MAI. 19 



tlie murder, I believe, some years before of the brother of Mai by 

 the Otagara natives. The outcome of it was that in the middle of 

 the night all the fighting men of Sapuna assembled at the tambu- 

 house of Mai, and started off along the coast to pounce uyjon their 

 fellow islanders on the other side. The utmost that could have hap- 

 pened would have been the slaughter of some unsuspecting man or 

 woman on the skirts of the village : but, as it chanced, a thunder- 

 storm with heavy rain overtook the party when near their destina- 

 tion ; and thus dampened their courage to such a degree that they 

 r-eturned to their own villaoe with the excuse that the rain, bv 

 I'unning down their faces, would have hindered them in throwing 

 their spears and avoiding those of their opponents. On the follow- 

 ing day, Mai led a party of {Sapuna men to make another attack, 

 and on returning in the afternoon from one of my excursions into 

 the interior of the island, I learned that the part}' had returned 

 triumphant, having killed one of their neighbour's large pigs, an act 

 which is regarded as a " casus belli " in native politics. 



In the person of Mai, we have a typical example of a Solomon 

 Island head-hunter. The cunning and ferocity which marked his 

 dealings, were sufficiently indicated in his countenance and his mien. 

 He had established for himself the position of war-chief in his village 

 of Sapuna, the leigning chief being of a more peaceable disposition. 

 During one of our visits to this island we found that this war-chief 

 had been very recently displaying his heroism in the most approved 

 native fashion. He had led a war-party across to Fanarite on the 

 opposite coast of St. Christoval, to avenge the death of a fugitive 

 from a labour vessel who, having escaped at Santa Anna, subse- 

 quently found his way to Fanarite where he was killed. The 

 excuse, although somewhat circuitous, was quite sufficient for Mai, 

 who in his disinterestedness thought more of this chance of gaining 

 new laurels than of the untimely end of the native whose death he 

 was so eager to avenge. Having reached the part of the coast where 

 this man had been killed, the war-party lay in ambush and slaugh- 

 tered a chief and two women as the}'- were returning from their yam 

 patches ; whilst they severely wounded another woman who escaped 

 into the bush with a spear through her back. Having dipped their 

 weapons in the gore of their vi^^tims, Mai and his party returned to 

 Santa Anna. I was sorry to learn that a native, named Pukka- 

 pukka, who had served in the " Lark " as an interpreter during the 

 previous year, had taken an active part in this expedition. It 



