CANNIBALISM 



115 



vailing stock is Samoan, with an admixture of Tongan. 

 In bygone times the Tongans used to make periodical 

 descents upon the island, after the fashion of the 

 Vikings in early English history. The Tongans, 

 however, came not only to kill but to eat their foes, 

 a proceeding not wholly unintelligible among a people 

 who knew absolutely of no other kind of meat. In 



FIG. 33. A Group of Natives, Funafuti. 



justice to the copper-coloured races of Polynesia, I 

 hasten to add that cannibalism was seldom the custom 

 of this folk ; wherever it is met with it may be taken 

 to indicate the influence of black blood. So far as w T e 

 know, cannibals are almost always black people. 



Eeturning to the boring party, which we left busily 

 engaged. For nearly three weeks they worked by shifts 



