'06 



VISIT TO THE ISLAND OF ERROMANGA, 



and a new clearance made. The cooking oven is made by scooping 

 a hollow in the ground, lining it with stones and lighting a fire 

 on it. When the stones are thoroughly hot the fire is scraped 

 away, the food to be cooked is wrapped up in banana leaves, 

 jjlaced in the oven, covered up with the hot stones, ashes and 

 earth, and left till ready. The tongs used for lifting the heated 

 stones are simply a branch of a tree split up for two or three feet. 

 I have tasted native puddings cooked in that way and found them 

 very enjoyable. 



The houses are built of reeds interlaced and covered with 

 thatch, and can be made very comfortable; tliey are open at one 

 end, and the fireplace is just at the entrance. The stem of the 

 bastard cotton wood is much used for rafters and uprights. It 

 is a soft perishable wood, but as it grows in crooked shapes it 

 naturally fits the curves of the roof, and the smoke of the fire 

 seems to preserve it. Some of the houses rise in graceful curves 

 from the ground to the ridge about 15 or 20 feet high, others 

 have straight sides and a roof starting about six feet from the 

 ground. 



The Erromangan words of salutation are "Kik-e-pou" (my love to 

 you), the same expression being used both for welcome and farewell ; 

 the following are a few other words of the native language: — 



