THE ADMIRALTY ISLANDS. 465 



bowls, which are often elaborately carved. The Opossum of 

 the islands (Cuscus) is also roasted, and is carried about cold, 

 roasted whole with head, tail and legs intact, ready to be torn 

 with the teeth and eaten at any moment. I saw no boilino- 

 being done, but the earthenware pots made by the natives were 

 evidently used for that purpose. 



There are wells on the inhabited islands ; they are at some 

 little distance from the houses. They are shallow holes dug in 

 the coral ground. They are kept covered in with sheets of bark, 

 and at each, cocoanut-shell cups are hung up for drinkino-. 



The houses of the natives are built on the ground,* and 

 always close to the shore. They are all of an elongate beehive 

 shape, occupying an oval area of ground. On "Wild Island they 

 are built of a continuous wall and thatch of grass and cocoanut- 

 leaves or similar material. They thus look like long haycocks 

 somewhat. 



In Dentrecasteaux Island many of the houses have their 

 walls built up neatly of wood cut into billets and piled as fire- 

 wood is in Europe. The roofs are similar to those in Wild 

 Island. They are supported on two stout posts rising from the 

 foci of the oval floor of each house, and by a regular framework 

 of rafters, &c. Shorter posts, placed along the walls at intervals, 

 support the roofs at their periphery and the walls. Very often 

 the ground is excavated to the depth of a foot or so beneath the 

 house, so that the wall is partly of earth, and one has to step 

 down to get into the house. 



The dwelling-houses are mostly about 20 to 25 feet long, 10 

 to 15 feet in height, and about ten feet in breadth. They have 

 a low opening at one or both ends. To the main supporting 

 posts of the roof are secured a series of wide horizontal shelves 

 placed one above another, and on these shelves food, implements 

 and weapons are kept. I saw these shelves in the women's 

 houses. In some of the houses are also bed places, consisting of 

 rough boards fastened against the side posts of the walls on one 

 side, and supported by short special posts on the other. Arms 

 and implements are suspended from the posts and rafters. The 



* Jacobs, I.e., p. 182, describes, as seen by him, "several large villages 

 built on piles over the water," on the east coast of the Main Island. 



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