192 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



A recent account, speaking of Big Bay says : — " We found 

 they are expert potters. Nearly all their cuHnarj^ utensils are 

 made of liand pottery-ware. We made quite a large collection 

 of many different sorts of hard i-ed potter\% such as pots, 

 vases, cups, mugs, basins, plates, saucers, dolls, pigs, and 

 idols."8 



The bowl was picked up near an outcrop of " white sand- 

 stone " [? argillaceous limestone], ^ the place being taboo, on 

 Tavanapni and Narata Plantation, St. Phillip and St. James' 

 Bay ,10 Santo. 



III. — Kava Stone. 



This peculiar heavy, torpedo or cigar-shaped stone (PI. 

 xxxviii., fig. 1) was also obtained by Mr. Fysh. It is of 

 argillaceous limestone similar to the bowl (PI. xxxv., fig. 1), 

 with a circumference at the centre of tAvo feet eight and a 

 half inches ; the weight is one hundred and twenty-four 

 pounds. The apex is obtusely pointed, but considerable 

 abrasion has taken place at the base. 



Mr. Fysh lias supplied me with the following information: — 

 In the making of a chief a feast was inaugurated, and at its 

 conclusion the chief-to-be had to reside in the house wherein 

 reposed tliis stone, for four to five weeks. During this period 

 of seclusion the only drink permitted him was Kava, and 

 after each potation the dregs were cast on the Kava stone — in 

 fact a kind of libation ; kava was reserved for the cliiefs, to 

 the common herd it was taboo. ^^ No one dare touch this 

 fetish, anyone doing so, even by accident, would break out 

 into sores and boils, notwithstanding the payment of a pig 

 or pigs to the paramount chief. 



" Kannie — My Adventures amongst South Sea Cannibals, 1912, p. 166. 



9 The coast of Espiritu Santo I. is composed of coral and coral rock. 

 This becomes elevated to the north of the point off which lies 

 Tetuba, a small islet, only a few feet above sea level. The same 

 formation underlies the soil for some miles back into the interior, 

 until it meets the volcanic tufa of the mountains (Wawn — The 

 South Sea Islanders, ^c, 1893, p. 86.) 



1" The actual name given to this bay by De Quiros was that of " San 

 Felipe de Santiago " (Buruey, Loc. cit., p. 289). 



11 F. A. Campbell refers to the use of Kava, "which grows ex- 

 tensively on the southern islands of the group, but nowhere better 

 than in this district (A Year in the New Hebrides, ^'c, 1873, p. 166). 



