66 TORCHES AND FANS. 



caution which I used to encourage them to adopt when accompanying 

 me, in order to save myself being pestered every few minutes for a 

 light for their pipes. 



Burninw-cflasses are in common use amongst the natives of some 

 of tlie islands, as at Simbo. The reason of their being not always 

 favourite articles of trade in other islands, I was at a loss to under- 

 stand. The numerous fumaroles var^nng in temperature between 

 160° and 200° Fahr. which pierce the hill-sides of the volcanic island 

 of Simbo, are employed b}'- the natives for the purposes of cooking, 

 as I have elsewhere observed (p. 86 ). 



Fans serve the double purpose of nursing a fire and of cooling the 

 person. Those in use in Treasury are made of the extremities of 

 two branches of the cocoa-nut palm, the midribs forming the handle, 

 whilst the long " pinnae " are neatly plaited together to form the fan. 

 One of these fans is figured in the pottery engraving. Although ;nore 

 coarsely made, they are of a pattern similar to the fans of Fiji and 

 Samoa. The shape appears to have originated from the nature of 

 the materials employed ; and I suspect that in Fiji and Samoa, 

 where different materials are used, the original shape which de- 

 pended on the plaiting of the cocoa-nut leaves has been retained, 

 whilst the material itself has been discarded. 



The natives of Bougainville Straits burn torches during their 

 fishing excursions at night and during festivals. For this purpose 

 they use resins obtained from the "anoga,"^ probably a species of 

 (Janarium, and the "katari," a species of Calophyllum, two tall 

 trees which rank among the giants of the forest in this region. The 

 resin of the " anoga " should be more properly described as a resinous 

 l)alsam. It is white, is easily pulverised, and has a powerful odour, 

 as if of camphor and sandal-wood combined. It concretes in mass 

 inside the bark and in tears on the outer surface of the tree, and is 

 usually obtained by climbing up and knocking it oflTthe bark; but 

 sometimes the tree is ringed at a height of four feet from the ground, 

 a process which drains it of its resin but causes its death. The 

 torch of this material is simply prepared by wrapping up compactlj^ 

 the powdered resin in a palm-leaf, which although outside answers 

 the purpose of a wick. . . . The " katari " resin, which is less 

 frequently used, is a dark-coloured material that burns with a tarry 



^ From Surville's description of liis visit to Port Praslin in Isabel in 17G9, it would appear 

 that the natives burned torches made of this resin. (" Voyage de Marion." Paris, 1783 ; p. 

 274.) 



