Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/205

Rh ducts). The eyes give the alarm, which passes through the body, takes possession of the kidneys, and produces sexual excitation of the clitoris. Both the male and female discharge are called by the same name (momona or momola), and they ascribe to both the same origin in the kidneys, and the same function, which has nothing to do with generation, but is concerned with lubricating the membrane and increasing pleasure.

I first obtained this account of the subject from Namwana Guya'u and Piribomatu, the former an amateur and the latter a professional sorcerer; both were intelligent men and both, in virtue of their profession, were interested in human anatomy and physiology. Thus it represents the highest development of Trobriand knowledge and theory. I obtained similar statements in other parts of the island, and in their main outline—such as the sexual functions of the kidneys, the great importance of the eyes and the olfactory sense, and the strict parallel between male and female sexuality—all were in agreement.

And on the whole, it is a fairly consistent, and not altogether nonsensical view of the psycho-physiology of sexual libido. The drawing of a parallel between the two sexes is consistent. The indication of the three cardinal points of the sexual system is sound, and characteristic of native canons of classification. In many subjects they distinguish these three elements: the u'ula, the tapwana, and the matala. The image is derived from a tree or a pillar or a spear: u'ula—in its literal sense the foot of the tree, the base, the foundation—has come, by Rh