CHAPTER VIII

THE FIRST HALT OF THE FLEET ON MUWA
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AFTER so many preparations and preliminaries, we might expect that, once embarked, the natives would make straight for the high mountains, which beckon them alluringly from the distant South. Quite on the contrary, they are satisfied with a very short stage the first day, and after sailing a few miles, they stop on a big sand bank called Muwa, lying to the south- west of the village of Sinaketa. Here, near the sandy shore, edged with old, gnarled trees, the canoes are moored by sticks, while the crews prepare for a ceremonial distribution of food, and arrange their camp for the night on the beach.
This somewhat puzzling delay is less incomprehensible, if we reflect that the natives, after having prepared for a distant expedition, now at last for the first time find themselves together, separated from the rest of the villagers. A sort of mustering and reviewing of forces, as a rule associated with a preliminary feast held by the party, is characteristic of all the expeditions or visits in the Trobriands.
I have spoken already about big and small expeditions, but I have not perhaps made quite clear that the natives them- selves make a definite distinction between big, competitive Kula expeditions, called uvalaku, and sailings on a smaller scale, described as ‘ just Kula,’ (‘‘ Kula wala”’). The uvalaku are held every two or three years from each district, though nowadays, as in everything else, the natives are getting slack. One would be held, whenever there is a great agglomeration of vaygu’a, due to reasons which I shall describe later on. Some- times, a special event, such as the possession by one of the head men of an exceptionally fine pig, or of an object of high value, might give rise to an uvalaku. Thus, in 1918, a big - competitive expedition (uvalaku) from Dobu was _ held
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ostensibly for the reason that Kauyaporu, one of the head men of Tu’utauna, owned a very large boar with tusks almost curling over into a circle. Again, plenty of food, or in olden days the completion of a successful war expedition, would form the raison d’étre of an uvalaku. Of course these reasons, explicitly given by the natives, are, so to speak, accessory causes, for in reality an uvalaku would be held whenever its turn came, that is, barring great scarcity of food or the death of an important personage.
The uvalaku is a Kula expedition on an exceptionally big scale, carried on with a definite social organisation under scrupulous observance of all ceremonial and magical rites, and distinguished from the smaller expeditions by its size, by a competitive element, and by one or two additional features. On an uvalaku, all the canoes in the district will sail, and they will sail fully manned. Everybody will be very eager to take