Ethnography of Micronesia. 17 



ly used as a sign of mourning.^ 0. Finsch'^ writes that black 

 is the colour of sorrow in all the islands of New Guinea and 

 Melanesia; but it does not seem that this is necessarily the 

 case. And according to Van der Sande,^ when the natives on 

 Huraboldt Bay, Dutch New Guinea, go hunting, they paint their 

 faces with soot. They have sixteen different designs for this 

 purpose, which proves the existence of settled custom in painting, 

 as in the case of the islanders of Truk. The inhabitants of New 

 Georgia, Solomon Islands, and of British New Guinea, have also 

 definite patterns of painting, as is described by B. T. Somerville* 

 and W. Y. Turner.^ 



The pigment talk is greatly prized by the natives. They do 

 not use it for ornamental purposes only. When their relatives or 

 acquaintances die, they bring this colour with them and oflfer con- 

 dolences, just as we call to make offerings to the deceased. They 

 apply the colour to the corpse to console the spirit. But, though 

 talk is much valued by the islanders, it is not very difficult to 

 make the colour. The root of afan is first reduced to powder by 

 braying the same on a small piece of iron plate in which many 

 holes are bored. This powder is mixed with water, and the mix- 

 ture is filtered through cloth and precipitated. The best taik, which 



1 A. C. HaddoD, " The Ethnography of the Western Tribes of Torres Straits," Jour. Anthr. 

 Inst., XIX, 1890, pp. 365, 374. W. Y. Turner, "The Ethnology of the Motu," Jour. Anthr. 

 Inst., VII, 1878, p. 480. E. W. Williamson, " Some unrecorded customs of the Mekeo People 

 of British New Guinea," Jour. Anthr. Inst., XLIII, 1013, p. 269. H. N. Moseley, "On the In- 

 habitants of the Admir.illy Islands, etc ," Jour. Anthr. Inst., VI, 1877, p. 402. W. Macgregor, 

 " Annual Report of British New Gninea for 1890 " (Resume : Jour. Anthr. Inst., XXI, 1B92, 

 p. 76;. W. Elli?, " Narrative of a Tour through Hawaii," 2nd ed., London, 1827, p. 184. G. 

 Turner, "Samoa," pp. 308, 342. 



- O. Finsch, quoted by Van der Sande, "Nova Guinea, III. Ethnog. and Anthr.," pp. 51, 52. 



3 G. A. J. Van der Sande, -Nova Guinea, lU. Ethnography and Anthropology," Leyden, 

 19!. 7, p. 54 and Fig. 25. 



* B. T. Somerville. " Ethnographical Notes in New Georgia, Solomon Islands," Jour. Anthr. 

 Inst., XXVI, 1897, p. 365. 



5 W. Y. Turner, ibid., p. 480. 



