Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/152

140 where. He cannot decide a dispute or govern. Disputes are settled by force or by agreement between the parties themselves, but presumably the headman of a community may mediate. The final sanction is that of public opinion and the fear of social ostracism. The islanders are therefore in somewhat the same stage as the Ifugao of Luzon, of whom we read that they are without political government and without courts or judges: their law is based upon taboos and custom, and preserved by the unity of the family. This unity indeed seems to bear more emphasis than among the Goodenough islanders, where its importance has passed rather to the hamlet. Land tenure points in the same direction. Land is owned not by a family as such, still less by the individual, but by the hamlet, and cannot be alienated without the consent of the entire district—a consent very rarely given.

There is said to be no trace of a matrilineal system, such as is found elsewhere in Melanesia, or of which have indications at least been discovered by Dr. Rivers. It does not follow, of course, that a matrilineal system never existed among the ancestors of the present population: to decide this point we must know the history of the population. At present a husband brings his wife to his own hamlet. Kinship is reckoned according to the so-called classificatory system, and the kindred on both sides are recognized, kinsfolk being grouped by generations. An institution which our authors call totemism exists. If totemism, it is a degenerate form, being merely manifested as a taboo for all the kin of certain articles of food—a bird, a fish, a land animal or a plant, or sometimes more than one of these. Generally, on the subject of totems it may be said that a certain confusion seems to affect the native mind.

There are puberty rites for boys and girls, bachelors' and spinsters' huts; sexual relations before marriage are rare. Courses of wooing are the rule, in which the jews' harp, magic, tobacco and betel-nut play a considerable part; but the suggestion of marriage as an end to the courtship must be made by the girl. Marriage is celebrated by feasts; and polygyny is permitted. Childbirth is usually easy. No special notice is taken of twins; they may be due to the eating of a double