464 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



The blacking was extended over the faces and chests. The old 

 women were often blackened, and a group engaged in singing an 

 incantation were all blackened. A man, who was possibly a 

 priest, was always blackened over the face, arms and chest, and 

 perhaps blackening has here a religions signification. 



The natives nearly universally chew betel, using the pepper- 

 leaf, areca-nut and lime together as usual. Some one or two. 

 men were observed who did not chew at all, and had no lime- 

 gourds. The lime is carried in gourds of a different form from 

 those used at Humboldt Bay, but perforated in the same manner 

 at one end with a small hole through which the long spoon-stick 

 is inserted. The lime is conveyed to the mouth with the stick. 

 At Humboldt Bay the lime-gourds are not decorated. Here all 

 the lime-gourds are decorated, but all with nearly the same 

 pattern. 



The use of kaava and of tobacco is entirely unknown to the 

 natives. 



The principal vegetable food of the islanders is cocoanuts and 

 sago. The sago is prepared into a farine, and preserved in hard 

 cylindrical blocks about a foot in height, and six or eight inches 

 in diameter. Specimens of the preparation have been placed in 

 the Kew Museum. 



Taro (Caladium esculentum) is also eaten. It is cultivated in 

 small enclosures adjoining the houses, but to a very small ex- 

 tent, and there are no large clearings or cultivation of any kind 

 which leaves its mark on the general features of the vegetation 

 of the islands as at Humboldt Bay, or Api, or Fiji. Plantains 

 are grown sparingly round the houses. A Bread-fruit tree also 

 grows about the villages. Several wild fruits, a Hog Plum, 

 (Spondias) a small Fig, and the fertile fronds of a Fern are eaten 

 by the natives, and they have a Sugar-cane of better quality 

 than that used at Humboldt Bay. Young cocoanut trees are 

 planted about the houses, and protected from injury carefully by 

 means of neatly- woven cylindrical fences. They are also planted 

 with care on the uninhabited islands. 



The natives have no Yams (Dioscorea), nor Sweet Potatoes. 



The flesh of pigs is roasted by the natives, and served for 

 eating, placed on a quantity of the prepared sago in large wooden 



