314 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



poles. In the centre of the floor is a hole with a ladder, which 

 they carefully take up with them when they 'go home.' 



Their powers of fishing amount to an instinct, not only 

 superior to those of any white people, but to those of such good 

 fishers as the Samoans. In the use of both fish-traps and rod and 

 line they excel. They never lose their love for cocoa-nuts and fish, 

 and do not take kindly to porridge of corn-meal, unless there is 

 a certain amount of cocoa-nut mixed with it. They are straight- 

 haired, and of the copper-coloured Polynesian race, called by 

 most authorities the Micronesians. They are all great navi- 

 gators, and many of them build large boats not unlike those to 

 be found in the Indian Seas. Their arms are fairly made, and 

 they manufacture a very elaborate suit of armour from the 

 husk of the cocoa-nut, which covers the entire body. I brought 

 home with me a corslet, which is really a magnificent specimen 

 of defensive armour. 



I do not think that as yet Christian teachers have made 

 much impression among the Line islanders. Little is generally 

 known in the Pacific as to their traditions. Mr. Whitmee says 

 that when he visited the group, the natives were strict in the 

 observance of their rites, and the shrines of their gods were 

 numerous. Every house contains a domestic shrine, to which 

 offerings of food are presented. The gods are chiefly the spirits 

 of their ancestors, the priesthood and chieftainship being com- 

 monly combined in the same persons. 



They believe that for three or four days after death, the form 

 of a deceased person hovers around his home about dusk, and 

 that his friends may see him and hear him whistling. Their 

 dwelling after death is across the sea in what direction I 

 never could find out. 



The traditions of the Tarapon race are numerous, and in 

 many cases resemble those of the other groups to the south- 



