File:Handbook to the ethnographical collections (1910) (14783338425).jpg

Identifier: handbooktoethnog00brit (find matches)
Title: Handbook to the ethnographical collections
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: British Museum. Dept. of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography Joyce, Thomas Athol, 1878-1942 Dalton, O. M. (Ormonde Maddock), 1866-1945
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Publisher: (London) : Printed by order of the Trustees
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Fig. 108.—AVooden clubs from the New Hebrides.1 and 3. Tanna, 2. Eromanso. 4, Pentecost. THE PAPUASIANS 131 Speaking generally, the life of the Papuasian is regulated moreby family and social ties than by duty owed to a chief or king; infact the only islands where chiefs of any power are found are Fijiand, in a less degree, New Caledonia, both of which islands havebeen influenced by contact with Polynesians. The high positionof the Fiji chieftain is due to the religious sanctity which surroundshim as the direct descendant of the tribal ancestor, and theconquest of the greater part of Fiji by the tribe of Mbau raised
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Fk;. 109.—Types of stone clubs. Colllngwood Bay, British New Guinou. their leader to a position occu^jied by no chief elsewhere inPapuasia. That the cliieftainship was primarily a religious officeappeared in the willingness of the chiefs to delegate their civilresponsibilities to officials. In the New Hebrides, Banks Islands,Santa Cruz, and Solomon Islands, as a rule, a chief holdshis position solely owing to the fact that he has inherited the cultof some powerful spirit, and his influence is not very extensive.In New Britain village headmen are found, whose duties liemainly in the administration of the village funds ; special war K 2 132 OCEANIA chiefs are found locally. Village chiefs are also found in theAdmiralty, but in New Guinea the only chiefs in the normalsense of the word are found in the Trobriand Islands ; elsewherethe heads of clans alone appear. In Torres Straits great deference ispaid to the elders, and a few chiefs with limited authority arefound in the eastern islan

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