184 A NATURALIST IN CANNIBAL LAND 



in having a wicker-work industry. They made large 

 plaited bowls for use as food baskets. Their com- 

 plexion was extremely dark. The placing together of 

 the Solomon Islands in one group is purely arbitrary, 

 for different islands are inhabited by widely different 

 peoples. East of Choiseul Island the people are light ; 

 west of Choiseul they are very dark. I noticed that 

 among the dark tribes you would often find a light 

 specimen, owing to the fact that the dark tribes 

 would sometimes raid the light tribes on head-hunting 

 expeditions and bring back with them as slaves either 

 women or young children. But among the light tribes 

 you would never find specimens of the dark race, for 

 the reason that the light tribes never raided in a 

 westerly direction, but carried on their marauding 

 farther east. 



After staying about a month at this spot on the 

 north side of Bougainville, I went to the south coast 

 of the island, still in search of my particular butterfly. 

 It took me in all three days to get to the Bougainville 

 Straits, as the weather was very calm. In the straits 

 I was becalmed for some hours. Then, of a sudden, 

 a white squall came up. I had had just enough 

 warning to take in the topsails when the storm was 

 upon us, and in a moment sea and sky came together 

 as our boat was sent scudding through the foam with 

 her rail under water. I managed to get to the sheets 

 and to lower the mizzen and stay sails. Then, with 

 only the foresail, we rushed before the wind, I ran 



