NATIV^E CURRENCY. 693 



This practice of bleeding at the seat of pain is resorted to in cases of headache, 

 abdominal and muscular pains. 



On Christmas Eve (1894) some natives brought a white, freshly limed canoe to 

 Ralum for sale, the price being twenty fathoms of native shell-money or diwara', 

 approximately equivalent to forty shillings. As I did not possess a shell in the world 

 I was unable to conclude the bargain, much as I desired it. The shells (Nassa callosa, 

 var. camelus) are obtained by barter and by collecting from a distant locality on the 

 north coast of New Britain, and the bleaching, perforating^ and threading upon rattan 

 slips, involve so much time and labour, only good shells of even size being accepted, 

 that the diwara is regarded as sacred or " tambu " and is relatively as difficult to 

 acquire in that country as gold is in Europe. By attending a funeral on one occasion 

 and demanding compensation for a stolen fish-basket on another, I came into a little 

 propert}-, but nothing worthy of mention. 



Much formality attends transactions in which " diwara " changes hands, the most 

 important being, of course, the purchase of a wife. The rich hoard up their wealth 

 in " tambu " houses, in the form of huge coils containing many hundred fathoms of 

 the rattan fibre with the shells threaded upon it, each coil being wrapped up in dried 

 banana leaves and, in this condition, resembling a life-belt. These coils are rarely 

 broached during a man's lifetime but, at his death, they are opened and divided into 

 lengths varying from less than a fathom to several fathoms, which are distributed with 

 singular liberality amongst those who assist at the obsequies. 



The principal scene of my operations in the search for Nautilus in New Britain 

 was situated in Blanche Bay, a deep inlet at the north-eastern end of the Gazelle 

 Peninsula, which has received the picturesque native name " a bit na ta," the source 

 of the sea: and, indeed, it needs but little imagination, more especially in squally 

 weather, when clouds are gathering over the mountain-tops, to admit the poetic justice 

 of this ambitious appellation. 



I commenced by purchasing a loosely built, palm-thatched hut on the island of 

 Rakai3-a or Raluan^, from a man called To-vungia*, chief of the village of Davaun, to 

 whom I was introduced by Mi-s Parkinson, whose knowledge of the language and usages 

 of these natives is very thorough. The price paid for the hut was one hundred sticks 

 of trade tobacco. The island itself is uninhabited, the greater part of it having been 

 elevated above sea-level as the result of a volcanic disturbance in the year 1878. 

 A small volcano, also called Rakaiya, i.e. the spirit, occurs at the base of the South 

 Daughter and is still simmering, sometimes emitting flames. The great drawback to 

 a residence on the island lies in the fact that there is no freshwater source on it. 

 It is now largely covered with Gasuarina trees, and near one end there is a dark 

 lagoon-like enclosure which is separated from the sea at low tide. 



• Sometimes written " dewarra." Cf. Dr 0. Finsch, Ktluwlugische Erfahrungen aus tier Siidgee, Wien, 

 1893, p. 387. 



^ The shells are converted into beads by dexterously knocking off the curious hump, an operation which 

 is performed by women. 



' Also culled Vulcan Island. 



* All men's names in this district begin with the prefix "To"; names of women begin with "Ya-." 



91—2 



