38 CURIOUS SCEEEN. 



appeared to have been placed there siiig'ly at differ- 

 ent periods to commemorate the death of the heads 

 of famihes of the tribe. We saw another of these 

 curious funeral screens^ — like the first one it was 

 situated in a little glade in the forest^ but unlike it 

 the front was covered or thatched with cocoa-nut 

 leaves^ and it had a sm all door-like opening- in the centre. 



The natives must have left the island either on 

 account of its being* now the turtling* season^ or else 

 from the want of v/ater. A small deep well behind 

 the villag*e^ apparently the only one in the place^ 

 was almost entirely dried up. From the old man I 

 procured the names of some of the neig'hbouring- 

 islands^ and also a few other Kulkalega words which 

 are so similar to those of the Kowrareg'a lang'uag'e as 

 to corroborate Gi'om's assertion that both have many 

 words in common. By Avay of illustration I may give 

 a few examples. Thus muto^ small bu^d * kiidulug, 

 dove J geinow, pig*eon ; kaMr, egg j burda^ g-rass ; 

 wardhdy cocoa-nut j moda, enclosure round the huts. 



At one place I saw indications of an upheaval of 

 the northern side of the island in a bed of coral con- 

 giomerate six feet thick^ with its raised wall-like 

 edg-e towards the hill as if tilted up^ and the re- 

 mainder sloping- down towards the sea. A similar 

 appearance on a small scale exists on most of the 

 coral islands which I have visited^ but I had not 

 before seen these sloping- beds above the influence of 

 the salt water^ or at least beyond reach of the spray, 

 still less supporting luxuriant veg-etatioU; consisting 



