' FROM ISLAND UNTO ISLAND: 335 



the Southern Sea, whether they are in the bark of Peter or in 

 frailer crafts. 



The Catholic clergy have very successfully cultivated cotton, 

 and their profits from this source may be fairly set down at 

 from 2000 to 3000 a year. ' Every inch upon which vege- 

 tation can find a hold is covered with it,' says Sir Edward 

 Belcher, of Dominica ; and this is perfectly true. The island 

 is 20 miles long by 7 broad. The country is hilly, with gullies 

 running down to the sea. The highland natives are afraid 

 of coming down to the coast, and dig deep pits to prevent 

 the incursions of the fishermen, thus completely reversing the 

 order of things that used to exist in Viti Levu, Fiji. Like the 

 Tarapons of the Kingsmills, the Sawaioris of Dominica are ex- 

 ceedingly fond of strong cocoa-palm drink ; and when they do 

 indulge, they play a very ugly game in which murder is often 

 a leading feature. 



When killed, the victim is generally eaten, as (although 

 denied by some writers who have not had access to reliable 

 sources of information) there can be no question some of the 

 Marquesans tenaciously cling to cannibalism; but it is only 

 fair to add that it has never been with them a religion, as it 

 was in Fiji. At any rate they have large flat stones with holes 

 in them (like the end of a bagatelle-table), about 4 to 5 inches 

 in diameter and 2 inches deep. Human bodies are cut up on 

 these, and each man interested in a particular hole drinks the 

 blood found in it. 



If a chief dies, a head must be found that is to say, the 

 mourning natives go in search of some unhappy straggler, a 

 lonely fisherman in a canoe, or the like, whose head is imme- 

 diately taken off and buried as a resting-place for the feet of 

 the deceased potentate. 



The men tattoo their faces in black patches, the women 



