70:3 THE WEARING OF THE KABIL. 



with palms and Cycads in the tbregronnd. They use long, light: nairow rafts made with 

 the midribs of sago-palm leaves lashed together and propelled with simple bamboo rods. 

 When a crowd of natives came to the beach the women kept together in a separate 

 gi'oiip, and when a young fellow accepted the recruiting terms and was taken away in the 

 boat the poor women often raised a terrible wail, shrieking, stamping and rubbing sand 

 over their bodies. But from previous experiences I felt that such gi-ief would be so<in 

 assuaged, heart-rending though it appeared. 



The wearing of the "kabil" is an act of deference to the men. In one village called 

 Neila-as, on the island of Kung, there was a tree near the chief's house, upon which 

 several skulls were exposed, with huge rents behind the ear. There can be no doubt 

 that in this country infringements of the social code are visited with swift retribution. 



At Neila-as we wanted to photogi-aph a group of the women •w'ith their kabils, 

 and in order to place them in a favourable light it was necessary for them to cross 

 the village-square. I was much interested to observe that they crossed this space on 

 their knees in view of a group of men who were watching them. 



Birds are " tambu " or sacred in New Hanover and each indi\'idiial native acknow- 

 ledges a certain kind of bird as his patron-bird and the people range themselves 

 accordingly into groups or phratries, named after the birds. The esteem in which birds 

 are held is further manifested in their car\'ings, particularly in the figure-heads of 

 their canoes which are carved out of the same piece of wood fi-om which the dug-out 

 itself is made ; the head and eyes are usually distinct but the rest of the body is 

 drawn out into a fantastic scroll and in fact the whole figure of the bird may 

 degenerate into a decorative scroll. Another kind of carvings representing birds is called 

 "kui." This is used in dances and is provided wth a spatula-shaped basal piece by 

 which it is held in the mouth ; the eyes are the blue opercula of Turbo petholatus. 



Seismic disturbances are of frequent occurrence in New Britain and when they 

 occur at night the bush re-echoes with the blowing of conchs and the tattoo of 

 " garamats " or native tomtoms, to soothe the angry spirit. If there were any houses 

 built of stone the earthquakes would no doubt frequently be classed as disasters, but 

 under present conditions only minor casualties occur such as the upsetting of lamps and 

 other household implements. 



In the Strait of Rakaiya between Vulcan Island and the mainland, both men and 

 women used to come do^vn to scoop up the black sand or mud near the shore with 

 small hand-nets in search of the " diwara " shell which occurs here in small quantities but 

 is said to be of inferior quality', and varies in colour from almost pure white to jet-black. 

 The natives sift the sand through their nets and each shell, as they fijid it, is carefull}' 

 stored away in their mouths until their jowls are full. 



Finding it necessary to have some lighter craft than a whale-boat for general 

 purposes, and not being able at that time, for reasons stated above, to purchase a New 

 Britain canoe, I commissioned a Samoan mission-teacher to make me a canoe in Samoan 

 fashion during his spare time. In this plain unadorned dug-out I was able to traverse 

 the whole extent of Blanche Bay with a single companion. When it sprung a leak, as 

 all canoes do sooner or later, the holes were stopped up with the bruised fruit of a tree 



' The principal source of the shell lies far away on the north coast in the district of Beining. 



