POLYGAMY. 45 



chief, who has between eighty and a hundred wives, that the main 

 objection he has against missionaries settling on his islands is, that 

 they would insist on his giving up nearly all his wives, thereby de- 

 priving him of those by whose labour his plantations are cultivated 

 and his household supplied v/ith food. A great chief, he remarked, 

 required a large staff of workers to cultivate his extensive lands; or, 

 in other words, numerous women to work in his plantations and to 

 bring the produce home. Such a plea for polygamy is in this con- 

 dition of society somewhat plausible. The domestic establishment 

 of such a chief may be compared in its internal economy to a social 

 community of bees. The head of the society is, in this case, a male 

 who, whilst living on the fat produce of his lands and increasing his 

 species, performs no active office for the good of the community. 

 The workers consist of his numerous cast-off wives, who having been 

 supplanted in their lord's affections as their personal attractions 

 diminished in the course of year.>, have at length subsided into the 

 position of drudges to procure food for the king and his progenj^. 



Mule's marital establishment is on a smaller scale than that of 

 the more powerful Shortland chief. This Treasury chief possesses 

 between twenty-five and thirty wives, and has numerous young sons 

 who were my frequent companions during my excursions in this 

 island. In both establishments there is a favourite wife who exer- 

 cises some authority oVer the others, and is known among white 

 men as the queen. The principal wives are generally distinguished 

 from the others by a more dignified deportment, a slim graceful 

 figure, and more delicate features. The coarser features, bigger 

 limbs, and more ungainly persons of many of the wives at once 

 mark the women of more common origin. The chief secures the 

 fidelity of his wives by the summary punishment of death, suspicion 

 being tantamount to proof, and an unwary action being held pre- 

 sumptive of guilt. Many of their wives are obtained by purchase 

 from the Bougainville natives ; whilst others represent the tribute 

 owed by some of the smaller chiefs. 



The majority of the Treasury men have two wives who are 

 usually widely separated by age. They are originally obtained by 

 making a handsome present to the parents. Each wife in working 

 on her husband's land has her own patch allotted to her to which she 

 confines her labours. My association with the natives of Treasury 

 crave me some insight into their social life, in which, I should add, the 

 women occupy asomewhat better position than in the islands we visited 



