The party, headed by a small boy, probably a youngest son of the toliwaga, after whom the chief and the others follow, would march towards the village which is situated beyond the elevated ridge. When soulava (necklaces) are brought by the party—which, it must be remembered is never the case on an uvalaku—they would be carried ceremonially on sticks by some men following the chief. In that case, that is when the party are bringing Kula gifts—the youlawada ceremony is performed. On entering the village, the party march on briskly without looking to right or left, and, whilst the boy blows frantically the conch shell, and all the men in the party emit the intermittent ceremonial scream called tilaykiki, others throw stones and spears at the kavalapu, the ornamental carved and painted boards running in a Gothic arch round the eaves of a chief’s house or yam house. Almost all the kavalapu in the Eastern villages are slightly injured, that of To’uluwa having one of its ends knocked off. The damage is not repaired, as it is a mark of distinction.
This custom is not known in the Kula between Sinaketa and Dobu or Sinaketa and Kiriwina. It begins on the Eastern shore of the Trobriands, and is carried on as far as Tubetube where it stops again, for it is not practised in Wari (Teste Island) or on the portion of the Kula between Tubetube and Dobu. I myself never saw it practised in the Trobriands, but I saw a similar custom among the Massim of the South Coast of New Guinea. At a so’i feast which I witnessed in three different villages as it progressed from one to the other, the party who brought in gifts of pigs to a man attempted to do some damage to his trees or his house.