THE ADMIRALTY ISLANDS. 473 



few at one spot only. Former places of dwelling on the main 

 land appear to have been abandoned. We saw no actual fight- 

 ing, but in a quarrel about some barter alongside the ship, Oto, 

 the chief, attempted to strike a native in another canoe from a 

 distant small island. He was prevented by his own men, who 

 held him back. The opposite party at once got their spears 

 ready, and threatened him with them. 



I saw no traces of Cannibalism, although an anonymous cor- 

 respondent of the " Times " newspaper, writing from the ship, 

 appears to have thought that he saw evidence of it, and Jacobs 

 relates an instance of the occurrence of what he supposes was a 

 Cannibal Feast. 



There are several Temples in Wild Islands; they have 

 already been partially described. One such had as door-posts a 

 male and female figure roughly carved in wood, but elaborately 

 ornamented with incised patterns and colour. Between the legs 

 of the female figure was represented a fish. There are in the 

 same figure black patches with white spots, which appear to 

 mark out the breasts. The hair in both figures is represented as 

 cut short, and thus the mop of hair of the warrior is not repre- 

 sented in the male figure. No clothes, i.e., T-bandage of bark- 

 cloth, bulla shell, nor ornaments, such as ear-rings, nose orna- 

 ments, and breast-plates, are indicated on the figures, and the 

 male figure has no weapons. The ears of both figures are, 

 however, slit for ear-rings, and it is possible that a zone of 

 diagonal ornament passing round the body of the male figure 

 represents the plaited waistbelt commonly worn. On the upper 

 part of the chest of the male figure are a series of circular white 

 ring-marks on a black ground, which evidently denote the circu- 

 lar cicatrizations present in all the male natives. In the female 

 figure the tattooing is possibly intended by a wide patch of 

 diagonal ornamentation upon the abdomen, as also by lines 

 drawn round the eyes, and not present in the male figure. In 

 the male figure one lateral half of the face is painted white, and 

 the other red. The arrangement of paint in this way is in vogue 

 amongst the natives here as at Fiji ; I saw one Admiralty man 

 with one side only of Ms face reddened, and in Fiji, at dances, it 

 is common to see natives with one lateral half of the face blue. 



