Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/177

Rh (see ch. iv, sec. i). His friends smiled at the suggestion that his marriage might mean a rupture with Ilaka'ise.

Isupwana, the chief's favourite of his younger wives and a woman who has the air of a stately yet comely matron, is enamoured, among others, of Yabugibogi, a young son of the chief. This youth, though good-looking enough and endowed, according to the scandal-mongers, with great attractions for a jaded feminine taste, is perhaps the most obnoxious waster in the whole community.

Namwana Guya'u, the eldest son of Kadamwasila and his father's favourite, does not consider this fact a sufficient reason for being more abstemious than his brothers. He has chosen Bomawise for his mistress, the least attractive of the few younger wives of his father. Both before his marriage and after it, he lived in a faithful though incestuous relation with her, which only ended with his banishment.

The greatest scandal of all was caused by Gilayviyaka, the second son of Kadamwasila, a fine and intelligent native, who died soon after my first departure from the Trobriands. Unfortunately for himself, he married a very attractive girl, Bulubwaloga, who seems to have been passionately fond and very jealous of him. Before his marriage, he had an intrigue with Nabwoyuma, one of his father's wives, and did not break it off after the wedding. His wife suspected and spied upon him. One night, the guilty couple were caught in flagrante delicto in Nabwoyuma's own hut by the adulterer's wife. The alarm was given, and a dreadful public scandal ensued. Rh