346 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



it, tied round their necks. Many had broad flat tortoiseshell 

 bracelets, and nearly all earrings made of narrow strips of tor- 

 toiseshell moulded into a flat spiral, from which hung sometimes, 

 as ornaments, the tips of pigs' tails. 



The bows used by the natives are made of hard wood. The 

 arrows are without feathers, but notched for the string, and 

 made of reeds with heavy wood ends, and tips of human 

 bone. The tips are all covered with poison, which is in the 

 shape of a black incrustation. The arrows have an elaborate 

 and artistic coloured decoration in the binding round the part 

 where the bone tips are inserted. The men were unwilling to 

 part with these arrows, which they prize highly. They carry 

 them rolled up in an oblong strip of plantain leaf, and showed 

 by signs that they considered the poison deadly, and were much 

 in awe of it. 



The men have all of them cicatrization on their bodies, 

 usually representing a human face, and placed sometimes on the 

 shoulder, but more often upon the breast, and sometimes on 

 both breasts. They understood the value of the usual trade 

 articles very well. Knives, tobacco, and pipes were what they 

 wanted most, but they were not eager at all to trade, and few 

 weapons or ornaments were obtained from them. The tortoise- 

 shell bracelets they would not part with at any price. It was 

 very trying to leave a totally unknown island like Api after two 

 hours only spent on the shore. 



I had an opportunity of watching the expressions of the Api 

 men on board during the voyage. During their whole stay they 

 had a peculiar dejected look, and, like the lower order of Fijians, 

 a marked want of expression in conversing with one another. 

 In laughing they were affected and childlike, or girlish, hiding 

 their faces with their hands. The hands in doino; this were half- 

 clasped, the face turned away on one side, and the clasped hands 

 held over the shoulder in front of the face, just as in the case of 

 a shy child. Often the thumb was held in the mouth, the hand 

 half-hiding the face in laughter. I heard no loud laughter, but 

 a steady look at one of the men nearly always called forth a grin, 

 which expression was used invariably to show consciousness of 

 being gazed at. The forehead muscles were little used. When 



