A monsy. monsy. of of

terms terms in in

small small quite quite

be be

may may ooprs ooprs of of

production production the the in in involved involved expendlture expendlture The The

beetle-- this this against against

effective effective is is

inseoticides inseoticides with with

palms palms of of

ng ng

Regular Regular

Yand!naQ Yand!naQ

at at statl.oned statl.oned

Agronomist Agronomist

Gover'i!lIent Gover'i!lIent the the

approached approached not not

bad bad

they they

~ople ~ople

the the

by by diseased diseased

being being as as recognised recognised

were were

which which

palms palms

these these

see see to to

taken taken

was was I I palm. palm. the the

killing killing even even

Itl'owth, Itl'owth,

8.l'l'ests 8.l'l'ests

completely completely

cases cases

severe severe in in and and

palms palms of of

development development the the

retards retards

whioh whioh

beetle beetle a a

Brontispa, Brontispa, with with

infestation infestation

of of

evidence evidence

showed showed Laoua Laoua

on on

palms palms

young young

the the of of Some Some

fallen. fallen.

have have

nuts nuts

mature mature

the the

after after

rats rats

by by and and palms, palms,

the the on on nuts nuts premature premature

to to

oockatoos oockatoos

by by

oaused oaused

damage damage the the fNm fNm lose lose appreoiable appreoiable an an is is There There

. . 9 10.

Men build houses and fiBhill8 is men's bueiness. Women oollect clams and Bmall shellfish at low tide but they do not fish sven with small hand-nets. Men uaed to fiBh with large nets but there are none of these now. In the garden there does not appear to be a strict sexual division of labour: the work may be shared by men and "omen. Women help men in their copl"a production.

Mnld.ng market ie man' e busineee, inol1!dill8 the sale of garden produce ae well as c01>ra. Canoes may bs paddled by men or woman or both together.

1I0ney from the sale of copra has considerably raised the prestice of men in this SOCiety where the women are regnrded as important beoause it is thl'Ougb them that land rights are trans­ mitted,

Econom;c differentiation

Economic differentiation or specialization is seen in the village and in the outside world.

There are a number of ohurch offiCials: Father Harper is an ordsined priest whose parish is ths Anglican part of the Russell Islands and the Anglioan employeee of Levers. He has a wife and nine unmarried children whoss agss range from 2-! to 24 years. He OlillS ooconut pelms and a oopra drier, he has a garden and has built ssveral of the houses in the villaee in which he lives - Maralaona. The Deaoon is old, fat and deaf and just sits al'Ound tha village, supported by the work of his farni ly and kin. He is a ''big man" and "owns" Karamallln I. The lUssion Teacher who holds services on Karamalun also encages in the usual aconomic activitiss of other men, as do the village eohool teachers (althm>gh the teacher at Maralaona is a yOllll8 woman). The teacher at the District School on Maralaona, who is a young single man, returns to his father's houes during the school holidays.

There is a trained oarpenter at !.1al"alaona who, it is said, recsivea £2-0-30 for building a house (matsrials being aupplied by the owner). He charges kinsmen a smaller amount than he does non­ kin, and has built housss at Laona and Karamalun as well as in his OWll village. But besides this specialiaed activity he also gardens and oakes oopra. A meohanic at Laona repairs launches but this does not make h;m a full-time speoialist.

Ths midwife, Nurae Mary, reoeives an income of £36 pel" yeal" from the Council tax monay; she is a married .oman and gardens. Similarly, Council mDiDbers, the Clerk of Court and Council, and Headmen garden and make oopra. There is a Bmall store in one of the houses at Maralaona where goods bought at Nono are retailed, but this ie a matter of oonvenienoe rather than a fUll-time eoonomic enterprise. Men who make oopra aleo garden, market gardeners do not support thDiDselves on the sale of their pl"oduce, nor do launch owners by transporting oopra for others.

On the other band, a number of Russell Islanders are economi­ cally independent in various occupations in the outside world away from their home islands. The Anglican Priest states that the Russell people only leave their islands to go to School or to work for the Mission, or in the Polics Force, but they do not work on plantations •

• 110

There are, in fact, two men fxOID BBi vill age "01\ jng for Levers. One of tbeae 1s an old man wbo woIks in tbe woIkebop at Yandina. Be wae in Government employment for 11 yearD and hae been witb Levere for 14 years. He bas 11101010 appaxent relat10nBbip witb biB bome villoge, altbough be made El IMd olaim againet Levers wb1ch w111 be discu8aed later. Tbe otber Rusaell Islander woxe at Faiami 8state as a copra outter, but tb1e is a tdlllporal')' arrangeg ment to eum money to Pas off a debt. The managur of Nono plantation etated that be 1eoently bad five RusB611 Islanders working for bim for one year.

Several RUBII611 Ielanders are ()mployed in the Polioe Foroe and are stationed awas flOW tbe Russsllso One man from Laona works in the Government Medical Department as an A.H.O. on Guadal- oanal. One old man who died at Hai in 1961 bad woIked in Austral1a man,y years ago.

WoIk ae a Teacher in tbe lI1eeion mll3 take tbe Ruseell Islander far afields one waa stationed on T1kopia in 1938. There are aleo M1eeion Brotbere cnd one of these ie in New Guinea. Another Huesell Ielander ie an ordained prieet of tbe lAelaneeiM II1ss10n at Kira Kira on San Crietobal.

However, auployment in tbe Polioe Foroe or in othar ;lobe ! e not neceesarily a life time oocupation for tbe Rusaell Islander. The DiBtrict Heodman spoot e16ht yeare in the polioe, reaohing the runk of aergeMt, and then retumed hans. A young a1ngle man, Jaeon T1kolo, graduated from Paws SohOQ! and joined the Polioe Foroe, ri eing to oOlporal. After tb I ee yeare be tranefuxed to a well paid poeition ae olerk in tbe Port Authority wb10h he heM! for 3i yeare. He ie now back" at home planting coconuts for h:l.meelt.

bunchee are the preetiga symbole of money wealth in. the RueeeU :telande, aB they are elaewhere i n the Solomone. Theae l aunohes cost about £100 and the money comee from the Bale of oopra. An initial deposit iB made and the rell1D1 nder 18 paid over a per:;.od of tims. Thexe ue eieht launches at Lacna, one ellch at Rai and Maralaona, and none at Karamalun Md Mane. They axe ussd for transporting oopra and garden produce for 861e, for going ehoppl ng, viB1 ting the bospital, and m:lk:1ng tripe to Guodalcanal. I·aunohes require fuel but moet of tbe tdps lU'e local and involve distancee of only a few miles.

The Laona people shop at the Cbinoae store at Yandina but the people foro'" the north a.IIstem part of the Group mostly shop at the etore at Nono plantation and only ocoasionally at Yendina.

At Y811dina the men make maxket but tbeir wives often tbem to the et01e where they axe eerved in the Islandereu Purohaaee coneiet of a few iteme f1'au tbe follOwing lietl etick: tobacco, writing pad, sugar, sb1p' e biecuit, matches, Blreeta, tinnllCi vegetable with beef steak, bath towel, peroxide, fieb1ng line, and drume of keroaene. Clothing and gold omamente such ae crossos on cha:J.ne, are bought at Nono, and pote and pane fr<8D a. rival Chineee trader wbo baa a launch wb10h oalla at the llIDall i slands. The expenditure l.nvolved in making oopra bas already been discueeed. Building ma.terials are carefully oonserved, but galvan 18ed iron eventually neede to be replaoed. Cut timber for floors and .a.lLls 1a oonsidered to bs too axp811eive to b~. The materials used in the conetruction of occupisd houaee in the three north.­ western villages are presented as a table whioh fol'ills a eoale of eoonomic development of these villsgee. Figure 90 A pile at coconuts which have been picked up for copra cutting. The high proportion of sprouted nuts indicates that the pick-up hae been del~ed on this oocasion. A pile of nuts this $i~e would produce about one eack of grsen cepra.

Fisure 10. Launches a1e the symbols of money wealth amongst the Rueeell Islenders. This launch at Maralaona :l.s the only one in the north-west ot the Gl'OUPf it cost £.700 and the o\mer got this money by melcing (lepra. 120

Table 10 Jlater1als ussd 1n the oonstruction of the occupied houses of the three villages in the north-west of the Russell Iso

At Laona all the houses have co.ansated iron roofs (moetly old) and timbered walls. but temite dameS') ie considerableo Ths houses are not painted.

In fomer times housss lasted for about three years but now they laet much lOrJ8lllr, espooially the roof of corrugated iron which. though hotter than thatoh. keeps out the raino

A Council Tax is paid at the rate of £3 per year by every man over the ege of 16 years wbo is not at sobool. Scbool fees oonsist of £1 per year for children in the junior olasses at residential schoole of tbe Melanesian Mission and £9 per year in the senior classes.

There are feasts for ocoaBions such as mal'l'iage and baptism, and at Chr1stmas. The Catholio people of Loona stated that thezs is no bride pr10e now. but tbe Anglican people mentioned the sum of £5. 1 did not see BlI3 weddinge. but the feast is provided by the 'PIUAlIts of both partners to the marriage, I wae told.

Tbere is a branch of the Australian COllllllonwealth Sav:lnga :Bank which is oonduoted by the hee.d.quartere offioe of Levers at Yandina, but I have no lnf'omstion concerning tbe accounte. if there are BlI3~ of individllal Russell Islanders. Money from the eale of copra was put in the pocket and I did not observe any Russell Ielanders :I.n Levers' office mlr1ng the per10d of lIlY viBit.

It is d1ff'1cult to see that expenditure at the rate observed and described here could approach the calculated incomes from the sale of copra. eepeoially in Loona where tbere has been little main­ tenance and replacement of houses built just after tbe war. Howewr. no definite statement can be made about eaving in the absencs of mors detailed accounting. One avenue of expenditure at l080na is the Church tithe on tbe sale of copra. A man is expeoted to pay to the Church Council a fixed amount of the money obtained from each SQck of copra he sells. It is remazked that people are less fei tbful when 110 comes to distr.Jrsing money. The money is banked by the Catholic Father and is used for churcb and school necessitie so

Traditional items of wealtb appear to be rare. the sole example observed was an old woman wearing a necklace of flying fox teeth. 13.

3.

Descent

People in BlIssell Islands sooiety belong to one or cther of a number of named groUps. Children are recruited by the gt'Ullp of their mother and her mother, that ie, descent is reckoned In the female line cr, as the Russell Islanders sB,y, "the line is through the ... an~".

The members of three of these groups are oonsidered to be true Russell Islandersl Ke:ruval, Kaiseling and solui. There are three other groups whose members are desoendoots of "stroogoxs" trail Guadaloooal - reliots of the da,ys of raiding and ths oapture of wanOOI Sevev, lawil ood KllkauJ the last two names 'Were only enoountered in Laona. LaIcw1li ood [akau were recorded by Bogbin as the nWlleSlof matrilineal oloos 1n the north=westem oorner of Gusdaloooal. A seventh I"III1A, I<1ki, listed by Allan2 'Was not enoountered, 1t 1s another Gusdaloooal name.

The members of each groUp oonsider themselves to be related to one oootheX'l the groups are bassd on kinl!lh1p. In the past, each group 'WaB related to a part1culer animal or set of an1mals~ but it is generally stated now that this 'Wus 1n heatQBn times.

These groups, then, axe matrilineal olans which were assoc1ated in the paet with totemic animals ood until recently they were exogamous. Sane of the eloos in the Ruseell Islands are considered to be the samoe as sane of the Ysabel matrilineal clans and people f1'1)111 Yeabel are receuited to Ruseell Island society on this basis of membexClbip of the same elan. Unlike the clans on Ysabel, the Russell Isloods cJans are considered to be equal in rank - thOle is no line of chiefs. The rank:lng of clans (er subelans) :l.n this wa,y on Ysabsl was attestsd by the Ass1sta nt Medical Officer at Yoodina and by the President of the Russell Isloods Council, both cf whan come from Ysabel, but it is not mentioned by Bogosi in his description of the clan syetem in B'lgntu (Southexn Yaabd). The latter, however, ranks the clans in tams Of seXUal enjo;yment on the part of the women of the various clans. 3

When enquiries wers made about the totemic animals of the varicus eloos the young men of X.sona woot ood saked the c1d people fcr the infomation relevant to the "straogors". A number of lists of tctems were obtained but there was no sereemoot between any of them as is show .... in the followlng table. I am unable to s"3 if' this disagxsement ls the result of deliberate mis1epresentatlon or of incanpletely remambered infomatlon. Tctemio ldeas have undoubtedly been suppressed by the missionsl the Angl1coo priest admitted that certa:ln animals in the past had been assooiated with the var.l.ous olans but would talk no fUrther on the subject. It:l.a probable, too, that more than one animal was assooiated with ox' ''belonS''d to" a clan.

1. Hegbin, B. I. 1936. Soclal organization of Cuadal cooal and Florida, Sol anon Islands. Ocaania,!!" 398. 2. Alloo, C. H. 1951. customary land tenure in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Hcniara. Western Pacifio High CClllluiesion. p. 64. ). Bogee1, G. 1948. Soota Isabel, Solomon Isloods. OC8sn:ls, ~. pp. 208, 321. 14.

501ui was stated by both Kaieeling and 501ui infoxmants to be a "branch" of Ka1 aeling; one cf these s:4d that the totem animal WRS the same - theeBgl.e. It will be noted in the Table that the bird termUT!! is given as the totem of Kaiaeling by one infoxmrmt rmd as that of 501ui by another. On the other hand, a Ke:ruval infoxmant indicated that 501ui was related to his clan but offered no totemic support for this asaertion. As the 501ui clrm is nearly extinot its rmcient land rights are of interest to both lCe:ruvrm and Keiee1ing so that this disorepancy mjght be expected. There is a 501ui womrm with a. mo.rried daughter who has a young daughter at Bai and this slender lineage is the last hope of survival of the 501ui clan. Members of both Ka1eel1ng and KeNval clans mafty Solui people.

Vil18~ of informant Clan T"lona lIaralaona Ka ra!!lalun ICIIUO'arnalun Bsi !Cabs Snake B1rd Eagle Clam and ling (eagle) bird . (but~o)

Keruval Bird Clem Snake, fish and. bird

501ui = Bird Eagle Crooodile I SnBlce snBlce, bird

Clam Bird =

T·ekwil I Bird I Bird

Kek:au

lCaiseling lCe:ruwl SolWi. ant

Table 2. Totems of' the various elrms as given by variOU8 lnfomrmt8o

There was little :\'nfomation conceming an crigl.nal ancestor of a olan except for the etatement tha.t the olam was the mother et all Kaieel1ng people. In fomer 1:1 mes, it was said, thsre was eo prohibition on killing or eating the totemo A orocodile which "belonged" to 501ui was said to help the Members of that clan in time of trouble.

Whatever the explanation for the conflioting informat:i.on about the totems, it can be said that they have little social sigrl1f'1canca tod~ and this m~ be the reason why the infol1llation :1.8 conflioting. But the e1.an is still highly important beoaus8 through 1t rights to land are tranllll1 tted down the 88lleration80 •

~ • ()

• .1• o o·

\JI,.. ) Z entI 1,0

I.and goee down through the women and until the early years or this oentury the Russell Islands were divided among the three olans as follows;

Banika belonsed to Kaieeling. 5outh-eastem Paww belonged to Solui. North il8stem Paww belonged to Keruval.

Theee hold1ngs are indicated in !lap 3. The amount and distribution of alienated IDlld at tbe present time is sbown in Map 4. Bsn1ka, which "the white man took, is the hOllle of the KaiseliDg", DlId KsisoUng holdjngs have bsen reduced to Alokun and a t_ other ssll islands which are tminhabited. Ha:!. appears to be what is left of Solui coastal land, and the small islands in the north wo&s1; of the Group represent the remaining coastal lend of Keruval. The people have little interest in central Paww at the present time, although 1t belongs to them.

People have righte to land through 1;heir membership of the matrilineal clan - the land belongs to 1;he olan. Wi1;hin 1;he clan there are ahallow matril1neages which have rights over particular a:ress of land. The head woman of euch a matrilineage m~, in some respects, be oonsidered liS oRning the land. Sometimes two women eieters m~ be jOint O1ffiers of a pieoe of' land. However, the woman's brother is also ref'erred to as owner of the land in the sense of' mllDllgoBr or front man. If a pereon wishes to make s f!8J'den on the lond 01' another olan or build a house in a villllge which is on the lDlld 01' DlIother clan it is the man who is approached for pe'H"iasion to do thiS, not the llOlDan. The right to use t111s bar rowed lend than passes down in the female line. In this wq Ksisel1ng people live and garden on Keruval land and, 1t IIIUS1; be pointed out, all the ocoupied islands belong to Keruval olan.

Thue there axe verious grndes of ownersh:lp8 the ''big man" of the OlBD 1iIa,y, in a senee, be u.garded as OIIning the whole clan laud as it is to him that land reverte when a land-holding lineage dies out (or hae ''bad luak", that is, no female children) but this land 1s inher:l.ted by his sister's dflllghter in the next generation. Although the senior YlOlDan of the 11ll1d.-ho] d1 ng lineage is called the landowner, the rights of her broth",r over this lend are demonstrated by hie sharing the 111.U"ohaae price ",hon the land 1s alianated, 8tl 1s discussed later.

An eXIIIDple 01' the IBl'd-holding lineage is the Nesta Rn1e "family". Nesta Ruta le a big landowner Md her holdings 1'1111 be inherited by her daughter Katherine and then by Katherine o s dAlIghter. Because of the size 01' her l/llld holdings Nesta Rn's' e brother W:!.lson J4wani is the big man of KeruYa! clan and ill refe:t'1'ed to as tha OWDlIr of ICarlll1lalun. When WllsOll !!Iran! dies Kole will ba resaried as tha Ow"er Of Karamalun beoaulae he :l.s Katherine's brother. When Kolo

tl' em Nests

• tI' Kather:1M tr(JI : 16.

built hie houee on lCaramaltm he did not have to ask pBl1lIiee1on fran WilBOn Mwan1 - aB a member of the matrilineage he had the right to build a houee on ite land. When men COIDe from Yeabel to live at Karamalun or when Kaieeling men wish to live there they must allk Vlileon Mwani' e penniosion to build a house. Such pe1'=> m] seion m~ be revoked and ths family be aated to live eloewhere if Wilson Mwani sees fit. If a lCeruval land-holding lineage diee out ite land reverts to Wilson MY/ani and hie sister. In the eBllle w~, if 50lui clan diee out - and it ie "cloee up bad luck" - then 50lui land will revert to the pDrent clan which 1e Ksieel1ng according to Kaisel1ng and Solui infol1llante, although Keruval psople, such ae Kolo, tnight dispute this.

A man lives with hie parents until he is mal"ried and then he m~ join hie wife! s family or m~ bring hie bride to his parents house to live until he has built a house of his OWl.. He and hie wife make a garden on the ltll\d of her matrilinesee, aB will be discussed later.

The clans are equal in rank but the alienatl.on of Bwdka and most of coastal Pawvu left Keruval in poeeeeeion of the northc­ western ielande - Karamalun, Maralaona, Leru, Mane and Koviloko - and Laona in the south-eaet. lCeruval ie ths "big group" in the Ruesell Islands - it ie "nearly Keruva! nothing more". Ksiaeling is "not much" now that Levers own Banika, and 50lui is in mnch the same poeition and, further, ma,y beoane extinot.

A man m~ leave his ooconut palme, hie house and the area around it, and "every eomething" to his BOn, but if he hae no Bon theee go to his daughter, ea,ys the Dietrict Headman. A man's ccoonut palms are divided equally aIIong his children, eons and daughtere, s~s another. A third infomant states that a man's palms aLS equally divided aIIong hie BOns, and another that palms oould either be inheritsd 1n the female line or from the father. And yet another ea,ye that the palme go to the eldost a.urvi ving ohild.

Cooonut palme belong to the man who plante them Md ownership of the palms is diBtinct from ownership of the land on Which they stand. The gLeat economio 1mportMce of the palme is only recent and the varied statements about who ma,y or ma;r not inherit reflect BOme uncertsinty regarding the fate of traditional custom in the modern econOOljc setting. Further, it was said to be possible for a man to purchase the lMd, on which hie palms are Brewing, f'ran the clan which owned the land. This WBe ssid to be pel1lliss1blep if the whole olan aBxeed. and the moneylwent to the big man of the clan who should dietribute tt. Allan refers to such transactione eleowhere in the 501omons and adds that people avoid ta'king about them and that they are not registered.

A non-resident "stranger" ma,y own coconut palms which he has planted and his son ma,y make good a claim on them. For example, Forreat Sepo, a mission teooher from Ysabel, planted palme at Karamalun where he lived 1905-1910. Hie BOn David came to 1Cara= malun in 1947, built a house with the pel1l1 ission of the owner of this-ieland, and sucCBssfully claimed the palme planted by h1s father.

1. Allan, lac.• ••oit" pp. 174-175. 17.

Similarly, a grove of betel nut palms planted by a man is handed down to his son. If a man wishes to make a OMOB frau M ordinary tree growing on the land of another he muet pe:r for ito

One oase of inheritance of a launch from the mother's brother was noted, but it is not known wbether tbe deoeased had a son. Anotber such case w1 tb limited in:fomlation was tbe j nheritance of a house f':rom a fatber's brother I s son. Another ca.se was a mM who would be leaving his coconut palms planted on his wife's land to his daughter as hs had no son. In cases where there are no preferred heira, that is sons and d!l.Ughtere, inheritanoe of property other than land me:r well be in the female line. Such cases differ frau those where there are no legal female heirs to land whioh then reverts to the clan.

Alienation of land

Land in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate is defined as being of three types by the Solomons Land Regulation of 19141, "Native landsl- land owned by natives or subject to the exercise by natives of customar,y rights of occupation, cultivation or other uss. "Private landl- land owned by non-natives in freehold. ''Public landl- all land not being native lalld or private land".

The Land and Titles Ordinance of 1959 "will not modify the existing native forms of customary tonurQ which are still to be permitted and continued until the ownere acquire registered titles". 2

1 propose to present here some acoounts of early land trans­ actions with the white man as they are believed to have oocurred in earlier years when native lands were disposed of by certain Russell Islanders. The first of these accounts demonstrates that the lalld-holding lineage had the ability to alienate land, but I am unable to pboe the actors in terms of big mansh:l.p of the clan.

I was infol!lled that Pepesal.e. Estate was bought by Levers for "cle:r pipes, biscuits, tobaoco, axes, strings of beads (big ones)" but no oallco or money. The persons concemed in the sale were Kate, Kolo and Lualua, children of a woman called Xslavi of KeNval clan. This sale mnst bave bean about 1902. Kate was referred to as a big land ownerl she lived on Koviloko I. marx-ied to Hungrl but bad. no ohildren. ~ .. ~ xOKEMO Xelevi o t' (fl -10 KOLa LUAWA Kate HUNGIU

(no issue)

-- I. Allan, loo. o:I.t., p. 41. 2. British Solomon Islands. Report for the yeare 1959 and 1960. London. H.M.S.O. 1962. •

;s o p '0 o

• .0 • .' o ~.

•

H 1/1 »I"" z ~ 180

Somata and West Ba,y Estates were sold to Levers at a later date for £70, I was infomed, the sale being made by IlBDdika who had lived on /lane from heathen times. Ilandika was of Keruval clan snd was m...... r1ed to Tepa of Solui olan who was bom at Ha1. In foot, planting was begun at Viest Ba,y in 1906 and began at Somata in 1914 and was crAljpleted in 19250 The c""pany concsrned in these early traneactions was the Pacific Islands Company anri not Levers.

Vsnd1ka was involved also With thxee other man - Toku, Kapu and Kom2 - in the sale of Keruval and Solui land (the coastal strip on the southern and eastern parts of Pawvu) to ths Govem ment for £500 in 1924. The land WBS leased to Levers for 999 years in 1927 .1 The infomation on this third transaction WaB not obtained hUll the Russell people but from Govex1Ullent corxea­ pondence, as indicated, ariSing fXvll a cle'm made by John Kolull03ta of Solui clan againat Levers in 19550 The Solui land cla1m~ by Kolemeta represented that part of the land in which Toku, Kapu and Km; were probably involved. It seems that the transa.otion must have been given little publicity in Solui circles as Kolometa would have been a grown man at the time it toolt pla.oe. The eame could be said of the Keruval people as they had not heard of a £500 land deal until they were infol1ljed by the Govel1I lDent years later. The land has not been oleared and planted and, in faot, the Jlane peepl", make gardens on it. The final seal to alienation is the olearing of the land ond the planting of ooconuts by the new owner.

This last transaotion clear13 was not on a olan baais. The earlier ones were, at least, known to the olan.

liono, liasl'am and Ugatumbi were Younger lea MS, but the last was surrendered to the Cwwn in 19480

The T1kepian new settlement of Nukufero is on Levers' land and this was explained to the Russell Islanders by the in 1956. At that time the people of Karamalun appear to have gained the impreesion that the oentral part of Paww was CotOwn land whereas it is native land. Map 4 ehows the distribution of ownership of land in the Russell Islands at the present time. 2 A11an states, "In the Russe11 Islande, all but four or five miles of the coastal lands and the gIeater proportion of the saller islands have been alienated. This is the OllUse of Borne bittemess towards the two Europeans and the Government. However, the popu.­ lation of 336 is very smalll the people have SUffioient for their needsl and any sense of bittemess has not prevented them fran mek'ng the most of their opportunities. They produce considerable qUBDtities of copra, have a high material standard of liv1ng and are shrewd traders". Elsewhere3 he g1ves the area of unalienated land as 30 square miles and the denei ty of population as 11 per square mile. • The figure of 336 ls an undex eetimate of the population at the present t'me and, although central Paww is native land it does not appear to be realised to be eo nor is it of much use to the RusselI Islanders' present econolllic aspirations whioh are for more and 1II0re coconut palms. In reoent times land shortaee was

1. Letter f'rt.!! Aoting Chief' Sscretar,y B.S.I.P. to General Levex s Pa.oific Plantations Ltdo 21st April, 1956. 20 AlIen, loo. clto, p. 234. 3. Allan, loo. cit., p. 16. • 19.

felt with the villaBB arrangement €I as they were and, as will be described lI>.ter, some people at Karamalun were told to leave and set up a new villaee on Mane. Increasing population and increased planting of coconut palm", (reducing the amount of ga;rden land) have oaused this feeling of land shortage, and the feeling of bittemess described by Allan has been acoentuated by the Tikopiene moving in to good garden land on Pavuvu. The strings of beads, eVen the £70, are seen as trifles compared with the money that they can make from copra; and the larBB produoing estates of Levers just across the water do not ease the bittemess.

Previously, it is sllid, mBOl"l'iage within the clan was pro hibited, that is, the clane were exogamous. It was not riabt for a man to marry a woman of ths same clan, if he did so he miabt become sick. Val'1'1Bge with a woman of any of the other olans was pemitted. N01'I'ade,ys, although a man still oalls the WQlIsn of bis clan "sister" and me,y not marry a "olose eister", marriaae OOOlU'll within the clan.

It waS thought that big men in heathen times ma,y have bad more thall one wife at a time, but as the people are Christians toda,y all marL1.aees are monogamous. No polygauous marriagea were recorded in genealogies, but these were shallow and did not extend beyond the latter part of last oentur,y. It was stated that if a bride prioe were paid in fC>1iUer times the w(llQan joinsd her husband at marriage, but if there were no bride price the maD moved to hie wife" 8 villsg.,. The bride price consisted of strings of red shell money, pigs and food, the number of pigs was proportionate to the the man's family owned. Now, the Laona people ea,y, there is no bride price, but there was mention of £5 in the Anglioan arM. There is a feast after the wedding ceoteiQony in the church, the food being prOvided b;y the parents of the bride and groom. Thl4e is no 1'1110 of residence .miversally expressed todny. 5aue stated that a man moves to his wife's villaae and "caues under" her brother, others said that either the man or his wife ma,y move. As the land owned b;y the woman us matrilineage in the north-west of the Group ma;y nowadnys be on a number of the sall islands a 1'I11e of residence whioh, for ElTRlilple, kept the ... oman in her clan axee, would have little point. Sinoe the people of Lapna form pan at an endogamous group of Catholios, marriages there bZe either within the village or with appropriate persons from outside the liUesell Islands.

The Government has set a minimum aBB for women at the time of marriage. Vs''l!.Iage between Anglioan and Catholio people is discouraged, whioh restricts the number of potential spouses. This is oompensated for b;y pellnltted max'riage with distant relatives wi thin ths clan. The Anglioan priest stated that his church dOes not favour firet cousin ma:rriages, but if people want it very much the ohurch allows :I. t. He also said that most m&d.sges ol.'o"r within the villageo

The Counoil rule is that each married couple must 11 VEl in a separate house. But early in married life this house ma;y not have been built and a man may bring his wifs to live with his or join her parents. In the latter oase he m83 do some ... o:tic for his father=jn-lw. auoh as help build a canoeo 200

If' there ill no rule of' residence after marrisge within the Group, the Russell ;J:slanderB do not allow their wODIsnfolk to lea.ve when they lIlar17 men flvlU outside the Group: these hust>snd s must move to the Russell Islands. This is undoubtedly associated with the inhsritance of' land rights through the wODIan.

Thus, whatever the traditional rule of' residence m~ have been, 1t hae bean oonsiderably influenoed by the alienation of land and the consequent exolusive residence on the amall islands, by the teachings of the miss1ons, and by the Government.

60me deta.11 of clan, village or place of origin of' the partnel"Bp and pluGe of' residence of the married couple WBB noted in 34 of' the marriaB9s recorded. The movement of one or other partner in 11 of theee ma1"r!a~s is RS followsl

Husband and wife in same village 2 Hu.,band moved to wife' B village 4 a Wife moved to husband 0 s villaa-e 5 lluebond came flnll outside the Russelle 6 b

Note I a. Six of these involved movement f1vIn Rei or T,agna to Karamalnn, Maralaona or UanBo bo Mala1ta 2, Yso.bel 4.

These figures must not be taken as the patte1'!l of mowuant at mal'X'iage as tbey undoubtedly drew attention to the unusual. It bas already been noted tbat all mal'l"1ages at Laona. are 11'1 thin tbe village, and tbat the Anglican priest who peri'01'lllB the marriage ceremony 1n tbs north-west of tbe G~II.P states tbat most ma.:'1'iages are within the village. It will be noted that, in fact, sane marriages between Catbolics and Anglicans do occur, although :l.nfrequantly. In tbese marrieges t11e partner wbo moves adopts t11e I3ect of the place of residence after mar1'1age.

Of 30 marl'iaa-es 1n whioh clan membership of tbe pal"tners WBB reoorded, two were betwsen members of the t'&Iue clan. The details of clan mamberslrlp of the partners to theee mar1'1 8 g9s are as follows. Ka1seling - Keru.val 14- Kaieel1ng = Solui 2 Keru.val - Solui 3 Xiii eel1ng - Sevev l Keruval - 6evev I) - Ka:lsel1ns 1 2 "Strangers" - Keru.val = Solui 2 - 8evev 1 Ka1 sel1ng = Keieellng 1 Keru.val = Keru.val -1 30

• The numbers of people of the varioue olans involved in these mal'X'iR88s werea Ka1sel1ng 22, Keru.val 21, 601ui '1, Sevev 4, and "Strangers" 6. Cl) l "' r ~ (') " _. , oi ow ~ <- AI t> p- It • _. ,.:s <. - f' Jj •

~ ~ ... M r> ~ . ~ • ~ = ~ <>- @\. ... C) CJ6 • "" ..- 0 ... 3p I\) ~ ... "'-I 'S ~ ..- ,.-c·

it () ~ '" ~ ~ r ~ (\,- " - " • 11 tIl! ...... ~ +O ~ 1""'"- "'-lI ~ ... 'oB Ft ~ ~ ~ ~~- -= ~-~ ""'r"'" 11 stO ~

• z. It h ~ to ,0 ~o •~ .. ~t

~"Co ;-

.. ,;I •

+0=

. ... 21"

The island of Mane and its residents will be discussed later, but details of clan membership of all the 37 residents of the village are presented as a i'igllnl and table to demonstrate the mi xed olan oomposition of a Russell Island village.

Second marr:l.eee was not infrequently recorded after the death of a spouses in one oase a man marr:!.ed his dead wife's sister. On ~arriage after the death of a spouse the children of the fi~ ma.:rrl.age ste,y with the eurv1ving spouse's new f!VDlly. I have several inoidental records of boys moving af'ter the death of a paxent but none of the movemsnt of girls. One boy joined the sistsr of his dead mother, twin boys joined the paxents of their dead mothsr leaving their father in hie own village, and a widower took: his son to another villaae. In each of these oases it was the mother who had died. In one instancs a widow took her whole family to another village but this was exceptional and represented the abandonment of Mane in the 192Os. Unless a deliberate enquiry were mads about the dieposal of children after ths dsath of ons or both parents it would bs idle to oomm03nt on this matter beyond noting that girls future land "owners", and boys me,y ioberit coconut palms and the geographical dietribution of these rights as well as the location of close relativss would probably influence thsir movements.

Divorce was not brought up in any oonversation, na-did it appear in any of the genealogies. There was mention of a man living apart tram his wife with anothsr woman on Catholio Laona, in a house awe,y train the village. I am unable to state if divorce is oonsidered possible among the Anglioans, nor, if it occurs, havs I any information on its fxequena,y.

The use of a dead kinEIDan' s nams in a later generation was frequently noted, but more interesting was the use of patroQyms. (This was also noted amongst the matrilineal Marovo Lagoon people on Levers' plantations). An BX&uple of this iSI Foxtsst Sepo (deceased), David Sapo his $011, and David's son Christian Sepo who has an infant boy named Winston Churchill Sepo. This line of names had origin in Ysabel but it is being carried on 10 the Russells, and there are examples among the Russell people them sslves. This device is a useful one where coconut palms laS passed down to children from thsir father in a matrilinsal sooiety.

Sane C(llldllsnt should be made about the minimum age at max:d.age which has bssn set by the Govs:mment. Nowade,ye chi Idren go awe,y to residential school and if they proceed to the senior school they are in their teens when they return home - this keeps girls occupied and supervised until they have reached marriageable age. Sane girls go on to further training as midwife or school teaoher. At Karamalun there is one house in which single girls live after they havs returned from school.

Chi ldrsn and population inorease

A register of births is kept at Maralaona by ths Clexlt of ths Council. The first sntries in this register are for Dec.eillbsr, 1948. The entries tor the period January, 1949 - December, 1961 are pro sented as Table 3. During this 13-year period 161 births (95 male and 72 female) were registered by the three Clencs who held office 1n that tjme. As with many systems of notif1cation and regietra= tion, this is Hk

varala;;;f Kar8lllalun Vane "A.~ Laona Total YeaZ' Il F J( F V F 11 F Il F 1949 1 1 1 1 - - 1 1 1 2 9 1 1950 3 - = 4 - .~ 4 2 2 2 17 1951 1 - 1 - - - 1 - 1 - 4 1952 1 2 1 4 - - 1 1 2 3 15 1953 1 2 4 1 4 1 13 I - - - - , 1954 1 3 2 3 -- 1 4 = = 14 1955 1 - - 2 = - 2 3 3 1 12 1956 1 - 1 - - - = - 1 2 5 1957 5 1 4 3 1 1 3 1 - - 19 1958 - 2 1 1 - ~ 3 - 1 - 8 1959 - 1 3 3 - 1 2 - 4 1 15 1960 3 2 6 1 2 - 3 2 4 4 2T 1961 - 1 4 2 1 - 1 -- - 9 Total 18 15 28 25 4 2 22 14 25 16 lQ1 35 53 * 6 36 39 - .~~-. ------* Includes cbildren now at lIaneo

Table 31 Bizotbs registered in tbe lIussell Islands 1949-1961 by yea:r of binh, village, and suo

The months in whiob these bizoths occurl'eci wezoe as follows. Janus,.y 8, February 5, Ilaroh 15. April 15, J!a.y 24. June 20, July 14, August 15, September 16, October 12, November 13, December 10. This distribution shows a peak iD M~...rlln8 with conesponding conceptions in Ju~-5eptember, but just as there m~ be negleot from year to yea:r eo there m~ be seasonal negleot of regietrationo With this reservation, it m~ bs noted that tha main ngali nut barvest oocurs in June-Julyo

Some idea of the proportion of surviving ohildron m~ be obtainod from Table 4 whioh records the fate 01' children born in 14 marriages, some of whiob have probably oompleted their reproductive period while others are etill in that phose. There 1s, no doubt, a tendenoy to forget children wbo have died but the extent 01' thie is unkn.CWllo

I am' reluotant to draw an::! oonclusions from this 8!IDp1e exoept in the most general tez1Us. ObviOUSly the la:rger f8llliUoII extend back through tjme to a point wheze antenatal c&xe, tra>neci <:.3•• ,

midwifery and treatment of illness a.t hospital and olinic did not apply. Thus it might be expected that those children born more recsntly would hava a gzeater chance of survival but such a COEF clusion cannot be drawn f1'Olll this material,

Children Ramaxits Klu'ri &83 AUV9 Dead Total ), 9 1 10 Ages range 21l-24 years

2 6 0 6 Ma j'r.!.ed 16 yea"l'S • 1 e 2 10 Older children mar1~ed 4 () 0 6 Youngest 1s new born 5 8 1 9 Ages range 1=19 years 6 1. 4 5 Dead are all girls 7 2 1 5 Same mother - Dead cilild 1s one of 8 5 1 6 t'ifins 9 9 1 10 Ages range :l.n:fant-21 yesra 10 2 0 2 l!other died. after tmna n 6 1 9 Age s range 10-20 yesrs :1.2 1 1 2 Surv1v1n~ obild 12 years 13 2 • 0 2 Ages range 1.-3 years

14 2 • 0 2 Ages range 1-2 yeare

• Total 6'1 • 15 82 . . -- -- •

Table 4, Dead and eurvi ving children bom to 14 llIaL'riages in the north west of the RusBell Islands.

Mlcense 1t :le not possible to oonclude that a frae1:i.ng of" land ehortage has had any effect on the birthrate and sbe of the fam:!J.y, The births regi.Btered for the years 1949=1961 are el"1"atio 1.n numb6l' but oannot be said to be shOwing a tendency to d;minieh, I.arge families are more than eocially acceptabl.e. there appeared to be pride, pleasure and superiority 1n detailing the names of' a lsrge number of children, and the phrase "bad luck" applied to barren m&Ol'l':lages indicateD e. negative attitude towaxds tbem,

However, one point 0:1: conSiderable interest is the high maacul~nity rate (1.32 p -<:~,05) 0:1: the regist.ered births. Thie ma;y represent the proportion 0:1: malse and femalee actually born, but it oould be suggested that death Boon after birth ma,y lead to fMlure to reg1ster female births. I have no evidence to mlpport a suggestion of female infanticide but the death of four female children in a row fOllowed by the s~val of a male child is rather remarlcab1e (Table 4, Marriage No. 6). Table 3 does not show 8lIY progzessive dlm'nution of regietered female bi~he. there were 2)

Ut 1949=52, 22 in 1953--56, and 24 in 1951=60 0 If thll1"B is, 1n foot. a high masculinity rate in actual births this will tend to reetr1tJt the rate cf population increase. It is ha.zardous to project thee.. figures fONIUd to Mult life in the absence of mortality datao 24.

If en exoess of males persists later in life it m~ constitute a pressure leading to emigration of young men to worlt U1 the polltlll force and m:!.ssions Bince the alternative is for some to remej,n single and WO:tK for their fathers, cutting oopra and so on. This is an example of a population which is increasing rsp~d13 deep:!.te a significant excess of males at birth. lloArthur has noted tns ss oooUH'ing in F:l.ji ood Samoa and. remms that "for ID"'V year!! this was held to be a feature of declining populat:l.one". 1

Innes2 gave the number of Rusaull Islanders ss 212 in 1937 and these were counted in the villages at the time of his leprosy survey. The age and sex distribution was as followsl

1, ~ 5 years 51 6 - ',6 years 34 11 ~ 29 years 49 30 yeara and over ....:& 212 Malee 107, females 105

Dle~ribution by Village wae ae followsa Loons 75, Hai 52, Karamalun 39, and Maralaoua 46.

Xnnes cCiliiaented on the "attractive cleanliness" of the people who lived "in l)leasant \7el~spooed villages, which show many signe of the touch of civilization end the people are for the most part clean and orderly".

Innesos figures indicate a birth rate of near13 50 1000/year (even higher if allowance is made f'or deaths in infan(,~ and a population where the ratio of those aged 16 years and under to thoee over 16 years is 41/69 as ie desorbed by Osborn for 1mderdswloped countries with a high birth rate. lMes gives no death rates and there is no indication that the age structure he presente is stable. There is e. large loss of childr.. n in the 6-16 years

1. McArtbur, N. 1961. lntroducting population statistios. Melbourne. Oxf'oxa University Press. 2. Innes, J .R. 1938. Report of' leprosy survey of the British SolO!!!on Islands Protectorate. Sllva. High the Western Pacific. pp. 46=49. 3. Oeborn. F. 1960. Populatiom An :l.nternationa1 dilemma. 1nl ''Three eeeays on population". New Yo1'k:. Mentor Dooks. p. 92. 4. British Solomon Islands Proteotorate. Anmu;,] Medical and Sen:i.tary Report for the year ending 31 Dec8IIIber, 1930. 5. AlIen, C.R. lac. cit., p. 16. 250

The difference between these two population figures represents a 58% increase in the number of Ruesell Islanders resident in their villages in a period of 11 years, or a population increuse of 30/1000/yee:r. This figure represents the differ-once be·~ween additione by birth or inClligration and losoos by death or emigration, If the birth rate were 5O/1000/year end there were no population movement, the death rate would be 2O/lOOO/yee:r. During the period under consideration Japanese troops entered the Russsll Islands but left before the ilmericans landed there in FebrllaI"J. 1~43.1 There appear to have been no casual ties among the Rusaell people dlU'ing the war when some of them were associated with ths Coast Watchers.

Recent correspondence with McArthur concerning her censue report and with !Jr. J .L.O. Tedder, District COl!!l!iBs:loner of the Csntra! Solanons, has hve:iled that the number of Ruseell Islanders enumerated in their hanes in 1959 was as fOl1OV/SI

Households 83 Males 246 Fe=ales 12l Total pereons 439

In addition, there were 32 malos and 32 :females temporarily absent at the time of the census which makes a total of 503 Russell Islanders. There are no detaile available at present ooncerning the distribution by age, but the preponderanoe of males will be noted (1.21, p (0.01),

The population increaoo in the period from 1954 (336) to 1959 (439) is 103 and the rate of increase is of the order of 5O/l000/year. During the years 1955 - 1959 there were 5~ births registered but it is possible that registrations were neglected 1n 1956 and l~5Bo

Deep! te the inadequacies in the data. it is apparent that the Russell Islanders form a rap1dly growing popula1;ion llb~ch has doublod itself' in 22 years by natural inorease and ; BIHliSTation. The effeej; of' this rapid inoreaee on the econanic activity ot the p€)ople has already been noted, and an example of' its political repercuseions will be presented later in discussing the people of' Mane.

As with eome, but by no means the major1~y, of' the peuples of' the Solanon Islands there 113 tod~ an apparent unoertainty about some of' the terms used for oertain categories of kin ~.Il the Rusooll Islands. In addition, there appears to be a degree of sacredness attaohed to the use of some terms. This problem was disoussed in detail with Brother John Kura who is a Russell Islander resident at a Marist Brothers' oollege in Sydney and attends the Teachers' College at Sydney University.

The main point of uncertainty is whether the terms obta;ned for relatives outside the nuclear family are those which wsre used in earlier times or represent translations of the English phrases •

• I. Feldt, E. 1946. Ths coast watchers. Melbourne, Oxford University Press, pp" 247-248. '!'he latter proposition has some support from the fact that ohildren are brought up in residential schools mvl:\Y from thsir parents and are subjected to the influence of the English language. However, this informant sl:\Ys that, to the best of his belief, the te:rms used in this section are the ones in use in the villages& theT were collected in the villages.

'l'h1s preliminary statement is necessary beoause I hesitate, at this stage, to present an example of a descriptive k'nshlp termdnology with MT great confidencs.

'!'he term for the nuclear fomi ly is kaonege and the phrase ''my nuolear family" - nes kaoneee - is used onlT bT one or other parent and not by the ohildren of that familT. '!'he klnship terms used within the nucleax- familT are as shoUln,

BGA KAt,FlI nga kala (1113 father) (my mother)

~ NGA KAICAL EGO n8I!L kakalea or or NGA VAIS n8I!L wisa (my brother) (my sister) Notel ne" 1113.

A familiar te:rm of address for 1113 father is which repreeente the English "Dad", and for my mother is mema representing the Ent,lish "Hum". '!'here appears to be no special circumstanoe in whioh the alternati ve words for ''my brother" are used, and the same is said to be the case for those for "my sister". It will be seen that the words for mother and eister are the feminine fo:rms of the words for father and brother. '!'he plural fo:rm !!e.. kak:alev ml:\Y msan ''my brothers" or "1113 aieters" or "1113 brother{ s) and my aister( s)~ that le, "the others of 1113 sibling gt'Oup".

Seniority within the aibling gX\Jl1p is distinguished as follows,

nf$! kakalem "" 1113 elder brother that is, older kakalea .. 1113 elder sister ~ than I am. wis .. my younger brother ) that ie, younger ne vaiaa • my younger siater ) than I am.

If the nuolear fam:l-l~ is 10clced at from the point of view of the parental generation. the te:rms are as shoUlna t.=~ NGA TUUM nge tua (1113 husband) (1113 wife)

o + NOA VOVO'U age vovo (ID¥ BOO) (my daughter) 270

The siblings of parents ars each disti~ished by a separate descriptive teLID as shownr

, 1 f 1 0 (J!!f ~ if + nga kalem NGA KAl.E!1 NGA KAT.W I nga kala nB/1 kllla NGA KALA o kakalea o KAKAL (0 kakalea OKAKAL or 01' Cl or or (0 vaisB. o VAIS EGO o va:!.sa (0 VAtS (my father (my father (my mother (my mother his sister) biB brother) her her Bi.ster) brother)

Note. ~.. hiS/her.

There are tems for mstemal grandparents)

my maternal grandfather tutus .. my matemal gt"andmother

but there are no "'=s for paternal gl"andparsnts wbo mB3 be referred to in descr1ptive temsi

-o ~ my father his father .!? .::k::::B.::la;,: .. my father his mother.

My cousins are described as sons or daughtsre of ths brothe1'll or sisters of my father or my mothsr, but eo~e of my matrilineal cousins belong to a group of psople called np;a. mSIIIDSn1V, which is a collective tem applied to all the people of my mother' B (and my) clan. The masculine singular of this COlleCUVII teL,n :ls "my matrilineal kinllDan", and the feminine B1n8Ular is nf!! Thus I could refer to my mother's brother as np man and he refer to me in the eam

--o o vovo my father hie brother his daughtfll'

The re use of the pereonal names of dead people as a means Of remembering them should properly be confined to the l!Iatrilineal kin of the deceased. In the following exa.mple this LUle has been followed in the case of Kofcko but has been broken in the case of Kal1stol 280

o + l' Koi'oIto E1UCSOll (' ~ Ell1fl iC'..ALlS'l'O

!' if' ~ ?' JOHN BARA SILVWl'ER TUBA KB1'o\cO OVOID! '? KALIS'l'O SOSO

The adoption of P:.ltro~s is thus an innovation wbich is c0n­ trary to a :rule which govems tbe Use of the personal names of the dead.

In relating the kinship teminology to the kinship system it oan be pointed out that the mowbers of a person's clan (.2. manm,aoiv) are distinguishsd, whereas non=TemQerS recoive !l0 apart f1ul1 desoriptive tems. The closer kin in a man's olan moy be expected to gl.ve him aseif.)tance, for example, in the mald.ng of oopra. If a man has enjoyed the help of men of this gtNllp he owes them a "COUD" (a slang tem derived from aco01lnt-='; count-+>coun) whioh he is expeoted to pay off 10 due oouree. If they have made copra from the cooonuts of his pulme he will expeot them to help bj T to make copra on a fUture OOce... sion when he harveots the nuto.

The tem for a man's oibling gl'01lp finds expreosion when people refer to a man by name and add that hio eioter io so-end-so and hie brother is eo end.-eo. These a:a:e the people who have a COIIOllon interest in partioular pieces of land.

In man1.age, .2. manio, his matrilineal kinswoman, Wss prohibited as a man' e potential apouse, but wauen of bis father's clen were given no colleotive recognition and ware potential Bpouses, as also were the women of his mother' El brother's wife's clan•

• 290

40 Polit:l.cal Activity

In the Russell Islands village the peripheral arm of central gtlvel'l"ment is the Headman. There:l.s a Headman in each village except Mane, and the Headman at Maralaona at the present time is the District Headman of' the Russells.

The Headmen, their villages and olans

Tard Kok:alaul1n of Maralaona is KaiseJing and District Headman. Uosee of' Karamalun ie Kaise11ng. Hendry Falakwen of Hai is Keruvalo Rose of Laona :l.s Ka:l.eel1ng.

The Headman may conduct a NaUve Court which deals wi th speoified minor offences and mattere of' native custom. For example, if' a man 1'"lIIoves cooonuts which have fallen fZ'Q1I 1;he palms of another and makes copra from them he may be taken before the Headm'illl and, if the offenoe is proved, he m8¥ be fined f:l.ve or ten sM 111nge. There is also a Clerk of Court at Maralaonao

Headmen are appointed by the District C"I""l ssioner and blOe paid a small sum each year by the Government.

On I,aOna, Karahs was made Headman at the time the wb:l. te man first came to the Russell Islands. He was a member of Keruval clan but did not have big man status. H:l.s brother Gorahov.i. sucoeeded Mm in this offioe. and ths third and pressnt Headman~ Ross, is the son of' 001'llbovi·u ¥tlfe b;y her f'1nt /II~'X'1~Q GorahoY1. · s own son, Lazaro, is the Vice:President of the Distriot Counc:l.lo

2 1 ~ /' GORAHOVl Lehena IlOSES (f' lfd LAZtIRO ROSE

The village Hosdman is the man who meets ths Gowl'I"ment when an officer oalls at the village. Obviously, lJODleone who und

61. 61.

16, 16,

Ooean1a, Ooean1a,

Islands. Islands. Solanon Solanon British British the the in in

iatrationa iatrationa

admin= admin=

native native

to to

instructions instructions

and and Notes Notes 1945. 1945. H.I. H.I. Hogb1n, Hogb1n,

2. 2.

257. 257. Ooeania,.M, Ooeania,.M, Islands. Islands.

Solanon Solanon

the the

in in

oourts oourts

native native

and and councils councils

Native Native 1944. 1944. HoI. HoI. Hogbln, Hogbln, 10 10

man man mlU\Y mlU\Y

but but

Karamalun. Karamalun. on on

drier drier oopra oopra hot-air hot-air a a

of of

bUilding bUilding

the the

finanoed finanoed

Council Council The The

spalls. spalls. d:t7 d:t7 for for supply supply

water water

reserve reserve a a

aB aB

act act

which which

tanks" tanks"

"council "council are are there there villages villages the the of of some some In In

health. health. of of

matters matters

and and development development eoonan1.c eoonan1.c

with with

concemed concemed

bsing bsing

AuthOrity, AuthOrity,

Local Local emb:t7o emb:t7o an an represents represents Council Council The The

Honiara. Honiara. at at

Cf!!IIuissioner Cf!!IIuissioner

District District the the of of

o(W;s o(W;s the the in in kept kept

1s 1s money money

the the

present present

at at

and and £300, £300,

of of

region region

the the in in be be must must due due

amount amount

The The

school. school.

at at

not not

is is

who who sge sge of of

years years

16 16 over over male male

every every

for for head head

£3 £3 per per 1s 1s

rate rate

the the

present, present, At At

approval. approval. central central to to

subjeot subjeot is is this this and and

year year

each each

tax tax p~able p~able of of

amount amount

the the on on deoides deoides It It

Croup. Croup. the the

visits visits

Commissioner Commissioner

Distriot Distriot

the the when when year year a a twice twice meets meets Council Council The The

sides. sides.

the the

down down

banches banches

and and

and and

one one at at

chlUrs chlUrs

and and

table table

a a

oontains oontains It It tank. tank. water water

a a

has has and and

iron iron

corrugated corrugated

from from

made made is is

It It church. church. the the is is

also also

where where

village village the the

above above

ridge ridge

the the on on

situated situated

is is building building the the where where

Jlaralaona Jlaralaona on on

are are

Chambers Chambers

C~!ncil C~!ncil

The The

services. their their for for

paid paid 2 2 not not are are

members members

Counoil Counoil

President. President. their their

elect elect they they and and told, told, was was I I

so so

missioner, missioner,

Can Can

Distriot Distriot

the the of of

supervieion supervieion the the nnder nnder

elected elected

are are membeLs membeLs

Council Council

The The

Counoillors. Counoillors.

the the by by eleoted eleoted was was Kimata Kimata

Daniel Daniel

when when

1957 1957

until until so so

remained remained

and and President President first first its its

was was

Koke.1aulin Koke.1aulin

Toort Toort

and and 1946 1946

in in

formed formed was was Connoil Connoil Islands Islands Russell Russell The The

Council. Council.

the the of of

Clerk Clerk

is is

Maralaona Maralaona from from

members members

Council Council

the the of of

One One

Loonao Loonao

at at

President President Vioe Vioe a a

and and K=alun, K=alun, at at lives lives

who who

President, President,

a a

is is

there there

addition addition

In In members. members. two two by by 1 1

Council Council

Islands Islands

Russell Russell

the the

on on

represented represented is is villages villages five five the the of of Each Each

Counoil Counoil , , Distriot Distriot Islands Islands Russe11 Russe11 The The

rare. rare.

is is

ohanne1 ohanne1

this this

by by

lBW lBW

the the

with with

contact contact that that oonoluded oonoluded be be

oan oan it it

that that so so

1961, 1961,

year year

the the for for

Yandina Yandina at at Book Book Reported Reported

Cases Cases

Police Police the the in in

Islanders Islanders

Russell Russell

concernlng concernlng ent:t7 ent:t7 no no was was

There There

served. served.

beer. beer. not not

had had 6UlldUonS 6UlldUonS

the the

as as

appear appear

not not did did he he

plantation! plantation!

Nono Nono

of of

manaaer manaaer

the the by by

debt debt a a

for for

sued sued

being being was was he he as as appear appear to to

due due

was was

Islander Islander

Russe11 Russe11 a a

Yandina Yandina

at at oourt oourt attended attended I I when when ocoe.s1on ocoe.s1on On On one one

visits. visits. periodic periodic officer's officer's

this this of of

one one

on on

YancUna YancUna at at

Court Court s s

sB1oner' sB1oner'

COlluj COlluj District District the the at at appeeranoe appeeranoe to to

lead lead

eventually eventually

m~ m~ and and

pOlice pOlice the the by by

investigated investigated is is case case a a Such Such

aw~. aw~. husbands husbands Both Both tooth. tooth. a a out out knocking knocking

faoe. faoe. the the

on on

her her assaulting assaulting of of I. I. Laona Laona on on Ellen Ellen E. E.

mother mother her her

acoused acoused

I. I. Laona Laona of of housewife housewife Kaf'oko Kaf'oko Marge.ret Marge.ret

11.1062 11.1062 3/62 3/62 No. No.

Station Station Police Police Yandina Yandina BooK BooK Reported Reported Cases Cases Police Police 30. 30. Figure 120 The RUBBell IBlandB Dietr10t Council Chambers at Maralaonao

'1' ••

I • • I

~ • ... •

Fisurlil 13, The obstetric hospital and dispensary at Maralaonao • 31.

still use their own driers and it is too far aw13:l for eome to "I'S. The Counoil built the emall midwif'er,y hospital and dispensary on lfaralaona end the antenatal olinio building on Karemalun. It bee made a rule that there must be only one nuolear fam'lly 11ving in a houae. The Cleric of the Counoil keeps the register of births which has already been mentioned in detsi1.

Host of the villages are represented on the Council by one member of Keruval and one mem"ber of KID seling clan. The Presi­ dent, Daniel Kimllta, is a "stranger" f'rom Ysabol. His clan is oonsidered to be the same ae Ka1se1ing and he is ma;r~ to a Keruval women. On 1eaming that Kimeta wae a "stranger" I told him the etory of the Weleh villase band compoeed of two f'actions which oould not appoint /l. bandmaster frolll emong themselves and (I misquoted) imported one fro.. another villEl88.1 I ae!c-ad Mm if his election were like that. His reply was that it was not 1iko that, it was the SaDe thing.

KSm~ta was in the Polioe Foroe at Tulagi before the war. During the war he was in the Defence Force on Nsw Georgia w1 th Mr. Kenned,y of the Coast Watohers.2 Later he zetumed to the polioe and beoame a oorporal at Honiara and then at Kira Kira where he WaB in charge of the detachment; the Sergeant of Polioe at Yandina WBS a oonstable under him. He married a woman of in 1946 and in 1950 left the police and oame to live there. In 1957 he VlaB eleoted President of the Counoil. As he WaB oonsidered to "savvy f'ashion bHong Govemment" the Russell.l people thought he oould help them with the Government offioers. In 1958 he went to Habs!!l w1 th other Counoillors of the Proteotorate to Me Looal Counoils in the Tex'ritor,y of New Guinea.

Kimeta stated that Kcltal!R,l1n, his predeoessor as PreSident, is not a "proper" Headman, tbat is, he is impropsr and te!ces sides. He is partial to hie own olan, Ksieeling, and unfriendly with Keruval people. He seeks to make his own clllll "high" but the Ruseell olans are equal. He finds himself up against a big man in Keruval clan and, af'ter all, the Keruval people clln the lsnd.

If the appointJuent of' a "stranger" as President is the solu tion to the problem of inter-olan antipathy, the se1eotion of a Vice-presidsnt from Laonll represents a reoognition of the other echiam in llueee1l Islands sooiety - the two Christian seats.

The Council Clerk was eduoated at Maravovo School and for a time taught at the village sohoo1 on lIaralaona. He is the third to hold this offioe in the 15 years since the Counoil was fozmed.

The question of NUkufero repzesentation on the Council is being discussed by eOllle of the Tikopians w1 th some of the Ruseell people. Neither the Tikopiens nor the Ruseell Islandere are unanimously in favour of' thia step. The Tikop1ans, moreover, could not make such a move without the P6Ji11ission of' their chief's on Tikopia. E1 ther the Council President would ho.ve to f!P to Tikopia or Anti ICafika would have to come to the Ruseelle before a positive deoision could be made. Rob1neon,31n partiou1ar, has aspirations towards membership of the Council. I was told that the Government had left the deoiaion to the Tikopiens. Meantime, Tikopians at Hukufsro do not p~ Counoil tax.

1. '!i'rankenberg, R. "Villese on the Border". Cited by Gluakmen, M. 1959. How forsisn are you? Listender, 61, 99. 2. Feldt, E. loco oit., p. 254. 3. Seel Firth, R. 1959. Sooial change in T1kopia. London. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. p. 270 •

• 32.

The Big lien In heathen times, before the white man oame to the Russell Islands, there was a ''big man" in each of the thres olans and, it le 1U!1 d, the people chose one of these three to be "nUlllber one" f bi&t the method ar 8Olection is not etated. A c"'''parieon is dz.... 1l between tbe80 men and the Diatrict and Village Headmen of todlq, but I lID unable to state the tunotions of "n,wber one big mM". The,. DlIq have been concerned only with the internal attaire 01' the Rueaell people or, as ssems lllcely, with relatiOl1sh1pS with the outaida wcrld, such as fighting invaders or leading overseas expedi1;1olla to tight or trade. I have no in1'ozmation on thiB matter.

Three suoo big men are :remembered. lCuk1 was b1g man of ICai80ling olan and lived on "Bsnika. Tipolo was big man ar SOlui and lived on Paww on the other aide ar Sunlight Channel Oil'poII1". Linptu. Pan was the big man of ICeruval and 11ved on lCov11dr::o in the north-west at the Group, His brother was Pule and his sister ICarema.

These three .00e the big men ar the Rus80ll Islands in the latter part 01' the 19th centUJ:7J ICnki WB.8 "numbsr one" amongst and Pate ''number two". The,. lived on the land of their clan but it would be uod8O to derive a rule of rseideroe at marriage f'wrn this iPfol'lllation since it 1e a QC"g"on finding in other matri11neal societies that men suoo as they are p(:Q1aitted to break the rule of residence. Aa Richa:rdsl pOints out tor Central Afrioen tribes, ''men of wealth and distincti on ate able to rever80 the uauel rules of residenoe".

lIig men of the clans still enst toda,y and, deapi te the probable taking over of sane 01' their functiona by H&edmen and C01lncillors, they ate st11l important in matters ar clan land, at least. lleosu8O of the looation 01' the alienated land the bi g Ihlitl ar Keruval has become pre eminent as hae bean discussed enrlier.

Wllson Ilwani (Fig. 14) of KaJ'8!Del uD is the big man of ICoruval. While there is no fozmal suocesaion to biD IDanehip, the rea t oocupant ar the position is more or less predictable, g1ven the genealog1cal details and the personal qualities ar the people ooncerned. Jliiani' e sister, by her first marriage, had a son and a daughter who will 1J1herit land through har. This son hes qualitieo of leader'ship. he was with Coaet Watcher Campbe1l2 in the mOllllta1no ar Pawvu during the war and is one of the few Rusaell people who hQII been there. He 10 a Counoil member, and i. likely ~o becaue the big man ar lCeruval in due Cour88.

Tani Kckalsul1n of Maralaona (Fig. 15), the District Headman, 10 the big man ar ICai8Oling. Be married the widow 01' T1pol0, the big man of Solui in heathen tiMS. Ris name lCdr::alaulin 1a the ar a sall river on Paww whiOO enters Sunlight ChanMl in the &toa where T1polo lived. Ho 1a advanced in years, all hie OOi Idren are mflH'iod, but h. i8 still vigorous in oontrast to 1lIr1lDl.

• 1. Richa:rds, A.I. 1950. 61""e t1Pes ar family structure i1. Ceatral Bentu. Inl RedcUtta ,1110In, A.R., and Forde, D. (Eds.) Mr10an B7steme ar ld.nehip marrlep. Oxford t"'ivdX'si t,. Press. po 248. 2. F81d~, E. loco cit., p. 254. F1gure 14. Wlll30n Ilwam. - big mM r;t Keruva1 elan.

,

Figure 15. Tani KckalauUn = big man of KM seUng clan. - •

33.

Aro of Mans is oonsidsred to be a big mano He is of 501111 clan and is the son of Mandika of the early land deals" Hs will bs disoussed later in ths context of the power eyst8l'l at wonto

It will be noted that these three big men live on different islands and that anothsr prominent man of Keruval lives at Hsi. A fifth man, Ben1 Kuekw!, also of Keruval., lives on Leona. NOW' that Tomi ICcltalaul1n is no longer President of the Council, none of the big men ale members or office holders of the »1striot Council.

Er! sting alongsids the big men and the Headmen is ths hiersrcb;r of the l4elanesian II1ssion as it is represented in the villages or the Anglican alea of the Russell Islande. In Leona the Catholio Mission is represented by a Church Council and the villsge school teacher. This Council is responsible for collsoting money for ths Church, and bW1k1ng it at Yandina, as wsll as mald.ng B1'rangemants for visiting priests and other church mattsrs.

In the Anglican lWOea there is an ordsined priest, Father Hr.rper, who was born on I!aralaona and Uves thereo He is the brother of Tani Kdcalalllino On Karsmalun there is a Deacon, Wllson lfwanl, and a Teacher who oonduots ohurch servioes on Sund~ on that island.

On lIaraleona 1. 10 the Fly Harbour Distriot School with a mission sohool teacher in charge, end there are mission sohool teachers in the village echools.

Proilotion 10 the Church hierarob;r mav lead to posting avr~ f' ....rom.... the Ruesell Islands. For uampls, Father Edmond Kiva is a Russell Islander stationed at Kira Kira whele he is in charge of the Mieeion activities of San Cristobal.

On oooasion, the Church intrudes into sscular affairs as will be illustrated later when discussing the dispute between the Russell Islanders and Tikopians who are also members of the Ilelaneeian II1ssion. On this occasion Father Hatper urged c'>'Ioon membership of the Mission as the reason wb;r the dispute should be settled.

The Jloneyed Men

Copra ie ths msin _,_ of .01187. and to produce oopra a man must own mature Coconut 9almso ~almB do not produce tully until they &le about 15 years old 80 that, as a rule, mature pslms belong to the older meno Young men mlq plant nuts for themselves bu.t they must wsi t for the palms to co"e into bearing before "IV money Income oan be dsrived from them. IIssntims they help their fathe1s to melrt;l cOpra trom palm" which they will inherit latero

David of lIaraleona married Taui KoIcalenUn's sister end has three blocks or pallia one of 160 and another of 60 are bearing, but the third block of 20 is or\4 a few years old. l':i:c~h 220 palms he might p11)l1 u oe about six tons or drisd oopra per ysar whioh would sell for about £270 at YlIZld1na. David would nlllk 10 the middle inoaue range if he IIIploite4 his palms fullYJ he would not w1 th the wsaltb;r men whose 1noCXlles froil oopra m~ bs of the order of £500 - £750 per yev. 34.

Whilst it is not possible to present an actual seals of money ~noome, it is possible to assess money wsalth from the possessions of the psople being rated on a soale. The ownership of coconut palme indioates potential 1noome only, but the materials used for building a man's house ma,y demonstrate, for example, money ava1l­ able to b~ new galvanized 1ron for the roof, and the purchase of a lsunch indicatee the poeeeesion of about £100 which it costs. Further, it is these visible symbols of money wealth which are important in the present oontert rather than the number of pound notee which a man has hidden awa,y.

If a Russell Islander is asked what makes a big man, he will reply I "land and money". The importance of headmanshjp and memberehip of the Council is relegated to a lower level, and the Church hierarchy is a separate scale altogether. Thus scales derived from these attributes have different load'ng values.

When the prom1nent men are studied in terms of land ownerehip, money wealthj headmanship, Council membership and Churoh office. it is seen that few, if any, rank highly on all scales and that the notable discrepancy is a low score on the scale of land ship for most of them.

Wilson Mwan1 ranks high as the big man of Keruval clan, as the big land ownerl he appears in the Church hierarchy, but is now physically inoapable of 170:rlc and is supported by his kin. His old house, whioh he occupied when younger, was a very large one but termites have destroysd it. His new house is smaller.

Tani Kokalaulin is the big man of Ka.isellng clan, but is ultimately beholden to Keruval clan for land. He is the on~ oWller of a launch in the north-western part of the Russells, he is having a new house built by the oarpenter, he has a boathouse with a galvanized roof and one of the few hot=a1r oopra driers. On the soale of money wealth he ranks highly in this part of the Group. He is the Distriot Headman, but is no longer Presidsnt of the Council.

Arc is a big man of Solui clan but has no rightful claim to coastal land. He makee and sells oopra and mlUitets his produce at Sanata estate, but his house is built of thatch and he would not rank near the top on a scale of money wealth. However, he 1s a forceful man and, despite his low eeores, he 1s accredited a big msn, but this may depend upon the continmmoe of 501111 clan as an entity.

Father Harper has prestige from his po Id tion in the Church hierarchy and entere the eoonanic scale as a copra producer. He has a large house but suffers the same disability a6 his brother Kokalaul1n as regards lend.

The men of Laona ma,y also be measured on the same set of soales although full details are lacking. Bsni Kusltwi. a clan "brother" of W:1lson Mwani and a member of Keruval clan, is regarded as the owner of Laona in association w1 th Basilisa Lungs who :le not hie true sister but a close zelative, although she has brothers of her own. Benj KuEkwi is said to be a bi g copra producer; hu OWIIS a house' with en iron roof and timbered floor and walls end a and was fozmerly a teacher in the Catholic Church, leading the village people in prayers on Sundays. His score would be superior 35.

to that of the Village H93dmAD , Rose, who is also a big oopra produosr and owns a launch, but lives and gardens on an islend which is clan (Kaiseling) does not own, although h1.s linsBgr,l of Alllkun 1. to the west of [-aons.

Cauparing :Berd. Kuskw1 of 1'800a with Wilson Mwan1 of KIIlailia1un, it was said that the fomsr would not, in foot, be able to expsl a reBident fami 13 of another olan fro" Laona wh ...... eas Wllson lIwani has done this, as will be discuesed in the nert section. Hie ability to do thi& was attributed to the extra power he derives from his position as a Deacon of the Church. It is notable that none of the big men Is a member of the Council. Membership of Council appears to be allooated to men of the middle generation. It i& said that the older men were xemDved f'HIm membership by the yOlmger men beoause they weIB "old fash1oned", that i&, thsy behswd as ''big men" rather than as Lopresentatives of the people. The poBit1on giws a mon ean'll prominenoe but does not place him among the big men, indeed the President is a "stranger". In the Russell Islands, the Counoil has not oreated jobs, Intsrssts and a means of influenoe for the elders.l

At the bottom snd of ths BOB) e is the "man nothing" who belonGS to a olan with no land rigt!ts, awns no ooconut palmfl and hae no wifs.

The place of women on these scales is worthy of pome note. Nurse 1oIa1)", the midwife, has a monsy income, is in relationShip to the Oovel1l1116nt, and has prestige trau her Hom. She suffers ths disabllity of lCaiseling clan as rsgards lend ownersh1p. But hsrs is a NllUe Lhat needs no further identification snd it !DBiV' well be that ebe is a Celebrity2 rather than a woman in oompetit1on with men in the scale of _le men. The importanoe of men in the past was derived from the 1on4 l'1&bh of thell' .other, and un.. ,. WUh ths advent of money, men have dieoovexed & roui;e to importanoe which is lergely dissooiated 1'l\lll 10llen. The pres~'~Cls of a 10lllen in the scale of money wealth is anomalous at present and Nurse Yery was dminatsd b,y the men prel5BJlt dUring our conversations B!fIf13 trail her hoopi tal. On her oln ground she was the boss.

From this renlcing of people on the varioue 'Dales, the tensions amongst the important msn of the north-western islands is apparent. wllsOll 1Iw8n1 can u'fi on hia chair in the shads and rank high. Tom1 lCokalaulln rlllllce high in money for which he woms but his ambitions aLe thwarted by the land situation oreated by the alienation of Bsnik6. Arc is tbe big man in a rapidly growing villaBB whose residents aLe me1 nly mem'3ers of his own femi13. But the villase is on an island wll10h belongs to his son-1n la end he makes his 8!'rdens on alienated land. A CQ""~mt made by the "stranger", the Pxendsnt of the Council, that the "lines" aLe not "friendly" bere, in contraet with Ysusl. pums up this situation. But if the plenting of coconuts goes on and on, and the land ave1lable for gardening b_.... es consequOIltly less and less (and 'fihe population keeps on inOleasing) _e changes appeer inevitable• •

• 1. Hogbin, H.I. 1945. loo. o1t. 2. Wills, C. Wrigh'fi. 1959. The power e11ts. New Yo:dc. Oxford University P1ess. , 360

The kinde of changes may include lees depend.enoe upon a garden eoon~ and more on the income derived from copra, resulting in the increased imllortance of men vie-"a..vis women. The establish ment of new settlements may become neoeeeary, either on eome of the BIIIaller islands or on Pavuvu. :Du't there were indications that the Russell people muy aepire towards an economy based on Levers' plantatione when the Proteotorate seoures ite independenoe. In thie xOfiBrd it me,y be noted tbat tbe post-war Val'Ch1ng Rule, 1Ih1ob was in pan a political movement on some of tbe otb8l' lalande of tbe Proteotorate, did not involve the Russell Isle.nda.1,2

I. The Pow:8l' Syetem in Actionl Mane o

Arc ie the son of Mandika and Tepa, a wOOIan of Solui clan fl'Oll1 Ha1. Mandika was bom on Pavuvu and oame ·to vane 1n beathen times. He lived tbere with hie family end Caepar Vangavel1 r .... '1I Yeabel wbo married one of his daugbters. He planted coconut treee and wae involved in land deals whicb alienated Keruval land. Arc wae bom in 1909 (the details of the birtb of all this fUllily are recorded in a boac dowll to tbe present time).

• O t- + ICIRI Tepa K1 vara (fx:ao (Solui) Jla1l11ta)

tfI 0 vANDIK'A I + (Keru'.,;Jl) Tepa

o er cF (.;I cfI (ff er + ARO CASPAR Sarab BOHGl MISAIL ATUN Agnea AnS) (ICUuUag)

(no lBtlIiIs) VICTOR

In the later 1920s Mandike. died and his widow took h8l' femUy to lCaremalun to live - her sister was Wllson lI.wani's wife. Aro end hie sisters married but tbe latter produced no female issuep that ie, tMs 601ui lineage rill beoome extinct when tbe present lineage gtOup dies. Arc' 8 fam:!.ly i8 a large one and has been presented as a diagram earlier.

1. Belshaw, c. 1947. Hat! ve politios ill the Solomon Is1ends. • Pacific Affairs, 20, 187 • 2. Allan, C.H. 1951. Marching Rule; A nativistic oult of the British Solmon Islands. Corona, l, 93. :>7.

By 1955 Bhort1l8O of land was making itself felt in the Ko.ramalun area and Aro's sibling gt'oup and children had no olan land rlghts ln this nelGhbourhood. His use of Kerova! land for house and garden wns at the pleasure of Viilson ""'anl. In the year 1955 there was "talk talk" between Wllson Mwani and his sister Nesta Ruia, on the one hand, and Aro, on the other, on the subject of land. '"rBlk talk" 1mplies disousslon ond even argument, but tilere was no flghtlng. Arc was told that K!U"i!!!lal1!n was not his plaoe and he would have to return to MAlIe. Jiwsnl was supported in mak1ng this declsion effeotlve by Tan:!. Kokal S 1!lin in his capacity of Distriot Headman arbltrating on mattsrs of oustom.

Arc returned to Mane with thoss of his children and step... children and their spouses who had been 11ving with him on Karamal1!n. Hls two young twin gt'andsons cams later after their mother had died at Mara!aona. In 1961 Clemsnt Oivs and his wife and their children also went f10n Kr.rsmalun to Jianea 01vs·s wife is of Sevev clan, a landless "stranger".

At llane, Arc is sUll on Keroval land which ls regarded as belonging to Tauolla who moved to Mane with Aro, marr.l.ed to one of his daughtars. One of the sons of his wife's f1zst marrisS'll 1s mar1'1ed to Katherine Kate who will inberit the land of Wllaon !!wani 's sister. Another of his daughters is married to Katherine Kate's brother, Kolo, who livea on Karsmal1!D. Arc has caught a number of 1mportont people in his web of kinBhip but he is still a Solui man. Although tbe coconut palms of Mane village belong to him, his gardens are two miles e:tISQ - across the waters of West BSQ which at timos :run rough for a llIDall oanoe - and they are on lond held by Levers but not yet developed.

Having discussed the various sorts of important people in the Ruasell Islands, Figure 16 Bhows ths wa;ys in whioh those in the north-west islands are related. It will be read; ly apparent why a "stranger" from Ysabel was made President of the Russell Islands District Coomo::11. • -+0

z. - .

ir.. •

+0 ,. " ,

•

•

-to ... ~ ~<\ r c~ • t· ~ ;J;, "e.!if t 0 • -+0

+0

•

~o-- 11 ~ -to )8.

5.

The lnfU11llation obh1 ned about tradltional mae1oQ-relig1oue activities and bellefs ls fx-a'Fentar;r. 11;.as usual13 1mpra ted .hile tbe intOlmant toole a position ot Christian supar1or1ty over heathens who were thelr grandpaxants, ewn tbsir . tbeN wltre statements tbat theq did DIrt know, tbat tbe people who knew about theee tbinSB waxe all dead, or that these thinSB w.re in heathen times and did not app13 tod~. Bowever, my finding, wi tb the help or the Tilcoplans at NlIlrntero, or olroles et wo:dted stone on Pavuvu resu.1ted ln 1lOIII8 Cpelling Up on thia a.apeot or the subjsot, and other tres"'enta OMI) to llBht froll t:!.me to t:!.me, often when thet 17&18 used to score a point against tblt other clan or Christian seot. I ..as referxed to Fatber Ba1'per for intomatlon about orig1n mytha. Be denied Bny knowle~ ot tormer mas1oQ-rel1g1oue bellete although he admitted that a nllllber of animal,e used to be associated with the olana in the past. This incident together ritb NteranOlta to wox-ahip et the "devil" in heathen t:!.mea indioated the attitude of the Cluuoh towards tred! tional mll6io and relig1on. The Chris­ tian churoh haa been in thlt Rl'seell Islands tor over half a oen1;U17.

A Savev man told me et IICJIlle wol'ked etones while talking about the croood1 1e ..hich 100lced atter the peopllt of his olan. I mentioned tb1e to the Tilcoplen dree8sx- at Nukutsro. Be told me how he bod come acroBS stone8 set in a oh01s of about a fathCIII The stone8 wexe about tuo (T1II:op1an) handa' bread1;h wide, he Said, and not qu11;a eo muoh ln depth, bu"t wsre longer ln thelr vertioal measurement ..hen eet in the gx-ound. 'l'he;y ..are in a conUnuo'la line fOl"I1 ng a oircle. Junes, "the dresaer, spid that wben he found the stones he kne.. U bod not just he,ppened, beoause a oircle of stOMS just does not h&PP8n. Bs dug the stonea Up his wita used tbem tor an 098D. Another TlItop1an gardaner, .ho ..as llstening to thia account, sald that he bed .sCllle etonee at the beole et his l!I'""'1an whloh he had not touohed. On 8l.. !!!!ining the site lt was found that a tew of the stonea were stlll set in the g:tOlllJd as J0ID8S had desor1bed thOlD, but most of them hed been puahed about by the buttress roots 01' a large tree during 1"ts 8l'OwLh. The alte ot these stones ia about 150 ;yards inland fl"II' the ohuroh at Nukutero and thet wflXe not disturbed on this oooaaion.

These 1;wo TlItopian arohaat'log1.te also IOilaxlted that thq had tound charooal at a depth ot a tew inches in the'r garden axeae where mm" et the T1kop1ana had burned Ba¥th1ng. The7 that ,,'!lean" DI~ have hed a hOlllle thexe, but that :l.t might have been another gardener. When Kolo was on the hUlB or Pavuw during the war he places where man womed atOlle - where he ''wouddp devil". Be told me that in former t:!.mes there were two V8r'3 big anakes, one male and one female, oalled turane and DalO. They hed 11od:l.88 the ehe of a oooonut pa.1m and heeds the e1.ze or a bullock. vaad1ka et Keruval olan had worab1pped these anakes. When a man aWed them to come for worahip they oams and were ted with Idlled pig. Pigs wexe ooolced at the IIlte ot the etonee and ''l1elt'' wee put in the •

-

oo.t9Jm1Y1N :j:1!! UIlIIlil 89UOll-O ;):0 9'{!l.IlO 'P91l.m~SW IIq~ Ul IIUO,S voLt lIil.i9y

.. 39.

oircle for the "devil". The men ate the other half'. It was thought that the ''half''' placed VIi thin the oirole was a token amount. I was told that this sort of thing was going on in ths early years of' the century. The snllke and eight fish were the "gods" of Keruval. These fish must not bs killed in one special place but could be lc111ed elsewhere. It is nClf thought that the giant snake ma,)" be a "sto17" but it inspires sane fear as a snake. No one has seen it, but not lIIany have been on the mcmntains of Pavuvu. Those who have been there Sa,)" that there are larger rellmants of stonewoxk whioh appeared to them to be old house sitos.

In the time of Kate (about 60 years ago) a fish mads from BOp

If a man killed bis totem animal in former 1;1_s, it was eaid, he beoame sick and died Md there was a sOla on his body, or another member of his clen would 1c111 him. Othex's said that people got a sore on their leg (tropioal uloer) fran eating the clan totem. Toda,y, a Keruval man told me, BOme Kaiseling people still do not eat olam beoause it would cause a big sore on the lsg. But no one ailmitted that his own diet was influenoed by totemic beliefs from the past. Similarly, it was thought in former times that olan incest would result in sickness. When a man died his garden was destro3ed•

John Kolemeta, who wo:r!cs for Levers, said that behaviour towards totem animals does not Bilply nowada,ys, that he would kill his Solu:!. snake totem, but he would not eat it becDUse it was poisonous. Since the Missions oame, he Said, people have given up theea beliefs. The Missions oame when he was a lIDall boy; he is l!1eY-haired now.

No origin sto17 was forthcoming apart from references to one or other of the totems as the mother of the clans. It is likely to link up with the origi.n story of the olans ot Ysabel - which is still available - sinoe the people of the Russells snd Ysabel cons1dor sane of their clans to be the sameo

One day I eat 1n the Anglican village of Karamalun talking to sane men about bade with Save and Ouadeloanal. Women eat nearby Wld were involved in the oonwreation from time to time, otheuise they talked among themselves. I had stayed a tew da,ys on Savo in 1952 and had bsen warned by the people not to BP outside at night except to the beaoh directly in front of the rest-house. If I wandered around I mic;ht be mistaken for a vele man and killed. As the Ruseall people had traded with Savo in the past I aalted them 1f they knew anything about the vele men of Savo. The effect was dramstio. breaths were sucked 1n, some tongues olicked, and the chatter of the women stopped abruptly. After a pause I was told that the Savo and Vhale people (who are Catholics) sU1] know about but the Ruseall people do not know anything about it. Ev_ ~ it was said that vale oaused rapid death and the vele man (the soroerer) WaB paid tor his servioes, It was not nn,UI lIlY return .to Australia that I saw IVellso deaoription of one of the Ruaa"ll Islande as the ane of ---, - 1

• 10 Ivens. W. G. loo. olt., p. 292 •

• 400

The Russe11 people told me that there ueed to be another form of sorcery which caused u slow death, where food scraps, hair, nails, calico or betel nut husk: discarded by the victim was used. Sorcery is very much in the past tense with moet people in the Solcmons tod~ - 1t wos recently declared illegal by the Governmentol

In former times there WIlll rain making magic which oonsisted of people going to the rivers behind Pepssals or Nono and plBiYing 88111es, ;running, jumping and splashing about in the water. On ons occasion while I was at Buteti the young men of Karamalun performed in this way dUring a dry spell as a joke but it was interpreted as n(\n Christian behaviour by one of the Ysabe1 "strangers".

While looking inside the antenatal c11nio house on Karamaln " I aaked my- companion, who cBlDe in with me, if men would have ePne inside the women's house in former times and he answered in the negative. In a sjmilar w~ men went inside the mate%nity hospital in Maralaona with me. This oontrasts mazKedly with the behaviour of many nominal Christians from Malaita on Levers' plantation amongst whom the polluting influence of women on man,2 especially young man, :l.s still a real belief.

As a final affirmation of the w~ the present religion ls so different from that of the past I was informed that Rusaell Island people were cannibals in heathen times.

ThE! 7Missions 7

The people of Laona are members of the Roman Catholio Churoh (Io!ar:l.st Brothers). the Mtssion headquarters in the Proteotorate being at Visale on CuadalcanaI. The people of Hai, llaralacna, Karrunalun and Mane are Anglicans - blelanesian Mission.

To quote from ,o~. "oWle describing the MelaneB1an Miseion's activities up to 19491 "There was no school on I,Bube £10e. the Russsll IslandaJ untu. 1905. Then Welchman went there 1n his ship the "Ruth" and put down an Isabel teacher, FObest Sepo. The heathen opposed it on the ground that they had learned that Chrie= tians met together for a 08llnibal feast (the Holy Eucharist). Two natives of I.aube have been ordained, Clare Muani in 1934 and Dimund Kiva in 1946. The latter had been headmaster of his old school Alaravovo, and for a. year Reotor of All Sa1nts1 at Hon1are.. the Solomon Island capitol. He was. perhaps, the ablest of the 1Iel­ anesian priests, deeply spiritual and with a d.elicate aenee of humour."

The Mel&nesian Mission placed only one teacher in the Ruseells and he was stationed in the north-west of the Group. Estore a second teacher was sent as promised. the Roman Catholic Mission arrived at Lacna and placed a teacher there and he was made weloame.

I. Black, R.B. 1\163. Christianity as a crose-cultural bond in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate as seen in the Russell Islands. Oceania • .ll. 171. 20 Seel Hogbin. H.I. 1\139. Experiments in civ1l:!..zation. London. Rout1edge. 3. Fox, C.E. 1958. Lord of the Southern Isles. London. A. R. Mowb~ &: Co. I,im1ted. p. 202. 410

Both Missions are very muoh oonoerned with eduoation 8S will be deecribed 1n a later section,

Tbe Catholics

The ohuroh building a.t L80na is larga and with ite twin spires it stands out as the villQ{!a 1s approached by eeSe The The sp:i.res and roof are made of oorrugated iron and 1ts 1'1000- wo:rll: 1e ot dressed timber but some of the plllllks and supports are sagging from te:nnite attack. It is wired for electrtc lighting but the plant 1s no·t funct10ru.ngc The ohwmh bell 10 ongraved with the letters ''U.S.No'' The bell and the materials for the church building date from the war yee:rs, The interior is clean and t:l,day. The Church Counoil at Laona and its funoUonn regording church matters have already been desc~bed.

Beside the church 1s a amall house to aocalll!lodate ths visiting priest and there is a latrine over the watsr ~n front of this house. A priest from Visale comes to Laona. at intervals to hold ssrvices which attraot Catholics from the white staff and Solanon Island employees of Levers. SQlle come in a LeveI'o ship or in launohes owned by the Laon8 people. The Solomon Island employees may etay ove111ight feaeting on pig and sweet po·tatoes wi th the I·aona people and sleeping 1n the school houseo They tcke baskets of garden produce back with them to ths p]8!1tation.

It is intsreeting to note that one of the plantation employees of Pepeeale and Somata estates is a Catholic. Theae two estates a.l"B in the Ane:1ican area and on the opposi te side of ths Group from Laonao The Island employees are Anglican or South Sea Evan= gellcal Mission. Catholic employees a.:r:.-e to be found on the otheX' estates which are eloser to T~onao

The role played by Father Wall in urging econanic develop... ment on the people of LaonB has already been mentioned and in te1'lDe or money wealth PBr oapita they are. without doubt, ahead of' the people in the Anglioa.n areal the much fewer Catholics havo eight la1lnches in oontrast to the two in the Anflican villages, which is in contrast to Weber'S genero.li~Btiono The people of Laona have religioue affiliation with the Visale people and m~ visit that area in their launoheso

Heathens and membe1~ of all the Christian seots buy from taono. people when they make malXet at Yandina. The foreman of Lovers" Cattle Scheme is a Cathol.ic. as a.ra many of the members of his seotlon, and he was in debt to Rose, ths headman of Laona. for £10 for a pig he had bought 18 months before. He was negot­ iating for a second pig to put on a "big man" feast with beer for Chr.i.etmas 19610

TheX'e ie a general dispensation frow the taboo on the eating of meat on Fridcys in this areao

,

1. Weber, !l. 1956 (New ed.). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, New YOlK. Soribner. 42.

The Anglicans of Rai. Karamalun, l4aralaona and Mane are numsrically superior to ths Catholics. Each village has its church, those on Karamalun and 14araloona being qU1te large build,.. ing'S. The church on Ilaralaona was bul.lt in 1955 but already shows signs of tellllite damage, that on Karamalun 18 dated 1935 but has been considerably rebuilt and repaired using wartime materials. The ohuroh at !lans 18 emall with thatch roof and walls. Each villag>s has a house for visiting clergy - and the ons at Mane has a radjo aerial as Father Harper owns a traneistor receiver.

On Sundn,y m0111ing at Karamalun the church bell - a compressed air cylinder suspended by wire - is rung on two occasions with an interval of about ten minutes. Then a roll is beaten on a slit gong and it is time for people to move into the church, ca1'l;ying their hymn and prn,yer booKs. The men of the village move to the right..hand side of the church as they enter and the women with their babies on the left. MY wife and I are directed to the back bench behind the women, it is recognized that white men and women sit together in church, but my wife's sex determines where WQ sit. The servioe is conduoted by James, the Iliseion Teaohsr. dressed in black: robes and assisted by two young men in white who read the two leesone. ~s are sung without instrumental accompBl1:1mentsl at the beginning of Bach hymn one man or woman feels for the tune and then flVeryone, men and women, joins in. There is knesling and cross1ng of self. A fsw young children walk: up and down in the aisle, soms join their fathers. There are no older childrsn present, they are 81Na;{ at school. Through it all the aged Deacon sits on his chair in the aisls. No offering is collected.

The women are dressed in white blouses and print ek:1rts except for two who wear only a skirt. The men wear a shirt and ehorts or sulus (laplaps). A few people gold crosses hung on gold chains around their neck, one man wears a gold medallion. The men rsturn to their daily village olothss soon after the eervice but the women remain in their Sundn,y-best for longer. Their blousss are not cut for skirts which are hung from ths pubis rather than the waist.

Father Harper is the third ordained Anglican priest fran the Russell Islands. He was trained at Siota, Ngge1a. His parish is the Anglican villaces of the Russell Islands and those employees of Levers who are Anglicans. He holds servioes in the villages and at Yandina, and kesps a log booK of the number attending his servicss. Christmas and Easter servicss attract large numlJers of people. For example, his records show 301 CO"Dollnicants at a se1'­ vice at Hai, 11 December, 19611 they came from Bai, Levers~ estates, Karamalun and Maralaona. At Mara!aona, 2 April, 1961, there were 202 people recorded as attending the Easter se1'vlce. The usual attendances vary from 25 to 60 people. WecMlllg servioes m~ attract moderately large numbers, for example, 120 people attended a Tlkopian wedding at Somata and 88 a Maralaona wedding. Baptisms also bring a larger number of people than usual to church - there is a feaet afterwards. A baptiEIIII service at fend:! ne. W/ll,S attended by 150 people on 26 February, 1961. Another type of sez'vice is the "churching of womsn" to celebrate the safe paSl'Bge of women through childbirth. It is held from eight de;rs to 2=3 months after the birth of the child depending on the etrength of the mother, not the sex of the infant. 43·

Very few white people attend Father Harper' e eervices at Yandina and none go to the villagee where hie ee1'Vices are held. This contrasts with the nUIDoer of white people who were present at a eervice at Yandina which wus oonducted by a wbite priest of the w'eeion, who had come to the Rueeell Ielands on an annual inspection. Thie priest infoL,aed me that the aim of the ~!ission wae to eetablish an indigenous church. Whether it wae too early or not he could not s33 but it wus the only W83 to cover the area! what ths end result would be in te1111e of orthodoxy he could not prediot.

Servioes for tbe Tikopians are hsld by their OWII teaober, wbo ie tbe brother of the first Tikopian to be ordained, but marriage eervioes must be oonducted by Father Harper v/ho visite Somata estate to bold them in the large church which the Tikopiaos have built. Theee weddings ate followed by feasting, einging and dancing. The relatives of the couple provide the foods taro, sweet potatoes, tapioca and yame grown a~ NuJcufe1'O, fish, and tinned meat from the store.

Two Anglican Jlieeion Brothsre from Papua vieited tbe Rue88ile in Jazma''Y. 1962. They were distinotively dreeeed in black: T= shirte, black: sulue and white cloth belte. One of theee. from 'l'ewfi, wae the tru.e brother 01' Wllfred 1401, the first gruduate of the Fiji Medioal School from New Guinea. These young men were touring the Anglioan areae of the Solomons and meeting village people. There is one euch Miseion Brother from the Rueeell Ielande 1n New Gn:lnea. Father HS1'Per bimeelf, when on ohuroh bueiness, dresses in black shorts, .hite ehirt and sandals but weare usual weBk=d~ attire in the village.

The Deacon, IVileon !(wani, had been to school in Norfolk Island during the First World War, and Forrest Sepo's son, David, had been there at the same time. The latter was a teacher on Ysabel until his reth_ent to Karamalun. Ilieail was another ex-teacher on Karamalnn I he had been on Tikop1a.

It has already been noted that marriagee between Anglicane and Catholios are disoouraged and oocur rarely. The partner who movee adopte the religion of the village of residenoe. There is also a small amO\Ult of movement apart from m8l:1'iage as, for e:nll"ple, to join a mother's sieter, after the death of a mother. Here again there is a ohange of religion. But no example was found of a man ohanging his religion to demonetrate hie disaffec­ tion with his own village as hae oocurred in other areas. 1

The presence of the t?lO Missions has divided the Russell people into two endogamous g1'01.1PS. If there is a symbol of the unity of these people it is the District CO\Uloll, and it would probably be t1'Uer to say that the two groups would find more sSn-lBment in the ooncept of being non-heathens than in both being Christians.

1. Black, R. H. loco c1t. 44<

60 Eduoation,

Prl.mary education in the British SolOllloo Islands is mainly caz~'IM'ied out by the Missions in villags schools, district schools and ssnicr sohools. Both the MelaneBian Mission and Catholio Mission provide schools for boys and for girls up to Standard VII. A few Mission pupils are sent to Australia for further education.

A Department of Education was established in the Proteotorate in 1946 and there is now a Government residential school which provides seconda.:t"Y education. There is also a technioal school, and Government soholarships are available for students to proceed to New Zealand, to Malaguna Technical School at Rab8l.ll in Naw Guinea, and to the Fiji Medical School.

In the Russell Islands, education is entirely in the hands of the two Missions. Thsre are sohools in all the villages and there is an Anglica.n distriot school on Maralaona - the Fly Harbour District School. When thsy have finished at the village school at Laona the children go to Visale, and, after that, the boys proceed to Tenaru and the girls to Tangarere. From Tenaru the older bo3~ ~~ BC on to the technical school to learn carpentry, or they m~ secure a Government echolarship to become a meohanic.

After village sohool in the Anglican area, the boys go to the district school and the girls go to Bungana on Nggela or Psmua on San Cristobal. For furthsr echooling, the boys go to Maravovo on Guadalcanal or to Alangaula 0 Pawa School on Ug!..

There are 29 pupile at the Fly Harbour District School from the four Anglican villages. The school is situated at the other end of the island from Marala.ona village and is a residential

sohool. The pupils moke their own gardens and grow B"I''!lot potatOfllai cassava, pana :md pUlDpkin, of which they eat the shoots ae poena. They catch fish in the narrow passage between the school and Pawvu. They eat no meat or rice. The children are divided into four group a and each group cooka for one week in rotation. The maater is a young unmarried man from Maralaona and ls an ex. student of Pawa Schoolo The village school teaohers are alao ex-students of the Mission schools, including the young woman teacher at Maralaona who went to Bungana School on

Reeidential school fees consist of tl per year at Nggela and 15 at Pawa. There are 11 children at Anglican achools avlBJ from the Ruseell Islands. They oocasionally cowe home tor school holid8Js, but for most of the time they are on other islands in the Solomons where thsy associate with children from other looal~ lUes and lan!!Uage groups. Instruction in the mOOle senior achools ls in English, and a simple foxm of English rather than Pidgin 1s the prate-ued COllllllon language tor the Proteotorate where there are a large number of different languages. Ae a result ot their schooling there is alw~s someone in the Russe11 Islands village who can speak simpls English moderately well.

Children thue leave the villAg<3 at a fairly early age and they BIe in their teens at least when they return homs, but it they BC Oil to further eduoation and perhaps jobs they m8J not • retum permanently to the village until they are in their twenties or later. This procses relieves the load. on plUents with large families and the school feee are no gxaat burden on people who produce coprao 44a.

A ocwnment wae made by the Principal of the qUoan Sohool at 14aravovo that, "We have always found the Russell Islanders BlDong the most baokward of the Solanon Islanders. Very few of the boys Who have been to aohool bave been sucoeesful and none of them hae really sucoeeded in esteblish­ ing an elementary aohool baok on hie own island." Before oonsidering this as evidence of innate dullness I that mattera of oooDnunioation and motivation for learning and application of knciiledge would require investigation. An Assistant Medical Offiosr, a student at Sydney Teachers' College, a midwife, and three ordainsd priests appear to indioate sane measure of eucoess in education•

• 45·

7. Health

Health and Medical Servicee

The health and medioal services available to the Russell Islanders are well diepsrsed throughout ths Group. Levere' hospital at Yendina offers the free services of ite Asaistant Medical Officer and free medicines to the Russell Islanders. It is mainly the people from Lacne who attend the Out-patientB Department and antenatal clinic. The A.M.O. ie fxom Ysabel and hiB father' B clan is ccnaidered to be the same aB one of the Russell olanu. The hcspital has a maternity ward and the A.fl.O. conducts deliveries. Ths A.l1.0. has a problem to face with a fsw of the wivss of Levers' eu~lcyuss from the Marovo LlI800n area, as he calle some of these "sister". As a matter of kinship bshavior he should not attend these women during labour except in an emergency, so that he sends them to the Central Hospital at Homara. However, his own clan (that is, the olan of his mother) is not repressnted amongst the Russell clanu so this difficulty does not arise in attending thase people. Other cases requiring specialist treatment or prolonged hospitalization, for example, tuberculosis, are evacuated to Honiara.

On Maralaona there is Nurse Mary, the widwife, a y01mg married woman who was trained for three yuare at the llelanesian Misaion Hospital at Fuabu on lIalaita. She came baok to her village in December, 1960. Whilst her obstetric practice oannot be ssid to be a busy one, she also runs a dispensary and treats minor ailmsnts and injuries. Her hospital is at one end of the village beside the sea, but is not at any great distance from adjacent houses. It was built by the Council and has a roof of nsw corrugated iron and thatch walls. It has a labour room and a ward with two beds. Nurse Mary also conduct a an antenatal clinic on Karnmelun. Besides delivering the babies of the Russell Island women in tbe north-west of the Group, her midwifery eervicee ere alBo available to tbe Tiltopian women of Somata estate and Nukufaro who ooma to bel' hospital to have their babieB, aocompanied by their husbands. Sbe is paid f1'Oi1l money raised by the Council tax.

These Tikopian patients &.le referrsd to her by Jamss, the GoveriDnent drasser at Nukufero, wbo calls to see her from time to time. James also attends the Tikopians on Somata estate, and every fsw weeks the Senior Dreseer from Yandina hospital makes a tour of the Pepeeala and Somata area in hie canoe which is fitted with an outboard motor •

• 460

The TIlled oalls every six weeks at the Russell Islands and a Government !lUQJ.CJA.L Offioer !ran Honi81'a makes a round trip to Yand1na = Sanata - Pepesala - Honiara and visits the medioal establishmente in the Group.

A leprosy survey made in ths Solanon Islands in 1952 with the assistance of the South Pacific C..... ullission1 , did not visit the Russell Islands so that a oomparison cannot be made with Innesls finding of only one non-infectious case in the Ruesells in 1937.

In 1956-58, s Yima OBlilpaisn was oan1.ed out by the Solomon Islands Medical Department in association with the World Health Organization, and the Russell Islands were inoludsd in this publ1c health measure which ~;ae ajmed at eradicating the disea.se trom the Protectorate.

The World Health ~~~,;J;Uon is alae assisting the Proteo= torate in a malari.. eradica.tion pilot projeot and it was Originally intended to :l.nclude the Ruasell. Ielands but the project is now confined to Cuadalcanal and New Georgia. Eventually the programme will extend to the whole of the Protectorate.

The traditional ideas concerning the caueation of diseaee - as resulting from the killing or eating of totem;c animals, clan incest and vele or food-remains sorcery - have been described. WbU~ thure m~ be a few lingering ideas of soroery, the Rusooll people m~e considerable use of the available medical facilitleso The =ival of a launch load of people from Laona at YandJ.na hospital ia a frequ~t occurrence. Wanen come for antenatal exami.nation, and their supply of vitamins and antimalarial drugs is given to tho husbands with instructions on how they should be taken. There are a few follow-up patients who have been treated for tuberculoeis at Honiara, and minor cute soratches and bruises for dressings and treatment. Attendances at the antenatal ollnle have improved since a woman, who had neglected to come, lost both her babies 1n an obstmcted labour with twine.

MY work with the Russell Islandere oould by no means be regarded as a health survey. lndeed, it Should be coneidered ae the necessary process of getting to know the people and some­ tb;ng about them before any attempt at health wcrk could be entertained - apart from Government sponeored surveys or mass treatmsnts where the effort 1s directed from above (In the administrative senee). NeVertheless, a few obeorvations were made ca~lal1y in the villages.

A number of the women had breasts of unequal size. This dates from the occurrence of a "boil" in the breast (breast abscese) often Ylith the first baby. The affected breast is withhsld from this and eubsequent babies = it is smaller and hae no milk 10 lto It m~ be the right or left bzeast whioh le smaller. Sane of the

•

1. Auetin, C.J 0 1952. Leprosy in the BritiSh Solomon Islands Protectorate. Noumeso South Pacific OOId!!iseion. 47.

women had Tinea imbrioata lUld some of the ohildren 1I0llusoUID oontng1osum - both of these are ~1o diseases. A few people have waatin6 of the musoles of a limb following poliomyelitis. No laws or leproslwas noted.

III an large, and f1'U11 BUoh casual observation, it would be said that thel are et~ little people qUite capable of oarrying on their eoollomio eoUvitiee. But, no doubt, thol have a burden of intestinal paraei tee, have recurrent malaria espeoially i n ohildren and durinC tha wet eeo.80n, and a few have had tube~ oulosls. There m~ be eome anaemia but this m~ be Ieee than the usual pioture 10 the Melaneeian village due to the antenatal and obetetrio services whioh are available and used.

Influenza Epidemio, 1961

On 24th August, 1961, an epidemio of influenza began in Yandina lUld was well under w~ by the 28th August. The disease spread to the employees of Levere' eetates and the Russsll Island villagee were affeoted. Infoxmation OIl the progress of the epidemic wae obtained from the hospital recorde at Yandina and the daill eiok ratee of the monthly reports of Leverei estate manager.to

Leona was affected at the same time as YllIldina, and Rei two d~s later (26th Aull\let). Cases firet appeared at Pspesala on 30th AUL~et and the epidemio lasted for three weeke on thie estate. Meantime, the dieeaee \'£15 present at NukuferIJ on 11th September and at MlUle on 22nd September. No infoxmation WaB aVailable con= carning l4aralaona and K=a.lun, but the detaile of thie epj.demi o presented here show the intimate relationship between the vari ous peoplee who 11ve in the Russell Ielands. (Map 5). Sane at the Russell Ielandere developed pneumonia aB a oowplioation but there is no infoX'lllation conoerning the nUlDber at deaths.

On the estatee up to 6$ of the Island employeee were off work sick at the one time at the peak of the epidamio but i n spite of the large number of oases there were only two or three deaths. A similar sort of picture might have been expeoted in the villases.

lIy" visite to the Ruasell Islande villagee were unannounced and on all they were llnlfoxmly olean and tidy. Xt .as appa:rent that the work of "village dlloY" was done re8Ul.arl1n

The see. is used ae the latrioe in theee villagee. Rain water ie csuBht in tanks, some of which derive fl'om United States Armed Foroee material. In eome of the villages, at least, the storage capaoity is insufficient and in a dry spell the people ars short of water. "Counoil tanks" have baeo installed to sup- Flam.nt bOQsobo14 ~oragG. Those villages with the wost corrugated iron roofing have the greatest potential catchment, Shallow .ells io the village were reported as the source of water in pro-war lears and trom a health point of view the oatching of re; n water is il. great improvement. .,

\1\ A ~ C ..d -.. ~ III.. 3 "') ,~~ ~ -. \.: ~ Q 0 ... ~ .. ~ III ~ • • 41 ~ Q~ Q. ~ ~ ~~o <:) ~ CI",.~ ~ 0 PI. • -.s :~ (J - .~ .-c .' •• ~1 , ,g rI • Q, 0 • " "i ,c .!o : -~ o 11 E ....t- :I ... -;:- ~ f = If_ :s .J .ar: ... cl.

C;.",o.(6 •

u- . C ,.~ In ~t t ------~~I 480

The oooupied blands are coralUne w1 th good drainage and 11 ttle anopheline breeding, reeembling Atohin 1. in the New Hebrides.l The time of lIlY visit to the lluseell Islands was in the dr,y and early wet season when anopheline densities are low and malaria at a mini m1lm•

Most of the houses are oQ!!parat1vely amalI and some would be oonsidered as ove:r-orollded. The absence of school children lessens the pressure on house space.

"Custom Medicine"

While the llussel1 Islanders readily seek treatment at hospital end dispensary, both msn and wansn know traditional medicines for fever and 1f there ie no "quinine" available they use them. They also have a medioine for headaohe which they t~e; they do not tie up the head nor do they incise the forehead. for this symptan. They have a treatment for "boils" (pu:L'Ulent infeotion of skin and suboutaneous tissue), and they know how to reducs end splint fracturss.

1. Black, R.H. 1954. Some aspects of malaria in the New Hebrides • Ncumsa. South Pacific Cc:"uuission. p. 5.

• 49"

8. Other People,,,

In this 1'ind chapter it 1s proposed to disollss the rela.-. tionships 01' the Rnssell Islanders with othsr psoples. Some of these relationsh1 ps have been noted in previous ohapters, but, de"Pite the xepetition involved, it is oonsidered that it ls neoessl'>X'Y to refer to them to give as onhplete a pioture ae possible and to highlight the di1'ferencee in the relatIonshIps between the Busesll Islandere ond the various oategories of people with whom th~ have dealings.

The main bulk 01' these people also live ln the Hussell Islands, but there are vi si tors fftAlI elsewhere in the Solomon Islands as well. Some mention will be made of the lesu03' of the United Statee arnmed forces to the Hussell people and, finally, the intemal relationships between "strangere" and "true" Ruseell Islanders, and between the Anglioans and the Catholios will be disouseed.

Levere Pacific Plantations pt,. Ltd. The Husaell Islanders look across the mile or less of water that separates their BlDall islands f'rom Levers ° estates where millions of coconut palms produoe thoueands of tons of oopra each year on land that once .as theirs, while they thBlDselves are bsginning to fesl the shortage of land. Further, the method of alienation of the land and the rights involved are not olear to them, and it has been alleged that with independenoe they hope to aeeert their anoient righte to the large islands of the Group. Meantime they ehip their oopre by oanoe or laul\oh whlle Levere load the Tula,q, or a Banke !.i,ne shIp every f'aw weeks.

IVi th the purchase of' Fairymead in 1957, Levers beoame the owner of nearly eJ.l the ooconut plantations in the Rusaell Islands, the sxo"Ption being a small privately owned plantation called Nonc . In 1961, thexe were 17 white employees of Levers (Australian, Dutch and Ji)ls!iBh) living in the Hussell Islande with 13 wives and their children. They wsre dispersed on the estates but the main concentration was at Yandlna headquarters. There were also five Chinese artisans at YaDdina who were reoruited !ran Hong Kong. The Solomon Island SlllPloyees numbexed 1107 and the islands of origin of' these aJ:'e shown in Map 6 which demonstrates that they come from most plaoes in the SolomQnB, from as f'ar afield as Anuda. They speak: a large number of lang\lages, both Melanesian and non Melaneeian, and the linslla franoa is Solomon Islands Pidgin although El lIDall IlUIDbllr speak: Ji)lgUsh. An increasing proportion have their wives and younger ohildren with them. Aa well as the wployees of Levera there lUe at Yandina representatives of various Depart­ msntll of the Gov61u"enta Custans, Postal, POlioe, Wolks SlId Agriculture.

Theee people will be desoribed elsewhere but soms detail Is neoessar,v here to demonstrate the lIize and heterogeneity of the forei81 invaaion at the Rusae11 Islends•

• 50.

The white eaployees9 knowledge of the Russell Islanders is minute. Indeed, it was said by one visiting ole~l!J'man of of his white floolc that they might as well be in Sydney for all they knew about the Island people. They regard the Russell people as being "quite well off" from their sales of oopra. The people of Laona have a reputation with the white reeidents of Yand1na of being "great thieves", and it is oOiilllonly held that much of their oopra ccmes f:tI'>lI nuts stolen from an adjacent plantation of Levers, despite the assertion by thei~ visiting priest that they have sufficient palme to account for their production fi~as. There was a repeated allegation that the Distriot Headman had baen a collaborator with the Japanese. It was also stated that the Russell Ialanders should be grateful for all that Levers had done and were doing for them.

Face to face relationships between Ruesell Islandere and the white people at Yand1na are almost antirely confined to the market situation - the sale of introduced sarden produoe by men to the white housewivea. It has al~ady been noted that the prices charged to white people are higher than those for the same products sold to Island employees. When they come to eell their gEI1'den produce to the whita people, the Rusooll Islanders leave their oanoes at the waterfront and call at the baolc door of the white people's houses. One Dutch woman went beyond the striot market relationship with her we~ly supplier of produce. she gave him oUCUlI1ber seeds and he bl\lUght back cuoUUlbers. She aleo gave him the oast-off olothing of her children. But this is exoeptional behaviour. Many of the women have no knowledge of Pidgin whioh is the lansua8Q of the market. The size of thsse traneaotions is usually not lerge, for uample, a pineapple and t~e bundles of beans wrapped in s banana leaf for 7/-. The sale of oopra to Levers doee not invelve faca to fBCle relationships with the whIte employees whose only ooncern is to caloulate the amount of money owing from the weIghts submitted to the offioe by an Island olerk: and give bim the appropriate !lIIIount to taka back: to the Ruaaell Islander. When they 'bu3 coprs sacks they are cbarged more than the bulk buyers, such as Nono end other white men's plantations.

The few CatholiCS among the white people at Yandina go to Laona when the visiting p~ieat holds a service these. The RU S8S11 Islander Anglioan priest attraots very few of the white Anglioans to bis services at Yand1na compared with the number who attend when the servioe ie conducted by a white prieeto

On Loona there are rsputed descendants of one of the early white planters on Banika. These people have fair wavy hair and lighter ooloured ~in than the other people of the villag<.>. There were other ohildren with their hair bleached with peroxide for hsad lice, but the case cited wae the only inetance of raoial mixture with a whi te man which 1I'1l.8 noted.

The Chinese !,?"ployses of Levers

The only msstingbetween the Russell Islanders and the

Chinese EOlfployees 1s at the waterf1\lnt "' ...... 0 51.

Face to face rela.tionships between RLlsse11 Islanders and the Solauon Island employees of Lewrs 81e muoh mors flequent and ocour iD a variety of situations. A ]mIDoh coming from Laona brings copra for sale to Lewrs, women and ohildren to attend the hospital, and garden produce, betel nuts and other foodstuffs for sale to the Island employees, and purcllases 81e made at the store.

The bagged oopra. 1a off-loaded at thw wharf at Yandina and oarrled by the Ruseell IsIWlders to the shed where it is graded by the copra grader, a man frail Sta Anna, who is (O:'ployed by the Department of Agrioulture. The oopra is then weighed !!!1d the weight is recorded by the grader and the clent of the wharf sang who is from Choiseul. It is then stacksd by members of the wharf gang who lUe Lal' speeking people from Ilalaita and ere oiiployed by Levers. The olent secures the money i'Im the offioe, which is looated at a distanoe from the wharf, and hende it to the waiting Rnssell Ialanders. The results of glmding and 1;he oalculation of prioe are talcen OD trust by the Ruseall Islanders who obsorve the weighing and 81e swars of the appro1imate amoun1; of money a bog of copra will bring. As the offioe is olosed between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., copra brought in the moming is paid for in the afternoon.

At the hospital the RLlesell Islanders are treated in their tum. Usually they arriw atter the main eerly moming rush of employee out-patients has finished. Here they meet the staff, the membere of whioh oome from Ysabsl, Karavo I"lgoon (New Goorgia), the Reef Islande and Santa Cruz. ThaIe:h no app81ent differenoe in the behaviour of the staff towards RLlesell Islanders and towards employeee and, sa they attend frequently, 1;hey ere well kno.. n. Ca"llunioat10n is in Pidgin. Young llalaita men avold the Out­ patients Department whila the women are there.

The sale of produoe to Island (4:rployees is at the wa1;erfront m81..1rk·st and, although 1t goes on throughout the month, there are more canoes and more goods for eale on the monthly p~ da,y. The foodstuffs sold from these oanoes and launohes make an appreoiable but not major contribution to the diet of the Island @'ployees. Sweet potatoes, pineapple, fish, lobster and "puddiD8'1 give variety to the monotony of rice, and the man who sell these foodstuffs draw their amall c1V.vds. However, betel nut is the chief attrao tlonl the Malaita men want the betel Dut but they do not like having to P33 twice as muoh for it as they do at home. There are attbmpts to heggle over the price which is fixed by the Russell people, spilled nuts lUe stolen, and rude O(lllDllents made about the vendors.

At Y8lIdina thoro ls less land for Island ell'ployaes to make their own gardens than there ;\.B on the estates SO that there 18 more opportunity for m81Ket in foodetuffs for the people of hona than for the rest of the RLlssell Islanders. Howewr, acme Il'arket­ ing of foodstuffe aa well as betel nut is oarried on at Pepasala. The Tikopians at Sauata. draw on the large garden area at Nukufero and their Il'ain interest in Russell Island marketing is to buy betel nut and leaf.

Wo visiting by Rnssell I8landers was observed in the Island emp10yaellt houses at YandiDa but this activity goes on in a lIIIall VI~ at Pepesala. When the visiting priest holds a e&rvioe at Laona the Catholio Ieland wployess attend the servioe and sta,- \' ,~ • ~.

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overnight. There are no Catholic Island bmployees on Pepeeala and Sanata estates which are in the Anglican arsa of the Russells. Thus the location of the two Missions in the Group apPal'Bntly influences the ocnposit:l.on of the labour foroe on Levers' variOUS estates.

Island employees attend services when Father Harper comes to Y8lId1na or Sanata and go to the services whioh he holds at Ha!. Re also conduots maot'1'iage servioes on ths estates. But they do not go to the services in the other Anglioan villages as there are Tllsohera at Pepesala and Saoata estates who oonduct the Anglican servioes on Sunda,ys.

Apart frao attendanoe at church, there is little Visiting of the Russell Island Villages by the Island employess of Levers. SCIIle visiting was observed but the visitors are few :!.n nwber and they are alwa,ys the same few people. Visiting appears to be mostly on the basis of personal fx1.endship. Although sane of the Anglican Russell Islanders had been to aohool with some of the Island clerks employed by Levers they did not viait thema these cle1ics were at Yand1na on the other side of the Group.

The Russell Islanders- .~ that they do not work: for Levers. There were, in fact, two Ruesell men wolid.ng for the Canp8D,Y and this represents a l'atio of two employees per 500 of total popula.­ tion. This ma,y be cUljpared with the ratios (number employed by Levers/total population) for other islands in the Solanonsl 8/500 for Malsi ta, 18/500 for S:l.k:siana, 24/';1)0 for RennelJ.".,Bellona, and 32/';IJ0 for T1kopia. It 1a eVident that proportionately fewer Russell Islanders work: for Levers than do a number of other Island peoples. This ma,y be an expression of ant1path3 towards Levers, but other fsotors must be oonsidered such aB the possibility of earning more money mBk::!.ng their own oopra, and the fairly CQlllmOn attitude amongst the younger Solomon Islanders, at leest, that people, "ho have had eduoation beyond that of the Village sohool, do not work: on plantations.

In 1956 a new settlement of T1k:opiane WaB otllllillenoed in the Russell Ie1ande near Somata estate as a result of consultation between the Government and Levers. The GoveL'tlm~nt was seeking an outlet for the people of ove:t'-populated T:l.kopia and Levers sew an opport1!nj ty to oreate a eupply of workers in a Village close to one of ite estates. The Caupany made land available and the Chiefs of T1kop1a agxeed to the project. The settlement is mentioned by Firth1 and it is propoeed to desoribe this settl8lllent elsewhexe, aa well as the relationships between the new settlers and the T:l.k:opiana working on Levers' Scmata. estate.

Early in 1962 there were about 100 Tlkopiana at Nukufero (. yellow island, the "true name" of T:l.k:op1a). It is a place of younger sons and those who are short of land at hane. A large proportion of the Tikopians here are children who attend or live at the Anglican school which funotions aB the main school for all

Tikopian ch1luw who are Bl«Q3 fran their hano islandQ •

1. Firth, R. 1959. Sooial ohan8G in T:l.kop1a. London. George Allen &: Unwin Ltd. pp. 68=69. •

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The Tikoplans at Somata make their own gardene at Nukui'ero where many have cloee kin. When water ie short at Somata it ie obtained from the piped eupply which the people at Nukufero have installed, and there ie much going baclr: and forth between the two plaaee by canoe.

The Tikopiane are Anglicans and have built a large ohurch at Somata and another larp one ie under ccnetruction at Nukufaro with an iron roof and metal uprisbte which will be imll!une to attack by terlllJtee. There is a vil] age Headman at Nukui'ero and a Medioal Department Dresser.

The people, men end women, of Nukufero do clear1ng and planting work: for Levere under oontracts fcr specified areas of land. FUll title has been promised to these Tikop1ans to an area of land at Nukufero the size of which has not yet bean decided. The original intention WBe that thoee who came to settle there would relinquish their risbts to land on Tikopia. • Ae Allan1 points out, and the rate of turnover of the individuals at Nukufero contime, thie intention has not been achieved.

Despite this, the Russell Islandera see an invasion by Tikopiane who have eet up a village with s piped water eupply, have built a large reeidential school Md s pemansnt building for e church, and have made extenei ve gardene on Peww. It wee etsted that the District Headman of the Rusee~l people had called at Nukufero and told the Tikoplans that they oould not sta,y, but the Government had aeeured him that they oould. It was also stated that the District Headman had wd that the Tikopians would be sent na,y after the Solomon Islandsrs had secured their lndependSl1ceo

The tension between the Russell Islanders and the T:lkopians has found eXpreeBion in disputes over the leaf which is chewed with betel nut. The Russell IsllWders eell both these CQIIIDodities to the Tikopians when they ccnnEl to make ma:r:k:et at Sonata and Nukuf'ero.

Betel leaf appears to be a cause of trouble in other plaoes, for example, in India it is g1'Om in places proteoted from theft by hisb walls.2 In the Russell Islande it is grow in aeoluded places awa,y from the village either aD a vine growing up a trse or along the ground. The leaves are put up for sale in bundles8 a bundle of leaves glvWll on the ground sells for 1/- and a larger bundle of leaves 1'ran a vine sells for 2/-. The leavea are on l-eru, whioh is IIn1.nhabi ted, as well ae on other islands in the north-weat of the Group.

The first dispute over betel leaf occurred in 1960 when the Tikopians went to Leru in their canoes and out the vines belonging to the Russell Islanders. On this oocaaion Father Raz~er inte~ vened and WaD eucceaeful in settling the dispute.

On the monthly pas da,y late in October, 1961, people fX111, Karamalun and lIaralaona went to Sonata in their oanoee to make ma:r:k:et in betel nut and leaf. They were engaged in selling these

1. Allan, C.R. 10c. cit., pp. 238-239. 2. Ma~illan, H.F. 1935. Tropical planting and gardening with speoial reference to Ca,ylon. London. loIaom1l1an &. Co., l,1mited. p. 368. 54.

when one of the Tikopians objeoted to being sold leaves which had been grown on the ground, he wanted leaves grown on a vine above the ground. A man from Karamalun asked him why ha did not want leaves grown on the ground and the Tikopian said he did not want to buy ru.bbleh, because people walle on leaves growing on thE) ground. An argument followed - the two lIIen "fought" with words ~ end the result was that the Tikopien overseer of Somata estate told the Russell people to go 811fB:i/ and not COllie back to make mancet. The people of Nuku:f'ero were :l.nvolved in this dispute as well as the Tikopiens of Somata estate.

Following this episode Tikopian wanen, who would noxmally hsve gone to Maralsona to have their babiee, bypassed Nurse lllary end went to Yend 1 na and then on to the hospital at Roniara.

The Tikopians had cut themselves off fr"''' their on4r supply of a much desired conpllodity and the Russell Islanders had lost a good mancet. A nnmbsr of people from both sides attampted to settle the dispute. Fathsr Harper visited the T1kopians and pointed out that bo'~h they and the Russell Islandero were members of the Meleneeien lo!ission and, therefore, should not quarrslo The dresser at Nukufero visited tlaralaona to try and 1ntervene as the dispute was interfering with midwifery arrangements. EvePF tually the overseer at Somata called off the ban on the lIIarkets and, on the pay dB:i/ at the end of January 1962, the Russel1 Islanders returned with their betel nut and leaf to Somata, but the dispute with Nukufero was not resolved.

On Somata estate the Tikopian employees listen to thei.r Tikopian overseer and Obey his ordersJ his banning of tho purchase of betel nut and leaf resembles the occasional taboo placed on 1 'the oonsumption of a particular foodstuff by a chief :I.n Tikop1a. On the other hand, although the Tikopiens at Nukufero have a Hoadman, they are in such a position that they cannot make poli­ tical deciSions for themselves, these are still the prerogatlve of the chiefe on Tikopia, in particular, Ariki lCafika. In the Sallle wB:i/, the question of the Nukufero people joining the Ruseell Islands Distriot Council is a matter for the ohiefs on Tikop1a to deCide - the umbilical cord is a long one, but it is stil~ funotional.

The Tlkopians are Polynesians end the Ruseell Islanders are Melanesians. This dispute lIIay be regarded as an exwnple of a flare-up of the inter-racial tensions between Polynesians and Melanesians in the Solanon Islands. There have been Incidantil of lWIled oOlllbat in recent years, for example, between RUSSQll­ Bellona people and Malalta people near Honiara. But it should be pointed out that neither the Polynesians nor the Melanesiane see themeelves as a single gl~Up of people. for both are divided by bodi4r differences, language differences, lIIembership of different religious sects, and differenoes in custClllary behaviour.

In this particular :!.nstanoe there are factors of cocnomia competition between the two peoples involved and it should be noted that the dispute persisted between the Tlkopiens at Nukufero. who have ssttled in a village on Pavuvu, and the Ruseell Islanders who objeot to their presence there.

l.. Firth. R. 1936. We, the Tlkopia. Londono George Allen & Unwin Ltd. p. 377. 55.

The overeeer 0:1' Somata s~s that the 'l'ikopians do not llk& the Ruseell Islanders and, despite the fact that they are members 0:1' the Melanesian Mission and bave an ordained priest, he does not think that they are xeally Christians. Rob1nson at Nukufero states that the Rusaell people say that the Tikop1ans &1e sil~ to WON :1'01' the white man, wily don't they make oopra for them= valves? HQ asks the Russell Islanders why they ba'~enCt eet to work: to make more than the pinch of oopra they produce, why they haven't established something like Somata estate. The Russell people, he states, s~ that the Tikopians "have no head" - no sense, Robinson tells the Ruesell Islanders thllt they just sit on their bottflUls in theiJ.· villB8Bs.

It 18 mainly the people of the Anglican vill ages who have dealings with Nono plantation. When they bring oopra for sale they meet the white manager who weigbs end bU3S without grading the copra. They reoeive less for their coprs than they would at Yandina but the distanoe is less. Here, again, some trust 1s involved in the p~ent but the Islanders ere aWr.la of the usual amount of money due on a beg of copra. Occasionally the manager calls at the islands in his launch and bU3s copra.

There is a store on Nono plantation where the prices of BOmB goods are favourable compared with the Chinese store at Yandina and this fact evan a.ttracts occasional visits by a Laolla launoh. At a sitting of the District CUIIIIl.ssioner's Court at Yandina one of the oasss was ooncerned with the recovexy of £39.3.9 from a Laona man by the mansger of Nono. As tbe ca3S did not proceed the details are not available. In reoent years a few Ruseell Islanders have been emplo,yed on Nono plantation.

As a result 0:1' all these personal oontacts, the manager of Nono plantation knows many of the Ruseell Islanders by name and can relate details of tbeir oaxears when tbey we1e aw~ from the Ruseell Islands. He says tbat the Russell Islanders he employed were lazy, that a1l the Russell Islanders are lazy and donOt understand an;y thing about money. He adds that no Solomon Islands:r has yet reaehed the level of even the worst white man. They have no sense of responsibility. He hasnCt any faith in the ability of the Solomon ISlander to improve himself - he h~~'t shown it yet, anyw~. He S~1l that a man is bere to make a l1v1ng, he is not a benevolent institution. But he says that the h18h prioes charged at Tandina by the Cb1nese store for goods the Islanders bU3 are scandalous, and so are the cOlIlparatively favourable pr10es charged in this etore to the white employees of Levers.

The,

The Ch:ineee traders, or their representatives, have deaJ.1nga with the Russell Islandersl ICwan How Tuen and George Yee Fa:1.

Kwan How Tuen, known as IC.R.To, is head of' a compmv whioh has stores at RoDiara, G1zo and Tandina. and branch stores on some of Levers' eetates. As a result of a oontrsot with Levers, IC.R.T. has the sole r18ht to open stores on Levsl"s' estates but is required to send ships wit.h goods for sale at regular intsrvals to those estates where there are no stores. 'rh!! pricss of some 560

apec:lt1w ~oo4cmlrfu rw:' aal-. ",0 tile Island .-plOlMs are at 1and(ld cost plus 15%, for white amployees it :l.s landed cost plus 5%. For oiher items the Islanders may be and are charged anything the merchant can get, and the JlIa'dc=Up is oonsiderab1e.

The people of I,aona have no store of their own and buy at these prices in the Islanders' section of the K.H.Y. store at Yandina where the Solanon Islander shop assistants make th4illl wait Imtil the employees of Levers have been aQVed.

The ehips which mO"l'B around the Pepssale.-SQlJsta area "),emB to X.H.Y. and George Tse FBi. The Russell Islanders buy prefer ential1y fram the latter.

Government offioers on tour call at the villages in the Russells but I have no 1nfonnation about these visits. VieiUng priests, both Anglican and Catholic, have already been discussed, GO have the visiting Brothere from Papua. Occasionally relatives froll Ysabel call at KarBlllalun in launches on which they have brought copra for sale at Yandina. They stay for a few days bsfore xeturning hame.

In the north=west of the Group the "strangers" from Ysabel tread warily in the villages. Even though a man may have an acknowledged right to the coconut rrums planted by his father, he relies on ths 800d will of the big man of the clan for pex,nj s­ slon to build a house and, it he has brought his 'fIife with him, to make a garden. Those who marry RuGsell women maks gardens on their wives' land. Despite the fact that they are reckoned as being of the same clans they are still "strangers". In Council affairs a "stranger" was made President as a po1itioal manoeuvra. Although they are both Angl;l.clllls, Illl Ysabel "IM pointed out that Russell Island oustQlJ dies hard and instanced the practioe of rain--Glaking magic by the young men of KarBIIIsluno

The timbers of the walla and floors of their houses, muoh of the corrugated iron of their roofs, their church bells, and much of their crockery Illld cutlery are relicts of the wer in the Pacific.

After the war, houBBs built from these materials lasted longer, the roofa did not leak, t-h.J'1'8 wsa enough timber for verandshs. But time and tenuites have taken their toll. Timber ls too expensive to replace, houses have become smaller again but the value of corrugated iron ls appreciated - :l.t is durable, it keeps out the rain, and it permits catchment of rain. Money is apent to leplace it. But the plrwJr'3 d:lminish in length with each uss and eventually are rsplaced by local bush timber.

The Russell Islanders could not afford to live up to their nor had they the technical skill to keep their lighting plant running in the church at I.aona. 58.

The people of I.!!ona ma;y prefer on r~e oooaeione to have recourse to the polioe at Yondina. rather than have their dill­ putoe settled by the Distriot Headman. This ma;y lesesn any influenoe whioh th1s aepect of the politioal eyetelll ma;y have.

Ths Distriot Council represente the one 1nstitution in which the 'm1 ty of the Russell Islanders, Anglicans and Catholio!!, ls expressed. If th1e 1Inity 1e threatened by the poee1ble entr.y of the Tikop1an new-settlers 1nto Counoil af'to.1re 11; could also be viewed as a first step on a path leadinG the Russell Iel311ders towards a lerser unity where 1;hey Vlould see them solves as Solomon Islanders.

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Reterencea LOO •

Allen, C.H. 1951. Valuhine Rulel A nativ1etic cult of the British Solanon Islands. CorCllla, b 93.

Allan, C.H. 1957. CustOOlo.ry l:llld tenure in the British SolOO1on Ielands Proteotorate. Honiara.. 'estem Pacifio High

Austin, C.J. 1952. Leprosy in the British Solanon Islands Protectorate. Ncumea. South Pacific COIAnj,saion.

Bslshaw, C. 1947. JTative pOlitics in the Solanon Ie1anda. Pacific Affairs, 20, 187.

BI8Ok, R.B. 1954. Sane aspeote of malaria in the New Hebrides. Ncumea. South Pacific COlllliaaicn.

Bleek, R.H. 1963(a). The cuts of copra cutters. lIfoumea. South Paoifio C'."d ssion.

Black, R.H. 1963(b). Christianity as n cross-cultural bond in the British Solomon Islands Proteotorl11ie as seen in the Ruseell Islands. Ooe8Oia,..u, 171. Bogeld., G. 1948. Santa Isabe1, Solanon Islanda. Oceania, 18, pp. 206, 327.

Bri tish SolOO1on IsIWlds Protectorate. Annual medical and eanitary report tor the yee:r ending 31 Deoember, 19300

British Solanon Is1:ll1ds. Report for the yee:rs 1959 and 1960. London. H.M.S.O.

Brown, E.S., and Glean, A.H. 1958. The control by insectioides of Bronti!!pa lon!d.I!iB:1ma (gestro) (Coleopt., Chl.';1sanelideo­ Hiopinae) on young ooconut palms in the British Solomon hlandso BulletUi of Entexno10gioa1 Research, .42" 239.

Capell, A. 1962. A linguistic survey of the South-westem paoific, Noumeao

Fe1dt, E. 19460 The ooastwatohers. Me1boumeo Oxford University Pless.

Firth, R. 1936. We, the T1kopia. London. George A11e11 and UIlWin Ltd.

Firth, R. 1959. Sooial ohange in Tilcopiao London. Goorge Al1en and Unwin Ltd.

Fox, C.E. 1958. Lord of the Southem Islos. London. A. R. Mowb~ & Co. Mmi ted.

R. "Villege on the Border". Cited by • H., 1959, in ''How toraisn are you?" 99. 570

The Christian U1ssions have been BIl important element in social change in the Solanon Islands and the various Christian sects which are represented thsre have provided labele for the new religions and new moralltiss whioh have developed as a rellUltant from the impact of Church, Gove=ent and Plantation on fomer social systemso

However, the various Christian Missions, even the same Christian Mission, do not produoe a uniform produot - a Solanon Island Christian or a Solomon Island member of the Melanesian Mission. There still remain considsrable elemants of the original oultures as dete:nninSllts of behaviour sven if these have undergone Change. Kinship systems and marriage rules may have been modified but they still differ between soc1et1es. There msy bit a blurring of the traditIonal division of labour between husband and wife as a rellUlt of Christian teaching, 6Ild the woman msy hsve entered the religious ()UIAulmj ty. but the Id.nd and extent of these ohanges vary.

Thus the patrilineal Tikopians who is lesally married in a church by s matrilineal Russell Island priest msy still sf\l' that he does not think: the Russell Islanders are proper Chrie-. tians. Race, languase and other items of culture still fom barriers which prevent these lleople from seeing themselves as membsI'Il of the same Christian OOljll\Ulity.

On the other hand, 10 the Russell Islands, there is one Bmsll oultural group whioh has bsen divIdsd by the presence of two Christian missions. This division has cut across the kinship groups, the clans, and has resulted in the formation of two groups who should not intexmer1'Y as it is not considered proper for Catholics to marry Anglicans. But these are not endogamous groups of Russell Islanders because me.rd&S9s msy and do take place with appropriate persons from elsewhere.

With the amount of infoxmation available it is not possibls to analyss in detail the differenoe between the Catholic and Angl1cllll Russsll Islandere which would be attributable to the two missions. There is an obvious eoonanio differenoe and this has baen attirbuted to the efforts of one of the priests of the Catholio Mission. The Anglioans envy ths eoonanic superiority of the Catholics of Laona, but thsy have a resident priest who is one of their own psople whereas the Catholics do not.

If such a comparaUve studJ' ware undertaken, the effect of other influenoee, such as the mare proximity of Laona to Yandina, the busy econanio centre and port of the Ruesell Islands, would have to be oonsidered.

Even if they do not intexmarry, the Anglioans and Catholics still interact. The speCialist tradsBDen work in both areas. the mechanio from Loona goes to Marelaona to repair the District Headman' s launch, and the carpenter from l4aralaona builds houses at Laona. There is other viSiting as wella children trom Karamalun may visit and stay with a mother's brother on Laona. and the people of Laons visit Ko.ramalun to feast, sing and dance at a wedding. 60.

Bogbin, B.I. 1938. Sooial organizaUon of Guadaloanal and Florida, Solanon Islands. Ocean! a, l!.. 398.

Bogbin, B.I. 1939. Elperlments in c1v111zrt.1;10n. London. ROIltledge.

Hogbin, H.I. 1944. Native couno11s and native oourts 1n the Solanon 115lands. 00eDl'l1a, M.t 257.

Hogbin, HoI. 1945. Notes 0I'ld instructions to native aClm11Fo ietratlons 1n the British Solomon Islands. Oceanis, 16, 61.

Innes, J .R. 1938. Report of 1epowsy survey of the .British Solomon Ielands Powteotorate. Suvao High Co" ... iasion for the Westem Pacifio.

Ivens, W.G. 1927. KslanesiDl'ls of the South east Solanon Ielands. London. Kegsn Paul, 'trenoh. Treubner &: Co. Ltd.

McAr1;hur, N. 1961{a). Report on the population osnsus of 1959· Honi81's.- Brit1sh Solanon Islands Proteotorate. McArthUl", If. 1961(b). Introducing populat10n stat1stioB. Melboume. Oxford Univere1ty Press.

Macurl.llan9 R.F. 1935. Towpica1 p181lting and gardening with speo1al referenoe to Ceylon. Londono Co. t I.jmited. p. 368. ](111s, c.w. 1959. The power elite. Nelf YoKo O:d'ord Univere1ty P1ee8.

OSbOlO-n, F. 1960. Population. An intemational In. ''Three eSS!I,YS on papulation". New YON. Mentor Booke. p. 92.

Pieris, W.V.D. 1955. Wealth f1vm the oooonut. Sydnlq Ure

Riohards, A.I. 1950. Sane typee of femily structure amongst the Contral .Bantu. lna Radc11ffe-Brown, A.R., DI'ld Forde, D. (Ede.). Afrioan 81stems of kinship ani! JQ8IX"ri.egeo University Press.

Sp:l.ll1ue, J. 1957( s) • Polynes1an expert ment, Tikopis Islanders as plantation laboo'r. Powgns8 (Unllev81'), .4§., 91.

Splll1us, J. 1957(b). Natural disaster and politioal crisis in a Pol,ynesian so01ety. 'hunan Relations, 10, 3.

Stl.lCe, V.D. 1961. Coprl!o .llroduot1on in the South Pac1fic. South Pac1fic Bullet1n, 11, No. ), 33.

Weber, M. 1958. The powtestant ethic and the sp1rit of gsp1tal1em. (Iew od.). Hew York. Soribner. •

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