CHAPTER HI. 



THE FEMALE SEX — POLYGAMY — MODES OF BURIAL, ETC. 



THE position of the female sex amongst the natives of the eastern 

 islands of the Solomon Group would appear to differ but little 

 from the position which it holds amongst races in a similar savage 

 state. Tlie women are without doubt the drudges of the men, and 

 pitiable examples of this often came under my observation. On one 

 occasion, when I was returning to the coast from an excursion into 

 the interior of St. Christoval, I was accompanied by some half-a- 

 dozen natives of both sexes who were bringing down yams to sell to 

 the traders on the beach. The men were content with carrying their 

 tomahawks ; whilst the women followed up with heavy loads of 

 yams on their heads. When a feast is in preparation, it is the work 

 of the women to bring in the yams and taro from the " patches," 

 which may be one or two miles away. In my excursions, I fre- 

 quently used to see at work in their " patches " these poor creatures, 

 whom drudgery had prematurely deprived of all their comeliness. 



Women are excluded from the tambu-house. They are not per- 

 mitted to remain in the presence of a chief at his meal ; and even 

 the wife after preparing her husband's meal leaves her lord alone, 

 returning to partake of what remains after he has finished his repast. 

 In the island of Santa Catalina we found that we had temporarily 

 received the rank of chief when a bevy of young girls, who had been 

 following us all the morning, walked solemnly away as we began 

 our lunch ; but no sooner had we lit our pipes than back came the 

 little troop with smiling fa<;es. In Ugi, a man will never, if he can 

 help it, pass under a tree that has fallen across the path, for the 

 reason that a woman may have stepped over it before him. On one 

 occasion, in the village of Sapuna, in Santa Anna, I saw a man, 

 whilst lighting his pipe, throw the piece of smouldering wood con- 



