The Stone Money of Yap - Smithsonian Institution

NUMBER 23 31
174
MATSUMURA, "Contributions to the Ethnography of
Micronesia," p. 164.
175
FURNESS, Island of Stone Money, p. 101.
176
SALESIUS, Die Karolinen-Insel Jap, p. 148 (HRAF, p. 166).
Repeated in UNITED STATES NAVY, Civil Affairs Handbook,
p. 44.
177
Ibid., p. 44.
178
Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin, Germany, to author,
24 November 1971.
179
The Chase Manhattan Bank Money Museum, New York
City, New York, to author, 30 November 1971.
180
PRICE, Japan's Islands of Mystery, p. 80.
181
The Chase Manhattan Money Museum did not wish to
have quoted the prices paid for the rai.
182
The address of the Pittsburgh Numismatic Museum as
indicated on correspondence concerning this rai is the same as
that of Mr. Gibb's residence as given in the Pittsburgh telephone
book of 1933.
183
T. Miura, First Secretary, Japanese Embassy, Washington,
to Senator David A. Reed, 21 December 1933.
184
Senator D. A. Reed to H. D. Gibbs, 16 February 1934.
185
Endo & Kotachi, Inc., New York, bill concerning charges
for stone money shipped on M.S. Nankai Maru, to Consulate
of Japan, New York City, New York, 1 March 1934.
186 SCHULMAN COIN AND MINT, INC. Auction catalog, 18-20
June 1971, p. 102. During the same sale a piece about 16 cm
(6% in) larger sold for $1,100 (prices realized).
187 National Bank of Detroit, Money Museum, Detroit,
Michigan, to author, 26 November 1971.
188 UNITED STATES TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC
ISLANDS, TRIAL DIVISION OF THE HIGH COURT, Civil Action 25,
Pretrial Order, 18 April 1961.
189
Ibid., Judgment Order (E. P. Furber, Chief Justice),
26 October 1961.
190 National Bank of Detroit, Money Museum, Detroit,
Michigan, to author, 26 November 1971.
191
In Micronesia, lineage is not a casual affair. The facts are
memorized and known by many.
192
SALESIUS, Die Karolinen-Insel Jap, p. 98 (HRAF, p. 106).
193
FURNESS, Island of Stone Money, p. 106.
194
According to SALESIUS, Die Karolinen-Insel Jap, p. 100
(HRAF, p. 108), who reckoned a ton of copra at 120-260
marks.
195
Equivalents according to CHRISTIAN, Caroline Islands, p.
270: 2 sticks of tobacco = 1 large fowl, 1 stick of tobacco =
1 small fowl. Equivalents according to SENFFT, "Ethnographische
Beitrage," p. 83 (HRAF, p. 29): 1 stick of tobacco =
10 coconuts, 10 sticks of tobacco = 1 fathom of cloth. Equivalents
according to FURNESS, Island of Stone Money, p. 106: 1 large
pilot biscuit=3 coconuts, 1 stick of "nigger-head" tobacco and
Japanese safety matches = 6 coconuts.
198
SALESIUS, Die Karolinen-Insel Jap, p. 168 (HRAF, p. 188).
197
Ibid., p. 92 (HRAF, p. 100).
198
Ibid., p. 97 (HRAF, p. 105).
199
Robert Halvorsen, District Administrator, Yap, to Dr.
Saul Riesenberg, Smithsonian Institution, 10 March 1960,
Smithsonian Institution Registrar's file, accession #228,912.
200 See Appendix 3.
201 Francis Defngin, Office of the District Administrator, to
Dr. Saul Riesenberg, Smithsonian Institution, 7 November
1961, and Robert Halvorsen, District Administrator, Yap, to
Dr. Saul Riesenberg, Smithsonian Institution, 5 November
1959, Smithsonian Institution Registrar's file, accession
#228,912.
202 Francis Defngin, Office of the District Administrator, to
Howard Van Zandt, Vice President, International Telephone
and Telegraph Corp., Tokyo, Japan, 21 April 1965. Stone
money file, Office of the District Administrator, Yap.
203 James Flannery, District Administrator, Yap to David
Boyer, National Geographic Society, 6 March 1968, stone
money file, Office of the District Administrator, Yap.
204 See Table. Stones purchased by Daniels (nos. 113-115),
1968; by Robinson (no. 126), 1971; and by Sedore (no. 143),
1971, were cited as $3.50 per inch (per 2.5 cm). Stone money
file, Office of the District Administrator, Yap.
205 See Table, rai numbers 128-142, Schulman pieces.
206 CHRISTIAN, Caroline Islands, p. 319, and MULLER, Tap,
p. 129 (HRAF, p. 222).
207 CHRISTIAN, Caroline Islands, p. 319.
208 KOTZEBUE, Voyage of Discovery, p. 203.
209 CHRISTIAN, Caroline Islands, p. 319, mentions as a variant
the shape of a fish. The shape of a turtle was added to this in
CHRISTIAN, "On Micronesian Weapons," p. 300, but MULLER,
Yap, p. 129 (HRAF, p. 222), mentions only the shape of a new
moon.
DEFNGIN, "The Rai of Yap," p. 16, states that the first shape
was that of a whale. His version of the first piece of stone money
varies from the others in that the fishermen from Rul village
were driven by a storm to Palau. After finding the stone and
returning home to Yap, they went to the king and gave him
the stone. "They told the king that they had almost lost their
lives while catching fish for him, and therefore the stone fish
should be acceptable to the king, and considered as even more
valuable than other Yapese treasures."
210 KOTZEBUE, Voyage of Discovery, p. 206. Kotzebue was told
by Kadu about Enopei, an artist in conjuration, who at night
in the full moon prepared a cake of taro dough. As he ate the
cake, the shape of the moon was altered accordingly. He
re-rolled the cake into a circle and again the moon became full.
Simultaneously, the shape of the moon and of the cake increased
and decreased as the conjurer decreed.
DE BEAUCLAIR, "Some Ancient Beads of Yap and Palau,"
p. 1, told the story of Giluai who went to the sky-world where
he obtained beads, the largest of which was "crescentic in
shape."
211 DE BEAUCLAIR, "Stone Money of Yap," p. 151, ftn. 1.
212 MULLER, Yap, p. 131 (HRAF, p. 228).
213 WALLESER, "Religiose Anschauungen," p. 616. TETENS
and KUBARY, "Carolineninsel Yap," p. 109 (HRAF, p. 37),
includes a vocabulary of Yap by J. T. Blohm and Alfred Tetens.
Here kann is translated as "ghost" and also as "god."
214 KUBARY, "Uber das einheimische Geld," p. 25.
215 Ibid.
218 MICKLUCHO-MACLAY, "Die Insel Wuap," p. 44.
217 MULLER, Yap, p. 130 (HRAF, p. 225).
218 Ibid.
2,9 PETRI, "Typenanalyse der Geldformen Ozeaniens," p.
316. The "younger" type was also mentioned by MULLER, Tap,