TAMBU-HOUSES. g; 



and somewhat fragrant odour. Other resins and gums are yielded 

 by the trees, one of which somewhat resembles the "kauri" gum of 

 New Zealand, and occurs in a similar situation beneath the soil; but 

 I was unable to find the tree. 



In the tambu-houses of St. Christoval and the adjoinino- islands 

 Ave have a style of building on which all the mechanical skill of 

 which the natives are possessed has been brought to bear. These 

 sacred buildings have many and varied uses. Women are forbidden 

 to enter their walls ; and in some coast villages, as at Sapuna in the 

 island of Santa Anna, where the tambu-house overlooks the beach 

 women are not even permitted to cross the beach in front The 

 tambu-houses of the coast villages are employed chiefly for keepina 

 the war-canoes, each chief being allowed, as an honourable mark of 

 his position, the privilege of there placing his own war-canoe ; ^ but 

 in the inland villages, these buildings are of course no lonoer em- 

 ployed for this purpose. Another use to which these buildings may 

 be put IS described on page 53, in connection with the tambu-house 

 ot Sapuna in Santa Anna, in which are deposited, enclosed in the 

 wooden figure of a shark, the skulls of ordinary men and the entire 

 bodies of the chiefs. 



The front of the tambu-house in his native village is, for the 

 Solomon Islander, a common place of resort, more especially towards 

 the close of the afternoon. There he meets his fellows and listens 

 to the news of his own little world ; and it is to this spot that any 

 native who may be a stranger to the village first directs his steps 

 and on arriving states his errand or particular business. In my 

 numerous excursions, when thirsty or tired, I always used to follow 

 the native custom in this matter, being always treated hospitably 

 and never with any rudeness. The interior of these buildings is free 

 to any man to lie down in and sleep. On one occasion, when passing 

 a night in an island village of St. Christoval, I slept in the tambu- 

 house, the only white man amongst a dozen natives. Bloodshed I 

 believe, rarely occurs in these buildings ; and tliey are for this reason 

 viewed somewhat in the light of a sanctuary. 



The completion of a new tambu-house is always an occasion of a 

 festival in a village. The festival is often accompanied by the 

 sacrifice of a human life ; and' the leg and arm bones of the victim 



1 Mr. C. F. Wood, in his " Yachting in the South Seas" (London, 1875), gives, as the 

 trontispiece of his book, an autotype photograph of the tambu-]>ouse of Makira in St, 

 Christoval, in which the war-canoes are well shown. 



