252 ETHNOLOGICAL STUDIES 



previously being the dog. Darkness falls early in the Tropics, and unless 

 you are so up-to-date as to possess a paraffin lamp you go to bed early. 

 But on dark moonless nights the men put to sea in their canoes and catch 

 flying-fish in long pole nets by torchlight. 



Gradually we made progress in collecting both articles for the museum 

 and information about the past. Originally the island was divided into 

 six areas each with its own chief, the chief of Te Nggano furthest east 

 being paramount. Both he and and his colleagues were believed to descend 

 from the gods, for which reason they and their families were holy. To 

 this day they are loth to see their children play with other children. On 

 certain occasions the gods would take up their abode in their heads, as 

 shown by their falling into a trance; and they had the right to proclaim 

 a thing taboo and appropriate anything they liked. This also had its prac- 

 tical advantages, as food which threatened to become scarce after great 

 feasting could be temporarily declared taboo. The symbol of the chief's 

 office was a large, heavy wooden staff, sacred like himself. No images were 

 made of the gods, but special paddles and long, fantastically carved spears 

 were regarded as symbols of divinity. 



The districts would often be at war together, when the weapons used 

 would be xarious kinds of clubs, javelins, and — rare things among 

 Polynesians — bows and arrows. Jax^elins and arrows were tipped with 

 human bone., and so the victors would endeavour to secure the leg and 

 arm bones of their fallen enemies. They might even carry off a head, 

 which they would then set up on a pole at the assembly place, or Nggoto 

 Manggae, during the dance of victory. But there no real head hunting, 

 nor was there any cannibalism. 



Most of the men and women, with the exception of the very youngest, 

 are magnificently tattooed on chest, arms, and legs. The operation, be- 

 ginning at puberty and extending over several years, is performed with a 

 toothed instrument roughly the shape of a miniature adze, and the patterns 

 depend on the bearer's age, sex, and rank. The richest patterns are reserved 

 for chiefs and their families, and may not be executed except in associa- 

 tion with a special ceremony. Armlets of delicately woven straw are worn, 

 as well as ear-rings made from tortoise-shell and other materials; but the 

 costliest ornament is a necklace of flying-fox teeth, which has almost the 

 character of money. The dress is as simple as the adornment. Women 

 wear a loin cloth. The men's dress used to consist of a long strip of tapa 

 drawn between the legs and wound tightly round the waist. The 

 material was produced by beating the bast layer of two species of wild 

 figs with a coarsely grooved wooden mallet, and was dyed a vivid yellow 



