Arts and Crafts in the Torres Straits 1

Abstract

THE fourth volume of the Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits deals with the arts and crafts of the islanders, and the labour involved in its production is probably greater than that which went to the making of any other volume of this almost classical series. The writing up of technological data is laborious in the extreme, and, moreover, requires a special knowledge in many departments of human activity. Yet in spite of this the greater portion of the volume is the work of Dr. Haddon, the catholicity of whose anthropological knowledge appears to full advantage. He is responsible for the sections on daily life, decoration of the person, personal ornaments and clothing, domestic utensils and tools, food and its preparation, horticulture, hunting and fishing, weapons, transport and canoes, sound-producing instruments, songs, dances and dance-paraphernalia, games and toys, and the important chapter on art. He has also edited and completed the section on houses, which the untimely death of its author, the late Anthony Wilkin, had left unfinished. A very valuable chapter on textiles (baskets and mats) is contributed by Mrs Hingston Quiggin; Dr. Rivers deals with astronomy, Dr. Myers with music, and Mr. Ray with greetings and salutations and the calendar. Mr. J. Bruce contributes to the section on various social customs.