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A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



It is a curious fact that the cries of the Gibbon are uttered 

 in a similar manner in a series, on slight provocation. When 

 one lately in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, was 

 in the proper mood, a very slight snatch of a whistle from 

 the keeper would set the animal off into the utterance of a 

 regular peal of howls, which appeared to follow one another 

 spasmodically. 



Cicatrization of the skin is practised by the Fijians, but the 

 scars produced are not so much raised as are those of the men of 

 Api in the New Hebrides. I saw a series of circles thus marked 

 on one chief's arm ; he said they were done with a fire stick, and 

 on the occasion of the death of a relation, or out of respect on 

 the death of a chief. In the women, scars are sometimes made 

 to enhance beauty. Young boys when troublesome, are some- 

 times caught by the old men, and have their flesh gashed in 

 various places to make them sore, and keep them quiet for a 

 time. The little finger is commonly absent on the right hand, 

 having been cut off as a ceremony. 



With regard to Fijian weapons, the annexed 

 figure represents a well-known wooden weapon, 

 which consists of a slender handle about a foot 

 in length, and a heavy rounded knob cut out of the 

 same piece ; the knob is in fact the base of the tree 

 stem, from which the weapon is made. The weapon 

 is one of the commonest of those brought to Europe 

 from Fiji, and exhibited in museums. It is not a 

 club, as it is usually called and labelled, but a 

 missile weapon, which is thrown with great force 

 with the hand, revolving rapidly in the air as it 

 flies, and striking a very formidable blow, often in 

 the face. Settlers in Fiji told me it was the only 

 native weapon which they feared when fighting with 

 Fijians. The native name of the weapon is " Ula," 

 The head of the ula is usually beset with a circle of 

 large oval knobs, as shown in the figure. These knobs are 

 the stumps of the lateral roots of the tree, from which the 

 weapon is cut. When the ula is carved out of solid wood, a 

 circle of knobs is often cut round the head of it, in imitation of 



FIJIAN DLA. 



