ETHNOLOGICAL STUDIES 



253 



Blue-black tattoo patterns in the form of sea-birds, fishes, etc. .stund mil chailv aguui^l the 

 fair skin of the Rennellese. 



by dipping and rubbing in turmeric juice. The chiefs also wore a headdress 

 of the same material, a plaited fan stuck in behind the breech cloth com- 

 pleting the sparing attire. 



There are very few real villages on Rennell, the whole population hav- 

 ing originally lived in small, scattered groups of houses. It is only rarely 

 that they are situated near the unapproachable coast, and indeed the 

 native connection with the sea is astonishingly slight by Polynesian stan- 

 dards. The craft used both off-shore and on the lake are rather poor 

 outrigger canoes hollowed out from large tree-trunks and equipped — 

 on the lake but not, surprisingly, on the sea — with mat sails. Small 

 wonder that fishing is of minor importance, though some sharks, flying- 

 fishes, eels, and the brilliantly coloured fishes which dart in and out 

 among the branches of the coral reef are caught both with nets and with 

 various kinds of hook. The island's paucity of higher fauna affords little 

 scope for hunting, which is largely restricted to catching Pacific doves 

 in large nets by means of decoy birds, a privilege of the chiefs. The teal 

 which abound by the lake are considered unclean. Consequently, agri- 

 culture is the principal means of livelihood. 



And yet the soil is \ery poor - — or rather, the only cultivable land con- 



