26 THE PEOPLE OF NEW GEORGIA 



B. very effective defence against the attacks of the raiders 

 from below. Inside the stockade I found about fifty or 

 more houses. It was with evident reluctance that I was 

 allowed to enter the village, and only after the guides had 

 convinced the people that I possessed supernatural powers. 

 These defences are very necessary on account of the 

 raids made by the headhunters of Rubiana and other 

 places. These raids were made in order to secure heads 

 for the dedication of new houses and new canoes, and to 

 obtain victims for the cannibal feasts and sacrificial rites 

 performed from time to time. These people are the slaves 

 of superstitious fears, and these superstitions were 

 worked for all they were worth by the old sorcerors and 

 witch doctors. If a house were built it would be neces- 

 sary for the preservation of its inmates to propitiate the 

 spii-its b}" shedding blood, and the obtaining of a number 

 of human heads. If a new " tomoko " or war canoe were 

 about to be launched, the sprinkling of human blood and 

 obtaining of heads would invest it with supernatural power. 

 Therefore these raids were organised by the sorcerors, 

 and in their beautiful war-canoes they would travel some- 

 times over two liundred miles to kill and obtain heads. 

 Before making a start the chiefs pay a visit to one of their 

 many sacred places — generally the shrine of some of their 

 ancestors — and there make sacrifices, and offer prayers 

 to the spirits for help in their vniding operations. With 

 great ceremony they then embark — carrying with them in 

 each of the canoes a sacred relic or charm — as a rule, a 

 small bone of some once-noted warrior, since deceased. Their 

 mode of warfare is that usually adopted by natives of 

 almost any place — taking their enemies by surprise, and 

 killing tliem before they have an opportunity of defending 

 themselves. TJieir operations, however, are carried out 

 with an unusual degree of cunning and skill, for they gener- 

 ally try to create the impression that they intend to raid 

 a place to which they really have no intention of going, 

 and after turning all eyes towards that particular place, 

 they suddenly swoop down upon some other unfortunate 

 village, and, catching the inhabitants unprepared, kill 

 and capture to their hearts' content. On their return to 

 their own village they are received by the women and girls 

 singing and dancing to welcome them home. Immediately 



