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Postcards From the Trobriand Islands
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POSTCARDS FROM
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THE
TROBRIAND ISLANDS
- The following images from the Trobriand Islands
were taken during the period 1914 to 1918 and represent a rare and unique
opportunity to view the lifestyle of the people of these remote and
fascinating islands at this time.
Decorated
women from the Trobriand Islands.
Location Map of the Trobriand Islands.
- Women with carrying pads resting at the wayside
- with their loads off, the pads remaining
in position.
- The central figure wears a mourning relic over
her shoulder.
A
decorated bachelor's house.
- The interior of a typical Trobriand house has
two bunks across
- the back wall. Besides a Chinese trunk
and a piece of calico,
- there are water bottles, folded mats and a
basket on the lower bunk.
- Local women making skirts. Pandanus leaves are
- being made tough and supple by heating them
before a fire.
A group of
adolescent Trobriand Islands girls.
A girl
scraping and fraying banana leaves for a grass skirt.
A crowd
collected on the beach to admire a large catch.
- Accumulation of food for a feast. Yams are
heaped up on the ground
- and fill the
pwata'i (prism-shaped wooden receptacle): coconuts, sugar cane and
- bunches of areca nuts are displayed on
top - the whole producing on the natives a strong
- impression of beauty, power and
importance.
Village scene, Trobriand Islands.
- A family on the road. The woman is carrying
large yams in a basket, and
- the child in a characteristic position on her
hip; the man has an adze on his shoulder.
Boys in
the yams garden.
Distribution of skirts in mortuary ritual.
- The body of a young and beautiful woman carried
off by sudden death and
- sincerely mourned by the widower who is seen
supporting the corpse for the photograph.
- Her face is painted; shell necklaces, belt and
armlets adorn her; she wears a coloured elaborate
- skirt. Her legs had been tied but not her arms,
nor have nostrils, etc., yet being stuffed with fibre.
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