54 RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. 



s(;en shinincr at nidit in this island in tlie winter months of the 

 year. This light they believed to be the spirit of Captain Ferguson 

 of the "Ripple," wlio had been killed some years before by the natives 

 of Nouma-nouma on the Bougainville coast. I suggested that it 

 might be the watch-fire of a party of the Faro natives who had gone 

 there to fish, or to hunt turtle ; but my suggestion was pooh-poohed 

 Balalai was evidently a haunted island in the minds of my com- 

 panions, and I desisted from making any further remarks which 

 would be likely to disabuse them of this idea. Often and often 

 when we were anchored within sight of this island I remembered 

 the story, but never saw the light. 



The natives of Ugi believe that the souls of the dead pass into 

 fireflies : and should one of these insects enter a house, those inside 

 quickly leave it. The spirits of the dead in human shape are be- 

 lieved to frequent certain islets in Treasury Harbour, where they 

 are occasionally seen by the women. Certain spirits, who are usually 

 accredited with the power of sending sickness or other calamities, 

 are said to take up their abodes in particular districts. Such a 

 spirit haunts the picturesque glen of Tetabau on the northern slope 

 of the summit of Treasury, if we may accept the statement of one 

 of the islanders ; and any native who is bold enough to enter this 

 glen will, according to the general belief, provoke the anger of its 

 invisible occupant. The party of natives who accompanied me to 

 the summit of Tarawei Hill in the island of Faro refused to go 

 further than the brink of the hill, because, as they said, there dwelt 

 on the top some evil spirits who would send sickness and death on 

 any intruder. I had therefore to walk along the crest of the hill 

 alone. The echoes which the shouts of my men awakened as we 

 descended the steep slopes to the west were, as I was told, but the 

 voices of the spirits who haunted the summit of the hill. 



In the island of Ugi the superstition of " ill-wishing " is very 

 prevalent. When a man cuts off his hair, as in mourning, he buries 

 it unobserved so that it may not fall into the hands of any one who 

 may by sorcery bring sickness or some other calamity upon him ; 

 and he adopts the same precaution with reference to the husks of 

 betel-nuts and similar refuse. Whilst I was obtaining some samples 

 of hair from the natives of this island, I was told that if in the 

 immediate future any sickness should befall those who had parted 

 witli their hair, they would assign the cause to me ; yet, native-like, 

 thev allowed me to take a sample with their free consent, for it is 



