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

ECONOMIC LIFE 203
on the shore, and the latter will hand over an agreed quantity
of ï¬Åsh, shell-ï¬Åsh, and other marine produce in return for the
vegetable food. When the time for the yam harvest approaches
these markets are no longer held, presumably because with the
maturing of their yams the coastal people are no longer dependent
upon their bush neighbours for garden foodstuffs.
In Wien district also, markets were assembled for all people
of the south-wst, including those of Tornman Island. These
markets were called jmlsavi, from pal meaning " pay " and sai/i
“gather together". Unlike the niszvei of Lambumbu, they
appear to have been for the most part friendly gatherings, and
the exchanges carried on at them were more varied. Bows,
azrows, nose-sticks, clubs, and other objects of daily use were
brought, tied up in bundles, and thus displayed for barter. The
transaction of buying and selling was apparently carried out
on the spot, the payment not being postponed as it is (or was)
in the north. It is very unfortunate that no details oi‘ these
markets have been recorded; that we do not know who called
them, how their date was ï¬Åxed, nor who attended them, whether
men, or women, or people of both sexes. We know nothing of
how the bartering was carried on, nor whether it was accompanied
by any general, sociable festivities. We cannot even tell where
they were held- -whether in a village dancing ground or in some
recognized open space in the bush. In addition to such small
local markets there was at one time a certain amount of trade
carried on between the s0uth—wcstcrn tribes and the natives of
Pangkumu, From this eastern district a particular variety of
greenstone was obtained which was used as a pigment for painting
images, but what the easterners received from the south-west in
exchange for this is not mentioned. This contact with the east
coast took place almost certainly by means of canoes, and in
days gone by the Malekulans used undoubtedly to travel much
by sea and to trade even with other islands. The coastal natives
of the east, south, and south-western sea~board were inevitably
a seafaring people owing to the many small islands which lie
oft these coasts, and we need not be surprised therefore to hear
of trading expeditions to Espiritu Santo, to South~East Omba,
to Arnbrym, and to Epi. The journeys to Santa were under-
taken for the purpose of obtaining the special dye which the
Malekulans use for staining their mats. It was extracted from