.36 SIGNS OF CULTIVATION. 



hut is usually situated in a small well-fenced en- 

 closure^ and opposite to it on the beach is the cooking* 

 place^ consisting" of a small shed^ under which the 

 fire is made. We saw indications of many tm'tle 

 having" lately been cooked here upon a fi'amework 

 of sticks over a small fire, precisely as is practised 

 by the natives of New Guinea and the Louisiade 

 Archipelag^o. 



The strip of forest behind the villa g'e is traversed 

 in every direction by well beaten paths, chiefly 

 leading' to the back part of the island, where, on the 

 slope of a hill in g-ood soil, we found many patches 

 of rude cultivation. The chief plant is a broad- 

 leaved species of yam, trained upon tall poles kept 

 in position by cross bamboos, forming- a framework 

 divided into little squares, each of which contains a 

 plant. A species of Calladium with an esculent 

 root is also much cultivated , it is planted in regular 

 rows with the earth heaped up in ridg-es, as in a 

 potato or turnip field at home. I noticed some 

 small plots of gTound prepared with more than 

 usual care for the gTowth of what Gi'om told me 

 was an herb used as tobacco ; the young' plants 

 were protected from the sun with pieces of matting'. 



Not far from the villag-e, under the shade of an 

 ag'ed mimusops tree on the outskirts of the wood, 

 we observed a cleared oval space where ten human 

 skulls — of former members of the tribe, as we were 

 informed- -were arrang-ed upon a plank raised on 

 stones a foot or so from the g-round. The skulls 



