Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/49

Rh members of the community, but they occupy more than half of the village. As we shall see (ch. v, sec. 4), the chiefs in the Trobriands have the privilege of polygamy. To'uluwa, who lives in the large house in the middle of the village, has a number of wives who occupy a whole row of huts (A — B on the plan, fig. i). Also his maternal kinsmen, who belong to his family and sub-clan called Tabalu, have a separate space in the village for themselves (A — C). The third section (B — C) is inhabited by commoners who are not related to the chief either as kinsmen or as children.

The community is thus divided into three parts. The first consists of the chief and his maternal kinsmen, the Tabalu, all of whom claim the village as their own, and consider themselves masters of its soil with all attendant privileges. The second consists of the commoners, who are themselves divided into two groups: those claiming the rights of citizenship on mythological grounds (these rights are distinctly inferior to those of the chief's sub-clan, and the claimants remain in the village only as the chief's vassals or servants); and strangers in the hereditary service of the chief, who live in the village by that right and title. The third part consists of the chief's wives and their offspring.

These wives, by reason of patrilocal marriage, have to settle in their husband's village, and with them, of course, remain their younger children. But the grown-up sons are allowed to stay in the village only through the personal influence of their father. This influence over-rules the tribal law that every man ought to live in his Rh