ABSTRACT
The social situation as I have described it in Hanuabada is of interest to the European layman because, despite a long contact with urban European society and an almost complete absorption into a full-time wage economy, the people have developed a distinct culture which is in no sense identical with our own. To the anthropologist familiar with Papuan and Melanesian groups, the interest goes further, because Hanuabada is as unlike them as it could possibly be, given the fact that it has stemmed from similar roots. Although Hanuabadans retain their traditional kinship system and language, they have almost entirely rejected the old productive and exchange system. Only a small minority retains the legends. Their religion and supernatural beliefs no longer exist in old forms; Christianity and a new, distinctive, sorcery take their place. Ceremonial, though still a centre of interest, has survived with modern details in a modern context. Contemporary social and political requirements have altered the forms of leadership, permitting the creation of new organizations for specific purposes; though behind this structure there are many continuations of traditional attitudes towards leaders, often governing the type of man who comes to the front, and the way in which he acts to retain popularity and authority.
