"Scare-devil," or device for exorcising evil spirits. 



CHAPTER VIII 



NANKAURI 



The Harbour Shores — A Village — Kanaia — Canoe — Feeding the Animals — 

 Collecting-ground — Mangrove Creeks — Preparations for a Festival — 

 Burial Customs — Malacca Village — Houses — Visit Tanamara — Furniture 

 — Talismans and, "Scare-devils" — Beliefs — Festivities — A Dance — An 

 Educated Native — Tanamara and his Relations — Cigarettes — Refreshments 

 — The Collections— Geology — Flora — Population — Piracy. 



On the morning of the 5th we weighed anchor, and proceeded 

 to Nankauri harbour. The entrance is about a quarter of a 

 mile wide, and its northern coast, once the site of the Government 

 settlement, is the only open grassy portion of the harbour shores. 

 Just within the point stands the flag-staff, and above it, on the 

 crest of a low hill, a little graveyard lies within the shade of casua- 

 rinas. A long jetty of coral blocks runs out from the shore, and 

 near by is the house of the agent. Opposite, on either side of 

 Mayo Point, are the villages of Malacca and Inuanga, and behind 

 them the forest-clad slopes stretch to grassy uplands. 



We sailed into Spiteful Bay, which lies just behind the 

 southern point of the harbour entrance, and anchored in 12 

 fathoms, mud and sand, close to a little village of a dozen houses 

 standing above the beach.* In front of these and planted in 

 shallow water, rose a number of tall poles, each made of several 



* Iniianga. 

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