104 



OUR VISIT TO THE NICOBARS 



Under the roof of the hut hung a large supply of vegetable food. Here are coconuts, bread-fruits, 

 jack-fruits, and yams. 



in and the stock of pigs and poultry is built up in order to feed the 

 numerous guests. The skulls of deceased relatives are disinterred, cleaned, 

 and decorated as described with their own valuables, which seem chiefly 

 to consist of various utensils of European origin that have ended up in 

 the islands. Contributions to the party in kind are brought by the guests. 

 In the hut loft hung large quantities of vegetable stores, nicely sorted 

 according to variety and decorated with yellow coconut-palm leaves. There 

 were coconuts, yams, bananas, breadfruits, and jackfruits (a fruit akin 

 to the breadfruit) by the hundred, as well as leaves and betel-nuts for 

 chewing, and pandanus paste (from the fruit of the screw pine and an 

 important food on the island) in handsome circular containers made from 

 leaves and rattan cane. Pigs and poultry were kept until ready for killing 

 in oblong coops under the hut. The celebrations had been in progress two 

 days when we arrived, and judging from the amount of food still left it 

 could go on for a long time. The number of pigs killed is kept count of 

 by cutting a strip of flesh from the back and hanging it up under the 

 hut roof. The host showed us with visible pride that there were already 

 32 such strips, an obvious sign that the party was an exceptionally large 

 one. They were already smelling. 



