Bone Decorations. 



57 



nabobs of the place had skulls on the posts of their houses, which they said belonged to the enemies 

 they had killed and eaten. One skull was very much fractured ; they told us it was done with a 

 stone axe, and showed us how they used these weapons. [P. 42.] 



All through the Pacific there is a close relationship between men and pigs, not 

 merely social but religiotis. In Hawaii not only was the pig a domestic pet, frequently 

 taking the child's place at the htiman mother's breast, but when the poor relics of 

 humanity were placed on the altar as a sacrifice to the gods the pig almost invariably 



ik;. -,ij. i.oNc; iK.irsi; in nj:\v c. i"im:.\. 



accompanied them, the order of immolation being first a layer of pigs, then of human 

 bodies face downward, and a repetition of this until the pile was complete. In this 

 group also the vicarious sacrifice for a man was a black pig, a white cock and a red 

 fish. The connedlion was not confined to the Polynesian race, but was quite as strong 

 among the darker-skinned races of the Great Ocean. In the Aroma district of New 

 Guinea, Chalmers tells us: 



Pigs' skulls are kept and hung up in the house. Food for a feast, such as at house-building, 

 is placed near the post where the skulls hang, and a prayer is said. When the centre post is put 

 up, the spirits have wallaby, fish and bananas presented to them, and they are besought to keep 

 that house always full of food, and that it may not fall when the wind is strong. [P. 84.] 



Compare the centre-post of the Maori whare. From the same authority we read: 



When they go on trading expeditions, they present their food to the spirits at the centre-post 

 of the house, and ask the spirits to go before them and prepare the people, so that the trading may 

 be prosperous. [P. 85.] [241] 



