ETHNOGRAPHY OF BRITISH NEW GUINEA. 239 



group and adds much interesting information. Macgregor 

 (C. A., 1, 1892, p. 66) gives a very favourable picture of 

 the inhabitants of Pannaet (Deboyne Island) ; they are 

 active, intelligent, of good physique, and build the best 

 canoes in the Possession ; for this work they use adzes 

 made of hoop iron, but sell the canoes for from ten to fifty 

 stone axes. " They do not now use the stone axe as a 

 tool in this part of the country, but it still represents the 

 standard of currency in great transactions." The Utian 

 (Brooker Island) are an aggressive and untrustworthy folk ; 

 they make clay pots. Misima (St Aignan) is a large, moun- 

 tainous and fertile island. The people are active, vivacious 

 and industrious, but extremely untrustworthy. A large 

 number of people associate together to make extensive 

 gardens; having no sea-reef, there is no fishing. "They 

 have entered the iron age and appear to have entirely given 

 up the use of the stone axe except as a medium for pur- 

 chasing wives" (Macgregor, C, 5883, 1890, p. 249 ; C. A., 

 1, 1892, p. 69 ; C. A., 1, 1893, p. 32 ; and J. P. Thomson, 

 p. 28). Basil Thomson (p. 533) noticed two types, " the one 

 evidently Papuan, the other betraying strong Malay charac- 

 teristics, such as the straight hair and not prominent 

 features ". 



Tagula (Sudest) is the largest island of the group. 

 J. P. Thomson (p. 15) refers to depredations wrought 

 in this island by " the wild cannibal head-hunters of Brooker 

 Island". Macgillivray (i., pp. 186-241) describes a couple 

 of neighbouring islets. The furthest island is Roua (Rossel 

 Island) ; it was here that the S/. Paul was wrecked in 

 1858 with 327 Chinese emigrants on board, of whom all 

 but one are said to have been massacred and eaten in 

 about two months {cf. V. de Rochas, " Naufrage et Scene 

 d'Anthropophagie a File Rossel," etc., Tour de Monde, 2 

 sem., 1862, p. 14). Macgregor (C, 6323, i89i,p. 197) says 

 the people "are perhaps the most harmless and inoffensive 

 in the Possession. . . . They are not tattooed. . . . The 

 women are very clever at basket making. . . . The men 

 carry sponges to wash their faces with." Elsewhere 

 (C, 5883, 1890, p. 245) he says : "They have no pottery. 



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