Details

Abstract / Summary

Date: 6.1.08. Place: Auckland, New Zealand. A five-page, typed letter to Charles G. Seligman is unsigned, but may be from M.K. Gilmour, a Methodist missionary who worked in New Guinea and surrounding islands, including Kiriwina. The writer responds to Seligman's letter of nearly a year earlier, written Feb. 27, 1907, briefly answering the many questions Seligman posed about Trobriand Islander culture. The writer notes that items Seligman described as 'axes' are in fact symbolic wealth items not used in any activity. He discusses: the source, use and quality of various pots; physical characteristics of the natives, with commentary on whether they are tied to intellect; the chieftainship; clans and their animal totems; and cannibalism. The letter is accompanied by a sketch of the two 'axes' that may have been provided by Seligman in his original missive. The axes are depicted as having short, thick 'handles' with longer, tapering extensions angled at slightly sharper than a right angle. A hemispherical stone appears to be mounted on the end of one of the tapered arms -- the end of the other may be carved wood. Both have decorative carvings and handles wrapped in cord or other material.

Field of Interest

Anthropology

Copyright Message

Materials sourced from Yale University. Copyright © 2016 by Patrick Burke

Content Type

Letter

Duration

0 sec

Warning: Contains explicit content

No

Format

Text

Page Count

6

Page Range

1-6

Subject

Anthropology, Social Sciences, Cultural anthropology, Human body, Social customs, Clans, Pottery and pottery making, Antropologia Cultural, Antropología Cultural, Kiriwina Island, Milne Bay Province, Charles Gabriel Seligman, 1873-1940, Trobriand Islanders

Keywords and Translated Subjects

Antropologia Cultural, Antropología Cultural