[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

INTRODUCTION xxxiii
of Malekula is convinced it will soon die out, and I’m inclined
to think it is right."
Again and again he reiterated this same theme and expressed
his feeling that he could not carry out the work which he had
planned. “ I feel bitterly envious of Layard, He could follow
through a whole ceremony, where I have to try and piece the
thing together from descriptions, never sure that I am visualizing
correctly. . . . I-Iow can one hope to do any intensive work
under such conditions ! â€ù Indeed, working under such conditions
it is not to be wondered at that the information which Deacon
obtained was fragmentary. Those who hope to ï¬Ånd within the
covers of this book a complete picture of Malekulan life in all
its aspects will be disappointed. Undoubtedly, however, we
should have learnt much more of this island had Deacon lived
to write up his own material, for not only are his ï¬Åeld-notes
difï¬Åcult to decipher and interpret, but I am convinced that they
do not contain all that he knew of the people and their ways.
There is, for instance, almost nothing in them about the daily
life of the natives, which he must have observed continually,
and which forms so essential a background to the study of any
aspect oi their culture.
The notes themselves vary very greatly in clarity. Some
were found to be in such a condition that they needed only the
minimum of editing—as, for example, the accounts of one or
two festivals in Lambumbu of which Deacon was an eye witness.
Others again were so confused or fragmentary as to require many
weeks oi labour before they could be understood, a pencilled
scrawl on the back of an old envelope or a chance word in some
other notebook often giving the necessary clue to their meaning.
The three principal difficulties with which I was faced were the
facts that Deacon never dated any oi his notes ; that he seldom
gave any direct indication as to which district they referred
to; and that very frequently he took down his notes in the
native dialect or in a mixture of Malekulan and English. The
ï¬Årst of these difficulties is only serious when the notes disagree
with one another. It is not easy then to determine which contains
the later and presumably more correct statements. Generally,
however, by employing methods akin to those used in giving a
relative dating to archaeological ï¬Ånds, it has been possible to