616 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



condition cannot lip endured, even by them, any lonj>'er, they 

 simply shave it off altoo-ether with a Hake of obsidian, or 

 glass, or a strip oi' bamboo as a I'azor. They di'ess the hair 

 in various ways. A common method is to use powdered lime : 

 not mixing it with water, as do the Fijians and other South 

 Sea islanders, but simply the dry lime. This has certain 

 cleansing properties, and it also changes the colour of the hair 

 to a dirty white. They also daub a red earth mixed with a 

 little cocoa-nut oil upon it, and this suits them better than any 

 other method. I have seen men with one-half the head and 

 face daubed with red paint, the other half a light green. 

 When in mourning for the dead they use a black pigment, 

 made by mixing the tinder of burnt grass with cocoa-nut oil, 

 daubing it about the hair, face, and body. When this is used 

 they look exceptionally filthy, even for 'them. They do not 

 anoint the body with oil as do many South Sea islanders, and 

 the skin being continually exposed to sun and wind becomes 

 coarse-looking and tough. They are great believers in blood- 

 letting for all aches and pains, so that it is difficult to find an 

 individual whose skin is not scarred and marked in many 

 places. They cut various devices about the body, raising the 

 skin so that the ])attern stands out hke embossed work. This 

 however, is not very general. Ornaments are suspended from 

 the nose and ears. They are troubled with a parasitical 

 disease which they call Bakua or Tiripa. It spreads rapidly 

 over the body, and appears in the shape of scales a little larger 

 than fish scales. This parasite has a strong objection to fresh 

 water ; the irritation set uj) by being out in a shower of rain 

 is distressing to Avitness. Salt water does not seem to affect 

 it so. We found that a mixture of sulphur and kerosene 

 used as a paint speedily destroyed it, and when dead the 

 parasite could be pulled off in large flakes. 



Only at a place called Mioko and in one or two parts of 

 New Ireland do the women wear any covering at all, and 

 that only a very small apron made out of a kind of fiax. In 

 all other places all are quite nude. 



The houses are small as a rule, but when so inclined the 

 natives can make them well. The best houses I have seen 

 are upon the east coast of T\ew Ireland, where they are lofty 

 and well built, and the village is surrounded by a stout 

 stockade of bamboos. Usually the houses are about 20 feet 

 long, 8 to 10 feet wide, and about 6 feet high at the ridge. 

 They are frequently divided into two compartments, the first 

 being the sitting and general room, where the fire is. Tl^ei 



