390 THE ADMIRALTY ISLANDS. 



pieces about six inches in length ; but we also disposed of a 

 great quantity of so-called " trade gear." 



Trade gear is regularly manufactured for Polynesian trading, 

 and sold by merchants in Sydney and elsewhere. We had 

 bought a stock of about ;^3oo worth for the ship's use. It 

 consisted of a cask of small axes, worthless articles, with soft 

 iron blades, butchers' knives of all sizes, some of them with the 

 blade 12 or 14 inches in length ; cotton cloth, Turkey red and 

 navy blue, beads, and other similar articles. 



The islanders had possibly traded with Europeans before our 

 visit within tolerably recent time.* They brought off their 

 tortoiseshell ready done up in bundles, and they knew the 

 relative value of various qualities. The chief had a large 

 European axe, which I believe was not procured from the 

 ship, and many natives had hoop iron adzes. Nevertheless 

 they must have had very little experience indeed, otherwise 

 they would not have taken old German newspapers freely as 

 trade as they did at the first, thinking them to be fine cloth, 

 until rain had fallen. They soon took to making trade goods, 

 shell hatchets, and models of canoes, to sell to us, which were 

 as badly made as the trade gear which we gave in exchange. 

 They understand the rules of barter well, and, as in Labillar- 

 diere's time, seemed anxious to pay their debts. They pretended, 

 with many expressive grimaces, to be unable to bend pieces of 

 tortoiseshell which they offered for sale, and of the thickness 

 {i.e., fine quality) of which they wished to impress the purchaser. 

 They often thus pretended to try ineffectually to bend very thin 

 pieces indeed, and fully entered into the joke when we did the 

 same with thin bits of hoop iron. They always required to see 

 the hoop-iron tested by bending before accepting it. They must 

 trade with one another regularly. They made signs that the ore 

 of manganese which they use came in canoes from a distance 

 eastwards. The native canoes are so seaworthy, and the natives 

 so enterprising and fearless in going to sea, that possibly articles 

 may pass by barter from island to island here over wide distances, 

 even to New Hanover and New Britain. 



The natives took all the hoop-iron from us which they could 

 get, evidently receiving more than they could use, no doubt 

 intending it for future barter. My colleague, the late R. von AV. 

 Suhm, believed that the natives on Wild Island recognised the 

 native name of Humboldt Bay (Talok Lintju), and pointed in 



* There were specimens of Admiralty Island lances and gourds in Gen. 

 Lane Fox's Collection, and in the Christy and British Museum Collections, 

 procured before the "Challenger" visit. These have probably been ob- 

 tained from Cape York, and no doubt were taken there by tortoiseshell 

 and pearl-shell traders who had visited the Admiralty Group. 



