1236 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



stones put in, which are laid upon and also covered over with green leaves. The patient 

 is then seated upon this, and closely packed with a kind of cloth made from the bark 

 of the bread-fruit tree. A cup of cold water is then poured clown upon the hot stones, 

 and To Ling is held down by force in the full volume of the escaping steam. 



To Ling's dress cannot be described, simply because he has none, but he often 

 wears a small branch of some croton, or a few draccena leaves, when dressed for a 

 dance. The women on Meoko, strange to say, wear a fringe of dried banana leaf, and 

 the New Ireland women also wear two short tufts of flax fibre, but on the Duke of 

 York Island the women as well as the men are absolutely, nude. The weapons are 

 easily described. First, and most generally used, is the spear. These are made of the 

 wood of the areca or other palm, and are generally carried in bundles of five ; they 

 are rarely barbed, but are sometimes pointed with the bone of a cassowary. On New 

 Ireland the throwing end is balanced with a human leg-bone, generally that of some 

 enemy who has been killed and eaten by the owner. On New Britain the same practice 

 obtains, and a cassowary bone is also used for the same purpose. A large bunch of 

 beautifully arranged parrot feathers is also used as an adornment for the spear. Clubs 

 of various shapes are used, some of which have round stone heads. From the days of 

 his boyhood To Ling would be accustomed to the use of the sling, and he would 

 rarely travel far from home without a number of selected pebbles in his little basket. 

 The bow and arrow is not known among them as a weapon, though the boys use it 

 as a toy ; and shields are also so used. 



To Ling would never be called upon as in the Eastern Polynesian groups to 

 furnish his share of great feasts, without any hope or expectation of payment. His 

 people have very few great feasts, and when a chief does kill a pig and invite his 

 friends, they all have to pay far more than the value of that which they receive. 

 Cannibalism can scarcely be considered as a social custom, but it certainly is undoubtedly 

 very common amongst them. There is a good deal of fear felt by many about it, and 

 To Ling would eat his first piece of human flesh very secretly and very quickly. They 

 will not eat food which has been brought in the same canoe with a dead body. When 

 one was being cut up for cooking they would keep their mouths shut, and would also 

 close the doors of their huts for fear the spirit of the dead man would enter into 

 them or their houses. 



The money differs somewhat in the different islands, but the proportionate value is 

 well known. The principal money is called diwara,. and consists of small shells of the 

 cassis species strung on split vines. Taking a fathom of this as a standard of value, it 

 would be equal to a piece measured between the breasts, say nine inches of the smaller 

 money used on New Ireland. Every artjcle, whether imported or otherwise, is valued 

 by its equivalent in diwara, and words exist, not only -for buying and selling, but for 

 lending, borrowing, pawning and redeeming the pledge, as also terms for interest, and 

 selling at a sacrifice. A chief will often lend his shell-money at ten per cent, interest. 



The people are not much troubled with foreign complications. They are in constant 

 feud with their neighbours in the next district. They have no common interest, and no 

 national life. Every little district is occupied with its own affairs, and the people will 

 readily join others who may have a grudge against their neighbours if they think there 



