Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/130

Rh at every harvest they will have to help the new household with a substantial contribution of fresh yams. The first present of this sort, however, has a special name (vilakuria), and is surrounded by a ceremonial of its own. Prism-shaped receptacles (pwata'i) are constructed of poles, in front of the young couple's yam-house (see pls. 23 and 24), and the girl's family, after selecting a large quantity, a hundred, two hundred, or even three hundred basketfuls of the best yams, arrange them in these receptacles with a great amount of ceremony and display.

This gift also must be repaid without any too great delay. Fish is considered a proper counter-offering. In a coastal village, the husband will embark with his friends on a fishing expedition. If he lives inland, he has to purchase the fish in one of the coastal villages, paying for them in yams.

The fish is laid in front of the girl's parents' house, with the words "Kam saykwala" (thy saykwala gift). Sometimes, if the young husband is very rich, or else if he and his family were not able previously to repay the pepe'i present, a gift of vaygu'a (valuables) will be given at this point in answer to the first harvest offering. This is called takwalela vilakuria (repayment by valuables of the vilakuria present), and closes the series of initial marriage gifts.

This series of gifts appears at first sight unnecessarily complicated. But, if we examine it more closely, we find that it represents a continuous story, and is no mere disconnected jumble of incident. In the first place it expresses the leading principle in the economic relation Rh