Primitive Polynesian Economy by Raymond Firth

Author:Raymond Firth [Firth, Raymond]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Reference, General, Social Science, Anthropology
ISBN: 9780393007749
Google: rTBUAQAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 5139580
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1975-07-17T00:00:00+00:00

FIG. 7 Plan of Thatch-making Organization

When the chief as a worker is dependent upon the voluntary co-operation of others, the organization usually works smoothly enough. But evidence that his people are not constrained to assist him in any absolute sense is given by the following series of small incidents of economic dislocation which I casually observed. The day after the pinning of the thatch just mentioned saw the actual re-thatching of the house. The chief arrived early on the scene but his people were late. He made some complaint about this, though when they actually did begin work he merely sat by, looking on and talking. On another occasion at the ritual of yam planting at Kafika the Ariki Kafika arrived at the cultivation at the agreed time before sunrise, but nearly all his party were so late that most of the planting was over before they came. He was very angry and whooped loudly twice to show his disapproval. They were ashamed, though they later joked with him about it. One afternoon I saw the Ariki Tafua, his eldest son, and some helpers preparing thatch for a shed to be used by turmeric workers. The next morning I came upon the chief again alone and he complained to me that some additional bundles of leaf beside him had not been brought in the day before. “Yesterday people were many; to-day I shall have to work alone; why weren’t the bundles brought in yesterday?” he grumbled. In June, 1929, the Ariki Taumako got together a crowd of people and went to dig out the channel in Namo leading from the lake to the sea. When they arrived it was found that someone had excreted in the channel bed. The chief was very angry and finally left the scene, leaving the work to the other people. The act of excretion there was regarded as an expression of disagreement by someone who did not want the channel dug at that time. There was much speculation as to who it could have been, but the culprit was not found. The chief was angry, especially with the local people in Namo, though they denied complicity.

The fact that the chief in such cases is frequently first on the scene of operations indicates how his sense of responsibility is apt to be keener than that of his people.

The following account of the preparations for the cooking of taro for the first-fruits ritual of the sacred cultivation of the Ariki Kafika illustrates the part played by the chief in everyday economic life. Taro was brought in from the cultivation and put outside the house in a heap. The crowd of people assembled, then sat around waiting, and in the general discussion there was some uncertainty as to when the Ariki Kafika would arrive. Someone said that he would come by canoe and when, some time later, a canoe was sighted, there were cries of “He has come”. The canoe did in fact carry the Ariki and his

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