ABSTRACT
I THE subject of which this book treats and the material at our disposal are nearly exhausted. In describing the Southern branch of the Kula (between Sinaketa and Dobu) I entered into the details of its rules and associated aspects, and almost all that was said there refers to the Kula as a whole. In speaking of the N.E. branch of the Kula, which I am now about to describe, there will not therefore be very much new to tell. All the general rules of exchange and types of behaviour are the same as those previously defined. Here we have also big uvt.daku expeditions and small, non-ceremonial sailings. The type of partnership between Kiriwinians and Kitavans is the same here, as the one obtaining within the Trobriands, and described in the last chapter. For the natives of the Eastern islands, from Kitava to Woodlark, have the same social organisation and the same culture as the Trobrianders, and speak the same language with dialectical differences only. Never any but friendly relations have obtained between them and many people are united by bonds of real kinship across the seas, for there have been migrations between the districts, and marriages are also not infrequent. Thus the general relations between overseas partners are different here from those between Sinaketa and Dobu. The visiting is not associated with any deep apprehensions, there is no ka;ubana'i (danger magic), and the relations between the visitors and hosts are much more free and easy and intimate. The rest of the Kula magic (except the ka'ubana'i) is identical with that in the South, and indeed much of it, as used all over Boyowa, has been received from the Kita vans. Many of the preliminary customs and arrangements of the Kula, the preparation of the canoes, ceremonial launching and kabigidoya are the same here. In fact, the launching
479 described in Chapter VI was the one I saw on the beach of Omarakana.
