Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/132

Rh to the savage point of view. Closely observing the care and anxiety with which the gifts are gathered and given, it is possible to determine the psychology of the acts themselves. Thus Paluwa, the father of Isepuna, worried good-humouredly as to how he might collect sufficient food to offer to a chief's son, his daughter's future husband; and he discussed his troubles with me at length. He was faced by the difficulty of having three daughters and several female relatives, and only three sons. Everybody's working power had already been taxed to provide food for the other married daughters. And now Isepuna was going to wed Kalogusa, a man of high rank in his own right, and also a son of To'uluwa, the paramount chief. All his people exerted themselves to the utmost to produce as big a crop as possible that season, in order to be able to give a fine vilakuria present. And To'uluwa, the bridegroom's father, on his side, revealed to me his own anxiety. Could he provide a worthy counter gift? Times were hard, and yet something fine had to be given. I inspected several of the chief's valuables, and discussed their respective suitability with him. There was an undercurrent of suggestion, in the conversation of both parties, that some tobacco from the white man would be a much appreciated addition to either gift.

There is another way of arranging marriages in the Trobriands beside the ordinary method of courtship, and Rh