298 



NEW HEBRIDES. 



labourers, and were at once known by their having fastened to 

 their waist-cloth the key of the chest which every labourer 

 brings back with him, containing the fruits of his toil. Thus, 

 even in Api, the labourers retain the property for which they 

 have worked. Two men joined me on the reef. One had 

 been in Queensland, the other in Fiji. Both spoke a good 

 deal of English ; and one said he was will- 

 ing to go to Fiji again. 



Nearly all the men wore, tied round their 

 necks, a small triangular ornament, cut out 

 of one of the septa of the pearly Nautilus 

 shell, and threaded by the syphon hole in 

 it. Many had broad flat tortoiseshell 

 bracelets, and nearly all had earrings made 

 of narrow strips of tortoiseshell moulded 

 into a flat spiral, from which hung some- 

 times, as ornaments, the tips of pigs' tails. 



The bows used by the natives are made 

 of hard wood. The arrows are without 

 feathers, but notched for the string, and 

 made of reeds with heavy wood ends, and 

 tips of human bone. The tips are all 

 covered with poison, which is in the shape 

 of a black incrustation. The arrows have 

 an elaborate and artistically coloured deco- 

 ration in the binding round the part where 

 the bone tips are inserted. The men were 

 unwilling to part with these arrows, which 

 they prize highly. They carry them rolled 

 up in an oblong strip of plantain leaf, and 

 showed by signs that they considered the 

 poison deadly, and were much in awe of it. 

 The men have all of them cicatrization 

 on their bodies, usually representing a 

 human face, and placed sometimes on the 

 shoulder, but more often upon the breast, 

 and sometimes on both breasts. They 

 understood the value of the usual trade 

 articles very well. Knives, tobacco, and 

 pipes were what they wanted most, but they 

 were not at all eager to trade, and few 

 weapons or ornaments were obtained from 

 them. The tortoiseshell bracelets they 

 would not part with at any price. It was very trying to leave 

 a totally unknown island like Api after two hours only spent 

 on the shore. 



CHARM CUT OUT OF 

 THE SEPTUM OF A 

 NAUTILUS SHELL, 



AND EARRING MADE 

 OF TORTOISESHELL, 

 AND A pig's tail. 

 API ISLAND. 



