INTERIOR OF A HOUSE 77 



on seemed to have suddenly stopped ; ddos were lying on 

 the floor, clothes hung from pegs in the walls, food, half-cooked, 

 still stood in the pots. The animals wandered about uncared- 

 for, cats and dogs in a very famished condition. 



Inside this house was quite a small museum : there were 

 large figures, daubed with red and black paint, of men and 

 women with eyes of pearl shell, Polynesian fashion, and 

 drapings of palm leaf and cotton ; smaller images and various 

 grotesque heads, sharks, birds, and crocodiles, all carefully carved, 

 and painted in red and blue ; painted turtle skulls by the 

 dozen. Spears, cross-bows, and water-vessels hung from the 

 walls, with boards on which were human figures, pigs, fish, 

 fowls, and palm trees, all very well drawn, and not conven- 

 tionalised in design. On a shelf above the fireplace were piles 

 of wooden plates, dishes, and food-baskets, and below them the 

 big Chaura pots were standing on blocks of stone above the 

 ashes.* 



We only obtained one megapode on Trinkat, and it was 

 found in a trap. They are probably numerous, for we saw 

 several, and heard frequent calls. The undergrowth is very 

 thick, and the ground covered with tall grass, and although to 

 move about is easy, it is not easy to see these birds until one 

 is almost upon them, when they disappear before one can get a 

 shot. A few rats {^Miis burrus, sp. nov.) were caught in the 

 traps, and we shot a few additional specimens, and this is the 

 only island we visited in the Nicobars where they seemed 

 other than extremely scarce. 



* "To the middle portion of the roof frame an image of the household 

 god is attached ; from the walls are suspended human figures carved from 

 wood, and enwreathed with bundles of grass or coconut leaflets, which are 

 regarded as charms for the cure of diseases. Above the centre posts 

 are hung up, strung to rattan, all the lower jawbones of hogs that have 

 been slaughtered by the family : and their number furnishes a due estimate 

 of the wealth of the owner of the house. . . . Wooden figures of men 

 armed with sword and shield, and women in a dancing posture, with out- 

 stretched arms, are hung up in the rear and other parts of the building." — 

 "The People of Nias," The Races of Mankind, A. Featherman. 



