Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/85

] man also can plant in his own matanga fruit-trees expressly declared to be the property of his sons; at his death the ground will pass to his nephews, his own kin, but his sons will own the trees. Florida people are very reckless however about destroying fruit-trees.

The succession to personal property in Florida is known to be originally with the members of the kema, the kin of the deceased. These will assemble after a death, and if the deceased be not very rich, will eat up his pigs and his food. A chief will sometimes take what he likes, but has no right to do it. A man before his death will direct that his canoe is to go to his son, and he will receive it; otherwise son and nephew will each claim, and the stronger will get it. A rich man's money is divided among brothers, nephews, and, if they can get any, his sons, a fruitful source of quarrels; but a man's wife, in prospect of his death, would hide a good deal of his money, and when the crowd assembled for the division of the inheritance had dispersed, would bring it out for herself and her sons. Chiefs used to hide their money and valuable property and tambu, taboo, the place; now, when the fear of the tambu is gone, the young people search for these hoards and take what they find. These Florida customs may be taken as representing those of the surrounding islands of the Solomon group. In Saa and its neighbourhood property of course descends entirely in the patriarchal line. In Santa Cruz a man's nephews regularly succeed to his property, in land, pigs, money and other things; but the sons also in some cases succeed. A man there also has property in trees which are not on his own ground.

In the Banks' Islands also the town land, the vanua, and the garden grounds, the utag, are so far private property that the owner can be found for each piece; the owner being the one who has for his life the possession of the portion of the family land which he has inherited; the lands and houses of the two veve are intermingled; the succession to the land is rightly with the sister's children. Here also the utag is distinguished into the ancient hereditary cultivated ground, and