

INSULAR A USTR. I /.. IS/. I. 



'235 



his wife wants a fire he has usually to make it for her, and this he < asily does by 

 rubbing- a small piece of stick very rapidly along a shallow groove in a much larger 

 piece of wood. The woman cooks generally in the ordinary native oven, as they make 

 no pottery in New Britain, but when she is away, or unwell, To Ling will get dinner 

 for himself rather than go without any. He generally picks up a little of anything he 

 can get for breakfast, and is always ready for anything which may come in his way 

 during the day, but the principal meal is about 4 p.m., and consists ordinarily of yams, 

 taro or bananas, perhaps cooked with an oily nut or cocoa-nut juice, and occasionally 

 fish or grubs. They all chew the betel-nut, and say that it is most effectual in warding 

 off the feeling of hunger. When not in the plantation, To Ling would generally be 

 found either in the 

 Ihik Diik enclosure 

 gossiping, fishing, 

 mending a net, mak- 

 ing a fish-trap, en- 

 gaged in a dance, or 

 idling aimlessly about 

 the beach. There is 

 much quiet love ex- 

 isting between To 

 Ling and his wife, 

 though it would be 

 very improper for 

 him to show any of 

 this in public. Going 

 away on a long jour- 

 ney he will kiss his 

 relative, but not his 

 wife, and so also on 

 returning. He would 

 never dream of kis- 

 sing her, or of mani- 

 festing any particular 

 interest in her, but they love each other, and if she has no locket to wear with a lock of 



To Lings hair, she will often wear one of the teeth which may have come out, and she 

 will treasure it when he has gone as lovingly as we do the mementoes of our loved ones. 

 If To Ling gets sick every doctor of note will be called in and be paid for by 

 his wife and her friends. The doctor, whose principal function is not to cure disease, 

 but to annul the powers of the charms and witchcraft which have certainly caused it, 

 will pray over the sick man, rub him with lime, and finish up by blowing lime upon 

 him, and away from him. Or he may perhaps say the prayers over a banana which 



To Ling must eat, and so get the full benefit of the prayers ; or he may say them 

 over a cup of cocoa-nut water which he must drink for the same purpose. If, however, 

 they wish to give a hot bath, they do this most effectually. A hole is dug and hot 



A NEW BRITAIN CANNIBAL FAMILY. 



