FEASTING. 93 



thus prepared, the flesh is juicy and tender, but has a strong flavour. 

 Pigs are first quartered, and then placed on a pile of logs built up 

 in layers to a height of about three feet, over which three poles are 

 placed like a tripod about six feet in height, in order to draw the 

 fire up. When thus roasted, the flesh of the wild pig is very good 

 eating, and may be thought by some white men to be superior in 

 flavour to the flesh of our farm-bred pigs. 



There are usually two meals in the day (viz., at its commencement 

 and at its close) in the case of those who are working in the culti- 

 vated patches ; whilst those who remain in the village may indulge 

 in a mid-da}'' repast. Often during my excursions I have been glad 

 to take advantage of the simple hospitality of the natives ; and I 

 have found a light meal of boiled bananas or of partly cooked sago, 

 when taken in the middle of the day, a convenient, though not a 

 palatable, form of nourishment for a hard day's work in these 

 islands. 



I was once present at a feast in the village of Sap una in Santa 

 Anna. Each man's contribution was added to the general store. 

 Heaped up in large black wooden bowls, such as are in common use 

 in St. Christoval and the adjacent islands, the materials for the feast 

 were first placed in front of the tambu-house, and then carried to 

 the house of the chief, where they were distributed. For several 

 days before, the women had been engaged in bringing in the yams 

 and other vegetables from the "patches" in the interior of the 

 island, whilst their indolent spouses had been lounging about with 

 empty pipes in the village. The feast was held at night, and was 

 accompanied by much shouting. The natives gave vent to the 

 exuberance of their spirits, and mingled the most demoniacal yells 

 with their peals of laughter. The feast may be fitly described as a 

 " gorge." When it was concluded at an early morning hour, silence 

 came over the villag^e, and evervone retired to their homes, where 

 they remained in a torpid condition during the rest of the day ; and, 

 in fact, for some days afterwards the men were incapacitated for 

 active laboui-. 



I should have previously referred to a kind of wuld honey 

 (" manofi "), the work of a bee about the size of the ordinary house- 

 fly, which is much esteemed by the natives of Bougainville Straits- 

 It is more fluid than our own honey, and has a scented flavour. It 

 is drunk off like water by these natives. The honeycomb is merely 

 a collection of bags of brown wax of the size of a walnut and aggre- 



